Monthly Stitch | sixty six stitches

More sewing double, but too late for the Monthly Stitch April challenge. I blame the end of daylight savings. There have been very few mornings lately with the magic combination of a) light b) no rain c) the Fashion Critic in the right mood to be photographer, and d) the model (me) not running late for work.

I have been wearing this skirt to work nearly every day, and needed some tops to go with it. One of the WSBN ladies (I think it was Wendy) did a big pattern clear-out and I scored this one, Style 4268.

Coincidentally, the week before that I had made a bodice block (my first ever!) using The Costume Technician’s Handbook. This book has a rather wonderful chapter explaining how to draft a bodice, skirt, sleeve, collars, even pants, from scratch. One of the things I love about sewing is that there is so much to it, but you can get as involved as you like. If you just want to make a dress, you can go out and buy a pattern and some fabric, and make a pretty good dress. But if you prefer, you can spend years learning about fit and drafting, couture finishes, and fabric. To the untrained eye, your dress will look much like the first one. But you will know it’s not!

So I used my block to adjust this pattern. The gathering at the yoke made this a bit challenging, but I just increased the width of the front and back pieces while keeping the armhole the same size, and it worked like magic. Since this is a pull-on pattern, I also got rid of the waist darts, which made the fit quite a bit looser.

Style 4268 green front

Hmm. Probably better tucked in.

First I made view 1, with the awesome 80s-school-teacher collar. This was planned as a wearable muslin, using a $5 silk/cotton from the Fabric Warehouse. It’s not my most loved colour, but is a great fabric with a mix of green and yellow filaments giving that ‘shot silk’ look.

The sleeves are the same shape as in the pattern, but I didn’t have enough fabric to make long sleeves, so they’re elbow length. I did initially gather them but decided I prefer them as loose batwing sleeves. Groovy!

Next I made view 2, with the pussy bow (I’ve wanted a pussy-bow blouse for exactly ages).

This fabric is a beautiful viscose that I bought from the Fabric Store on the craft crawl last year. I can’t tell you how much I love this fabric. I love the blue and yellow. I love how it looks faded. I love how soft it feels.

The first time I wore it I pulled on a cardigan and riiiiip!

The cuff pulled away from the sleeve. The cuff isn’t quite big enough so maybe that’s why it happened. Anyway I’ve been wearing the sleeves rolled up but will have to either fix it or change it to three-quarter sleeves. I had 1.5m of fabric and that was only barely enough, so there’s none left.

One more shot to show you how pretty it is.

So this month’s Monthly Stitch challenge is Sewing Double. I guess it could be interpreted in a multitude of ways (and wouldn’t it be awesome if someone was a twin!?) but I imagine most people will be sewing two versions of the same pattern.

And so I give you, McCall’s 5042.

Just between you and me, these dresses weren’t sewn this month, or even this year. The cotton sateen fabric was from the Palmerston North Arthur Toye’s closing down sale last November. The fireworks dress was just in time for the Guy Fawkes day fireworks here in Wellington. Shortly afterwards it enjoyed high tea at Martha’s as part of a work Christmas function. And the green spot (not to be outdone) made its debut at the WSBN Christmas picnic.

Neither of these dresses has had a huge amount of wear, during the recent less-than-tropical summer. They are sad that daylight savings has ended, and were last seen enjoying some R&R in the back of the wardrobe.