Artsy Fartsy Tunic, Butterick 5925

Don't let my reasonably pleasant facial expression fool you. I quite hate this garment.

I don't blame Katherine Tilton for the design, or the folks at Butterick for the drafting; I just don't like this tunic on me at all.

I suppose it must be that all the drama and volume happen around the low hip. Big godets, big pockets and twisted trim. The pocket design is actually pretty nifty, as well as pretty easy to sew. But the pockets aren't much good for anything other than a tissue or a hand. I wouldn't carry anything of any weight in this pocket, as the garment is so voluminous that the pockets swing freely when the wearer moves.

I feel more like a bottom-heavy triangle in this tunic than usual. The vital statistics, for your information: size XS, sleeves shortened 1 1/4", burgundy cotton sweater knit from FabricMart Fabrics. I followed the pattern directions quite faithfully, with the exception of the points at the hemline: I mitered those, which I don't think I was instructed to do by the pattern. I left the sleeve edges unhemmed.

The neckline binding is also twisted. It's a cool detail conceptually but, again, not something I like on myself.

The heck of it is that I will probably wear this quite a bit. It's pretty soft and snuggly. But just between us, I'm not a fan of the style or the color on me.

McCall's 6435 Sweetheart Knit Top

I may or may not have been procrastinating yesterday when I decided I "needed" a new top for the regular Tuesday evening dance.

Somehow, using scraps from other projects and a heretofore-unused pattern allowed me to justify the exercise as "frugal" rather than "distracting me from more urgent priorities."

As so often happens, the spur-of-the-moment project turned out surprisingly well (and a lot better than many more laborious recent projects have).

McCall's 6435, which is, you know what I am going to say, out of print

My major innovation (which is only an innovation when compared to the pattern) was to use a nude stretch lining under the front and back lace yoke pieces. I like to do this because I do not own a strapless bra, and don't intend to change that situation, yet I am old enough to dislike visible bra straps. On myself, that is--generally, I've come to terms with seeing all manner of colors and styles of bra straps peeking out from beneath other women's and girl's clothing.

Another benefit of underlining the lace yoke was that it allowed me to turn the serged neck edge to the inside and slip stitch it into place by hand. No binding or topstitching to make a harsh line around the opening.

I really like the way this shirt fits me, but I don't know whether to attribute that to the drafting, my clever choice of sizes or just the stretchiness of the black knit bodice. For what it's worth, I cut size 8 around the neck and shoulders, size 10 in the armscye and sleeves and size 12 through the hip and waist.

The bottom edge got a quick serger rolled hem, and the sleeve edges were trimmed around the lace motifs. All in all, a two-hour or so project, which earned some nice compliments at the dance.

Mod Top and Skirt in Cotton Interlock

Finally an opportunity to wear this little set, which has been complete for a few weeks now. Unprecedented: sewing in advance of the upcoming season!

Although I think it feels heavenly to wear, I've tended to avoid cotton interlock for clothing because it has essentially no recovery. Close-fitting garments made of all-cotton knits in general seem to get stretched out in a matter of minutes when they are worn (very high quality cotton knit is a different matter, but it is so difficult to find, especially in grown-up colors).

This length of teal interlock cost $2 at a yard sale, so I figured I had little to lose except my time. To minimize the sagging problem, I looked for looser fitting pieces that could benefit from a fabric with some heft. The initial idea was to make a top. Once the top was all done, quite a bit of fabric remained, so the skirt emerged from the leftovers.

Vogue 8699 is a firm favorite knit tunic of mine. This time I added two hip-level pockets, which worked out well, and I tried to add a sixties-style standup collar (like the collared version of the Tilly Coco top), which didn't.

Coco Top from Tilly and the Buttons

Maybe if I'd actually looked at the picture of the Coco top before cutting and applying the collar, I would have had a clearer notion of how to do it...

Anyway, my collar didn't stand up well, so I turned it to the inside and stitched it down. It looks kind of like a lumpy binding. Oh well. I'm fine with it. Next time I'll be a little more deliberate in my drafting.

The skirt is New Look 6856, an out of print pattern that I've had hanging around for a few years. Of course it's as simple as can be, but I do like the little skirt and I can see this being a useful shape for future makes.

I hardly need to say that this outfit is as comfortable as they come. I'm off to substitute at a neighborhood elementary school, and I am happy to be wearing my new teacher outfit, which I think might get a lot of use this fall as both separates and together.

Have you made garments--successful or unsuccessful--from cotton interlock? How did they wear over time? I would love to know.

For the Record: Simplicity 2148

 

I b'lieve this pattern must be out of print now, and I'm not sure it ever took the world by storm, but  I always liked the peplum/pointy front view (now I also like the other view, minus the slouchy pockets; maybe I'll try that one soon). I made a test version and altered the pattern about three years ago and then never got around to a wearable sweater.

So I pulled this back out this year to make up a sweater for my petite mom. She doesn't like things overly long, so my previous alterations of shortening the bodice one inch and the peplum two inches were perfect for her. 

The fabric is a double-sided rayon/polyester ponte knit from FabricMart. Although it is appealingly soft and a nice color, the fabric did suffer in its prewash. It developed some faded lines (more visible on the back of the jacket) and it began to pill slightly. Good thing that this is going to my mom, since she is much easier on her clothes than me! I have a big white dog whose hair gets on everything, meaning I have to wash my clothes more frequently than I otherwise might do.

With the front flipped open, you can see the reverse side of the fabric

The hardest thing about this pattern is finishing the lower edge of the peplum. Different strategies will work better for different knits, but in this case I serged 1/2" strips of a very soft fusible interfacing to the hem, turned it up a generous 1/2", pressed in place and topstitched with a twin needle. This fabric happened to be quite cooperative with pressing and stitching. The pattern doesn't instruct you to miter the front corner, but I think that looks much better so that's what I did.

There are those lines that developed during prewashing

My mom and I both like the neckline and collar of this pattern. It isn't so much fabric that it is constantly flopping around, and the wrong sides are encased by the front band. Even though this style is probably not the most current or fashionable, I like how it hugs the neck and hangs.

The other slightly challenging aspect of the design is the inset corner at the shoulder. But the instructions are good and I didn't have much trouble making a nice sharp corner here.

The coordinating shell is Simplicity 4076.

It would be very simple to round off those dangly points in the front, and that's what I'd like to do in a sweater for myself. I like the pointy bits, but I have to confess that they might look a little dated.

My mom tried on the sweater yesterday and liked it, which was especially good since she seems to have just been diagnosed with cancer. I say "seems" because the communication with her primary care nurse practitioner has left something to be desired in terms of clarity. But we are working through the process and hope to know what she is facing soon.

Liesl + Co. Cappuccino Dress Returns to Its Roots

So, I understand that Simplicity 2245, the Lisette Portfolio dress designed by Liesl Gibson, is kind of a thing. After the pattern had been taken out of print, it caught fire on Pinterest and copies grew scarce. I believe they go for big money on eBay.

According to Liesl's blog, despite much customer interest and many requests, Simplicity decided not to reprint 2245. Reading a bit between the lines, I am guessing that copyright concerns prevented Liesl from reissuing the pattern in its original form under her own brand, Liesl + Co.

Original 2245

2245 Line drawing. The pants are cute too!

So Liesl + Co. reworked the design and released it in digital format as the Cappuccino Dress + Tunic.

I like the new design and I think the V neckline would probably suit me better than the original round neck. But when I showed the pattern to my friend Amie as part of our "smock project" to outfit her in comfy funky smocks, she preferred the round neck. I blithely assured her that redrafting the Cappuccino dress to return it to the original Portfolio design would be no problem.

And actually it wasn't a problem, though like all pattern drafting it did require some thinking and much studying of images of the original dress. This is a size 12, shortened 3" at the hem to hit Amie right above the knee for wearing with leggings or slim pants, over a long-sleeved t-shirt.

I'm going to show you a couple of photos of the inside of the dress, in case someone out there would like to try a similar "back to the future" adaptation of the current pattern.

The gray linen smock for Amie is actually the second version I made of the pattern. After downloading, printing (all 45-some pages!), taping together, tracing and altering the pattern, I felt a need to check it before cutting into the final fabric. Using a cotton print bought for little at FabricMart (specifically for making test garments) and a scrap of linen from Amie's Tosca Dress, I mocked up a trial version. Here it is pre-embellishment:

I brought in the side seams underneath the arms and through the bodice to see if I could make this muslin work for me, but it's still really too big for me to wear out of the house. And it is long! Not the hemline--though I shortened that six inches--but the distance to the pockets. I can hardly reach them.

Even though I couldn't see myself getting much use from this garment, I couldn't help but try to dress it up a touch, with an applique made from some very fancy Anna Maria Horner ribbon.

Now I honestly like the tunic, but the colors still look grim on me and the neckline is still too large. So I'm tracing out a smaller size at the chest and shoulders, and shortening it through the torso, and I will see how that goes. I can't imagine this shape being particularly flattering on me, but it could be so comfortable and practical for my everyday activities of writing, housekeeping, cooking and childcare. I think it would be great for winter worn over a warm turtleneck and warm leggings or pants as an upper layer to brighten things up and hold my phone and tissues. And think of the crazy possibilities for combining fabrics and trims...

Here's Proof!

...of how cute the Tosca dress looks on my pixie-like friend Amie!

I also want to draw your attention to two very insightful comments on yesterday's post, in which I talked about how not-cute the dress looked on me.

First, from Steph of The Dashing Eccentric:

"What a gorgeous version of this dress! I've been a Tosca fan for years now, but haven't bought the pattern or made it up. You're tempting me!!! Lucky lucky friend :)

I see this type of comment popping up quite a bit recently. Certain shapes - a princess lined sheath, fit and flare dress, classic trousers - look great on the vast majority of people provided they're properly fitted.But there's a lot of other, interesting, unique designs which look great on some people but fall flat on many others. This often depends on subtler variations in build and proportion. This dress looks amazing on TerriK of Sew Sophisticated (she has pics on her flickr stream but i don't have time to search right now). Terri's a rectangle with a delicate build, high small bust and neat square shoulders and long, lean calves with nicely turned ankles.

Those figure types are highlighted and showcased with this design. If a person has a lower-set, fuller and more rounded bust with sloping shoulders this can start to make the top part of the dress look kind of bulky and droopy because the dress design accentuates and exaggerates that aspect of the person's form. If you have two people with the same bust measurement, but one's inches are mostly chest and less bust, while the other has a smaller chest but more in the breasts themselves you could get this type of situation (hope this makes some type of sense!).

These types of designs are wonderful to give life and style to our wardrobes, but they won't work for everyone. I adore Marcy Tilton's designs but i only look good in her V8876 dress - everything else looks terrible on me. But Marcy is a delicate rectangle, with a high small bust, whereas i'm a busty, hourglassy linebacker shouldered IT. Really, it'd be surprising if much flattered both of us with such different shapes!

But your case here shows that even subtler differences in shape can have just as dramatic a difference. I enjoy the challenge of educating my eye, but it can be so frustrating and vexing at times! 

I hope we get a picture of this wonderful piece on your friend sometime :) Happy Day! steph"

Oh, doesn't Steph just hit the nail on the head about how small differences in proportion can make architectural, sculptural designs like this one look great on one person and not great on another? And I do think Steph could wear this design magnificently herself, so make one already, Steph!! By the way, Steph's latest version of Vogue 8876 makes me think hard about finally making up this pattern for myself.

Second, the amazingly stylish Curtise of The Secondhand Years points out:

"The dress looks great, how nice of you to make it for your friend, but it would look just awful on me! As the commenter above observes, there are all sorts of differences of shape and figure which means that styles work for us or don't. As an hourglass with biggish boobs and hips, this style would disguise rather than accentuate the good things about my figure. But hey, wouldn't the world be dull if we were all the same! xxx"

Even though Curtise is shaped very differently than I am (i.e., she is a goddess), I think she's right--this dress wouldn't be a good look for her either. It would turn her statuesque curves into an undifferentiated volume of lumps!

So here's a great benefit to sewing for others: it gives us a chance to take a new idea for a spin, check it out and see if it might also work for us. As long as it works for its intended wearer, it's all good! And I do think this dress works for dear Amie, amazingly well. I'll enjoy it on her!

Tosca Dress from The Sewing Workshop

You will not be seeing this just-completed project on me for two reasons: first, because I made it for a friend and second, because it just wouldn't be fair to those nice folks at The Sewing Workshop. This dress looks so cute on my friend and so very bad on me. I amused my husband and myself by parading around the house in it last night. My friend and I are of similar size and height, so I don't know why it works so beautifully for her and so dreadfully for me, but such is the truth.

When Waechter's Silk Shop was going out of business in the spring, my friend bought their sample of this dress. She liked it so much she wanted another, so she ordered the pattern and the fabric and had me make it up.

For this version we omitted the top pockets.

Even with just the two lower pockets, it's still plenty pocket-y! The fabric is European linen in Fig from Fabric.com. I enjoyed working with the fabric--it had a nice combination of weight, drape and softness.

It's not a hard dress to make, though the pockets take a good bit of time. This is a size small at the chest and shoulders, medium through the hip to hem. I reduced the length by four inches.

My favorite part of the project is a little brooch I made for my friend to wear on the dress. The pin on the back was still drying when I wanted to take a picture, so I held it in my hand. It's a combination of needle felting, free motion stitching and a little trapunto stuffing. I think it will be cute on the dress and I did enjoy making it!