My very own Moneta!

Happy Chinese New Year, my dear readers! I hope the year of the Monkey brings you endless joy and happiness! 

I'm back after a few months of hibernation, with a satisfying project to kick off the sewing for 2016. I made my very own Colette Moneta! Why the break? I'm not sure really. A few months ago, I made the decision of only sewing when my sew-jo says so, and the same goes with the blogging. Ultimately, I sew and I blog because I enjoy it, and I didn't want it to become some sort of a chore. There is enough pressure and stress in modern life without becoming enslaved by one's hobby. Know what I mean? 

Anyhow, after seeing hundreds of Moneta popping up left, right and centre, my hands were itchy, and my sew-jo was flowing. I am so pleased to be finally joining the Moneta club. White Tree Fabrics kindly provided me with the pattern and the beautiful Art Gallery cotton jersey, which I felt in love with as soon I spotted it on their website. The fabric is even better in person - it is incredibly soft, and I have not stopped thinking about how I can make every inch of the scrap into underwear/leggings/PJs/tank tops that I can have the fabric hugging my skin all the time! 

It's been over a year since my first encounter with knits; I felt slightly nervous yet excited as I dusted off my overlocker for project number 2.  

For an inexperienced jersey sewer, I found the Moneta Sew-along really helpful. I have to admit that I was a bit worried about the gathering with clear elastics, but it worked out a lot better than I had feared. The pattern was great, and truthfully I've had my eyes on it as soon as it first came out. It's a classic design - versatile, very wearable, with cute variations. I went with Version 3, as I liked the length of the sleeves. I didn't worry too much about the fit here, since sewing with knits is rather forgiving, but I did reduce the length of both the bodice and skirt to allow for my petite frame. 

I had  managed to equip my sewing cupboard with both 1/4 clear elastic (which I struggled to get my sticky fingers on previously, so I stocked up when I was in NYC last year), and some Wonder Tape. The tape sure worked wonders when hemming the skirt and the neckline, as it works by holding the fabric in the right places without stretching it out of shape. I would highly recommend it if you want to avoid a wavy hem or a gaping neckline.  

The whole project was finished in a couple of evenings, which has really made me appreciate how quick sewing with knits is. No facing, zips, buttons, or fitting issues, and the seams are already finished as you serge. Why didn't I enter the world of knit fabrics earlier?  

With this little project under my belt, you can probably tell that I feel a lot better about sewing with knits. What's next? I hear you ask. Honestly, I'm currently fighting against the urge of making another Moneta, with a heavier, warmer fabric. I think it will be back to basics next, either with the Linden sweatshirt, or the Lark tee, to help me build a more wearable homemade wardrobe. 

Lace dress

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! 

I have quite a project to share with you today. It is pretty special on a number of accounts: 

1) I have finally tackled one of my biggest fears when it comes to sewing...working with lace. And boy, did I throw myself into the deep end with this one! 
2) I have not had such a challenge since completing my wedding dress; 
3) This is my first White Tree Fabrics Blog Team make!

The fabrics

White Tree Fabrics kindly provided me with a beautiful heavy corded lace and a luxurious duchess satin for the underlining. If there ever was a match made in heaven, it was those two! What's more, I already had a piece of cotton lining with a very similar shade. I like it when a plan comes together ;) 

I wanted to give this stunning piece of heavy corded lace the attention it really deserves, and that could only mean one thing - appliqué seams. Yes, it is time consuming, but I adored the all over, seamless look that's often seen on couture lace dresses. 

Can you spot the dart and the side seam?

I also love the scalloped selvage of the lace, and used it everywhere -- I made sure the pattern was cut so that the hem falls onto the selvage to minimise the hand stitching. 

The pattern

The pattern is McCalls 6505, which I have had in my stash for quite some time. I love the design, and the photo on the envelope, but have read mixed reviews on the instructions. 

And they were right of course, as the steps described were pretty confusing! Thankfully, though, since I was using appliqué seams, I needed to change the steps anyway. So I spent hours checking all my sewing reference books, and searching through the internet, to come up with a plan that would work for my dress. 

My steps

Here's the nerdy part. I've summarised the key steps I went through, in case it helps anyone else who has been looking at attempting this pattern, or making a similar dress. 

Firstly, the terminology. I'm going to call the lace layer, er, lace, then the duchess satin as "underlining", and the cotton lining the "lining". 

Underlining and lining

1. After making a toile of the lining, I took in at the waist, chopped off some length, and made the slashed side dart into a full, overlapping dart. I also transferred these changes to the pattern for the lace layer. 

2. Making the underlining, and the lining layers, leaving the centre backs open. 

3. Attaching the underlining to the lining at the top/neckline, across the entire top edge. Understitch. 

4. I also made a waist stay, to take some of the weight off the shoulders... literally! This was attached to the lining layer (i.e. sandwiched between lining and underlining), and brought through the lining via buttonholes. 

Cutting the lace

5. Thread trace the pattern pieces on the lace, including the marking for the darts. If I were to do this again, I would thread trace the actual stitching line, as opposed to the cutting line, i.e. I would exclude the seam allowance. 

6. Take great care cutting around the thread, allowing full motifs outside the thread markings. I would say this was the most crucial step in the whole project.  

7. The appliqué seaming begins! Here's a photo of the side dart with the basting and pins. I took my time with the hand stitching here, ensuring continuity of pattern where possible.   

8. I then tried stitching the side seams with a narrow zigzag on my machine, as a shortcut to doing the appliqué seaming. It wasn't the smoothest experience, because the heavy cords often got a bit stuck in the feed dog, but I went slowly and it worked ok. 

Sleeves and neckline

9. I drafted the cap sleeves, rather than using the ones from the pattern, because I wanted to take advantage of the scalloped selvage. 

10. Time for more hand stitching... to attach the sleeves. 

11. I cut a strip of selvage from the remaining fabric, and hand sewed it to the neckline, going from centre back to centre back (via the front!), and also "finished the arm cycles (the portion not covered by the cap sleeves) the same way. 

Attaching the layers

12. After trying the layers on together, I hand basted the lace to the underlining at the centre front and underarm side seams. 

13. I took all three layers together at the centre back, and handpicked the zipper through all layers. Finish the portion of all layers below the zipper. 

14. I then made some covered snaps with the lining fabric, and sewed two pairs at the top of the centre back to the lace. 

15. Finally (!), I hemmed the underlining so that it hangs above the scalloped lace hem, and then the lining so that it is even shorter and is invisible when worn. 

Needless to say, it was a time consuming project. This wasn't my usual "weekender", but it was much more rewarding. I was finally ready to attempt working with lace, and I am really pleased that doing this the couture way has worked out well. 

I must admit though, this was possibly the messiest project that I have ever done! All that thread tracing, snap covering, pins that slipped through the net (yep!) and of course trimming off the excess lace from appliqué seams... My sewing room is a complete mess, and I keep finding red fluff everywhere in the house, and on our clothes... I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only person who's pleased that this project is finished! 

Now over to you - do you sew with lace? Any tips to share? 

My Pattern Picks!

Remember my silk kimono? That was my first encounter with Love Sewing magazine. I was really impressed with how current and informative this magazine is, and you can probably imagine my excitement when the editor Helen asked me to write a feature on My Pattern Picks! 

This has just been published in the latest issue, issue 12, which has been on sale since 26th March. I'm sure regular readers of this blog will not be surprised by the patterns that I chose below, as I have never shied away from recommending them :)  

Here are the links to my versions of these 5 wonderful patterns:

McCalls 2401 (need I say more?) 
version 1 (blurry)  version 2 (spotty) version 3 (stretchy floral) version 4 (neon lace)

Simplicity 2311 
My wool coat

Simplicity 1368
My 30-minute maxi

Vogue 1137
My unlined version

Sewaholic Alma
View B
View A

Another piece of good news is that I am now a White Tree Fabrics blogger! Watch this space for my makes ;) 

Thank you for allowing me for some self-indulgence!