Anne Klein dress V1222

Just finished this Vogue Anne Klein design from the Spring 2011 collection.

It's wasn't complicated to make, but there are over 20 pieces to it and a LOT of top stitching, so it was very time consuming.

I took the shoulders up by an inch or so as the bust detail sat below where it should have been.  See the left picture before the adjustment, and the right picture after it.


In hindsight, I should have done a proper shoulder adjustment and taken out excess fabric around the armholes, rather than just bringing up the shoulder seams, as there is a bit of fabric bunching going on when it's worn.  I might fix this one day, but for now the dress is definitely still wearable.

Here's the side paneling detail:

See what I mean about a LOT of top stitching!

6848 holiday pic

I can feel the onset of post holiday blues already!  Snapped this pic of me wearing the 6848 whilst in a winery in Perth - it was pretty hot this day so excuse the dodgy hat! 

And of course I went fabric shopping and picked up some nice co-ordinating fabrics for some more projects - once I've done everything else on my list first, promise!  

Simplicity 6848 - Summer holiday dress!

This will be my last post for a few weeks as I'm off on a holiday - yippee, SUN here I come! :)  To celebrate the excitement, I finished off this little summer dress, Simplicity 6848.

I made view C in a cotton fabric which I purchased from Mood whilst on holiday in New York some time ago.  I've taken the pictures on my dress form as there was no way I was getting dressed for a summer day whilst here in the chilly UK!  I'll try take a pic of me in it whilst on holiday and post for you all to see.

A close up of the bodice which has a bit of gathering:

I'd probably recommend that if you're a bit hippy, that you cut a more prominent A-line than the pattern piece.  It currently just fits over my hips and I'd probably would have liked a bit more room.  Even so this is a simple quick dress to sew.

Simplicity 2440 - Part 5 - Time for a break!

After the disaster I had recently with my first attempt to cut out the skirt for this pattern, the extra fabric has now arrived in the mail, and I set about re-cutting.  

What I'm trying to do is eliminate the pattern gatherings and just have a simple A-line skirt.  As the skirt waist pattern pieces are wider to accommodate for the gathers, I need to reduce them down.  The first time I attempted this, I just halved my waist measurement, marked that on the pattern, and drew a new line down from there.  This was obviously a school-boy error, as my hips are bigger than my waist, and as such there was not enough material to fit around them.  Doh!  All part of the learning experience right?!  This time however, I followed instructions for making a skirt block and worked out where to mark the new lines.  This was much more successful!  I was probably a bit too generous with the ease measurements though - but better to have too much material than not enough!  Anyhow, here it is so far:

I still need to adjust the side seams, finish the lining, do the hem and fix the shoulder straps in place. 

Gosh, so much to do still!  I really think this dress and me are needing a break from each other for a while.  It's been a rocky relationship so far, and some time apart will allow me to start loving it again so that I can give it the attention it deserves....

Previous posts on 2440 can be viewed here, here, here and here!

Simplicity 2440 - Part 4 - Bodice Boning

Its been a few weeks since I've posted, and a few weeks since I've even done some sewing.  Oops!  Finishing this dress for Christmas day is going to be a bit touch and go now...

My next step is the bodice boning.  I'm using some thin 7mm wide reinforced flexible plastic boning which is suppose to resist twisting.  I moulded the boning into shape by holding it over the kettle spout as it boiled, this made it pliable for a few seconds whilst I bent and straighted.   Shaping the boning will help with the fit and look of the bodice; you can see below, the one on the right is as sold and doesn't sit nicely in the bodice channels when worn.

Next I need to cut out the taffeta, the good fabric, a step I am quite nervous about this time, cross fingers!

Simplicity 2440 - Part 3 - Fitting woes

Lucky I made a muslin first.  This is a bizarre fit for me - strangely this pattern had a LOT of gaping around the neckline.  It comes with different cup sizes - B, C & D - so yes, us small busted women have been forgotten - again!  Even my google search on how to alter the bust area resulted in FBA help rather than SBA help!  Sigh.  In the end, to alter the cup size on the princess seam, I drew a new line on the front side pattern piece about 1/4 inch in and graduated it back out to the usual line once under the bust.  No idea if this is the right thing to do...

The pattern ease is once again way too large - who wants 4 inches of ease on a spaghetti strapped dress?! I cut a size 10 and not the guideline's 14! 

And after all this, as you can see, a good 2 inches needs to come out of the top.  Cutting a size 6 out in the top half of the bodice should sort the 2 inches. 



I did add 3 inches to the bodice length, but after fitting this on, I'm going to reduce that by 1 inch as it's a little long and the boning may not sit nicely when I'm sat down.  Taking all my alterations into account, I'm going to cut out my lining next...

Simplicity 2440 - Part 2 - The Fabric

I have been umming and ahhing over this pattern for a few weeks now; I bought it, but then decided perhaps it wasn't for me.  And let's face it, even if I made this dress an exact replica of Danniis, I still wouldn't look like Dannii in it!  But I've finally decided I'm going to make it, just in a more 'Mrs C' style type of way.

I've chosen this pretty taffeta fabric whilst up in Norfolk this weekend.  You can see its pretty print in pink yellow and black.

I'm going to adjust the pattern to have a side zipper rather than a back one - most of my shop bought dresses have side zips and this will keep the fabric print unbroken in the back.  My zipper skills aren't quite mastered yet either, so this is probably best as it will be more hidden under the arm. 

Next step is the muslin....

Simplicity 2648 version 2

I'm sewing this 2648 pattern again, this time though I'm making view A with the sleeves, but without the belt.  I'm also going to line it so that I can wear it to work over winter.  The material is a polyester fabric that's really smooth and silky.  This is the pattern up close:

And the dress so far:

Yes, all just a bit matronly really, not good.  The neckline is much higher than I thought it would be, so before I progress anymore I've got to figure out how I can make the scoop bigger and then make new facing pattern pieces to match.   Stay tuned.....

Simplicity 2440 - Part 1 - The thought

I'm going to make myself a Christmas party dress.  I haven't actually got a party to go to yet, but I'm sure it'll happen! 

I was watching x-factor last weekend (don't we all?) and the lovely Dannii wore one of her own designs from Project D - jingle dress - it was just amazing. 

I'm thinking I could make this with Simplicity's 2440, view D, with some adaptations to get the ruffles on the skirt, what do you think?

Jalie 3024

I'd never heard of Jalie patterns before coming across them in Pattern Review.  I checked out their website and found this dress pattern:

I like that necklace as well...

This will be the first time I've made something in a knit fabric.  The pattern's suggested fabric was a 40% stretch across the grain AND lengthwise.  Yes, the pattern actually put the word 'and' in capitals.  So it must be important right?  I set off searching all my fav online fabric stores, but none of them had this type of stretch description - not a good start.  Gorgeous Fabrics website had some great knit prints though, so I emailed and asked their advice; within 5 minutes I had a reply (very impressed) that went:

"I don't know why Jalie puts 4 way on all their patterns. You need 4 way stretch for leggings and leotards, but not for that dress. You only need stretch in the cross-wise direction to go around the body."

Not that important after all then!

Buying from GF unfortunately didn't work for me with the expensive postage costs from the US, but I found some lovely fabric on The Remnant House website, and on sale too.  We all love a bargain! 

This fabric is a single knit medium weight jersey.  Laying it out and cutting it was really difficult - it probably was not a good idea to use a print for my first foray into knits, but after a while of fiddling and trying to match up the print repeats down the fabric, I was happy enough to lay the pattern pieces on.  I also put sheets of newspaper underneath and pinned that in as well to try and stop the jersey moving when cutting.  That seemed to work pretty well.

This was a really easy pattern to put together taking about 4 hours all up.  Beware though - there is no ease at all.  Mine only just fits! 

Simplicity 2648

I like the look of this Amazing Fit pattern, really suitable for work.  I have high hopes for this pattern since I should be able to easily tailor the sizing to fit.  But I'm going to make it first in muslin just in case...!

Overall I'm pretty happy with the result, it was simple to make and took about 12 hours all up.  My measurements were for a 12, but when I made the muslin trial it was way too big, so cut an 8 in good fabric.  Black doesn't photograph very well, but I made view C which is the same as above picture.