Good year for the roses

In the middle of an unprecedented heat wave I finished a new summer outfit. The top is from the April issue of Knipmode, KM1504-22. It will come as no surprise the skirt is another Colette Patterns Mabel skirt.

The top is made of a very lightweight viscose satin with a rose print on a midnight blue blackground. The line drawings show the use of darts at the neckline.

I made a quick muslin to check for neckline gaping (there wasn't any) and after that it was a straightforward project.  I used French seams and hand stitched hems and although I considered different finishes for the facings in the end I just used the serger.

The top is pretty boxy so I've been trying out some styling options. With a tiny belt for some waist shaping, without belt, which I may try again paired with white straight legged jeans. But not know, I'm done taking pictures at 38 degrees Celsius! I'm not a fan of tucked in tops cause it makes me look short waisted and top heavy. Paired with a silk cardigan it looked all right-ish, I guess.

For details of  Mabel skirt #4, in midnight blue ponte, there's nothing I didn't already mention when constructing Mabel #1, #2 and #3

Today my father-in-law celebrates his 96th birthday. Despite his age he always notices when you make an extra effort to dress up and he is a big fan of a handmade wardrobe. His eyesight is letting him down but he will be able to see this bright and colourful print so this is my outfit for the birthday dinner he will be hosting on Saturday. Happy birthday, Dad!

Clockwise: the back (with belt), detail of the neckline and both garments inside out. Sneak peek: for the lining of the waistband I used a bit of polka dot fabric from my next project!

O, and in case anyone wonders about the title of this post? While hand stitching a rose print underneath the giant rambling rose, Elvis Costello's version of the song got stuck in my head. Not complaining ;) It's a good year for the roses!

Saved by the scissors

A few weeks ago I was cleaning out my closet and found a dress in the far corner. It was the kind of dress that adds five years and twenty pounds to your appearance. For said reasons I'm not going to model it on da blog, but you get the picture. No?
Now you do:

 

I was ready to toss it but then it crossed my mind the polka dot fabric could be re-used for facings or pocket linings. Okay, toss the bodice, keep the skirt. 

On closer inspection of the construction I got a new plan. I'd been wondering for some time whether or not a peplum top would work on my body type. So instead of throwing the bodice in the bin I tried out some peplum variations. Added a gathered piece of muslin..nahh. Looked as frumpy as the original. I tried a half circle, better! I even started to like it! 

As you can see the (wrap)dress had a slight A-line skirt so there was not much to play with once I decided to go see if refashioning could rehabilitate this sad piece of RTW. I drafted some pattern pieces, shaved, hacked, cut, added a back seam, all to make it work. 

The original waistband was a bit large so I used the ties to create a better fit. Hence some extra wrinkles, but I'm okay with those. In fact they remind me of the little pleats in the bodice of Vogue 8379, a wrap dress I made last winter.

I'm happy with the result and I have already been wearing it a few times, together with my Mabel skirt. A fun project!

Happy sewing!

Thanks!

Thank you all so much for your kind reactions on my latest makes! Thanks to Colette Patterns for featuring me on Twitter and Facebook, and welcome to all new visitors and followers to this blog! 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to do some serious fabric shopping.

Must. Make. More. Mabels.

Warning! Dangerously addictive pattern!

Mabel, all dressed up

Yup, it's Me-Made-Mabel-May chez Foxgloves. After the success of my first Colette Mabel skirt I couldn't resist whipping up another one. I had some black ponte in my stash and this time around it only took me one and a half hour, from cutting to hemming.

The feel and drape of this fabric wasn't as good as the brown ponte I used for the first version. It didn't press that well, the hand sewn hem is less invisible (to put it mildly) and the overall look is a bit less sophisticated. Too much poly? Oh well, at least the fit and finish are a lot better than in most RTW.
Although I don't think this particular version is posh enough for dressing up, I still wanted to show the versatility of this pattern. In a better quality knit it would certainly work for a comfortable night at the theatre!

So, did I mention versatile? Let's dress it down!

Still thumbs up for Mabel!

Next Mabel? Oh yes, yes, yes. Flowers, polkadots, gingham, who knows!

Happy sewing!

Mabel, what's not to like?

After a month of more sowing than sewing here at Foxgloves HQ I'm back to show you the first of many, many Mabels. I've made a lot of old school pencil skirts: woven fabric, pegged, lined, slit. The kind of skirt that is utterly useless when walking the dog, mowing the lawn or riding your bike to the grocery store. In my neck of the woods two out of three of these examples are daily business, so pencil skirts are SOO (Special Occasions Only). But, thanks to Colette Patterns there's a major breakthrough. Mabel is a pencil skirt that's so comfortable you could even go to sleep in it!

Colette Mabel skirt and Lekala 8004 top

The construction of this skirt is quick  could have been quick, if only I had put some trust in the pattern makers. In order to avoid the dreaded muffin top I chose a bigger size for the waistband. Which resulted in gaping at the back. After some seam ripping I even took out more than I originally added.

I was also worried about the length of the skirt. I'm 1.73 m (5'8) and could not find the heigth this pattern was drafted for. I added 4 cm to the pattern pieces. Guess what? Exactly the amount I had to cut off again at the final hemline. 

Colette Mabel skirt and Colette Jasmine blouse

One more note on the construction. Since I mentioned making the Mabel skirt I noticed some traffic to my blog via Google search on 'How to sew a kick pleat in the Mabel skirt'. Let me reassure you. It's not a slit construction, it's just a simple pleat. Sew a straight line, fold to one side and make a little topstitch. That's all!

Instead of using a twin needle for quick hemming I chose for hand sewing. My usual routine, never take the easy way if you can make things a little more complicated... 

This skirt is so versatile! I like all three outfits I made up with this simple skirt and can think of many more.

More on the Lekala top can be found here, for more on the Jasmine click here.

Since this was my first session with a tripod and a remote I'll make this post picture heavy, just because I can.

Well, you get the picture. When in doubt, make a Mabel skirt!

Next up: Mabel!

Tax forms, work, spring cleaning and gardening kept me out of my sewing room way too long. This week the release of the new Colette patterns made me realize how much I had missed my new best friend the serger. Back in September I won a gift certificate from Colette Patterns when this Negroni shirt was my entry to the Super Online Community Sewing Match. I happily used my store credit to order the exciting spring bundle, containing an e-book:

And two patterns for knits:

What better way to continue my journey through the Land of Knits?

First up is version 3 of Mabel, an above-the-knee length pencil skirt with seam details and a kick pleat. There's a brown ponte knit in my stash waiting to be cut. Perhaps it's not screaming spring all over, but it will have to do. For now. If this skirt is as good as it looks I will sew up a rainbow of Mabels!