By Hand London Charlotte - Tropical Style!

Two posts in one week! Well, I'm home with a nasty cold/sinus infection so I'm catching up on posting garments I've had photographed for a while but haven't written the post for. Michael has moved the desktop computer into our bedroom so I can watch DVDs in bed, so I'm currently flat on my back blogging.

My new job allows me to wear pretty much whatever I like (yay for Academia!). I wouldn't wear jeans, but I can definitely move from being strictly corporate - which I love! This move away from corporate did mean however I needed a few pieces to wear to work. I decided to try the By Hand London Charlotte Skirt.

The fabric is a tropical print cotton sateen from Clegs. Pretty cool!

I made a size 6 and started with a muslin in some cheap sateen I got from Spotlight ages ago. I am going to be very honest here and say I found the pattern to be very difficult. Like Amy, I had a weird pouchy area at about the groin level. I had to essentially create a massive dart going across the front and back from side seam to side seam to remove the excess fabric.

I also had to significantly lengthen the darts and move them so I didn't have pouchy-ness going on. I added a back vent - but kind of stuffed this up and had to sew it on, meaning I didn't have enough of a vent. Ah well. I can walk fine in it and no one can tell so it is okay.

Finally, I didn't remove any length from the pattern - I guess I am tall enough for the By Hand London draft!

So - what do you think? I like my skirt but I must admit I found the fit baffling. I'm used to making adjustments to patterns but the weird pouchy thing at the groin level flummoxed me. I really like the pencil skirt look - can anyone recommend another good pencil skirt pattern?

More Pattern Testing: The Reow! Alexa T-Top

I have been lucky enough to pattern test twice for Tessuti! This time I tested their newly-today-released Alexa T-Top Pattern.

I must admit this is the most perfect T-shirt I have ever owned. Most of the time T-shirts are either too tight through the shoulders relative to my hips, too short, not long enough through the sleeve or the neckline is too high.

But with my Alexa, the neckline is perfect, the sleeves didn't need lengthening, the shoulder width is perfect and it just nicely swathes around my hips without being too tight. I made the size small and simply lengthened it by 4cm. I knew I needed to as I measured my favourite tank top as a comparison.

I made it up in a very soft and luscious Dolce & Gabbana leopard print jersey - REOW!!!

The pattern is very simple. Sleeves, back, front and binding. It calls for you to twin-stich the neck binding and all the hems. This would be a good pattern to learn to twin stitch. I used my walking foot as well as the twin-needle as the jersey is very soft. So perhaps if you are a knit-beginner, choose a more stable cotton jersey or a viscose jersey with more weight behind it.

I have worn this five times since I finished sewing it two weekends ago. The only thing that has stopped me wearing it again is that it now needs washing.

I'm wearing it above with another Moss Mini Skirt, made in a pale, lighter weight denim. I wear this skirt everywhere. Unfortunately my darker denim one has somehow gotten bleached out streak marks on it - I hung it inside in the shade so I'm not sure what happened.

I'm going to look for some more fabric to make another Alexa this weekend when I'm in Sydney - my list is growing!!

Grainline Moss Mini Skirt

I used to wear mini skirts all the time when I was a young whippersnapper. Not as short as I see around these days, but definitely mini skirts. I haven't worn one in a while, but wanted a denim one for this summer to pair with tanks and singlets.

I thought the new Grainline Moss Skirt looked pretty perfect, if a little short for me. I made it up in a size 6 with no fit alterations bar lengthening it by 15cm. I made it in a lovely black Italian denim from Tessuti.

I wore this to work on Friday - we have casual Fridays. I wore a cream and red striped Veronika Maine blazer over it.

This was my first time sewing a Grainline pattern and my first time sewing a fly like this. The pattern instructions are amazingly clear and easy to follow. There is also a tutorial on the Grainline blog.

I did two things differently. I faced the waistband with the same Liberty cotton lawn I used for the pockets as my denim was too thick to use as the facing.

I also faced the hem with the Liberty as when I tried on the skirt before hemming it was exactly the right length. I despaired for a while thinking it would be more mini than I wanted and then had the lightbulb moment of facing the hem.  

I love this skirt. It is really comfy and a good length for running around after Little M. I also really like the fit. Slim but not tight. Will look good with a pair of Converse or a pair of sandals. My kinda skirt. I think I will make another one in the new year - maybe a red one?

Mmmmm~Meringue

Most of my clothing these days has to be play-friendly, dirt-friendly, and most importantly, comfortable. I can't be swanning around in beautiful frocks anymore unfortunately, because they're likely to end up covered in banana, drool, and all manner of other tasty substances. Bless Little M's cotton socks - I love that little messy bub to bits.

I got the Colette Pattern's Sewing Handbook for Christmas, and am itching to sew all the garments - especially Pastille, but I am going to wait until I stop breastfeeding, as I'm sure my bust size will change. So, in the mean time, I sewed the Meringue skirt - it ticks play-friendly, dirt-friendly, and comfortable.

I made it in a heavy dark denim (no stretch) that I got from Darn Cheap Fabrics for $5/m. I used well under a metre. I had a bit of a fitting debacle with this one - I thought I was a size 8 after the fit of my Ginger Skirt, so I traced off and made the 8. It was rather large on me. So Ruthy got it. I made a 6, and after increasing the back darts slightly and lengthening all the darts, it fits beautifully. And I lengthened it by 4cm.

The skirt is simple to sew. The only challenging aspect is the scallops. I think a beginner might find them difficult. I didn't follow the instructions regarding clipping and grading them - I trimmed the seam allowance right back and zig-zagged them. I think  it is also important to keep in mind that you need a very stable fabric for the outer, and a light-weight fabric for the facings. Otherwise the scallops will not hold their shape or press well. I used cotton voile for my facings.

So... a very simple skirt to play in that looks cute - what do you think? I wore it to a picnic down at Merri Creek last weekend. Little M had a lovely time - she loves being outdoors and loves playing on grass. We're heading off down there this arvo too - hope you're getting some outdoor time this weekend too!

P.S. - the shirt is another Sorbetto, made in cotton voile from Rathdowne Fabrics.

Ginger and Sorbetto - perfect summer wear

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my last post - I'm feeling very loved. If I was more organised, I'd have loved to take part in Debi's Sew Grateful week, but darling Little M is teething like nothing else, so I've been busy holding what is usually a very active and non-cuddly baby this week. Kinda blissful for me given she's usually not so cuddly (just a pity it's cos she's in pain!). I do have a giveaway planned for very soon though, so listen out.

Prior to this week however, Little M has been very obligingly having huge lunch time naps. Which means sewing time for me! I bought this lovely orange cotton sateen from Spotlight a while ago for $5/m, and thought it would look wonderful as an A-Line. So I made up the Colette Patterns Ginger skirt.

I like this skirt. It came together easily, though I found I had to go up a size -- did anyone else find it runs a smidge small? Usually I'm uniformly the one size in Colette Patterns.

I love the way the facing is attached in this skirt, and after reading the instructions some time ago, have been using it on all my skirts. You sew the facing down next to the invisible zip using a regular zipper foot. Am I dumb that I didn't think to do this before? I'd been hand-stitching the facing down. Ah well.

Do you like my personalised clothing tags? Michael got them for me for Christmas! Aren't they awesome? And extremely useful for telling which is the back of a skirt! Thank you my love - I'd been hankering for some for quite a while.

I also made this black cotton voile Sorbetto. I made the bias binding in the same fabric, and used french seams everywhere. It is very light and breezy. I got the voile from Rathdowne Fabrics and Remnants - I think it has some bargains, but feel it has gotten more expensive now that it has exposure via Project Runway.

In other news, I am thoroughly sick of my hair. I am thinking about cutting it very short - a la Jean Seberg - what do you think? My reservations are that the last time I had my hair that short I weighed a good 6 kilos less and my face looked quite different. Will it suit me?

Isn't she gorgeous? Pity about the cigarette - though I guess it was the done thing at the time. 

My Most Favourite Skirt in the World

Do you make yourselves a special garment for Christmas day? I do. I've gotten into the habit since I started sewing, and as of next Christmas, I'm going to sew something special for Little M too. I'm also going to sew her birthday dresses every year - I've got the cutest pattern picked out for this year - more on that to come soon.

This year I had a sew myself something that would allow me to breastfeed, and something heat-friendly - Melbourne's weather on Christmas day was tropical - reminded me of my Queensland home! When we were in Italy, Tessuti posted this skirt made by Georgia on their blog. I immediately fell into lust, and wanted to make my own using some of my Singapore cotton. Here is what I came up with:

I used a yoked waistband off a simple skirt pattern, and the tiers are just rectangles of the fabric - the full width and 25cm long. I didn't have enough fabric to make 3 tiers - I stupidly didn't check my fabric width, made the skirt using 3 tiers (1st tier is one piece of fabric, 2nd tier is two, 3rd tier is three), slipped it on to test the fit and looked like I was wearing a bandage on the top half. My fabric was 110cm wide, Georgia's lovely version was 145cm wide. Woops. So I unpicked and started again. Dedication I say.

I fully lined it using a viscose lining from my stash as the fabric is very sheer - the lining makes the skirt more full and very swishy, which I love. Who doesn't love a good twirl?

The best part of the skirt to me though is the pom-pom trim along the hem (completely copied from Georgia). It is from Tessuti, and is extremely cute (Little M thinks so too - she tried to rip it off - I think she's brilliant for using her pincer grip, but would prefer her not to practice on my skirt :-). I used just under 4m.

I feel very feminine in this skirt, and hope to wear it more this summer - I might wear it to lunch with a dear friend of mine today. I don't know what to start on next - got the Colette Patterns Handbook for Christmas from Michael - should I make the Meringue skirt? Any other suggestions?

Black Bow Beignet

I've made the lovely Beignet pattern before in red linen. But I need some wardrobe basics, and a black skirt was on my list. So I got Beignet out again and made it in the same heavy black linen from Tessuti as my 40's wide-leg trousers are made.

I used a green cotton poplin from my stash to line it, and some buttons from good old Spotlight. I made it in a size 6 with no alterations - a bit of a surprise as I usually have to add length.

I don't really have anything new to add regarding this pattern. The most difficult thing about it is sewing the lining and the skirt together at the front facing - there are two opposing curves that require careful pinning and a lot of patience. Apart from that, there are many pieces to put together, but they are not difficult.

I did two things differently - instead of sewing in the cotton tape around the waistband the pattern calls for I sewed a wide piece of grosgrain ribbon. I did this as the waist of my red linen Beignet stretches out quite significantly. The wide grosgrain ribbon seems to really hold it in place.

The second thing I did differently was sew one of Tilly's bow belts using her excellent tutorial. I think the bow belt makes the skirt all the more cute!

This skirt will get a lot of wear - a black skirt is so versatile. I am really loving all of my Colette patterns at the moment - do you have patterns in your collection you faithfully return to?