Simplicity 2497 - Cynthia Rowley dress

I've made this dress twice before, a cocktail version, view C and a casual version, modified view A, the latter long removed from my closet as I wore it so much over 2 summers.  Here's the pattern:

Simplicity 2497

This is a great pattern so out it came again to pair with the garden birds cotton print I bought recently.

I did attempt to add piping on the bottom of the neck band to minimise the effect of cutting off some of the birds heads at the seams, but the neckband is pretty curved and the piping had the effect of easing in the fabric so much that joining the band and bodice together was an exercise in major frustration.  Then I decided to lighten up about the print and just treat it as a floral and I'm happy with how it came out despite having a few decapitated birds round my neck and waist (that sounds weird...!).

I made View A, size 12 with no changes other than adding a full lining since my fabric was on the thin side.  In my previous versions I have left out the side seam pockets but I decided to add them this time.  I must admit putting a side seam pocket where you also have a side zipper threw me a bit, but after some pinning and checking I got there in the end.

Here is the inside of the dress, the cotton I originally planned to use for the piping became contrast facings.  I actually quite like how this looks so maybe a solid version with contrast neck and waistband is on the cards.  The pattern comes with separate sleeve lining pieces which act as a stay for the puffed sleeve in view A.

Look, functional pockets!

I did wonder if the bird print, puffed sleeves and gathered skirt would end up being too cute and girly a combination for me but I really like how it turned out and I'm sure this dress is going to be worn till it falls to bits like it's predecessor.  

BurdaStyle 05/2012 - 110 Top

I wanted to use up the remnants of fabric I had left over from the dress I made recently, it was one of those annoying pieces that are slightly too small to do very much with and slightly too big to throw away.  I managed to just squeeze out this draped neck top from the May 2012 BurdaStyle.  I had to add a centre back seam and I also added ties in each side seam to give it a bit more shaping.

Here is the pattern from the magazine:

This is a very straightforward top to make so there really isn't anything to say about construction except that Burda suggest cutting it on the bias in the jersey version.  I've made this top before and found that in jersey the neckline drapes perfectly well cut on the straight grain so save yourself some fabric if you make this.  I also took in the side & shoulder seams at least 2 sizes so you might want to think about going down a size too, although bear in mind my fabric is very thin and stretchy.

I feel much better having used up every last bit of this fabric, but plenty more still to go from my last spree, must get sewing....

Close up of the neckline.

Close up of the ties - basically just tubes turned and caught in the side seam, I shaped them a bit so they are wider at the side seam.

I wore this to travel back from Chiang Mai home to Hong Kong recently with my denim pencil skirt.  I look surprisingly happy here given we were about to leave!

BurdaStyle 03/2013 - 109 Lace Skirt

One of my recent fabric purchases was some mint green cotton lace which I fell in love with despite not really being either a lace or pastel person.  So I wanted to use the fabric in a way that was me and decided on a simple skirt from BurdaStyle 03/2013 - 109, underlined in black silk satin.

I did have moments of thinking it looked a bit like a crocheted tablecloth from my 70's childhood, but now it is finished I am really pleased with it.

I used interlining rather than lining so that you would not see any of the seams through the lace so although this is a simple skirt it was a bit time consuming.  (I didn't use Burda's instructions which from a quick glance I think have you put strips of the lining fabric on the edges of the lace and then make a lining as normal.)  I used the same method Amanda did when she made her lace skirt, except I didn't add a lining as well, instead just hand stitching the seam allowances to the interlining for a neat finish on the inside.  Since the interlining hangs free at the hem and is shorter than the skirt to allow the lace to show at the hem, handling the interlining at the bottom of the side seams was a bit fiddly and had to be finished by hand, mine is a bit wonky on the inside.

Instead of adding a waistband I fused a piece of stay tape to the top of the skirt, stitched on some grosgrain ribbon, folded it over and hand stitched it to the interlining.

The only other change I made was to peg in the hem a bit, I did my best to match the pattern at the side seams, but fit was a bigger priority so it isn't perfect, but definitely good enough as you can see from the photo of the seam on the inside above.

Despite the fact this is a lace skirt I think it will be wearable either dressed up or down.  Here is the dressed up version - I wore the skirt last night to a Chinese wedding reception with a black silk jacket (Butterick 5186, now out of print - wow, I made this 5 years ago!) and a mint green necklace.

Vogue 1287 DKNY Dress - Second Time Around

I've made this dress before and when I went back to check if I'd written anything helpful the first time (no!) I saw my closing sentence was "I think I like it enough to try it in a plain solid fabric rather than a crazy print".

Well of course that didn't happen and in fact I have used a very similar print although in neutral colours.  This fabric was quite lightweight so I added a lining in the skirt.  This was just a simple rectangle which I stitched into the skirt after basting all the pleats and finishing the pockets, after that I just treated them as one layer and followed the instructions for attaching the waistband and bodice.

As I did with version 1, I inserted the elastic in the whole waistband, not just the back which helps support the skirt front better, especially with my double layered skirt.

I went to Chiang Mai in Thailand for Easter which was lovely and I made sure to pack this dress so I could get some photos of me wearing it there.  The weather in Hong Kong has been so miserable lately that although I have been sewing a lot, taking photos where you can see anything has been difficult.

That said while I have been sitting here typing this on Saturday afternoon the sun has come out (Mari - I hope you are still in Hong Kong!) so I'd better get on with taking some more photos for future posts while I can!

BurdaStyle 02/2013 - 126 Knit Top

I like to give my posts simple boring titles so I can easily go back and find what I want - an added bonus is that the spambots seem to be less likely to find it.  Anyway a more complete title for this post would be:

BurdaStyle 02/2013 - 126 Knit Top + Print Fabric Binge + Reader Testing Update + Award

but that would be silly.

So, first the top - this is proving to be a very popular make from February's BurdaStyle magazine, and with good reason.  It's quick and easy to make and has just a bit more interest that your average t shirt with it's gathered raglan sleeves, a simple but effective detail.

I used up a leftover piece of knit in my stash which always feels good.  I made a straight size 38 which fits well, but I found it to be really long so chopped a good few inches off the hem - you can see above that the garment looks a lot longer than the line drawing.  After wearing I can also say I should have pulled the neck binding in a bit tighter, but I can live with it.  Other than that there is not a lot to say about the construction, I definitely recommend giving this pattern a try, I'm sure I am going to make it again.  

Sleeve detail, the neckline is bound with self made binding.

Fabric binge
Do you remember last time I went to the fabric market in Sham Shui Po I bought sensible solid pieces.  Perhaps that wasn't a good idea because I went print mad this time.  But you never know what you are going to find so you just have to snap these pieces up when you can.  That's my story and I am sticking to it!

Love this collageit application, clockwise from top left we have:

• the whole pile - I plan on using these next so they can stay out
• bird prints (a bit 2 seasons ago, but I don't care!), really love the cotton on the right
• slinky jerseys, the one on the left is now almost a dress, the middle a top
• grey/black/white, I really like the digital printed pansy silk in the middle, actually what am I saying I love them all!
• my favourite, if you took a photo of a parrotfish, blew it up (the photo not the fish) and printed it on silk this is what you end up with
• a bit more up to date - this season's emerald colour leopard chiffon and a mint cotton lace

Reader experiments
It was great to get all your feedback on the last post and I'm also getting lots of information on other blogs.  I am currently using Feedly which now I have worked out where the menu and preference settings are (3 little lines on the left and wheely thing on the right respectively) am finding it OK.  At the moment - but not after 1 July obviously - it grabs data from and syncs 2 ways with google reader.  Unfortunately I hadn't fully grasped this in my early experiments and inadvertently marked as read a bunch of posts I had saved to comment on later and of course now I can't recall whose they were.  So now I am just sticking with feedly for the time being.  Gail, I will try and add a subscription thingy to my blog.

Award
Last but by no means least I was lucky enough to get a Lovely Blogger award from Sewing in Athens.  Thank you!  These awards are always such a great way of finding new blogs and this one is no exception, I love her tagline "How many dresses are too many", a question I should probably ask myself more often.  Go check out her blog here, the latest post is for a gorgeous Patrones pussy bow blouse.