Seam finishing

I often have the problem that I don't want to use zigzag stitch to finish the fabric edges. Double folded cotton seam binding or satin tape works well for somewhat thicker fabrics but doesn't work for fine fabrics like cotton or linen.
There is a great tutorial on the Lilacs and Lace blog here about seam finishing with a rayon seam binding. This seems to be fine and delicate and won't make the seams heavy and stiff.
I still have to look around here in the Netherlands for the 'Hug Snug' rayon tape. Anyone experience with it?

Taking a break

We (almost) have bought a new house!
Since we have to sell our current one a huge amount of stuff has landed in a storage unit. We wanted to have our house as empty as possible. Unfortunately, all my fabrics and patterns are there as well, only my sewing machine has left.
This is going to be our new home:

 

My Cambie dress featured on Sewaholic

My dress is featured on one of my favorite websites, Tasia's Sewaholic!
Unfortunately I didn't do much sewing lately, because a huge house-painting project. All the fabrics were folded up and patiently waiting in boxes...
In the meantime the summer has arrived here, in the Netherlands and I have plenty opportunities to wear my Cambie dress now!

Pattern testing: Sewaholic Cambie dress muslin

Size 8 muslin (left) and size 6 dress (right)

As I mentioned I was a pattern tester for this dress. The Cambie dress has a sweetheart neckline with gathered cap sleeves and a full of A-line skirt. I love dresses and my favorite part of the design are the sleeves with a 'sleeveless' look. If you look at the picture of the back you can see why isn't it sliding off the shoulders. A clever solution. I believe this is another pattern that looks good on everyone, with every type of body shape.

As always I started by making a muslin. Since the skirt has two versions and I always choose the A-line skirts I decided to invest some extra muslin fabric and sew up the complete dress with the gathered skirt. I made size 8 since that is my Sewaholic size, though I used size 8 bust and size 6 waist measurements for my Lonsdale dress. As you can see the top turned out too big, but I instantly loved how the dress looked like! I felt like a little girl in a swirly skirt and spent the rest of the evening (pinned up) in my dress...while making a size 6 muslin for the top with the waistband to try out the fit. (It is visible that I used facings for the neckline of my muslin instead of a double layer)

I thought the gathered skirt would make me look bulky around the waist and hip, but it actually looks much better than I thought. I like it!
I simply went down one size and size 6 was a perfect match. I usually have to shorten the bodices but this one fits right out of the envelop. The length was just right, I used my blind hem foot for the eyelet fabric, for me the skirt shouldn't be shorter than this. As fort the fabric I wanted to try a swiss dot but wasn't be able to get it here in the Netherlands. Somehow this type of fabric just doesn't exist? The I've found this pretty eyelet with the big circles and now I feel sorry for buying just enough for this dress. I feel like I want to make at least 10 summer dresses out of eyelet fabric!

 

The dress wasn't hemmed here and I just pinned up the back. Isn't it pretty?

Cambie dress styled for a cold spring/autumn day

When I made my first pictures it has been summer - at least for a few weeks in march. Ever since we've barely got to see the sun and it is raining almost every day. But I decided to wear my pretty summer dress - dressed up for cold weather! Since the color is taupe-beige I paired it with grey and black colors. I like the look! (The pics is not a great quality)

Pattern testing: My Sewaholic Cambie dress

Fabric: Cotton eyelet
Lining: Cupro

Sewaholic Cambie dress

Have you seen the new Sewaholic pattern?Remember my eyelet fabric? Well, I was a pattern tester for this dress and the results are great!