Liberty Jumpsuit

 I will never tire of sewing Liberty cotton lawn, this fabric is so wonderful. Moreover, I found this beauty in Ribes i Casals web store at half price and the print is so beautiful I could not even believe it was a real Liberty. But it is, oh yes! It has been a year sitting in my stash waiting for the perfect project. 

Finally, I saw this Durban jumpsuit by Megan Nielsen and I bought a linen fabric for it. Then, I did not have enough fabric, so I decided to try it with this Liberty first, which was wider (170 cm) and barely enough. I did not buy the pattern, though. Spending 16 € in a pattern that I have to print, assemble, draw and redraw without the seam allowances is not my idea of ideal shopping. So, I looked in the BurdaStyle online archive to see if they had anything similar and I found this wonderful pattern. I asked for this magazine in my library-bus and BEHOLD, I got a free, stunning pattern. 

I had to reduce the width of the legs, because the fabric was still not enough at 1.5m, but it was ok, since Burda has always too wide legs and I did want narrower legs in this thi, crisp fabric. 

I also modified the closing, from back zipper to front buttons and buttonholes plackets. 

I also removed the sleeves, raised the bottom armscye 2 cm and made the crotch 2 cm higher as well. 

All these modifications were successful, and I was completely in love at the first fitting. My confidence and self-esteem went sky-high and then I cut a too deep  neck line and I almost ruined it all. I saved it by raising it 2 cm by shortening the seam on top of the shoulders, a lousy move, I reckon, but it saved it. I can wear it now, with a bra. Few!

The fabric is still gorgeous, and the pattern as well. 

A note on my beautiful Swedish Hasbeens, which I totally adore. 

Circuit Dress in English Embroided White Cotton

 I had the inspiration for this piece in the Formula1 Gran Prix, held at Circuit de Montmeló, Barcelona. It was last June, and we were under a heatwave that lasted most of last summer. It was so hot, it was dangerous. I then mentally designed a dress that had to cover my skin being fresh, using this thin cotton that has small holes for ventilation.

I found the fabric in Firenze, during my holidays in Tuscany. This is the second (out of five) fabric I use from the shopping in wonderful Bacci Tessutti (as the viscose in my last entry), and it was also 10 cm shorter that ordered. 

The pattern is from BurdaStyle, although I hacked it to include the flounce all around the bottom of the skirt and one of its sides up. 

This pattern is made for a woven fabric, but it does not have any darts to shape the waist. Only side breast darts. Maybe (I cannot make up my mind) I should add some, at least in the side crossed over the other, but I can tie the belt in the front and then that solves the matter. 

In these pictures I tied it only at the back, though. 

Firence Viscose Princess-Seammed Dress

 This last summer we had a wonderful road trip around Tuscany. We spent some days in Florence and we celebrated my birthday there, going to a great fabric shop and then having a bistecca for lunch in the San Lorenzo quarter. I believe Italian food is overestimated, but not fabric. 

In Bacci Tesutti, I met this wonderful salesman, who showed to me all their fabulous natural fabrics and recommended some other under the counter ones. I had an almost mystical-consumist experience shoping there! I finally got this viscose, an English embroidered cotton, some silk and a wonderful black wool crepe. I hope to parade them all here, and this is the first I've made. 

I had in mind the Shelby Dress pattern, and I thought this would be the perfect viscose for it. I used the Saraste blouse pattern as a starting point, because it has a good easy fit and complete princess lines like the Shelby dress. 

As for modifications, I elongated the four panels, drawing and evasée skirt, simply making lines longer. I then changed the neck opening, using a self-drafted V-neck, which meets the shirt lapped opeing. I draw and made an interfaced double front placked, which included the back and front neck opening and all the front down to the bottom, with buttonholes and mother of pearl buttons. 

I like the hacked pattern better than the fabric, after all. I took the pictures after two very hot days of wear at my job, which were pretty intense... but it is wrinkled and... well, I've seen better quality viscoses... also, I realized three of the four fabrics were 10 cm shorter than I bought, and I then understood the 10% discount offered at paying.

Swimingpool Bag and Terrace Cushions in Cotton Canvas

 My old straw basket, that I used to put my swimingpool stuff in, broke after many years of use. I looked in several markets, and they were too expensive or small, so I decided to make my own bag. 

I used this pattern from the Named book Breaking the Pattern, and I bought the fabric, a beautiful cotton canvas with jungle plants and tigers from Ribes i Casals shop online. I also used some old whitish fabric I had as a lining for the back, and some upholstery foam remnant I had from my car bed project. 

I am totally happy with the result. Both the bag and cushions are perfect and after two summers I can say they are worn and used without complaint. 

Tie-Dye Double Gauze Long Summer Dress

A new fabric shop opened in the town I do my shopping, and I went to check their cargo, following a friend's advice. This is the only fabric I got, planing to make some long shirt with an old pair of jeans I had cut. 

The two blues did not go well (and that is the 2nd chance for the old piece of jeans), but I then had some inspiration! I decided to copy an old long summer dress I had trown away after years of service last year, and I had missed at the end of the school year, when it is very warm but you still want your legs covered. 

Well, all in all, I tried an old bodice pattern, but it did not meet my standards at the dress form, so I decided to drape the fabric on the form and that's it. The fabric is light and soft to the touch, but at the same time it has lots of body and retains shape, no drape almost when hanging. Perfect to drape it over the dress form. 

I failed at the 1st trial, because I took the princess lines as a good point to place the shoulder straps, but it was totally off. So, in the 2nd attempt, I placed them just next to the shoulder rim, where my real shoulder and arms are supposed to protrude from.

This fabric is gorgeous to the touch, and I had a great time sewing the neckline facings and shoulder straps.

I sewed this the three days previous to our trip to Liverpool, because suddenly it was the dress I absolutely needed to fly and to wear in England, to be worn with a summer jacket or raincoat. 

These pictures are after driving 2 hours, flying 3 hours and going by train 2 hours more! And look how gorgeous this cotton looks at the end of the day. Good fabric!

Green Cotton Midi Dress

I found this beautiful cotton fabric in a shop in Sitges dedicated to patchwork. One must visit these patchwork shops from time to time, because they can have beautiful cotton fabrics that can be used for dressmaking as well. 

This particularly is a Kaffe Fassett design and it got my eye at first sight. I bought 2 m (it is only 150 m wide) and I am glad I did, because when its turn arrived I had this midi dress fever, after seeing midi dresses everywhere. 

Having no tan at all, and also I had to wear this dress up the stage to give my graduated students their diplomas, a short skirt is not becoming when seen from bellow, so a midi dress was what I needed. 

The inspiration for the pattern came from Named Taika Blouse dress, but I wanted to use my old patterns and some hacking to get there. After the modifications I made for my previous midi dress, I just had to shorten the sleeves, draw a V-neck line and a centre front partition with the matching 2 cm button stand that continued up to frame the V-neck opening and the back of the neck. I also gave some give to the side seams (4 cm total), because the previous midi dress was quite tight and since this was buttoned at the front, I did not want it to gap between the buttons. 

I am really proud of this one, the result is perfect. I wore it the last  day of the course and I felt perfect for the walk we did in the morning and for the ceremony at the end of the morning. It is going to get quite a lot of wear, it ticks all the boxes, specially for spring and autumn.

 

Midi Dress

I am proud of this project for two reasons: I love wearing it -it is comfortable, becoming, versatile- and the serious pattern hankering I successfully manage to achieve. Sorry for the boasting, but it is important for me to state the level of satisfaction a project has entailed -not so high, too often- for the record.

Sew Over It Aida dress was the inspiration, combined with Named's Taika dress pattern, which I am making rigth now after some more pattern hackering. 

When I saw these, I though I could recreate them, altering a previous pattern which I love, the Diana dress.  This project was a mixture of two patterns. On the one  hand, the Diana dress, with bust darts in curved vertical seams, o semi-princess seams, as I call it. It is a very good idea to shape big tits like mine, adjust in the waist and hips, and give it as much evasée skirt as needed. I used the neck cut and armscyes of another of the dresses of that wonderful book. 

Well, I used this pattern as a base here. I drew a line under the bust all around the four long pieces, and redo the upper part, closing the dart under the arm and marking the gathering under the bust, which I simply adjusted to match the two bottom parts.

 

I followed the same procedure in the back as in the Taika dress. 

All this hackering went quite well, although I had to alter the under bust line, pushing it up (Luckily the bottom pieces could be easily modified to have higher waist lines).

I had to change the sleeves too. The ruffled, big sleeves were too much in this dark, solid viscose. so I used a good old sleeve I like to simply take 5 cm width off the underarm area. 

Some mishap happened in the making process that I have to duly note. The under bust area, in the bottom pieces, was somewhat stretched when I stitched the self encased seam. Next time I will apply some interfacing to prevent that to happen. Pieces cut on the bias or across grain easily stretch at the minimum excuse. 

I love to finish all my dressed with self enclosed seams, and this dress is also perfectly neat outside and inside. 

The invisible zip at the back is too visible for some reason, and I don't know whose fault is that. 

All those issues must be addressed in my next project, which is going to be the open-at-the-front version of this. 

I started the dress in spring and finished in summer, so i had to make 3/4 sleeves, which I love, and i only managed to wear it one day... but I tried it on with low boots and it looks lovely. 

So, all in all, a great make, although not perfect. And my first midi dress, I think! This is a new fashionable feature I've very happily incorporated.

Keep learning...