WIP: Floral Crescent Skirt

The weather is Sydney has been absolutely glorious! Mid-20s. Beautiful sunshine. Today is supposed to get to 32 degrees celsius which, to me, is hot! But it has made me very productive. I've been line-drying lots of washing (oi). Going for walks. And planning my Spring/Summer wardrobe.

After finishing my Lonsdale Dress last Saturday I wore it to church on Sunday and was super pleased. During the week I bit by bit cut out another crescent skirt, this time in a light to medium weight cotton.

My first crescent skirt was a bit of a disaster - the denim was too heavy and poor quality. It is still bleeding colour in the wash!

My Dad bought me a trestle table to use as a cutting table and it has made such a difference to my productivity.

Today is also the last day of the school term so I've promised Miss Six we can go to her grandparents straight from school for a swim.

Tessuti Fabrics

I have an issue with fabric lust and visiting Tessuti fabrics Surry Hills last Wednesday did nothing to help. I often look at the Tessuti website and browse their fabrics and I also look at their pattern reviews to see what others are making. To be honest the price range at Tessuti is beyond me at the moment but I wanted to go there anyway. I did end up picking up 2 meters of cotton voile to make a shirt dress and a 1.1m remnant of medium weight Japanese cotton that I think I can eke an a-line skirt from. The fabric is totally worth the price - it's just not something I can do all the time. But it was a yummy experience. My husband was very impressed with the place. The service was awesome too.

Remnant of Japanese cotton

Source: tessuti-shop.com via Jane on Pinterest

Cotton voile

Source: tessuti-shop.com via Jane on Pinterest

Finished Project: Lonsdale Dress

Pattern: Sewaholic's Lonsdale Dress. I followed the Sewalong but finished very late. The sewalong was awesome!

Fabric: Cotton voile underlined with white batiste. I bought the fabric from Spotlight when they were having a 30% end of roll sale. The pink in the fabric is a coral pink but husby lovingly tweaked the pics to boost the colours of the landscape and turned the pink to fuschia. I didn't have the heart to explain that, ummm, the focus wasn't the landscape :)

There were lots of new to me techniques for this:

1) Muslin fitting - This was the first time I made a muslin and made substantial fitting changes. I usually do a tissue fitting.

- sway back adjustment

- took in along the top of the bodice near the underarms - slashed and lapped. In retrospect I think I should have gone down a size in the bodice and done a FBA which may have solved the gaping I had. I'm not sure.

- took a kind of scoop out from under the bust to just before the waistband.

2) Underlining - The voile was a bit sheer so I underlined it with white batiste - the white brought out the white in the main fabric.

3) I used my blind hem foot for the first time. Normally I would hand sew the hem. It's not perfect but I think I will use the foot again, especially for such a large hem.

I bound the centre back seam edge with bias binding. I didn't want to zig-zag it -- no faster way to look home eccy -- but I couldn't find seam binding anywhere! The bias binding is ok, probably too heavy. It's only the second time I have finished a seam this way and I think I'm getting better! Next time will be it for sure!

This dress is so comfortable! I am a C/D cup and I'm not wearing a bra and I didn't feel at all like I was going to have any indecent exposure and I felt surprisingly supported (probably TMI but I thought may some other gals might be interested in whether it was suitable). I'm broaching 40 and have breastfed two babies and this dress is totally wearable.

Seam Binding?!?

I still haven't finished my Lonsdale dress but as it is a Summer dress it isn't really a problem except I feel like I can't get on with me next project until it's done, which is a bit silly but anyway.

The thing that has brought me to a halt is that I wanted to finish the seam with seam binding. Tasia did it in the sewalong. Well, apparently Australian's aren't in love with this type of seam finish because we don't seem to sell any! I went to Lincraft, Spotlight and Tessuti and no one had heard of it let alone stocked it.

It is different to bias binding. More like ribbon. Not cut on the bias. Edges are 'finished' like ribbon and unlike bias binding.

Anyhoo...I finally decided that bias binding would be ok. I was worried it would be too heavy because the fabric is voile but I have two layers -- voile and batiste -- so I think it is going to be ok.

Spring Mini Wardrobe

So, I guess the idea of the Spring Palette Challenge is to actually sew something...Not sure how lucky I'll get with that! I have a problem child who doesn't sleep. It could be a hobby in itself except it isn't fun :(

Anyway, enough whinging. Here is my pipe dream wardrobe. I tried being realistic but one garment didn't seem like much of a challenge. I also tried to just plan from my stash but there are so many gorgeous fabrics and patterns! The yellow cotton voile and the shirtdress pattern just are too yummy to resist. Hubby said if I drove into the city to meet him for lunch one day he would help me get to Tessuti to buy the yellow voile!

The Colette pants will probably be in black sateen. I want to make a pair for Autumn in a stretch herringbone suiting fabric too. I don't have the pattern or fabric.

I have a cotton fabric in the red and gold with black and hot pink mixed in for the crescent skirt. My mum bought me a fuschia cardigan so they might pair nicely. The crescent skirt is good because you can wear it with leggings or on it's own. I have gotten heaps of wear out of my red denim crescent skirt, which I did finish by the way. I have the fabric and pattern in my stash.

I also have the fabric for the pendrell and the pendrell pattern, and the cobalt sateen in my stash.

I have a second tier 'if I suddenly get a whole week to do nothing but sew' additional garment wishes:

1) I have a really pretty voile in red with a golden yellow polka dot. I want to make a wrap dress and I saw the ideal pattern and I *thought* I pinned it onto my pinterest board but it isn't there, waaaa!

2) I bought the Craftsy course for Gertie's retro bombshell dress. That was a bit ambitious! I have the pattern but not the fabric. But in an ideal world I would buy the fabric below from Tessuti and make the dress for christmas.

Panji Ruby AU$28/m Japanese Cotton (med weight)

3) I also really want to make some shorts for summer.

4) + 5) +6) I want to make a tulip skirt, an A-line skirt and a pencil skirt.

'If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.' My mum used to quote that to me all the time. Thanks mum.

Spring Palette: Mood Board

This is to coincide with Colette Patterns Fall Palette Challenge. It is an 8 week challenge to sew a new mini wardrobe for Fall -- or if you're from the southern hemisphere like moi then for Spring. Mine is Spring/Summer because I won't seriously get a Spring wardrobe sewn. But it's fun to plan and dream. And I got an early start with my Lonsdale Dress which STILL isn't finished. But it draws nicely from the palette below featuring coral and light teal. I just need to firm up my fabrics and patterns...trying to draw from my stash but there are so many yummy fabrics and patterns out there!!