My most loved Colette Hawthorn - so far

I made another Hawthorn! It's already my fourth version (click here for versions ONE, TWO and THREE). Because I have sorted out most of my fitting issues it should have been a fast make. However, it took me 4 weeks to actually finish the dress.

 

Fabric: I used a heavy brocade for the shell and some cotton-silk to line the bodice. I only lined the bodice this time because I made a slip to wear under the dress. 

The slip made from yellow polyester lining.

 I wanted to make a slip for ages, but couldn't find the motivation to do so. The slip is made from polyester lining and gathered with some picot elastic. 

Embellishments: I think the most pronounced feature of this dress is the off-white piping and self-covered buttons. I bought the piping in Shephard Bush market (London). I can't remember the price but it was really cheap. I have to say the buttons were a pain to make and I actually needed Leschas help to assemble them. It took us an hour and we were both glad when it was done. For the facing and under collar I used some poplins with flowers on it. You know me, I just couldn't resist to sneak in some flowers :)

Alterations: As I worked out most of my fit issues when sewing my other Hawthorn versions, I actually didn't do any fitting this time :) I know the sleeves look really creasy but that's because I was wearing the dress with a tight fitting cardigan before. 

Construction: Because I added the piping I had to change the assembly order of the dress completely. The instructions have you assemble the bodice first and then attach the skirt at the waistline. But because I wanted the piping to be continuous all the way from top to bottom, I first stitched the front bodice and front skirt panels together and than attached the piping and facing. The pattern doesn't come with a separate skirt facing, so I drafted it myself.

It took me two evenings to handstitch the hem - I used a slip stitch - but I'm so glad I took the time because you can't see the stitches on the right side.

You can see that the collar isn't completely flat and the facing is peeking out. That's despite me trimming as much fabric on the seams as I could. I guess I would need a clapper to flatten it completely.

  

Finally, I just would like to thank you all for your kind words regarding my engagement. The last couple of weeks were really exciting and I have bought a couple of wedding magazines to get some inspiration for wedding dresses, cakes and decoration. I haven't decided on a wedding dress yet. But have already a vague idea in my head which involves lots of chiffon and flowers :)

Autumn Make No1: Colette Hawthorn

You would assume that after having put this pattern together twice (here and here) already, I shouldn't have any problems sewing this dress. WRONG! If it is easy, why not make it more complicated by adding a lining?

10 minutes of sun - photo time :)

To be fair, I had to add a lining because otherwise the eyelet would reveal too much of what I am wearing beneath. We don't want this, do we?

Lining the bodice was not the problem as I had done this before and I just had to attach a underlining and voila could treat the shell and lining fabric as one piece. But how do you add a lining to a full circle skirt when (a) you don't want a full circle skirt lining and (b) your skirt has a button stand?



It took me a while to figure out how to do this and I came up with a okayish idea I think. I cut out a big square from the lining. One side of the square had the same length as the skirts waistline allowing me to baste skirt and lining together at the waist. I then sewed the skirt to the bodice and for some reason the skirt was almost 1" two short. To fix this, I just made the waist darts of the bodice a bit bigger. Big mistake. Although I had some ease on the waist, the dress is now quite tight, buh.

However, I am just able to wear it BEFORE breakfast, haha. If I want to wear it after breakfast, I have to move the two buttons and the snap fastener at the waist a bit.

See how the lining pulls at the waist?

More pulling when you open out the facing.

To avoid having the slippery lining fabric in between shell fabric and facing (I really didn't want to sew button holes on two layers of slippery lining fabric), I just stitched the lining to the facing as far as I could go towards the waist. That's the reason why there is a pull of fabric at the waist as well. Complicated? Sorry, I didn't take any pics but I don't think my "technique" was really worth it. Do you have any suggestions where I can find info about adding lining to garments in general? That usually gives me loads of troubles because I don't know how to do it.

Hemmed lining. I had to hand-stitch a small section.

Lining and shell hems are finished with an rolled hem from my overlocker :) Did I say, that I loooooovvvvveeee her?

To finish the arm holes I used some leftover bias tape. It is a bit annoying that it is red, but I really wanted to finish the dress and red tape was the only one left. As you will notice, I also had some problems putting it in. That might be because I modified the arm holes. On my other two Hawthorns the armholes are just too tight, so this time a cut them open a bit more. I kept cutting, trying on, cutting and when I was happy with the fit looked in the mirror and noticed that I had cut the armhole too big on the back. So that is why my armholes look differently from the back (I didn't repeat my mistake for the other armhole).

Do you spot the difference?

So, why did I make so many little mistakes? Because I was trying to sew as much as possible during my holidays. And I thought, others can finish one dress a day, I should be able to do so as well. I didn't - it took me two days and the dress is full of little mistakes. I know probably nobody will notice (if I get the tight waist fixed), but I know.



Having learnt from this (and from another fast make - soon to come), I vow to take my time with my next garment. To fit it well and sew slowly :) What about you? Do you feel sometimes the pressure to sew faster because other bloggers finish several garments a week?

Now, just quickly the usual questions and answers (are you still with me?):

Have I worn it yet? Yes, at a stroll in the park and when bending down to collect a chestnut (I think I collected at least 2kg. I just love them. I have them everywhere in the house) the snap fastener at my waist popped open. So no excuses here to wait longer to move it.


Do you like it? I love how it turned out. I used a quilting cotton for the collar and self-cover buttons and just love the look. It was the first time I made self-cover buttons and my fingers were hurting like crazy next day.

Do you see the lining peeking through the eyelet? Love it!

Are you going to make it again? I don't think so because I am having now three Hawthorns in my wardrobe and it is time to try another pattern!

Final pic promised: Front view. Yep, I'm missing one button.

Vote for your favorite Hawthorn dress!

I am so happy! My Hawthorn dress made it under the first 20 dresses of the Colette sewing contest! Now it is open to the online community to vote for their favorite dress. They are all so pretty and I am sure it was hard for Sarai to choose! As there are so many lovely dresses, there will be a second voting round on Thursday.

Please check out the Colette website to vote for your favorite dress. If it is me :) then I would be super happy about your support. You will find me under elas adventures, which is the name of my Flickr website. Voting is open until today midnight Pacific.

Meet my Hawthorn Blouse!

I always wanted to have a blouse with a peplum, because they look so feminine. But somehow, I never bought one - which might be because I am not wearing trousers and because the skirts I am having don't really go with a peplum blouse. But having seen the Hawthorn pattern I knew time finally arrived :) And here she is, my newest addition to my wardrobe (and only blouse):

Let's talk about the fabric first! Coincidentally (are there any coincidences?), I had a beautiful liberty cotton lawn (copy print) in my stash. When I saw it at Goldhawk road, I had to have it even without having a project in mind. Luckily I bought 1.5 m and I had just enough for the blouse, yeah! For the collar and sleeve band I used some white leftover cotton lawn. The buttons I had in my stash - and as before with the Hawthorn Shirt Dress - they were the only ones I had enough from. I decided against a lining as I wanted to make a floaty, airy summer blouse. This time I also resisted to buy any matching lace for the hem.

Pattern alterations: Although I love my Hawthorne Shirt Dress, I knew that there was still some room for improvements. The main issues with it were: back and sleeves are to tight! The tight back was easy to change. I just added 3/8" in the shoulder area - which makes a big difference in comfort! As for the sleeves, it took me a while to address that problem. But thanks to my boyfriend (hey, I am the one who attended the fitting class!), I found a way. I just did a broad shoulder adjustment! Obviously, I didn't check the sew-along first to see if there were any recommendations, no I just added 1" at front and back armholes (at the shoulder semas) and used my french curve to shape the armhole. I also elongated the sleeve cap about 5/8" and - following the "Sew the perfect fit" Craftsy class by Lynda Maynard - did a cut on Gusset alteration to make the sleeves more comfy under the arms.

Neatly overlocked waist seam.

For a few weeks now, I am deeply in love with Peter Pan collars. But I hadn't found the time to make one  (and that although I have pinned loads of tutorial on Pinterest). So, the opportunity arose, to make one for the Hawthorn blouse. To change the collar, I only used my french curve. Aligning and moving it around until the collar had a shape that I liked :) When I stitched the collar pieces together, I used a 1/4" seam allowance only. So this time the collar fit perfectly and because I used the 1/4" only, it was even a bit bigger and more to my liking.

My modified Peter Pan collar and button detail.

I love that the collar is so round and smooth.

I prefer my clothes to be a bit longer and therefore cut the peplum a size 18 lengthwise. I also moved the waistline down 1" as it is a bit high on my Hawthorn Dress. Puh, looking at that long paragraph I actually made a lot of alterations!

Pattern instructions: I was flying when stitching this together! As I had a lot of practise having sewn the Shirt Dress, it really was super easy. Who needs instructions? 

Full back view.

What I like (or love): I love that I made a summary blouse. When wearing it I feel like on holidays :) The fabric is so thin and floaty. Also the pastel colours go so nice with the white collar and sleeve band (and my hair, hihi). My sleeves look/feel much better and I can stretch my arms without being afraid to break any seams :)

Summer time and the living is easy...

What I don't like: That I don't have a skirt that goes with the blouse! For the photos I was wearing trousers, but I rarely wear them in real live. I can imagine a simple A-line skirt would go nicely with it. I had a look at Megan Nielsens Kelly Skirt pattern and also at Colettes Beignet skirt. What do you think? Do you know any pattern that I could use?

Have I worn it? Yes. I wore it to work on Monday, even with a pair of trousers, wuhu. And it felt great!

Will I make it again? Definitively yes! I am already looking out for a light denim fabric to make the dress with long sleeves and plackets! I could also imagine to make another blouse, but than there are so many other patterns that I would love to sew. So much to sew, but so little time!

Hawthorn Shirt Dress - done!

May I introduce: my finished Hawthorn Shirt Dress!

I am so happy with how it turned out. And, I am proud that I sewed a garment that was labelled "intermediate", yeah!

What I like: The contrast between the dress bodice and the purple sleeves and collar. I was at first not sure about this combination because I thought it would look like a waitress uniform. But now, I think it looks almost as if I am wearing a blouse under the dress - that was actually the effect I wanted :) I couldn't resist to stitch black lace trim on the hem (pic further down). Since I took up sewing I am always so tempted to add lace trim everywhere! The next garment will be without, promised!

The buttons I had in my stash and they were actually the only ones where I had enough from, so not really a choice here. They are a bit boring, but because of that go well with the busy fabric print.

I lined the bodice with cotton silk and overcasted the seams.

I finished all seams with an overcasting stitch of my sewing machine after having trimmed them down. They are all pressed towards the back. So, I did not follow the pattern instructions here who say to press the seams open, because I was told that open seams don't stay open after washing and you have to press them open every time. I don't like ironing that much... By the way, do I have to press darts every time after having washed the garment?

Me dancing ...

and swirling.

I couldn't be bothered to hand stitch the hem this time and my sewing machine actually came with a blind hem foot. So, time to try out something new! My stitches are not really blind - I can see some bigger ones on the outside and I also missed a few when trying to make my stitches smaller. I think I have to practise a lot more before I am able to stitch real blind stitches with that foot, but it is a beginning and much faster than hand stitching.

Pretty lace and can you spot the blind hem stitch.

That's how the hem stitch looks inside the dress.

Pattern instructions: The pattern instructions were easy to follow and I struggled only at one point: the collar. The collar is too short as you can see on the pic. When I noticed it, I got really really disappointed having thought that I made a mistake when adjusting the pattern pieces for my sloping shoulders. But as it turns out - it wasn't me (now I have the song from Shaggy "It wasn't me" in my head, bah). When comparing my pattern and the original one I saw that my alterations were right and also my seam allowances were as described (5/8"). After doing some research on the Colette Flickr group and looking at several photos and posts, I could see that everybody had the same problem. Only some people noticed because they made a muslin with collar before (obviously, I skipped that step). So, I went along with my slightly short collar, which still looks nice - and nobody will notice as long as I don't point on it :) (I am in the habit of doing it. My sis visited me for a few days and she was giving me compliments. And instead of saying thanks and closing my mouth, I said but ... here and here... mistakes. Uh, I have to work on that!)

The collar was supposed to be 5/8" longer.

But my collar fright was not over yet. This collar was the first one I ever made *proud* and although I put the interfaced piece (= upper collar) on top, you can see the seams that connects under and upper collar. But, having had a look into my sewing book (which I should have done before attaching the collar), I read that you can prevent that by understitching the seams to the under collar - I will remember that next time.

What I don't like: When I fitted the pattern, I fitted it a bit too tight over the back :( It is fine as long as I stand straight. but as soon as I bend forward or stretch my arms I am a little bit scared my seams will burst open. Also, you might have noticed the drag lines on my sleeves. The sleeve is not to tight, but I think the sleeve cap has to be moved lower - meaning my bodice shoulder has to be wider by one inch for the sleeves to sit properly (Does that make sense?). I also had to enlarge the armholes about half an inch because they are a bit to small. To do so, I just stitched another seam under the arm and trimmed some fabric off. That helped a lot for feeling more comfy but did not help with the drag lines..

Drag lines going under the arms.

Will I make it again: Yes! I have already started to make the blouse with the peplum. This time I will try to get a better fit for the sleeves and also make the back a bit broader. I am dreaming already about making a nice autumn/winter dress from this pattern. Maybe I could use a light denim and for the collar a floral print :)

Have I worn it: No, because we are having a heat wave in the UK and the cotton that I used is far to thick to be comfy for this weather. But as soon as it cools down, I will definitively wear it.