Stripe T-shirts

I hatched a plan in my head for a Lace Ensis Tee, and once it's in my head ... then it must happen! This is the result...

I have sewn this pattern once before HERE.  Whilst I was happy with how the top-half fitted I was keen to get a better fit on the lower body this time.  I cut a XS size exactly to pattern and it is perfect!

The upper sleeve is cut exactly to pattern and I made sleeve bands the same depth as the neckband. I applied the sleeve band first, then attached the sleeves to the body in the flat, sewed up the side seams and under sleeve including bands. Then I folded the band under and top-stitched. I'm pretty pleased with this application because the seam is neatly finished with no raw edges. Stripe matching was pretty easy with this fabric, it was beautifully on grain.

The stripe fabric I recently picked up from the Arthur Toye closing down sale for just $7.50p/m.  It's a light weight jersey knit which matches the weight of the lace beautifully.  The lace I bought at the Fabric Warehouse pop-up sale at the end of last year for a mere $3.00p/m.

While I was rummaging around in my stash I also pulled out another stripe knit, this one acquired at the Fabric Warehouse pop-up sale for $3.00p/m and paired it with some white powernet I purchased for bra making, also from the Fabric Warehouse.

This is the Hi Lo Raglan from Jamie Christina. I've also made this one before HERE.  I made a couple of alterations to the pattern: widened both front a back pattern pieces by 1/4" at the hip; shorted the back curve by 3/4" and added 2" to the length of the sleeves at the cuff end - I quiet like a long, long sleeve.

I feel I'm getting pretty good at this stripe matching thing ..

Both of these t-shirts were quick and easy to put together - I cut and sewed both in one afternoon/evening.   I used my trusty ol walking foot on my Janome and finished the seams with the overlocker. My overlocker is soooo old that it is only good for finishing seams - doesn't do any fancy stuff.

On both I finished the hem by overlocking the raw edge and turning it up and under 1/4" then top stitched.  Although in hindsight I should have used by twin needle so it doesn't curl.

More photos on my Flickr -- Ensis Tee and Hi Lo Raglan

Finally, THE Lace Dress

Wow, talk about take forever to finish this one.  But finally, after my stretch lace dilemma,  the dress is finished!  And looking damn fine, if I do say so myself. 

The dress was made for my daughter (that's her and our mochi "Jayjay" in the photo), in an effort to build her wardrobe of stylish black clothes (also see the Peephole top made for her).  Why black?  Because this year she is studying make-up artistry and the dress code is black.  But black doesn't have to = boring, right!  Lace is all in, so a lace dress it was at the top of the list.

Early in the year I has purchased (on impulse) the 09/2012 edition of Burda Style magazine and it so happens that the front cover is a lace dress - perfect starting point I thought.

I hadn't actually traced a Burda pattern from their magazine before.  Even though I had sewn other Burda patterns I thought it would be good to start with an 'easy' pattern while I get acclimatised to the magazine instructions, which by the way I read more than a few times to really understand what it was saying.

I was all set to whip this up in a day, easy pattern, lace would be underlined with a cotton and sewn as one, couple of darts and a zip.  So straight forward I didn't even bother to make a muslin.

Well ... then the customisation requests began. "Can the underlining stop above my boobs; can there only be lace across my chest; it must have sleeves (dress code) - but lace only sleeves; can it hug my body, I don't want it to just hang".

No problem -  I put two darts in the back to give it a fitting silhouette and ran the side seams in a little.  I traced the sweetheart neckline from the Cambie bodice and shaped the underlining, tacking the lace to the underlining around the top of the sweetheart neckline.  At this stage I thought I was doing great.  We were up to the next fitting so I could see everything was sitting in place before I tackled the top of the dress.  Yep, construction didn't go according to the instructions because usually you would sew the shoulder seams first, but I had to leave the shoulder seams until now.

It does fit better - but she insisted on holding the dog!

Here is where I hit my conundrum - for the the shoulder and sleeve seams I had lace on lace, and stretch lace at that.  What to do, what to do?  Oh I know, procrastinate!

It's quite hard to photograph this lace!

After some great suggestions from the blogisphere and some more thinking I finally finished the dress ... I inserted some stay tape into the shoulder seams, so they wouldn't stretch over time.  I then eased the sleeves in by hand basting so I could get another fitting and decide whether it needed any additional support.  What would you know, it looked and felt fine, so I proceeded to overlock the seam edges, providing support that moved and then a row of zigzag over top of my hand basted stitches. To provide some support for the lace top I also inserted some shoulder straps made with the underlining fabric - this will prevent the lace across the chest being stretched out of shape because of the weight from the dress.

I may have started this project back at the beginning of April but because I finished it in May, I wonder if that counts towards the Burda Style Sew Along May 2013?  I hope so :-)  Although there is another that I want to make.

Stretch Lace Dilemma

I'm a little bit stuck on how I might go about attaching sleeves to this stretch lace dress, so I'm hoping my sewing blog friends might be able to lend me a helping hand (pretty please).

Doesn't look much just on the hanger!

The story so far:  using a pattern from a Burda Magazine, some beautiful stretch lace underlined with a cotton/lycra that stops at the sweetheart neckline but the lace carries on to cover the chest and shoulder blades - I've achieved the desired look for the dress, however .....

a clearer picture of the sweetheart neckline

My daughter wants the dress to have sleeves - lace sleeves!  The lace is easy to sew when attached to the cotton/lycra underlining but on it's own it's a different story ...  it's probably more like a stretch mesh to sew.

I'm going to finish the neckline with some clear elastic, just enough so the neckline sits against the body and I'm sure this will be easy enough because the elastic will provide a bit of stability for the lace.   To provide some strength over the shoulders I've got some thin straps attached to the underlining which will remove any pull on the lace over the upper body (good plan I think!)

But I am stuck on how to get the sleeves in place.  I've thought about using the stretch clear elastic, but I think that would just feel funny to wear.  Next, maybe using some 1/4" stay tape, apply to the sleeve edge of the dress then fit the sleeve into place.  I am a bit worried that this will be too stiff for the stretch lace and will make the sleeve seam look rigid when the dress is worn.

This has been sitting on my sewing desk for a month, while I ponder.   I'm now getting pressure from the daughter who wants to wear it.  Soooooo I would really appreciate any recommendations that you might have on my sleeve dilemma. 

Thanks in advance :-)