Kelly Skirt in Corduroy

Now here is a post that is long overdue. I made this Kelly Skirt already back in September, even before I made my Colette Parfait from the same red corduroy. When laying out my Parfait I realised that there was enough fabric left to cut a skirt. So I started to rearrange the patten pieces until both, the Kelly and Parfait, just about fit.

I couldn't cut the Kelly Skirt Back panel on the fold, but managed to cut it with a 5/8'' seam allowance to sew it with a center back seam. There were some black marks on the corduroy and I couldn't cut around them, but I managed to hide them on the inside of the waistband. 

I was keen on making another Kelly Skirt because sadly my first version is too tight and I don't feel comfy in it. My first version turned out to be too tight because I managed to shrink the waistband with my iron. So This time I made sure that no shrinkage happened.

I lined the pockets with some leftover Liberty cotton lawn (I still have more left!). They peek out a little bit, but I don't mind at all.

And here you can see that I'm still having problems to properly fuse interfacing to fabric. Ok I was also a bit worried to damage the corduroy.

The buttons are from Kiev and have lived for the last 4-5 years in my stash. They were destined to be added to a coat. However they were the only bottons that looked great with the red corduroy. As the corduroy is from Kiev as well, I just couldn't resist to put them together :)

 

The skirt is fully lined with an acetate lining. It is the same I used for the Parfait. Thanks to the lining the skirt is great to wear with tights and leggings. I always feel a bit christmasy when I put it on, haha.

I actually haven't worn it that often. I'm always worried that both, dress and skirt, look to similar and people will recognise they are made from the same fabric. Silly, I know. Do you have similar thoughts when wearing garments made from the same fabric?

A Purple Bronte Top

As soon as I saw the Bronte top from Jennifer Lauren, I knew I had to make it because I had utterly fallen in love with it and I still am. As I'm in strong need of jersey tops to go with all my skirts, the Bronte top is the perfect choice. Because of it's shrug-like shoulder detail it is much more than a basic top. And I like it :)

Excuse these back wrinkles, but the skirt was rotating around and so was the shirt!

Fabric: I used some purple light-weight jersey I bought in Walthamstow market. It was only £1.50/meter. Nonetheless it feels super soft and nice to the skin. I always have a hard time choosing plain fabrics, but this fabric has a pattern knitted into it and I like it so much.

Size: For the bust I cut a size 8 and for the waist/hip a size 10.

Worn together with my Burda flower skirt.

Alterations: I had made a muslin from an old jersey first and that showed me two fitting issues: I needed a swayback adjustment of almost 2" and a square shoulder adjustment. For the swayback adjustment I just took out 2" at the center back tapering to nothing towards the side seam. The shoulder adjustment was a bit more difficult and I ended up tracing the armholes (starting above the notches) and shoulders at a size 10. I then blended from size 10 to size 8 from the shoulders to the neckline. I hope this makes sense. I cut the neckband in size 10.

Construction: Thanks to Jennifers instructions and her sew-along a breeze :) I sewed the whole top on my overlocker and topstitched the hem with a twin needle. It took me only 6 hours from cutting to finishing Bronte. Which is fast for me :)

Embellishments: I used some buttons from my stash. These buttons actually come from Ukraine, where I found them in an old shed. So I gave them a good soak and scrub and now they are like new. But I like the idea that they came from somebody else clothes and have their own history. I might call them vintage buttons, haha.

Buttons from Ukraine.

Have I worn it yet? Once to take the photos on a super hot day. I suppose the fabric is completely made from polyester, because it wasn't breathable at all. But I don't mind in autumn to be a bit more warm! So I like it a lot! I have made already a second one which you will see soon :)

On another note, I'm going to move to Cambridge (UK) in August. So the next time will be stressy and it might become more quit on this blog. I'm even not sure if I can take my sewing machine with me for the first couple of month as I might be living in a flat-share, buh.

Are any of you readers from Cambridge? Can you give me any tips about places to live, fabric shops, sewing communities and want to meet up? I would be happy to hear from you :)

Part I of the Outfit Along: The Dress

We have amazing 26 degree C in London today, so perfect time to take my Outfit-Along Dress out for a walk! I only finished the zipper and hem this morning - and yes my sewing machine is working again! Apparently, a broken needle caused the bobbin tension to go all crazy and the guy from the sewing shop had to adjust the little screw on the bobbin case. Now she is behaving again :)

Pattern: As most of you might know, I made this dress for the Outfit Along 2014 hosted by Lauren and Andy. I decided to make Simplicity 1803, which is the dress Lauren recommends to make. I could have made another pattern, but I couldn't resist this amazing dress pattern. Actually, when I was fitting the bodice last week with Thea, we realised it is super similar to the Cambie dress from Sewaholic (that's what I was fitting on Thea). So I can cross the Cambie from my to sew list.

Pleats and eyelets.

Fabric: I got this fabric from Leschas mum the last time we went to Kiev. It is an eyelet cotton that was very beautiful to sew with. Because of the eyelet I had to underline the whole dress. I used a off-white cotton lawn I had in my stash for ages. I had only 1.30 m of the eyelet and managed to squeeze the dress out of it, yeah! I had even less from the lawn and thus had to cut the skirt underlining 10 cm shorter.

Alterations: As always, nothing fits me out of the envelope and I had to make two (only!) muslins to get the fit right. The pattern has princess seams, which should be easy to fit. I say should, because that is not the case for me. To avoid tediously fitting the princess seams, I just took the already fitted princess seam pattern from my Simplicity 1882 dress. Luckily, both dresses are armhole princesses and it was easy to transfer the changes. I only had to tweak the princess seams in the first muslin and voila they fitted :)

I also did a sway back adjustment and took out 1" at the centre back seam, tapering to nothing at the side seams. My armholes were also gaping, which meant I had to do a round back adjustment of 3/4" to get that gape closed. Lastly, the side seam was angeling forwards and thus I graded the bodice front to size 12 and the bodice back to size 4 (!) at the waist. It is straight now, yeah! That meant I also cut the skirt back in size 4 and the skirt fronts in 12! This was a bit scary because I was worried the skirt would not fit over my bum. But I hoped that it would fit because the skirt is originally gathered.

Straight side seams and pleats

Construction: I first underlined the whole dress: bodice and skirt. For the skirt underlining, which was 10 cm shorter as the shell, I first finished the hem with my overlocker before stitching it to the shell pieces. I didn't attach the hem, because I wanted it to float freely and not to appear bulky.

I followed Laurens tutorials, which were amazing!!! The pictures are so detailed and great to follow! So if you are going to sew the dress, I can only highly recommend Laurens tutorial! I decided to pleat the skirt as suggested by Lauren. Because of the eyelet fabric the dress looks quite elegant and I think a pleated skirt looks much more elegant than a gathered one.

Then was the questions, what kind of zip should I use? I decided against an invisible zip because the fabric would have been bulky. Also I have read several stories about breaking invisible zips which makes me a bit more cautious. So a lapped zip it was - my first lapped zip, which didn't get in that easy at all. It took me some unpicking and handstitching before it looked ok and I am still not 100% happy about the overlap.

One of my shoulder is lower thus I shortened one of the straps when pin fitting the dress.

Do I like it? I love it. I think it is a nice little summer dress (although some people might argue it looks like a wedding dress - hi mum) that will get plenty of wear as long as it stays warm here. I imagine it will look great with my knitted cropped jumper. And I can tell you already it looks great with the knitted cardigan for the outfit along. You will see it soon :)

Will I make it again? For sure! I have a beige fabric with a button pattern in my stash that I think would look great. But then I would go for the version with the short sleeves. I haven't muslined the sleeves yet and from experience I know, that they will change the fit of the shoulders massively. So it will take some time...

How are you getting along with your outfit-along? Or have you ever sewn/ knitted two pieces that you knew would go perfectly together right from the start?

Fabric shopping in Kiev and update on fabric stash

When we went to Kiev, I naturally couldn't resist visiting the fabric and haberdashery shops. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my mobile at home and couldn't take any photos from the shops. The shops displayed their cut fabrics on the walls, and only one of the shops displayed the actual bolts. The shops in Kiev have the most amazing haberdashery I have seen so far. So many amazing trims (you had to look through books and choose the one you want), buttons in every collar and different types of zippers.

I restricted myself to 4 fabrics (one more than I am actually allowed according to my stash diet rules, ups).

1. Some really soft stretch denim. Who was I, to resist this amazing polka dot denim? I just had to have it. I bought 1 meter and plan to make a skirt from it. Do you have any skirt pattern suggestions for stretch cotton? I initially thought I could make the Colette Beignet, but am worried that because of the stretch it will be too loose.

2. Patterned wool jersey. I spotted this fabric immediately, because it is purple and it has flowers woven (knitted?) into it. It appears a bit old-fashioned, but I think with a thin cream jersey as an lining the flowers will pop and it will make a nice winter dress. I don't have a specific pattern in mind yet, but I am eyeballing the new Moneta dress from Colette patterns.

3. White flower lace cotton. There was some confusion when I bought the fabric, because initially I wanted to have a similar lace cotton with smaller flowers. I wanted two meters to make a summer dress, but there were only 1.3 meters left. Thus the sales person recommended to buy the fabric I got, because it was from their new range - indicating that there should be more. But it turned out they only had 1.5 meters. Maybe something got lost in translation :) I don't speak Russian and relied on Leschas translation. But hopefully it will be enough for a nice floaty summer dress.

4. Hot red corduroy. I was looking for a baby-ribbed corduroy for ages in Goldhawk Road, but couldn't find what I wanted. And then I saw this fabric in Kiev and knew it was what I wanted. Again, they had only 1.5 meters left, but that should just be enough for the Colette Parfait I am planning to make out of it!

I also got some buttons and trims in the haberdashery shops. And why should it be different, I bought the last of the white buttons and the denim trim. I love trims and for some reason haven't used them in a while. But now you can look forward to seeing them soon on one of the summer dresses.

I also found some buttons in an old allotment that belongs to Lescha's family. I was really happy that I could take them (and they might have been happy that the buttons were gone). These buttons were probably cut off old clothes to be thrown away. I don't know how old they are, but I like the idea to wear a piece of history :)

That's were I found the buttons. A good scrub and they will be as good as new.

Back home I organised my fabric stash - to make space for the new arrivals. I have to admit that at the beginning of March I went twice to Goldhawk Road with some lovely blogging friends and naturally couldn't resist buying fabric. However, I stayed true to my stash diet pledge and didn't buy any poplins or quilting cottons.

Contrary, I bought 3 chiffons - a fabric that I haven't sewn with yet and the thought of cutting and sewing it scares me like crazy. But I just couldn't resist: butterflies and birds - my most favorite motives. Actually, Kelly, Claire and I bought 1 meter each of the white and blue bird silk chiffon. Let's see what we all come up with!

I also got some linen with pink flowers on it and some white and gold-striped jersey. Finally, I bough a great rose jersey (not shown), which I wanted to make a slip from (Gerties slip). But as I don't have all the little ingredients for it yet, half of the fabric has already been turned into a jumper from the Burda magazine (as soon as I manage to take photos, you will see it). The blue cotton lawn I got as a Birthday present :)

So my stash in total:
old: 26
in: 9
out: 8
new: 27

Anybody else struggling with keeping to the stash diet rules???