You win some, you lose some

I have no sewing friends locally, which is a source of great sadness to me because I would love a fabric shopping accomplice. However, a couple of weeks ago my friend B (who does sew though she is not really into garment sewing) heroically drove up to my city and, in addition to staying up very late to gossip, also went fabric shopping with me. I bought 5 pieces of fabric: three 2m lengths of knit for t-shirts to make immediately, one large scale gingham for a shirt this autumn, and a fabulous snakeskin printed stretch denim for, idk, some time when I can actually make trousers that fit.

Left: three t-shirt knits. Right: snakeskin printed denim. I have no photo of the gingham for some reason.

At the end of 2017, I had decided that for the most part, RTW t-shirts seemed like better value for money than making my own. So far this year I've found that decision to be mostly accurate when it comes to your basic, somewhat fitted t-shirt in a plain colour. However, although I looked for ages, I couldn't find any nice loose-fit tees and in the end I decided I could do much better than anything I'd seen in RTW. I wanted a total of 4 to add to my wardrobe. The first was the striped knit top I made in May, and I've been working on making the other three over the last few days.

Top #1 used the uppermost fabric in the image above. None of my photos capture it at all, but this fabric actually has some kind of sparkly coating on the otherwise plain grey marl knit, so it is quite shiny/sparkly when it catches the light. This makes it slightly more interesting in real life than photos suggest.

Burda 01-2018-105 Garment photo and technical drawing from Burdastyle.ru

For the pattern I had chose Burda 01-2018-105, a very easy, two piece lounging type tee. The front is all one piece and folds over to a sort of faux-raglan back, with a dart that runs from the shoulder to the back seam. It looks like nothing in the modelled photos or technical drawing, but it's actually a great little pattern and I can see myself making this again and again.

I made a size 40 at the neck and shoulder and a size 44 from the underarm down, which produced exactly what I was looking for: it fits through the upper chest and neck and then is loose and swingy below that. I made two minor design changes: I hate side splits with unbelievable fervor (no really, who knew you could feel so strongly about side splits), so I sewed right down to the hem line, and, once made, I found I didn't like how high the neckline was at all and ended up cutting off the neckband I had already put in and turning the neckline into a deeper rounded scoop.

Top #1 (left) and #2 (right): My versions using Burda 01-2018-105

Originally, I had planned to do something entirely different with the blue striped fabric for top #2 (the bottom fabric in the pile above) but then I had a moment of clarity. I looked at the pattern I thought I was going to use (the recent HotPatterns Swingy Tee), which has loads of pieces and top-stitching and a centre front dart. I looked at the fabric, which is a VERY drapey, lightweight fabric that in no way holds any shape. I decided these two were not things that were not fated to go together successfully, and I made a second Burda 01-2018-105, exactly the same except this time I cut the neckline exactly how I preferred from the outset.

Burda 02-2018-129 knit top, images from burdastyle.ru

So far, so good, despite my neckband problems with top #1. I therefore moved on to top #3, which was another Burda pattern, this time Burda 02-2018-129, a Plus pattern with a twist/knot detail at the hem. My third fabric was a gorgeous, amazing knit in denim blue with a slight sheen and a slubby texture. I absolutely loved this fabric and thought it would look great with the pattern, especially as it has an interesting contrast wrong side that, if it happened to show, wouldn't look bad at all. I traced a size 44, and made several adjustments to the shoulder and neckline -- mainly bringing it in at the neck as I knew as written it would be too wide on me. I also cut short sleeves without the cuff detail. Looking at the measurements, I was concerned it would be too long for me overall, but I decided from the image on the model that the knot detail on the front would pull the top up quite a lot and also the way top is constructed made it really difficult to shorten, so I left it.

My best approximation of the pattern as written: not so much a knot/drape as an unholy mess at the waist

This is one of those patterns where you cut out the pieces and you're like.... um, what? How on earth do these fit together to make that? Sometimes I've made things like this and I've been very confused by the raw pieces of the garment, but as soon as I started to put it together, light dawned and it all made sense (the wacky back drape top I made earlier this year is a case in point, though I have to note that that was the "sewing course" pattern that month, i.e. there were illustrations of the construction).

Spoiler: the light did not dawn in this case. I was actually doing well, and things WERE making sense, and then I got to the point where you connect up the left and right lower fronts at the knot/twist and I just got completely stuck. The best I managed was the photo above. It was wrong, but I had absolutely no idea how to sew it correctly and this was the closest I seemed to be able to get.

Maybe I gave up too soon, or I should have left it and come back to it later, but I felt like I had tried every possible thing with no success, and there were also other problems. The fabric isn't at all what I would consider a heavy weight knit, but the way you put the lower bodice together means there are layers and layers of fabric right at your waist/hip. Really, this needed a very light weight knit indeed if you aren't to end up with a bulky wad of fabric at the hip. The second problem was that although the twist does pull the top up a lot, it was still a lot longer than I wanted and it ended up a really unfortunate length on me. While it would have been difficult to adjust the length at the pattern stage, it was impossible at the partially completed stage.

Rescued loose fit tee, and the only detail that remains of the original pattern -- a triangular inset

In the end, the extra length saved me, because I was able to cut off almost all of the knot/twist details and still have a decent length t-shirt. The only thing left of the original pattern is an unobtrusive triangular inset, which doesn't look particularly weird.

I guess overall, yay, I got three t-shirts from the experience, which is all I really wanted. However, I am somewhat irritated with myself for two reasons: first, that I couldn't make sense of the Burda pattern. I am not someone who wants or needs a diagram for every step of every pattern, but I also don't have the best spatial reasoning in the world. When it comes to these sort of twist/fold/whatever features I think I probably did need more than Burda provides for this pattern. I just could not figure it out at all from the information I had (written instructions, seam numbers, pieces in front of me). I'd like to blame the pattern/instructions, but I am pretty sure it's just me. Needless to say, I heartily dislike feeling incompetent.

The second irritation is that if I had had some foresight, I might have realized sooner that I had made poor choices with my pattern/fabric matches. The blue stripe was much lighter weight and would have been a much better fit for the knot detail tee. The denim coloured knit was almost certainly sturdy enough to have taken the darts and top-stitching of my original planned HotPatterns pattern. I'm very annoyed by this missed opportunity!

In conclusion: a mixed outcome, but I guess I can't win them all.

Next up on my sewing table: I can't put it off any longer, I'm going to have to attempt to make some shorts. D: D: D:

Put a bird on it

Ta-da! My enthusiasm for sewing came roaring back, and I have therefore made both of the garments I talked about at the end of my last post.

1. Angled front skirt (Burda 05-2017-113)

Burda 05-2017-113 Skirt (Images from burdastyle.ru)

I've been wanting a solid white skirt for a while, but I've been dithering on the pattern. I really wanted to make something with some design interest since the fabric I'd chosen, a plain white cotton twill, was not very interesting (even if very useful, wardrobe wise). Last year I was very taken with this angled front skirt in Burda 05-2017 and marked it for future use. I had to think how to adjust it though because when Burda make their skirt patterns short, they make them SHORT. I had to 10cm to this pattern to get it to my usual "casual summer skirt" length of around 52.5 cm (~21"). Normally length adjustments are a no brainer, but with those angled front seams and separate pieces for hem facings, it took a little more effort than usual.

My white skirt on me. The angled front crosses just above knee length on me.

The only other very minor change I made is that I left off the belt loops/rope belt because I never belt anything. I did make the pointlessly complicated pockets. They do look nice, if not entirely symmetrical in my version because I messed up somewhere, but also: pointlessly complicated.

Pointlessly complicated back pocket. Yes, there were three separate pieces to make it.

Other than that, this is a straight size 42, which is my usual lower body Burda size. Although the rest of the fit is great, it's very loose at the waist. This is not because I have a small waist, at all. In fact, the opposite: I am more of a size 44 waist compared to my size 42 hips. The waistband is just really big. I realized this as I was cutting it out, because it was one of those pieces where Burda just give you a dimension to cut a rectangle, and the dimensions for the size 42 made me raise my eyebrows. But then for some reason I just carried on blithely and then was surprised when it turned out to be quite loose at the waist. Well, duh. You can see on the photo how wide the waistband is compared to the hips. I'm rectangular in shape, but not that rectangular!

White skirt on a hanger. I tried so hard to get a shot without wrinkles, but lol, no.

Overall, I'm actually delighted with this skirt. It's one of those garments where the finished product looks exactly the way I imagined it would, or maybe even better. I will say that every time I work with white fabric I am impressed all over again by people who do e.g. bridal sewing, because keeping a white fabric looking nice while you work with it is VERY HARD. I wasn't helped in this case by the fact this fabric wrinkles if you look at it funny, but even so, it needed washing as soon as I finished it. I swear to you I pressed this skirt within an inch of its life before I took these photos, but wow, no, it looks like wrinkled mess at the back. Luckily I don't really mind looking wrinkled in real life, but I was extremely frustrated by the photo taking experience here.

2. A shirt with a bird on it/June Magazine Challenge (Burda 06-2018-112)

Burda 06-2018-112 - Images from Burdastyle.ru

Next up was a top with a bird on it, also my June Magazine Challenge garment. It's from Burda 06-2018, and the version in the magazine is so eye-searingly awful that initially I flipped right past it without really thinking about it. (There's also a dress version, #111, in a sad sort of beige colour, that was not any more attractive to me.) However, the technical drawing made it more interesting to me. It's a fairly simple, loose-fit woven top, but I was very taken with that pleated detail at the neckline.

My finished shirt, with a close up of the pleated placket in situ. The sleeves should be folded back in cuffs.

 I made a size 44 with my usual fit adjustments -- narrowed the shoulder, raised the armhole, squared the shoulder, did a rounded back adjustment and also added 2cm of length to the bodice. The rounded back adjustment was easier than usual because the back is gathered into the collar. Rather than put a shoulder dart in, I just gathered a little more.

The pattern is rated 3 dots by Burda, which I was initially surprised by as there aren't many pieces, there are no fastenings, etc. The source of their complexity rating is, I think, the pleated insert pieces and how you attach them to the main front bodice piece. I was moderately happy with how my pleating turned out. It is really not perfect at all, but using a busy print hides many of my sewing flaws! Inserting the pieces into the main front piece is not complicated in theory, but actually doing it was a faff. It was just a lot of trying to manipulate the fabric to get seams line up. Plus, I am not a fan of gathering and you have to gather the horizontal seam at the front. I don't know why people always tell beginners to make things with gathers, because sewing gathered seams is hard and it looks crap if you do it badly. Again, my large print disguises many sins here as well.

The pleated insert pieces before insertion

The fabric I used for this is slightly out of my usual style. For a long time I've had an Indian fabric company on my eBay watch list that sells a lot of blue and white, hand/block printed fabrics. I've been tempted quite a few times because I love a blue and white print. I finally bought this piece earlier this year as an experiment. It's not especially expensive: I got 2.25m of fabric for I think something like £9 including postage, though it did take a little while to get here from India.

Close up of the bird -- you can just about see that it appear on the lower right as you look at the photo of me wearing the top. Sleeves still not cuffed for some reason

The fabric is quite narrow -- just barely 110cm wide -- and not the greatest quality. It's 100% cotton according to the sales blurb, but it's thin and quite loosely woven and it's definitely more off-white/'natural' in colour than white. It's lovely and soft though, and the (lack of) weight made it perfect for a summer top. The block printing is good, but it's not 100% perfect, though I think that's part of the charm. I did wonder if the dye would run/fade horribly when I washed it, but it came through the wash/tumble dry looking much as it did when it went in. I'm not sure it's a fabric with tremendous longevity, but I guess I'll see how it goes. I do like the bird though, and it's fancy eyelashes, though I did have to do some creative pattern positioning to avoid Bird On Boob issues.

I originally thought these two garments would work together really well as an outfit, but the proportions don't really work the way I expected. The skirt looks better with tops that hit higher on my hip and that are more close fitting than this top. Still I am sure to get plenty of use from it if the weather stays warm here over this summer.

Next up: I've traced two new looser fit knit top patterns from Burda, and I've got one from HotPatterns that I need to print and put together, which, ugh, yuck, I hate putting together PDF patterns. Still, since construction is usually very quick with knits, I should have all three done in no time once I have my patterns sorted. :D

A review of May

Ahem. *blows dust off blog*

Since I last posted, in mid-April, I have variously:

1. Gone away on holiday for a week. This was, in fact, the first time I've really spent any time away from home since I first got sick in the summer of 2013. It was not what one might call the most perfectly successful holiday, insofar as I was away 7 days, the weather was beyond awful for 2 days and I was extremely unwell for 1.5 days (though luckily (?) the 0.5 day of feeling ill coincided with a terrible weather day). However, I was still somewhere that wasn't here (although still in the UK) and I had a pretty good time, so I am going to call it an overall win.

2. Struggled through several more weeks of total sewing apathy.

3. Overcome the apathy and made five things. :D

More specifically, I made:

a. Two kimono jackets using Butterick 6176

Butterick 6176 Kimono jackets (views F and E from left to right)

This was a semi impulsive project. I love the look of these jackets when I see them in shops and on other people but somehow, although the trend has been around a while, I have never got around to buying or making one for myself. I therefore picked up Butterick 6176 very cheaply on eBay. Most of the views in this pattern are completely rectangular and not really very interesting. However, views E (short version) and F (long version) have a shaped hem that I thought looked nice. I made a size Medium of each of these views.

Originally I was just going to make one, the longer view F, in a blue and tile print (see centre, above). It turned out so well, however, and I enjoyed wearing it so much that I immediately wanted another. I ended up making a short version with the remains of a piece of polyester georgette that had been lurking, thoroughly unloved, in my stash ever since I made a top from the rest of it in 2012. I actually loved how this second jacket turned out too right up until I tried to hem it. The fabric would NOT hold a crease for a hem, and once I'd finally struggled all my way around the (ENORMOUS) hem I discovered that the weight of the doubled over fabric makes the front edges flip out and exposes the wrong side. As a result, though I still like it, I'm also mildly irritated by it.

b. A cardigan in a fine open-weave knit

McCall's 6844 View B in navy lace knit

This is everyone's favourite cardigan pattern of the last couple of years, McCall's 6844.

I've made this pattern before, but in a very different fabric (purple ponte) and a different view (C, with a peplum). I learned from that previous version and added about 2.5cm width to the bicep of the sleeve and 1cm of squareness to the shoulders when I made this one. I chose this pattern because my fabric is VERY nice and also VERY expensive, and I definitely wanted to use a pattern I knew worked and that (with my minor changes) would fit.

Construction wise, it was extremely straightforward. You can only just see in the image above that the fabric has a faint lurex silver horizontal stripe woven into it, which was a bit of a pain to match but lined up nicely in the end. Other than that though, it's a very fine and light fabric, and yet also handled really well through the overlocker despite all the holes. I love how this turned out, and it's a perfect summer top layer.

c. Two items for my 2018 Magazine Challenge.

I bet you thought I'd given up on this! But no, although I didn't make anything in April, I made up for it this month by making two different things from the May issue of Burda.

Burda 05:2018-113 Top, images from burdastyle.de

Burda 05-2018-113A is a short sleeved knit top intended for heavier/sweatshirt knits, and it has a collar that is intended to stand up a little, and eyelet and ribbon trim. (Version B is similar but doesn't have the eyelets -- it has a tassel trim all along the diagonal seam.)

I wanted one of these the instant I saw the previews of this issue and then I wanted to make it even more when I found a perfect striped knit to recreate their version. Then I dithered, because the fabric was CRAZY expensive. I kept going and looking at the fabric listing, and putting it in my shopping basket, and then taking it out because it was ££££, lather, rinse, repeat. In the end I decided to get it because I couldn't find anything I liked even half as much, and hoped it was worth it.

My version (sorry about the terrible, super dark mirror selfie)

TOTALLY worth it. This fabric is gorgeous and I love how the pattern turned out.

I made my usual size 44 with few alterations. I was a bit stymied for how to alter for a smaller and squarer neck/shoulder line and in the end went with a straight size to fit my bust, which is kind of a step back, fitting wise. As a result, it doesn't have the "perfect" neck and shoulder fit I'm striving for this year but eh, it's an over-sized t-shirt. It's fine.

I left off the hem band (because I hate them) added some length but then, uh, took some of it away again when it came time to hem (so I have no idea, really, where I ended up in terms of additional length), and in the end I also left off the eyelets and ribbon. I bought the eyelets and everything, but when I tried them out on a piece of scrap fabric, I didn't like how it looked at all. Honestly, I don't think my version needed it -- there's SO MUCH going on with the painted stripe style fabric and the multi-directional stripes.

Worth noting: despite the magazine version being exactly like mine, the pattern as printed doesn't have the grainlines marked to make this with stripes running in a contrast pattern, nor does the fabric layout diagram show an appropriate configuration. I had to spend a little while squinting at my pattern before I got the correct grainlines drawn in

My second item from this issue of Burda was a skirt, 05-2018-105 (#104 is the exact same skirt, but midi-length).

Burda 05-2018-105 Skirt (images from Burdastyle.de)

I am not really sure why I was grabbed by this skirt pattern, but I really liked the look of it, and when I looked more thoroughly at it, I was pleased that it is bias cut, which I always think drapes more nicely. The pattern as written also has a back feature -- a self-belt on the back only that laces up through eyelets (again with the eyelets!). I'm sure it's very pretty, but (a) what a giant faff having to do that up behind your back would be; and (b) I never wear my tops tucked in, so nobody was ever going to see it. So I left it off. Other than that, I made a straight size 42 with no alterations except to add a little length. Actually I added too much length and ended up having to sew in a very deep hem. That's my own fault for mis-reading my own "preferred length" scribbles in my sewing notebook. Other than that minor misadventure, this was extremely easy to put together.

My version, and a close up of the (fake) pocket flap, turtle fabric and turtle buttons(!)

This was another expensive fabric, mainly because I bought it direct from Japan. I'm not normally one for novelty/cute prints at all, but I absolutely fell in love with these little multi-coloured turtles swimming around on a navy cotton fabric. From a distance it looks like a small floral, so it's also not too obviously "I'm wearing a novelty print!" either. I bought 2 yards (1.8m) about three years ago and I'm afraid it became one of those fabrics that I put in the ridiculous category of "too good to use". I am glad once I worked up the courage to cut into it that it turned out well. I even found little turtle buttons to go on the (decorative) pocket flaps! :D

June plans: Burda 06-2018-112 blouse and Burda 05-2017-113 skirt (if I can figure out how to lengthen the latter!)

Next up: making my Magazine challenge for June, which will be Burda 06-2018-112, a short-sleeved woven top with a pleated detail. I'm also trying to work out the pattern adjustments for a skirt from Burda 05-2017 that I meant to make last year but didn't manage for some reason (illness at a guess). I am a bit stuck because the skirt is very short (centre back length = 43cm/17") as written and I don't wear my skirts shorter than 52.5cm (21"). I'm not sure how I will go about make the skirt 10cm longer without messing up the angles on the front pieces.