Completed: Elisalex Dress

Today I had a work function to attend, at the races!  When I heard about it my first thought was that of course I would need a new dress.  It is winter here at the moment...OK, not winter by you Northern America or Europe folks standards, but winter nonetheless.  Yep, I know it doesn't get below 8º Celsius (46ºF) at night and during the day is mostly around 20 degrees (68ºF), but we are conditioned to be soft and this is cold for me!! 

When deciding which dress pattern to make my first thought was the Elisalex by By Hand London as it has a sleeve option - winner!!  I have seen so many lovely options around the blogosphere, have you seen Dolly Clackett's versions here and here or Ooobop's version?

This is my first time making this up, although I had made a rough muslin a few weeks ago.  My muslin was quite dodgy obviously as I ended up having to do quite a few alterations to this make.  I cut a size 12 and didn't do an FBA as I thought with the princess seams I would have plenty of room for adjustment.  This worked a treat, my issues were elsewhere and I will detail those soon.

Excuse the wrinkles, I have worn this all day!

Aside from the alterations that really only come down to my body shape, this pattern comes together easily and beginners should not be afraid to try it as there is plenty of options to alter the fit and princess seams to me are very forgiving for this.

My alterations:
- additional 2" off the back centre seam (1" each side?
- narrowing shoulder seam by approx. 1"
- shortening bodice by 1"
- bringing in side seams by .25"
- narrowed sleeves by approx 1"
- shortened the skirt by 8" - yep 8", this dress is made for tall people!!
- inserted an invisible zip instead of an exposed one

Due to these changes the sleeves no longer fitted in the armhole, but instead of redrafting the curve I decided to pleat them at the top with a box pleat that you can just see in the pic above.

I also changed the construction method a bit, instead of hand stitching the lining at the sleeves, I caught it in when attaching the sleeves. I realize I never photograph the insides to show you, so here is how I finish my garments.  Most of the time I just overlock my seams, no fancy bound seams for me!

One other addition I made was to add bra strap stays. As the shoulders are quite wide (perhaps more so on me, I have narrow shoulders?) when trying it on my straps kept peeking out - I hate that, so this afterthought, whilst not super attractive is certainly functional.  For future makes (and there will be more) I will do this again, but will catch the strap in when attaching the lining so it is more tidy.



Initially I was not sure how this silhouette would look on me, I thought the tulip skirt might make me look hippy, but now it is finished I love it. I think the contrast of the fitted top and the tulip skirt really makes the waist look smaller.  I got so many compliments today and people were asking where my dress was from. There were 80 people at the function and three people were wearing the same dress so at least I was safe from that happening!

Did you notice I made a matching fascinator?  I was also nominated for one of the best hats of the day!

As for how I went at the races...I didn't win anything - I am terrible at picking horses.  I am, however, good at the eating and drinking bit and chose to excel in these areas - especially the bubbly!!

Spring Sewing Swap

I just participated in Kerry's Spring Sewing Swap!  I was lucky to be paired with Debi of My Happy Sewing Place. We exchanged a couple of emails after pairing up, but for me of course I have been following Debi for a while and figured I couldn't go wrong with something vintage for her, of course I forgot to take a picture so you will have to wait until she puts up her post!

But, OMG, check out these treasures she sent me!! Did she get me spot on or what??



Gorgeous buttons covered with what looks like Liberty fabric, a length of wonderful silk/linen blend fabric, I wish you could all feel this, it is so amazingly soft. I am imagining a skirt or tailored shirt - I have 1.5m and it is fairly wide - any recommendations??

And did you see that pattern???? It is divine, the pleating, the collar, I just love it!! I have some vintage floral rayon that may be perfect if there is enough.

Thanks so much Debi, your package was perfect! I only hope you liked yours half as much :)  and thank you to Kerry for taking the time to organise the swap, it must have taken ages to pair us all up and coordinate us all!

You can see everyone else's swap goodies here.

Vogue Mash-Up Dress

Recently my new friend Marjorie, also living in Brisbane, invited me around to check out her Burda collection. Not in the "check out my etchings" style, but in a generous sewing kind of way.  She ended up lending me a few patterns and Vogue 8663 (OOP) was one of them.

I loved the pleated neckline and immediately imagined as the perfect pattern for the teal ponti bought in the UK recently.  One problem...I didn't have quite enough fabric for the full skirt.  However, in a stroke of genius (if I do say so myself), I remembered V8667 and the great box pleat skirt, so I mashed the two together. Voila!

This was super easy as they are both Vogue patterns and so the measurements are fairly similar.  Also any discrepancy in waist measurement could easily be hidden by adjusting the box pleat. Ha!

I really like the pleating around the neck although found it a little tricky to get sitting just right, the pattern is a little confusing as it gives the impression the pleats are stitched down. Anyway I forged ahead to get the look I was happy with and it seemed to work.  The only thing I am not 100% happy about is the dress isn't lined so the neck is simply finished with bias leaving an obvious stitching line which I am not sure I like. No-one else seemed to notice though, so perhaps I am being overly critical.

Hmmm...a bit obvious I have been sitting in it today, sorry!

Pattern alterations:
- shortening the bodice length my standard 1"
- narrowing the shoulders slightly
- here's the surprise - FBA not required - I guess the pleats provide enough ease



I know this may emphasise my boobs, but hey, they get stared at anyway, so what's the difference?!

Whilst I love the end result of the ponti, for some reason my machine hated it and the sewing was painful with the machine skipping stitches all the time. So infuriating!! The worst was when I twin needled the hem - I used a stretch 70 needle and look at the result:

The left stitch was fine and the right kept skipping!  It was a brand new needle out of the packet.  I tried changing the thread, the bobbin, the tension and I tried a non-stretch needle. I threw it aside for a couple of days in disgust all prepared to take my machine to the shop, although it was sewing other fabrics fine. But then I had an epiphany, try every single twin needle I have!  I ended up using a size 75 twin needle with a blue marker on the top, I can only presume this is a blue tip needle?  I have no idea as I don't even know where the needle came from, it is part of a large number of loose needles I inherited from somewhere. Anyway it doesn't matter - it finally worked!! I was contemplating buying a new machine!!  (any excuse right?)  Perhaps a coverstitch machine might be the way to go forward.....hmm I digress.

Have you ever had a frustrating experience like this?  Did you persevere, or give up??

How to: Patch Pockets

Finally I have gotten around to writing up how I did my patch pocket on each of my Hollyburn skirts, here and here. 

On cutting the skirt out, I omitted the pocket shaping on the front pattern piece, instead continuing to cut straight so the front and back pieces looked the same. I would recommend marking them as they are not quite the same.  Of course this pocket treatment could be used on any pattern, I would love to see it with a contrast lining, on a patterned skirt it would be fun to use a plain pocket lining or vice versa.

Making the pockets

Step 1 - Cut x4 pocket pieces in the chosen fabric, mine measured 23cm x 17cm (9" x 6.5"). Place wrong sides together, and sew around the edges leaving an opening approximately 5cm (2"). Trim the seams and corners.

Step 2 - Turn right side out and press, slip stitch the hole closed.
Step 3 - Fold back the flap as desired and press. Place a button hole in the corner of the turn back if you wish. For this version, I just sewed a decorative non-functional button on.

Step 4 - Place pocket pieces on the skirt as desired making sure each side is the same distance from the top and side. Pin.

Step 5 - Stitch around the edges without catching in the flap. I suggest reinforcing the ends with a triangular stitch as the below picture. This part of the pocket gets a lot of stress and is important to strengthen to prevent it tearing.

Voila! Enjoy your new fancy pockets!! If you use this to make your own patch pockets, please share links in the comments, I would love to see.