A touch of neon, in lace...

Hello, all, I hope you are having an enjoyable weekend. I was in Edinburgh for the long weekend, the main purpose of which was to attend a wedding yesterday. It was truly a beautiful day, and it was so lovely to see the sweetest couple tie their knot. 

We've just got back home now, and I couldn't wait to share my wedding guest outfit with you. 

You have probably guessed from just looking at the dress that it was another Mccalls 2401 make!! What I can say, whenever I lay my hands on some slightly stretchy material, that is the first pattern that pops into my head. It is perfect for so many occasions, and attending wedding is certainly one of them. 

The fabric is an interesting one. Fabricland described it as a jersey, which is completely true, but the lace is not a print, but an additional layer that's "glued" on top. I think the lace layer is less stretchy than the jersey itself, so it ended up being quite a stable fabric, but with a bit of give. My favourite type!

I loved the lace, and the colour -- kind of pink, kind of coral, but with a touch of neon to it. How very on trend? 

What a lovely spot to tie the knot! 

The best thing about using a tried and tested pattern is that you could "whip up" a dress in no time, as no additional effort is required to adjust the fit. I used my normal sewing machine, with a ball point needle, and despite the fabric being jersey, it sewed up in straight stitches without any issue, as the stretch goes from left to right (very handy!) and this pattern doesn't contain a vertical seam. There's not much more to say about the construction, but if you did want to refer to what adjustments I made to the original pattern, please click on the tag Mccalls 2401 below which will bring up my 3, yes 3, other versions. 

A photo of the bias facing for the neckline and armhole -- I really like the lace and stripes combination. You might be able to see what I mean with the fabric more, here.  

So that's it, the loyal little pattern strikes yet again, this time in an interesting fabric. How do you feel about neon colours? How "neon" would you go? I would love to hear from you.   

Touch of pink dropped waist dress

Update -- make your own dropped waist dress following this simple tutorial here!

Whilst my Singer 8280 is taking some time out to be cured (hopefully!), I have been keeping up my sewing activities with my Singer 99k, and have really enjoyed getting to know this beauty from 1957 (a separate post on this later). For now, here's my latest creation:

I have a soft spot for dropped waist dresses, especially those with a semi-fitted waistline (I do like the baggy type, too, but generally more on other people). So when I snapped up this cute polka dot stretchy cotton, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. It's quiet a thick material, much thicker than the stuff I used for the old favourites dress and my Alma blouse, so would be perfect in providing the structure that is needed for the desired effect of the skirt. 

I've called the dress "touch of pink", as the polka dots are actually in a very pale shade of pink. You probably can't see this from the photos, but they do just make the fabric that little bit "softer". I love it!

I used Simplicity 2146 (remember my last version?) as a base pattern, as I like how it fitted, as well as the princess lines. I chopped off the bottom of the skirt and replaced it with a gathered skirt. 

I made quiet a narrow hem, and used a lapped zipper. Instead of the actual facing, of course I used my favourite single-fold bias tape technique. And this had to be in a pale pink, too. There are no photos of the inside of this dress, as I'm too embarrassed to show you the inside... as it's not yet finished! I'm waiting for my Singer 8280 to come back before finishing the seams. But the outside of the dress looks good, right? ;)  

That said, my lovely 99k has been instrumental in helping me with this wonderful little project. I approve! 

Old Favourites Dress and SOS on my Singer 8280!

What a beautiful summer weekend! For those that don't live in the UK, I hope you had lovely weather too! 

First thing first. I am very sad to report that my modern Singer (aka Sallie Moonbeam) broke down last night...  The handwheel mechanism got jammed up, and would only move a tiny teeny amount back and forth. I took her apart almost completely (big mistake), didn't find anything that was caught (but man was it filthy and fluffy), and when I proudly put everything* back, there were 3 screws and a cylinder left!!! Needless to say, it still doesn't work, and I am getting more and more wound up over it. I didn't quite realise just how much I was relying on my sewing machine, until it stopped working! 

HELP PLEASE! Has this happened to you before? Also, if anyone has any experience of any sewing machine repair/service specialists in the South East (UK), please could you let me know? 

Now onto the project. This was a quick project with one of my favourite patterns, McCalls 2401 (see previous versions here and here), and the same stretchy cotton fabric that I used in my Alma Blouse. I've called it the Old Favourites Dress, though strictly speaking the fabric is quite a new favourite. 

It was a breeze to use this tried and tested version, which I have altered previously to fit me (see adjustments here). This time I made a View F, with the bateau neckline, and sleeveless. I love this pattern with a stretchy cotton - it hugs the body so well and it's super comfortable to wear.  

  

I finished the neckline and armholes with a navy single-fold bias binding as facing - you can't see it from the photos but I love the slight contrast on the inside. 

I think this is quite a smart looking dress. And did I mention how comfy it was to wear? A bit of stretch is all you need sometimes! 

Have a lovely week all! My priority will be to get my 8280 fixed but in the meantime, I'm going to try and use my Singer 99k to keep me busy... 

Alma blouse!

After drooling over the Alma blouse pattern since the day it was introduced to us all, I have finally taken the plunge to buy the pattern and make my first version. 

I must admit, I had really high expectations for this pattern, especially after seeing all the great versions on the blogsphere. But I was not a little bit disappointed! Thank you, Tasia, for such a wonderful pattern!

I made view B, cut a size 0, and needed no alteration what so ever! I know that Sewaholic patterns are great for pear shaped ladies, and although I am not exactly pear shaped, this was perfect for me as I would usually do a SBA.  

The pattern instructions were clear and concise, with all steps for all views fitted onto one single page. The pictures are really helpful, too. I liked the over and under collar pieces; in fact this is the first time that I have seen such distinction -- when I made the 1940s fitted blouse, the Peter Pan collar used the same pieces for the collar itself and facing.   

I used a floral stretch cotton for the top and polycotton for the collar. I was really pleased with how it's turned out. I love the way it fits -- the invisible side zipper really helps! 

Now I just can't wait to make another version - View A, here I come! 

Mccall's 2401 - blurry version

Mccall's... here I come! 

Yep, it's my first Mccall's pattern. First impression - fantastic! Once the fitting issue is resolved, I loved how the dress turned out and just how simple it is. I'm already making a second, and less blurry, version of this.  

And yes, I AM wearing my wedding shoes (and again yes, I did wear pink shoes to my wedding!)- they go with the dress rather well, no?

I love this fabric. It's bright, yet blurry and almost make you feel out of focus. It's a cotton with Spandex from my local favourite, Fabricland, at £5 a metre. It's really easy to sew - this was actually my first time sewing with fabric with a bit of stretch, so I used my stretch needle (not sure if it's necessary though?) It was really comfortable to wear too. I enjoyed the whole experience so much that I have already purchased another couple of metres of stretch cotton! It is supposed to be in a beautiful turquoise (I bought it online) and I can't wait to have it. 

Now the pattern - Mccall's claimed that it was easy, and it really was. 2 main pattern pieces for the dress (front and back), the facings and sleeves, and you are done! The whole thing took me half a day from day to finish, which was a record for me, especially for a dress that involves more than just lots of shirring. 

I adore the simple yet classic design - it really helps show off fabrics like this, doesn't it? I would say that you could wear it to all sorts of occasions... but perhaps not with my choice of fabric. For example, the dress code for our dress down Friday is " nothing too disco", so I think this safely rules my blurry dress out. It's definitely too "disco".  

As I mentioned before, there were some fitting issues. This pattern runs from a size 6, which based on its measurements, would fit me fine. However, the envelope suggests that the finished garment has a chest measurement of 34 inches. It may not sound so huge but why would anyone who has a 30.5 measurement want to have that much ease? What does Mccall's think that we are going to do when wearing a shift dress like this? 

So anyway, I made a few adjustments to the size 6 pattern to make it fit me:

• I made a small bust adjustment and managed to remove the side dart (it's a bit depressing really!) and taken the bodice part of the dress in in width by 1cm or so; 
• I made a petite adjustment; 
• I widened all darts by 1cm on each side so taken the dress in at the waist by 8cm in total;
• I widened the seam allowances by 0.5cm on both sides thereby reducing the overall width by 2cm;
• I made a wide seam for the zipper; and
• I shortened the dress by another 5cm (and still made a extra wide hem). 

They may sound rather drastic, but bearing in mind that I was working with a stretch cotton, I really didn't want that much ease at all. So for the second version of the dress that I'm working on, I'm using a not-stretchy-at-all polyester crepe so I'm going to not shrink the dress by as much. but enough about that - you'll soon find out!