Match Your Shoes - United Nude Issey Miyake Rock

Being a matchy matchy girl having shoes that go with my outfit is essential. I did go through a phase of just trying to have black shoes and wearing them regardless of my outfit colour, which didn't last long due to my inner shoe fanatic and love of colour. When I discovered United Nude the shoe wardrobe increased significantly.

I intended to enter the Pattern Review 2018 Match Your Shoes Contest. That didn't quite work out due to a small technical difficulty with the dress and only having the photographer available at weekends. Or rather me only being available to the photographer at weekends. Having started down the road of thinking about matching shoes and outfit a blog post seemed the natural conclusion.

The shoes

United Nude Issey Miyake Rock Sandal in colour lime. I had ogled these for many months before finally making the online purchase and they are fabulous. Different to look at but so well balanced and comfortable to wear. Being a platform you get the added height without tottering around on 4" heels (although I do that too).  The shoes give me 3.5" of added height with a less than 2" incline front to back - easy peasy to walk in. Added bonus is that the straps across and around your foot are fastened with velcro so you can alter them to be comfortable for you (and secure so you don't fall off your high heels). I am extra careful walking down the aircraft steps in these as they look like the sort of shoes you break your neck in!

Outfit one - Silhouette Patterns #4000 Swing Dress

So when I thought about making an outfit to go with my Rock sandals this AGF knit (Bloom Montage Light designed by Sew Caroline) was an immediate contender, using Silhouette Patterns #4000 Swing Dress.

First hurdle was I thought I bought 2 yards of this fabric to make a dress, yet when I came to lay out the pattern I discovered I only had 47". This is less than the 1.5 yards I usually buy for a top. Luckily the fabric was long enough for the dress but not wide enough and there was nothing left for the sleeves. So I altered the width of the skirt to maximise the available fabric and thought I would change from set in sleeves to a cut on cap sleeve.

Any sensible person would have stopped there and used a different pattern.  The TNT Home Sewing World Cut, Make and Trim tee extended to dress length would have been ideal. But no as is typical for a Yorkshireman I stubbornly pursued my original plan with the Swing Dress and drafted some cap sleeves.  I didn't even have the nous to use the aforementioned TNT tee pattern for the cut on sleeve. When I came to sew the side seams it was obvious that sewing the hem on the cap sleeve would be impossible. So I chopped the extra off and found another fabric to use for the set-in sleeves. This simple knit dress took me all day Sunday to sew due to the faffing around, with no time left for photographs.

But it does look good with my sandals.

Outfit two - Megan Nielsen Flint trousers with Untouched World merino knit singlet

The Flint trousers have been great in this year's hot summer weather and the colours in the print make them very versatile - a great addition to my wardrobe.

The Untouched World merino singlet has had a rather unfortunate life. The first time I wore it I dripped a single drop of coffee on it and permanently dyed it.  I tried numerous stain removal remedies to no avail. The first time it was washed it also acquired a slight black tinge (it was washed on a 30℃ wash but with a pair of black trousers).  Luckily I prefer the colour it is now to the bright citrus colour it was. To hide my coffee drip I added a few felt flowers.  I am not entirely happy with the placement of the flowers but as each flower is only attached with three colonial knots they are easily removed and positioned differently.

Outfit three - Home Sewing World Cut, Make and Trim t-dress

This fabric is interesting - in real life there are lots of different colours in the zigzag stripes one of which is greeny yellow, yet the photograph really emphasises the mint/turquoise colour. This dress has been worn to work with the little jacket and Rock sandals.

The photography venue

I thought it would be fun to take the photos in our paddock using the grape vine as a backdrop.  There are still some grapes that the birds haven't eaten but even close up you can't see them for all of the foliage.

And here is the photographer having fun on his own whilst waiting for me to change outfit.

Butterick 6232 Morse Dot Sun Top

The renovations to the master bedroom and ensuite are impacting on my sewing or maybe it is the trauma from having to confront the spare bedroom fabric stash and tidy it away.  Whatever the reason it has taken me two weekends to sew this simple top.  I don't have a huge back log of projects like some bloggers do, in fact I barely keep up with one project a week so my ability to maintain the weekly post maybe in serious jeopardy.

Unless of course I get myself organised and take a sewing project to work.  I do have a sewing machine in my work city and it hasn't been out of the luggage cupboard at the hotel in months. Something to aim for, maybe.

The finished garment

The daffodils are out, the lambs are gambolling in the fields and the sun is shining.  To welcome spring here is my new yellow top.

It is another hi lo top and extra long in the back (ends just below my bottom) but for some reason I really like this top.  Unlike my previous few makes where I felt the tops were too long.

The fabric

I managed to buy another Art Gallery Fabrics knit without realising it. This Morse Dot Sun knit came from The Sewing Workshop within the last twelve months - before I had consciously developed my penchant for AGF knits. It wasn't until I looked at the selvedge as I was cutting out that I realised it was from AGF. So I must love their designs as much as the quality of their cotton/spandex knits.

This print is part of the Imprint collection by Katarina Roccella. The Imprint collection is described as a harmonious arrangement of neutral shades and delicately selected colors inspired by Katarina’s printmaking background and linocuts. The essences of Suprematism; square, cross, circle, and defined silhouettes compliment this versatile collection.

The pattern

I don't know where I saw it, but a make by a now unknown sewing blogger immediately made me want  a copy of Butterick See and Sew B6232 which was unfortunately out-of-print. A quick eBay search discovered one for sale - no sooner found than mine! It took a while for the pattern to arrive in New Zealand and a little longer sitting on the kitchen bench giving me the sew me or tidy me away stare before the sew me stare won.

B6232 is described as a fitted top with raised waist, hemline variations and narrow hem. A: Back zipper. B: pullover, wrong side shows (back hemline), back neck slit with hook and eye closing. Stitched hems on sleeves. Purchased bias tape to finish necklines.

This pattern is for woven fabrics (its main point of attraction - well that and the peplum) so I immediately started thinking about making it in a beefy knit after my lack of success using my TNT knit pattern.  I am also going through a yellow phase at the moment possibly because of my Go Taxi flats (or maybe it is the hint of Spring in the air) which clearly identified the fabric to use.

I chose to sew View B in a size 14 based on the finished garment measurements and my TNT woven top (Silhouette Patters #400 Traditional Blouse view 2).  Only the finished bust measurement (printed on the pattern) was relevant to the chosen size as the waist is much larger due to the flare of the peplum. 

The pattern alterations

When I compared B6232 to my TNT pattern a basic problem with the pattern markings was highlighted.  Whilst a lower bust point can be attributed to my aging, I defy anyone to have a bust point to bust point measurement of 4 inches.  On this pattern the bust point is 2 inches in from centre front.  The placement of the waist dart is closer to where the bust point should be.

This leads me to the second problem with the pattern.  The waist dart ends far too close to the bust point.  Any slight error with the sewing would have the end of the dart stopping right on the bust point.

The third problem with this pattern is the proportions of the waist dart, wide and short, which makes it harder to get a smooth point. In my experience it would be better to have a narrower waist dart and remove some of the width from the side seam.  In the interests of authenticity I did not narrow the waist dart but did sew it shorter as my bust is prominent enough without highlighting it with a dart point.  I have now made changes to the pattern for both the dart width and end point just in case I sew it again.

As these patterns are touted as Very Easy and likely to attract beginner sewers I think more care should be taken in their development. It would be very easy for a beginner sewer to get extremely average results from this pattern through no fault of their own.

The other changes I made to the pattern are:

• lowered the bust point to counteract my aforementioned aging
• narrowed the shoulder to the same width as my TNT pattern
• omitted the shoulder dart in the back
• made a 0.5 inch forward shoulder adjustment
• used my TNT woven blouse armhole and sleeve (I couldn't be bothered making the forward shoulder alteration to the B6232 sleeve)
• made a full bust adjustment. Basically just copied the bust dart from my TNT pattern and made the newbie error of not lengthening the top front piece to compensate for the bust dart. 
• put fish eye waist darts in the back for shaping
• removed 1.25 inches from the length of the back to match the (accidentally shorter) front. I didn't remove the length until after I had tried it on and this slightly shorter length looks better than the original so I have made this alteration to the pattern piece

The sewing

The fabric was cut with the greatest amount of stretch going up and down the body.  As I was using a woven pattern I decided I could go with my preference for the dots and dashes to be vertical and ignore the direction of greatest stretch.

As with all of my recent makes a very simple project sewn mainly on the overlocker.  I did sew the darts with my Singer Featherweight just in case I needed to make any alterations rather than sewing them on the overlocker.

This top was made even simpler by the knit fabric because I could omit the hook and eye closure at the back and just overlock the centre back seam from top to bottom.

I used The Sewing Workshop 1/2 inch fusible hem tape before sewing the hem to prevent it stretching out.  The neckline was stay-stitched at 3/8 inch then folded over and stitched.  I cut a neck binding but decided not to use it.

I did have 5/8 inch seam allowances on this garment because I would normally sew it in a woven fabric with French seams.  Still prefer a 3/8 inch seam allowance for knits and think if I sew this pattern again in a knit I will chop off the extra seam allowance before I sew it.  It was really interesting how difficult I found sewing with 5/8 inch seam allowances on the overlocker.  There are a couple of seams that are a bit wonky.  Definitely inserting sleeves, even in the flat, is so much easier with the smaller seam allowance.

As predicted in the pattern alteration section getting a smooth end to the waist darts is almost impossible as can be seen here.  I didn't think they looked too bad until I saw the photographic evidence, and they are sufficiently bad for me to unpick and re-sew.

Outfit of the day

I wore this top to go shopping for lights and flooring.  As a treat we had lunch in our favourite cafe at the Mediterranean Food Company and my photographer captured desert time. This time eating passion fruit tart with raspberry mascarpone.

Here is a photo from a previous visit in June of my apple frangipani tart - an absolute work of art.

Anyway back to the outfit, here is my top with yet another pair of Andrea Moore skinny pants and my Trippen navy Klee shoes, posing in front of the blossoming Almond tree.