Sunday 26 January 2014

Another McCalls Shirtdress and a new iron!

First of all, thanks a lot for all your lovely comments about my last stash diet post! Your comments about what to make from my 1 m of fabrics were really helpful and you can expect to see some blouses soon :) January is almost over, but I managed to finish my first garment of 2014 before the end of the month, yeah! I made another McCalls Shirt Dress (you can find the first version here)!



Pattern: McCalls M6167, Version C, which has three tucks at the bodice front.

Fabric: Shirt fabric from my stash!!! It actually was not in the photos I uploaded last week, because I had already started to cut out the pattern. I bought the fabric in Brighton last autumn for this shirt dress :) and I am so happy that I finally used it. I was dreading to cut out this pattern, because there are so many pieces, you have to match plaids and you have to hand sew a lot (and I almost hate hand sewing).



Construction: As always the plaid matching took me ages! And as the fabric seemed not to be straight/ on grain, I was not able to match all seams. I have the problem of off-grain fabric quite often and I have started to wonder, if I treat the fabric wrong when I dry it and that's why its off grain? I usually tend to dry the fabric outside on a long clothes line. So my question for you:

How are you drying your fabrics? Any tips? 

I have no idea where this massive fold at the top button is coming from. It was not there before I put my coat on top! Can you spot the tucks? There are three rows.


But I am proud that the shoulders almost match the front bodice! I have made the pattern before, but without the tucks, thus it came together without any major problems. I am still not 100% happy about how my cuffs turned out. But hopefully I am getting better with time. I also bought the Craftsy Class "The classic tailored shirt", so that should help me out next time. And next time will be a shirt for Lescha!

Placket and cuffs. The buttons were from my stash as well! And here you can actually see the tucks!


Have I worn it yet? Only for the photo shoot. Because I am working from home at the moment, I am just not in the mood to wear pretty clothes.

I stitched a rolled hem with my overlocker, so neat!!!


Do I like it? Yes a lot! Although I would like it more if I had matched the plaids correctly. And I am a bit disappointed that you can't see the tucks. I guess I should have known, because the fabric is a busy print. It it just annoying that I put so much time and care into these tucks and now you can't see them! But at least now I know ;)





Philips GC7619/20 PerfectCare Steam Generator Iron Review

When making this shirt dress I used my new iron that I got from my mum for Christmas for the first time and I just thought I say a few words about it for anybody who is interested! I got a Philips GC7619/20 PerfectCare Steam Generator Iron, which you can fill up with 1.5l of water - so loads of ironing fun! The good thing about it is that you don't have to adjust the temperature because it does this by itself thanks to its OptimalTemp Technology. I really like this feature, because I managed to shrink fabrics before when I forgot to change the temperature on my old iron. Up to now I only ironed cotton fabrics and polyester lining with it, which was fine. 




There are only a couple of things that I have to get used to:
 (i) if you need steam, you have to keep pressing a button on the irons handle the whole time (my old iron always had steam on), if by accident you press it twice it releases a steam boost and I managed to burn my fingers because of this when pressing a dart.
(ii) It shuts off automatically (again my old iron didn't) and I keep forgetting about it. Luckily it does take only 2 min to heat up again...
(iii) when you are done ironing, you have to empty the water tank if there is any water left. And as you can't lock the iron to the tank, it is always a bit complicated when holding both above the sink and I am scarred that the iron falls down. I have to admit, when buying this iron I knew a new version would be out soon where you can lock iron and tank to carry them around. But I thought, who needs that? Might have been useful.

But all in all, the iron works lovely and I really like it. No water dripping from the iron onto my clothes, just perfect :)

10 comments:

  1. Love the shirtdress - I think it looks great and can't tell where the plaids didn't match. No one will notice :) The colors are perfect and it's nice to see a pic with no snow in it. Our snow seems to never end!
    Your new iron looks cool - but a bit beyond me lol. I like mine simple - but the auto shut off does get a bit annoying after awhile

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    1. Thank you, Kristin! I actually would love to see some snow :) We only have rain here and it was only an exception that the day was sunny when I took the photos.

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  2. Adorable! From what I see in the pictures, the plaid matching looks meticulous! I'm proud that you finally tackled the plaid fabric and also yay to sewing a shirt for Lescha!

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    1. Thanks Charlie, I am actually really relieved that these plaids have gone from my stash, yeah!

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  3. I love this! I don't think anyone will be able to tell about the matching. I can't! Once again, the color is lovely on you, and i'm envious of the hairstyle. I don't think I could pull it off.

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    1. Thanks Cari. And the hairstyle is only practice, so you could do it as well! I am usually not very good with my hair and wasn't able to braid it. But I really liked the style, so I was practicing almost everyday. Sometimes it turned out better than other days :)

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  4. I think you're being too hard on yourself about the plaid matching - it looks pretty good to me! It's a lovely dress, the colours really suit you and I'm sure you'll get more wear out of it soon.

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    1. Thank you Ruth! When I saw the fabric, I just fell in love with it (although I had already bought a fabric for this shirt).

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  5. Your dress is lovely, the plaid matching looks brilliant. The cuffs and rolled hem look fab too. I haven't tried a rolled hem before, but I think you talked about it in a previous post. I'll have to go back and look. Also, I love your boots!

    Re your iron, I am very interested! I think I mentioned before that I was looking for a new iron, so it's good to read your thoughts on this, especially the bit about locking the iron and tank together. I can't get my head around not having to adjust the temperature, but my beloved iron is a Philips, and I totally trust them!

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    1. Thanks Lynne! Yes, I made a rolled hem before for my vintage dress (http://ela-sews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/fall-for-cotton-challenge-completed.html). It is a really easy technique if you use an overlocker. It just takes some trials to get the tension right :) My boots are actually broken - I lost the metal thingy to pull the zipper up and down and have to use a hair clip now if I want to get the boots off, haha.

      I am glad the review about the iron is helpful for you. I am interested in knowing which iron you are going to get as well :)

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