Sack Dress

Now that I've read all about the styles and colours that suit me, I know that this dress is not my best. Still, I get a lot of satisfaction from drafting my own patterns, so I will probably wear it anyway. Maybe I will dye it, still deciding.


To make this dress, I started with the shift dress I drafted a few months ago, with French darts, a pleated front and big sleeves. I then overlay the sleeves from a Hotpatterns shirt pattern (Boho-de-Luxe Peasant Blouse). These sleeves seemed very full when I first made the top, but don't look so silly now that puffy sleeves are everywhere. The raglan sleeves lowered the bodice so that the pleats were blow my bustline, rather than above it, but I didn't mind this. I didn't want a gathered neckline, so I put the bodice on my body double to adjust the raglan seam. I then pleated the sleeves, rather than gathered them. This fabric is a cotton / hemp blend that frays badly, so I just overlocked the sleeve hem rather than attempt to bind it. The sleeve hems are just pinned into pleats at the moment...not sure if this will be the final shape I want or not.

Whilst I'm here, I'll do a pattern review for the Boho-de-Luxe peasant top that I never got around to reviewing when I made it. Photos below.

Sewer's mistakes

A recent article in the Australian Stitches magazine listed the top 10 wardrobe mistakes of a sew ... and oh how true they were. See how you fare....

1. Wearing the wrong colour. I used to scoff at people who paid to get their colours "done", but now I know what a difference it makes. It just takes so much discipline to resist a beautiful fabric in the wrong colour, and colour trends don't help either. I'm still working on this one.

2. Sewing and wearing garments that are too big. Not guilty, but I think the pattern companies can take some of the blame for this one...some of their size measurements don't seem to match the patterns.

3. Not wearing what we sew. I've got this one covered as well, almost always wearing something I've sewn myself.

4. Not accessorising. HELP ME. When I flick through the Burda WOF magazine, I notice how the shoes or the accessories really complete the outfit. I can feel a New Year's resolution comingon.

5. Putting all our money into fabric and not enough into ourselves. For me, fabric is therapy.

6. Mixing day and evening wear. This mistake is not limited to sewers. There is a lady who collects her child from Saturday dance class in killer heels and heavy makeup. The first time, I thought she may have been continuing on from a late night out, but she looks like this every week. I'm just jealous that she can walk in heels that high.

7. Spending all out time sewing and not enough grooming. Again, guilty, but working on it.

8. Focusing on big projects and neglecting everyday clothes. Really, how many evening dresses does a stay-at-home mum need?

9. Neglecting undergarments (I think that means wearing the wrong ones, not omitting them).

10. Not investing enough time in fit. I'm proud to say that I have really been working on fit this last year, with much improved results.

One thing they don't mention is choosing the wrong styles. I have just bought Trinny and Susannah's Body Shape Bible...I love their work, but I'm a little confused now. There are too many shapes to choose from, and still none of them seem quite right.

Not a winner

So, do I blog my failures as well as my successes? I've been wondering this and decided yes, as one of my reasons for blogging is to keep a record of my sewing. And I guess I'd like to know that other people's sewing didn't always turn out either....but perhaps I won't do a pattern review to direct everybody here to see the failures!

This was supposed to be a floaty, swingy sort of dress that would only take a couple of hours to whip up. Instead, it took me days and then still didn't turn out.

This dress is gathered onto a facing bodice, instead of having a strap run through a casing. I had tried on a similar dress and thought the facing was a good idea to control the gathers...only, I cut the facing from a dress I had made earlier, but before cutting the outer dress, I was distracted by the DKNY blouse blogged below...so I used the DKNY pattern for the outer....silly, silly mistake, as the shapes and grainlines didn't match...I really don't know why I didn't think of this before I started cutting. So then the dress looked like a giant balloon on legs....out came the unpicker to unpick stay-stitching, gathering stitches, basting, seams, understitching etc...at which point I was quite pleased that I hadn't matched the thread too well. I still didn't realise what the problem was, so I removed about 40 cm of width from the skirt...so it was no longer going to be a swingy dress. Eventually I got the front sorted, but I caught sight of the back of the dress in a mirror when I wore it out, and I don't think I got the back grainlines quite right.

The dress and facing were made of a cotton-silk blend. I used a silk for the lining. I had wanted black silk charmeuse straps, but could not find any suitable fabric locally, so I decided to use some ivory silk remnants in the stash. The ivory looked lovely against the pewter dress, but seeing it in this photo shows that it is not the right colour for me at all. I was also undecided about the necklace on the night, and I can see that it wasn't right either...I should have looked at the photo before I went...one of the reasons that I sew is because I don't much like shopping, so I don't have the fabulous shoe, handbag and accessory collection I need to complete my outfits.

DKNY silk mesh top

EmmaOneSock had a silk mesh knit listed on their site...I had never seen a silk mesh knit and was very, very curious. Needless to say, I bought it, even though it was not in my usual colours, even though I had no idea what I would use it for, even though I have plenty of other fabrics waiting to be sewn. (I have had to stop going to the EmmaOneSock, because I can just not resist purchasing the fabulous fabrics listed.) If anybody is wondering, silk mesh knit is very soft, very light and feels most luxurious.

And now I have made it up in a DKNY top (Vogue 2923). I like the top, but I'm not sure about the colours...I'm wondering if it will suit one of my sisters better. .. , still deciding, she may get my "designer" top for nothing.

I don't normally get too much response from my partner about my sewing, but he laughed when he saw this. He said the combination of the haircut and the top reminded him of some of the ladies is his street growing up...they probably didn't call them yummy mummies back then, but I'm hoping that is who he meant!