by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 12, 2014
My youngest turned 4 a few weeks ago, and her birthday party was on Saturday. I have no idea how she got so big. She’s even starting junior kindergarten in a few weeks… I’m pretty sure there are going to be more than a few rough days at the beginning of September around here… and not for the kids.
This little monkey has grown up so much, even in the last few months. She has opinions on everything. Especially if something has not been put back in “the correct” location, or isn’t being done in the most efficient manner possible (according to her, of course). She loves to tell you about it in properly worded descriptive sentences – and usually more than one sentence is required! She loves to make you laugh, and is our cuddly one. Of course, she’s the mischievous one too, keeping us on our toes! I hope she will always keep her fun-loving attitude (and the cuddles… please let her keep the cuddles…)
I’d promised her that she would have a new party dress to wear, so I went searching for possible patterns and printed a few pictures out so she could pick. She chose the First Day Dress made by Dana from Made, purely on the twirl factor I think! I’ve been hoping to pick it up anyhow, and I’m so glad she chose it. It’s a well thought out dress and it’s wonderfully easy to work with as a base pattern for your own alterations. Dana, as usual, has written very descriptive and fun to read instructions. And there are lots of photos throughout. The skirt is almost a full circle, providing lots of room for spinning without the need for any gathering (hooray!).
I altered the dress a bit, adding an empire waist and a sash – because every party dress needs a sash! Since the swing dress option has straight sides on the bodice, it is easy to shorten it into an empire waist. No matter where you cut the bodice shorter, the skirt will always be the correct size to fit the bodice pattern piece. I measured my daughter to see about how long the bodice should be, added a little for the seam allowance at the neckline and bottom of the bodice, and then cut the bodice straight across. Since I removed quite a bit from the bodice, I cut the skirt at the size 10 length and it worked out perfectly. I love empire waists on little girls!
The sash is extra wide, so I gathered the ends (like the oliver & s Fairy Tale dress) and inserted it when I was stitching the sides of the outer dress. I think I could have made it tie in a bow – but it was a tad too short at 24″ each, so I used a knot instead. I think 36″ long each would have been perfect… note to self for next time! The skirt fabric came from Fabric Spark (still available here) and I bought it back in the spring when I interviewed Daryl for the Canadian Online Fabric Store series. Of course, even though I had it that long ago, I waited until last Thursday to sew it up – as per the usual! Thankfully the sizing was perfect, and it is a really simple dress to sew.
I also used a different construction method to attach the lining. The instructions Heidi from Elegance and Elephants has written up on how to stitch an outer and lining together comes together much more easily. I think it’s called the “burrito” style of stitching it up. To do this, finish the neckline and back opening of the dress completely – top-stitching included. Then attach the sleeves and stitch the arm holes as per Heidi’s instructions. To stitch the side seams together, match the right sides of the outer and the lining and stitch each side of the dress with one long seam. This method has a nicer finish than ironing the edges in and then stitching them together.
How do I finish a post up about my little girl? I don’t know… right now I just want to keep her little. But of course that’s not an option, so we keep moving ahead and pray for her to grow up into a strong, amazing woman. And meanwhile, enjoy the hugs and the little hands holding ours… (is the screen blurry, or is just me…)
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 29, 2014
I’ve been wanting to make something else with the Flutter Sleeve Nightgown tutorial I posted earlier this year. Mostly, something that wasn’t a nightgown! I managed to whip up a tunic the week before we headed off to Quebec city on vacation, so I could hopefully try a photo shoot in the old part of the city.
Thankfully my daughter decided to be spontaneous, so we got some fun twirls and cartwheels in front of the Chateau Frontenac. You can’t see much of it here, but it’s huge and beautiful – apparently one of the most photographed hotels in North America. These photos are taken on the boardwalk that runs along the outside, and parallel to the Saint Lawrence River. This day there were lots of tourists and we attracted more than a few glances from curious onlookers. I’m sure they were thinking we were either crazy or amazing and fun for photographing cartwheels in the busy area next to the hotel. (I’m hoping for the latter!)
The fabric I used for the main body of the tunic was a 1/2 metre I picked up from Country Clothesline at the spring Creativ Festival this year. It’s a beautiful print from Martha Negley called Dahlia. (I can’t find it on their site anymore, but this is similar and here is the same thing in lime. PS. This post is not sponsored by them, but I love their fabric selection!) When I brought it home my oldest was so pleased it was for her and I am glad she likes what I made from it as well. The contrasting pink sleeves and hem were a necessity due to my daughter wanting everything “as long as possible, Mom”. I’ve really got to stitch up a maxi dress for her!
The tunic is simple to make, I used the Flutter Sleeve Nightgown pattern piece I drafted for the set of nightgowns I made previously and changed the length of the nightgown main body pattern piece to fit into exactly the length of my 1/2 metre of fabric. It’s always amusing when I have to go back and print out my own tutorial so I can remember how I made the everything the first go around! Thankfully the length turned out just long enough to wear with a pair of shorts. And it’s a good, casual, “to the park” shirt she can happily twirl in it pretty much anywhere!
I’ve got one more post this week and then we are off to our annual cottage weekend with only a small amount of solar energy to keep our lamps working at night. It’s a nice break from the electronic noise we’re used to all the time! And, if you are looking for news on the Quiet Book Sew Along, it will be back soon. We are still on track to finish by the end of November, I’ve just needed quite a few more weeks off than I was expecting. Happy Tuesday to you!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 22, 2014
And now… back to our regular programming folks! Last week’s giveaways were so much fun and I will be sending out emails to all of the winners today. Thanks again for your comments, I felt so fortunate to be able to find out more about all of you! And especially thanks for the amazing birthday wishes. I had a great day and was spoiled rotten by my husband and kids. I hope you all had as much fun as I did last week!
A while ago I mentioned that I wanted to make the Staple Dress, and what happens? Daryl from Fabric Spark has given me the opportunity to make one! I have had this pattern on my list for over a year, and I LOVE the results. I made a wearable muslin with the regular hem, so I thought that I would change it up and include a tutorial for a drop shirt-tail hem in this pattern review. What is a shirt-tail hem? After some searching I found out it is curved on both sides, like a dress-shirt. And a drop shirt-tail hem is just a bit longer on the back. I really like how it gives the pattern more shape at the hemline.
And, can I say that this is the most comfortable dress I have worn in a long time. It’s perfect for hanging out with the kids – or walking around Quebec city. We did quite a few photo shoots along the way on our vacation last week and it is so nice to have something old and historic in my photo backgrounds! You’ll be seeing more of the city in the next month or so.
I had a lot of fun choosing my fabric from Fabric Spark’s shop. She has so many great fabrics that work really well for sewing apparel. In the end, I decided to chose one of her Art Gallery fabrics, since this dress looks best in a fabric with a great drape. As usual with Art Gallery I was not disappointed! The selvage says “Feel the Difference” and it does not lie. These fabrics are so smooth and the drape is perfect for clothing. I picked African Palm Indigo from the Safari Moon collection by Frances Newcombe. The colour is so amazing in person. It is a soft blue and totally wearable – and almost the same colour as my eyes… which is a fun bonus! I love the art deco palm trees, and the scale is perfect for a dress.
I got the pattern in my Perfect Pattern Parcel #3 purchase (not available anymore). But lucky for you, Daryl has the Staple Dress pattern available on her site. And, it’s the real deal paper version, so you won’t have to print and assemble the pdf pattern to make it! Now when you are choosing your fabric, you can get the pattern too – hint, hint! The pattern is well written, with lots of tips and hints on how to use elastic thread to shirr the waist, and on lengthening and shortening your dress. You can even move the shirring up or down to suit your natural waistline. And… it has pockets! I was so disappointed when I realized I didn’t take any photos of them. But, they are there and I used them a lot. Don’t you just love a good set of pockets?!
On with the tutorial then… Here is how to alter your pattern pieces and hem the new shaped hemline into a drop shirt-tail hem.
You will need:
How to alter the pattern pieces:
- Cut/trace both front and back pattern pieces in the longest length. The front will be cut on the “straight hem” line and the back will be cut on the “drop hem” line.
- Remember to take into account that there is a 5/8″ hem included in these measurements – whatever you draw will end up 5/8″ shorter when hemmed.
- I already knew that I liked the straight hem dress length, so I used the drop hem length on the back pattern piece as the length for the drop shirt tail. I wanted the top of the hem where the side seam comes together to be a bit shorter than 1 1/2″ above the straight hem length. Draw a 5/8″ wide line at that point on your back side seam, measuring up from the straight hem pattern line. The 5/8″ line gives you room to sew the 5/8″ side seam without stitching into your hemming area.
- Use your curved ruler to draw a curve from the right side of your 5/8″ line (Step 3) down to the drop hem pattern line. Or you can draw it by eye using the curve in the photo as a guide.
- Cut your pattern on the new line.
- Place the Front pattern piece on top of the back pattern piece. It will match from the underarm down to the hem. (The shoulder is a bit higher on the back.)
- Trace the bottom of the back hemline onto a new piece of paper. Also trace the bottom of the front hem.
- Cut the extra paper along the back drop hem line. Place it underneath your front dress pattern piece, matching the traced line so it is correctly placed. Tape. Fold up or cut off the left corner of the original dress front so the new line is visible.
- Now we need to shorten the front hem, creating the “drop” at the back. Draw a straight line at your new height, parallel to the straight portion of the drop hem line (furthest on the right). I drew mine about 2″ up. Cut along the new line.
- Place the cut piece along the bottom of the cut line as a guide, and draw a new curve.
- Cut the front hem line along the new line.
- Cut your fabric using the new pattern pieces.
How to stitch the new hem:
- Follow all directions (up to the hemming instructions) as per the pattern when stitching the dress except when stitching the bottom of the side seam. Leave 5/8″ un-sewn at the bottom of the dress. Make sure to iron your seam open and finish your seam allowances.
- When you get to the hemming instructions continue on here instead. Baste from one side seam to the other along both dress front and dress back hemlines with a 1/4″ seam. Leave long tails at either end of these separate basting lines.
- Press the hem up 5/8″. Pull the long threads (as if you are gathering the fabric) to help ease in and curve the fabric along the hemline. Make sure your curves are neatly pressed, use lots of steam.
- Fold the raw edge under to meet the pressed edge of your hem. Iron again, pin if desired.
- Stitch along the upper edge of the hem, about 1/4″ away from the bottom of the hem. Curve the corners up to a point at the side seam, then continue down the next curve until you have stitched the entire hem.
Enjoy your new dress! And if you have any questions please contact me by email: sherri@threadridinghood.com
** This is a sponsored post and the fabric for the Staple Dress was provided to me at no cost by Fabric Spark. However, as always, all opinions are my own and I will not promote something to you that I do not love myself. **
by Sherri Sylvester | May 29, 2014
When I got the Merchant and Mills Camber Set pattern from Warp & Weft I felt a little like a kid in a candy shop. Then she let me use her Essex Linen to make it. Then I realized the Sajou ribbon she gave me last year matched it… then I kind of geeked out a little and stared of into space and thought about how amazingly fortunate I am to be able to work with all of these beautiful things!
I loved working with the Essex Linen. It washed up wonderfully and wrinkles just the right amount for a linen (and for non-ironing me!). I sound a bit like a fabric snob when I talk about how well it ironed – but it’s true! It presses beautifully, the wrinkles just ease right out with a bit of steam. I have read online that it does tend to fray easily, so I made sure to finish all of my seams with a zig-zag stitch. It would be simple to french seam any future Cambers, but I wasn’t sure if it would leave too much bulk at the side seam? Of course, if you have a serger that would be simplest option for finishing the seams.
The Sajou ribbon… what can I say? The name of the one I used is “Semis Gris” and Sajou ribbon is woven near Saint-Etienne in France. What more could a fabric geek want?! I decided to machine stitch it on either side, after taking a deep breath of course. I am happy to say that I even still have half of my ribbon left for another project! You can get your own from Warp & Weft – she has a great ribbon collection, and she even has Sajou lace in stock!
The pattern itself is beautifully designed, of course! And the instructions are well thought out and illustrated. The part I liked the most were the easy “snipped in” notches that match up and mark the seam allowances at all of the corners. They make fitting all of the pattern pieces together a lot easier. The instructions themselves are not super-detailed, but if you have made anything with sleeves before you will be fine. Actually, there are only 5 pattern pieces to make either the dress or the top. They are pretty simple to put together, and if you have sewn a Camber before it is a super-fast project.
I love this pattern and it is beautifully drafted. If you have sewn apparel before the care taken in drafting it is evident in the lines and how the pieces connect together. The front of the dress curves less at the hips than the back piece, creating a more fitted shape, while still allowing it to be worn without any closures. The lovely snipped notches I was talking about mark the approximate waist and hip locations so it is not hard to stitch the side seams properly, even with the extra curves.
Despite the beautiful drafting I am not going to tell you that the road to a well-fitted Camber Set is super easy. Of course, you can stitch up the size closest to your measurements and I’m sure it will look beautiful. But if you’d like to tailor it more to your exact shape it is going to require a muslin or two. I made the mistake of trying to size my first muslin without having attached the sleeves. The fit completely changes once the sleeves are attached. The second muslin I made worked out much more easily – especially since I had realized at this point that my shoulders are 2 pattern sizes larger than the rest of me. I knew I had broad shoulders, but wow – two sizes is broader than I thought. No wonder ready-to-wear shoulders never fit!
The only thing I think I may still change in a future Camber is to take in the back with darts, or some shirring. Depending on your body shape, there is a lot of fabric in the centre back area. Though adding any more shape may mean inserting a zipper. I will be adding some shirring/elastic to the back of one of my wearable muslins and will report back!
Like I usually do, I read other pattern reviews online and get some hints as to how I should proceed with any possible alterations. I found a few great tips from Cheeky Cha Cha and a good review from Roobeedoo. I thought I’d throw my two cents in – so here is my list of helpful hints & fitting tips when making the Camber.
Helpful Hints:
- Trace your pattern pieces – don’t cut them out! You can never go back, and what a shame it would be to lose that amazingly drafted sizing. I like to use freezer paper since it is really durable and still easy to see through for tracing.
- When making the muslin – don’t back-stitch. This may seem like common knowledge, but I spent more time taking out my back-stitches than I would have liked!
- Use deep pins – by that I mean, make sure you pin well into the 5/8″ (1.5 cm) seam allowance. I’m so used to a 1/4″ or 3/8″ seam allowance that I pinned for a shallow seam allowance and had to re-pin (especially when setting in the sleeves) several times.
- When Merchant and Mills says “jump” you ask “how high”! They didn’t get this big without a reason – since the instructions are well-written but sparse, each one counts. Don’t skip out! For example, sew up the side seams and then set in the sleeve. Trying to set in the sleeve before sewing up the sides works for some patterns, but these sleeves are very well drafted and therefore much easier to set in at the end.
Fitting Tips:
- The Camber is a loose fit. I made the mistake of trying to fit it too tightly, so it loses the ability to fit over your head without an added side zipper.
- I found the length quite long, though I am average height at 5′ 4″. I took off quite a bit of length and made a double 1″ hem at the bottom. Check the length before you cut your fabric and you can save yourself quite a bit of yardage.
- Since I have broad shoulders, I cut the arm scythe and shoulder at a size 12, and the side seams and sleeve side seams at a size 8 (like the rest of the dress). I was concerned this would not give me enough space in the sleeve, but it worked out well. It is actually quite easy to move in this dress, due to the great sleeve fit. I read that apparently the closer the underarm seam is to your actual underarm the better the fit.
- I found since I have a smaller bust measurement that the front of the dress was too wide. I narrowed the entire front of the dress by 1 1/4″ by placing it 5/8″ over the fold when cutting (tip found here). It fits much better, though it also makes the neckline smaller, so I had re-drew it 5/8″ wider in the front and the back neckline to make up for it.
- I also adjusted the shoulder, according to Aunty ChaCha. I took 5/8″ off the top of the front shoulder seam and putting it on the back shoulder seam. This also extends the top of the sleeve, where it is eased in, creating a wider shoulder. I found this really helpful in creating a better fit for my larger shoulders.
- The last thing I did, and this made a big difference, was to move the point of the bust dart up. I left the base of the dart in place, and moved the point up about an inch. This really helped to remove excess fabric that was at the top of the bodice, as well as make the bodice fit better. I found that without this dart movement, the top of the dress was fairly shapeless.
I hope this helps! I also hope I have not scared you away from trying the pattern. It truly is beautiful, just read through comments from other bloggers online! Or google “camber set” to find images. This is one of the first woven fabric garments I have made where I really am proud of the work I did to make it fit properly. Using a pattern and making it fit your body are two different things and I would encourage you to try some alterations and spend the extra time with a muslin or two. It is worth the extra time. If you are lucky you will be able to create a wearable muslin along the way!
I have Esmari to thank for letting me work through this process. I love my Camber Dress and will wear it often. You can get the Camber Set pattern, beautiful Essex Linen (in more than 10 colours!) and amazing Sajou products from her shop. Until next time!
** Please note: This is a sponsored post and the fabric and pattern were provided to me at no cost by Warp & Weft. However, as always, all opinions are my own and I will never promote something to you that I do not love myself. **
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 20, 2013
Today I’m posting a little tutorial that Allison asked for earlier this week. She’s trying to make the Super Hero Cape for her older daughter and wants it to be longer than the original pattern. Thankfully it is pretty simple to lengthen – so you can make capes for all of your big kids. Perfect quick Christmas gift! (Hint, Hint – Just sayin’!)
First you will need to print out the free Super Hero Cape pattern pieces from the original post. Grab an extra sheet of paper, some tape, a pencil and a ruler. Cut the pattern pages along the outer border – not the lines of the pattern! – the ones that are closest to the edges of your paper.
Here we go:
(Step 1) Tape the bottom of the cape pattern pieces (4 pages on the right) together as noted in the Super Hero Cape tutorial (and see illustration below). Leave a space between the top of the cape (left) and the bottom 4 pages. This gap should be equal to the amount you want to lengthen the cape.
(Step 2) Tape the extra piece of paper into your space. Re-connect top and bottom of the cape pattern lines as illustrated by the red and blue lines below.
(Step 3) Cut out your new cape pattern along the outer edges of the cape and the new lines you just created. See the blue shape in the illustration for which lines you should cut. DONE! Easy Peasy! Now you can use the Super Hero Cape tutorial to finish your cape, just check your yardage – you might need more than the tutorial calls for now that the cape is longer.
Come on back tomorrow for Sewing Survey Saturday!
by Sherri Sylvester | Oct 21, 2013
I have decided to take on the Kid’s Clothes Week Challenge this fall! I feel a bit behind, since everyone else has been doing this for like… forever… I even had to look up what it was. (Shhh… don’t tell anyone!) So, just in case you don’t know what it is either I will give you my 2 sentence understanding of the challenge. 1) You agree to sew for your kids (at least) 1 hour every day for 7 days starting today. 2) You load your photos up to the kid’s clothes week website and blog about it if you want to. ~ Sounds easy?
I’m excited because my oldest actually needs a few things this fall. Cardigans, leggings, zip-up sweaters, dresses… ummm… 1 hour a day is not going to cut it! I’m also excited because I’ve got some great patterns to work with from the Sew Fab bundle. I was going to write out my plan for the week, but I still have to think it up! I will see if I can get more organized tomorrow. Are you going to join the challenge, I’m curious, what are you going to sew?!
Back to today, this Made by Me Monday’s project was going to start on Friday night. I have a Sewcial club, we named ourselves the Material Girls, at my place once a month and I had everything ready to cut out. Until it didn’t happen… turns out it was more fun to talk about sewing than actually sew something! So, I worked on it Saturday night and finished it late Saturday early Sunday, in time to wear to church.
When I first saw the Sally dress from Very Shannon patterns (luvinthemommyhood) it made me want to sew it. It looks like such a happy dress – and I love the square neckline and giant pockets. (Helps that her daughter looks super-cute in it too!) Anyhow – because my bloggy budget is not huge I put buying things like patterns on the back burner – fabric comes first! – and about jumped for joy to see it included in the Sew Fab bundle. Really! It was the second pattern that I printed the instructions for a few weeks ago and while I was waiting for some others to print, I decided to design it up a bit and doodled on the pattern cover like so:
Awesome! It was so easy to design it when I drew over the lines in the photo and I’m super excited that the end result looks very much like my drawing! I had some green Kona and California Dreamin’ from my Bee Modern Fabrics trip. And, since my youngest daughter had chosen the California Dreamin’ herself I decided to make her the dress.
Overall I am happy with how the dress turned out. It is SUCH a cute pattern! I love the neckline and the elbow sleeves (and the giant pockets!). It is very well written and includes very detailed instructions, including how to fully line the bodice the “proper” way. All of the instructions are illustrated – making everything very professional. It was also nice to only have 2 pages to print out for the pattern pieces – the bodice and the sleeve!
The details I added were pretty easy, though time consuming. The large pleat – similar to Figgy’s Scirocco – and the 2 pintucks on either side. Also the tiny pleats on the sleeves that I had so much fun ironing (ha!). The tiny pompom trim was the thing that gave me the most trouble. It had almost no flat space to work with beside the pompoms, so I tried stitching it on with a zipper foot – only to have to try again – and rip stitches and again – and rip stitches and… again. Argh! I should have hand-stitched it on – but once I had figured that out I was on the last pocket, I’m slow to give up on machine stitching something!
Unfortunately, there is one thing I am not so happy with. I think I gave this pattern a run for it’s money by not making a muslin of the bodice. Since it does not have any zippers or button closures, it turns out that it is super hard to get on and off of my daughter. I was a bit worried about it when I was adding the long sleeves that it would not have enough room, and I suppose I should have listened to myself. If I was making it with long sleeves again I would add in enough room to put a long-ish zipper in the back, one that extends past the bodice and into the skirt – since the bottom of the bodice is the tight area that makes it hard to get into. I also have to say that my daughters both have arms that are not super skinny – so that likely doesn’t help either!
I’m curious to know what you think of the Sally dress – will you give it a go? It is SO cute… I’m wondering if I should make a sleeveless version for my oldest for KCWC because she loves to wear her summer dresses to school in the winter with long sleeved tops underneath. I also think that removing the sleeves will allow for her to more easily put it on. We’ll see!
