Liesl + Co Rush Hour Lagos Laurel Blouse

Good job no one is hanging out for my every word as despite sewing up a storm so far this year I have not been very productive on the blogging front. Sometimes this is because I am not very proficient at the photography stage other times it is a lack of inclination to write the words. However after a long hiatus (more than three months if anyone is counting) I feel the need to commit my projects to the blog. I enjoy flicking through to see projects of the past so I need to up my blogging game and catch-up with the 2021 sewing. Starting oldest first this top was made in early January (twice - but more about that later) when I was still enjoying the summer Christmas holidays. Now we are enjoying the downward rush to winter.

This knit top was made as part of the therapy to ween myself off Vogue 8710 which I have sewn so many times now it almost sews itself. Two of the things I enjoy most about Vogue 8710 are the slightly flared hemline and the princess seams for fitting the bust. The Rush Hour blouse has an interesting peplum (the reason I bought the pattern) and the princess seams. Sewing it before peplums become passé was another motivator.

The big question is does the Rush Hour blouse have enough similarities with Vogue 8710 to replace it in my affections? I was hopeful the answer was yes and set off on my new pattern adventure.

The finished garment

This is version one which would never have been made like this if I had read the reviews for this pattern on PatternReview. However as I only read them after the event this version saw the light of day. It was worn on an expedition to The Fabric Store. As I stretched to reach or pull various fabric bolts I could feel a definite draft around my kidneys. An undesirable situation according to my grandmother who often exclaimed "you'll catch your death" when as a teenager my tops got too short thus exposing my kidneys to the cold. Wise words I didn't appreciate at the time but I certainly do now! 

A top that is only suitable for quiet moments of contemplation doesn't really suit my lifestyle so after a few pattern alterations a second version was born. I can reach and stretch to my hearts content in this and there are no unwelcome breezes on bare skin.

In all of the photographs I am wearing the Megan Nielsen Flint Peggy Yellow trousers and Arche Ikhini Yellow Sandal.

The fabric

Another Liberty of London fabric from The Fabric Store. This time it is the Lagos Laurel Ganton jersey in colourway B. I also happen to have this fabric in the A and C colourways. Whilst I clearly like this design this is the first of the Lagos Laurel fabric to become a garment. It is also the most recent purchase fitting in with my current yellow obsession, and my imaginary Stitcher's Guild SWAP 2021.

This Liberty jersey doesn't have that much stretch and I took that into account when thinking about the size to sew. 

The pattern

I had long admired this pattern and resisted buying it because I felt the design would be easy enough to adapt from the ever faithful V8710. Eventually I succumbed and the pattern was mine to sit quietly with its friends waiting for its turn on the cutting table. This is the second Liesl + Co pattern to join the collection but the first one to be sewn.

Liesl describes this top as a "lined, fitted peplum blouse. The princess seams on this style allow you to customise the fit easily. View B, the peplum top, features your choice of short or long sleeves and an asymmetrical peplum, with an invisible back zipper. The pattern includes cup sizes, a Dior dart, and instructions for customising the pattern to fit your shape."

The pattern card

The pattern alterations

I can't really detail the pattern alterations for this make because I didn't use the original pattern pieces for the bodice. When I looked at the pattern I discovered that the bodice wasn't a true princess seam as the centre front piece had a Dior (bust) dart, which means it has a shaped side front piece and the centre front piece has a short dart. In fairness the pattern description does highlight the Dior dart it just never entered my consciousness until I started working with the pattern to achieve the fit I wanted.

Even though this pattern comes with B, C and D cup pattern pieces I knew that the front pattern pieces would require alteration to fit when what I really wanted was the cut out and sew simplicity of a TNT pattern. Given the reason I bought this pattern was the peplum the easy answer was to add the peplum to Vogue 8710. This should have given me a perfectly fitting top.

The challenges of version one were because instead of using the length of Vogue 8710 minus the peplum length, I used the length of the Rush Hour blouse. It should be noted that the finished back length of the Rush Hour blouse is not stated.

The starting point for me for any pattern is choosing the size based on the finished garment measurements. For the Rush Hour blouse in a knit fabric I chose size 8 (D cup) at the bust grading out to size 16 at the bottom of the bodice pattern pieces (3, 4 and 5). There would be zero ease at the bust (the ease comes from the stretch fabric) and 2½" of positive ease at the waist. For no logical reason I can remember I chose the length of size 8. For a woven fabric I would choose the size 14 at the bust grading to the size 16 at the bottom of the bodice pattern pieces.

In short the bodice pieces of Vogue 8710 were cut at the size 8 length, shaped at the side seams to match the peplum / bodice seam width, and the original Rush Hour peplum added. This was done by:

• laying the TNT centre front and back pattern pieces for Vogue 8710 on top of the Rush Hour Blouse bodice (pieces 3 and 5) matching centre front / back, size 8 at the shoulder neck edge and shortening by chopping the pattern off at the size 8 length
• shortening the Vogue 8710 side front (piece 4) at the hem to match the seam where it joins to the centre front pattern piece
• removing the ½" centre back seam so pattern piece 5 is cut on the fold and the zipper omitted
• shaping the side seams on pattern pieces 4 and 5 so that the bodice seam length where it joins the peplum was the same as the size 16 peplum
• cutting the peplum (pattern pieces 12, 13 and 14) as a size 16 with no alterations.

Other alterations were:

• lowered the back neck edge ⅜"
• lowered the front neck edge 1⅜" and altered the shape to more of an elongated U
• used the sleeve pattern from Silhouette Patterns 195 Sweater Set (my favourite knit sleeve) which is the same sleeve used in my TNT Vogue 8710.

As I said at the beginning of this post this resulted in a top that was too short for anything but quiet contemplation and a few more alterations were made, as follows:

• bodice lengthened 1½". As I had used my Vogue 8710 TNT pattern pieces I just cut them off 1½" longer than version one. If I had been using the original Rush Hour blouse pattern pieces I think I would simply have added the extra length at the bottom rather than the lengthen shorten line. For reference my lengthened pattern pieces are ⅞" longer than the size 16
• back bodice side seam increased ½" at peplum seam line tapering back to nothing at the armhole.
• front peplum (pattern pieces 12 and 13) lengthened ½" at the side seam hem blending back to the original size 16 at centre front
• back peplum lengthened ½" at the hem and widened ½" at the side seam. I also wanted the back peplum to have more swing so I slashed the pattern piece at the hem up to the bodice seam line and curved out the hem edge until it was 1½" times larger than the bodice seam length
• ¼" dart made in the curve of the U as the front neckline gaped slightly.

If the original Rush Hour blouse comes in B, C and D cup sizing why would it require fit alterations?

• the bust dart tip is just over 4" from centre front (size 8 4⅛" and size 16 4½"). For most women this would result in the dart tip being at the bust apex, as generally the distance between the most prominent part of each breast is 8". From a pattern drafting perspective it is not incorrect as the dart can end anywhere within the bust circle. However as Ann Hathaway in that pink Prada dress will attest this is not the most flattering look. For me having a larger bust the dart tip is generally about 2" away from the bust point, as the more the bust is rounded the further away the tip of the dart will be from the bust point, with the dart stopping short of the flat part of the front of the bust
• the bust point is not marked but measuring down from the shoulder / neck edge point, based on where the dart tip is, it is about 10" (size 8 9⅞" and size 14 10⅜"). I need the bust point to be 11½"
• other alterations may be required but the reality is I can't ever see me making the Rush Hour blouse with the bodice pattern pieces. I have a good knit version now using my TNT Vogue 8710 and am most likely to make a woven version by adding the peplum to my TNT Silhouette Patterns 400 Traditional blouse.

The sewing

There is nothing interesting about the sewing and I didn't use the pattern sewing instructions. Apart from the hems it was sewn on the overlocker with four threads and a ⅜" seam allowance. The pattern uses ½" seam allowances so I increased the circumference of the peplum by ½" and at the bodice peplum seam line. 

The peplum hem was stay stitched at ⅜" and turned up. The open side of the right front peplum hem was mitred, using the same method as detailed here. The sleeve hem was turned up ½". All hems were sewn with a straight stitch (length 3.0).

The neck binding was a 2" wide strip of fabric folded in half and sewn to the neck edge with a four thread overlock stitch and ⅜" seam allowance to give a finished ½" band (⅛" is taken up by turn of cloth).

Sewing construction was: sew centre and side fronts together; sew front to back at right shoulder seam; attach the neck binding; sew left shoulder seam; sew the sleeve in flat; attach the back peplum to the bodice back; turn up the hems on the two front peplum pieces before attaching to the bodice front; sew up the side seams; hem the bodice and sleeves.

Take two

I wrote a lot of notes about what didn't work in the first version and decided it was unlikely to be worn as I don't want to expose skin when I reach forward or raise my arms. Luckily I had made this top from a relatively recent fabric purchase that was still available at The Fabric Store. Before I rushed off to buy more I got out the left-over fabric to see how much more fabric I would need to purchase. An amazing thing happened and the shapes of the left-over fabric were perfect to cut out a whole new top without the need for a fabric purchase. Think the cup of tea helped.

Outfit of the day

Whilst I was very happy with version two of the Rush Hour blouse it took until April to be worn in real life (for a whole day as opposed to the few minutes it takes for blog photos!)  It was worn for work and the outfit was recreated for these photos as I don't have the photographer with me during the week.

I do think I need to learn how to take timed pictures with my phone as I would like to record my outfits everyday as it gives a lot of useful insight both into what in the wardrobe gets worn as well as the different styling choices.

The Rush Hour Lagos Laurel blouse was worn with the Untouched World Weekend jacket in colourway Kowhai; Megan Nielsen Flint mustard check trousers and Ernest Wyler Keesha Sunflower ankle boots.

I preferred it styled with these mustard check Flint trousers rather than the peggy yellow ones. Both of these trousers were sewn for the never entered Pattern Review Endless Combinations 2020 competition.

The photographer found these photographs challenging to take as he kept capturing the moment I had my eyes closed. He also captured the moment I was futzing with the outfit.

Style Arc Palermo Satin Cloud Knit Jacket

This simple jacket jumped many queues to become a finished garment within moments of acquiring both the pattern and the fabric. The plan for the 2020 Pattern Review Wardrobe Contest had already been formulated but I found myself re-thinking the options so this oh so cosy fabric could leap into my wardrobe for a few wears before the temperatures became too high.

The finished garment

Whilst the name of the pattern is the Palermo knit jacket the garment itself is more of a shrug than a jacket. It can be worn as outerwear on a warm sunny day but so far it has been worn as a shrug to snuggle into on a cool Spring day.

Not exactly demonstrating its warmth and cosiness with me squinting into the sun during the photo session, but here I am in my super cosy comfortable shrug not sacrificing style!

The Palermo Satin Cloud knit jacket is worn with the WORLD Pink Mustard Black Stripe Positivity Tee, Megan Nielsen Flint Boyfriend Mustard trousers and Ernest Wyler Keesher Sunflower booties.

The interesting seam lines of the jacket

Whilst it was a relatively simple sew the wrangling of the back hem warranted the use of one of my treasured labels. A gift from a friend they are used sparingly for those oh sew special garments!

The fabric

This wonderful Liberty Linford brushed sweatshirting entered the stash on 3 October 2020. It wasn't quite washed in time to be whisked away for holiday sewing but it was desperate to be made. A true love at first sight fabric. 

Liberty Satin Cloud B Linford Brushed Sweatshirting

This is a 300gsm 100% cotton fabric, one of the new range from Liberty of London at The Fabric Store.

It is described as "an Italian made Liberty cotton sweatshirting from the Linford range. Echoing the billowing pleats of the silk route’s prized flowing silk cloth this delicate Satin Cloud Liberty Fabrics print has cloud-like softness and energy. Linford Fleece is cosy and breathable, with a long-wearing pliability that only gets more comfortable with age. This super cosy fabric has been knitted with a loopback which has been brushed to create a fleece style fabric, super cosy and soft. The printed face of the fabric has a dry, flat texture whereas the reverse is a fuzzy texture in a plain bubblegum pink colour. The print design is made up of tones of clementine, purple and black on a black and pink base. A heavyweight knitted fabric perfect for sweaters, winter dresses, cosy loungewear, children and babies' winter clothes."

The pattern

I knew the Palermo knit jacket pattern had to be part of my collection the moment Style Arc sent me the email back in August announcing the release of the "gorgeously comfortable new discounted Palermo outfit sewing pattern bundle". I did wait until early October to purchase it as neither of the free pattern offerings in August and September appealed. Luckily the October freebie (Wilma woven top) tempted my fancy as the Satin Cloud fabric was desperate to become this jacket.

Style Arc describe the pattern bundle as "perfect if you are taking it easy and looking for ultimate comfort without sacrificing your style. The Palermo Jacket features interesting design lines, that are surprisingly created with only two pattern pieces! The relaxed look contours the neck and sits just below the waist. A shrug style jacket featuring long sleeves, neck hugging collar and interesting design lines."

Suggested fabrics are: sweater knit or any fabric with slight stretch and drape. Yippee for once my fabric choice matches with the designer's suggestion.

The other two patterns in the bundle (Palermo knit pant and Teagan knit top) were not purchased as drop crotch, elastic waist lounge pants have never appealed and I didn't need another basic t-shirt. Although now I have snuggled into my Liberty Linford brushed sweatshirting Palermo jacket I am sorely tempted by the idea of using the fabric for trousers. Luckily I am saved at least for the moment by the fact that we are fast approaching Summer so warm snuggly trousers have less immediate appeal.

The pattern card

The pattern alterations

Absolutely none. I did however sew the size 6 due to its oversized nature rather than my usual size 10 or 12 in Style Arc patterns. The finished garment measurements for the size 6 are bust 47¼ inches; sleeve length 27⅛ inches; centre back length 21½ inches and hem circumference 39¼ inches.

Very oversized garments don't usually suit my shape and I moderate the amount of ease by sewing a smaller size. It is a balancing act to retain the essence of the garment without swamping me.

The sewing

Style Arc class this jacket as an easy make as long as you follow the A, B, C notations - carefully marking them on the fabric. I would agree with this assessment. The seams were sewn up on the overlocker in no time. Up until this point the most time consuming part was changing the overlocker threads. With the high contrast between the the pink fleecy inside and the black exterior I overlocked the outer garment edges in black to finish them. Then for the seams changed to pink thread in the upper and lower looper and right needle with the left needle staying threaded with black thread to match the fabric right side.

Four thread pink overlocked seam - left needle threaded with black

The Style Arc instructions with their informative little diagrams were more than adequate for sewing up this knit jacket. The A, B and C notations were clearly illustrated and easy to associate with the markings on the garment. As my fabric was fluffy I snipped the fabric at the A, B and C points.

There were three instances where I didn't follow the instructions:

• After the side seam was sewn I sewed the centre back collar seam together. Then I folded the sleeves in half and sewed from the right sleeve hem up the arm, round the back neck edge down the left arm to the hem in one continuous seam.
• When I attached the shawl collar to the back neck edge I didn't sew in the facing. The entire facing (front opening and collar) were hand catch stitched in place at the end with the hem.
• Hem depth was increased for sleeves and garment body

Once the seams were sewn the sleeve hem was turned up 1½ inches instead of the ¾ inches allowed in the pattern. This deeper hem was perfectly accommodated within the width of the sleeve and made the sleeve length appropriate for my arms! The hem was hand catch stitched in place.

The sewing machine made a fleeting appearance to sew the facing to the garment body at the hem right sides of the fabric together with a 1 inch seam allowance to match the hem depth. The garment was then turned right sides out without trimming the seam allowance to make a sharp square corner a la Louise Cutting.

The hem was turned up 1 inch not the ⅜ suggested. Whilst I think it is better with this deeper hem it did cause the only problem I had when sewing this jacket. With the curvature of the design the hem would not lay flat at the side seam so I ended up cutting a strip of fabric as a hem facing for the back hem only. At the folded fabric edge the back hem is 16⅝ inches wide and the top of the hem is 1 inch wider at 17⅝ inches. This is clearly an improvisation at the end because the hem edge has pink thread overlocking not the black used for the other edges.

Improvised back hem facing

The styling

Whilst my entry for the 2020 PR Wardrobe Competition may never see the light of day as I have sewn only four of the ten necessary garments, the Palermo Satin Cloud knit jacket fits perfectly into another PR competition currently running - Warm and Cosy. This competition was discovered by accident when looking to find out the closing date for the Wardrobe Competition.

Luckily the rules were simple, requiring:

• the garment to be sewn in the month of October 🗹
• it to be something you can wear or use at home (no outerwear) 🗹
• take part in the contest discussion (well I registered my interest on page 34 of the discussion thread!)  🗹
• a review to be written that illustrates how my jacket is warm and cosy, with at least two photographs (and they don't need the garment to be shown on a person) 🗹
• contest entry to be before 11.59 EST on 31 October (hopefully fingers crossed)

I do curl up on the sofa like this next to the log burner but have to confess that this is very much a staged picture because it was a warm gorgeously sunny day when the photograph was taken. If we had taken the photograph a day later the log burner would have been roaring away keeping us toasty warm. Such are the vagaries of Spring.

At least I am not wearing sandals as I was when we took pictures of me wearing one of my other wardrobe contest items.

Left: Palermo Satin Cloud jacket; V8710 KT Happy Flowers top; Megan Nielsen Flint Boyfriend Mustard trousers; Arche Ikhini Yellow sandal

Right: Palermo Satin Cloud jacket; V8710 KT Happy Flowers top; Megan Nielsen Flint Prince Check trousers; United Nude Zink Pop Mid Black booties

Vogue 8710 a versatile Katherine Tilton top

In a search for the perfect top pattern to use with a wonderful Liberty of London jersey knit I rediscovered a Katherine Tilton pattern Vogue 8710. Like many of my Tilton sister's patterns it had never been used. I seem to admire the style lines buy the pattern and store it as a collectors item rather than using it. Don't know why because I usually love the finished garments made from their patterns.

Once it was rediscovered I proceeded to make view B four times, only the second top pattern I have sewn since Christmas. Other top patterns have been selected and the fabric cut out but they haven't made it to the sewing machine. I normally loathe the cutting out stage and can't wait to sew. This year however garments have been cut out and no sewing has followed. There are currently about ten to be sewn items sitting on my sewing table.

The finished garment

All four of these tops have been on constant rotation since they were sewn. Even though it is Winter now I am still wearing them with the addition of a woolly layer.

V8710 KT Dreams of Summer top

V8710 KT Dreams of Summer top

V8710 KT Little Mustard Stripe top

V8710 KT Fall Blues top (never to be worn again with these trousers)

V8710 KT Busy City Top

The fabric

The journey started with a wonderful Liberty of London jersey (94% modal and 6% elastane, 160gsm) called Dreams of Summer and sadly sold out. It was pretty expensive so I only bought one metre (137cm wide). My first plan had been to combine it with a plain mustard jersey knit but as luck would have it there was enough fabric for Vogue 8710 in size small.

The second version made from the mustard stripe knit fabric (95% cotton and 5% spandex, 190gsm) was chosen because I wanted to emphasise the little cut out by placing the stripes vertical with the rest of the garment having them horizontal like the top on the pattern envelope.  This fabric is extremely wide (175cm) and was bought from Fabric Vision here in Christchurch but is available online from Miss Maude (Torpedo Little Stripe Jersey Knit). There will be more versions of this top as I bought the same fabric in two other colourways duck egg blue and blush pink.

Then followed Fall Blues a brushed ITY knit from Silhouette Patterns. This is a light weight fabric originally intended for Vogue 9243 the Twirling dress. I made the mistake of cutting the fabric for the dress double layered creating a hideous pattern join at both the centre front and back seam. It looked so bad that I only sewed the centre front and back seam before throwing it in the bin. The positive side to this was using the left over fabric for V8710.

Finally I used the off-cuts from another dress Giorgio's Busy City Dress made using Silhouette Patterns 312 Giorgio's Top lengthened to the knee. The remains of the Busy City French digital print viscose knit 130gsm also from Silhouette Patterns was intended to be combined with other left-overs for a different Katherine Tilton pattern B6492. As soon as I saw how much fabric remained it inevitably became V8710. Maybe the scraps could be combined with two or three other fabrics to become B6492. I do want to get better at using up the fabric remnants rather than just storing them. If I continue to sew in themes combining the left over fabrics should be easier.

The pattern

The pattern includes two tops. I was attracted to View B for the little cut out piece and if you make it with short sleeves it fits on less than a metre of 137cm wide fabric. View B is described as a semi-fitted pullover top with top stitching details, forward shoulder, mostly cut on crosswise grain, bound neck edge, long sleeves, and stitched hems.

The pattern card

Back in March 2020 Grainline Studio wrote a getting organised blog post about pattern cards they specifically designed for home sewers.  Pattern cards are used in the garment industry to accompany a pattern around the sewing facility giving the people working with it the information they need to correctly cut and sew the garment. For me the value is in having notes about what pattern adjustments I made, the pattern pieces and fabric used, my measurements when the garment was sewn and the pattern size cut.

I downloaded the pattern card and have been trying to remember to fill it out as I alter the pattern and cut out the fabric. Not entirely convinced of the value of having one for each garment sewn from a pattern, when they are sewn in quick succession like these, as opposed to one per pattern or one each time the pattern is altered.

Storing them is a challenge I haven't quite conquered yet, as I don't keep my patterns on pattern hangers and even reduced to A5 size they are too big to be inserted into many pattern envelopes.

The pattern alterations

As this is a Vogue pattern it has ⅝" seam allowances. I chose to use the size small sewn with ⅜" seam allowances which increased the circumference from 35½ to 37½". This provided me with 2" of negative ease (the right amount for me).

The bust point was lowered by adding a 1½" strip above the bust point in the front pattern piece. For the side front piece I cut across to the side seam and created a wedge 1½" larger where it joined the front pattern piece and nothing at the side seam. I made the alteration in this way to increase the depth for a 1½" FBA.  For the fourth version (the Busy City top) I increased the FBA by an extra 1" as I was still getting a little fold of fabric at the bust which can be seen most clearly on the Little Mustard Stripe version. It is a bit hard to see in the before and after photos below due to the print in the Busy City top but in real life the difference can be clearly seen (if you sew and are attuned to these things).

The difference in the pattern pieces after the total 2½" FBA change can be seen in the photo below.

Pattern piece 8 (at left) is the side front; fitting into the curve on the left of pattern piece 6 Front

Rather than use the long sleeve intended for view B I altered the armhole to match my preferred sleeve from Silhouette Patterns 195 sweater set and used the short sleeve length.

Writing this blog post highlighted a small faux pas. Reading the pattern envelope and the notes on the pattern card identified I made a forward shoulder adjustment when one was already incorporated into the pattern. This explains why the finished garment sits a bit oddly on the shoulders. However this is preferable to the top always falling backwards strangling me with the neckline as tops without a forward shoulder adjustment do. For the next version of this top I will correct the double forward shoulder by putting my ½" adjustment back on the front pattern piece and removing it from the back.

The sewing

The pattern instructions are good and include some design studio tips. I veered off from the instructions by using the overlocker and not top stitching the seams. Also whilst the neck binding was attached as per the pattern instructions (albeit using the overlocker) I didn't use the neck binding pattern piece cutting a 1½" strip instead. This strip is stretched slightly as it is stitched around the neck to give a nice snug neckline.

The old Singer Featherweight was used for the hemming and stitching the neckband in the ditch.

Outfit of the day

These four tops went with me for a week away by the Okari lagoon near Westport on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. This was meant to be our Easter break but we weren't allowed to leave home then so it was deferred until late May.

V8710 KT Fall Blues top: Andrea Moore Boyfriend jeans; Ivy Lee Courtney Yellow Faux Python flats
V8710 KT Dreams of Summer top; Andrea Moore True Love orange pant; Birkenstock Arizona Metallic Silver sandals
Untouched World Ecopossum Weekend Kowhai jacket; V8710 KT Busy City top; Andrea Moore Boyfriend jeans; Ernest Wyler Keesha Sunflower bootie
V8710 KT Little Mustard Stripe top; Andrea Moore Boyfriend jeans; Face & Cie glasses

On the way home we stopped at the Maruia Falls. This waterfall was created by the 1929 Murchison earthquake which triggered a landslide in the Maruia Valley diverting the course of the Maruia River westwards and forcing it to cut a new channel over an old river bank. Once the river had eroded the gravel, the bank became the Maruia Falls. Immediately after the earthquake, the falls were only about a metre high, but after a year, the drop was 5 metres, by the early 2000s it was 10 metres.

Moochi Puffed Coat; V8710 KT Dreams of Summer top; Andrea Moore Cropped Boyfriend jeans; Ernest Wyler Keesha Sunflower bootie

This outfit was worn to breakfast and for my first haircut in eleven weeks. When I arrived home I took a selfie in the sewing room to record the moment! All of the other pictures in this post were taken at various points during this eleven week period. Is this proof I don't need a haircut every six weeks?

Untouched World Ecopossum Weekend Kowhai jacket; V8710 KT Little Mustard Stripe top; Andrea Moore Boyfriend jeans; Ernest Wyler Keesha Sunflower bootie

Style Arc Gertrude House of Gifts Christmas Dress

For a change this was a fast moving fabric and pattern (fast fashion?) with no stash maturation. The fabric was ordered on 29 November, received on 7 December, cut up on 12 December with sewing starting on 15 December. The pattern was purchased on 17 November. Almost unheard of in my sewing life for two recent purchases to come together so quickly.

The finished garment

I'm not sure how long after Christmas you can wear your Christmas dress. As you can see from me posing in the sunshine by the grapevine on 27 December I was a bit ambivalent, wearing it with my Camper sneakers rather than my red shoes.

Can you wear a dress covered in baubles and presents past Twelfth Night? Does wearing it past 5 January cause bad luck like leaving your Christmas decorations up? Although there is also a superstition that Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night should be left up until Candlemas Day (2nd February) and then taken down. Don't think I'll be wearing this dress over the next month it is now safely ensconced in the wardrobe until December. Tidied away like the Christmas decorations.

There was a thread on Pattern Review about sewing old patterns and did that make you look frumpy. So here I am in a new Style Arc pattern feeling frumpy. The big contributor to the frumpiness is the cardigan, completely the wrong length for this dress but good from a colour perspective. Or maybe its the too high neckline or the flat sneakers. Whatever it is this picture does not have me feeling my best.

The fabric

A pre-Christmas impulse purchase from Liberty of London (I succumbed to their marketing email). The fabric was washed as soon as it arrived and cut out soon after to make the Gertrude Designer dress. The stash came into play for the lining fabric which is a plain black cotton voile.

Liberty of London House of Gifts navy tana lawn

The pattern

The Gertrude Designer dress is described by Style Arc as a designer dress featuring a fitted bodice, dropped shoulder line, tucked sleeves, inverted pleats and a back zip. The reverse inverted pleats give this designer dress its unique shape. This dress has a fitted bodice along with a dropped shoulder. The shape of the engineered sleeve is created by the under-sleeve tucks. The essential side pockets and mid-calf length give this dress its designer feel.

Suggested fabrics are washed linen, crepe, silk and rayon, so similar to the tana lawn I chose to use.

The pattern alterations

Amazingly no pattern alterations were made to this dress. Based on the finished pattern measurements I cut a straight size 12 (I did check the sizing by comparing to my TNT dress pattern). No forward shoulder or sway back. The only change I had to make when cutting out the dress was to shorten it to knee length because I didn't have enough fabric for anything longer. I also omitted the back zipper.

As this is a limited wear dress being made from a Christmas print I did wonder about just doing plain short sleeves without the tuck detail but decided in the end to just go with the pattern flow.

If I make this dress again there will be alterations, at the minimum: a sway back adjustment; shortened sleeves and lowered neckline.

The sewing

This was certainly not a quick sew for me partly because I used french seams and lined it but the pattern itself has a number of details that take time.

There are a number of steps to construct each of the eight bodice pieces (two front outer fabric, two front lining, two back outer fabric, two back lining).
Step one: sew the bodice princess seams together including the inverted pleats at the skirt end. Press the seam open and the pleats flat.
Step two: sew the centre front and centre back seams (two of each). I used French seams on these four seams.
Step three: add the two raglan sleeve pieces to each of the front and back sections. Press the seams open.
Step four: sew the shoulders of the dress and of the lining together. Press the seams open.
Step five: Attach the lining and dress together at the neckline. Trim the neckline seam and under-stitch.
Step six: For the side seams I used French seams and treated the dress and lining as one but made the sewing more complicated by keeping the pockets.

So what about the pockets. I puzzled this a great deal in one of my early morning awake sessions, trying to work out how I could have a pocket in a French seam. I tried to take pictures as I went along but of course when deep into sewing you forget all about pictures.

Step one: sew the pocket bags around the edge wrong sides together leaving a small area unsewn at each end by the side seam edge.
Step two: sew each side of the pocket bag to its corresponding dress side seam wrong sides together. Sew the dress side seam (wrong sides together) up to the pocket bag in two steps - hem to pocket bag, underarm to pocket bag.
Step three: press the first part of the French seam towards the pocket bag.
Step four: sew each side of the pocket bag to its corresponding dress side seam right sides together. This is where you need the small unsewn area of the pocket bag so you can separate the two halves of the pocket bag to sew them to the corresponding side seam. Press the finished French seam of the pocket bag towards the pocket bag.
Step five (no picture): Sew the dress side seam's second part of the French seam. This is sewn how you would conventionally sew the side seam with pocket bag in one continuous length - hem to pocket bag, around the pocket bag, pocket bag to underarm.
Step six (no picture): press the French seam towards centre front in order for your pocket bag to be facing the right direction.

Update 7 February 2020: In early January the Bernina blog (We all Sew) wrote a post which has a different approach to sewing pockets in French seams which can be found here.

The sleeves because of the tuck detail consist of an under and upper sleeve. The tucks were sewn into the under sleeve, the shoulder dart sewn in the upper sleeve and both pressed. The under and upper sleeve were sewn together with French seams and a narrow hem was machine stitched. Once the dress side seams were sewn the unlined two piece sleeve could be inserted also using French seams, treating the dress body lining and outer fabric as one.

The final step was to hand sew a narrow hem. As I only had a limited amount of fabric (two metres) I had made the dress as long as possible but the only way I could have the hem end just below my knee cap was to have a 1" hem (⅜" for the first fold and ⅝" for the second).

After all that sewing the dress was finished on Boxing Day and has had minimal wear. Waiting for Christmas 2020 to shine!

There is much discussion about the quality of Style Arc directions. For me the Gertrude Designer Dress instructions were adequate clearly illustrating how to construct the princess seam tucks and the tucks in the under sleeve. This was pretty much the only time I referred to the pattern instructions, especially as I lined the dress and had to decide how I wanted to treat the lining and outer dress fabrics.

Outfit of the day

Here is the dress in action being Mrs Claus handing Christmas presents to my beloved (which he had to wait until Boxing Day for). I know pathetic but if you are going to the trouble of making a Christmas dress it has to have some purpose and he didn't seem to mind waiting the extra day (or twelve hours if we celebrated with our northern hemisphere family!). He also appreciated the pre-Christmas clean the house got which is what caused the sewing delay.

To be perfectly honest I felt more Christmassy dressed in my Twirling Rebecca Taylor dress with a red cropped top and United Nude Lev Wrap Lo red shoes than I did in my House of Gifts Christmas dress, even wearing the same red shoes.

Sewing out and about

The dress was started two Sunday's before Christmas whilst we were away on the West Coast. The Sunday afternoon was wet and miserable so whilst my beloved read his book I sewed at the little dining table.

After sewing the Christmas dress I gave the little Featherweight a Christmas treat with a good dust, oil and grease, plus I finally replaced her bed cushions (the little rubber feet).

The bed cushions are supposed to grip the sewing surface for vibration and noise absorption. Mine unsurprisingly given the age of the machine were hard and smooshed down.  To remove the old worn cushions I had to dig out the old rubber with a screwdriver. I got better at the digging out with each one I removed. The picture below left shows all four cushions removed and on the right shows the difference between two new ones (face up and face down) compared with the older cushions.

A Mini Travel Wardrobe for Akaroa in the Spring

I have been a bad blogger recently finding myself indulging in more dream sewing and blogging than the real thing. Just to top it off Blogger is being a very selective friend. Does it have feelings? Have I offended it with my inattention? Why does it not publish my post (when I finally write one)? Or tell me when I have comments? These are the big burning questions of the universe - oh alright stupid first world technology glitches which if I don't stress will miraculously cure themselves so onto the real point of this little missive.

Normally my beloved is responsible for travel arrangements when we are together but as it was a surprise for him the organising of this trip was all mine. And I managed to do a good job even if I do say so myself. There was a little hiccup to begin with due to a small double booking glitch which was sorted by a change in location and bach. A bach (pronounced 'batch') is a small, often very modest holiday home or beach house in New Zealand.

As this was a short trip away I didn't want to spend most of that time travelling so we drove over the hill to Akaroa. Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for 'long harbour' which would be spelled 'whangaroa' in standard te reo (Māori).

The travel wardrobe

Despite only being away for two nights I took two pairs of trousers just in case. Nothing worse than slopping your dinner over yourself and having no spare clothes to change into. In reality this many garments would have been fine for a longer trip away. At least between us we only needed my Hedgren duffle bag. We took way more food (and alcohol) than clothes.

Top: Untouched World Zip Through Parker; World SS16 Napoleon jacket; Camper Twins Luis Gordillo Sneakers

Middle: Untouched World Zephyr Ecopossum Coat Cardi; Untouched World Pure Skinny Indigo jeans; Papercut Peter and the Wolf Coloured Mote jeans
Bottom: World SS17 Slang T; Silhouette Marie's Nicholas James Sweater; Style Arc Rosie Alice top

The holiday bach

I managed to find a really wonderful place to stay, a little way out from the centre of Akaroa, set in extensive grounds with access to the sea, and what appeared to be a great garden for meandering. Due to the inclement weather we didn't take advantage of the outside spaces but we did greatly enjoy the log burner and the plentiful supply of logs.

We had a large open plan space with a fully equipped kitchen at one end and the bed at the other. Just the weekend for that wall of books!

The view from the deck was stunning, across Akaroa harbour to Tikao Bay and Wainui. In the evening we could watch the car and house lights shimmering across the water.

The garden

Out and about on Banks Peninsula

First stop after a leisurely morning doing nothing and a lunch of leftovers from Friday night's antipasto tea we drove into Akaroa for a small taste of the Frenchfest. Crowds were minimal probably because of the wet weather and our late start.

And at the other end of town...

Yay the sun came out. Briefly.

Up the hill to Ōnuku Marae, close by the waters edge.

On the way back down Onuku Road I took this panorama of Akaroa harbour and an OOTD picture with the sheep.

On Sunday we drove home with a slight detour to Tikao Bay and Wainui to see Akaroa from across the water.

Duvauchelle Bay with its colourful boatsheds

Petit Carenage Bay

Tikao Bay, complete with boating club and wooden fisherman, looking across the harbour to Akaroa

On the windy road ever upwards out of Wainui looking back down Akaroa harbour and up toward the harbour entrance. The OOTD picture is missing the sheep as they all ran away.

And finally...

The Silhouette Patterns Marie's Nicholas James Sweater has never been blogged even though it accompanied me to Houston in 2018 and is a firm wardrobe favourite.

Marie's Nicholas James Sweater posing in the foyer at the Doubletree Downtown Houston

It was made using a wonderful Liberty of London Dufour jersey purchased from Miss Maude. I really wish Liberty would produce jersey knits again, it is a great substrate for their wonderful prints, 100% cotton and so comfortable to wear.

Liberty of London Dufour jersey, design Nicolas James in colourway coral

For this top I wanted more of a swing shape at the bottom so I combined Silhouette Patterns #195 Sweater Set with #310 Marie's Top. The French dart in this top is a bit odd as it finishes in the hem. I will fix this next time I make the top. Otherwise the pattern mash up was very successful. I intend to make another version of this top and will write a proper blog post about it when I do.