Just in time for spring?

While it's still cold and the S word still appears in the weather forecast with depressing regularity, The Sewing Lawyer has made a dress in a very spring-y colour and it has short (actually cap) sleeves.

I hear it looks good with 2 accordions...

The detail is a bit hard to photograph in late afternoon.

But the seams are really lovely, if I do say so myself.

I plunged ahead with this project without making a muslin.  I never used to make muslins and now I feel a bit nervous if I skip this step.  But I've learned that Burda patterns are very reliable both in terms of fit and in delivering exactly the garment illustrated. Many's the time I've made a muslin only to realize ... huh, no adjustments required!

The fit is not 100% perfect but definitely good enough. Only the back waist is a bit sloppy on me.

This was a fun sew, technically speaking (all those curved seams!) that took me out of my comfort zone, style-wise.  I waffled on whether to make the flounce or godet or whatever it is, or leave it off, whether to do the hi-low hem or level the whole thing.  In the end I took a deep breath and made it more or less as BurdaStyle intended.  The back is not as interesting as the front, and the hi-lo hem only looks good from the front (in my opinion) but I like it well enough.

Lining - power 

The fabric is wool crepe with lots of lycra; very unusual (stash, origins lost in time, it came to me via the Fabric Flea Market many years ago). The dress is supposed to be lined to the hip only but that made no sense to me.  I puzzled over what to use for lining given the stretch, and came up with more power stretch.  Why not?  I still have lots.  I cut the power stretch to the hip and used the lower dress pieces to make a lower lining from Bemberg.

Sleeve opening/side seam

The finished dress is super comfortable.  I really like the cap sleeves.  The seams come together below the arm in a really interesting way. There is enough room so the sleeves don't bind, but they don't wing out either. Very nicely drafted!

The only sewing change I made was to make the neck opening a tiny bit less deep than Burda wanted - I just sewed a smaller seam allowance at the bottom of the neckline.  I made a facing-shaped piece for the front and back neck, and stabilized the neckline with a light fusible interfacing to limit the potential for a stretched out opening.

My other little sewing secret in this dress is that I didn't sew the hem - I fused it!  I have miles of this fusible web tape that doesn't seem to change the hand of the fabric you fuse it to, holds very securely, and doesn't inhibit stretch.  I have no idea what it is - something like Stitch Witchery I think.

I thought, when I started this project, that the dress would look great with my new jacket.  As it turns out, however, I don't think they look all that wonderful together even though the blue of the dress is close to the blue in the Prada wool fabric.  The colour of the dress just makes the grey suiting look dingy.

So I went exploring in my closet, and found this jacket that I made many years ago - almost 10 years ago, to be exact (Vogue 2865, long OOP).  It has been a bit of an orphan recently but the fabric (a really interesting multi-coloured and loosely woven wool bouclé) is so lovely that I wouldn't dream of getting rid of it, and it looks pretty darned good with my new dress, if I do say so myself.

I wonder what I should make next?

Aims and objectives

Isn't that the buzzy kind of phrase you're supposed to use when looking to the future and making some kind of commitment to do something in particular?

I haven't blogged because there has been nothing to blog about.  I've been curling a lot in January, and of course working full time.  I've been sick (that flu shot didn't work very well).  My sewing is stalled (that coat!) and my knitting on the machine would not be very interesting to you, although it has been fruitful from my perspective.  What I mean is - I've knitted on the machine and I've learned a lot, but so far I have a limited number of actual things to show for it.

But I'm on the verge of something.  I can feel it.

It helps that I've got a whole lot of time suddenly free in front of me.  As I did last year, I elected to take leave (and a corresponding cut in pay) of five whole weeks.  It starts on Monday and I'm starting to feel pretty excited about the possibilities - especially now that stupid flu seems to be finally over.

So what can I tell you?

First, there will be sewing.  I AM going to finish that darned coat!  It doesn't help that there is a lot of hand sewing in it - but I've just had a look and most of it is already complete.  There's only one more buttonhole to attach the facing to.  I recall stopping when my fingers were too sore to continue but they have had a whole month to recover!

And then ... drummmmmmmrollllllll I will move on to new projects.  I feel my work wardrobe needs some new items and I certainly have the stash and patterns needed to create them.

Lekala Jacket Pattern

Like this fabulous Prada wool I bought in Chicago at Fishman's Fabrics in 2011.  The light blue is a beefy wool crepe with lycra from stash (Fabric Flea Market).

Fingers crossed I will have enough of the suiting to actually make a suit.  I'm planning to use a Lekala pattern for the jacket but reserve the right to change my mind after I muslin it.  The skirt will probably have to be a narrow pencil skirt, if I have enough fabric to do one.

The blue wool crepe will be a coordinating dress.  I have the godet dress from the September, 2014 issue of BurdaStyle in mind.  I have already traced the pattern.  I think it will look good in this plain but weighty fabric.

I bought some dark grey wool double crepe at Fishmans at the same time.  It may turn into something else that coordinates.  A flippy skirt and coordinating top?  What would you recommend?

Hmmm.  There may well be other sewing projects, depending on how these ones go.  I'll keep you posted.








And there will be knitting.  Right now I have a small and very colourful cowl on the go as a hand-knitting project.  It'll be finished soon.

Wrong side - yes it really is this bright

About 65% done 

The stitch pattern is easy - K1, slip 1 with yarn in front, repeat forever (on an uneven number of stitches so that you are always knitting the stitch you slipped in the previous round).  The back side is interesting too.  If you're on Ravelry, the free pattern is called Dots and Dashes Cowl.  I'm using Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock Yarn and the finished cowl will use half the skein.  

I have pledged to myself that this is the month to really learn how to be fully comfortable with my new knitting machine the Passap Duomatic 80.  Since I last wrote, I have accumulated a few additional tools for it - cast on combs and weights, and a transfer tool that moves stitches from one bed to the other (so you can place purl stitches easily on a bed of knit stitches, among other things).

My first actual project using the machine is to make hats for my curling team.  Three are finished, a fourth has been knitted but not assembled, and I still have to knit the fifth for our alternate player.  The first one was fun...