Sewaholic Hollyburn #2

Summer sewing is drawing to a close for me.  I don't know exactly what happened but I woke up one day and decided I was more in the mood to sew a bomber jacket or button down shirt than a dress.  I'm squeezing in one more dress after this and then it's on to fall and winter sewing for me.

I originally used this print for a Sewaholic Saltspring dress.  Everybody else seems to love that pattern but when I finished it I was underwhelmed and have never worn it.  I think it was sewer error because it looks so great on other people.  I love this rayon challis fabric by Joel Dewberry so much that I ordered more and made a Sewaholic Hollyburn out of it instead.  I've made this skirt once before and every time I wear it I wonder why I don't have another. 

I like the tab detail with the button.

 

And I also like the style of the pockets.

 

 

I never used to like high-waisted styles but I've watched enough episodes of Call The Midwife on BBC that I think I need to be wearing them all the time. 

 

Earlier in the summer, my photographer (my 15 year old son) and I put more effort into staging shots.  Now we just drive around town, find a wall, and snap a few pictures in about 3 minutes. This time even the weeds and random wires didn't stop us.

 

 

I think we'll get our mojo back when fall sewing comes around.

 

 



Colette Myrtle

 

This is the newest Colette Patterns release called Myrtle.  I bought it before it was released during a promotion.  I wish they would put me on a list of people who buy every one of their patterns so they could just mail it to me without asking if I want it.  Of course I do.

 

I've decided to call this a wearable muslin so I'll feel better about the extremely poor workmanship.  It's an incredibly easy pattern to follow but I decided to make it more challenging for myself by making some really goofy mistakes.  Also, after an incredibly mild summer in the Midwest, it decided to be 100 degrees today and I'm pouty about it so there are going to be two pictures of me in this dress.  And both of them include not-so-great-looking hair. 

 

There are 5 pattern pieces to this dress: Bodice front, bodice back, skirt front, skirt back and pocket.  The back bodice is finished with a twin needle (unless you have an overlocker).  I usually don't have an issue with the twin needle.  I bought this fabric on the clearance rack and it is super flimsy.  The twin needle ate it up but somehow I made it through.  I just hope no one ever inspects it closely. 

 

There are some nifty little sewing tricks in this pattern that I liked.  The front bodice is a very long piece that you fold in half to make the cowl neck.  Then you sandwich the back bodice in between the layers and stitch the shoulder and side seams.  Super easy! Unless, of course, you get the back bodice twisted around like me and have to pick out the serged seam.

 

To insert the elastic in the waistband, you sew two rows of stitching at the waistband to form a flap and then fold it over the elastic and sew to enclose it.  Easy!

 

 

The picture in the instructions clearly shows that you are supposed to pull the bodice out of the skirt to enclose the elastic.  I missed that part and sewed it while the bodice was tucked inside the skirt.  I'm almost positive that it took me longer to unpick the zigzag stitch around the waistband than it did to sew the entire dress.  It took that long. 

 

The part I'm going to have to change is the neckline.  I made an XS for the top and graded out to a S for the waist and skirt.  I'm going to take out a rather large wedge from the front bodice pattern piece because it dips so low on me that it's obscene without a cami underneath.  This probably isn't a problem for a bustier gal but busty I am not. 

 



 

I could probably live in Myrtles and Monetas all summer long.  

Colette Parfait #2

 

This is my second Colette Parfait (see the first one here) of the season and my favorite of the two.  I used this Liberty of London fabric as a lining for my Colette Albion.  I loved it so much I wanted to make a dress out of it.  It disappeared from the www.fabric.com website for a little bit but once it reappeared I snatched it up. 

 

I underlined my last Parfait with muslin but I chose a white batiste for this one. I found it at a big box store and was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it.  And the price!

 

 



I think I'm going to make a winter version of this dress in a red wool crepe and wear it over a shirt.  I hadn't thought about it as a winter dress until I read the packaging.  I think the pockets are darling but you can't really see them in the busy prints I've chosen.  Maybe I'll find some way to bedazzle them in a solid color fabric.

I like the back of the dress a lot.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised by how often I've been wearing the dresses I've made this summer. I feel like my productivity rate is the highest it's ever been.  That must have something to do with the fact that I'm making more than one version of each pattern and therefore don't have to fool around with fitting issues.



Sorry for the random Polyvore post

My apologies for the Polyvore posts. I was trying to enter the Colette Patterns Knitcation contest. I am a novice at Polyvore and all of a sudden things started posting on the blog!