L-O-L-A Lola! (As a Dress).

First garment for 2014! Recently I signed on for both Pinterest and Instagram. I felt a bit left out of all the cool behind the scenes crafting conversations that were taking place - and like I needed to build my social networking empire more (cue image of me doing a Dr Evil-pinkie to the mouth-type pose).

Anyway, I kept seeing images of very funky striped t-shirt dresses. I became obsessed. I had to have one.

Luckily for me, Tessuti released their Lola T-Shirt Pattern. I bought it, figuring I would simply extend the shirt into a dress. Readers, it worked. All I did was lay the shirt pattern pieces on some swedish tracing paper and very crudely hand sketch them into dress length. It is THE easiest thing I've ever done to a pattern. Here is what I ended up with:

I made a size small with a medium at the shoulders only. I really did not want the sleeves to creep up.

The fabric is a lovely viscose knit from Joys Fabric Warehouse in Geelong.

The stripes were way too irregular to try and match.

I don't know if you can tell, but I accidentally cut it slightly off grain. Whoops!

This pattern came together well, as do all Tessuti patterns. I am fortunate in that I can generally make the size small with no or only minor adjustments.

I think you'll be seeing some Lola Tees in my future, and possibly another dress a la Anna's adjustments. It is such a great basic pattern, and perfect for knocking about with my kid. I wore this to her doctor's visit this morning - turns out the poor lass has an allergy to sunscreen (not just the sunscreen itself but the volume of sunscreen applied) - this is pure torture for Little M, as putting on sunscreen is one of her favourite things to do. She even pretends all manner of things are sunscreen - a banana, a small glass jar, a face washer, you name it, it becomes sunscreen for her to apply to herself, others, and every doll or stuffed animal she owns. How on earth am I going to break it to her that she has to lay off the stuff?

Diamonds Are Forever

I was trying to think of a sassy blog post title involving jewels, but couldn't think of one, so this is the Diamonds Are Forever dress.

This is about as 'bling' as I'll ever go - I'm not really into sparkly jewellery, but as soon as I spotted this fabric in Tessuti, I had to have it. The colours are amazing, and this jersey is thick and extremely soft at the same time. It was only $22 a metre too! Down the cheaper end for Tessuti.

I made it up in the Dixie DIY Ballet Dress again for me. I must admit, I wanted another one after seeing everyone's Lady Skater dresses popping up everywhere. I think the patterns are pretty much the same, so instead of buying the Lady Skater dress, I went back to the lovely Ballet Dress Pattern.

I don't really have anything to add after my previous review. This is a simple pattern that uses knits. It came together easily for me as I had adjusted the pattern during my first make.

I have enough left over to make young Little M a t-shirt or a little dress. I'm cutting out a bunch of stuff for her at the moment - have some Alannah Hill jersey that is gorgeous for a dress and some bright cottons for shorts for the upcoming summer. Also some really, really cute cotton from Tessuti for a little Oliver & S dress. I've actually made a lot of stuff for her over the past few months, but find it hard to post about it as Michael and I have a 'no face' on the internet policy with her. Would you be interested in the garments on hangers? They are pretty cute.

I have a few things I've made lately to show you - but I am really excited as this Tuesday I am having a private lesson with Vanessa Lucas to finish fitting and adapting my tailored blazer pattern. It is a vintage 70's blazer with wide lapels. Once I have my lesson with Vanessa, I am going to be obsessed with sewing the blazer I think! Although I also want to sew the Sewaholic Saltspring Dress (even though it is a summer dress and it is freezing here today). What are you all sewing at the moment?

Pattern: Dixie DIY Ballet Dress
Fabric: 2.5m jewel jersey from Tessuti (got quite a lot left over though)
Notions: Stay tape
Size: Small
Alterations: Lengthened bodice by 7cm, took in sleeves by 4cm total.

Vogue 1314

Well, Leith did it again - she made a dress that I simply had to have once seeing it. This is a tricky decision - given we are mates and go out together socially it can present a situation in which we are both wearing the same thing. The thing is, I wore this dress for the first time out to dinner with Leith, Anna, and Lara at Hellenic Republic last weekend and Leith and I were wearing the same dress. In different fabrics, but still the same dress.

But I had to do it. I had to make Vogue 1314:

I made it in a lovely soft knit (I think it is a viscose knit) that Anna gifted me. Thank you Anna! I love this fabric.

I made the size 10 and then nipped it an extra 2cm in total along the waist area on the sides. This pattern runs big - so take note - if you make it, you'll need to size down.

I did also shorten the dress by about 5cm because I had very limited fabric. But I like this length. I think just above the knee suits me.

Apart from that, the pattern came together beautifully. The neckline doesn't gape, the sleeves are a good length. The pattern asks you to secure the gathers along the side seams with seam binding - I used rayon seam binding that I bought yonks ago after poppykettle raved about it. I love this stuff too - it is nice and soft and looks very pretty too. I got mine from etsy.

I feel like this style is a bit of a change for me, but I really like it. I feel quite grown up with a more fitted style! This dress is very comfortable too - I'll definitely be making it again, especially as I really lack winter dresses.

These photos were taken on a gloriously sunny day this week - Anna kindly came over and photographed the clothes I've made recently. I've been having such issues getting photos taken (despite having a camera/photography mad husband), so Anna was a complete lifesaver. Plus we got to have a lovely lunch together and Little M showed off beautifully being her most charming self for her new friend Anna. Anna - she hasn't stopped talking about you all week! 'When will we see my Anna again Mummy' has been her favourite question.

Well, I'm off the cut out a muslin for the fitting class I'm doing next weekend with Leith. Then I'm cutting out the muslin for an Anise jacket - there are soooo many pattern pieces - not looking forward to this!

Miz Mozelle...... Modified

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence. I've been busy sewing but have been having one of those periods where I find it impossible to get photos of the things I've made. Does that happen to you too?

One of my recent makes has been the Jamie Christina Miz Mozelle Dress. I bought this pattern after seeing Cirque Du Bebe's version. My goodness she looks so gorgeous in it.

When I got the pattern I had second thoughts. I didn't really think I could pull off the Peter Pan collar without looking too cutesy. Especially with my cropped hair cut. So I thought I would give the pattern away. But then in Sydney Leith and I were walking past a very cute shop in Surrey Hills that had an extremely similar dress in the window, just not with a Peter Pan collar or keyhole. So I did a very simple modification to the Miz Mozelle pattern:

As you can see, a very complicated alteration there. I just followed the CF line up to the neckline and cut the whole bit on the fold. This is how it turned out:

I bound the neckline as I didn't have the collar. I also didn't add the elastic. This was because I thought I was being really smart and sewed the bodice pieces to their skirt pieces BEFORE sewing the side seams. This of course mean that it wasn't possible to create a casing out of the seam allowances. Woops. Ah well - the belt brings it all in so I'm not too worried.

The fabric is either from Tessuti or the Remnant Warehouse. I bought some from each place. I made something out of the Tessuti length but then chopped it back up again as I didn't like it.

So - what do you think of the modification? I'm thinking of making another version in some Liberty jersey I have - what do you think?

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!!

Vogue DKNY and Sydney Sewers' Meet-Up

Hi! Thanks for all your lovely comments on my Valerie top - I hope you've started sewing yours!

This post is twofold - the first is to talk about Leith's and my upcoming trip to Sydney and the second is to show you my new Vogue 1027 - the DKNY faux-wrap dress (that I've made before).

Leith and I are going to Sydney for a sewing meet-up that Christy has organised. We arrive on Friday the 8th of February and the meet-up is scheduled for the next day. Here are the details:

When: Saturday 9th February
Time: 1pm
Where: Tessuti Fabrics Surry Hills, then to The Fabric Store.

There is some discussion regarding whether people want to go The Remnant Warehouse before 1pm -- I am VERY keen.

So - who can meet us? It is so exciting to be going to an interstate sewers' meet-up!

Next up I have my new Vogue 1027 DKNY dress to show you.

You'll probably remember that I've made this before. Well, I wore my other three versions to death during my pregnancy. They were very stretched out so I put them in the Vinnie's bin during a major clean-out I had over my holidays.

For this version, I used a cotton jesry (hehehe Leith!) by Liberty. It is 95% cotton and 5% elastane. The cotton jersey is a lot lighter than viscose jersey and perfect for this type of dress as it doesn't sag and stretch out as much.

My only alteration to the size 8 was to overlap the front bodice pieces more - if I don't do this I show a whole bunch of bony cleavage (the only bony part on me!), which just isn't attractive. Plus I want to be able to wear this to work.

I love this dress - check out the twirly skirt! Little M loved my twirling and joined in the fun.

I'm busy sewing the two frocks I want to take to Sydney -- hope some of you out there will be able to join us!