Sewing Mojo

I don't want to get too excited, but I do think that I may have found my sewing mojo again. At least I certainly hope so. Yesterday I made up my mind to reacquaint myself with Sadie Sewing Machine and get to it! I went through a stack of patterns and settled on Tina Givens Dresdon Pant. 

All of her designs are over-sized and this was no exception; think a modern version of "harem" pants. While a fairly simple pattern, there are some interesting fiddly bits that kept my attention. I love the pleated and cuffed hem. 

I added little tabs of vintage tea-dyed lace to the cuffs for fun.

It has inset pockets and side panels that run the length of the pant leg. I'm happy with the end result and they are super comfy. I wouldn't wear them with just a Tee, but they look good with more over-sized layers. Still, I think if I were to make them again I would make some changes.

I would shorten the crotch seam as it's too low for my taste and comfort, I might also narrow the leg a bit and try a capris length version. You could easily play around with the side panels, even doing them in a different fabric.

They look great paired with the Tessuti Lily Dress I made some time ago. 

Now I'm ready to make more! Oh yes, let's get stitching!

Negroni Shirt Pattern - by Colette Patterns

I finally had some time to finish my test garment for the Negroni shirt from the Walden series of men's patterns from Colette Patterns.

I am really happy with the way it turned out, so I thought I'd do a brief little review of the pattern for y'all.

Negroni is a solid intermediate pattern. Sewing shirts takes a bit of effort and I had not sewn one with a collar, flat felled seams, a yoke, and all the rest in quite some time. The instructions are well written and if you have any experience with shirt making you should have an easy time following along. If not, this is a great pattern to give it a try!

I decided to sew the short sleeve version in XXL as the Engineer likes a bit of comfort and ease in his clothing. After finishing the shirt and he tried it on, I think an XL would have easily fit him, but he was perfectly happy with the size.

I started by tracing the pattern (I'll wax poetic about tracing patterns some other day) and cutting it out of some dodgy quality 1980's quilting cotton I inherited from my grandmother. Since this was intended to be a test garment, I didn't want to use any of the good stuff.

I made the shirt exactly to spec. Following the instructions to the letter, I like to do this on my first run with a new pattern, then make any adjustments and order changes according to my own sewing style and intuition the next time around.  

All of the pieces came together perfectly. Any issues I had were due to sewist error and not because of any problems with the pattern.  The only alteration I had to make was cutting 2 1/2 inches from the sleeve length; yes, one of the Engineer's nicknames is Sasquatch, but even Sasquatch couldn't pull those sleeves off - these sleeves were seriously long!

The shirt length itself was just right, even the buttonhole placement from the pattern piece was right on; this is something I always have to change and mark myself, but since the Mr. wasn't around for that phase I went with it and was pleasantly surprised that it worked out as well as it did. 

I am thrilled that he likes it and that I ended up with a wearable test garment. 

It also re-lit the spark for flat felled seams - Oh I do love a flat felled seam... hmmm maybe a little flat felled seam tutorial is in order next week! Anyone in?

I highly recommend this pattern. It's so great to have a solid men's pattern and I can't wait to make it again in some quality fabric. I have a feeling this is going to be a long lived and oft used pattern. Hooray!

You can find the pattern in many of your local fabric shops or you can get it Here!

Gretchen goes to Barbados - A Pattern Review

Ah, the first dress of the new year! For me this is the perfect way to start a fresh crafty year. Making a dress for my girl is one of my favorite things to do. I find that it centers me, inspires me and is ultimately very satisfying.

Just before the Holidays Pony girl and I were in my favorite local fabric shop, she pulled this pattern from the stacks and said, "Please Mama, will you make this?" How could I resist?
The pattern is "Gretchen" by Modkid.

I have seen Modkid patterns before, but never picked one up. When I use a pattern company that is new to me, I like to resist the urge to alter, modify and forge ahead in my own wild fashion. Instead I keep to the pattern faithfully (mostly) and carefully follow the pattern's own instructions so that I get a sense of the company overall. This makes it perfect for a review too!

First Impressions:
The Pattern Booklet is beautifully photographed with an "Inspiration Gallery" showing the variations and lovely fabric combos. The pattern itself is printed on good quality paper with clear cutting instructions.
I like a pattern that allows for a ton of variations, this pattern definitely fits the bill.

I decided to make view D without the bottom band. I do believe I must have been day dreaming about tropical locales and sunny beaches... perhaps The Caribbean with it's vibrant colors, maybe Barbados! I used Moda's Trade Winds fabric by Lily Ashbury, very bright and colorful! I decided to make the largest size 10. Pony Girl is an 8/9, but I like a little room to grow.

Work in Progress:
The instructions were very clear and thorough, illustrations of cutting lay out and sewing steps were helpful. There are a lot of pieces to this dress, so once I had them cut I kept them in organized piles for ease.

As I was working I found that the pattern drafting was excellent. Every piece came together perfectly and even the sleeve attachment was close to effortless - which is not often the case.

This is a straight forward pattern and quite simple really. There are no button holes, no zipper, and the block piecing makes it easy enough for a beginner with just a little experience.

The only things I did that were not a part of the original pattern instruction were 1. increase the width of the side ties to 1 1/2" and 2. top stitch around the neck opening. Purely for personal preference.

What I especially like about this pattern:
Cute! Endless variation possibilities.
The sleeve gathering on the long sleeve version, nice design detail.
Oversized pockets! You all know how much I love a handy dandy pocket.

Things to note:
There isn't any thing I dislike about this pattern, just some things to keep in mind.
Using quilting weight fabric as I did, makes this a pretty substantial garment due to the linings. For a more Summery dress, I think it would make up wonderfully in Seer Sucker or even a voile. This is a full cut dress, the waist is very wide and then cinches in with the side ties - this makes it easy to pull on and off over the head. The size 8 would have fit my girl much better in the shoulders and neckline, though I did find that the length on the size 10 to be just right. If you have a tallish girl (like I do) you might want to double check the length before cutting.

I often find that the back of a garment is my favorite, wonder why...

The Stats:
I spent a couple of hours tracing the pattern onto my own pattern paper and then cutting out the fabric.
All together the dress took about 5 hours of sewing time to complete.
Yes, I would make this dress again.

And most importantly, my girl loves it!

Aw Sunki Sunki Now!

Things have been a little 'off' for the last several days. The smallest member of the little green cottage clan has had a bit of the flu, there has been some thievery of the bank fraud sort which had me spending hours at the bank and on the phone without resolution, and the hens have been squawking all the live long day as if doomsday were coming. Even though I have been running behind on all things house chore and business related, I felt the need to seek a bit of solace in stitchery. The girls (my machines) had returned home after getting a good tune and tidy from the wonderful folks at Modern Domestic - and I couldn't resist .

On a recent trip to Bolt, I spied a Figgy's Pattern I hadn't seen before. Now goodness knows I don't need new patterns, I have plenty of patterns I have yet to make up, or I draft my own, but this little number, with it's very clever curved seams caught my eye. I had some Sevenberry Japanese fabric in my stash that I had been wanting to use, so the pattern came home with me.

Figgy's Sunki Pattern is a tunic style pocket dress with zippered back and knit leggings.
I have never used a Figgy's pattern prior to this, though I have admired them. I thought I would give you a short review of the pattern.

I made the dress in size 8/9 out of apparel weight fabric. The dress has 3 sleeve length options, I went with 3/4 sleeve.
First, let me say that I love the little details in this pattern; the curved front seams and pockets, as well as the lapped shoulder detail.

Though I love the fabric I used, I do wish I had chosen something that would have better shown off the curved front, if I were to make it again, I would choose a bit of contrast for the side panels to make them pop.

The pattern pieces went together perfectly and the finished product turned out beautifully. I would not recommend this pattern for a beginning sewist, as the instructions are brief and basic; though I had no real trouble with the steps, it certainly helped that I had experience with curved and pocketed seams. I really like the way Figgy's package their patterns and the instruction booklet is very nice; though in this instance I do think they could have benefited from a little more explanation or a few more tips. I would categorize this as an intermediate pattern and a good challenge to someone wanting to push themselves a little.

As for sizing; my daughter wears a size 7 in most clothing and I wanted a little room to grow so I made up the size 8/9 and it JUST fits. If she grows even a little, it will be too small. Yes, I checked the pattern measurement guide, but it is possible that Pony Girl has grown in the last few weeks since I measured her last! So I would advise not only checking the guide, but to measure your child before making (always a good idea) and to measure the pattern pieces as extra precaution. I think the fit is better matched for a more petite and narrow child.

My other observation is that the pockets are a bit more shallow than I anticipated, not a complaint just something of note.

Overall, I think the pattern is great. The drafting is perfect and it turned out lovely. I would recommend it (with my above notes). I love a pattern that is different and clever and unexpected; Figgy's Sunki is definitely that.

Many thanks to Pony Girl for braving the cold wind to model the dress whilst not feeling tip-top!

See you soon!