OCMPP review

Time for my March and April project review! Spoiler: these were much more successful than the last lot.

1. Bronte

This is okay. I've worn it for work a fair few times and I really like it with this skirt, but I don't think the fabric works as well as it's supposed to. I wouldn't be averse to remaking this, but I would need to find the exact right weight and stretchiness of fabric first.

2. Anna

Complete and total success. This is a really nice summer dress, and the pattern (especially the top) has become my go-to. I've made six Annas or Anna hacks already, and there's at least another two already in the works. 

3. Tulip skirt

Yes, this pattern is that recent. Obviously it's terrible and I hate it. This particular skirt has already been excised from my wardrobe for awkward-waistband reasons, but I have six others in fairly heavy rotation. And I'm not stopping. Sorry.

4. Bodice block top

I've not yet got round to finishing and wearing this one, but I have made another one that I do wear, and a 1920s tie version is in my immediate future as well. 

Best: The tulip skirt and the Anna are two of my all-time favourite patterns and I'm not picking between them

Worst: Bronte

Remake? Not sure about the Bronte, definitely the other three

Biggest problem: I don't have anything to complain about this time. Score! 

OCMPP part four: bodice block

Check me out, getting all my projects posted within the two months again!

I bought the Sew Over It Vintage book on the pretext that I was going to make the pouffe as a Christmas present, which I then did not do (I was already making pyjamas, aprons, make up bags and stockings, and it seemed like a bit much). So the book has been sitting on my sewing table, and I keep picking it up and thinking that several of the things - 1920s top and dressing gown in particular - would be cool things to make and I should get on that. Which I have so far not done. In order to make anything else in the book, you need to draft a bodice block. Take four measurements, draw a few lines on a piece of paper, cut it out, make a toile. It seemed easy enough, though apparently not easy enough for me to try it several months ago when I first thought about it. Anyway.

My first attempt looked like this:

Yeeeaaah. The instructions tell you to measure from collarbone to waist to get the length. So I did that, without it occurring to me that measuring down the middle of my body fails to take two fairly substantial things into account. I sort of wish I was the kind of person who wore tops like this, but I am not. So I added five inches or so to my block and had another go.

Better. This is a perfectly serviceable top. I might even finish all the edges and wear it if I can decide what it would go with (my wardrobe doesn't have a lot of items that would match a loose drapey T-shirt).

The book says that the block isn't meant to be tight fitting, and it's not kidding. This is actually smaller than it's meant to be - the block as drafted doesn't include seam allowance, but I forgot that both times so had to make the top smaller in order to sew it together, and it's still pretty damn roomy. I'm a tad concerned about other patterns in the book that instruct you to make the block bigger for a looser fit. This is already the loosest thing that's existed in my wardrobe for years. However, I really want that 1920s top, so that's going to be the next one I attempt (I don't know when, but it's next).

Overall, a success, providing we ignore this bit:

Ladies with boobs: MAKE YOUR TOPS LONGER. This has been my PSA for the month. 

OCMPP part three: Tulip Skirt

I had two tulip skirts on my To Make list, and this is neither of them. My mother bought me some cool floral stretch denim, so of course it had to become one of these skirts as well. And I made it before my planned ones because... well, the fabric was a present, and it would be rude to leave it just sitting there.

Sassy!

I had a vision of bright pink pockets, bright pink zip and bright pink topstitching, but I had to forgo the zip because I couldn't find one in the right shade of pink. The zip is now white, but that's also fine because:

Pink and white spotty pockets! (These photos don't really show the bright pink topstitching, but trust me, it is there.)

I really like having one of these in denim. It doesn't crease as embarrassingly quickly as my previous two. I also really like it with this top, and I have visions of my future wardrobe being entirely composed of tulip skirts and cropped jumpers to mix and match at will. That would take a lot of the work out of getting dressed. 

Amber Moon made her triumphant public debut a week ago and it was awesome. You'll be hearing all about it in a couple of weeks.

I did manage to make one of the ones I said I would as well, because I keep my promises, dammit. The fifth skirt is cut out as well, but I have STORIES about that one so it'll have to wait. 

Before we go any further, the radical difference in the quality of my hair is due to a fancy pre-shampoo product I got given. I'm torn between feeling delighted that there is a product out there that can begin to control my perpetually misbehaving hair and annoyed that now I'm going to have to buy a stupid expensive hair product for the rest of forever. Sigh. 

This is my simplest tulip skirt. It's a mustard cotton twill with a little arrow print, and I got the skirt out of a metre of fabric, which I'm quite pleased about. I left the pockets out, mostly because I forgot about them. I may come to regret this. 

I used a triple stitch to do navy topstitching on the hem, which hasn't quite come out the way I pictured it, but eh. Never mind. I don't spend a lot of time looking at my own hems so it's unlikely to bother me much. I put in a navy concealed zip too. 

This was the outfit I wanted and I really like it. I feel like the mustard and navy combination is one that my wardrobe was seriously missing. Initially I wanted a plain mustard skirt but I've come around on this print; it adds interest to the skirt without being distracting. I will get a lot of wear out of this, as I will with all the other tulip skirts both current and future. Yes, future. You're going to get really bored.

We will end on what I like to call "the confused flamingo":

(Once I was dancing with someone at a social and he spent the whole dance giving me "feedback" and corrections and explaining what I should be doing. On the last beat of the song I did exactly as you see in this picture. "What's that?" he asked. "I'm a confused flamingo," I told him. He backed away and I never had to dance with him again. The confused flamingo has its uses.)

OCMPP part two: Anna

I have wanted to make an Anna dress since I discovered the existence of Anna dresses. I discovered the existence of Anna dresses approximately seven minutes after By Hand London stopped selling paper patterns, and since I didn't have a printer I just watched hundreds of beautiful versions float past me with ever-mounting envy. I even spent a very frustrating morning looking at every single online shop that delivered to the UK to see if they still had any Anna patterns in stock, and I found every single one of the BHL patterns except Anna. That was an annoying day.

In February I acquired a printer, and one of the first things I did after getting it home was buy myself a copy of this pattern. I was VERY EXCITED. And also a bit worried that this would be the thing I always worry about: the amazing pattern that looks amazing on everyone except me. But it would be fine, I counselled myself. I could do this. This was going to be a happy dress for Happy Jen.

I dare you to rain while I'm wearing this dress. I dare you. 

When purchasing my extremely inappropriate for March in England fabric, I bought the 2.5m the pattern claimed to require for the midi version. By messing around with the layout I only used about half that, which was fortuitous, as it turned out.

For some reason I decided I was going to cut a straight UK 16 and not bother doing any alterations to it. This was a very, very stupid idea, as I discovered when I tried on the bodice. It was the most hilarious not-fit I've had in my entire (admittedly short) history of dressmaking. My boobs got seriously squashed, the back wouldn't close, and trying to pull it shut made the neckline jump straight into my throat (somewhat painfully, I might add). I grumbled, swore a bit, left the dress on a table for the best part of a week, then came back and unpicked the stupid bodice.

Thanking Past Jen for her excellent fabric-saving skills, I added a 2.5in FBA to the front bodice piece and recut it. The 2.5 was an educated guess rather than a diligently calculated measurement, but Bodice 2.0 was much better. The proper amount of boob space without distorting the waist. I was very pleased.

The other thing I learned from Bodice 1.0 was that I really did not want that neckline facing. It was bulky and annoying and straight-up refused to stay inside the dress. So I took advantage of the fact that I'd had to unpick everything, threw the facing away and replaced it with bias binding (I had a package of bright orange binding sitting on my desk from a previous aborted project). I also used bias binding on the hem, because why not.

(I haven't stitched the zip tape down yet. It's not a priority, it's April. Where the hell am I going dressed like this?)

I love the fit on the bust and waist, the shape of the skirt. and the overall silhouette of this dress. I do not love the weird hump of fabric I get at my collarbone whenever I raise my arms. Is that something that can be eliminated through fitting adjustments? I could just make the V-neck version in future (and I will try that), but I prefer the boat neck shape for this pattern. More research required.

I will definitely be making more of these. I've already made a maxi version (coming your way very soon), I'd like to try a jersey version, and I suspect I will be making an Anna for at least one of the summer weddings in my calendar. Yes, I know I don't need a different dress for each wedding. What's your point?

OCMPP part one: Bronte

Let's get started with March and April, and my first experiment with Jennifer Lauren Vintage:

Imperious Jen is imperious. 

This, as you may have noticed, is a navy top. I struggled with whether or not I should make another neutral top given that I am badly in need of more colour right now, but since this will go with literally everything else I have planned I've justified it to myself. I originally had an idea that I was going to make this one and then another one with the colours reversed, but when I got the fabric home I realised I already have a top in almost this exact teal colour, so I'm not going to do that and will repurpose the teal for something else. I think even though it's navy, it'll be fine - the teal keeps it from being totally dull-ass neutral if I want to wear it with grey, like this. I also did all my twin needle stitching with teal thread, though you can't see that because I forgot to make sure it was visible. I'm good at this.

It was my first time using this pattern and first time using this company, so I basically just did as I was told. I found the PDF sliiiightly fiddly; I liked that each pattern piece had its own set of sheets so I didn't have to put together some enormous floor-eating thing, but unlike every other PDF I've used so far, this one didn't have black lines around the usable area of the pattern, so I had to do a bit of "is this where I'm meant to be cutting?" guesswork on some of the pieces. But once I'd got over that, it was fine.

The top comes together super-quickly. I got a tiny bit confused about where all the various layers were meant to go when sewing the sleeves in, but other than that there's hardly anything to it. Binding on front and back necklines, baste at shoulders, sew in sleeves flat, sew up underarm and side seams, hem.

The only change I made to this pattern was to shorten it by a good three inches when I hemmed it. I don't really have any use in my wardrobe for tight-fitting long tops, so I shortened it to hit slightly below my belly button, which is the most versatile length of top for me.

(Please excuse this series of photos. I had about seven and a half minutes to get everything done before the heavens opened. Goddammit, bank holiday weekend weather.)

I would like to make this again, but I'd change a couple of things next time. First, I don't think ponte is quite the right fabric for this top, and second (which may actually be related to the first) the fit around the bust and underarm isn't exactly what I'd like. It might be different in a stretchier fabric, but a tiny bit more room in the bust and more give in the armpit would make a world of difference. I'm not actually sure what I'd use next time - she recommends medium to heavy weight jerseys, but finding a heavier jersey with a decent amount of stretch isn't easy. I shall have to ponder that.

(This is me pondering. Didn't even get a slightly comedic photo this time. I'm sorry and will try harder in future.)

Overly Considered March Project Plan (OCMPP)

So, I've been thinking a LOT about this. I've written three or four completely different versions of this post, and none of them seemed quite right. I had too many ideas in conflict - stashbusting vs finding the right fabric; frivolity vs practicality; learning new skills vs improving on current ones; shiny new toys vs having food and somewhere to live. So while I still fully intend to do my planning this way, I'm going to change up how I do it.

My last two pattern hauls have been made up exclusively of patterns that were new to me, but that's going to get impractical and expensive pretty quickly. It's also not necessarily going to give me the clothes I really want. So I'm going to start calling this Project Planning rather than Pattern Haul (even though it sounds a lot less fun), and I'm going to include at least one new pattern and one remake in each one.

I've covered my bases pretty well this time - one frivolous dress, one practical outfit and one new skill. It's three PDFs and some instructions from a book, so I don't have a photo. Have a gif Ned Flanders squeeing about curtains instead.

Patterns!

By Hand London Anna dress

I got a printer, so this is happening. I'm going to make the midi version in an orange-coral lily print raw cotton, which I'm not sure is really me and it's definitely not March, but I really wanted to make a happy dress. This pattern is ubiquitous and I've not seen a bad version yet, so I'm hoping to be able to make lots, including a first attempt at a silk dress if this one comes out OK.

Jennifer Lauren Vintage Bronte top

I've been dying to make this one. Thank you, printer! I LOVE the shoulder detail on this and I haven't seen much else like it. If I can get it to work, I am possibly putting this shoulder on everything I ever make. Even the skirts. I want to make something that will go with the skirts I'm planning to make, so I've got a navy ponte for the main top and some teal to use as binding.

Sew Over It tulip skirt

This is actually my remake, even though blogland hasn't seen it yet. I've already made two, and that post is going up on Monday. Spoiler alert: I love this pattern and you will be seeing a LOT more of it. I have plans for one in red and one in mustard with navy topstitching, both of which will go with the above top, though the mustard one is contingent on my being able to find the right fabric.

Sew Over It Vintage bodice block

I've been meaning to try this for ages, and if I want to make anything else in the book I need to do this first. I'm just planning this as a toile for me to experiment with and get the fit right, so I'm going to use remnants to make it and not plan for it to go with anything in particular.

These are my priorities. I made loads of things besides the ones in my haul last time, but none of them were the ones I thought I was going to get to, so I'm not doing that again. However, I am going to see Dita von Teese perform at the Crazy Horse in Paris this month (she says, not at all smugly), and if I can I'd really like to make myself something nice to wear to that. We shall see.