Cynthia Rowley Mix-Up Dress: A Sateen Sheath

It has been a month since I last posted! And just over a month since I returned to work. Hmmm… I'm doing 4 days a week for this semester only. I'm lecturing again - a first year course with a lot of students (about 200). Dipping my toe back in the lecturing pond has been both exciting and exhausting. It's been almost 5 years since I last lectured in Queensland - I'm on a bit of a (re) learning curve. Plus I really have extremely limited time to sew. Little M is with Michael on the fourth day, and I don't think has completely adjusted yet. Despite him being her father and being an excellent, hands-on, caring, wonderful father. The mother-kid relationship is certainly an intense one!

Anyway, I'm sure you'd much prefer to hear about my dress! A while back I asked my Instagram friends which of these patterns I should make for Ruthy's (my sister's) first engagement dinner:

Interestingly, everyone bar two said 1873, with the full skirt. I did make 1873 for the engagement dinner (post on that to come!) but I got obsessed with having a dress with the slim skirt. I really liked the skirt portion of 1688 but felt the bodice was not what I was looking for at that point in time. So I spliced them together:

Okay, be honest please. Is the placement of that bottom white flower a bit interesting…….?! Michael assures me it is not, but I have paranoia. I do wish I'd spent more time cutting and thinking about the placement of the print.

The fabric is a cotton sateen from Tessuti - one my mum gave me for Christmas. Ruthy tells me it is a Ted Baker print. It is gorgeous anyway!

I had to make a lot of alterations to get this to fit nicely. Here we go:

• I took 10cm out of the neckline - a standard adjustment for me, but I do wonder what is going on drafting wise. 
• For the under arm seams only, I used a 2.5cm seam allowance tapering to the standard 1.5cm at the waist.
• I took a 2cm horizontal dart out of the skirt the entire way around as I had some very odd pouching just above my hips. 
• I extended the back darts by about 1.5cm as I had excess fabric there. 

That's only four adjustments - but it felt like a lot. The only thing I am left wondering is whether I should alter the bodice so it is not so cut away at the sleeve-armhole area. The straps do not seem to come in so far on the model in the pic - what do you think? 

I also lined the entire dress, and because I forgot to lengthen the skirt, I bound the hem and sewed it by hand (I would have done it by hand anyway, but usually I turn up the hem twice). 

Like the colour of my lining? Only colour I had in my stash - but I love it!

I really do like this dress and have another one half made (has been half made for some time….). I wore it to work today to attend orientation for my students and felt pretty swish. Professional but young(ish) and not too conservative. I do need to get used to not wearing a sack though. I wear them so often that when I wear anything fitted I feel exposed. Does anyone else have this issue? Which do you prefer a sack or a more fitted garment?

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?

Simplicity 2444

Two posts in one week! Today I have the day at home by myself! Amazing. This is because next week I am going to a conference on tuesday, a day I don't usually work. So I got today off in lieu of tuesday. Yay! A whole day of uninterrupted sewing and catching up on episodes of my favourite TV series. I'm also going for a long run this arvo before picking up Little M - I've got Run For The Kids on sunday and need to fit a long one in before doing the 15km circuit on sunday.

Anyway, onto to the sewing! I made Simplicity 2444 a couple of weeks ago.

It is made in a cotton sateen from Spotlight that Leith picked up for me when my local Spotlight didn't have it. Thanks Leith!

See that sneaky little baby getting in on the fun!

This dress is not a difficult make, but as per usual, I had to adjust the pattern to get it to fit. I made a size 12, but it was gaping very badly at the neckline. So I followed Leith's suggestion and slashed up the centre of all the darts (4 in the front bodice and 2 in the back bodice) and folded out the excess at the neckline. I folded out approximately 10cm in total! Weird pattern drafting I have to say. I'm pretty broad shouldered so I'm not sure who they're drafting for.

That is the only alteration I made, apart from lining the dress (the pattern doesn't call for lining - again something I find odd). I also changed to a handpicked zip at the CB instead of an invisible zip as I've had two invisible zips break on me lately. I'm just not in the mood for the trouble they cause so I used a regular zip. I think I prefer the way the invisible zips look though - what are your preferences?

This cotton sateen is very stiff, so it makes me think this dress probably needs a fabric with a fair amount of structure to make it sit nicely.

Cheeky little baby. She was dancing all over the place.

I made this as a work dress and have had so many nice compliments. A few of the women at work have bought sewing machines as they like my handmade garments! It is great when people get interested in sewing... then there are more people for me to talk endlessly to!  

Italian Cambie: The 3rd (and final!) Sydney Sewing Social Frock

Here is my third and final frock that I sewed for the Sydney Sewing Social - my Sewaholic Cambie Dress, sewn in some lovely cotton Sateen Michael bought for me on his last work trip to Italy. What a man!

Must learn not to slouch. Have started doing pilates exercises at night to combat this.

I'm slightly worried this type of sleeve/shoulder strap makes me look like a gridiron player. What do you think?

I wore this on the third day - the Sunday. Leith and I went touring a bit. We went to Adriano Zumbo's patisserie cafe for breakfast, had a gander at a market where we bought our kids some sunnies, went to look at the harbour bridge and the Opera House and then had a vietnamese salad for lunch. Then it was time to go home!

But back to the Cambie. I had to make a lot of alterations, so I'm glad I made a muslin. This is what I did:

• I started with the size 8 bodice, but ended up taking it in about 1.2 cm on each side. 
• I pinched about 1cm out of the middle of the sweetheart neckline - I did this by creating a tiny dart, and then cut the piece as one whole piece - so not half on the fold. 
• I shortened the straps at the shoulder seam by 1.5cm and then where the straps meet the bodice by 2cm - but only on the inside edge, not the side edge. I just tapered to nothing about halfway along the strap. 
• I took 1.5cm out of each back piece from the top - tapering to nothing at the bottom. 
• I shortened the bodice by 3cm. In its original length it didn't hit my natural waist - it was way below it and just didn't look very flattering. 

A lot of adjustments! But I have to say it is a great easy-wearing dress that I feel comfortable wearing as an every-day dress. I've also made a Liberty one (pics coming soon) that I love the fit of, but am worried the fabric makes me look a wee bit washed out. 

I've had a bit of a break from sewing maniacally since our Sydney trip. Still been sewing a bit but not really feeling enthusiastic or motivated. Then this morning I was thinking about my planned projects and realised I've got tonnes to do - mostly because I've promised my sis a dress for her birthday in March and am sewing Little M a single bed quilt for her birthday in April. Plus I've got the Sewcie Tea dress to do and I want to enter the Tessuti Competition. Better get my skates on! 

1st Birthday Party Dresses!

A year has passed since Little M arrived. I can't believe it has gone so quickly. Being a mother has been amazing.. it has been extremely challenging, and extremely rewarding. I can't imagine life without my little darling.

We had a birthday party for her this saturday just been. We had friends, family, and my mothers' group around. There were about 40 people, and it was so much fun. Little M was given a swing set and a slippery slide from my brother and sister and their partners, and all the kids just loved it.

I sewed both Little M and myself party dresses. I used New Look 6970 for Little M's dress:

And I used McCalls 6673 that I have sewn before for mine:

And I think we both looked a treat!

Little M wore a white long sleeved tee and white leggings under her dress, as while it was a beautiful warm day, I didn't want her getting too chilly. Little M's dress is made from beautiful linen and cotton I got from the lovely ladies at Tessuti as a gift when I had Little M (thanks Lisa and Colette!). I have more fabric they gave me which I am planning to sew into some pants and a shirt for Little M soon.

My dress is made from cotton sateen from Spotlight. I don't often fall in love with fabric from Spotlight, but I went there to buy some thread and saw this... and just wanted it badly. So I got enough to make a frock. I wore it with a red patent belt and matching red patent peep-toe flats. I made no alterations from the last time I made it.

I had so much fun preparing Little M's party. I made her a rocking horse cake out of the Vintage Edition Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book. I love this book.

I was very lucky in that my Mum and Dad came down from Queensland for the party and were able to help out by playing with Little M while Michael and I baked and cooked. And Ruthy was there to help me as well - she did the horse's reins, eye, eyebrow and mouth. And blew up balloons (I'd forgotten how much breath blowing balloons up takes!).

The party was a wonderful marker to commemorate our special little girl. It was also a marker to end my time as a full-time stay-at-home-mum -- I started back at work yesterday. I'm doing 3 days a week, and today I'm exhausted!! At 3pm yesterday I started to yawn and yawn -- I'd forgotten how tiring it is to sit at a computer all day! And my feet hurt like hell from wearing heels all day.

I'm going to sew some work clothes soon - anyone got any suggestions? I have to wear relatively conservative corporate wear. What do you wear to work?

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.