Gone the sparky, the fiddly and the girly route

So, it took me a half day mulling over what to make next over the last weekend after the quilt top, and home dec-y stuff. That's a short mull for me coz I can really get sidetracked (how weird that word "mull" sounds now).

I chose the sparkiest, fiddliest and imo girliest fabric in my stash, the one that I've bought online (Gorgeous Fabrics) more than a year ago, at least, not knowing what to expect. While loving it upon receipt, was at a loss at what to make of it... Plus was kinda intimidated to cut into it (which was the same story with most of my "precious" stash, all waiting for the time I feel that I'm a bit ahead in my learning curve, and nerve). It's a mint and gold velvet burnout on silk (chiffon), and I have a lil over 3 yards of it.

I think the fabric in different lighting/or day and night will look different as the above pictures.

A simple design that can showcase the fabric. I wanted something like a kimono style or a duster jacket/long coat style, if you may. Which I think a style that would suit me when I think along the lines of Sarah Liz's Body shape style guide for oval/diamond. My interpretation is to wear this open over a skimming/or a lil loose sleeveless hip length top and skinny pants for example.

The quick mull also lends to a rather (surprisingly) quick rummage in my unorganized pattern stash. I unearthed Simplicity 7406, apparently an OOP pattern, that I thrifted back in Iowa for 25 cents. :) The description says that it's a loose-fitting jacket with front band, has full-length sleeves from dropped shoulder line. Comes in size 8-20. I think it's a good base for what I have in mind.

Continuing with the adventurous spirit that seems to come in abundance in this project, I cut a size 20 to ensure fit over my middle and bottom half, and then work it out from there on. My reasoning is that after all, it's a dropped shoulder style anyways, and my fitting issues was always with the shoulders running big, but it should cease to be a problem with this style.

The only change I made to the pattern was to change the sleeves to be straight and a lil wider, in line with the kimono-esque feel I desired. And I cut the fabric. Then I remembered that I never washed/pretreated the fabric before. Duhhh... Yikess! Do I sew and then wash? What if they shrink on me? Sob sob... 

I ended up soaking the cut fabric in a tub with tap water+fabric softener, lightly squashing and thoroughly rinsing them, something I used to always do when washing my silk traditional clothes back when I was in boarding school (high school) and we had to wear traditional clothes or blouses with dressy pants/long skirts during prep classes (I suppose it's like homeroom time in schools here in US? Except that this is in boarding school, so it's a few hours at every weeknight. We have afternoon prep hours too, after lunch and rest, but we have to wear school uniform for that. I guess in uni (lived at home) and then work, my mom and I just send them to the dry cleaners.) Here, I guess I've been lazy and put everything in the washer! Note to self: I really should handwash all my me mades........

Thankfully, it didn't shrunk or anything like that, so the next morning I was able to iron on and proceed. The instruction was easy breezy, very short. I french seamed all seams (not in the instruction, but I've made enough french seamed projects to remember to add the step this time).

Oh, by the way, I saw that the selvage is kinda nice and I wanted to use that as a hem feature on the sleeves and the jacket's front band. For the sleeves, I just made sure that I cut the sleeves pieces with the selvage on the hem edge. ;)

So after the front bodice pieces sewn to the back piece (and french seamed), and then the sleeves attached to the dropped shoulders (and french seamed), I pin and basted (i do a lot of pin and hand basting in all my projects) the sides  together and tried it on (before stitching and then french seamed). Man.... It was too big around the chest area. Now, looking at the pattern pieces, am not sure if this is because I cut a size 20 straight (probably more coz of the style), coz usually my bust go with size 16, and my shoulders go with size 14. Usually. But worry not. In true Far fashion, I just pinned and marked to where I want the sides to be (sewn in one time from sleeves to sides). 

Now its a better skimming to the bust and flowy from there on down. Rather than a kimono style, it's kinda resembled a loose kebaya (another variation of the traditional malay dress). Which is not a bad thing. After all, the month-long Eid celebration will commence in early August after we're done with this fasting month. Now I have something festive to don, in case I don't have time to work on my intended dress (tunic and long skirt) in the fabric I planned for that to match with my boys (my extended family is big on matchy colors for our many celebrations, it makes for fun photo session).

Okay, I'm jumping the gun here by posting the finished outfit. But I forgot to take picture of it while it was baggy (coz there was frenzy of stuff around the house as well as this project related) and I was trying and pinning and basting and so on. Oh... did I tell you that the gold part sheds so much? From start to the end, and I know it will keep on shedding! I've never had to sweep and vacuum so many times in my life, esp for just one project! Last time my clothes shed so much was the fully beaded (again on chiffon!) wedding solemnization dress of mine. (Nope, didn't shed during the ceremony (didn't notice anyways LOL), but I've worn it a number of times up to early pregnancy (mainly events like Eid party) and I shed tiny glass beads everywhere! Hmmm... I wish I can fit into it again. No, it wasn't a me made, but I love the fabric! Refashion it? Hmmmm.... Not yet I guess.)

I'll back up a bit to the part of the front band, and wanting to use the fabric selvage as a finish/feature. I cut 2 pieces of the band pattern with the selvage there of course. Then I join the 2 pieces to make one long band (this is as instruction) french seam style (my preference). Then I iron the band in half right side together, and sandwiching the staystiched front of the bodice (like in pic below) I hand baste and then machine stitch it down (making sure that the selvage part will be on the front).

Iron them. This is how it looks like after stitching down. Oh, and I stitch and fold/iron 1/4 inch of the raw edge of the front band:

Pin the band together and baste (the selvage part to the folded down raw edge on the inside):

 And topstitch down.

Iron iron..... Lots of ironing, and shedding, and sweeping, etc etc.

What's left was hemming the bottom part. But I let it hang on the dressform whole day, before I made a tiny (for me) hem the boring dirty way: stitch 1/4 inch at the bottom, iron and fold over on the stitchline, pink cut the seam to smaller, then fold and iron a tiny hem, and then stitch down approx 3/8 inch. Iron. Done. Phew.

FRONT

BACK: I dunno why one of the sleeves look longer than the other here. I assure you it's not so in real life. I think. LOL.

And that's that.

For my friends over at the 2013 Style the Stash Sewalong, I think I might have used 2 1/2 yards for this. :)

What's next? Quilt the baby quilt already! and then another shirt for hubby with some tweaks to be done from his first shirt during the June stashbusting. And maybe a button up shirt for the Bean too... Ah, plans... we'll see about that!

Smiles,
Far

Fixed Parfum

I've unpicked, chopped/resized the shoulder a bit, and re-sewn the sleeves in. Felt much better about the pink silk chiffon blouse now than before. :)

Have a nice weekend!

Far

Pink Parfum Silk Chiffon Blouse

So this is my first make from the pile of fabric I got at the Sew Expo in Puyallup this year. The fabric is a silk chiffon, lovely but fiddly to work with. Usually. Fortunately for me, this project went on without a hitch. It was just a tad ravelly, but I pressed on rather quickly after cutting before it has the opportunity to go batty on me. 

I started over the weekend (i think) and done with the sleeves (which was the last thing I inserted, after already hemming it) by noon.

I used my TNT/go to bodice pattern, and then used pattern McCall's M6648 for the collar part. 

 

And I kinda "drafted" my own sleeves based on my other projects. I made a pleat on the top part of the sleeves instead perhaps gathering it to fit the armsyce, and it doesn't look good. Obviously, mix and match, trial and error style of designing is not working here. The sleeves looks silly with the pleat, because it is already a roomy type sleeve. It seems messy in the pics because I didn't iron the sleeves after sewing it in. Coz I will take the seam ripper to it and try a different way... Not looking forward to unpicking all those french seams...

I lined it with lining fabric that feels silky but most definitely a synthetic (I didn't check the label when purchasing it at Joann's). Nahh, it's not those shiny bemberg rayon ones, they don't have it in this pink color when I was there last... 

I didn't line the sleeves.

Did you spot the mistake among my neat insides (albeit not too thin french seams)?

Because I wanted a neat inside finish, I had the bust darts sandwiched between the main blouse and the lining. Ugghh! If you look closely (in real life) you might be able to detect the lining's bust darts, although the prints kinda camouflaging it on the outside... I hope. (tiny phew) But hey, I'm telling you about it here, so you're bound to look at me closely... Well, just look at the french seams okay. I may or may not take the seam ripper to amend this. Most definitely not tonight. 

Probably not even this week. Who knows. This is supposed to be my mother's day blouse. I planned to wear it with a white jeans, which I didn't have... but me and the Bean went to the thrift store today for a lil bit of last hurrah stashing before SarahLiz's 2013 Style the Stash Sew-a-long commences in June. She did say it's okay, LOL... But I was good. Just picked up a white jeans for me, 2 summer shirts for hubby, and one boucle looking fabric that I am going to practice my jacket sewing with, just as planned for the sew-a-long... I hope it has enough yardage...

Oh... have I told you that I didn't like how this blouse looks on me? All the hard work... and lovely cute fabric. I looked quite mumsy in it. I know it's mother's day blouse, and I am a mommy, but still... You know I like roomy blouse, but the part I don't like is the upper part, around the shoulder and neck. I am convinced that the style with the collar and the (roomy sleeves perhaps) makes me look like a top heavy triangle... I will wear it this weekend, and since it's Me-Made-May, I'll post the proof on Monday. :(

____
[Note: Sleeves are now fixed. ]

2013 Refashion #4: Spring Silk Chiffon Blouse

Earlier today I completed my spring silk chiffon refashion. I can breathe easier now, and hopefully become more productive in the coming week for the remainder of the Essential Top Sew-A-Long that's concluding on April 7.

As a recap (previously blogged here):

The original garment was my 5-6 years old long dress from Zara Basic. It's silk chiffon, empire waisted with spaghetti straps and (originally) lined with acetate lining.

I wanted the look of View D, but without hem band, and short flutter sleeves (since I have to consider the available yardage here). For the sleeves, I used the pattern for View B's sleeves but left out the band. No need to accentuate my biceps with a band there methinks ;)

The pattern didn't come with pieces nor instructions for lining, so that added up to the time of thinking, plotting and whatnot (not including pattern resizing/alterations that came way before). I basically  just follow the instruction for adding the back bodice button placket.

 

Notice that the neckline gathers are not uniform? Bigger gathers on the right side (colored side) than the one on the left (white side)... Oh well... 

The collar is also not the same as the pattern. It's shorter/thinner, not  gathered and pieced with the back (loop-buttoned) section of the original garment.

The sleeve was 1) pieced - not enough fabric to cut as one, and 2) fully lined before attached to bodice.

Hemming was tricky since I had to hem the main fabric and lining together. I hide the hem stitching from showing on the outside by catching it to the lining side only... Kinda ripply no?

These shank buttons were thrifted, and was sewn onto a thrifted cardigan last year but I unpick them from the cardigan (the cardigan needs regular flat buttons). For the loops, I used the spaghetti strap of the original garment.

It fits "perfectly" enough (lol). In my book that means I feel comfy and not worry that my bits are unflattering-ly showcased. I would definitely be wearing this a lot. For the next make of this look, I would add more (will start with an inch) to the shoulder seams though to make space for the french seams.

Kinda thinking that white pants would be nice with this blouse... Maybe I can find one at the thrift store... I am going to make my very first cardigan top for my next 2013 Essential Top... More on this later.

;),
Far

p/s: Happy Easter to all who are observing the holiday :)

Linking on to Refashion Co-op, Recycled Fashion and Cation Design's March Stashbusting!

work in progress: essential top #1

I'm starting off my 2013 Essential Tops sew-a-long with a refashion project. Of course :)

I have the tendency of getting side tracked whenever I'm in front of the pc (i also read blogs on my phone and once a while on the kindle fire, but most of the time i have the Law & Order on that) so am trying to keep this short and simple.

Here is my old silk chiffon maxi?/sundress from Zara Basic. Last time I wore it was when I was 6 mths pregnant:

I've cut off the original acetate lining and used it when making one of my muslin parts for the Peony Pink M6702 top since the picture was taken.

Isn't the print very spring-y? It seems to have some of the Pantone's 2013 Spring Color in it IMO...

This is the pattern I'm working from:

The neckline would be like View D, except that there won't be gathers on the collar and I want to incorporate the back/button loops of the original dress on the back side of the new top collar. And adding more button loops by using the original strap which matches the existing button loops...

I am planning to incorporate some sort of a sleeve based on the pattern piece for View B's sleeve, but will omit the band. No hem band like View D either.

Needless to say I've cut and slashed and taped the pattern pieces so much to accommodate sections of the dress.

Fully lining it with silk lining since it's chiffon and sheer, so it's quite fiddly. No pattern for the lining, so after a lot of thinking, I basted the chiffon to the silk lining and treated them as one. Chiffon is  tough and time consuming. I might have to rethink my initial plan of sewing up all silk chiffons for this sew-a-long. Maybe sew something else after this and then go back to chiffons. We'll see.

Stay tuned. With some luck, I might get to finish the top later today... Man... This post is not that short and sweet is it?

Beauty is Pain - Pink Silk Charmeuse V1170 top

When I first started frequenting my local thrift store in Iowa, I came across this Rachel Comey's Vogue 1170 pattern and really like the top's design. The blouse has a keyhole at the front with a knot and I think it's pretty sweet. However, at the time I was just using the sewing machine to make baby carseat cover and cushions, but that didn't stop me from starting my patterns collection!

A year plus (plus) later, as I felt more confident to try different patterns, I opened the said pattern's envelope to check out the pieces, but alas, the instruction portion were missing! Had to put it aside and work on others the way I usually do - very slowly! :) One day I decided that as it might take forever before I can work pattern pieces without instruction, I ordered the pattern online during their monthly sale, chose the fabric from my stash and hunt down buttons at my favorite thrift store..

It could be that while I was waiting for the pattern to arrive that Carolyn shared her Rachel Comey's blouse made in lovely ivory silk charmeuse! I'm super excited by this, because she always share her thoughts on the construction and I've learn A LOT all the time from her blog. THANK YOU, Carolyn! It doesn't hurt that she takes lovely photos that inspire me to sew as well.

Took me a couple of months though before I actually made the pattern adjustments and cut the fabric, and then after starting the project having to pack it for the move here to Seattle.

And I finally completed it the day before yesterday. Hooray!

   

Indeed it's a pain to make. But so lovely to look at. Slippery silk, raveling fabric and the tiny hems for the ties on the sleeves... That ties portion are a nightmare for a novice like me (and those ties were started before packing for the move back in May, finished while in tiny crammed Seattle inn room in late June). I do wish I have an overlocker/serger to make them nicer (rolled hem) like Carolyn's. Definitely on my wishlist!

Since I don't have an overlocker/serger, what I did was just just like how one would sew their hems, though I had to trim the seam allowance smaller, turn and press and then I zig-zagged it down as in the above picture. Not the neatest sewist around, but the zig-zag version I assure you is much neater than the different ways I tried! :)

I also had the chance to practice my French seams again. Much better this time around, although still not as tiny as I would like.

As for the back side, I ended up not making a full back button closing like I intended to. I found the instruction for that part pretty confusing, and I loathe to mess up the look or the fabric, so I sew the back seams up and left the upper part open and make a one button loop like so:

I finished the back with my rendition of Hong Kong seams... *I still need to learn how to make proper and neater HK seams... i might need to unpick my HK seams and do a turn and stitch finish instead. it is kinda bulky looking on this fine fabric.

Now on the the critique of this project: Let me get this straight, I do love the blouse. It's a labor of love I suppose. It's not my first silk charmeuse blouse, I made a caftan top from floral silk charmeuse back in April, so I anticipated the difficulties I might encounter with the fabric. However I do have some negatives that I will try and be more aware of in the future. Firstly this silk has more shine than I normally would like in an outfit, and that's what you get when you buy fabric online and not able to actually see and touch them before making your purchase. :) I usually prefer a more matte finish, and this is because I have a darker Asian complexion with a tendency to be shiny, and wearing shiny light colored clothes near to my face make me uncomfortable. Hehe. And also, because I have (still) a tummy that I think shiny light colored outfit would and could not conceal, I will steer clear of it in the unforeseeable future.

Then, take also into account that I do not know how to properly make pattern adjustments. Many times I just wing it. I might refer online or in a book on what to do, and then the info just get mushed together in my brain and I will make up adjustments that sometimes work and sometimes not. :) While I did with some "success" added what limited fabric it comes with (I might have purchased just 1.5 yard or 2 yards of this fabric, and it has a small 44-45" width only) to my bias top's width, I did not (or was not able to due to the limited fabric width) add to the length of my top. And I do need to add extra length to it since I won't be wearing it or any top tucked in and prefer it to at least hang loose to mid hip or at most cover my bum...

I will have to figure out how to wear the blouse outside the home... When and if I do, I will take a photo ;)

Now, on to the next project please!

Silk skirt to blouse

Found a very pretty & simple A-line skirt earlier last year at a thrift store. I love that it's made of silk, and the pretty print, and knew that I just have to take it home, and refashion it into something.

Over the year I've considered it for a project or another, like as a lining for example, but it didn't feel right. Finally last week after finishing up my wool knit sweater dress, I decided to just go ahead and I worked on that into this:

The skirt has a few french seams to it, and I didn't want to rip them unnecessarily, so what I did is I took my adjusted Sorbetto pattern pieces to it and pinned and then cut. I had enough fabric for a little cap-pish sleeves and binding for the neck, so I was set. I incorporated the french seams to the front (near the bust darts) and also the hemmed bottom part of the skirt (which showcased its border print).

I usually do hongkong seams when working with nice but raveling fabrics, but for this project I pulled out all the stops, hehehe, and practiced my french seams, in line with the original ones :)

For the neck binding, I used the same fabric (from the waist band of the original skirt - has a thin interfacing that i just left in) and did not cut it in the bias as i want the print not to be skewed looking. The interfacing, or that it is not cut in the bias may have caused it to be looking a lil wonky, but it's nice i think.

This blouse is joining Recycled Fashion Finds #32 at: