Pink and Blue Rayon dress

 I recently drafted a new shirt pattern for myself and made a muslin out of rayon fabric.  It turns out that this is my favourite piece of clothing at the moment.  I love the feeling of the rayon, I love the style of the shirt - I reach for that shirt at every opportunity and so I decided I needed a second one.

I had another piece of rayon in my stash that I bought at the same time that I bought the last one.  It's such a pretty fabric,  It had the turquoise that I love, and the paisley/feather pattern that is my favourite, but it does contain a lot of pink which is not one of the colours I normally wear so I hadn't gotten around to making it up yet.   I pulled it out and decided I wanted to make it into a day dress for even more comfort.

I used the pattern that I drafted for that last shirt again cut off at waist length and then used the remainder of the fabric to create a skirt.  I was originally thinking of a gathered skirt but I didn't have a lot of fabric to work with (I think I only bought 1.5 - 2 yards of this fabric) so ended up just going with an A line skirt just above knee length.  Could have done with a bit more length at the back - It's pulling up just a smidge over my bum.

Due to fabric shortage issues I made the sleeves shorter on this version. I think next time I'll try a length half way between the two.  I think the first sleeve was a bit too long, but this one is a bit too short.  

Of course I had to add pockets - all outfits need pockets of some sort.  For this dress I add in seam pockets, and then top stitched the pocket in place on the front of the dress. It's not like you can see the top stitching in all the print and this makes the pockets much nicer, not flapping around.

I did have to piece the back of one of the pocket bags, but otherwise was able to get everything cut out. 

I added elastic to the waistband to give some shape definition and hold it in place.

The only other change I made was to how I finished the V in the neckline.  Last time I tried binding the edges, this time I basically made a facing and created a more square cut out.  I also use iron in interfacing on both sides of the collar.  All of this means that this neckline is my favourite ever.  It sits so beautifully.

I love this dress.  I wore it for a good couple of days before finally throwing it in the wash (the joys of lockdown I can wear my clothes for more than one day - it's not like my family care what I'm wearing!).

I still want at least one more short sleeve top, but I'm also thinking about a long sleeve version for the fall.  I'm thinking a full sleeve gathered at the wrist with elastic.

But in the meantime I'm going to enjoy my new dress as much as I can.  Bring back the beautiful warm weather - I'm so not ready for summer to be over yet.

Can I also just say - I tried cutting my own hair for the first time the other day.  Whilst it's in need of a wash again in these photos I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  Yeah for new skills.

Yellow Tail Camisole

I actually used a real pattern for once - The Yellow Tail Camisole - unfortunately it's from a pattern company that no longer exists - Disparate Disciplines.  I went searching the internet for it but the only thing I could find was this page.

I bought this pattern a couple of years ago and modified it into a dress pattern as a Christmas present for my sister. 

About 2 months ago I decided I wanted to use up the last of this pretty feather fabric I had sitting in stash.  I didn't have a lot of fabric left - I used it originally to made this romper and then I've been slowly using up with plain black leftovers but I really wanted to do something with the remaining feathers.  Since I had only a small amount of fabric I was limited in what I could make.  I remembered that I had this pattern in stash and decided to give it a go. I knew I would have to do a few modifications - the original pattern has teeny tiny spaghetti straps made out of fold over elastic which were never going to work but I thought it was worth a try.

I made the pattern  to the largest size but instead of using the fold over elastic to finish the back, sides and straps I made a 1.25" folded strap.  

As per usual straight out of the box did not work - I'd based my size selection on my full bust size  which never actually works but I'd prefer to cut out big and then take it in than cut it too small.  So I put it on inside out and started pinning out the extra fabric.  

The side seams came in about an inch at the top. I then took a dart  at the side bust basically starting at the top of the side seam angled down to my bust point.  I also had to take some extra fabric out of the band across the top and that resulted in a pretty good fit.

The biggest problem I have with it now is that it can really only be worn with the one bra that I used during construction.  Even this bra it still peeks out there at the front. 

So whilst I've owned this top for a couple of months now I've never actually worn it.  I think this one can be classified as a wadder. 

Obligatory mask making!

I'm going to make a confession - I hate making masks.  I'll admit that I did not rush out and sew masks for charity along with everyone else - neither did I sew masks to sell.  In fact in the early days of this pandemic I only made a couple masks - one for each of the family in fact.

The original masks that I made were done using this pattern.  I used mask 2 regular size I believe, but instead of putting the elastic through the side of the mask I actually ran it across the top and bottom of the mask making for a snug fit under the chin and over then nose.  I also didn't use elastic but made rouleou straps that tie behind the head and neck.

I made one for my son out of camouflage cotton on the outside and plain green cotton inside, My daughters is made from a cotton with yellow spots and hedgehogs on both inside and outside.

Our one and only outing during April and May - to pick up our Hedgehog.

For myself I made a plain blue cotton mask with a orange gingham cotton inside.  For my mask I added a strip of fleece over the nose to thread a pipe cleaner through just to get a better fit over the nose.

These fit fine but it was a pain having to tie them up each time we put them on so I then came up with the idea of serging a knit fabric to the top and bottom of the mask in a loop around the neck and the head.

I made another mask with a bright metallic print batik fabric outside and and blue double pane check fabric inside and used a poly lycra fabric to make two circles of fabric and serged these onto the top and bottom of the mask.  I also added an extra strip of fabric over the nose to hold a nose wire.

This seemed to work, but the mask was now too short for some reason so my chin kept slipping out if I wanted to talk or open my mouth at all, so I added an extra strip  of fabric under the chin about 1"wide in the center tapering out to nothing at the sides. 

We made do with these masks for a good couple of months - the kids were rarely outside the house (or our backyard) so didn't really need masks that much it was really just for me who needed them for grocery shopping and delivering meals on wheels.

But every time I wore mine I realised something just wasn't right.  Mainly around the nose.  I find that if I pull the mask up over my nose it starts obstructing the view from my eyes, but if I pull it down so I can see it doesn't sit over the nose properly.  I knew I needed to change the shape around the nose, but I just wasn't sure how.  I started looking at different mask patterns online - most of them are the same basic shape, either pleated (which I tried once and hated immediately), or the shape I was already using, but there were a couple of other origami and darted type masks that looked interesting.  

I decided to try and make a pattern myself.  I started by cutting a larger rectangle of fabric.  It was about 14" wide by about 8" high.  I held the fabric up to my face and started taking tucks to try and get it to fit nicely.  I started with two darts, one on either side of the nose.  I then added darts on either side meeting up with the nose darts to create a nice big box around the nose.  Finally I added another dart under the chin to get the mask to fit nicely around the neck.  I sewed these darts in place and pinned on some elastic to hold it in place and then I just needed one more modification, a little extra room at the top of the nose so I basted an extra piece of fabric on and now I had a pattern that fit me beautifully. 

I made up an actual pattern,

 Cut it out of a metallic print batik.

For the lining I actually used an old T shirt. I sewed up the two layers separately then put them together right sides facing and sewed along the top and bottom edges.  Turned it inside out through the sides then top stitched top and bottom and serged the sides to neaten them up.

I then used a strip of the T shirts hem and top stitched it over the nose on the inside to make a casing for nose wire.  I found some old jewellery wire and used that over the nose, wrapping the ends in duct tape so they don't poke me.

To finish off the mask I just turned the sides under to make a casing.

I then made another rouleou loop that goes up from the bottom of the left side casing, around the back of the head and down the right side casing and is then tied behind the neck.  This is good as I can slip the top strap off then pull the mask along the loops and pull the neck strap off without undoing it which is nice.

I really like the way this mask fits - it doesn't obstruct my view at all, its super comfortable and easy to wear without fidgeting with it.

Now I just needed to figure out what fabrics to use.  This has always been my biggest problem,  finding real data on how different fabrics work as masks is hard.  I found one study early on but the fabrics were things like Tea towels, scarf etc, these could be made out of anything.    Up till now I had just been using whatever cotton fabrics I had on hand since cotton seemed to be best, but then  new data was released that showed that a combination of cotton and poly chiffon or silk was actually the best. 

So I needed to make a few new ones.  I made the kids a new mask with an outer cotton of their choice, inner plain cotton and an internal layer of silk in the original style, then because they said it was too hard to breath through that I made them each a two layer cotton mask in the new style (I figure better a mask they will wear with two layers than a three layer mask that they keep taking off).

For these I got really lazy and just cut strips of 1" wide knit material for the straps. 

Then for my husband and myself I made 4 layer masks with two layers cotton and two layers poly chiffon.

I managed to stuff up the last one so the chiffon is on the outside not the inside but oh well I'm sure it works just as well. 

I also came up with a way to make adding wire for the nose more easily.  I created a new pattern piece that basically follows the shape of the nose, cut two of these out of the inner layer fabric.  Sew the two layers together along the bottom then sew it to the outside of the inner layer with top edges matched.  This means that when the mask is turned inside right it sits against the inner layer and can be topstitched in place leaving an opening on either end where you can insert your wire.

 

I probably need to make a few more of the ones with chiffon as it turns out that is really easy to breath through and the kids do need more if they go back to school, but I can only do so many at once - they are just so boring.  

Gathered Neckline Rayon Top

I was looking to sew something a bit different this week.  I wanted to do something more than just follow a pattern, I wanted to do some drafting /design work.  I ended up with this top.  It may not look like anything more than a simple top but it has a few features that I really quite like.

Recent reading through blogs and browsing sewing patterns led me to Sew Liberated Matcha top.  I really liked the neckline of this top and even contemplated buying the pattern but there was quite a bit about the rest of the pattern I didn't like - the lack of any shaping/ extra gathers at the back, the sleeves. So I though't I'd have a go at trying to make my own.

I started with my moulage pattern.  For the front piece I traced it off as is, then modified it for ease.  First I left about 3/8 - 1/2" of the armhole dart for ease and rotated the remainder up to the shoulder dart. I lowered the armhole 1/2" and added about 5/8" all the way down the side seam.  I ignored the waist dart but left in the bust dart to do the main body shaping.    I removed 1.5" around the neckline and made that into a separate neckband/collar piece and then finally rotated the shoulder dart (including arm hole dart) to a point halfway around the front neckline to be gathered into the neckband/collar.

For the back piece. I removed the shoulder dart by bringing in the end of the shoulder point.  Lowered the underarm point 1/2" and added 5/8" to the entire side seam, then redrew the back arm hole between the two modified points.  I ignored all shaping by the back dart and center back, placing the pattern on the fold. Finally I again removed a 1.5" collar/neckband.

This should result in a nice flowing top, gathered into a flat neckband/collar.

Now to test it out.  I had a small amount of a rayon fabric left over from making my daughter a pair of pants and decided to use that for my muslin.  I didn't have enough fabric for a full length muslin so I cut the pattern off below the waist, about 5" from the bottom.  

I made the shirt up...and it didn't sit nicely.  I kept sliding backwards off my shoulders.  I have that problem with a lot of my clothes so I decided it twas time to fix it.    To do this I cut a full circle out of a stiff batik fabric with a cutout in the center and a slit up center front.  I placed this around my neck and using a sharpie I marked out my neckline.  I trimmed the fabric back to my marked line and tried it on again, continuing until I had a nice fit around my neck.  I then pinched out shoulder seams exactly where my shoulder shoulder line was and sewed those up and did the same at center front and center back until I had a nice flat piece of fabric sitting around my neck.  I cut it apart along each seam line and compared the shoulder slope/location with my moulage and found there was quite a difference. I know when I made the moulage that bit was fitted more to my dummy than it was to me, so I went ahead and modified my moulage to match.   Basically it was a rounded back adjustment.

 Finally I went ahead and made the changes to my new pattern as well.  Thankfully most of the changes were within the collar and I had enough fabric to re-cut that and then I was able to take the necessary changes to the existing front and back pieces of fabric.  I sewed up the new collar, interfacing both sides with a lightweight interfacing and decided just where I wanted my collar to stop.  To get the front neckline I cut a slit down the center front fold to the depth that I wanted and then made a simple facing  turning the facing inside, then turning under the edge and top stitching it down.  This edge was then gathered back into the neckband creating a nice V.

Now to figure out the sleeves. I tried drafting a pattern but wasn't getting very far so instead I decided to drape it directly onto me.  I cut out a piece of my remaining fabric into the rough shape of a sleeve and then went about pinning it into my existing armhole. doing my best to get the sleeve to lie flat and remove all gaping.  I then trimmed my piece down and made a pattern out of it.  making a second sleeve as well and setting them in.  I now had a nice shirt but it was very cropped, to finish off the bottom I took the remainder of my fabric, folded it in half width wise and created a wide band for the bottom of the shirt.

So the conclusion.  The neckline gathers are not as pronounced as I had hoped - I probably need to add in a center front seam and do some more slashing to the pattern to make the gathering more pronounced, but I'm not sure that I will  I quite like it as is - subtle.  

I'm also finding that it does still slide off the back of my neck - you can see it a bit in my pictures here, but I'm not sure what else to do about that?

I do think it needs a bit more shaping though - its airy and breezy and cool and feels beautiful to wear, but does look a bit baggy and shapeless.