Smart Casual Mila

Yesterday I finished sewing the hooks & eyes, as the finishing touch, to my Mila dress.  After a wash 'n dry I was able to wear it to work today.  What do you think?

(excuse the no shoes - I couldn't wait to get them off my feet after a day at the office!)

You can most certainly tell I've been in the office today - the crinkles in the front, noticeable in the lighter solid colour, are a definite give away.

As mentioned in my earlier Mila post, this was the first time I had downloaded a pattern from www.burdastyle.com for printing at home.  It felt quite strange working from a heavier photocopier paper rather than the usual pattern tissue.  I almost felt like I was damaging my pins.

It was a bit of a funny pattern really.  Usually I just choose a pattern size according to my bust measurement and make an adjustment for my hips and I am good to go.  So I did the same with this pattern, but after the first fitting I had to remove at least 4 inches evenly from the two side seams and back seam (as I had already constructed the front panel).   I also removed about 1 inch from the should seams.  

The front has a inner layer, which you can't see in my pictures, but this inner layer was really, really low - so much so that you could see my bra in my first fitting.  I wasn't able to change this too much but I did manage to raise it so it is a little bit more respectable for the office.  The pattern concept was a good one, but it didn't really pull it off.

I went back to the pattern website to revisit the pictures of the sample dress, and I now see that the front bust area on the this dress (below) are the same as mine - see how her black bra is peeking out the top of the dress.  Luckily I have managed to close the outer layer of my dress more than the picture below so as not to have too much cleavage showing.

After much wiggling and fitting I have a fit that I am happy with.  If I got to do the front all over again I would reconsider the placement of the darts and perhaps separate the front bust pattern piece from the placket so I didn't have to sew a 90 degree angle into the dress, didn't enjoy that part at all.

After wearing the dress for a day I am feeling better about it than when I first tried it on.  I can definitely see this dress being worn over and over and over this summer.

Discovery of JKnit

I have found yet another use for my iPad! (Oh and I love using my iPad for everything from meeting notes to reading the paper). While reading www.ravelry.com this morning doing research of the Emelie pattern one of the knitters referred to the JKnit. Having never heard of that term before I immediately needed to know more ...

A few hours later ... I had purchased and download the Pro version of JKnit, linked my Emelie PDF pattern and have spent the day setting up the pattern row by row. I can now officially ditch the pen & paper and the handy stitch counter.

Just after a day I am a fan. The tools of the modern knitter!

Open source sewing: The Mila Dress

For my next project I have chosen an independent pattern from Mila Fashion on the Burda website.  This is the first time I have downloaded a pattern from the website, printed and assembled it.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy this exercise was; something I would definitely do again.

It is meant to be mid summer, despite that I am sitting here writing this with a blanket wrapped around my legs and a sweatshirt on.  So in preparation for the return of those long summer days I'm going fabric shopping tomorrow, specifically looking for a fun summer cotton.  I'm not sure yet whether I'll go for a contrast in colours (as per the pattern images) or a variation of the same tone - it will come to me when I get to the fabric shop I am sure.

I've already decided that I won't be putting the pockets into the side of the dress - I think this makes my hips look bigger than they need to.  I quite like the hook'n'eye detail down the front of the dress but instead of sewing each individually I'm going to look for a strip of pre-sewn hooks and eyes ... I know this might be slightly cheating but I'm okay with that.  As with all slim fitting dresses I will need to adjust the pattern to allow for my hips, which usually works just fine when I make that adjustment directly to the pattern before cutting.

I think for this dress I won't make a muslin, but I'll allow for a rather large seam allowance and baste the dress together for a fitting before I machine sew it.  This way I can make any fitting adjustments directly onto the dress without too much hassle, and hopefully save a bit of time. 

I always want to wear the garment before I've even cut it out!  My aim for 2013 is to take a bit more time with my projects to improve my fitting skills, which will hopefully give an overall more professional finish to my garments.  Here goes .....

Changed to a Knitting Stitch

I've changed my sewing stitches for knitting stitches just for a moment.  In December I packed away my sewing machine, and transformed our dinning room back into a place to eat rather than my personal sewing space!

Since we have come back from Christmas holidays my husband has turned our dinning room into his temporary study so the sewing machines are still packed away.  Instead the knitting needles have been busy.  Even though it is summer I will be ready for winter when it gets here.

My knitting garment of choice - arm warmers.  My first pair was a lovely Raspberry colour yarn with a single cable, which are more wrist warmers than arm warmers.

These are knitted on two needles and the seam runs up the thumb line, with a small hole for the thumb about an inch from the finger end.  Knitted on a size 5mm needle with a double knit yarn, these are cute and snug fitting.  The second pair I decided to add four stitches to the pattern and a few more inches in length and chose a deep purple colour yarn.

I really love this pair, so promptly went back to the shop and brought more raspberry yarn to make more.  These are based on a Stitch Nation pattern, but I can never resist changing a pattern for my own personal style, so these aren't true to pattern but the finished product is just as I wanted.

I'm now half way through a third pair - this time I switched to double pointed needles (DPN) in a double knit, winter white yarn.  Here is the beginning of the right hand.... I've just completed the 4 rounds of ribbing and first cable round.

The left hand is complete with the exception of the thumb gusset - I thought I would save that part and do both hands at the same time, as I feel it will be really fiddly and best get it over and done with together.

I love this pattern because there is no sewing up afterwards (yay!) but I'm still trying to get the tension on the stitches, when I change needles, more consistent.  I'm sure practice will make perfect.  More pictures once I've completed these.

The Bean Bag Mission

I've deviated from my garment sewing for a short moment to fulfil a personal request.  No, not by the cat but she wasn't slow in making herself comfortable in the finished product.

My son made a plea for a bean bag for his game time - so like a good mummy I thought I'm up for that challenge!  Straight to the Internet I went looking for a pattern and without too much trouble I found what I was looking for at www.lincraft.com.au.  Back to the Internet again to look for fabric suggestions and decided on something that wasn't mentioned at all - polar fleece.   This fabric is durable and it would create a bit of warmth as well.   There we have it - the finished product!

As always, I never get away with just making one, there has always got to be one each x 3 children.  So here is the final line-up: leopard print, lady bug and dalmatian.

I am very happy with the finished product and most definitely the selection of fabric.   But back to garment sewing now!

First Summer Dress in the Wardrobe

I've been up to a few things in November, but have just never found time to share.  So firstly I'd like to give you a look at my summer dress.  It doesn't look much just hanging on the hanger, but self-portraits aren't looking any better.  You will need to believe me, it looks way better on!

I'm really looking forward to santa getting me a dress form for Christmas, then I can get some decent photos of my projects to share with you all.

The dress is a New Look pattern 6013 - very easy to cut and sew.  I needed to adjust the pattern to allow for wider hips and length to allow for my height (5'9").  The dress is a delight to wear, feels like a glove and makes me want to make more - however I've got far to many other patterns I want to sew before repeating the same pattern!

Originally I was going to line the dress, but decided against this, instead I did decided the the inside of my dress needed to look just a stunning as the outside.  So the seams are french seams and the hem is hand sewn.

After I finished the dress I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not because it looked more camo than animal print.  However, since wearing it a few times and receiving some very lovely comments I think it is very now!  (oh and I am into NOW).

My Minoru Jacket is ready to wear!

I recently completed my first Minoru Jacket (a pattern by Sewaholic).  If you have read by previous post on progress with my Minoru I wasn't that taken by the fabric BUT now my jacket is finished I am in love with it.  I can already tell that it will get lots of use over the spring and autumn months or that chilly summer evening.

I can't believe how easy the pattern was and lining it was a breeze!

(Sorry not great photos, have yet to persuade me daughter to use her photography skills and help me out, so I'm limited to average photos just now).  Trust me the finished version looks much better then the photos.

I've worn it more than just a couple of times and received compliments every time.  Because of it's light colour it's already made it was back to the wash.

I love the length of the sleeves.  This is the first pattern that I haven't had to make an adjustment to the pattern to get the right lengthen for me.  It feels beautiful to wear - the only change I would make is the hip measurement, if it was just a tad narrower it would sit better, probably an inch each side would do.

I've already chosen some fabric to make my next Minoru - this one is a little brighter and will be fun to wear.  More on that later.