Birthday Dress 2017!

I have noticed that it is a unique condition to many people who sew, that you suddenly need a new dress for for every occasion!  Including your birthday!  Given my recent jersey dress obsession, this seemed like a perfect addition to my collection!

The pattern I used is the Moneta Dress by Colette Patterns.  This pattern was huge on instagram several months ago, because Colette threw a "Moneta Party".  Naturally I missed out on this and made my first one after the party/ contest was over.  Even though I didn't participate, I was inspired by the loads of people who made all sorts of different versions of this pattern (check them out with #monetaparty).

I also finished my Sunshower in time to go with this dress!  Hurrah!

If you are not familiar with this pattern, it has a very simple construction and is a quick and simple make.  The bodice and skirt are very simple, with each being just a front and back.  The pattern comes with different sleeve options (including sleeveless) and an included collar.  I wasn't a fan of the collar that comes with pattern but, one of the great things about indie pattern is that sometimes you get free extras!  After releasing this pattern, Colette decided to design a bunch of extra collars!  Because of that I was able to add in a peter pan collar, which I think is much closer to my personal style.

I think the most flattering part of this dress is the elasticated waist and shirred skirt.  It makes gathering the skirt quick and easy and provides nice shaping around your smaller bits!  The dress is also meant to have pockets, but I decided to exclude them.  (Wait! I have a reason!)  In my first version of this dress I added the pockets, but because of the nature of the fabric, putting anything in said pockets distorts the shape of the dress.  It is always sad to exclude pockets, but in my opinion, they don't do this dress any favors.

Since this is a jersey dress, there were basically no fitting issues to be had!  Because of the stretchiness of the fabric you can have however much lunch you want and not worry about waist getting tight!  Jersey can sometimes be a pain to work with, but it's worth it to have a soft, stretchy, secret pyjama dress.  The jersey I used for this dress is a cotton spandex from Girl Charlee.  You can still find it via fabric.com here.  This is my first time working with Girl Charlee fabric, and, while I'm happy with my dress, I did have some issues with the print on my fabric being off kilter.  I had my issue remedied, but it was still very annoying to have to send fabric back and wait for a new cut to come in.  I expected a little more from this line of fabric, which is manufactured and printed in the U.S., but I guess Americans make mistakes too.

If you can't tell, I am very pleased with this dress.  It is quick and easy to make for instant garment gratification!  I would recommend this pattern to anyone wanting something fast, or for any beginner sewists who want to try working with stretchy fabrics!

The Gentleman's Wardrobe Book Review: Summer Shirt

Hello, and welcome back to a new blog post! For this post I've decided to shake things up and do a book review! The book I am reviewing is, The Gentleman's Wardrobe: Vintage-Style Projects for the Modern Man by Vanessa Mooncie, which can be found on Amazon, here.

I first found out about this book via instagram, and I was so excited I pre-ordered it immediately.  Before I get into the pros and cons of this book, I would just like to say it definitely fills a void in the world of sewing patterns.  It is SO HARD to find good patterns for men's clothes, and this book contains enough patterns to sew up literally, an entire wardrobe. But, before I talk more about the book, let me talk about the pattern I made from it.

The pattern I chose is one of two shirt options in the book: The Summer Shirt. (Just a quick note on this pattern, it has all the same pattern pieces as the regular shirt pattern, it just shows you where to shorten the sleeves.)

After measuring Luke using the sizing guide included in the book, I made the size small. Over all I am very happy with the fit. The only sizing issue I encountered was that the collar stand doesn't quite fit over his neck, but this is an issue he has with rtw shirts as well, so that is not the fault of the pattern.

The only major alteration I had to make to this pattern was to the sleeves.  As they are in the pattern they were much too long and slightly too full for Luke's taste.  I ended up taking up 2 1/2" of the length of the sleeves and 3/4" out of the width.

The only "beef" I had with this pattern was the yoke.  I have made a couple of different shirt patterns, and each of them has approached the yoke differently. I much prefer the "rolling" method of attaching a yoke, but this pattern does not have you do that. Instead you simply fold over and top stitch. I had initially thought I would just do the rolling method anyway, only to find that it doesn't work with this pattern because the yoke piece is so skinny.  There is nothing wrong with the method provided and it is appropriate for the size of the pieces, but what can I say? I like big yokes and I cannot lie.

The fabric I chose was a cotton/ linen blend by Robert Kaufman which I got from fabric.com, here. Although this is a fairly stable fabric, it was a little tricky to work with. Even though I made sure to pre-wash the fabric, I experienced some pieces shrinking quite a bit after they were thoroughly pressed when I applied fusible interfacing to the button band.  This caused me to have to ease some of the pieces together, but I think it worked out in the end. Aside from the shrinking issues, I would definitely recommend this fabric for warm weather shirts or shirt dresses.

The pattern pieces are provided on included sheets of paper. They overlap each other in order to save space, but they are color coded by pattern, so that you can be confident you are only tracing the pieces you need.  The instructions were also fairly easy to follow.  I would say this a a good option for a "first shirt" pattern.  There were a couple of places where I got stuck, but after reading the tricky steps several times through, and being sure to take breaks when I got tired or frustrated (this is important!) I managed to pull through and I am very happy with how this turned out.

Over all, I am thrilled with this book.  All together, there are 14 patterns in this book, including day-wear, lounge wear, and accessories.  It also includes vital information on sewing tools, fabric types, sizing, and common sewing techniques.  Unfortunately this sizing in this book only goes up to a size large (which is a 42" chest/ 36" waist). This is really limiting compared to most regular sewing patterns, but aside from that, I think this book is still a good purchase given how much reference material it provides.

If you are a confident beginner, I think this a great introduction into the world of men's garment sewing. Although starting with a shirt may be a bit daunting, this book has a wide variety of patterns with various levels of difficulty. If you are a more experienced sewer, this book is an entire wardrobe of patterns in one neat little package.  No matter what your experience, however, I think this book is great for anyone interested in men's fashion.

A Chambray Dottie Angel Frock

Long time no blog!  But I finally finished a new dress!

This is one of the patterns designed by Dottie Angel for Simplicity.  If you are not familiar with Dottie Angel, well, basically she makes grandma clothes.  But, like, cool grandma clothes.  I would describe her style as, “granny chic”.  She designs dresses, tunics, and aprons that are very practical and simplistic.

This pattern is Simplicity 1080.  It has a couple of different views including a dress version with color blocking and a tunic version.  I opted for the dress version without the color blocking. The fabric I used a chambray that I got from Hobby Lobby at some point, and the contrast pockets came from a fat quarter that I found at a flea market.  Hooray for finding a use for fat quarters!

Like I said, the design of this dress is very simple. For the version I made, I just had to cut out a front, back, ties, and the pocket pieces.  The dress has a basic A-line shape, which is an unusual choice for me.  I tend to go for full skirts with lots of pleats and gathers so that I know there’s going to be plenty of room for my bum.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find that there was plenty room in the basement in this pattern.

One of the things that I like about this pattern, is that it is very loose, but doesn’t look like a bag.  I think the secret that makes this pattern flattering, are the tucks under the bust.  They, along with the ties that are sewn into the tucks, give the dress its shape.  Since this dress is shaped by how tightly you tie the bow in the back, it is SUPER adjustable.  The only area I see fit being a potential issue in is the bust.  I am a D cup and the bust on this dress is just the slightest bit tight around my bust.  It’s not a big enough issue for me that I would bother doing anything about it, but if you have a bigger bust, that’s something to take into account.

One of the things I love about sewing, is that with each new pattern I try, I always learn at least one new technique.  Even though this dress is very simple in its design, it calls for bias bound, and French seams.  I was a little dubious about these techniques at first, but I am glad I tried them.  The neckline and arm holes are finished with bias binding anyway, so having the shoulder seams bias bound as well is a nice touch.  It is way more work than just stitching and overlocking your seam, but I think it makes for a good quality seam and nice, neat insides.  As for the French seams, I had never tried them before, mostly due to fear about having fitting issues with them, so this was a great pattern to try them out with.  Again, both of these methods take extra time and work, but I think they’re great, especially if you don’t have serger and don’t like zig zagging your raw edges.

Uneven stitching? What uneven stitching?

I think my favorite things about this pattern, which caused it to catch my eye in the first place, are the pockets.  Omg the pockets.  They are a great detail and are also super useful!  I added a little bit of lace to mine, which the pattern did not call for, but I love the effect it has.  Once again, you use bias binding to enclose the raw edges, which is both super useful and adds a little bit of a design element.  I like what the bias binding does for the pockets, but it was a pain in the butt to put together.  One thing that really helped me was to secure the curves with wonder clips while hand basting the binding onto the pockets  before stitching them on to the dress front.  Even if I could have forced a pin through that many layers, it would have made lumps and bumps, so clips saved my life here.

So there you have it!  The Dottie Angel frock!  I have really been loving this dress and wearing it to death (like I do with all of my makes).  I think this is a great pattern if you just want an easy make for a super quick casual day dress.  I am hoping to make more of them soon!

Easter Dress 2017

Hello! Welcome back and happy belated Easter! I am so pleased to have a hand made Easter dress this year, which is something I haven't had since I was very wee. This is my first handmade Easter dress that I have made myself! There are few things more satisfying than having a custom garment for a specific event.  Sewing is super cool guys.

For this project, I chose the fabric before I had a specific pattern in mind.  It's a navy floral rayon from Joanne's. My philosophy for spring/ summer projects is, when in doubt, go with rayon. It is definitely one of my favorite fabrics. I've not found anything quite as floaty, breathable, and soft.

I loved the idea of a dress with a tie at the front, similar to the Sew Over It's Pussy Bow Blouse. Unfortunately that pattern doesn't include a dress version.  I'm sure I could have altered that pattern fairly easily to make it into a dress, (Lisa has done this multiple times) but I am very lazy. It finally occurred to me to look at my pattern stash, at which point I realized I already owned exactly what I was looking for: Simplicity 8216, and I'm pretty sure I got it on sale for a dollar. Note to self: remember that you have a stash.

I made view B which is a a dress version with cropped sleeves. I only made a couple of minor alterations to the pattern. I made it in a size 14, but due to the straight shift shape, it was a little snug around my bum. Luckily I was able to take the bottom seam allowance down to 3/8 and it fit much better. This view also called for an elasticated waist, which I had put in originally, but I was not very happy with it. The elastic channel hit me a couple of inches lower than than my natural waist, which made it creep up to my smallest point. That created a lot of volume at the top of the dress that I didn't want, and it also drew up the bottom of the dress, which was already a little shorter than I wanted. I ripped out the elastic, and decided the wear it with a belt, because that is much easier.

I made one more minor change, which was to swap the buttonholes for snaps on the cuffs.  Because the cuffs are so narrow, my buttonhole foot kept getting hung on the bulk of the seam allowances. Unpicking a botched buttonhole makes snaps look like a magical cure-all, which they kind of are.

I am very happy with how this dress turned out. I like making things that are casual for every day, but it's nice have something a little dressier in the mix. I was worried about the length of the dress initially, as I prefer a midi length, this seemed very short by comparison. However, the more I wore it, the more comfortable I felt. Also my mom said it looked fine. You can't go wrong if your hem length is mother approved.

Also, special thanks to my dad for helping me get all these artsy shots!

Agnes II

So I definitely plan on sewing more than just one pattern for this blog.  I just happen to have Agnes fever at the moment. This is my fourth project with jersey, and out of those four, three happen to be Agnes's.  There will probably be more.  I LOVE THIS PATTERN!

In case you missed my last post, this is the second Agnes on the blog.  It is a pattern by Tilly and the Buttons which can be purchased here.  For my last version I did the dress hack, but for this one, I made the plain long sleeved shirt version with no alterations in a size 4.

Hmmm... why is this picture crooked?

The fabric is a ribbed jersey that I got at Joanne's.  It definitely has some spandex content and possibly cotton or rayon?  Either way, it is super soft, and the ribbing helps the fabric to lay flat as you are working with it.  If you've worked with jersey before, you know it tends to curl at the edges, which is super annoying.

One of my favorite things about Tilly's patterns is that she designs them for pear shaped body types.  Most of her patterns come in at the waist and flare out at the bottom to accommodate your bottom.

A had almost no issues with the construction of this top.  I sewed up the side seams and shoulder seams with the serger, and did the hemming and attached the neckband with a zig zag stitch.  I could probably attach the neckband with the serger too, but I chicken out every time.  Although, since jersey doesn't fray, I think the neck band looks neat enough sewn on the machine with an evenly trimmed seam allowance.

The one issue that I did have with this project was stripe matching.  This fabric was fairly slinky and slippery and the stripes were really skinny, so I had some crossover as I was cutting out the pieces.  Luckily the front and back were cut evenly, but I had to cut a new neckband.  The sleeves were cut crooked, but I figured that wouldn't be super noticeable so I didn't stress out about it.

This will certainly not be the last Agnes I make.  It is super comfy, super flattering, and goes with everything!

A Grey Striped Agnes

I finished this project awhile ago, but for some reason forgot to blog about it.  For several weeks. *Ahem* Better late than never, right?

If you are at all familiar with the indie pattern and sewing community, you already know about Tilly and the Buttons.  Just in case you don't (it's okay, you don't have to pretend), this is one of their more popular patterns. The Agnes top! I had made one of these previously, and I loved it so much, I decided to hack my next one into a dress!

Since Tilly is so awesome, she has instructions on how to do this hack on her blog, here.  I pretty much followed her instructions to the letter.  The only thing I changed was that I did not cut a skirt front and back, but instead cut on the fold and stitched down one side.  I did this mostly because I was worried about not having enough room in my bum area and I wanted to have as wide a piece of fabric is possible.  If I'd had wider fabric, I probably could have made my skirt fuller, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

The original bodice pattern (or shirt if you're making it un-hacked) has options for ruching on the neckline and the sleeves.  Since this fabric is pretty frilly, I decided to go ahead with the frilly sleeves, but I kept the neckline plain.  The texture of the dimensional scallops on this fabric made it a little tricky to work with, so I am really glad I was able to get the stripe centered without having any of my scallop nubs cut off.

I did have a few issues with this project.  The texture of the fabric, while lovely, was super annoying while I was sewing it up. It made matching my stripes difficult.  I give myself a C- for stripe matching on this one.  This skirt is also uneven with the bodice, because I accidentally cut a hole in the bodice with my serger...oops.  I cried a little, stitched up the hole, covered it with a belt, and called it a day!

Over all, I am super happy with this project.  I want a closet full of jersey dresses to have as secret pajamas.  If you have been sewing a little while, but are feeling squeamish about working with jersey, the Agnes pattern is a great one to start with.  It's super simple yet flattering, and Tilly provides really great instructions with all of her patterns.

As a side note, I just wanted to say that sewing has really caused me to change up my style, in a good way.  I used to never ever wear skirts or dresses, because in my mind, skirts meant dressing up, which meant church or special occasions.  I also could never find skirts that were quite what I wanted to wear.  They were either too short, or too frumpy.  Too young or too old.  I can now make things I will actually wear every day.  It feels amazing to visualize something in your head and have it come out exactly how you want.  Sewing is basically magic.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I haven't started, and then promptly forgotten about a blog in years, so I thought it was high time I start again!

Let me start off by introducing myself: My name is Rachel.  I am a long time lover of all things crafty.  I have been a knitter for 10+ years and a seamstress for just shy of a year, but it has quickly become an obsession of mine.

The reason I have decided to start this blog is to have a platform for showing off and discussing my makes; be they sewing, knitting, or anything else I just feel like talking about in length.

I decided to name this blog "No Tags and Zigzags" because those are the two features you only see in handmade clothing.  I have a weird sense of pride when I finish a garment with zigzag finishes and no tags anywhere inside.  It is a reminder that the thing I have just made is a one of a kind original.  It was not mass produced.  It's super rare and limited edition!

If you can't tell already, this blog is going to be all about hand made pride, and embracing slow fashion.  Come join me as I expand my hand made wardrobe!