Lady Grey in progress

Posted on October 27, 2010 by The Sew Convert

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!

A Shirtdress’ Day Out

Posted on June 3, 2010 by The Sew Convert

I managed to take my dream photo today! A photo of my princess and I in our matching dresses! We were all dressed up for my prince’s birthday celebration at his school.My prince’s actual birthday is in two days but we organized a small celebration today with his classmates, including his lil’ girlfriend from New Zealand (Don’t let him know that I told you:P). It was a surprise for him as non of us spoke about visiting his school when he was around. Even my husband took leave to join us in the surprise mission! I will never forget the grin on his face when he saw us and the big hugs we received. Here’s his royal highness eating one of the sinfully sweet cake toppers! Yikes! I hope he brushed his teeth thoroughly tonight.

One of his teachers saw my princess and I in matching outfits and asked if I got it in the same shop. She was very surprised when she found out that they were created by me. I was not surprised by her reaction though as people who sew clothes for the love of it are almost extinct on our urban land.

While I had to struggle with the stool and camera just to snap some photos on other days, my sweet husband was around to capture the special moments today. We went to the park behind my prince’s school for these shots.

I have never noticed the tree behind us until today. It looked as if someone has painted green, yellow and red stripes on it with water-colour. This is the Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree and the stripes are a result of peeling bark from the tree. It looked amazing!

When I saw the tree, I remembered what my son said when he woke up this morning. That Jesus was painting slowly so that the sky turns brighter and brighter. What a wonderful and sweet description from a four-year old.

In the afternoon, my husband and I went on a date. We had delicious Hakata Ramen at Yoshimaru by the East Coast beach, watched a movie (Prince of Persia) and went shopping at Spotlight. I had to get those zippers and off course ended up with additional fabric and notions. It felt funny when I saw the floral fabric I had used to sew this shirtdress in its original cotton fabric bolt at Spotlight. My husband laughed when I quickly moved on to another fabric collection. Somehow, I didn’t know how to react in such a new situation and before I could ponder about it, we were at the cashier where the fabric on my dress was instantly recognized by the lady behind the counter! She was sweet and said the fabric has transformed into a pretty dress and asked if I got it tailored. When I told her I made it, she said it is a wonderful skill to have as tailoring would have cost over a hundred dollars. I guess I can take that as a compliment?

When we reached home, my princess was still in her dress. I looked at her and smiled. What a good day out.

Seam Allowance Made Easy…I Hope

Posted on May 18, 2010 by The Sew Convert

I’m following Grosgrain’s A Frock By Friday sewalong and this time, we are creating a shirtdress like this one below. Gorgeous isn’t it? Today’s the first day of this sewalong (In Singapore time it is:)) so you can still join us! Kathleen from Grosgrain has also given great tips on how to create longer sleeves or an A-line skirt under the comments section, making this a really versatile pattern.

Like the last sewalong, this free sewing pattern does not come with seam allowance. This is the third project where I have to add my own seam allowance so I thought I’d share the process of how I do it. Off course, I’m not sure if this is the correct method but it is pretty easy and has served me well so far:) So, here’s a very concise tutorial using only a measuring tape and a washable fabric chalk or erasable fabric pen.

Step 1: Depending on the colour of your fabric, use a contrasting chalk or fabric pen and create 1.5cm lines around the sewing pattern. You can draw these onto the fabric. See white line in photo below.

Note: I use a 1.5cm seam allowance because I do not have a serger and in place of that I use the french seam most of the time. If you are not doing so or are blessed with a serger, you can choose the length you are most comfortable with. Seam allowance are not necessary where you cut on the fabric fold.

Step 2: Join the lines for irregular edges. (I normally do not join the lines when it’s a straight line on the pattern but cut across those lines I have drawn). I also recommend drawing other marked lines or dots on the sewing pattern onto your fabric with your chalk/pen at this time.