Project Sewn Week 2 - The Era Challenge - Butterick 5747

Thank you so so much to everyone who voted for me last week on Project Sewn. I made it through the first round (hooray!!) and now here is my entry for week two's 'Fashion Era Challenge'.

Once again 50% of the vote is up to the public. So check out the other gorgeous outfits and if mine is your favourite I would be TICKLED PINK if you voted for me. Voting closes Thursday 8pm MDT.

For this weeks challenge we had to make a dress from an era of our choice and I chose the 60s. Surprised much?

The 60s is one of my favourite eras for fashion. The range of styles that were introduced in one decade it incredible. In particular I love the fashion at the beginning of this decade. It still had influences from the 50s but with the attitude and boldness of the new time.

The Pattern

To create my look I used Butterick Pattern B5747 which was originally released in the year 1960.

Image on far right from the Butterick Patterns website

I made version A of the pattern and cut it in a straight size 14.

The instructions were pretty straight forward, though they did jump around a bit.

There is a step missing in the instructions! Watch out when you're about to attach the skirt to the bodice/waist band. It skips the step that has you turn in the waist band at the centre front. This will make sense to you if you are making this dress.

Features of the dress

The dress is closed down the centre front with four buttons.

Like a lot of vintage patterns, the dress isn't lined but uses facings.

The dress has a full pleated skirt, a waist band and a gorgeous boxy collar. I made my dress using a thick quilting cotton and added white trim for contrast. I love how it gives the dress a bit more playfulness.

The dress also features a detachable dickey. I've seen some other bloggers wear this dress without the dickey and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately my dress doesn't look very 'family friendly' when I wear it without!

The beautiful Anna Neah made a similar dress recently but with a different pattern. I'm bananas about her version. It's like we're sewing twins. It freaks me out how much I love everything she makes. If you don't follow her yet you are CRAY CRAY! Check her out!

Changes I made

I'm actually wearing the dickey slightly lower than the pattern design as it overwhelmed my short torso when I was wearing it the original height. It sort of looked like it was choking me!

I also omitted the belt and used one that I already had. I raised the hem slightly to a length that flattered my shape and height better. No other alterations were made to the pattern which is such a nice change!

Styling

I teamed my dress with red lipstick (of course) a beautiful vintage brooch curtesy of the Ruemiraldi store, a red belt and a big bouncy petticoat that I'm a little bit in love with. I love the fullness it adds! I also tucked my hair under to create a sort of faux bob. My hair is a bit long for this era!

Conclusion

That's it, I'm wearing full skirts every day. Just try and change my mind.

Ok so maybe I'm prone to the obsessive, but I feel like a freaking princess in this dress. And the skirt has excellent twirling capabilities. I'm actually a little bit nervous to go out past midnight incase my dress turns to rags and I lose a shoe. It happens.

A special thanks to my parents Beverley and Michelangelo (who totally has The Kinks stuck in his head now) and my sister Angeline who looked after Harry while I sewed like a maniac to get this finished for the deadline. And of course to my wonderful husband/photographer who patiently photographs me even though I inevitably turn into a diva during the process.

Thanks again for all your support! You can vote for me and my dress here.

Project Sewn Week 1 - Little Black Dress

Ladies and Gentleman I'd like to introduce you to my entry for Project Sewn's Week 1 Challenge: The little black dress.

Project Sewn is a wonderful online blogger competition with six contestants. Each week there is a different theme and one contestant is eliminated until there are only three people left. I've loved putting my dresses together so even if I get eliminated in week one I'll still be sharing them with you guys here!

Voting
Who stays on in the competition is decided by public vote. So if you like my dress, I'd love it if you'd show your support by voting!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE :) (Scroll to the bottom of the post for the voting)

And make sure you check out the other contestants fabulous outfits. They are simply amazing!

When I think little black dress I think, classy, sexy, alluring and timeless. I feel like I could fight crime in this dress. On another note, how awesome would a couture super hero be?

My dress was inspired by my recent trip to Italy. Everywhere you looked you were surrounded by beauty; it was almost overwhelming. I purchased this stunning black lace while staying in Florence, and I knew it would be perfect for this challenge.

I wanted the lace to be the focus of the dress as it is so beautiful. I made a low back featuring the scalloped edging of the lace.

I underlined the front bodice with a cotton lawn and added a detachable lace dickey for extra modesty. Check out my tutorial here on how to underline fabric.

The skirt is a silk that has been blended with polyester for extra strength. It is such a forgiving and structured fabric and beautiful to sew with.

The dress is closed with an invisible zipper down the centre back, and the armholes are finished with bias binding. 

 

I styled the dress with a belt that I bought when I was in Italy. I've always been a sucker for bling and I like the little something extra it adds to the outfit. Below is a picture without the belt. I think it works both ways.

This is the first evening dress that I have made since giving birth to my son eight months ago and wearing it is like a breath of fresh air. It's so nice to feel a bit fancy-pantsy and put on a frock that makes you look less like a mum and more like a minx. It sure is a nice change from my pyjamas. Now I just need somewhere to wear it!

If you like my dress you can vote for me here! Voting closes this Thursday.

Thank you Project Sewn for asking me to be part of this fabulous competition. I am honoured and excited to be included amongst such talent!

My first ever knit - Miette Cardigan

I have succumbed to peer (blog) group pressure and crossed over to the dark side ... knitting.

And I likey.

A lot.

I was one of those people who was so obsessed with sewing that I didn't get the fascination with knitting; It just didn't interest me. I was getting increasingly nervous about the number of seamstresses who were learning how to knit. I felt like I was the only kid who didn't have a pair of knitting needles in my back pocket like nun-chucks. And I'd seen knitting patterns. They looked like my 8 month old son had started bashing my keyboard with his tiny future-sewing wrists. I mean what the H is 'kfbl, k1, ssk, kbl'??

So I decided to take a class with the wonderful ladies at Handmakers Factory and see what all the fuss was about.

You know that moment where Harry Potter holds his wand for the first time at Ollivander's and he's shrined in a gold aura and shiz starts flying around his head? I had one of those moments with knitting. Not as strong as my sewing buzz, but it was definitely an awakening moment in me. P.s. - Wands totes look like knitting needles. Just saying.

So naturally my obsessive nature wanted to start knitting a garment straight away. There would be no long scarf or beanie for me to begin with. That would be too sensible. So when the Hand-makers Factory announced they'd be doing a Miette Cardigan knit-a-long I decided to give it a crack.

And here it is in all it's beginner glory!
The pattern is by Andi Satterlund, a talented lady with a penchant for vintage knits.



The instructions were extremely well written, which is very favourable for a beginner knitter. The pattern is also FREE! Another great thing about this pattern is that there are no seams! Truly! So if you're nervous about knitting because you don't know how to put all the finished pieces together, this is a great way to start.

I knitted this bad boy up in the 42" bust size using a wool/cashmere/silk aran yarn. I made the sleeves slightly shorter to match the shortness of the cardigan.



I love the lace detailing on the cardigan and once you get your head around the different types of stitches it's actually pretty straight forward.

The answer to the question 'What colour buttons go with a blue cardigan?' was of course: BLING! I am a sucker for shiny sparkly things, and I like the girly-ness it adds to cardigan.

My only regret with this cardigan is that I made it in the large size. It fits nicely, but the pattern is supposed to have two inches of negative ease, and there is none on my finished garment. In fact there is a bit of excess yarn hanging around the sides where my boobs and arms underarms are. It's also a little baggy on the arms. But meh, I think it still works.



PROS of knitting
You can do your knitting any where! On the couch, on the train, on the beach, on the treadmill (what?); it's so easy to cart around. How often have I longed to be able to take my sewing everywhere!

CONS of knitting
Knitting takes a loooot longer that sewing, but it's sort of therapeutic.

The biggest problem with me knitting now is that I now have a fabric stash AND a yarn stash. I know I'm going to end up on one of those hoarder shows one day, except that my house will be full of fabric and yarn.

MOST UNEXPECTED THING about knitting
Wet blocking - you want me to do what now?

WEIRD ASSOCIATIONS with knitting
What slipknot meant to me in 1995 and what slipknot means to me now in 2013.

click on the picture to see it on instagram

Sewing News

Now to some sewing news, I am excited and a whole lot of nervous to announce that I am a contestant in the next round of Project Sewn!

 

The other contestants are amaze-balls, so I'm totally thrilled and honoured to be participating along side them! Click on the button above to check them out. They are some talented ladies! I'm looking forward to seeing what delights everyone comes up with!!

And that's it! My first ever knitted garment! You can check me out on Ravelry here Any one else recently started knitting or thinking about starting? It's ok you can tell us. You're safe here.

Rooibos like a BOSS

It felt for a while there that I was the only person in the blogosphere who hadn't sewn the 'Rooibos' pattern by Colette Patterns.

It had been in my stash since I was basically a foetus, but I just kept putting it to the side. Every time I'd go to pull it out all I would hear is 'These aren't the droids you're looking for'. My stash is a Jedi apparently.

Now that I've made it I can't believe that I waited so long; I love it!

I love how flattering this dress is. It's a great transition dress for me as I slooooowly creep back to my old size before I got pregnant.

It has a flirty, feminine shape that doesn't flash too much fleshola. I dare you to say that sentence 10 times fast. Go on ... I'll wait.

I used navy and white cotton drill for my dress with red and white striped piping. I was inspired by the original Rooiboss dress on the Colette site with the white piping. I like how the red and white stripe makes it a tad more nautical!

I tried out a few new swear words trying to get the piping to sit right around the sharp corners of the collar. In the end I just made the corners curved and it worked. Yay! You can of course make the pattern without piping and then there's no problems. I do love though how the piping really adds to the playfulness of the dress.

The dress has a raised waistline which hugs the body. It has a beautiful curved back neckline and gorgeous flattering pockets that sit on a gored skirt.

The only change I made to this dress was to do a (massive) full bust adjustment (FBA) which in my case could be called a full breastfeeding adjustment. The irony is I can't really wear this dress until I stop breastfeeding as there's no real access to the bobby-ta-tas.

I styled the dress with a red belt to break up the solid colour, a cute vintage brooch and some fabulous Melissa shoes

If you're curious about how I did my hair, I was inspired by this mini tutorial on one of my Pinterest boards.

So what do you think?
Have you got a pattern you put off making and then fell in love with once you finally made it? I'd love to hear about it!