Bruyere - finally mine!

It took me almost a year from buying this pattern at the last SewBrum to actually get it sewn! I rediscovered my love of shirt dresses when I put my 2013 McCalls makes on (here and here). I had to have another one, or two, or three. Only one so far.

Fabric: Cotton print fabric that I bought from Goldhawk Road this year. I love fabric with flowers on it. I'm always in love with Ruths and Roisins makes and decided to finally make a flower dress for myself. I managed to cut the Bruyere from 1.5 m of fabric - at least I thought so. But discovered that I had missed the back facing, ups. There was no fabric left and so I used some white leftover cotton.

Pattern: Bruyere from Deer and Doe. I cut a size 36 for the bust, a 38 for the waist and a 40 for the hips. It was the first time that I cut a bigger size for the bust. I went to a proper Bra fitting and I can only recommend you go as well if you have the chance! I always bought 32B and the bra that fitted me best was 28/30 D (the shop keeper was raving about my very narrow back). I couldn't believe it.

 Cutting bigger bust sizes might also improve the fit of the clothes on my shoulders which I always struggle to fit right. For the Bruyere, I only did a forward shoulder adjustment and then crossed my fingers. I usually make a muslins, but as shirt dresses are not as snug I usually can get away with not fitting them. I also lengthened the shirt dress to size 46 because I'm not planning to wear it over trousers.

Constructions: As others have already commented, this pattern is for the advanced seamstress. There is not much detail and I was actually surprised by the lack of it. One of the challenging parts for me was to put in the sleeves. There seemed to be a lot of ease and I was wondering if they have to be gathered. But according to the internet I was the only one struggling. I unpicked the sleeves several times and managed to get them in with a minimal amount of puckers. Did anybody else experience problems with this step? Or was it just my lack of skill ;) Oh, I'm also not showing the plackets. Thankfully my fabric is patterned...

Fit: Not perfect yet. When wearing the shirt to work today I noticed the bust darts riding up which caused the build up of a fold over the bust. I'm not exactly sure why that is but I might try to move the bust dart down a bit because I thinks it is a bit high. For my next version I will also reduce the ease in the sleeves as they are a bit puffy. Other than that. I love it!

I had some trouble to style the dress. For the blog photos I was wearing it with purple tights. But tights are see through and so I didn't feel safe - especially because the fabric kept clinging to my bum and then riding up - any tips? Also what type/color of shoes would you combine with purple tights? I've worn the Bruyere with black leggings and a purple camisole today which felt much better.

Not my favorite photo, but the only one that shows the proportion of the shirt dress a bit better.

Lastly, thanks so much for your comments regarding my pink stripy dress last week. They are most welcome and I will review them coming spring. For now, the dress has been put to the back of the wardrobe and will be ignored :) PS: My sewing mojo seems to be back following a trip to Amsterdam - pictures to come -  and I'm merely sewing and embroidering. There is also some house hunting in the mix, but so far no success. Do you really need a sewing room? YES!

Deer and Doe Plantain adventure!

I finally jumped onto the bandwagon and made a Plantain! I had some problems with the fit and although I did some adjustments I am not fully happy with the fit yet!

My final Plantain version.

Pattern: Plantain from Deer and Doe, which is available for free from here!

Fabric: I bought a super cosy jersey from Goldhawk Road. It was £4.50 the meter and I managed to cut the three-quarter sleeve version from only 1 m of fabric! There was loads of squeezing and shuffling involved. For the elbow patches I used some leftover jersey from my latest ladyskater dress - that you haven't seen yet. :) But be patient, I will show it to you soon! If you wonder, no these fabrics were not in my stash, but I made allowances for jersey anyway. I looooooooove jersey. Most of my bought clothes are actually jersey!

Pattern alterations: I graded from size 36 bust to size 40 hip. Sloping shoulder adjustment - I added 5/8" to the back shoulder seam and removed 5/8" from the front. To not move the sleeve cap, I added 5/8" at the sleeve back seam and removed it from the sleeve front seam. I think because of this the sleeves are not sitting properly - next time I will just move the sleeve cap. Swayback adjustment - I took out 1". But looking at the fit, I will have to take out more!

Construction: It was a slight nightmare adventure! For my first attempt, I just used the pattern as it was and because I was sewing with my overlocker that went really fast. But when I tried on the Plantain, I realised that a boxy style just doesn't suit me! I looked like wearing a tent and there were massive pools of fabric at the waist to hip area. I thought, no problem, you can just tuck it into a skirt - there was no way I could do that because it looked even worse. I also used the wrong settings on my overlocker and the seams were puckering. It just looked awful on me. And that although there are so many beautiful versions out there...

Uhh, all these drag lines.

This meant, I took everything apart. And what joy it is to open overlocked seams. My new best friend was the lint roller! The threads were just everywhere. To get a better fit at the hips, I took my Burda dress pattern out, aligned it with the center back and front of Plantain and marked the new seam lines. I then carefully pinned the seams together and using the right settings on my overlocker went sewing. And that is how I ended up with my version of the Plantain. Slightly better fitted and not boxy at all!

I am not happy with the fit of the sleeves and back yet and will have to address this for my next version. I bought already a white jersey with little gold stripes in it. So keep your eyes peeled!

Ahem, I had to take the sleeves apart a second time, because I actually forgot to stitch the elbow patches on :( I could have left them out, but I really wanted to add them. Although I pinned the patches very well they still stretched a bit and are now a bit bulky. But luckily you can't see it when I am wearing the Plantain!

Lastly, I broke my twin needle (and it was the only one I ever owned!) when attempting to topstitch the neckband! I am just happy that it only bent and no pieces were flying around!

Do I like it? I am not in love with it because of all the struggles I had. And because the fit is not great. Maybe I should just get the Renfrew pattern to make a snug jersey top!

Have I worn it yet? I have - in combination with my Beignet skirt. I actually wanted to make a T-Shirt that I can wear with my Beignet, because somehow my wardrobe hardly has any basics that I can wear it with. I guess, I just chose the wrong pattern. The Plantain is a T-Shirt that you can better wear with trousers, but not tugged into a skirt.