Holiday Report

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spending time with family, eating great food and hopefully opening a few great gifts. I have been busy playing with all the new toys I got - I'm coming to you live from a new computer and I've also been reading non stop with a new Ereader. Santa was definitely good to me this year. There has been a lot of lounging and relaxing and not enough sewing so it's time to get back into the swing of things.

I want to do something different today. One of my favourite Christmas presents this year was a gift certificate to a fabric store. I've already been o use it and I wanted to show you guys what I got. The gift certificate was for $50 and as you can see that went a long way.

I couldn't help but get a couple quirky prints. I'm thinking the star satin blend for the Sencha Blouse and maybe the knit flowers in a Renfrew Top from Sewaholic.

I love the coral/orangey color of these fabrics. The first one, a polka dot chiffon I thought would be perfect for an intimate take on Cinnamon. The stripe cotton I thought would make a great Ginger.

Lastly, another polka dot. This is a very delicate and sheer cotton but I thought, with a lining, it will make the perfect Peony.

So now that we've had our holiday rest we have to snap back into our regular routines and for me, that's sewing. I hope you've all been enjoying the Ceylon Sew-Along and have made good progress with your dresses. There will be a new post with pictures and a new to-do list in the days to come.

Finally I wanted to ask a question to any reader who has made the Lady Grey coat. I had what I think was a brilliant idea the other day for my coat when I go to sew it, I want to use a vintage Hudson's Bay blanket I have as the fabric. My blanket has  couple of small holes in it but it is a King size and I think it would make a great Lady Grey.

My question is, is the fabric of the blanket too thick to use? I know the pattern calls for a more medium weight wool but I have my heart set on this idea now. If any of you have any advice please let me know!

That's all I have for this Boxin Day, see you soon everybody!

Ceylon Sew-Along Day 1 Complete

Hey everyone, so I hope your darts and gathers are coming along nicely. I have finished mine and have a few photos to show you but I must warn you: they are terrible! I couldn't beat the clock and get everything finished before sun down but I really wanted to show as much progress as possible for this project, so I was forced to take pictures using god-awful ceiling light. I hope you can forgive me!

They are nearly invisible, but here are the sewn darts at the Back Yoke D and Midriff Back F.

Here are the gathers at the Bodice Back B.

Here we have the gathers on both Bodice Front A pieces.

Here is one Skirt Front G piece with gathers complete.

So we have finished the first part of the Ceylon Sew-Along. Our next tasks are going to be:

• Attaching the Midriff Front E to the Bodice Front A
• Attaching the Midriff Back F to the Bodice Back B
• Stitch Back Skirt H together at center seam
• Join Skirt Front
• Join Skirt Back

I know this list is a little heftier than day one but I know we can do it! So good luck and happy sewing and I will see you back here soon with updates on day two!

Ceylon Sew-Along Day 1

Hello everyone, hopefully by know you've managed to get everything done on our before-sewing-to-do list and are now ready to start sewing your Ceylon.

Today's first steps are easy, we a just going to:

• Sew Darts
• Make Gathers

Easy enough right! So we have darts at the Back Neckline and the Back Midriff, and we have gathers at Bodice Front, Bodice Back and Skirt Front. Alright so that's our attack plan, Now Let's go!

Ceylon Sew-Along

So because time is slipping away this month, I thought this would be a great excuse to do a Sew-Along, spacing out the components of the Ceylon over the course of a couple weeks. I have cut my pieces but have done nothing else, so I'd like to start the sew-along by getting all those interested in joining in to gather their supplies, trace their pattern, make their muslin and cut their fabric! We will start sewing the finished dress on Monday. This gives you about four days to complete the above To Do list. I'm excited to share with you more pictures of my progress and hope it will be helpful to you when constructing your Ceylon as well.

Although I fear I may only complete two projects this month (EEK), I'm confident I will make up for lost time in the remaining months and that this little Sew-Along is fun way to make up for it!

So go gather and I will see you back here Monday for the first ever Complete Colette Sew-Along! See you soon!

Slowly But Surely

HO-LY COW!! December has been incredibly busy for me. With all the Christmas shopping, holiday gatherings and extra hours at work, I've hardly had time to sleep let alone sew. At this rate I fear I might not finish all my projects for the end of the month.

I do have one thing to show you, my finished muslin for my Ceylon dress.

 I made it a size smaller and it fits great. I decided I would make only one all black dress during this adventure, and Ceylon is it. I'm going to be using a black viscose that I already have yards and yards of, and I am going to go out and find the buttons for it on Wednesday. I am going to have to spread out all the components of Ceylon over several days in order to fit it in and may plan of attack for today is to cut the pieces from my fabric and apply the interfacing. So any who's following along, that's what we got to do!

December Projects

December is here and it's time for me to start working on my next round of sewing projects. I got a great response the first round and I want to say thank you to everyone who has been commenting and following along at whatever pace!

Since my Anise brought me right up to the very last day of November, and I was away this past weekend, I feel a bit behind on my planning, I really need to sit down and figure out what and when exactly I am going to do everything. However, I can give you a rough idea of what I am going to be doing.

Beignet, Negroni, Cinnamon and Ceylon. I'm only going to be doing four patterns this month because of Christmas and New Years, but I think they're all challenging enough to keep me busy. I'll keep you posted on my fabric choices etc when I get closer to a concrete plan.

I also have to mention Peony. I originally wanted to start with Peony this month but when I bought all my patterns, it was only available in digital form. One of my early Christmas presents was a gift certificate to Colette so I've decided to use to buy the only hard copy Colette pattern I don't have. Since I don't have it yet, I'll do Peony to next month. 

My plan for today is to develop my plan in further detail and maybe begin tracing my Ceylon pattern.Well that's all I have for you right now, see you soon!

Finished Anise

It is the end of November and I have finished my first six Colette sewing patterns, finishing with the tailored jacket Anise. So without further ado, here it  is, my Anise complete with bound buttonholes, welt pockets, sleeveheads and shoulder pads!

 I must admit, I was incredibly intimidated by this one at first, I was worried I wouldn't get the fit right or some of the details would be difficult to construct, I was very nervous. There also was a lot of prep work involved, A LOT of pattern cutting, but once I got down to the sewing - it was a breeze! This pattern is amazing and I love the professional results. Details like the bound buttonholes, which seemed difficult, were surprisingly straightforward, they just require a few extra steps. The part I found to be the trickiest was attaching the armhole lining to the jacket lining, took many pins and a bit of cursing but I got there and with a little practice I'll be a pro. I definitely give this pattern an A+!

So that does it for November, only five more months to go. I am going to be away for a couple days celebrating the holidays with my family early this year, but I will be back on the fourth ready to fill you in on all my plans for December's sewing projects. Have a great weekend everyone!

Anise Progress

Man was I on fire yesterday. I managed to get everything done on my checklist AND:

• Make the collar
• Attach the facing to the jacket
• Make the welt pockets
• Make and set in one sleeve

 This makes my life today much easier, for all I have left to do is:

• Make and set in the other sleeve
• Put in the shoulder pads
• Hem the Jacket
• Attach the lining
• Attach the buttons

I'm hoping I have a little of that fire left today so I may just be able to finish it up and have photos posted earlier than expected. 

Anise Jacket Day Two

I have cut all my pieces and applied all my interfacing. I have formed my under collar around the neck of my dress formed, steamed it and left it over night. I've got to have a big breakfast today, because I have a lot of work ahead of me.

I am going to follow along with the Anise Companion's schedule, adding a couple steps to each day to fit it all into these next four days. Here is my checklist for today:

• Attach the underlining pieces
• Create bound buttonholes
• Stitch the darts
• Sew the back pieces together
• Sew the front and back together at the shoulders
• Create the facing

Better get started!

Project Six - Anise

I've been leading up to Anise for a week now and there's only 5 days left in November to get it done. I ended up making two muslins, one in a smaller size than I normally sew (which turned out to be to small) and one in the usual size and no pattern adjustments, that one worked out ok so I'm sticking with that for the project.

Originally, I was going to be boring, or classic depending on how you look at it, and buy black wool for the jacket. I want something that will go with everything. Then I got out my winter hats and neither of them go with black, so then I thought navy.

 I went to the fabric store and all I could find was this $35 a yard navy cashmere that was beautiful but way out of my price range. Tut. Just as I was leaving, I saw this choppy hounds tooth wool in navy and white for only $12 a yard, I thought it was perfect. I hadn't left the store for more than two minutes when I realised "what was I thinking?", this is going to go with nothing, nothing except my hats. Oh well, it's a great fabric and I think it will look great in an Anise, I'll find stuff to wear with it.

I am a bit further back than I'd like to be at this point, but we all know what the weeks surrounding the holidays can be like. I have my pattern rearing to go and my plan of attack for today is to prep my fabric and cut my pieces. If I finish at a reasonable time, I may also sew the darts and shoulder seams on the outer shell.  An easy enough day. Tomorrow is the hard one, but more on that then.

Anise - Still Fitting

Happy Friday everyone! I just wanted to update you on my Anise jacket so far. I am still working out some fitting kinks and my final muslin should be done by the end of today. My plan is to the use the remaining days of November to construct the jacket step by step. I don't have any pictures to show you yet but I'll show you a Julie Sinden hat that I've been fawning over at the One Of A Kind show this year!

Getting The Right Fit

I have had a lot of emails and comments from readers with great advice on getting my garments to fit better. I  have sewn five patterns so far and with each one I am getting closer and closer to finding the perfect fit, and the proper alterations to get there. None however, have been the exact right fit.

Where the garments seem to fit oddly is in the torso; the shoulders are too narrow, the armholes are too big and the darts sit to high which throws the bust off. I decided, with the help of some fellow sewists, to start with one size down, and work from there. Then I got thinking, the Meringue skirt fit perfectly no pattern at all  so I can't go down completely one size, I may have to grade from the smaller size at the bodice to the larger size at the skirt. This would make me pear shaped, especially considering another fit issue I haven't gotten to yet - my legs. I have always had bigger thighs than my pant size would allow. Things like skinny jeans are lost on me for it's either, thighs that fit and a waist that's too big, or vice versa. So I may have to grade even further to a larger size at the thighs when it comes to making patterns like Juniper and Clover, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I found a couple hours here and there this weekend and traced up a new, smaller pattern for Violet - my first project. I started with my master pattern and traced one size down from my previous Violet. I still narrowed the shoulders and shortened the armhole by 1 cm, and the fit is a lot better but it's not perfect. It still feels big in some places and now the bust is too small.

I am about to start my most difficult project to date, the tailored jacket Anise, and a level of frustration has hit me for the first time in this challenge. I NEED to get the fit right before I can continue to spend time and money on these projects.

I have ten days to complete Anise which is plenty of time if I can figure this all out. I am spending this entire week just on making muslins and getting fit down before I even buy my fabric. Today my plan is to trace my pattern and cut my first muslin. I have decided to start out by trying the smaller size with no adjustments and see how that works. Wish me luck!

Week Three - Finished Licorice

So it ended up taking four cups of black mint tea to get through my Licorice dress. The fabric I chose was a viscose, which is really soft and nice to work with, it has horizontal textured stripes that took some time to match up but all and all it was pretty smooth.

I didn't end up using any elastic for the sleeves, I thought they looked nice without it, I ended up using bias tape to finish the sleeves and I love the way it works.

I do like the way the dress turned out however next time I make this dress, I'm going to use a more youthful fabric, with the long sleeves and collar, it's easy for it to come across as matronly. I'm going to be at the One Of A Kind show next Thursday and I think it's the perfect occasion to bust out the new dress.

So I have completed five out of my six projects for the month of November, I have one left, the big kahuna - Anise. I haven't even picked a fabric, traced the pattern or created a plan for it yet, so I'd better leave it there and get to work!

Week Three - Licorice Dress

Morning all, so today is all about making Licorice. I am super excited about this pattern and I have made some headway already with making the muslin and cutting my fabric.

This is probably one of the only patterns of the Colette collection that I am going to slightly "change" the design of. I have decided to make two style changes to the dress; narrowing the sleeve by about six inches and using a facing as my elastic casing not bias binding, and drafting a completely new peter pan collar without tucks and a lace overlay. My changes are purely a matter of personal style, and I want to make something I'm going to get a lot of use out of.

For anyone interested in making their Licorice with the peter pan collar, I will make a little photo tutorial to be posted here later this week..

So this time I altered the pattern before making the muslin, I think now I can just assume that all the patterns are going to be too big in the shoulders and armholes. I combined narrowing the shoulder by 1.5cm using the pivot method, with lowering the shoulder seam by 2cm using a simple slash to get my perfect fit. And it does fit perfectly.

So now that I have everything prepped and ready to go, my task for the rest of the day is to sew it up. I feel if I can stay focused and have many cups of black mint tea, I should have it finished by tonight. Fingers crossed!

Week Three - Finished Pastille

I had the best day yesterday, I literally sat in front of my sewing machine or work table, puttering away all day. I also finished my Pastille and it turned out great!

There were some areas on this dress that I erred a bit, the waist seam and tie belt didn't exactly line up once the zipper was in, the facings had to be tacked down in more places because they kept popping out, and the fit of the sleeves still feels and eensy bit off, but I had fun and love the dress anyways. (It's not about being perfect! Says a recent blog post over on Coletterie.)

The only changes I made to the pattern, aside from fit adjustments, were adding an invisible zipper instead of a centered one and adding the cute bow detail as a belt tie around the waist instead of at the neckline.


*To do this, I cut 2 equal strips 25" by 1.5", folded right sides together and stitched a 1/4" seam lengthwise. I turned the ties right side out and pressed the seam to the center. I attached one of the ends of each to the waist seam BEFORE adding the zipper and continued on constructing the dress as instructed. When finishing my garment, I threaded a gold metal bead with a large hole on the other ends of both the ties and knotted the ends to keep the bead in place. Voila, bow tie!


All and all, I'm really happy with this dress, the fabric is really nice and soft, and the picture really doesn't do this dress justice. I think when I make this dress again however, I am going to fully line the bodice instead of using facings, this way it will feel a little more polished. I can't wait to wear this at Christmas!

I also wanted to show you a picture of the Meringue skirt on, which I never did but promised to. I don't know how I managed to get almost the exact same picture as Pastille, but here it is. This is definitely the favorite pattern so far over on the Flickr page.

So there's another project down, only 26 to go! Today I am working on my muslin for the Licorice dress , but I will post more about that tomorrow! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Week Three - Pastille

Good morning everyone, I'm really happy it's Monday and I get to sew again. Today I am working on Pastille.

I got a jump start at the end of last week making my muslin and cutting my fabric. I am going to use a nice green cotton fabric with a hint of sheen that I recently thrifted, I think it will make a great holiday dress.

I had to make 2 muslins, the first one was made with no adjustments to the pattern and the shoulders were too wide and the sleeves were way to big. Since taking down the shoulder seam worked so well for me while making Truffle, I thought I would apply the same alteration here. I pinched, pinned and eventually sewed a new seam on my muslin to determine how far to take it down (5/8 of an inch). I sewed wrong sides together and left the old seam intact so you could see exactly what I did. I transferred the changes onto the pattern and cut a new muslin. I also rounded the outer edge of the cap sleeve down an additional 1/2 inch.

 The second muslin fits very nicely and I'm excited to start sewing the real dress. This is another simple, unlined dress so I expect to be finished by the end of the day today or by tomorrow afternoon.

After a busy and stressful weekend I am really looking forward to sitting in front of my sewing machine undisturbed today! See you back here soon for an update!

Inspiration - Marie Antoinette

I love, love, LOVE Sofia Coppola movies, the few that there are. Visually, they are so soft and feminine and filled with pretty pastels. I took a break from sewing yesterday and watched my favorite Sofia Coppola movie, Marie Antoinette. This one takes the cake, quite literally, as the most lavish and decadently rich in color. From the amazing costumes, hair and make-up, to the incredible, over the top mix of pattern, texture and color of the decor, it's really hard not to get inspired by this film.

Being half way through my first month of sewing projects, I have already started to plan out my next round of patterns based on what's been inspiring me. I obviously haven't finalized anything yet for we are still a few weeks away, but I am thinking it is going to be full of pretty dresses in colors and patterns inspired by Marie Antoinette. I can tell you for sure that I will be doing Ceylon, Peony and Cinnamon, and hopefully I will find some great, feminine fabrics to make them with.

So that's all I have for now, just wanted to share a little of my excitement with you. Please feel free to share what inspires you or any ideas you may have about the way the project is going, the feedback that I have been getting is great, keep it coming. Have a great weekend everyone and I will see you back here Monday for Pastille!

Week Two - Finished Truffle

Ok, so this time I was super good and made a muslin of the bodice and discovered that of course it was to big in the shoulders and armholes. This was the same problem I had with Violet for which I used the pivot method to alter the pattern. I didn't want to go this route this time because the shoulder seams are already pretty narrow and I didn't want to loose any more width to them. Instead, I pinched and pinned about an inch and a quarter down from the shoulder to make a new shoulder seam, I then transferred these changes onto the paper pattern and cut the real dress. This pulled up the armhole and the waist and fixed the fit problem. This was a very simple alteration and resulted in a much better fit for me.

You'll have to forgive my tired eyes and messy hair in this picture, I had just come home from my morning dog walking shift at the Humane Society. I also bought a new camera today and haven't quite worked out all the settings yet, but there will be more pictures to come when I do.

My sewing machine HATED this fabric, I used some sort of poly-blend I got from the thrift store, it has a very slippery and clingy texture. I used the right needle and thread tension but for some reason my stitches kept getting skipped. Most of my seams had to be done twice just to be safe, but that was the only annoying part of the whole project. I also sewed it a bit differently than the pattern instructions, I attached the lining to the bodice and pulled it right side out BEFORE attaching the skirt. I just found this to be a little easier with less fabric to pull through.

I really liked this pattern, I can see this as being a classic dress pattern to build off of. I've already thought of sewing it with different necklines and drapes, establishments and with full linings. The possibilities are really endless with this pattern.

It's starting too get cold here in these parts and the fabric I made my Truffle from is a bit light. I'm now on the lookout for the perfect cardigan to pair it with before I wear it out.

So that's it for this week, two very simple patterns makes for a nice and easy week. Next week will be more challenging, I am working with two dress patterns (Pastille and Licorice) where fit is absolutely crucial. I predict I will spending a lot of time making muslins to get them just right. 

Guess What I Got

Today I got the rest of the Colette Patterns collection that I had ordered. Now I have the Complete Colette!

Yippee!

Week Two - Finished Meringue

I have completed my second project today by finishing up my Meringue. This was a breeze to make, I really enjoyed it and I think the finished skirt looks great. I think I got the scallops near perfect and the fit is great!

I made it from a really silky grey linen so there are some wrinkles in it that just won't come out, but I think it adds to it. I decided to add a small bow at the waist to give the skirt one more point of interest. All I did to create this was sew a tube about 12 inches long by 1.5 inches wide, turned it right side out and pressed the seam to the center. Then I tied a knot at both ends and attached it to the skirt with a straight stitch down the center of the tie. Tie it into a bow and I'm done!

This was the first time I had sewn a catchstitch by hand to complete a hem. I love it! I know it is a very simple thing to do but I love the results and found it to be nearly invisible and very relaxing.

Nobody was around to take a photo of me in my new skirt today, so this picture will have to do for now until later in the week, but you get the idea. This is my new favorite pattern and my new favorite skirt!

I also wanted to let you know that I have decided to sew Pastille this month instead of Taffy. I was at the thrift store this weekend and came across this beautiful, silky green cotton that would be just perfect and I really want to use it for the holidays. So my plan for next week has changed from Taffy and Licorice to Pastille and Licorice, I will do Taffy at a later date.

That's it for now, on to Truffle! See you soon!