Psst…there are gnomes in my Lady Grey…

I have never been unwell for so long that I couldn’t sew…To cut the long story short, my kids caught my cold/sore throat and passed them back to me! The good news is I am healed now and yes, I have finished my Lady Grey! I took these photos today and only after uploading them did I realise there wasn’t a clear photo of the peplum which I love. I will take some more shots and share next week. It wasn’t easy taking the shots, I was literally melting in the heat. It’s 30 degrees celsius today!

I love the color and am really pleased with it. I chose a gnome fabric by Michael Miller for the lining of this spring coat.

The side view and…
the back

The sleeves and shoulder pads definitely helped clear out wrinkles on the back 🙂 Besides the peplum, I also love the top-stitching details on the coat (yes, more photos of those too :)).  In the end, I didn’t do a bound button-hole. I did try it out on some additional fabric (my first and only try below) but didn’t have red organza so the white organza was peeping out at the sides. I will definitely try those buttonholes again in an appropriate future project.

Gotta go blow some candles off a birthday cake….have a great weekend! I will see you next week, share more photos/details on Lady Grey and tell you more about the next sewing theme.

 

UPDATE: New post with new photos of the Lady Grey here:)

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Lady Grey in progress

Finally I got to start work on my Lady Grey. While I wasn’t able to follow the sewalong schedule, I have been following Gertie’s posts on Lady Grey closely. I am definitely going for the bound buttonhole after reading her tutorial on it. I’ve never attempted this before so I am pretty excited. Before I start on that, however, I wanted to ensure the fit was right or at least near it. So, after cutting out the shell pieces yesterday, I sewed the main pieces together this afternoon just to try out the fit. I didn’t have to make any alternations to my macaron dress which was also from Colette pattern so I was hopeful that the fit will be all right. I wasn’t disappointed as I liked what I saw at the end of the afternoon. Love how the front turned out. Please excuse my hand as I have not done the buttons 😛I think a well positioned button instead of my hand pressing down on the coat could remove some of the wrinkles below the lapel.

In particular, I loved the feminine peplum with its natural folds. These help a lot with proportions and definitely added points to how flattering a coat can be. It almost felt like I was wearing a mini dress!The side wasn’t too bad as well. The back had slightly more wrinkles but I thought I should sew on the sleeves tomorrow before deciding if I wanted to insert shoulder pads and make some adjustments to the back centre seam to see if I can get rid of those wrinkles at the waist. If you have any suggestion on how to improve how it looks, please let me know 🙂

I intended to make a light coat rather than one for winter cos’ obviously we have no winter here and a light coat will increase its chances of being worn during either a spring or autumn vacation. My husband and I agreed that we would not be bringing the kids on any winter vacation till they are slightly older and more resilient. The fabric is a home decor weight fabric from ikea which was on sale for US$3 per meter. Some of it went to the creation of my lil prince’s toy bag and I had about 3.5 meters left for this pattern. After laying the pattern tissues on the fabric, I was happy that it was indeed sufficient for the project! I am still toying with the idea of making my own fabric button for the coat and am happy to have found a really cute fabric for the lining which I will show you in later post. Let’s just say this is gonna be a fun Lady!

Bloomers 1, 2 and 3

It’s rather gratifying to complete three projects in one day. In fact, I am wearing one of them now as I blog on this ridiculously hot and humid day. I seriously can not comprehend why I need to use a flash to get the photos right on such a hot sunny day. Without a flash these cute bloomers all looked over exposed, they looked almost white! Normally, I would have kept the flash function switched off when I use the camera as I prefer the natural look and hues. Anyways, these photos didn’t turn out too bad so here’s a post 🙂

The sewing pattern used is the Madeleine Mini Bloomers from Colette Patterns. I made a size M for a roomy, comfy fit and I also wanted them slightly longer. This is not a difficult pattern and can be completed pretty fast. The bloomers pattern is a wide shorts pattern. The waistband comes with two thin elastic inserted into two of the four casings created. The legs have a ribbon casing, with each end of the ribbons looping out from buttonholes.

Bloomers 1: Baby Bear

Did you find the fabric familiar? You are right, I made it out of the giveaway fabric the winner didn’t select. I had no plans for this fabric when I was organizing the giveaway so when the bloomers idea came along, I decided to give it a go. This is a Japanese retro print fabric I bought from Chinatown. It’s a cutesy pair of bloomers and instead of ribbons, I used a white ric-rac for ties. This is so cute I am thinking of making my princess a matching pair.

Bloomers 2: Fluffy Clouds

This was one of the first fabrics I bought online. It’s a Cloud print fabric from Korea. I can imagine myself waking up in this pair of bloomers already 🙂

I chose a thin yellow grosgrain ribbon with white polka dots for some contrast. This was the first pair I made out of the three so I learnt all the mistakes from this one. I didn’t read the tips on the last page of the instructions until my elastic got stuck in the waist casing so I had to undo some stitching and trim the seam allowances inside the fold of the waistband and that made threading in the elastic a breeze! It made a world of difference.

Bloomers 3: Floral on Green

I love love love this quilting cotton fabric from Jennifer Paganelli’s Flower Power collection.  It is just so pleasing to the eye! It is paired with a thin beige with mocha dots grosgrain ribbon.

This is the first time I made casings like these for elastic and ribbons and I love this new trick I now have in my bag! And off course, a new use for button holes- for the ribbon openings! A small gadget also made these steps much easier. I used to thread elastic using a baby safety-pin but it didn’t work in all cases. So, I got this simple tool from Daiso at US$1.30. It is highly reliable and helps push the elastic through the casing easily.

I am happy now that I have some made-me home shorts! Which of these bloomers do you like? My favorite is the Floral on Green. I have a weakness for green things as it has always been my favorite color. And the fabric design is just exquisite, I actually have it in three color ways 😛

Sad to say, I am having some problems with the patterns for my next project from ‘Twinkle Sews’. The pattern was designed to be printed on the uncommon letter size instead of regular A4 paper so I search the stationery shops and finally found some precious letter size. I printed them out yesterday but I am not confident that they will lay out well as I could hardly see the numbers at the sides of some pages. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I hope you are having a good sewing week! I will try my best to make the most of it!

Festivity Macaron Dress

I caught a terrible cold last Thursday and have not been able to sew. My second macaron dress was almost completed with the exception of the invisible zipper and the hem. It has been a rather frustrating wait for me, staring at the unfinished dress but not being able to do anything to it until this morning. Here’s my festivity macaron, so named because I thought it would be so appropriate to wear for the next lunar new year celebrations.

I really enjoy the process of making a garment for a second time as it always turns out better technically. I made everything like the first dress with the exception of the pockets. I didn’t include them this time round as the fabric combination has already made the garment rather busy so I wanted the design to be more simple. The top yoke was made with Anna Maria Horner’s Social Climber while the bodice and skirt, Michael Miller’s Ta Dots. I used a solid pink fabric for the midriff band.

While I was unwell and couldn’t work on the dress, insecurities crept it as I ended up wondering many times if the fabric combination would work out. I even had Plan B worked out in my mind just in case. Here’s a photo I took to compare the dresses on Thursday.

I showed the dress to my mum and husband that night. My mum liked it while my husband said he could only tell when it is finished. When he came home on Friday evening, I realized he had checked out the Picnic macaron dress on my blog and told me he thought the colors from the Festivity version goes better with my skin tone. How sweet is that? I really appreciated him taking time to ponder about it and for his encouragement. Otherwise, I might not have completed the dress. Sometimes, I find it rather tough to determine if a fabric choice will turn out well for a particular project and am left wondering till the garment is completed. There were even times when a garment looked nice during fitting but the end product is hideous. How do you make a decision on your fabric choice. Is there a method that always works for you? Are there colors or prints you would never wear? I am still trying to figure that out but normally it is just a gut feel. In this case, I just happened to put two fabrics which I loved together.

I have decided to make one more dress for my dress week, inspired by this post by the Selfish Seamstress so I would be starting on a new theme next week. I’ll tell you more about the theme at the end of the week but I’ve started washing the fabrics in anticipation of it but am absolutely clueless. It is something I have never tried before and the language difference is going to be a challenge.  Nonetheless, I’m going to try my best and enjoy the process.

Have a blessed week everyone!

Picnic Macaron Dress

I am in love with my picnic macaron dress. It makes me think of a refreshing al fresco lunch on a breezy summer day,  a picnic with sandcastle building, a barbeque and lots of laughter, even delicious crunchy red apples… it makes me daydream of happy things and brings a smile to a face.

Colette Pattern’s Macaron Dress has one of the most easy to use instruction booklets I have even read. The detailed explanation and graphics made the step by step instructions crystal clear  and simple to follow through. I chose an off white cotton fabric for the top, a blue gingham for the bodice and skirt and a smaller blue gingham for the midriff band which I widened for my version. The original band was a little too narrow for my liking. The fit, like what the instructions highlighted, had very little ease. I measured myself and made a size 6 and I love the fit! I didn’t need to make any adjustments. Yay!

I also love the hidden pockets behind the pleats and the flattering bodice. It was my first time sewing an invisible zipper. I practiced countless times on some extra dress fabric as advised and through the process I got to understand the tips from those of you who so kindly shared with me. Thank you so much everyone who left me tips on tackling the invisible zipper! Eventually, I decided that the method (using a normal foot) on Sew Serendipity was the one I was most comfortable with and used it for the dress. It is on the side shown on this photo and I’m happy with it.

I love that it is so different from the rest of the dresses I have made and a totally enjoyed the process of putting it together!

Retro Inspired Dresses

I managed to sew two retro inspired dresses this week and am totally delighted with them. I have no one to snap the photos for me today so I tried my best by standing on a stool and snapping my reflection in the mirror. Think it would have been hilarious if anyone was watching. Anyway, I used this vintage simplicity pattern I got from etsy for the first time. I chose the one with V-neck but shorten the dress length and the sleeves.

Dress Number 1: The Hummingbird dress

Full length view

Close up

The Sew Convert chose to make this dress in Patty Young’s hummingbird fabric (Flora & Fauna collection). The vintage pattern came with a 1.5cm seam allowance so it was ideal. It was my first attempt with vintage pattern so I was a little skeptical but the instructions were surprisingly easy to follow. It was also my first experience sewing a zipper and as The Sew Convert does not have a zipper foot, she chose a normal white zipper instead of an invisible zipper. Thank goodness it turned out all right, phew!

Dress Number 2: Scallop Hem Floral Mini Dress

Full length view

Front view

Side view

My second zipper

Off course, I was inspired by the vintage blouse I posted here. I adapted the sheath dress pattern from Wendy Mullin’s book Built By Wendy Dresses and used the vain and vapid tutorial for the scallop edge. I had to add seam allowance to the pattern and drew my own pockets.  Instead of sewing the hem area as suggested by the tutorial, I used bias tape to finish it so that it does not show on the right side of the dress. To ensure that the hem stays I stitched it to the sides of the dress,  the bottom seams of the pockets and the back centre seam. I used a thin orange bias tape for the pockets as I didn’t have piping but am happy with the end result.

For both dresses I adjusted the fit at the waist and hip area a little at the end. Two dresses in a week. That makes it a good week doesn’t it?

To make it an even better week ahead. Have you heard about the 30% sale at colette patterns? Don’t miss it, I know I won’t! I have been wanting to make the Rooibos and the Macaron dresses from colette. Drool!!!!