Inspiration: Beaded Sleeves

Last week was one of those weeks that just wasn't productive. I didn't feel motivated to do much, so the time I did spend working on things went towards a gift (yet to be finished... I had to redo a good chunk of it). I realized today I had this post sitting around half-written.

So, two weeks ago the Coletterie linked to this Threads article showing a pair of beaded and embroidered sleeves. If you haven't seen it, do! They're absolutely beautiful. The detail is amazing.

It got me thinking about how cute it would be to add sheer beaded sleeves to a simple top or dress. I lack the experience or ability to make anything quite like the inspiration, but I have done a bit of beading and rather liked it. The Alabama Stitch Book even has a little info on beading, and the stencil patterns from it would work for beading patterns.

I started looking for examples, and while they weren't all over the place, I did find a few (quite a few wedding dresses, too). Here's one:

Photo at tomandlorenzo.com

I like that it's more modern, with the very plain bodice and bright colors, but the beading is a little heavy.

This is example from Flickr is on a sweater and different beads than I'd use, but I like the random, scattered style with a stronger concentration at the hem:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/onthevraydar/6425678691/

I'd use a simple bodice and little cap sleeves for this. And wouldn't the Truffle dress look good with beaded sleeves and matching detail on the ruffle?

Notes to self: Fitting

I meant to put this in my original Pastille post, but seeing as how I forgot and it was a wordy enough post on its own, I'll put it in here. I mentioned some of these things, but I want to very clearly document fitting notes and future changes so that I can easily find them if/when I make a pattern again. Or for reference on similar patterns. I could write them down somewhere, but chances are I'd lose them. Blogs really are handy as notebooks.

Pastille Dress

• Back bodice is too long
• Waistline on front bodice needs to be raised a smidge outside of the darts
• Skirt could still be straightened a bit - near the middle it still rounds out too much
• Sleeves - didn't mark changes on pattern piece, so try to trace dress or just re-do them (or remove them)
• Check waist length between front bodice and front skirt - it didn't seem to match up, probably forgot to adjust skirt waist after altering bodice

Optional:

• Make back bodice one piece and move zipper to side, add width to seam allowances for lapped zipper
• Sleeveless or draft separate cap sleeves
• Lace insertion at hem instead of pleats
• Do the bow

Also, things I learned or tried:

Thread tracing

Using lace hem tape

Prick stitching, lapped zipper

Hand-stitched understitching on facings

SBA

Several certainly-not-textbook fiddlings to get those sleeves to lay right without unpicking everything...

And here's a close up of the fabric I used (in TWO colorways!) just because:

Via trinityquilts.com

Wooly Jacket, Part 2

I knew I had more pictures of this jacket. I finally found them in a different folder on my computer. I realized I like this jacket with a longer shirt, as shown here. I wore it the other day with one that just came to the top of my jeans and didn't like the look quite so much. Funny how proportions change the look of something so much.

SSPC 2012: Pastille Dress - DONE!

My sister-in-law gave me The Colette Sewing Handbook for Christmas, and I highly recommend it. There are reviews about it all over the place, so check those out if you want more info. It's full of great tips and very clear writing, plus it includes five patterns. I decided to start with the Pastille dress, which is a fitted cap-sleeved dress with three horizontal tucks near the hem. I used a pink cotton with a red and white feedsack style print that I bought from a local fabric store.

Why, yes, I *do* feel awkward taking pictures of myself!

I haven't done a whole lot of pattern adjusting before, but I needed to adjust this one. I liked all the cutting, moving, adjusting, and most of all - getting results. I tissue fit to figure out how much to take out for the SBA I needed, and I made the muslin with those changes. Then I just sewed the whole thing with 1" seam allowances so I could let out anywhere I needed to. I did not test the skirt at all. I realized at the end that the waistline needs to be adjusted a little bit, so I may test it all in the future.

The main adjustments I made were the SBA, taking some length out, especially in the back bodice (although it still needs quite a bit more taken out), and straightening the skirt a little. It had quite a pronounced outward curve around the hips.

The other change I made was to redo the sleeves. I sewed them up as drafted, but ended up carving a good slice out of the outer edge to make them shorter and change the curve a little. They just weren't fitting correctly over my shoulders. I will most likely change them more significantly if/when I make this pattern again.

I made my first lapped zipper on this dress! This dress was designed with a centered zipper already, so I made a centered back lapped zip. I could (and probably will) move it to the side next time. I feel like it's kind of conspicuous right there, and I certainly need more practice with those. I must have had it misaligned, because I have a weird fold/crease at the bottom and I managed to make the top edges not line up at all. I did not want to redo it, so I'm living with it.

That zipper is one of the reasons (excess back length being the other main one) why I like this dress much better with a cardigan.

I will probably wear it without one also, because I want to be able to wear it during the summer.

Besides the general awkwardness, I was using a different camera and not sure of its timing...

And in other news, my Alabama Chanin skirt is *THIS* close to being done! I just need to attach the waistband elastic, which I'm going to do tonight (probably while watching Once Upon a Time). I also have my 80's pattern t-shirt all cut out, and I'm re-fitting my Clovers as shorts - hopefully a wearable muslin. I ordered a few things from Fashion Fabrics Club, and lo and behold they didn't send me any thread, including the Woolly Nylon I was hoping to use on my knits, or the blue knit for the McCall's shirt. So I need to see what else I can find now. But I'm still making progess!

SSPC 2012: Pomegranate Voile Dress and Update

I've completed 3 of my Spring/Summer Palette Challenge items so far; I've already posted about the PJ pants, I finished my Pastille dress this weekend (details to come), and I finally fixed my voile dress.

I made this dress last summer in anticipation of our trip to Europe. I used McCall's 5388, a shirt pattern, and just added length (using view D without sleeves) straight down to make it into a shift-style dress. I usually wear it belted to give it some shape, but I wore it yesterday loose and it was so comfortable. Now that it fits better, I don't mind the looser look.

I made a different view of this shirt WAY back when I just started sewing. I'm still a relative newbie, but I think that was actually my first garment. It was a mess; it's a very wide style and I used a quilting cotton that was NOT a good fabric to use, so I think I wore it once or twice and then stuck it in my use-this-for-fabric pile (do you save old clothes for their fabric? I don't always, but depending on the item I do). When I made this version, I chose an Anna Maria Horner voile (Diamond Mind in pomegrante), which was a much better choice.

I still think there might be too much ease in this pattern, but like I said, it's comfortable. The main problem I had with both versions was that the armholes were just TOO TIGHT. I lengthened the straps on both of them, but not enough. Besides, the neckline was hitting at the right place; the problem was the the bottom of the armscye was too shallow. So the other night I unpicked the bias binding, chopped a good inch out of the deepest part (and kind of eyeballed rounding it up so I still had a round-ish armhole), and sewed lace hem tape around the new and improved edges. I didn't feel like finding my scraps of voile, figuring out if I had enough for new binding, and recutting it all. It worked out fine. And best of all, my dress now fits around the top. It doesn't pull and bunch up under my arms. It's a weird feeling to have such a loose garment feel so tight.

OLD version - not the greatest pics but all I could find

NEW version, also not the greatest pic but at least you can see the dress

I'm glad to be making progress! A bunch of my fabric just got shipped yesterday (from Fashion Fabrics Club, it took a full week to even leave their warehouse - here's hoping everything arrives correctly), and I have the fabric for my 80's tshirt, from Girl Charlee - which was very quick with the shipping and the fabric looks just like I thought it would:

It's super soft and a little sheer so I'll have to layer but I quite like it.

Pyjama Party!

Pyjama Party time - I got my PJ's done! (About an hour ago...) They aren't the best thing I've ever made but hey, they're pyjamas. They're comfy and have pretty flowers on them, so the pretty much meet my requirements. Also, pink and blue fit right into my Spring/Summer Palette, not on purpose - 1st item for the Challenge done! And I've been working on bits and pieces of the other items and have fabric in the mail (well, hopefully in the mail...). So yay for sewing!

I didn't use a pattern per se, I just traced an old pair (if you look closely you can see the holes in those purple PJ pants).

I just laid them on top of the new fabric - a blue flannel with pink flowers, 1-1/2 yds, on sale for $2.50/yd or something like that - and added seam allowances with a hem gauge. I just marked every 4 inches or so down the length of the legs, and closer around the curves. Note to self (or anyone doing this): take out the elastic before you trace. It's very hard to get a big enough waist otherwise and you may have to hack it to make them wearable.... um... yeah. You may notice a pink gingham inset on my final pair. Way too small at first. Then I kind of twisted and did weird things when folding the waistband over for the elastic, but whatever. It works.

Final product:

Yay for soft comfy PJ's! I want to make another pair in a cooler cotton - I love flannel but with the weather heating up I don't see them getting much wear until fall. Now I'm off to check out the other pyjamas!

Wooly Jacket

Way back when, I decided I wanted to use this pattern - Cynthia Rowley-Simplicity 2443 - to make a little jacket. I wasn't in love with it as designed, and you can see my inspiration on my mood board. I changed a few things around and this was the final result:

I used a poly/wool/silk blend that I got on sale at JoAnn and fully lined it in a cotton jacquard from Denver Fabrics. I didn't want to spend much on the fabric because I had no idea how it would turn out. I don't know if I followed the procedure correctly but I semi-bagged the lining (I think?), referencing this Threads article.

I realized this is the first thing I've made that I really like. I'll probably add buttons at some point (the thought of adding the buttonholes is stopping me), but there aren't any significant changes that it needs. The construction could be better, but that comes with practice.

Plain sleeves

Lessons and techniques:

• Restyling a pattern: I basically left off all the extras - no pockets, no tabs, no ribbons, no d-rings. That plus the sleeve changes really made it look different.
• Drafting/revising sleeves: I based them off a different pattern, because I didn't want them to be quite so puffy, a little longer, and... see the next point.
• Working with the fabric: The sleeves as drafted wouldn't have worked well with this fabric especially with the lining. The outer fabric is pretty loosely woven (and ravels), so I added a lining with a lot of body to give it some structure.
• Adding a lining: I used the included facings and then used the body pattern pieces for the rest of the lining. I don't know when/if I was supposed to convert the front darts to gathers or anything like that but I pretty much just constructed a second jacket and stuck it inside out inside of the first one.
• Follow directions: I messed up on attaching the sleeve lining to the outer sleeves and ended up just slip stitching them together at the sleeve hems. I would have caught this if I did everything in the order I was supposed to.

All in all, though, I like this. It fits me better than the other things I've made and I don't have plans to alter it. (My Spring/Summer Challenge is half alterations and UFO's.) I thought I had a picture of me wearing it but it looks like I deleted all of them... they were very blurry. I'll update if I remember to take one. UPDATE: Found them! More photos here.