Navy wool coat

I made a winter coat! And it's in time for the festive season. 

Ladies and gents, I am super pleased to share my latest project with you. This is the first winter coat I have ever made, and I don't think it will be the last!

Don't I look proud in my new coat?

 The fabric

The fabric is a pretty special one. When I was in Beijing visiting family and friends back in September/October, my mum took out a beautiful piece of wool from her cupboards. She had bought it when she was about my age, which also means that the fabric is probably as old as me. The price at the time was £1 a metre, and apparently she bought it due to peer pressure, as her friends were speculating that fabric prices were about to shoot up. I'm not sure if the prices did surge shortly after, but I do know that you can't get 100% wool for £1 a metre any more, or at least in the parts of the world that I've set foot in. . 

It's a truly lovely fabric, and has survived the years extremely well. But boy did I feel the pressure to do it justice! My mum has already requested a picture of the end product so that she can show it to her friends! 

The Surrey Hills, ladies and gentlemen! We are so lucky to have this right on our doorstep. 

The pattern

Update - this pattern is Pattern of the Week here at £2.95! Hurry up if you want your own copy. Thank you SylvieW for the heads-up :)

I've had the Simplicity 2311 (Project Runway) pattern in my stash for a while, but hadn't quite had the fabric or the courage to have a go at a full winter coat. Now that I've claimed back my sewing room from all the building mess, and as my normal winter coat started to fall apart, I knew that it was time. 

I've always been a fan of Project Runway patterns, and this one was no exception. I wanted a long-ish coat, to keep me warm and cosy through the winter months, but also one that is classic and timeless, without too many decorative details which might go out of fashion. After a lengthy debate, I went with the long, double breasted version with the tie belt and non-gathered sleeves. 

I had some issue with the fabric, as my mum, in her attempt to beat inflation, only bought 2 metres of the wool... Good job I am quite small (I cut a size 4), and just about got away with fitting all the pattern pieces on the fabric after spending a morning playing with the "puzzle" and shortening the pattern by a couple of inches. 

I did a muslin for it, with a plasticy fabric that frayed like there was no tomorrow (you can probably sense my relieve that it is no longer in my stash)! I did this because I couldn't afford to make a mistake with the wool (as there is literally tiny pieces of scrap left after carefully cutting out), and also I wasn't quite sure about the huge lapels from view B. 

Pattern adjustments

I made a few adjustments after the muslin, but overall the fit was decent anyway. Sewing the muslin also boosted my confidence with the project, as it was really no different from making a princess lined dress. 

I also consulted a couple of my sewing books, including Vogue Sewing (revised and updated) and Couture Sewing Techniques. 

After the muslin and the research, these are the adjustments I have made to the pattern:

• The petite adjustment to raise the waist;
• Shortened the length even further (it ended up being about 5cm longer than the shorter version) to squeeze into the fabric;
• SBA on the side front piece using this method;
• Took in a couple of cm at the centre back seam;
• Reshaped the lapels - reduced the width and raised the breaking point. To make the latter effective, I also had to shift the dart;
• I didn't use the same pattern pieces for the lining. Instead, I followed the pictures here. This method reduces the stress on the lining fabric, which is often less stretchy than the fashion fabric, and also allows the lining to be bagged without hanging down from the hem. 

Construction and instructions

The sewing process didn't take too long - I broke it down by constructing the outer shell without sleeves (as I have a bit of a sleeve-setting phobia), constructing the lining with the sleeves, setting sleeves on coat and attaching the belt carriers, and finally bagging out the lining. 

A word to say about the bagging out method. After a bit of searching, I ended up following this tutorial, which explained the steps really well with great photos. What I did do differently, was that instead of opening up a seam in the sleeve lining (as I had already serged all the lining seams due to excessive fraying - the thought of the seams melting within the bagged lining was driving me crazy!), I left a 20cm opening in the coat and lining hem to turn the coat inside out. It worked wonderfully, and took no time to slipstitch the opening afterwards. I will happily do the same thing again next time. 

Now I wanted to mention the pattern instructions. They are fine, and with some dedication and a highlighter I managed to follow them, but please be warned that they do jump around an awful lot, especially if you are looking to make the coat with Front B, and also there are often lots of steps cramped into each point. For those reasons, if you are a beginner to coat making/tailoring, I would highly recommend marking the instructions as you go along, and read everything twice! 

Finishing touches

I spent a bit of time umming and ahhing about whether to go with buttons with the belts or the tie belt with the carriers (following the phraseology in the actual pattern). I went as far as ordering some navy French vintage buttons, which are yet to reach me. In the end I liked the streamlined look with the tie belt, and liked that it cinches the waist in appropriately. I also inspected my wardrobe and realised that all my coats have buttons! So it's certainly time for something a bit different. 

Finally, the lining. This is an Indian silk/poly mix that I bought from my recent work trip to Dubai (at about £2 a metre!) and it was a match made in heaven with the wool fabric. I haven't quite decided whether to add a hidden button yet (as currently the coat seems to retain its shape pretty well without it) but this would be one international coat if I do, with the Chinese vintage wool, Indian fabric purchased from Dubai and vintage French buttons. How fabulous!

So there you have it, my first home made winter coat. I am 100% happy with it (and I don't say this about many of my projects), and am relieved that I was able to make use of such a lovely piece of fabric gifted from my mum. I am sure it will see me through many winters to come. Then I realised - this is the beauty about sewing outerwear, isn't it? This coat is going to see the world with me a lot more than my favourite dress/blouse would ever have the chance to. 

What's next? Perhaps I'll keep the momentum going by making a trench coat for the spring! I sense some planning/day dreaming coming up. In the meantime, I hope you all make the most of the Christmas break, and enjoy the wonderful festive season wherever you are! Allow me to leave you with the festive picture of Rudolph in front of the house at Polesden Lacey (where we were today for some festive fun, and where the photos above were all taken) to get you in the holiday mood :)  

Floral Elisalex - wedding guest dress

Since my attempt at Sew Dolly Clackett, I have been meaning to make a "proper" version of the Elisalex, with its signature tulip skirt. 

I had the fabric all-along - a beautiful heavy cotton sateen from the home furnishing department of John Lewis. Not only it would make lovely curtains and blinds, I could see a floral Elisalex emerge before my eyes. Wouldn't it make the perfect wedding guest dress? It's lucky then I still have 2 weddings to go to this year. 

And here it is, just as I envisaged. 

I pulled out all the stops with this one. I fully lined it with a lighter weight cotton lawn in a similar colour palette, with a cloth allowance built in (don't know what it is? Sherry explained it in detail here), finished and pressed the seams as I went along, and handpicked my zipper (after umming and arring about an exposed zipper). As much as I'd like to think that I pay great attention to detail for all of my projects, this one got just that little bit more attention. 

This is the dress inside-out:

Isn't it a beautiful delicate pattern?Here's the lovely low back, and the handpicked zipper: 

I must admit, I wasn't sure about the shape of this dress, and in particular, how the tulip skirt might look on my petite frame. But after seeing all those great versions on the blogsphere, I decided to give it a go. I knew, though, that the tulip skirt will need to fall just above my knees to even give me a chance of pulling it off. So after measuring the pattern, I hacked 10.5 inches off the length from the bottom of the skirt front and back pieces. I did contemplate shortening it from the hip area, but decided that the tulip would be even more profound, more likely to drawn my legs in it. I think it worked well. If anything, it probably could've done with shortening even more. 

The other alterations I made was to remove some back gaping issues, which were identified in the toile previously, and an SBA. 

Have you seen the photos on the By Hand London website for this pattern? They are all fabulous, and more importantly the skirts all fall way above the knee. I know that I'm only 5'3'', but I could only imagine that Elisalex is a super tall lady with extremely long limbs in person. 

Now a few notes on the construction, and instructions. When I made this pattern (the bodice anyway) last time, I did not read the instructions, as I wasn't lining the bodice, or using the skirt, so it was really just a straightforward princess seamed bodice. But this time I paid more attention to the instructions. 

For a beginner/intermediate pattern, I think the instructions could do with more details and tips. I don't mean this to be a criticism, as I do think it's a well drafted pattern, but for people who might be sewing a princess seam or lining a bodice for the first time, here are a few things that I would expect especially from an Indie pattern, as they would no doubt help beginners develop their sewing techniques:

1) For a smoother finish of the princess seams, staystitching and clipping on the side front seams would help achieve a more professional finish. I use this article here on threads. 

2) There could be more blurb on how to finish the seams which will be hidden under the lining. Here's what I did:

Can you see it? For both the fashion fabric and lining, I sewed a parallel line close to the seam in the seam allowance, before trimming the excess and pressing the seams towards the side. 

3) After joining lining to bodice at the neckline and armholes, I think there's a crucial step missing -- grading, and understitching as far as you can. I referred back to my last (and only) fully lined dress before, my modest raspberry dress, and I looked at the instructions again (McCalls 5921) closely. Grading and understitching in my opinion is the key to make the lining or facing lie flat inside the dress, without riding up to be on shown on the outside. Here's another in-progress photo before I pulled the lining out of each shoulders. 

Can you see that I've trimmed the lining at the armhole, and have graded, clipped and understitched the neckline? 

4) Comparing to the detailed instructions on McCalls 5921, I was disappointed to find that for step 8, this pattern stated "this is a little fiddly and unfortunately impossible to clarify with a drawing so please read carefully", when I could clearly see a drawing done for the McCalls pattern. 

Other than the above, I do think that the pattern is well drafted, and overall the instructions are ok, albeit a little basic. It's lightheartedly written, with little tips for a couple of steps, and I liked that there's space for the notes to be made at the back of the instructions booklet. Although I don't think I am very much a By Hand London type of girl, I can see how this style could be appealing to a lot of people.  

I realise that I may have started off a bit negative about the instructions here (I'd like to think it's more constructive, as opposed to negative), so credit when it's due -- I would say that the somewhat basic instructions were made up by the detailed sew-along for this pattern. Although obviously I missed that by about a year and a half, a quick glance shows that it provided more details and pictures on the construction, as well as a platform for Q&As which is great. 

Anyhow, ignoring all that geeky talk, I am very happy with how this dress turned out - it's exactly as I envisaged when I purchased the pattern and fabric. I don't feel silly in the tulip skirt, and I would be very proud to wear this to the upcoming weddings! 

Small bust adjustment - part 3

After the recent Sew Dolly Clackett dress, it's time for the 3rd instalment of the SBA tutorials series. This part will deal with a SBA on a princess seamed top or dress. This is probably the easiest adjustment compared to Part 1 and Part 2, so enjoy the simplicity!

First thing first, I know that some find princess seams a pain to sew. Having sewn quite a lot of princess seams (my wedding dress had such construction), I have found that the a smooth finish can be achieved by following this tutorial. 

Now this little tip is out of the way, let's get started with the tutorial. 

I say that princess seams are super easy to adjust, because all you need to do is to "shave off" some of the excess curve. Normally I take the piece with the outside curve, i.e. the side front (I'm using the By Hand London Elisalex pattern here), and simply smooth out the curve around the bust area. 

I'm demonstrating this here using the pink highlighter:

A close up:

I use the French curve for this, but this can also be achieved free hand. 

The next step is to cut off the excess following the pink line, and then you are good to go!  

Note that I often find that the pattern piece with the outside curve (side front in this case) is prone to stretching, and end up being longer than the inside curve piece (centre front in this case), so "smoothing out" the curve actually helps with this problem. 

I should add the usual caveat now that as with the other 2 parts, this is simply what I do to adjust for a smaller than B cup bust, rather than the "right" way. It works for me, and I hope it does work for you too :)

As always, any questions please ask, and I'll do my best to answer. 

Vintage Vogue 1137 - take one

Hello, my dear readers, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, and it's not running away from you too quickly! I'm very excited to show you my first finished make for the vintage sewing pattern pledge! 

It's a reproduction vintage Vogue 1137, from the 1950s. I must admit that this was a pattern that has quietly sat in my pattern drawer for quite some time -- whilst I love how the drawing looks, and have seen various lovely finished versions on the blogsphere, the fact that it was reprinted in sizes 8-14 meant that it would've been a bit more work for me to grade it down to my size, so I had been putting it off and prioritising easier tasks instead... However, the pledge was just what I needed to get my arse in gear!     

My apologies if your eyes are struggling to focus. It's not you, it's me, and my fabric choice! 

This is take one, as I was going to use it as a test run for the graded size 6 pattern. What with it being a vintage production, and Vogue (don't get me wrong, I do love Vogue patterns, but you may have noticed that for some reason my go-to big 4 tends to be Simplicity, and I'm a lot less familiar with the Vogue sizing) and its V-neck, I wasn't exactly keen to cut into my beautiful Liberty wool just yet! So I found this medium weight (quilting?) cotton in the dizzying print, and had a go of it instead. 

Once I've traced a size 6, I did my usual SBA (due to the construction of the bodice, I used this method), and shortened the bodice, too. I also shortened the skirt significantly, as it was almost a mid-calf length, and I ended up cutting it above where the side vents would've been. It's a shame as I quite liked the look of the side vents, but midi skirts really aren't flattering on me, and I didn't want to compromise on the shape of the skirt to keep the vents. I didn't bother with the belt, as the shape of the dress was enough to cinch the waist in, and I was happy with the silhouette.   

One of my favourite design details on this pattern is the elegant v-neck back. The V is not as profound as at the front, but a lovely touch indeed. Speaking of the front V-neck, I love that, too! I'm not normally a keen wearer of V-neck garments, but I really liked this version as it's not too low, yet still maintaining the great pronounced V shape.   

The thing is, once I'd put it all together (it was a breeze, by the way) to test out the fit, I loved how it looked so much that I decided to finish it off as a dress. I didn't want to line it, though (or just line the bodice, as the pattern suggests), so I drafted front and back facing to finish the neckline, and did my usual single-fold bias tape facing trick for the armholes. By the way, I have now "consolidated" the tutorials (from other blogs) that I use often (in other words, can't sew without!) on the tutorials page, so that it'll be easier for me to refer to them every now and again, and also in case it would help anyone else. Trust me, they are tried and tested, and AMAZING tutorials.    

Armhole finished with navy bias binding as facing:

 The mock overlocked waist seam:

The front bodice and skirt darts at the waistline - all lined up (I think I've becoming more and more OCD these days) 

 Hand finished blind hem: 

So there you have it, my first version of Vogue 1137. And thank you, Marie, for encouraging me with your brilliant pledge idea! What do you think? I have a few other projects lined up at the minute, but I am now looking forward to making this in my Liberty wool, and even with the self-fabric belt! Watch this space! 

Mad Men challenge 2013 - my entry

At the very last minute, I decided to participate in the Mad Men Challenge 2 hosted by the beautiful and wonderfully talented Julia Bobbin. After dithering for a number of months (yes, months!), considering whether to commit myself to a project, given how busy I normally am with work in the first few months of each calendar year (and the last few, so let's face it the only "quiet" time is the summer), I decided to just get on with it and copy this shirt dress as seen on the stunning Betty Francis (nee Draper).  

For one thing, I wanted to make use of something from my ever-increasing stash, rather than buying more fabric, and ending up not using it, thereby making my stash situation even worse. I remembered this white and pink check medium weight cotton (it looks like gingham, but the check pattern is printed, rather than woven) that I bought in Prague last year, and thought that it would be a good candidate for the stripy pink dress as worn by Betty. 

Another key criteria for me is that I wanted to make something that I would actually wear. However, with hindsight I am not sure if I have achieved this goal as the whole outfit looks a bit like a nurse's uniform! What do you think? I am considering wearing this with a leather belt, but I have not ruled out making a matching self-fabric belt (I even cut out the fabric for it, but have nott manage to track down a plain white/clear buckle for it...). 

So I used the tried and tested Simplicity 2246 Lisette Traveler (I am going with the spellingo on the envelope this time, ignoring the spellcheck) with a few changes from my last version:

1. I made the skirt fuller - instead of following the pattern, I cut out a rectangle for the skirt, and gathered the top to the width of the waist seam. Based on my calculation, this increased the fullness by just under 50%;
2. I reduced the amount of SBA that I did, as I find that at times, usually after a three-course meal, some parts of the placket gapes a bit. The problem was that I ended up with a much looser fit for the bodice, which I then had to alter again... It turned out to be a much bigger job in the end! 
3. I used the sleeve pattern for view A/B (I made a view 3 dress) but shortened the sleeves and rolled them up to make the copycat more similar to the original.  
4. I changed the collar from a square one to a rounded one for the same reason. 
5. I also lowered the buttons slightly, for the same reason as above, and also because I think the top button on my previous version was a bit high.   

OK, so my fabric isn't exactly stripy, the button placket runs all the way down (I did not fancy inserting a side zipper as well!), and I've not yet made the self-fabric belt, nor am I wearing a petticoat... But overall I was pleased with the dress, obviously with the slight concern that I am not going to actually wear it other than at a fancy dress party... 

Even the gathering (which is my pet hate when it comes to sewing!) didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. As it turned out, the trick (to keep myself calm) is 1) to buy a gathering foot (raved about here) and 2) to use extra-strong thread so it doesn't break all the time when you are pulling hard. I may just be getting over this irrational fear, can you tell? 

So this is my attempt with copying Betty's dress, and my first year of participating in the fantastic challenge. I am very excited to see everyone else's entries, and am already looking forward to this challenge next year ;)

Subtly British

After spending over 9 years in the UK, I had my citizenship ceremony today. I wanted a dress that is subtly British for the occasion, in that I did not fancy wearing a union jack dress (can you imagine...), but wanted something that is in the right colour schemes to mark the event.

After searching for the right fabric for a few weeks, very luckily the lovely Helen brought a beautiful blue and red floral polycotton (pre-washed and everything - thank you!) to what could only be the biggest ever swap at the blogger meet-up last weekend.

I wanted a reasonably smart looking dress for the occasion - it was indeed a serious ceremony, so I wanted to dress the part without looking too business-like or "disco". So I decided to give Simplicity 1798 a go, which is a Project Runway pattern from the Autumn 2012 collection.

I bought this pattern pretty much as soon as it came out, as I was drawn to its lovely silhouette  the reglan sleeves and the notched neckline (unfortunately not so much the peplum, despite being a huge fan of peplums in general). So I made just that! It's a view A bodice with reglan sleeves.

Originally my ceremony was going to be in December, but as there was a last minute cancellation, my space was moved to today - this gave me little time to pull this all together, especially as I was away in the weekend. But a couple of evenings later, it is done!

I cut a size 4, which is what I normally do with Project Runway patterns, but it turned out a bit small. Either I expanded in the last few weeks (which is highly likely, given my um, increased food intake in colder weather), or this pattern runs small! Obviously I have not got a 22 inch waist, but I usually find that the design and wearing ease included in a pattern is a bit excessive, so I would typically cut a smaller size. 

I didn't need to let out the side seams thankfully (the midriff band complicates matters), but I did use a rather narrow seam at the back when inserting the zipper. I also made a tiny SBA to this princess seamed bodice, which was super easy. The only other alteration I made was that I shortened the skirt by 6cm so that it finishes just above my knees. 

This pattern did not disappoint. The dress turned out to be everything that I wanted (albeit a bit tight... so tiny breaths), and I just love the neckline. It was easier to make than I thought, too, and the facing stays in place and is extremely well-behaved. What more could I ask for? 

Some "in-action" photos: 

The Registrar, me, and the Queen (she was there in spirit!) - doesn't the dress go perfectly with the flag in the background? 

Signing my life away:

My little Lisette traveller

Before I start showing off my new creation, I thought I would remind you all of my first ever GIVEAWAY that is still open. Remember, all you need to do is commenting on that post before 30th September 2012 for your chance to win (the winner will be selected at random)! Good luck! 

Now I cannot wait any longer to show you my new dress ... voila!

With belt:                                                        Without belt:

So here it is, my very own version of Simplicity 2246, the Lisette Traveller dress. This was a pattern that I've had, and been wanting to make for a while - as it turned out, I was simply waiting for the right fabric. 

The fabric

I bought this gorgeous lightweight cotton (poplin?) from my mini-moon at Paris, from a store called La Folie Des Coupons on Rue d'Orsel, not far from Sacre Coeur. As the name suggests ("coupons" mean pre-cut fabric lengths in French, and typically they come in the length of 3 metres), this was a 3 metre remnant, which only cost me €10 (see proof)! I simply fell in love with the print - it was subtly floral yet sophisticated, and I just had to have it. The good news is, I only used just over 1.5m for this dress, so there should be plenty leftover for another project ;-) 

The pattern

This was my first Lisette pattern, and I loved it! Lisette is a relatively new line designed by Liesl Gibson, who had worked as a designer at a couple of top brands. I seem to recall her designing another pattern brand, but I think that's for kids clothing only. 

The pattern has been standardised by Simplicity, so it has a similar sizing and ease with your usual Simplicity patterns. The instructions were a little bit different though, as they are even more helpful than the usual Simplicity patterns. There are lots of Lisette tips along the way and it reminds you to finish seams after each step. The pictures were very illustrative too, and I had no problem making the collar and the button placket, both of which were a first for me. 

I think this is why a few people on PatternReview have rated this pattern easy and great for beginners. My view is that this is a wonderful pattern, though one that I would not recommend to beginners. Whilst the instructions are very helpful, I thought that this pattern had quite a few steps which may well be overwhelming for a beginner. I remember the days when I started sewing, and feeling nervous about making one single buttonhole (on the Cath Kidston bag from the Sew! book), let alone 10 of them, and not to mention inserting a collar and all the topstitching. 

Another thing I liked about the pattern was that it had a cute name - the traveller dress. 

Pattern alterations

I made a view C (the one with the gathered A-line skirt) and made a few alterations to this pattern:

1. A small bust adjustment - this pattern included a total ease of 5 inches around the bust for a size 6, which I thought was a little excessive. I halved the ease for my dress, by doing a SBA. I'm planning on doing a series of tutorials on how to make SBAs, including alterations on a number of different basic bodice patterns (please watch this space!). UPDATE: see tutorial here! 
2. I made a petite adjustment on the bodice.
3. I also shortened the skirt by 6 inches so that the skirt finishes above the knee.   
4. I also made a self-fabric belt from view A/B but am currently unsure whether it actually adds anything to it (let me know what you think?)

My "new" gadgets!

and some of them not so new actually...

First of all, I tried out my brand new "gathering" foot. Did you know that this existed? I bought a universal one and it cost me less than a fiver! I thought it was an excellent investment given how much I hate gathering. It looks like this:

Although it is not a snap-on foot, it is really easy to attach - all I needed to do on my Singer 8280 was undoing the screw and swapping the shank with the gathering foot. I then set the stitch length to the longest, and increased the upper thread tension to 6+ and off it went! There was no need to do parallel stitches, pull bobbin thread, baste and unpick. All done in one step (unless you wanted to unpick this one stitching line, if it bothered you - yep I am one of those pedantic people!). 

I used this helpful gadget on the waistline of the skirt, and on both sleeve edges! It was really easy and I was a happy bunny. 

Next I used "new" gadget number 2, the button foot. I made the purchase over a week ago, at the same time as buying the gathering foot, making comments like " oooh isn't this just soo clever? I can't believe I have not come across it already!" Guess what, when I was putting all my new sewing feet away after making this dress, I realised that I had one in my toolkit already!!! There it was, sitting quietly in my little zippy bag, only a shade darker than my newly purchased one. In fact, it was a standard accessory that came with my machine. D'oh! So if you haven't done so already, I would suggest checking what sewing feet came with your machine before purchasing new ones... 

Anyhow, it was a helpful little thing nonetheless. The soft blue tip holds the button firmly in place where the buttonhole step 3/4 stitch option does the zigzag stitch without feeding the fabric anywhere. It was rather clever and was so much easier and offers a lot more control than hand sewing buttons into place. A word of warning though, start very slowly by checking that the stitch length and position is right by turning the needle by hand as failure to do so would be rather disastrous. I ended up with one badly cracked button and 2 slightly chipped ones. Oops, I was far too clumsy. 

Where was I?

Have you noticed that the pictures weren't taken on top of our staircase today? No, it's not because I am still waiting for my freshly painted wall to dry, and no, of course we didn't paint it... -- with the weather being 27 degrees (in the UK! in September!), how could we possibly not take advantage of it? ;-) So we went to Mapledurham House and Watermill, which was a 10 minute drive from my house. Isn't it so grand and beautiful? and did you know that some lucky people still live there? 

It was a lovely day/afternoon out, made even better by the fact that my Lisette traveller was ready to travel and see some grand stately home just in time for our little trip. Perhaps next time we'll take a picnic!