very late posting of autumn sewing: an elodie dress

Today I have for you a dress I made from my autumn plan, back in the season I was supposed to make it, and then never posted because everything went to shit. But here it is now!

This is the shorter version of the Closet Core Elodie dress, in the blue linen you've now seen me post about multiple times. I could never find the right pattern for the maxi dress I originally intended this fabric to be, and having decided that the full-length Elodie would just be too heavy in this I went ahead and made a shorter version. I think this was the correct decision - I've worn this several times and on none of those occasions would I have been able to wear the giant one instead. And now I have a spare 2+ metres to make a maxi skirt that will let me have the idea of the original dress while also being a bit more versatile.

I said when I made my first version of this that I didn't like the neckline facing at all and would be swapping out for a bound edge on any future versions. I did that here, using the Victory Patterns Trina method, and while it's certainly better it does still gape when I sit down. I think I need to take a substantial amount of length out of the neckline. I'm actually considering taking the binding off this one, shortening it, and sticking some darts in to give the bodice piece a bit more of a shape. 

This fabric has enough structure to take a patch pocket, so I did put one on and I'm glad I did, it's come in very handy. I'm never going to be fully Team Patch Pocket, but it does work here. 

I am a little surprised at just how casual this dress turned out looking. I didn't expect it to be fancy and in fact actively didn't want that, but I did expect it to be something I changed into to go for a nice pub dinner rather than a wear-whenever day dress. We all know I'm always a little bit fancier than the occasion requires and I did actually put this on and decide against it one evening because I felt too casual. Overall it's probably a good thing to have more clothes I can just wear; I've definitely got into a rut these past few months and have been wearing the same few things on heavy rotation. To begin with I just didn't have the mental space for outfit planning and was just trying my best to be functionally clothed, and now the rut has set in so fully that it's really hard to shift. My intention for April is to do some work on that. 

I'm not sure if I'll make this dress a third time. I might - I'm interested in experimenting with adjustments to the neckline to get the fit the way I want it, and I do think it produces a pretty dress. But this is not going to be a Kielo-type pattern that I make again and again. If I find fabric that demands it, I will do it. Back in autumn I suggested I might use my green and orange floral satin-look viscose to make this, and I've now concluded that would be a mismatch. I think that fabric demands a pattern with a little more shape. 

Life on meds means that I've been working in smaller but more consistent chunks, and I have a few more things finished and waiting to be photographed. The weather has been better recently so progress has been made on the giant piles of detritus in our garden, and I'm hoping that within the next week or so I can regain access to the very back section and take photos there. I love this garden so much more than our last one, but there is no easy palm tree focal point here and it's been a real pain trying to get photos with an OK background and vaguely consistent lighting (the current bane of my project-recording existence. You may have spotted). I think the back wall is going to be a much better shout for now. I will be back, probably mid-month before we go on holiday. Hopefully with photos of something. 

sewing plan: spring 2022

I've decided I want a spring sewing plan. I wasn't going to make one this time, to give myself a bit more freedom and flexibility, but I'm now thinking the structure might be helpful. This plan is shorter than usual, because I don't want to overwhelm myself, and I'm writing it with the full expectation that some of this stuff won't get done and some other random stuff will. I've divided it into two categories: the first is projects I have all the supplies for but maybe not as much driving motivation, and the second is projects I'm really excited and inspired to make but haven't got all the stuff for yet. 

Section A: Things I have fabric, pattern and notions for

A lemon dress

I know, I'm years behind on the whole lemons thing. Most sewing people got lemons out of their system three years ago. When it was everywhere I went back and forth on it - in some ways I liked the idea, but I worried I might find it sat on the wrong side of the novelty print line when it was actually on me. Also everyone was making these whimsical dresses and I, a decidedly not-whimsical person, couldn't see past it. (I thought all the dresses I saw were lovely, this is not shade. They just weren't me at all.) But last time I was in my local fabric shop I ended up buying a couple of metres of navy lemon-print cotton, and I'm going to make this dress again and hopefully stamp around Spain in it like a tourist:

A pair of cords

I keep saying this, and it keeps not working. So what I have done is slowly accumulated enough cheap cord I don't really care about to make four pairs, so that I can experiment and do large-scale fitting adjustments and hopefully, eventually, come up with something that works. I'm starting with the trouser block I made a couple of years ago, and a couple of different waistband options. 

A maxi skirt

I made a dress out of half of that blue linen I've been trying to use up for years (it's finished and photographed and I'm in the process of writing up the post), and I think the other half is going to become a Fumeterre skirt, with the modifications I made last time. The only thing I need to do before I start this is work out whether or not I make any changes to the waistband to provide a bit of flexibility. I love that yellow skirt but I've been having a lot of issues with bloating since starting my meds and can't wear it out to dinner anymore. I made a second version with a bit of elastic in that gets a lot more wear but also undeniably looks worse. Decisions, decisions. 

Section B: Things I would really like to make but don't have the stuff for yet

A wedding guest dress

I have a family wedding coming up in June and I'd like to make something new for it. I think it will mean a lot to the couple in question that I put thought and time and effort into celebrating with them. I'm assuming I'll use a pattern I already know well, but this particular project is very much going to be led by the fabric. I'm looking for something very traditionally "summer wedding guest", no white or black, that I like, and that generally conveys joy. It's very much a "know it when I see it" sort of thing and the pattern is going to have to bend to whatever I find. 

A massive fluffy bathrobe

I made this bathrobe in 2018 and though I do still wear it occasionally, the main fabric really hasn't held up at all. They called it French terry and it absolutely is not. If that fabric arrived on my doorstep now I'd consider it basically a write-off and probably make some oversized sleeping T-shirts so it didn't go completely to waste. The robe now looks horribly schlumpy and I only wear it for fifteen or so minutes between shower and pyjamas on the very coldest days of the year. I would like a nicer bathrobe. A great big fancy fluffy one that I could do pedicures in and shit. I don't yet have fabric or pattern for this - the pattern I used last time was M7516 and I will never use it again. I've seen what I think is perfect fabric on Fabric Godmother but I don't have the money to buy it immediately, so I'm gambling on it still being there next month. 

I'm going to leave it at five things, rather than straining to reach a longer plan. There's still a bunch of stuff from my autumn plan that I'd like to get done, but I don't want to officially carry it over because I don't want to feel like I'm trying to "catch up" (which has happened in the past and stresses me out to the point that I don't sew anything at all). The most difficult thing to do, I think, will be the cords - I have had many failures there and I don't have any particular faith in this block - but I'm hoping that preparing for multiple versions will help set my expectations and allow me to treat it as an ongoing fitting challenge rather than a failure if (when) the first one doesn't work. 

As I mentioned, my blue linen dress is done and photographed, so that post will be coming at some point in the next couple of weeks depending on how difficult it is to write. I'll see you when I see you!

a birthday dress (Vogue 8724)

First I'd like to say thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, and to the couple of you who emailed me. I was struggling and not in a space to reply but I really appreciated it, and it really helped me to get my head back in a sewing space again. 

Life update: this past month has been weird. I can't remember how much I've talked about this, but I was diagnosed ADHD at the beginning of last year. I was so hopeful that things were going to fundamentally change - it's why none of the anxiety and depression medications worked for me, it's why I wasn't getting anywhere with therapy despite having an excellent therapist - and then spent a full year going through an increasingly ridiculous comedy of errors trying to get some basic medical information to the psychiatrist, meaning that I didn't actually get any kind of prescription until a few weeks ago. Taking medication has made things so, so different and I'm both excited for what I might be able to do and having to confront the concurrent reality; ie. that I am having side effects, some of which exacerbate other health conditions I have, there are things about my life that will need to change in order for this to work, and the full extent of the medical care I am getting is Zoom appointments at 9pm with a man who completes a tick-box sheet while yawning his head off and then charges me quite a lot of money to write a prescription for which the pharmacy then charges me quite a lot of money. So there's a lot on my plate right now. But on the upside, we've booked our first holiday since September 2019 and I am very much looking forward to that.

Also, it was my birthday this month, and I made a dress! And took some actual photos!

I tried to make a birthday dress during lockdown last year and failed spectacularly (I ordered some fabric online and it was basically unworkable). That was sufficiently discouraging that I hadn't even thought about trying again this year, despite the fact that Patrick had booked us into a nice restaurant. But a week before my birthday, after one full week on medication, I decided to take a walk to my new local fabric shop (it's less than a ten minute walk, possibly dangerous) and if they had anything that inspired me, I would make a birthday dress. 

I was drawn to this fabric as soon as I saw it. It's a super soft and comfortable double jersey, in a colour I like but don't have any of in my wardrobe. I bought it without really knowing what pattern would work best, but I was fairly sure I'd have something. After going through my pattern boxes, I settled on Vogue 8724, which I made once five years ago. I still have and like that dress, but my main concern at the time about the versatility of a white dress were well-founded, and so I don't wear it much (I also don't really like wearing it with tights, which takes it out of potential rotation ten months of the year). In my head I'd conflated not really having occasions to wear the dress with not really liking the pattern, so I didn't make it again. Until now. 

This is a really great "easy win" pattern. It's barely 1.5m of fabric - I actually had enough to cut out a second dress from what I bought - and it's such a quick sew. There's nothing complicated to do, and because the pattern has princess seams at the back and cup sizes for the front wrap, it's also a cinch to fit. It looks fitted but also looks and feels completely non-restrictive. The only thing I would point out is that the neckline is just turned and stitched as per the instructions, but that's very easily remedied with an extra strip of jersey. 

When cutting this out I did remember feeling, the last time I put my original dress on, that it felt a hair too short. Instead of thinking "oh, that must be because I hacked several inches off the hem after I finished it, because that's what I do with literally every dress ever", I instead added several inches of length and ended up with a weird mid-calf length that I really dislike on me. Fortunately I was able to repurpose the subsequent offcuts into the neckband for the second dress, which I haven't started yet. I will say that this particular mistake made me realise that this pattern would make an amazing maxi dress, and as soon as I find a fabric with the right kind of weight to support it, I will be trying that out. Don't tell me I don't need more maxi dresses. It will never be true. 

I am really delighted with the final garment. It's fun and comfortable and I love this shape on me. It feels celebratory but not massively outside the realms of normal restaurant wear, which is exactly what I want out of a dress like this. It's going to get a lot of wear for date nights (this is the perfect pattern for a dinner dress) at all points of the year, and I also think it's going to be a really nice general summer dress. Assuming we get an actual summer this year, of course. I'm pleased to have rediscovered this pattern and am on the lookout for more double jersey or light ponte to make another one or two. Also it got me over the "cannot take photos of myself" hump, which gives it many bonus points. 

I'm not going to move back to a weekly schedule yet - I've learned my lesson there - but I do have some more photos taken and several projects cut out and waiting for me, which I may make into a short planning post. I'm trying to take the newly budding optimism and motivation and move it slowly through some simpler projects until I feel properly confident and inspired again, rather than diving straight back in to the various fitting challenges I eventually want to tackle. But there is more to come in March, and thank you for sticking with me!

Vogue 8724 dress

Fabric: Double jersey from Fabrics Galore
Cost: £15 (I paid £30 for twice as much as I used)
Pattern details: Mock wrap dress with pleating under bust, princess seamed back panels and choice of cup sizes
Size: 16 at the shoulders, 18 everywhere else, D cup pattern piece
Alterations: Neckline changed to bias facing, back princess seams taken in slightly
Would make again/would recommend: Yes/Yes

blog and life update

Hello and happy new year, this blog is still not dead! I'd just got back into a sewing rhythm when stuff went wrong again, except this time it was different stuff. I don't want to go too far into it, but suffice to say I have seen quite enough of my local hospital except I will have to keep seeing it since I'm now in a clinical drugs trial. The whole thing made me pretty depressed and I didn't touch my sewing machine for two months. I have now managed to finish something, which has lifted my spirits enough to return and post an update. 

What I'm not going to do this time is make any commitments to my previous regular schedule. Eventually that's the goal, because under normal circumstances that works really well for me. But the normal circumstances will have to come before the regular posting. I don't know when my next garment post will be, either. Honestly I think a large part of it will depend on how good the new hairdresser I'm seeing this afternoon is. I have a few finished items to post - I had several made and ready to photograph before everything went wrong again - but taking proper project photos feels like a bit of a leap from where I am now. 

On the other hand, I do want to keep posting even if non-project posts get zero engagement. One of the most helpful things I've done to get myself moving again was actively surround myself with sewing stuff. Looking at fabric online, going through my stash, watching YouTube videos of people just getting on with whatever they're making (not the big ambitious stuff, just the actual process of making, like, bog-standard skirts). I'm planning to take myself to Walthamstow next week which will hopefully result in a fabric haul, and I've also been working on a post about my utterly disastrous first dressmaking class. It won't be every Monday like clockwork, but I am planning to keep in touch and do what I can. 

Thank you to everyone who still swings by here occasionally. May your 2022 be a bit less shit than the previous two years! 

autumn sewing: a Fumeterre (ish) maxi skirt

 Check me out, getting on with my plan.

I knew this skirt was going to be one of the first projects I made, mostly because I already had the fabric and pattern in mind and thus wouldn't have to do any more thinking, but also partly because I actively need it. This is proving to be a very stupid September that is neither summer nor autumn, and I've been sorely lacking transition pieces. Also I've been trying to get maxi skirts into my wardrobe for years and never really succeeded, so it was long past time to try again. 

(I am once again asking you to please excuse the wildly inconsistent lighting in my photos.)

I made the Deer&Doe Fumeterre skirt three times last year, and you've seen two of them. For these two I made the pattern up as it was, and it's turned out to be... not really what I want out of my skirts. I love the shape of it, but I've not been keen at all on the front fly or elasticated back, both of which seem to actively work against the way my body moves. I then made a third. I was still doing the Minerva thing at the time and this was a project for them, but it looks like this:

For this one I cut the fly extension pieces off the pattern and turned it into a zipped back with a faced waistline. I normally can't stand facings, but I couldn't work out how to cut a waistband so that the diagonal stripes looked aesthetically pleasing. I also ditched the patch pockets, which I've found to be not terribly useful, and replaced them with the S8380 pockets I keep banging on about. I cut one pocket piece out of the wool and one out of lining fabric, which works very nicely. This is unquestionably the version I've got the most wear out of, but it's limited by two things: one, the fabric is a fairly hefty wool and so only nice to wear when it's very cold, and two, I was incredibly stressed at the time and didn't think through my alterations. I didn't compensate for there not being elastic in the back and consequently it's a little too big. Not unwearably so, but noticeable. I wanted another version, without these problems.

For Fumeterre Version 4 (which, by the way, I am delighted with and will be making multiple times more) I kept the back zip and change of pockets from version three, but reinstated the waistband. I could more or less use the original pattern pieces, with the back waistband piece now used as the front. I shaved off a couple of centimetres from the back seam and the now back waistband pieces to compensate for the removal of the elastic and it fits beautifully. I put a press stud closure in the back waistband. All four versions have the hem facing, which I still love. 

I ended up not putting a lining in this one (still a little gun shy from version two, where the lining arguably fucked it up) and I have yet to determine whether I'll regret it. I was hoping to have done some test runs by now, but instead I have been isolating because Patrick has raging Covid. There was a "reconnection event" at his company last Thursday that turned out to be extremely poorly ventilated and someone showed up with the rona, so now half the office is out sick. He's been really ill with it all week and it's horrible. He's never had a virus worse than this in his life. Miraculously I seem to have not caught it, despite living in a very small house with him and having an immune system that's basically one old man with a blunt stick. I do have an intermittent cough, but the tests aren't showing anything, so a round of applause to AstraZeneca, I guess. He's still not well and won't be going anywhere for a while, but technically his isolation period ends tomorrow so I can leave the house again. 

All of which is to say, I don't know how the skirt works with tights and anti-chafe shorts yet. If it turns out to be unworkable I might try to make a skirt slip. It's not something I've really considered before but if I'm going to make several other maxi skirts anyway I should get a decent amount of use out of it. 

This was a pretty simple project, but for some reason it made me feel really accomplished. I'm really pleased with the modifications, the fit, and the finishing. I'm especially pleased with the way the waistband turned out; it's something I often have trouble with, but this one lined up nicely and pressed into placed with minimal faffing. I think this skirt is going to serve me really well as a transitional piece, and I got excited enough after finishing it to cut out another version immediately thereafter. 

I've had a fair amount of time for cutting and sewing this past week since Patrick hasn't been using the workspace we share. I finished the pyjamas but I don't like them - I will probably wear them around the house anyway but there's something about the fabric that's kind of uniquely unflattering when it's on my body and I couldn't get any decent photos. They will definitely not be the "nice pyjamas that I wear to stay at someone else's house" that I was hoping for. I have a couple of other things at the "almost finished" stage and next week you'll see whichever one I finished first. Assuming, of course, that my cabin-fevered ass doesn't leave the house on Tuesday morning and spend a full week running around fields in wider and wider circles, shouting at the air. I'm not promising anything. 

extremely delayed spring sewing: upton maxi dress

You may recall that I showed you this fabric in April and stated my intention to make a spring maxi dress with it that I wasn't sure I was going to like.  Well, now it's autumn and I have an autumn maxi dress I'm not sure if I like! OK, that's not fair. It's more that I have an autumn maxi dress that I like but I'm not sure if I'll wear. Let's talk about it!

As you see, this is a super romantic dress. I knew it would be - the pairing of this fabric and this kind of pattern was only going to end up in one place - and I knew it was going to be a bit of a risk to make. Unsurprisingly I'm not yet sure how comfortable I am in it, but I do think it's a very pretty dress that I would like to be comfortable in. 

The pattern is the expanded version of the Cashmerette Upton dress. I don't love the trend towards paid pattern expansions, particularly since it usually seems to be "one extra sleeve type" or "a neckline change that could definitely just have been a blog post", but the Upton pack seemed to have a lot of different options that could make it worth it to me. In fact, when I came to print and cut out, I found that all I needed from the original pattern were the waistband and pocket pieces. I used the princess seam bodice, fitted sleeve with ready-made full bicep adjustment, and the maxi length gored skirt.

I knew I wanted to make a square neck, but I also thought the square neck on the pattern was too small and would look a bit frumpy on me. I was already concerned that a long-sleeved maxi amount of pale pink would be too much and I was keen to have less of it next to my face. Cutting it this much wider and lower presents a whole different set of challenges, but I had been watching a bunch of period dramas and wanted this look specifically. Since the whole thing was a bit of a punt anyway, I decided I might as well go for it and work out how to deal with the issues as I went.

Obviously, the main problem with this neckline in a woven fabric is that it doesn't especially want to stay on the shoulders. I attempted to get round this by attaching narrow lengths of elastic into the seam allowance around each shoulder and across the front. This mostly worked - it does create a tiny bit of a puff at the shoulders but fortunately I think that's quite pretty. 

The fitted sleeve with the built-in full bicep adjustment works really nicely for me, which I'm pleased about because that was a decent chunk of my motivation to make this dress. 

If I were to do this again I'd cut a high neckline on the back bodice rather than the V. I think it would help the shoulders sit better (and also I think the V is too high up to be aesthetically pleasing on this version, though I'm not sure if that's the pattern or something I did accidentally while fiddling with things). I would also probably change the pocket situation. The gored skirt sits a bit too close to my hips for the pockets to be as useful as I'd like, so I'd most likely not bother with them at all in future. If I thought they were really necessary I'd switch out the pocket that comes with the pattern for the Simplicity 8380, my favourite pocket, which anchors into the waist seam and doesn't get in the way so much. 

I suspect the biggest issue I'll have with actually integrating this into my wardrobe is its heft. The fabric is a really beautiful heavy crepe that makes a beautiful dress, but with the long skirt and long sleeves it does weigh me down a little bit and I'll have to be careful what sort of weather I wear it in. This is not a dress I can just sling a jacket over, so it's also harder to make more casual. I'm currently in the process of making a shorter dress from the remnants of this fabric, and if that works it'll probably be a little easier to wear regularly. I'm not at all sad that I made this version, though. I don't have anything with this kind of "English country garden" vibe and it's really nice to be able to dress up in other aesthetics sometimes. 

Up next will hopefully be the first completed project from my autumn plan! I'm working on three of them at once because that's where my brain is right now (she says, with plans to cut out another three today) and they're all coming on very nicely. I'm quite excited about actually being able to follow a plan again. Until then!

Cashmerette Upton expansion pack

Fabric: Floral heavy crepe with slight stretch from Walthamstow Market
Cost: approx. £20
Pattern details: Fitted dress with cup sizes - darted and princess seam bodice options, multiple necklines, flutter and fitted sleeves (the latter with a choice of regular or full bicep), pleated and gored skirts in different lengths, and a waistband piece to make a standalone skirt
Size: 12 G/H in the bodice, blending out to 16 in the hips
Alterations: Change of neckline to be wider and deeper
Would make again/would recommend: Yes/Yes

two easy kielo dresses

Hello! Today we have something you've seen a million times before and will see a million times again! 

Yet more Kielo dresses! What can I say, they work for me. I'd always intended to make more this year; I reluctantly put my first two into fabric recycling and I wanted to recreate the exact same things in better quality fabric, but those have been pushed back because a) that better quality fabric was nowhere to be found and b) there were maybe seventeen minutes all summer where I would have considered wearing a sleeveless dress. So I turned to some slightly more versatile versions. 

Standard Kielo is standard: free sleeve add-on from the Named blog, fabric from Walthamstow, scooped-out neckline because I wanted a little less of the print near my face. The only thing I did differently from usual was to not put the back darts in, and then wondered why on earth I'd spent so many years putting slim contour darts in jersey. It makes not one whit of difference and I'll never go back. 

This has been a surprisingly useful dinner dress; it's both dressed up and not at the same time, which I like. It's been far too muggy to try it with tights but hopefully that will work out too. I have zero idea how I'll pair that with shoes, mind you. Patrick and I both went trainers-only at the beginning of the first lockdown because the only thing we were doing was going to nine million house viewings on foot, and then we sort of forgot to go back again and now my feet react with indignance and fury any time I try to put them into proper shoes. 

(I took these photos on one of the very few sunny days we had and of course it was far too sunny and all posing had to be based around averting my eyes. This will not be a problem for the second set of photos.)

The second version I made was an answer to this summer specifically. Too warm and muggy to be wearing clothes intended for colder months, but also too grey and unseasonable to be comfortable in my usual summer fare. Bright dresses and jumpsuits have just felt like a lie. 

(Yeah, this is what it really looks like out here.)

This fabric is from Fabric Land and is a very narrow black, grey and pale pink stripe. Design-wise it's absolutely perfect for a not-summer maxi, but the actual substrate is kind of weird. The only way I can find to describe it is that it seems to forget that it's stretchy. The whole bodice likes to shift upwards and push the neckline away from my body, and I have to keep rearranging myself. The fabric especially does not like being a neckband and if I ever come across a fabric that won't look like ass with this dress, I really think I'll cut it off and redo it. I don't know how often people who read this blog are influenced to buy or not buy fabric from what I write, but just in case: do not recommend. 

Even with that inconvenience, the dress is just the perfect thing and I've been wearing it all the time, usually with trainers and a denim jacket. This will keep me going through spring and autumn and I'm definitely going to make another one with a similar vibe (though I probably won't make it the subject of a post). Finding the right fabric is going to be a challenge for me as I'm not often drawn to the everyday prints above the eyecatching ones or the bright solids, but the maxi dress is my spiritual home and I'd really like to spend a larger proportion of the year wearing them. 

Me: [decides to take a short break from writing this post to look for suitable fabric]
Also me: [finds bright-ass yellow tiger print jersey instead and wonders if the definition of "everyday print" can be stretched that far]

I don't have much more to say about this pattern or either dress I made from it, so instead I'll share with you a small triumph from my month so far: after literal years of writer's block that hasn't been helped by any of the methods I've tried to get through it, I have managed to write a small amount of fiction every day of September so far. It doesn't sound huge when it's put like that, but it is. A plot hasn't really emerged yet but I do have the beginnings of a set of characters that feel real to me and have relationships that I understand, which has always been the best point for me to start from. I'm really looking forward to seeing what I have at the end of the month and I'm genuinely impressed that I managed to make myself do the thing with absolutely zero outside impetus to do so. 

I'm not sure what will be up next. I have several things completed and waiting to be photographed, as well as the first few things from my autumn plan in progress, so I'm a bit spoilt for choice. We'll see which one proves easiest to write about, I think!