Emerald Beetle Juice - A Colette Rue dress

Two weeks ago I had never sewn a Colette pattern! I was gifted the Hawthorn dress by the lovely GreenCoffeePot, but it has never quite topped my to-sew-list (to be honest this is normally a one item list of the thing I just absolutely have to sew - hence why there was no Make Nine for me!). After my experience with both the Rue and Moneta over the last two weeks, Colette patterns have gone up in the urgency ratings! With the launch of Rue, last autumn I was excited about the return to a more classic vintage style for Colette. I liked the idea of the bust pleats and the opportunity to play with cutting on the bias/off grain to show case the design lines and fabric. However, like many, I was unsure about the bust shaping and the placement of the pleats on some of the test versions. I loved Rhiannon's and Rach's versions as both seemed to have the design line sitting under the bust, but I REALLY wasn't feeling the pleats protruding from the bust apex! I held off. My patience was rewarded, as Colette listened and an update was issued. New patterns were sent out to those that had already purchased in PDF and paper formats. All very reasonable indeed if you ask me. So the pattern was back on my Christmas list.

I had just the fabric in mind. Before Christmas, I had the pleasure of visiting Dalston market in London with Gabby, Lisa, Megan and Rhiannon. You can watch the video of our adventures on Gabby's channel here. There were several African Wax stalls...

... ALL the smiles. In my element.

I bought a couple of pieces, but I had one in mind in particular for my Rue. For Christmas, I made my brother a pair of African Wax harem pants (fur lined none-the-less!) out of this amazing green, white and black chevron design.

My gut told me I'd have enough of the 6-yard piece to sew me a Rue. I was right, just, but it was an awful squeeze, and I had to create a seam down the centre front to get the pattern placement I wanted.

Anyway first for the fitting...

I cut a straight size 0 from my stash of old curtain lining. My main concern was that bust seam, but I was pleasantly surprised. I believe Colette draft for a C cup, so I avoided a time-consuming FBA and the fit was pretty good straight out of the packet. It came out a little big at the waist, so I divided the excess between the side and back seams.  However, the real problem fell in the sleeve and shoulder area. After my fella had pinned me in my toile I was unable to fully lift my arms without the whole bodice coming with it. Nobody likes limited arm movement. 

This is a fit problem I have encountered previously - particularly in Sew Over it patterns, but I haven't had the courage to tackle it till now. After speaking to Tiniest Stitcher while in London, it clicked - you simply add more fabric under the arm to allow more movement - of course! Thank you, Lisa! This is why fitted vintage dresses tend to have a less  severe drop from the sleeve head to the underarm (or they have arm gussets). Modern sleeves are cut with less ease to give a more flattering fit, but they can be a little restrictive. (Disclaimer: I am no expert!) Below is how I added fabric to the underarm without too much unsightly bunching when the arm is lowered The dotted line shows the original pattern line). 

After a little trial and error, I raised the underarm section of the armhole by 6/8". I assumed I should then add the same amount to sleeve underarm, but I found that the sleeve head was too large to fit in the arm hole. After some experimentation, I found that doubling the measurement seemed to work (in my case anyway). Therefore I raised the sleeve underarm by 1.5" and smoothed the curve with a french curve. I then walked around the sleeve to check the fit, marking the notches as I went. I think, after some googling, that about 1" of ease in the sleeve head is about right for a fitted sleeve. 

At this point, I was confident enough to dive straight into my lining fabric. My chap pinned me in again to check the fit - love and behold I could move my arms freely! 

Next, I cut my main fabric. This took serious time. My instinct and preference were for the stripe orientation on the right, but I just couldn't get it to work with my limited fabric. Then I had a brain wave - to cut a seam down the front skirt panel.

I obviously wanted to match the stripes where I could, and with some real strategic cutting, I was really really pleased with my results.

I got the chevron to run right down the centre of each sleeve.

 Piping made using satin bias binding.

I was super happy with my stripe placement on the bodice. I got the chevron stripe running right around the waist matching at the side and back seams.

After cutting, the dress came together quickly. I've developed a naughty habit of not looking at dress pattern instructions at all when I sew. This is exciting as there was a time when I thought I'd never be at this stage, but it does mean I am a bit set in my ways of doing things. Lining a dress, for example, is so automatic to me I don't even stop to think about it! This, however is one of the selling points of this pattern as it gives step by step instruction on how to fully line your dress - but I obviously cant vouch for how clear these are!

Anyway, I lined the bodice in a cotton lawn from Fabric Godmother. I decided not to line the skirt as I have just invested in a really good slip and I am struggling to find affordable lining fabrics that I like at the moment (do let me know if you have any suggestions).

Right - I think I'm done, so I'll get on with showing you some pictures of the whole dress:

Thank you for the naming her Emerald Beetle Juice, Elle :)

As always thank you for reading and lots of love till next time

Vic x

Give scuba a shot - you will probably LOVE it

Hello! Happy 2017, I know we're are nearly at the end of January, but I'm still in week one somewhere - where has time gone? Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and you had a fun NYE enjoying ALL the cuddles at midnight. I'm here to report on my latest make, and I am VERY excited about it!

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Lucy at Sew Essential contacted me to ask if I would like to sew up one of their patterns with a fabric of my choice. Was there ever a more redundant question?! I merrily headed straight over to their lovely collection of dressmaking fabrics and patterns. Choosing the pairing took some time! I decided to let the fabric drive the pattern choice - I normally operate in this order. I was tempted by a couple of the beautiful woven fabrics, but I decided I wanted to try something a bit different. Then I stumbled across this...

A scuba jersey with this beautiful paint stroke design. I wanted it: an interesting fabric and ALL the colour. SOLD (or not as the case may be!). I've worked with scuba once before for a wedding guest dress for a lovely friend, and I was thrilled with the result.

By Hand London Anna Dress with a dipped hem half circle skirt in a reversible scuba from Fabric Godmother

It has beautiful body, and I love the look of the raw cut hem. Here it is on said lovely friend (beautiful body and all)...

Decision two: the pattern. This was mainly driven by the dress above. The dipped half circle skirt worked so beautifully with a scuba, but I'd been there done that. So this is where the peplum obsession began. I wanted a new dress for work, so a wiggle dress was a strong contender and perfect for a peplum. Several patterns fitted the bill on the Sew Essential website. I wanted a simple darted bodice with sleeves and a straight skirt. I thought if I couldn't find the perfect pattern with a peplum I could draft one just as you would a circle skirt. However, I was in luck I stumbled across Butterick B6087 - it even had a dip shaped peplum!

I decided I wanted to go for the view B bodice with short sleeves, the shaped un-gathered peplum and the view C straight skirt (apparently the view versions are different on the front and the back of the envelope! Anyway, you get the idea).

The last scuba I worked with had a relatively small amount of stretch but a good weight. As I hadn't handled this fabric, I was a little apprehensive to dive straight in. Lucy offered to send me a sample, but I was too impatient to wait, and I threw caution to the wind!

It arrived very quickly, and I was over the moon. It was beautiful! Lovely and soft against the skin with good structure for that peplum. However, it did have more stretch than I had imagined. This wasn't a particular problem for the dress itself, but it made working out what size to sew a little more difficult. I was planning to cut a pattern size smaller to compensate for the stretch, but I needed confirmation. Why worry when you have such wonderful women at you fingertips for advice? I turned to Instagram.

I measured the pattern pieces to get an idea of the built in ease and settled on a size 8. I should have been patient and waited for Sew.Very.Bridget's advice as the dress ended up being enormous! She suggested wrapping the fabric around my bust considering the stretch and fit I desired then comparing that to the pattern pieces. Perfect advice that I will follow from now on when sewing up a stretch fabric with a woven pattern -Thank you, Bridget!

The pattern suggests a lining for the bodice. As I was working with scuba, I decided to draft a facing to reduce bulk in the bodice.

I sewed up the shoulder seams, the facing, and the side seams before pinning it along the back seam at S/A and squeezed it over my head. It was huge!  I could pinch a good 1.5'' S/A either side at the back! I should have waited for Bridget and taken into account the amount of stretch in the fabric as well as the ease in the pattern before cutting. I unpicked the side seams and re-sewed them to redistribute the excess on either side and at the CB.

I figured I would have similar problems with the skirt, so I went straight in and matched the S/A to the bodice side seams. This worked perfectly.

Next for the sleeves. I measured the sleeve ease by walking it around the bodice armhole using a pin. I knew I wanted a sleeve that sat perfectly flush with my skin, so the ease had to go. Just as in the bodice and skirt, the built in ease for a woven pattern to allow movement just isn't required with a stretch fabric. I went ahead and removed that ease using the techniques I learnt at a pattern drafting class at Bath College last year. It has been so useful I thought I'd share a summary below. You can use either or both techniques depending on your requirements to add or remove ease in the sleeve head.

I then moved on to that dreamy shaped peplum. I cut it out very carefully as I knew I wanted to keep the raw edge un-hemmed. I increased the S/A as I had for the bodice and skirt. Other than that it came together quickly and it hung beautifully!

Instead of inserting a zip I sewed the dress together along the CB seam. The joy of stretch! I finished all the seams inside in yellow on my overlocker. I left the peplum and sleeve hems raw, and I hand stitched the CB hems of the peplum and the skirt hem. I would have left the skirt hem raw too, but I was typically indecisive about hem length. Un-hemmed, the skirt hit me around mid-calf. I loved this look but only with heels, and realistically this is not how I will wear this dress for the majority of the time! Boots or small heels will dominate, and when you are only 5ft, I had to hand stitch the hem in place so it hit just above the knee. I do like that I have the option to bring it down if I change my mind (or suddenly grow!).

I realised after I'd done it that I'd normally leave the facing free and stitch to the seam allowance from the inside by hand - don't do it the way I've done it in the photo! 

All in all the dress only took me a couple of hours to sew after I'd done with all the umming and ahhing about the sizing. I love the finished dress - I've worn it twice to work this week, and I plan to wear it out for dinner for my Dad's birthday this weekend.

My confidence sewing with stretch fabric is growing. But those pesky machine hems still seem to cause me the most gyp... cue daydreaming about owning a Coverstitch machine! I stumbled across this beauty on the Sew Essential's website when I was browsing fabric. I can feel my other half rolling his eyes as I type this. One day... I'll have to find a bigger flat first!

Thank you again to the lovely Lucy at Sew Essential for the beautiful fabric and pattern - I love my new dress!

Lots of love to you all x

Who needs a christmas tree when you have embroidered tulle?!

While browsing the rag market at SewBrum in September, I spotted a gorgeous length of embroidered tulle at one of the stalls. It was a pale gold/green tulle with a gold Paisley design and little pink and gold flowers. I held it up to the light, and as it shimmered, I tried to stop myself imagining myself gleefully twirling in it. With all the restraint I could muster, I pulled myself away. We live in a small one bed flat in Bath, and 80% of 'our space' is piled high with silks, brocades and bold African wax. My goal for the SewBrum fabric trip was to make slightly more conservative choices for an attempt at a more everyday wardrobe... Pah! Who am I kidding?!!! I'm like moth to the flame - I CANNOT STOP MYSELF! I need to come to terms with the fact that I will ALWAYS be A LOT overdressed. As for the space issue, we'll just have to move! After a debriefing with Pecia and Becca I made my way back to the stall and joyfully handed over my £12 for the 2m length! It was mine!

Along with this little lot... such a practical bounty! I'm like a magpie.

It sat in my stash for over a month before the perfect occasion presented itself... the Fold line Christmas party. If you can't be overdressed with a group of sewists then when can you?! I found this perfect gold lining fabric in my stash. It was a gift from my chap's Dad, and the embroidery looked beautiful over it.

After a quick browse through my pattern stash, I selected the Elisalex dress. This was the first dress I ever made, so I am very fond of it. I imagined the princess seams with a box pleat skirt - beautiful! I fancied sewing a pattern I knew like the back of my hand but with the slight challenge of underlining in the gold lining I was in for a blissful day! I drafted a quick short sleeve to fit the armhole instead of using the original pattern sleeve (I cannot wait to get my hands on the updated version of this pattern - the By Hand London girls have reworked their magic with this beauty!). I wanted the sleeve and the bottom section of the skirt to be sheer over the skin, so I decided I would just underline the bodice and use a free lining in the skirt to cover my modesty! There was only a metre of the gold lining so I had to be very strategic with the pattern pieces. I squeezed out a half circle skirt as a lining that was perhaps a little shorter than I would have liked (it is a good job I'm a midget!).

I played around with the pattern placement to get the paisley repeat running perfectly down the middle and to avoid any awkward positioning! I cut the underling first then used it to cut the tulle.

Even my slippers are ridiculous!

 I basted the main pieces and the underlining together before constructing the bodice as usual.

This was one of my most enjoyable sewing sessions to date. Seriously, I was squealing with glee!

I lined the bodice with a piece of beautiful blush silk gifted to me by the wonderful Julia.

I tend to buy 22" zips in bulk in several colours from Weaver Dee. I then cut them to size. After a zip disaster last New Year's Eve (I pulled the zipper off the bottom of the zip after I'd sewn it in hours before the party - cue Dave to the rescue! Does your significant other have to run to the rescue when things go horribly wrong too?) I always cover the bottom of the zip immediately after I shorten it. Functional and beautiful!

In hindsight, a lapped zip would have been the better choice, but it was a Sunday, and I was dying to get her finished for the party the following weekend. The invisible zipper gets a little stuck at the waist seam but otherwise isn't too much of a problem.

The rest of the dress came together beautifully, with much gleeful exclamation from me! Such a joyful sew - I love sewing something that you could never in your wildest dreams afford to buy ready made!

I hemmed the skirt with some pale pink cotton bias binding from my Grandma's notion stash. I hand stitched it in place to get a flawless finish.

I cut the main skirt so the finished edge of the fabric formed the hem, that way I could make the most of the beautiful embroidery and there was no need to finish it myself!

My dress form sits in the only space we could realistically have a Christmas tree. Therefore this year, she was the Christmas tree!

Far more beautiful than a christmas tree in my eyes! 

Anyway, here she is on...

I wore her to the Fold Line Party earlier on in the month (you can watch Gabby's video of the event here); to town on christmas eve and all day on Christmas day with my family!

Totally casual with a jumper right?!

I never want to look away- so shiny!

I'm yet to wear her to Morrisons - but I assure you, it will happen! I'll be spinning in the fruit aisle like...

Many thanks to Mini_adventure, Akathimberlina, Lady Sewalot and RedwSews for encouraging me to buy the fabric, and of course to Max and Julia for the lining fabrics!

I hope you all had a wonderful christmas and wishing you all a very happy new year!

Lots of love,

Vic xx

Finally.... The bridesmaid dresses!

Following on from my last post......

With the Bride sorted it was time to think about the other ladies in the bridal party. We deliberated for a long time about colour and style. I advised a heavy crepe for beautiful, dramatic drape, but the colour was a problem! We started with prints, then to corals then full circle to navy blue (after a consultation with the Mother and Grandma of the Bride!). As you know, I am a colour lover through and through, and I have to admit I was a little worried about this choice. Sometimes navy can wash people out (well me at least!). However, when the bride turned up with the fabric at my door, it wiped all worries away. It was such a rich navy with a beautiful shimmer and paired with bright colours I knew it would look gorgeous! The ambition of colour was achieved.....

The wedding accessories. Flowers and hair piece by Roots Florel Designs. Bags and confetti by me! 

Photo Credit: Alex Dunderdale.

Next, the design. We turned to the other girls. I gave them a choice from 4 By Hand London patterns - the Anna, the Kim, the Flora and the Elisalex (P.S have you seen they have 25% off all pattern this weekend?!).  I, of course, chose my beloved Anna, another followed suit (after a little persuasion!) and the other girls wanted the Flora wrap bodice. All perfect choices for our beautiful drapey fabric. As the bridesmaids were dotted all over the country and one in France (!) I knew I would realistically only have one chance for an in-person fitting. I sewed up some toiles after the girls had sent over their measurements and popped them in the post for a Skype fitting.

All looked okay at this point so I tweaked the toiles a little and took them for their in-person fitting at the Hen do (you can read about the crafting I did for the hen do here).  The Anna fitted like a dream, but the dart positions on the wrap Flora were out on both girls. Once I was home I tried on the toiles myself and noted similar problems so I hoped if I fitted it to myself they would fit! With a little feedback from Elisalex and a little experimentation, I soon had a good fit (on me at least!). I moved the waist dart by 1" towards CF and widened the the bust dart. I then held my breath and cut into the beautiful lining (Regent Street from Moda available here).  I stabilised the neckline with some twill tape as suggested on the By Hand London sew along. This worked a dream at preventing any unsightly gaping on the big day.

I staggered the dresses, and I made mine first. After I had finished my bodice, I draped some skirt styles around myself. We had discussed a knee length skirt but at this point I thought the dress needed some more drama. So I cut myself a tea length half circle skirt. I tried it on and instantly knew it was the right decision. SO swishy!

After prancing around my living room, I decided I needed to line the skirts. I chose this gorgeous pale pink chiffon from Husqvarna studio in Bath. I let the lining and skirts hang overnight, and I am sure glad I did, just LOOK...

After I had evened out the hem, I used my rolled hem foot to finish the raw edge. Pretty beautiful if I do say myself!

I hand basted the zips before machine stitching. However, I still had some slight unsightly puckering down the back seam. I unpicked, tried stabilising with some light weight interfacing, and even purchased a walking foot. You name it I tried it. I had made it better, but at this point (a week before the wedding!) I decided that no one else would notice - I was right (at least I hope I was)! If anyone has any tips inserting zips into lightweight drapey fabrics (worse on a skirt cut on the bias?!) do let me know!

I hand stitched the bodice lining in place in the Annas and used some matching pale pink bias binding to enclose the waist seam in the Floras. I think this is the only photo I managed to snap of this...

Waiting to be hand finished at the hem.

Now I was ready for my finishing touches. I decided to hand-embroider the girl's names into each of the dresses in a matching pale pink thread.

I hemmed the main skirt using the same matching pink bias binding for a flash of colour as we walked or span.

Showing off to the lady of the moment.

And that was it...

Arriving on the big day with ALL the important dresses.

... or so I thought. 

It was the day before the wedding and the final fitting. I grabbed each of the girls to check the dresses fitted. Lesson learnt ... NEVER do a fitting the day before a wedding. One of the girls had been on holiday and the By Hand London patterns have very little ease! I was worried about the Floras, but they both fit perfectly... it was the Anna (a dream fit I said - Pah!). I needed to unpick the zip, and with no sewing machine, I had to re-sew the zip by hand. I had very little S/A to play with, but thankfully I had overlocked all the seams inside, or I think the bodice would have disintegrated! 

Oh... the stress. Photo Credit: Stu Chaplin.

We did one last fitting before dinner, and the dress would do up... just! I had a rather sleepless night (not due to Maid of honour speech nerves), but by some miracle, it fitted beautifully in the morning - that one sausage for breakfast really paid off eh?! ;) 

Four dresses that fit! Phew!

I had a spot more sewing to do on the morning of the wedding. I sewed a family heirloom into the bride's bouquet for luck.

Then we were ready!

Photography by Jake Baggaley

It was an absolute pleasure to sew these dresses for a wonderful friend on such a beautiful day. I couldn't have asked for better ladies to sew for. Lessons learnt and memories to be cherished. 

Until next time... sending lots of love and giggles,

Vic x