A Couple of Merino Plantains

I love my first plantain. I am still surprised how much I love the cut. Before making it I was expecting it to be too full around the hips and not flattering. However, if I cut a straight size despite my hip measurement falling in the next size up, it's not as full in the hips on me as drafted. It's just the right amount of hip skimming.

Since my first version has become one of those tops pulled first out of the pile after washing, I decided that some of the merino jersey in my stash should become plantains. Merino is perfect for the plantain pattern as it has beautiful drape to it. It's definitely suited more to drapey patterns than clingy ones.

The blue version is made from some merino we got for much cheaper than most of the merino. I don't know why it was cheaper, perhaps it was the previous seasons stock or something, as there's absolutely nothing wrong with it that I can tell. It's the merino I tried screen printing on for Darren, and is essentially my "muslin merino".

When cutting out the pink version I couldn't stand how much fabric was going to be left over so squeezed some other things onto the piece, so keep an eye out for those in coming weeks.

A few people have commented about the relevance of merino jersey in hot climates (with merino being wool). While yes, it's great to wear in cold weather, it's also great in hot weather. It absorbs moisture and is breathable; ideal! It really is a wonder fabric in my eyes! (I even took the blue version on my recent trip to the gold coast, and actually found it more refreshing to wear than the cotton/lycra tanks I wore on other days)

   

I still have a pile of merino jersey in my stash, so we shall yet see what it becomes, more plantains or something else?

Pattern: Deer and Doe Plantain
Fabric: Merino Jersey from the Fabric Store
Notions: Thread

Strawberry Thief Belladone

Did you know that you can get Vans sneakers made from liberty fabric??! Back in mid-2013 there were 6 liberty prints available as Vans, however I only ever managed to find two of them in Australia, despite having decided that I must have the "Strawberry Thief" style. I also couldn't get them shipped to Australia easily, as supposedly they're imported here by a distributor.

Enormous thanks must go to the ever generous Poppykettle, who very kindly saved me a little bit of her precious luggage space from her trip to the US, to bring back these shoes for me (after I ordered them to be sent to her hotel).

Ever since achieving owning the shoes, I have also been plotting to make a coordinated outfit. Not a whole dress from the fabric, as that might be a bit too matchy-matchy, and also pretty pricey, but something using the liberty as a trim.

Just before Christmas, I bought this coordinating stretch sateen from Spotlight (although unimpressed with spotlight, 3 of the 5 pieces of fabric I bought that day had flaws in them, including this one. very unimpressed).

The liberty has so many colours in it that I had lots of different options for coordinating, but a lot of the possibles that I found didn't seem all that wearable. Bright pink? Too 'girly'. Pale Green? Too bright. Navy? No fun for summer. Then I spotted this steel-y blue. Yup, yup yup!

I chose to use the belladone pattern because it's perfectly suited to using bias binding as a feature. In addition to using bias on the back, and around the neckline and armholes, I also added a strip along each edge of the waistband, and along the opening of the pockets. I kept the bias binding as a thin line, making the visible width about 1/4".



I forgot to stitch down the top few inches of the pleats in the skirt, and may still go back and stitch them down by hand, as it really does make a big difference to the look of the skirt.

I was on a real hand sewing kick while making this dress. The first seam of the bias binding was done by machine, but the second side stitched down by hand. I also hand picked the zip up the back and did a hand stiched blind hem.

This dress has been a little while coming, but I'm thrilled with the end result. I'm expecting it to be great all year round, as I hope it'll be suitable to wear in colder weather with a long sleeved t-shirt and tights underneath.

Also, it turns out that it's pretty tricky to take photos that highlight that the dress and the shoes are coordinated, as the liberty on the dress is so far away from my feet!

 

Pattern: Belladone by Dear and Doe
Fabric: Stretch Sateen from Spotlight, "Strawberry Thief" Liberty Lawn from L'ucello
Notions: Thread, interfacing (for waistband), matching dress zip

 

See also: BusyLizzie, Millydodo, Tabatha Tweedie

So, dress coordinating with my shoes; Awesome or a little bit tacky?

Striped Blue Plantain

This top is a serious queue jumper; the fabric is one of the pieces I bought in Vancouver. This is a light weight jersey, which I decided to make into a Plantain shirt. I'd been contemplating this pattern for a while, but it's a bit of a departure from what I normally wear so have been a bit hesitant. However, when I saw this fabric in the shop it just screamed Plantain to me so I gave in and finally gave it a go, and I'm very glad I did.

Based on my measurements I cut a size 40 for the shoulders, bust and waist, grading out to a 42 in the hips.

After trying it on I decided that there was a little too much fullness in the hips, so took the top in on the side seams by about the same amount as it would have been if I'd made a straight size 40.

The thing I'm most proud of with this garment is the absolutely perfect job I did on matching the stripes. LIKE. A. BOSS.

  

I stitched up the top with my overlocker, and finished the neckline with a strip that I carefully cut out of the blue section of the fabric, The line of stitching around the neckline and the hem I just stitched with a normal straight stitch; I didn't bother doing anything fancy and it seemed to have worked out fine as the fabric doesn't need to stretch with this pattern.

There's not much more to say about this one, a nice simple palette cleansing make to help me get my sew-jo back. I'll just leave you with another pic of my amazing stripe matching.

The Roisin Dress

I have two weeks off work over Christmas and New Years, and I plan on spending as much of that time as possible sewing. This dress is the first (successful) outcome of that plan; I cut it out and stitched most of it together on Monday, and hemmed it and finished some hand stitching yesterday, in time to wear for Christmas.

The fabric is very special; it is a piece of stretch sateen that I went halvies on with Roisin (AKA Dolly Clackett) when in London earlier in the year. You see, we spied this fabric but the shop was bizarrely only selling it in 5m pieces, and 5m is an awful lot of fabric, even when it is as lovely as this. HOWEVER, 2.5m is a pretty perfect amount of fabric, and so Roisin and I shared the piece.

She already made an absolutely gorgeous gorgeous dress out of her fabric aaaaaages ago. Seriously, click on that link and check out her dress; stunning! I'm glad I didn't remind myself of what hers looked like before I made mine as I would have been intimidated as to how sophisticated and gorgeous her dress is and not wanted to make my own as it pales in comparison!

The pattern is another belladone, this time not reflective and as such has slightly less binding on it than the reflective version; just around the back cut-out, the neckline and arm holes. The binding however is really lovely, it's a pre-made satin binding that looks just lovely with the sateen. I did the binding nice and narrow too, so that it mirrors the width of the outlines of the flowers in the print.

I made no other alterations from my previous version, but have identified an alteration I will make to the skirt next time I use the pattern, as I get some minor drag lines over my bum as it is, but I think I know how to fix that so watch this space.

Reflective Belladone, aka the Tron dress

I have so many amazing things to say about this newest make that I don't know where to start...

The pattern is the fabulous Belladone by Deer and Doe. I have been eyeing off this pattern for a while, and now I've dipped my toe in the Belladone waters I anticipate there being lots more of this pattern in my future (sorry, not sorry!)

To sidetrack fitting issues I did what I normally do with new patterns for dresses with fitted bodices; I used my bodice block to make adjustments to the fit so it fits me. I used the darts and overall proportions from my block, and used the arm holes and neckline of the Belladone pattern.

Well that was the intent but somehow I messed up the front neckline and have ended up with more of a boat-neck neckline. Nevermind. The back is exactly as drafted and is FABULOUS.

I then used the waistband piece that matched up with the waist measurement of the resulting bodice piece, and used the skirt as drafted. Heads up though, this skirt length is the length as drafted, and since I bound the hem with bias tape it didn't loose any length from hemming, and it's a good length on me, but please note that I am 5'4" (which puts me firmly in the 'average' camp, despite some people calling me short).

The only other alteration I did was make the pockets bigger, as small pockets suck almost as much as no pockets, and I figured I could always make them smaller if I find they're too big.

And now, moving on from the pattern to the elephant in the room that is the FANTABULOUS binding on this dress. Incase you hadn't realised from the pictures; IT'S REFLECTIVE!!!!!!! (see the difference with and without the flash above and below)

Yup, this dress does border on novelty, but is going to be the most fantastic summer cycling dress in the world; I challenge any idiot Melbourne drivers to not see me!!

(PS: Expect my face in the below right picture to be what I will look like most of the time when wearing this dress, just a heads up)

 

I discovered a little while ago that I could buy reflective bias binding, and I have been scheming up this dress ever since. I even managed to recruit others into the scheme! (photographic evidence of the fact that I have friends so awesome they are also making their own reflective dresses to follow in another post)

I added bias trim everywhere I could think to, including the waistband, pocket edges and hem. All in the sake of being visible you see... honest... The skirt is fuller than I anticipated, and the bias trim on the hem has given the skirt a kind of Jetsons like feel to it...

So in conclusion: Novelty? Probably. Amazeballs? Definitely!