Dresses, Dresses, And More Dresses

DD loves dresses. If she had it her way, she would wear dresses only, preferably princess ones...

As part of my fall capsule for her, I made 3 dresses.


1. Diamonds and Squares dress.

This dress was made using a Burda WOF pattern, but unfortunately, I don't remember which one. I used a poly knit and played with the pattern: the placket features squares and the rest of the dress diamonds. The dress is underlined with a lightweight cotton knit, and the neckline is bound with lightweight brown corduroy cut on the bias. There is a CB button closure.

The other 2 dresses I had made before (2 years ago) in a smaller size. They turned out to be such huge hits with DD that I remade them in her current size this summer. Since they have been previously reviewed in detail, I will provide only brief descriptions below.

2. Village Frock

The pattern was purchased from the ladies behind http://sugarcityjournal.blogspot.com/

For previos version and construction details, pls click here: http://theprincessseam.blogspot.com/2008/10/village-frock.html

3. Striped Dress with Leggings

Previous version and construction details, pls click here: http://theprincessseam.blogspot.com/2008/10/striped-dress.html
This dress is self-drafted, and made from a reversible (two-faced) interlock. I utilized both sides. The bodice is lined with something similar to swimsuit lining.

The Striped Dress

So, while working on something tailored for myself, I have been having fun making outfits for DD. This one I drafted myself, starting from a tee and a pair of leggings she has and adapting them.

The fabric is a double faced double knit from http://www.textileophile.com/. Loooove that store... As you can see I've used both sides of the fabric. The trim and buttons are from Joann.

0.25" elastic is sewn at the top of the dark brown inset to keep it from stretching. The insert itself is two layers and the elastic is sandwitched between them.

I also added a tiny bow with a button at the hem of the leggings to corespond to the bow and button at the empire waist.

BTW, the boots she is wearing are not Ugg. They are, however, the Target version (knock-off) of the famous UGG. So far, I have been very impressed with them, the looks, the color variety(they come in chestnut, brown and pink), the craftsmanship, how comfy they are, the low price compared to the original. Besides, they have a side zipper, so DD puts them on by herself! So, yes, if you are looking for boots for your kid, these are great! Oh, other than I shop at Target sometimes, I am in way connected to them:)

The Village Frock

This is a pattern offered by the ladies behind the Sugar City Journal (http://sugarcityjournal.blogspot.com/).
You can see the pattern here:

I cut size 2 for my DD.

Fabric: Denim

The pattern: It is very well drafted. The only alteration I made was to lengthen the dress with about 3”. The dress has details but is easy to make. The authors of the pattern also offer you EXTENSIVE instructions (they actually come in a booklet) and options of how to make various looks from the same pattern pieces.

I love the dress and I will be making it more for spring/summer as it renders itself to lighter-weight fabrics.

LhBD - Little Heather Black Dress And an Award!

Well, to start off, Lisa from http://sewrandom.blogspot.com/ has awarded me with the Brillian weblog award! Thank you, Lisa! It does mean a lot to me when fellow sewers notice what I do because it is more than a hobby at this point and somewhere between a passion and obsession:) Secondly, I finally finished the jumper and here is the review:

Pattern: Burda WOF : 09-2007-121

So, it took me awhile to get this jumper done. After finishing the muslin I was not sure if I liked it. With it, for me, everything was about the right choice of fabric. First, I decided to make it from a striped jersey but was not sold on it. Then, I found great heather black wool knit and I just knew that was it!

Fabric: Wool knit and satin lining from Textile-o-philes (a local independent fabric store: http://www.textileophile.com/Home_Page.html) Btw, if you are ever in the Denver/Colorado Springs area - this store is a MUST VISIT! It has an assortment of fabrics comparable to Emma One Sock and better (think silk jersey, angora, camel hair, cashmere, wool knits, designer print silks, designer cottons, etc.)!

Construction details:

- The skirt of the dress is interlined and lined at the same time with medium-weight stretch lining that has a nice tonal satin stripe.
- The hem is finished with lace.
- The lower edge of the bodice band is reinforced with a strip of the lining cut on a bias.
- The fronts are cut not on a fold but as two separate pieces and the front neckline is stabilized and understitched.

So, that is about it. I wrote about my fit and design alteration when I posted my muslin entry, so I won’t repeat myself here. If anyone is interested, pls refer to that older post or to my review on PR.

Having started with immense hesitation, I actually live how the dress turned out! I was afraid it would look dowdy on me but, to my pleasant surprise, it actually looks modern.

Would recommend it to anyone with two caveats:

1. muslin is a must because fixing the fit of the bodice during construction may be a nightmare (due to the way the dress is constructed and sewn), and

2. I had to rethink the placement of the back pleats to flatter my deriere.

My Sweater, Your Sweater, It’s All in the Family! And it is Fall!

I have not made anything for DD in 2 years and thought it was time.
For this fall-winter season I decided to again make some of her clothes and started with some sweater dresses.

The scarf to the left is made from an open-knit sweater knit fabric and I used the selvages to simulate short fringe.

Dress #1:

A long sleeve, A-line dress, with a turtle neck, fully lines with soft jersey.
Fabric: the jersey is from denverfabrics.com and the sweater knit is actually a former sweater of mine, hence the title for this post.
How it is made:
- Traced (roughly) the pattern from an Old Navy sweater dress my DD wore last winter.
- Made some adjustments at the armhole and for length to accommodate her growth
- Applied the pattern to my sweater and used my sweater’s neckline and shoulder seams.
- Cut out the sleeves from the sleeves of the sweater
- Used the hem of the sweater as the hem of the dress
- Cut out lining, constructed it and attached it to: the neckline (fully) and partially to the armhole, sleeve hems and bottom hem.
- A heart-shaped button appliqué on the front

Dress #2

This dress has a straight cut, turtleneck, and ribbed banding at hem and sleeves. This dress is made from a sweater of mine as well. The dress has corduroy epaulettes at the shoulders and an attached corduroy belt. With the exception of the epaulettes and the belt, the dress is made pretty much the same way as dress #1. This knit is super soft though, which allowed me to avoid applying lining. On the photo the dress is worn with babylegs (babylegs.net). I cannot begin to tell you how much I like those!

Dress # 3

A close copy of dress #2, this dress has a piece-sign button appliqué on the front.

Garment #4: Knitted hooded poncho. This poncho was my design , so I have no pattern for it, but it is esseantially nade of two rectangles + a hood and buttons under the arms to form sleeves.

Note: All pictures are courtesy of my husband. Thank you, Sig!

Burda WOF 09-2007-121 Jumper: Review Based on my Muslin

I still don’t know if I am going to make this jumper, it would depend largely on whether I find the right fabrics (read towards the end).

Regardless, I made and fitted my muslin:

and this is the magazine photo:

Here are my findings (FYI, I am size 34 at the hips, 36 at the waist and 38 at the bust and 5”4” and I cut the pattern appropriately):

Fitwise:
- spot on at the bust
- too big in the waist: I took in close to 3.5” from the circumference at the top of the band and about 3” at the bottom of the band. This I find to be typical of Burda WOF – too much wearing ease at the waist.
- very slightly larger in the hips: took in about an 1” from the circumference
- the bodice piece was spot on lengthwise
- the skirt piece was 1.5” too long (as expected)

Design:
I read all the reviews on PR (and there are many reviews for this jumper) and noone seems to have been displeases with the pleat in the back skirt, therefore, my observation may be the “just me” kind. Anyway, when I pleated the back skirt as the pattern indicated, I ended up with too poofs right at my derriere, and they were not the right kind of poofs either. I tried several different alternative ways of pleating, including completely removing the pleat (which might work if your rear part is fairly flat) and the best I managed to end up with was two pleats: the first is 1.5” deep and positioned 1” from the CB. The 2nd is placed 2” away from the first and is 1.25” deep. Both are pleated towards the CB.

Construction:
The instructions suggest cutting the front bodice on fold, with the fold being the straight grain. Well, I just don’t see how this is going to make that edge stable and it is a neckline edge. I think you would need to cut 4 front pieces, sew at the neckline and understitch. Also, If I do the jumper, I’ll cut the front and back bodice lining pieces 1/8” smaller all the way around, so that armsye and neckline seam won’t be visible (hope this makes sense).

Fabric:
Well, this one I think is tricky if you are doing a fall-appropriate garment. Weight of the fabric: I think, if 1 is tissue-weight and 10 mid-weight, one should aim for fabric with weight coefficient of 7-8. Otherwise, IMO, there would be a lot of bulk at the seams that connect the bodice to the band and the band to the skirt. Secondly, since at least I wear tights in fall, the skirt part of the dress MUST be either lined with some stretch lining that does not cling or worn with a slip under, one made also from some stretch lining that does not cling. Of course, if you are making a summer jumper (to be worn with a cami), this would be a nonissue.

Maxi Dress

I have been reading in magazines that maxi dresses are in and wanted to make one. The design of this dress is not originally mine - I saw a similar dress last summer in a boutique downtown. I liked the simplicity of the design lines counteracted by the impact of the front drape.



The dress is made from yellow silk jersey purchased in the spring from http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/. I love print but think I am too petite to wear one, so I went with a vivid color instead.

The construction is really simple – no hemming, two side seams, ¾” elastic in the back and a tie that drapes the front and goes behind the neck. The actual construction time, even if you are a slow and anal sewer like me, takes max of 2.5 hrs including the cutting of the fabric.

There is perhaps one construction point worth of mentioning. When folding down the casing for the ties, after the cf is slashed, a triangle is inserted to fill in the space. It helpd if the slash line is interfaced prior to slashing.

Construction simplicity apart, it took me 2 muslins to get it right. Fortunately, I had a few pieces of ugly poly knits in my stash :) Interestingly, for me at least, the hard part about getting the pattern right was having the side seam hanging perpendicular to the floor. The front drape tended to force the side seam to come forward to the front. The first photo below is of the 1st muslin (you can see by how much it was off) and on the 2nd muslin (as you can see) has the issue resolved:

This is the pattern I ended up with:

There was one last issue to be resolved – the modesty issue (the rayon jersey is transparent enough to make people look). In a nutshell, I considered two options: an undergarment and an underlining. I ruled out underlining the dress since I thought that there would be too much fabric in the front. I have a wonderfully lightweight rayon jersey in yellowish-ecru from http://www.emmaonesock.com/ and thought that it would be right for an undergarment. I also wanted to have the possibility of wearing the dress without the undergarment if say on a beach vacation where modesty would be a non-issue. My solution was to make a “tube” from fabric. How I did it: I wrapped the fabric around my hips to establish how wide the tube should be and a/flared out slightly towards the hem, and b/tapered ever so slightly towards the bust. The top edge is finished with delicate lingerie fold-over elastic. The piece is worn under a strapless bra if you wear a bra or by itself if your girls don’t need one. Thankfully, the fabric is so lightweight and silky that it does not bunch under the bra at all. Here is a picture that shows the sheerness of the material:

And here is the undergarment w/o and with a strapless bra:



Both the dress and the undergarment are unhemmed – the edge was cut with a blade and I applied a tiny bit of clear nail polish to the very edge.