Butterick 6409 - Black + white geometric print dress in wool rayon

I am currently on the hunt for thicker-weight fabrics with draping properties to make winter dresses out of. This Marc Jacobs border print wool-rayon woven from Mood Fabrics caught my eye because I know rayon fabrics to have a great amount of drape and combined with wool I thought it would be perfect for winter. Also border print fabrics are fun to work with. I used Butterick 6409 for the pattern and made a few minor tweaks.

There are lots of ways to use this fabric creatively because it has a thick border on one side and a thinner one on the other. It also has areas of plain black along the selvages. I used the top half of the thick border for the bottom of my dress and the very bottom of the thick border for the sleeve cuffs. With the smaller border I made a belt.

This stuff sewed and pressed like a dream. It really is the perfect weight for winter, especially if you want to forgo a lining. If Mood had other patterns or colors I would snap them up in a heartbeat. The color is kind of a dusty black and can look like a midnight navy in certain lighting.

I cut a size small for this dress and I'm typically a 12 in big 4 woven patterns. The fit is perfect - not too much fabric through the bust with a bit of ease in the shoulders. I also really like the sleeves. Sometimes these types of sleeves have too much fabric in them but these have just the right amount. I left off the button and lapping cuff. That's just extra work when the cuffs fit easily over my hands.

This design relies on a drawstring for its shaping through the body but I find those to be kind of a pain and take too much re-adjusting throughout the day. Instead I used the casing pattern piece and made an elastic waist.

Dressform pictures:

I planned to wear a belt with it but I tried on every belt in my closet and didn't like any of them. I then thought I might add the tie back in to the front but I never need bulky stuff going on around my middle. Somewhere along the line the idea to make a fabric belt popped into my mind and I LOVE how it turned out. Now I want to make fabric belts for everything.

I used french seams throughout because they're pretty and there weren't that many construction joints anyway. The hem I did by hand as I usually do. The stitches for that completely sunk into the fabric so I decided to secure the neck facing by hand instead of top-stitching it down.

I love to wear these types of dresses in my day-to-day life and am thrilled with this new addition to my closet. When it gets a little cooler I'll pair it with tights and flats and be perfectly warm.

Note: The fabric used in this post was purchased with my Mood Fabrics monthly allowance, as part of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network.

Vogue 9183 - Winter white wool dress w/ black lace overlays

I've just finished a classy wool dress for fall/winter that I'm in love with! The idea for this garment has been floating around my brain for years and I'm just so pleased to see it turn out exactly how I imagined.

I knew I wanted to play around with lace motifs and needed a lace that I could cut into that wouldn't fray. The one I used is from Mood fabrics and is all sold out but here is a black 3D guipure lace that's similar. The white is an ivory wool twill also from Mood fabrics and also all sold out. (Sorry!) Mood as lots of other wool twills available. Their anemone red is a particularly beautiful color that would go great with black lace.

The pattern I used is Vogue 9183. It's a simple shift dress that's fitted through the bust and skims over the waist and hips. I was intrigued by the neckline of this design and the absence of side seams. I did not make a muslin first as I figured it wouldn't need much fitting past the bust. I cut a size 12 through the bust and waist, tapering out to a 14 through the hips. Thankfully it fit without needing any adjustments.

To make this dress I sewed the ivory wool body pieces together first and put in the zipper. Then I put the dress on my dress form and figured out how I wanted the front lace piece to lay. When it was completely pinned on I took it off the dress form and slowly stitched the lace on by hand with millions of tiny stitches. I went all around the perimeter of the lace and did some stitching in the middle as well. When that was finally done I put it back on my dress form and repeated the process for the second lace piece. Then I had to figure out the lining because this patten is unlined. Usually putting in a lining just involves using the provided bodice pieces but since this dress has a neck facing that's folded over and incorporated into the design, the lining was no picnic.

Dressform pictures:

Here's a closeup of the neckline. I think it looks kind of 60s mod.

I used an antique white china silk for the lining.

The sleeve head seams were covered in bias tape for a clean finish.

This dress took forever to complete! I actually thought I'd finished it a few weeks ago and posted it to the Mood Sewing Network for October. However, the more I looked at those pictures the more I felt like something was off. Every once in awhile I'll change my mind about an aspect of my sewing after I see it photographed, and for this dress it was the sleeve length. Perhaps elbow-length sleeves just aren't flattering on my body or maybe something was off with the proportions. I'm not sure. I cut the sleeves off to the shorter length and trimmed a bit of the sleeve head along the way. I like this sleeve length much better. I'm still not completely satisfied with how the sleeves look from the back of the dress but I am moving on. And trying to not be obsessive. That's hard for a perfectionist.

Note: All fabrics used in this garment were purchased with my Mood Fabrics monthly allowance, as part of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network.
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McCall's 7351 - Sleeveless shirtdress in white, green and black floral

Shirt dresses seem to be everywhere right now and this particular pattern is getting a lot of online love. I actually bought this pattern for the pointed hemline view, but decided to give it a go with a longtime stash fabric that I believe I bought locally a number of years ago.

This is a great pattern with lots of nice details - front button band, collar with collar stand, bias bound armholes, pockets, shirttail hemline - but what I love most about it is the way it skims the body but is still loose and comfortable. I've seen this dress belted by a number of others but I plan to wear mine just as you see it here. I cut my typical size 12 and made zero changes for fit. The length was a bit long for my preference so I did cut off 2" before hemming.

This fabric was not fun to sew with. It's 100% polyester and really resisted ironing. I love the print, though, and the fabric has a gridline texture that can be seen in the below close-up. Even though I hated working with it, the dress does not wrinkle in the least when it's worn. It will be great to throw into a suitcase and take on trips.

I love patterns that have pleated center backs instead of gathering. They lay nice and flat against the skin.

Of course I love all the topstitching on this dress and chose to do mine in black. Originally I sewed on black square buttons, but they completely disappeared on the dress so I replaced them with some simple white ones. I will always opt for pockets on the bodice of garments to give my bustline a little oomph.

When I make this pattern again I plan to raise the armholes about 1/2" as they're a little low. My undergarments don't show but I have low-set armpits (if that even is a thing) so keep that in mind if you're planning to make this dress.

Vogue 1425 - Pamella Roland white & black lace dress

I got started on my Easter dress early this year so I wouldn’t run out of time like I usually do.

I fell in love with this Pamella Roland designer Vogue pattern the minute I laid eyes on it. I had to have THE EXACT SAME DRESS as the example on the envelope. But, you know, I have a lot of projects swimming around in my head at any given time, and I was willing to wait for just the right fabric to come along. When Mood Fabrics posted this Theory black cotton guipure lace a while back, I shouted “perfection!” at my computer monitor and snapped up 3 yards. Sadly it sold out while I was swatching the other fabrics I used for this project and there’s nothing else comparable listed at the moment. They do post them from time to time, so keep your eyes peeled if you are interested in making this pattern.

The body is made from Mood’s Jason Wu whisper white blended double faced crepe, of which only the blue colorway is currently available. (It must have sold out yesterday because I just checked on it on Friday in preparation for this post. This just proves yet again that if you like something on Mood’s website you’d better buy it quickly. It won’t be there for long!) Crepe remains one of my favorite fabrics to work with and wear. This one is made from a blend of viscose, cotton and nylon and is really beefy but drapes beautifully too. Because of that thickness I was able to leave off all the interfacing, underlining and horsehair braid the pattern calls for.

This pattern is fairly straightforward. I muslined the top and had only a few slight tweaks to get a perfect fit. I added 5/8″ to the bottom of the bodice for a long torso adjustment but probably could have done without the extra length. This dress is heavy, and the weight is pulling the bodice down slightly. I also took about 10 inches out of the width of the skirt due to fabric limitations from a cutting error. I sewed the top of the lace invisibly by hand to the bodice, a necessary step that is not addressed in the directions.

Vogue’s example dress has lace that is twinning on the back bodice which makes my eyes twitch, so I was careful to match mine up so that at least the top edge of the lace is uninterrupted from one side of the zipper to the other. My eyes also twitched from the lace that is swinging about below the hem of the dress, but after making this garment I can tell you that it is somewhat unavoidable. The lace is simply too heavy. I cut mine to so that the longest edges would be 1 inch above the hemline, but you can see it dipping down to the bottom edge in the first picture.

I love the pockets on this dress. I’ve not always seen the point of them but I’m coming around to the pockets-in-dress loving side.

The trickiest part of making this dress was attaching the skirt to the bodice. There is so much fabric to wrangle and it is a super thick seam. I had to aggressively grade the fabric so that it would lay as flat as possible against my waist. You can kind of see the various layers on the inside through the lining, which was made from Mood’s antique white silk habotai.

I opted to hem the lining and outer skirt separate from each other. There are certain times when it makes sense to hem the skirt to the skirt lining, but for the most part it is a recipe for disaster. Different fabrics drape differently, and unless you get it just perfect the hem will look bubbled and home-made. For this dress I whip-stitched the skirt invisibly by hand and machine stitched the lining. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took a 2″ hem without adding anything to the hemline. Per the pattern directions it is only suppose to be a 5/8″ hem, so my dress is 1 3/8″ shorter then drafted.

Dressform pictures:

 

Whew! That was a ton of work! I wish I had sewn some sort of waist stay during construction to help with the weight. I might still do it if I can figure out how to add one without creating more bulk in the waist area. However I am really pleased with how this dress turned out. It feels expensive and is well fitting. Black and white is timeless, and I plan to be wearing it for years to come.

Note: All fabrics were purchased with my Mood Fabrics monthly allowance, as part of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network.

Vogue 1200 - Black + white houndstooth jacket w/ black leather inserts

I am on an outerwear kick. There is a whole pile of these types of garments in my queue that always gets shoved to the side for pretty dresses or simpler patterns. No more! I love outerwear and can't currently make fitted things anyway. Might as well stitch them up. This particular pattern is an Anne Klein design that came out in 2010. I purchased it right when it was released, decided on the fabric, and placed them both in my "winter planned garments" bin. As far as I know nobody ever made the jacket and blogged or wrote a review about it, and the pattern went out of print. Which is really too bad because it is a great design with some lovely details.

The design details I liked include the over-sized collar, bias sleeve and hem bands, bias sides (although I ended up changing those), two-piece sleeves, snap closures and topstitching. I decided to change the sides and undersleeves to leather for an on-trend look. In the end I had barely enough houndstooth for what you see, so that decision saved me from wasting my fabric.

The fabric is a woven houndstooth of mystery content purchased locally, most likely from Hancock fabrics. It is really thick but has a loose weave, so that it shed like crazy and had some drape. It did iron well, though, so there must be some cotton or rayon in it. It does not feel like polyester. I am not sure how insulated from low temps I am going to be wearing this jacket. However, because I live in southern Texas, I still think it will get plenty of wear.

Cutting this jacket out was almost the death of me. There are 19 pattern pieces, most of which are cut twice. Then, because the jacket is almost fully interfaced, you cut them all again in interfacing. I matched the houndstooth print across the fronts and made sure each side mirrored the other. This all had to be done on a single layer of fabric, and I used my triangle to make sure everything was square before I cut into it. I spent 4 days cutting it all out and really sweated those last few pieces fearing I wouldn't have enough fabric.

I was a little fearful this big collar would obliterate the shape of my shoulders, but it sort of curves up at the edges. I'm not sure if this is by intention on the part of the pattern designer or is caused by using a really thick fabric, but I really love the playfulness of it. Besides changing the sides to leather, the only two other deviations I made were to leave off the interfacing on the undercollar and omit the shoulderpads. With a collar covering a good bit of the shoulders, I didn't feel them necessary.

The lining is black Ambiance bought from JoAnne's. A nice thing about this pattern is the facing and lining to not meet up over a bust apex. Lots of big 4 patterns do and you end up with a seam right over the bust, which isn't too flattering. I also appreciate having a back facing.

You may notice something a bit different going on at the bottom of the lining. It is actually finished with a piece of grosgrain ribbon as per the instructions. This was my first time doing anything like this, and it really gave it a nice finish without the need to handstitch the bottom lining to the jacket.

I used large brass snaps from my stash for the closures. These use to come in black as well, but I thought the brass a nice change from all the black and white already present on the jacket. I went to replenish these the other day and they were no longer carried at Hancock fabrics. Hopefully JoAnne's still has them or I will have to find an online source instead. Sewing on these snaps really takes some time since I like to make sure all the snap holes are consistently the same along the entire edge.

The leather I used was purchased years ago from Fabricmartfabrics.com. They use to carry leather skins every fall and have a half off sale around Thanksgiving each year. I have a nice collection of colors and weights now that I'm slowly working my way through. I did interface the leather on the body to give it the same weight as the houndstooth body fabric. The sleeves were left un-interfaced, also per the instructions, so that they can bend easily and not look stiff.

Topstitching through two layers of thick fabric and two layers of interfacing was a bear. I had to stuff everything under my machine foot and the thread broke over any seams. I also broke at least 4 needles before wising up and using a more substantial leather needle.

Dressform pictures:

This project took at least 2 weeks to complete because of all the steps involved, but I had a lot of fun making it. The fabric behaved itself nicely and once I saw how flippy the collar was I got really excited. I'm extremely happy with the fit. I did not muslin since this jacket is suppose to be somewhat loose fitting, and I love how it skims the body without being overly boxy.