A blazer + Leather skirt + Silk Cami = Melbourne FROCKTAILS 2019

MELBOURNE FROCKTAILS TIME!

Melbourne Frocktails, organised by the fabulous Shelley and Lisa, has quickly become the anticipated sewing highlight of the year!
It's a night of socialising, fabric stroking and dressing up in a me-made outfit of your choice.

THIS YEAR I made:

• A tailored blazer, complete with full canvas interfacing, pad stitching and hand stitched everything
• A leather skirt and
• A silk cami.

So, you know, just kept it casual, obvs.

Here's a few pics from the night, posing with my sewing bestie, Leisl from the blog Jorth

Photo by Samara Clifford Photography

Photo by Samara Clifford Photography

Photo by Samara Clifford Photography

Photo by Samara Clifford Photography

The Blazer

It's Burda 6875, in View B in a size 12 (with modifications) that I shortened by 10cm.

THE FABRIC is an incredibly stunning (stunning!!) 210gms silk wool blend (51% silk/49% wool) from Mood Fabrics in colour 'Whisper White'
The fabric has a tight weave and the true colour is more of an ivory than a white.

The jacket is lined with a decadent 22mm silk satin from Tessuti Fabrics in Ivory

I recently made my FIRST EVER tailored jacket and I was so in love with the creative process and the final result, that I immediately dived into making my SECOND ONE.

Most of this jacket is HAND SEWN and comes with the following:

• Pad stitched lapels and under-collar
• Silk organza back stay
• Double welt pockets with flaps
• Hand sewn lining
• Sleeve heads and shoulder pads
• Full canvas interfacing - Soft Hair Canvas from Spotlight Stores
• Canvas (hair cloth) sleeve and hem interfacing
• Bound buttonhole closure
• Wool felt under collar, fell stitched in place. Wool felt from Two Blue Birdies
• Ventred and mitred sleeve hems
• Silk thread for all hand stitching

Changes:

• Hand stitched the under collar and upper collar to the gore line and lapels by hand
• Added a single welt, breast pocket
• Shortened length of jacket by 10cm
• Curved the front of jacket facing hem to mimic a suit jacket and not a coat
• Lengthened the sleeve vents to 11cm
• Added a back stay
• Added twill tape to roll line of lapel
• Changed from a two button closure to a one button closure and lowered the position of the button closure slightly.

You can check out my photo heavy post with all the details of how I constructed my tailored blazers here: 'Inside the Tailored Jacket -  Taking a Look at the Couture Construction of Burda 6875'

The Skirt

The skirt is SELF DRAFTED with a centre front seam and a waistband.

It's made with black nappa leather from Leffler Leather Merchant and is closed with a metal zipper down the centre back.

I MADE THE HEM OF THE SKIRT BACK 2cm's longer than the front of the skirt, grading out from the side seam. I've found that my bigger bottom tends to lift the hem the skirt, and adding the extra length meant that the hem line looked completely straight all the way around!

The Cami

It's the Kate Bias Top by Just Patterns (my third!) in a beautiful floaty silk satin from Home Craft Fabrics

You can see my other two versions (and reviews) of the Kate Bias Top here and here

Final Thoughts

My heart is full meeting and catching up with wonderful, like minded people. The ladies really put on an amazing night with some fabulous sponsors and I was so impressed at the quality and variety of wonderful me-made clothing.

Melbourne, you are awesome!!!

You can check out my blog post for my First Tailored Blazer here:

You can check out my blog post detailing how I constructed my tailored jacket here:

FABRIC GIVE-AWAY!!!! COUTURE SEQUINNED FABRIC

Who likes sparkles?
Who likes give aways?

a) Everyone
b) All humans, or
c) All of us

Remember THIS dress I made for Melbourne Frocktails last year?

Well I've got TWO METRES left of this STUNNING stretch fabric.
I realised that as beautiful as it is, I'm not about to make another sequinned evening gown and it would be a TRAVESTY for this knockout fabric to just collect dust in my fabric collection

WANT IT?!!??

Head over to my instagram give-away post (see below) and leave a comment.

OPEN TO all my instagram followers around the WORLD.

I will be randomly selecting one person from the comments on Monday, January 21.

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❌❌ FABRIC GIVEAWAY❌❌ . I know what you’re thinking - this must be a trick. Julia Bobbin doesn’t smile in photos. . Fair. . What IS REAL however, is that I have TWO METRES leftover of this STUNNING stretch-sequin fabric, just sitting in a corner. AND NO BODY PUTS SEQUINS IN A CORNER #popculturereference . 🖤And I thought, seeing as I’ve already made my sequinned dreams come true with this #eveninggown for #Frocktails why not share the love and let someone else have the opportunity to destroy their carpet with this beautiful, beautiful sequinned fabric?!!#worthit . 🖤 This sewing community is so generous with their knowledge and support, and I love the idea that someone else can use this fabric and feel a little JOY. . 🖤 SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is comment on this post and one person in the comments will be randomly chosen on Monday, January 21. . 🖤 Open to all my followers ANYWHERE the mailman can go . 🖤 Can we also just take a moment to acknowledge that I managed to go this far into a giveaway post without making reference to Oprah? Thank you. #yougetacar . SHINE ON sequinned friends. . . . 📸 by @samaracliffordphoto #juliabobbin #sew #sewing #giveaway #sewinggiveaway #fabric #fabricgiveaway #sequindress #sequin #dress #couture #melbournefrocktails #sewfrosting #sewersofinstagram #eveningdress

A post shared by Julia Bobbin (@juliabobbin) on Jan 14, 2019 at 2:47am PST

You can see the fabric IN ACTION below:

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A post shared by Julia Bobbin (@juliabobbin) on Nov 10, 2018 at 11:10pm PST

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Me - “This year I’m going to sew more casual clothes” Also me:

A post shared by Julia Bobbin (@juliabobbin) on Nov 8, 2018 at 11:50pm PST

It thrills me to think that someone else can use this fabric to create something that brings them joy, just like it did me.

SHINE ON, SEQUINNED FRIENDS!

Melbourne Frocktails 2018 - The Black Sequinned Gown

MELBOURNE FROCKTAILS is an annual event that I excitedly anticipate like a kid waiting for Christmas.
Not only is it a great opportunity to get dressed up in a new me-made, but it enables me to mix with a small part of this wonderful sewing community that I love so much.

This years wonderful event, flawlessly put together by Shelley and Lisa, saw a bunch of fabulous women gather in self-made clothing, sharing stories like we've all known each other for years.

This year, I decided to put aside my recent practical sewing, and get stuck into some of my all time favourite, sew-jo boosting type of sewing; FROSTING.

Have you heard about the recent 'Cake Vs Frosting' challenge, hosted by Closet Case Patterns and True Bias? You can read all about it here.

My wonderful, talented friend Leisl and I had our photos taken by the amazing Samara Clifford in the middle of our beautiful city. The photos was such a great way to give justice to gowns that we had spent so many hours working on!

The Fabric

A stunning sequinned lace, of the most beautiful quality from Lots Of Fabrics.  It's a stretch fabric with small, densely sewn sequins that did not shed or break after an evening of sitting and mingling.

I underlined the lace in a neutral toned, soft merino wool from The Fabric Store.

In addition the bodice is lined with the same merino wool, and the skirt lined with a stretch jersey from Spotlight.

The Pattern

This dress is one of those fabric-before-pattern scenarios, where I had purchased the yardage and was not yet sure what I was going to make.
Eventually I settled on an evening dress with a classic silhouette, so as to let the fabric do most of the talking.

Bodice
I ended up using an old faithful pattern that is meant for woven fabrics. I'm normally a size 12-14 in the bodice, so to accommodate for the extra room that stretch fabric would give, I cut the bodice in a size 6 and the negative ease was perfect.

Skirt
I drafted my own skirt with one seam down the centre back, so as to not interrupt the pattern of the fabric with side seams.

Effectively,  it was a big rectangle cut on the fold of the fabric, with a slight mermaid tail at the hem.
The width of the rectangle was half the circumference of my waist, and the length of the rectangle was my measurement from waist to floor. I then tapered the skirt in at the centre-back from the waist to just above the fullest part of my bottom/hips.

The Details

I spent a LOT of time working out exactly where I wanted the detail of the sequin fabric to be positioned on the dress. I cut out each individual pattern separately, making sure that each piece perfectly mirrored its twin.

I HAND APPLIQUÉD sections of the fabric around the midriff to create a smooth transition of the pattern from the bodice to the skirt.

I took great care in PATTERN MATCHING the lace down the centre back seam of the skirt.

HORSEHAIR BRAID was hand stitched into the hem for a bit of extra fullness.

The sequin fabric is both UNDERLINED AND LINED for the entire dress.

Button loops and 18 BUTTONS SEWN BY HAND, close the dress down the centre back.

The underlining and the lining of the SKIRT are sewn together at the hems, which sits just above the knees. This stops the skirts from riding up or shifting away from each other.

WATCH this dress in action below:

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A post shared by Julia Bobbin (@juliabobbin) on Nov 8, 2018 at 11:50pm PST

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A post shared by Julia Bobbin (@juliabobbin) on Nov 10, 2018 at 11:10pm PST

Sewing With Sequins

Guess how many sewing needles I broke. You might need to sit down for this one. NONE!

I know, right?!!

I changed my sewing machine needle to a stretch needle (I used a SCHMETZ 'Stretch' 130/705 H-S 90/14) and I don't know what sort of wizardry was placed on it, but it just. did. not. break.

If you're thinking of trying sequined fabric, it is advised you removed the sequins from the seam allowance to eliminate bulk, and to stop your needle from snapping on all of those little bits of plastic.

 

      

You probably can't tell from my excessive smiling in these photos, but this dress almost didn't happen!

After a week of being unwell, and not being convinced by my pattern drafting, my sister Angeline gave me a good 'Tim Gunn' talking to and told me not to give up on it. I'm so glad I took her advice!