Renfrew top muslin

  

Well, all the plans for the weekend has changed. Instead continuing working on my Marfy dress I made anther muslin. I ordered the new Sewaholic pattern, the Renfrew top a couple of days ago and it arrived on friday!

The Renfrew top is a fitted knit top with banded hems and variations for the sleeves and neckline. I've seen a lot of pics around on sewing blogs and thought the fit was great. Also I love wearing V-neck tops with 3/4 sleeves and somehow, there aren't many out there to buy. This was the second pattern I ordered from Sewaholic Canada (there are no resellers in the Netherlands). Ordering the pattern was easy, and the delivery quick.

Of course I had to start with the construction of a muslin!
Since I haven't sewn knits for a long time I did not have knit fabrics in the house. But I did have a giant pile of crew shirts from my friend. I used an old, man's x-large sized crew-shirt which has been worn and washed for years and years. I thought long enough to make it a bit sturdy to qualify as a 'stable knit'. Since I don't have a serger I can't sew with really stretchy knits anyway.



 
Sizing is always tricky, so I pulled out my other Sewaholic pattern, the Lonsdale dress. I used size 8 for the bust tapering to size 6 in the waist and hips on that dress. I used the finished garment measurements and compared to the Renfew top finished measurements. Decided to go with size 8 at the top part (shoulders and bust) and tapered to size 4 at the waist and hips.

The V-neck neckband was a bit tricky, an interesting construction. It didn't turned out perfect, but will get better next time around.  I followed the instructions and used zigzag stitch around the neckline to secure the seam allowance and I think it looks good. (When I was young my grandma used to make almost all our clothes and she used to sew knits with zigzag stitches too.) Next time I might try to use a double needle, that way there would be two straight stitching lines instead a zigzag.

I think the results are not bad! I didn't have enough fabric to make the waistband, so I just folded the seam allowance back and stitched with a zigzag stitch. It is just a muslin, but surprisingly, the length of the top turned out just right! With a waistband would be a bit longer, but also perfect.
(I never wear my shirts tucked in) There is enough room under the arms, the top feels roomy enough but still nicely fitted.

  

  

Fabric Marfy 2440 dress

Finally I've bought fabric for the Marfy dress! It is very dark blue with white polka dots and flowers.
It took some time to lay out the pieces on the fabric in the shop, because this fabric is slightly narrower than 140 cm. Finally I've got 2,5 meter of the flowery polka dot cotton and because it is quite thin another 2 meters from a plain dark blue poplin for lining the skirt.
It wasn't really cheap, but I think still worth the money. First they have go on 50 C in the washing machine to shrink. I haven't decided yet which color buttons I should buy. I guess white would look good...
Can't wait to get started!

Similar designs

A vintage Butterick pattern 6081 envelop and Marfy 2440.
How similar! Actually, it looks like only the collar and the back are different...

 

Craftsy Starlet suit jacket course

Today I decided to describe for another online sewing course on Craftsy, The starlet suit jacket course by Gertie Hirsch.
I don't know if I'm going to make a suit, but I think it is like the Bombshell dress course a great source of tailoring techniques. I enrolled in the Bombshell dress course but didn't make the dress itself yet.

Marfy dress - sleeve variation

The longer I looked at the pictures the more I thought there is something wrong... Guess what, it turned out it was the sleeve. Somehow, there is just too much of volume there, it draws all attention away from the pretty details of the bodice and the skirt:
  

I figured, I had to take out some of the volume to make it look better.
Here are the before and after pictures (going from the 1980's to the 1940's!):
   

How I did it?
It is a quite simple change. I didn't even removed the sleeve.
First of all, the type of sleeve I wanted is the classic 1940's type puffed but short, straight sleeve. I took out the Colette Ceylon dress pattern. It is another contemporary but definitely vintage style pattern. The sleeves are gathered at the shoulders but further plain. Exactly what I wanted for this dress too:



Comparing the patterns the sleeves they have a different sleeve cap, so I left that as it was.
I was interested in lower end of the sleeve. The Marfy pattern is made for a classic gathered sleeve, it widens towards the cuff. The Ceylon dress pattern is more fitted, narrower at the bottom.

1. I folded the wider bottom parts inwards, parallel with the side lines of the Colette pattern:



2. As you can see the bottom curve is just the opposite (inwards on the Ceylon pattern) so I took that over too. That's it!
I might make the sleeves slightly longer (an inch or so =2,5 cm) falling just above the elbow.
With this little modification my muslin is just perfect and the pattern pieces are adjusted too. Just have to find the right fabric to sew up this dress! My first idea was to use cotton fabric but I realized that it would look much better in a fabric with a better drape.

Grey inspiration

Calvin Klein pre-fall 2012 show. Love the colors and the silhouettes!

Creating a cloche pattern - part 2.

Part two of my cloche pattern design-cahallenge. My own 1920's cloche is ready!
Scroll down for more pics (side view)
I consider this fleece hat as a wearable muslin. I'm going to wear tomorrow when I bike to work early in the morning! The top of my hat is a single layer but the side and the brim are double layered for more warmth and strength. The fleece comes from the IKEA. It is a 3 Euro fleece blanket:

What I did after fitting my first muslin:

- marked all the seam-lines with pencil

- took the muslin apart 

- traced all the pieces 

- added seam-allowances

- decided to make another muslin out of fleece, which I also could wear as a winter hat.

Since fleece seams can't be pressed I topstitched on both sides of the seams:



Several layers of fleece would be too thick to sew so I've cut the corners and at the places with more than two layers I've cut away 1/2 of the seam allowance on the third layer:




And here it is! The transformed blanket.
I quickly tied a grey ribbon around above the brim to get an idea of how it would look with 20's style embellishments. I could imagine this hat made out of velvet or very short haired faux fur.
(It was already evening when I made the pictures that's why they are a bit blurry)

  

Bienvenue lecteurs Français!

'Just skirts and dresses' is mentioned in a selections of European sewing blogs on the French 'Thread and Needles' site!  Bienvenue lecteurs Français!

Creating a cloche pattern - part 1.

  

Let's start with a statement:
It is pure for my own pleasure that I attempt to make my own patterns. I don't use any existing pattern to do this, gather only visual inspiration from the internet. I am not a pattern maker and I'm not intended to sell any of my patterns and earn money that way!

Well, here is my current obsession, the 1920's cloche hat.
Cloche inspiration: There are lots of beautiful cloche pictures on the internet. There are two sorts of hats called a cloche: the one with the close-fitting round crown with mostly no brim and the more cylindric 'brimmed felt' type cloche (like in the illustration below). Both are reminiscent for the 1920's. For a nice collection of fashion drawings  click here.

What I like is the close-to-the-face shape of these hats and the embellishments. You didn't show your forehead in the twenties! The height of the hat was supposed to add height to the wearer's length too. Cloches were perfect to wear with the new hairstyle, the bob haircut. The brooch type embellishments like flowers or abstract, often art-deco-like shapes were made of fabric are used to cover up seam-lines. For myself because of my round face I'd choose the cylindric cloche instead of the round (helmet-like) one.



If you want to get in the mood, just look at these gorgeous creations!!! Pretty, handmade, almost art I would say. Since I don't work with felt I must take a look at cloches that are sewn. My inspiration are these, because these hats have a pretty cloche-shape and are sewn from unshaped woven fabrics.
I took one hat for further analyze: this one, because of the plain color and pretty shape. The structure is consisting of 3 parts: top, side, brim just like my winter hat.

Now, what are the (visible) differences in the structure?
Top: 
It is made up out of four triangles, but while my top is rather flat this one is more curved. This means I have to make my triangles bigger and more umbrella shaped. Also while my triangles match the seam-lines these are turned so they form an X rather than a + on top.
Side: 
I think the sides are quite similar, so no big changes to that for now. As I see it has only one seam-line, at the back.
Brim: 
The brim has the same width at the front and the sides and gets smaller towards the back. Again, just one seam-line at the back.

This was my first try: Too small, I added some extra fabric at the outer edges. This was quite easy.
It was harder to make the sides. I went with a two part design. I experimented with the shapes and ended with a slightly curved upper and lower part:


The top is visible here:


Number one attempt. It looked like some kind of rain-hat or fisherman hat. Hmmm...
  

Below is the 4th version with a wider top. (I haven photographed all the wasted, too small-too big versions, but let me tell you it took a lot of time to try on and adjust everything)
Here I thought the fit was right!  I only needed to shorten the sides:
 

On the first picture in the second row is clear that the new top is much wider than the first one (on the left):

 

And here is my finished design! Please ignore the notations written all over. I quickly made some embellishments just to make it look 'real':
 

 

There is still a lot left to do:

- mark all the seam-lines 

- take the muslin apart 

- trace all the pieces 

- add seam-allowances

- make another muslin from a thicker and sturdier fabric 

- check the fit again

To be continued!

1920's fashion

Recently I've got this EvaDress pattern and I must admit I love the 20's style! Probably my second favorite fashion era after to the 40's! Look at the elegant, pretty dress and coat below:

 

 Loooove those cloche hats!
 
Angelina Jolie in the movie 'Changeling'


And this is my hat, bought in London. Banana Republic 'Patricia' hat. How about these beauties?