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. 

Staying cool

Hello my dear readers, I hope you've been enjoying the summer so far. The hubby and I have just arrived back from our little break in Sicily, and we had a lovely time. 

The weather was hot and dry there, so I feel that my body has stored up enough vitamin D now for a while :) 

In addition to eating Granita, which is Sicilian's answer to shaved ice/slushies/sorbet, I brought my new silk dress to help me stay cool. 

Yep, this is my second version of the Burda Jamie Shift Dress. Remember my first version in viscose? I had grown to love the silhouette, and thanks to all your helpful comments I decided not to bother with a belt. Now I love it so much that I made another one! 

I started making this the weekend before we went to Sicily, as I realised that I needed something to keep me cool. This was just the number, as the Jamie pattern is nice and loose, great for letting air circulate around the body, and the silk fabric is natural, breathable, and extremely lightweight. 

The silk was a purchase from my recent trip to Dubai, from the fabric souk. It was a mere £4 per metre, and was sold as "Indian silk". I think it's a silk charmuse. I loved the "tribal" pattern and the lovely colourful border (despite what my lovely husband tells me - over the years I've learned to selectively listen to him :p), and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to make with it. 

And the beauty of using the colourful border/selvage this way is that I didn't need to hem the dress. Result. 

Another reason I used the Jamie Dress pattern is that I realised from my last version that I didn't need the zip to get in and out. I didn't want to have to match the pattern on this slippery fabric, and I worry about seam slippage as it is, let alone with a zip. So the dress is only made up of 2 pattern pieces! Super easy. I think it only took me an afternoon from laying out, cutting to finishing the seams (with my new overlocker!)

I didn't make any additional alterations since the last attempt, as it fitted well. One issue I ran into was the bias binding - as it was such a soft and drapy fabric, making self fabric bias tape with this was near impossible. In the end I used a leftover cotton lawn that I had which was very lightweight, and it did the trick. Note to self - do not try and make bias tape with silk charmuse again. 

So that's all I've got to say about this. It was a simple project, and one that I could see coming together before my eyes as soon as I spotted the fabric at the souk. I just love how the border "pop". That said, I think the fabric choice/placement may be an acquired taste. Practically, though, the beautiful silk and the loose fit did wonders at keeping me cool in the heat, so I think it was a successful project :)

What about you? Are you making last minute holiday wear, too? Or busy sewing in anticipation of the "heat wave"? 

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.   

Giveaway winners

Hello! I hope this post finds you all very well. It's time to announce the winners of the giveaway:

The winners picked at random are:

• Melanie Robin from A Little Yorkshire Girl in a big craft world
• Elena from Tea for two

Congratulations ladies! Katy and Alex from AlexSwfit Designs will be in touch with you shortly.  

In the meantime, I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  

Garment District and last week of the GIVEAWAY

Greetings from the Big Apple! So I shopped the Garment District, and it was downright fabulous! Just a few snaps to share with you today. 

Also a reminder that the wonderful GIVEAWAY is closing in just a week's time, so if you haven't entered, please feel free to do so not only for a chance to win some fabulous handmade goodies, but also to support a great little independent shop that is just starting up. 

This is at Fabric for Less, where I bought 2 beautiful pieces of viscose/rayon (more on that later).
 

The fullest fabric shop I've ever been in, and trust me, I have been to the fabric shops on Brick Lane! (It's next to AK Fabrics on West 39th, although I can't for the life of me remember its name, the shop owner described it as a "fabric garden"). 

Gray Line Linen -- although I didn't buy anything from there, I could see that it is a perfect place to go if you need anything linen. I even saw some jute runners, which might do as stair runners with some modification? I digress. 

Here's some fabric that I bought:

Three pieces of cotton jersey, in different weight. Yep, I play with knit now! More on that another time. 

Some beautiful rayon from Fabric for Less -- you can actually see the red one on the roll in the picture above. The green one? I'm sorry if you like it, too, as I finished the roll with my 3 yard purchase. I think it would make a beautiful dressing gown - something different, eh? 

The stretch fabric, lining, and the rose print rayon (with some body, which I have earmarked for a dress with some structure) are all from AK Fabrics, together with some sweatshirt fabric. 

In addition to the fabric, I also bought some rayon seam binding, which is very hard to come by in the UK. 

The shops that were most successful in getting me to open my purse are Pacific Trimming and AK Fabrics, because of their great variety of stock, and the extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff. I also made purchases from Chic Fabric and Fabric for Less, both of which are apparently owned by the same people, though I found the former to be much better in terms of service. But hey, when I can get beautiful viscoseon/ray for a $5 per yard, how can I complain?

So all in all, it was a very fruitful trip to the Garment District, and a great day indeed (I also fitted in comfortably the High Line, New York Public Library, Macy's, and managed to catch a brilliant musical, After Midnight.). No complaint from me whatsoever (apart from tired feet)! 

 

That's all from me for now. Until next time, happy sewing! And if you get a break, make sure you don't miss out on the giveaway!