A Designer Interpretation in Linen

I like the designer, Barbara Tfank, for her ladylike dresses.  To me they express a classic elegance that epitomizes the look of the 1960s.  Her dresses speak of Grace Kelly's and Jackie Kennedy's style and panache to me.  So even though my original idea was for a sheath dress and jacket in black linen, this style spoke to me even more.

Now there's loads of black linen in the Moods NYC store, as well as their online one, and can be found here.  I know linen is a basic and not a flashy designer fabric BUT it is a staple in my summer wardrobe.  It has been an especially busy summer meeting-wise at my job, so my black garments have seen a higher than usual wear which has caused me to become tired of them.

Because of that, I wanted a new dress for meetings at work.  For this one, it's definitely the details that were featured in the designer's line that convinced me that a similar dress had to become part of my wardrobe.  I love the neckline, the waistline detailing and the pleats in the front and back of the dress.

Some details ~

Fabric...
5 yards of mediumweight black linen

Notions...
Black rayon bemberg lining
9" black invisible zipper
Gutterman green thread
Black rayon seam binding

Construction Details ~

I started with my TNT dress pattern, Butterick 5147, which is sadly out of print now.  The dress' construction details can be found in this post.  

The most important detail is the pleat in the front of the dress.  This pleat can be a little tricky for a plus size woman but using this crisp fabric and some edge stitching to hold it flat worked for me.

Of course the topstitching detail at the neckline and waistline add to the elegance of the design and also help to give the dress waist definition...

...and I love the full skirt with all of the pleat detailing in both the front and the back.  It's not one of my typical dress silhouettes but sometimes we step out of our comfort zone, right!    

It is the perfect summer dress.  Add a short linen jacket or cardigan for work and meetings or as pictured below with a short sleeve cardigan for a dinner date or afternoon wedding.

I love linen.  It's easy to wear, sews up beautifully making the most amazing garments and I think the wrinkles give it character.  I also love that I've come up with a new variation on a trusted dress pattern.  I will have to use this altered pattern again for a winter dress!

Finally as a parting shot...

The grandkids were with me since their mother is my photographer and they always want to be included in the photo shoot.

...as always more later! 

What I'm working on...

I have a heavy meeting schedule coming up for the rest of the month and I wanted a new black outfit to add to the mix.  Since I also needed a Mood project for this month, I started looking at dresses on Style.com to see if anything piqued my interest.

Ever since Michelle Obama wore a Barbara Tfank outfit, she's been added to my list of designers I check when new collections come out.  In the Resort 2014 collection I found these two dresses that screamed great summer dress to me...

I decided to choose design features from both dresses to make one amazing dress for me.  First can I say that this silhouette is out of the norm for me. However, I'm in the mood to mix it up a little and full skirts just say comfort to me especially in the summer.

So using this black linen scored from the Moods NYC store (but it can also be found online here):

I using my TNT dress from Butterick 5147 as the starting point.

I'm working out pattern alterations and how I'm going to construct the dress now, so stay tuned for more on the making of this designer interpretation.

...as always more later!

An Early Spring Version of Butterick 5147

So the last couple of posts have been about what's inspiring me. I'm sure you've been wondering when you'll see something I've actually sewn. Well I've been working on this dress for quite awhile (since March 24th)...a lot longer than it normally takes me to make a tried 'n true (TNT) dress. 

Instead of being annoyed about the amount of time it's taken, I've quite enjoyed the journey.  Probably because I've added so many "details" to a simple silhouette. As I mentioned before this will be my sixth version of the dress and this time around I added even more details...

There is piping added to the neckline and armholes.  
Piping that I made myself.

A lining with a lace hem

Piping at the dresses' hemline

...at one point during the process I considered adding a placket to the neckline front like this Talbot's dress...

...but after pulling the piping off the neckline and letting the dress sit for a minute, I decided that my original idea for this dress worked just fine and I should go with that.  However, I did decide to add piping to the hemline.

Piping at the hemline ~
Since the piping is an integral part of the dress, I decided to extend it to the hemline.  Here in pictures is how I did that...

First I measured up an inch and a half at the hemline, pressed it flat and then cut it off the hemline.

Then I serged the cut edge because 

this fabric ravels like the dickens!

I added rayon seam binding 

to the bottom edge of the band.

Pressed the band flat and folded 

the seam binding over then pressed flat

Serged the cut edge of the dress and pressed flat

Handstitched the remaining piping 

to the hem of the dress.

Pinned the band to the piped 

hem and stitched down

Topstitched 1/4" from the piped edge 

on the front of the dress

Inside edge showing hem tape which 

was hand stitched to the dress

Finished hem edge pressed flat

Other thoughts on the dress ~

• The interesting thing about this dress is that it fits a little tighter than it's predecessors.  I know that I added a few inches to the brown & orange tweed version, however, all of the other renditions have been made straight from the TNT pattern.  I'm thinking it's the fabric I chose for this one.  
• Other than that my only concern about this one, is that I will need to be careful with this fabric. While a woven fabric without an apparent loose weave, there is still a delicateness to the fibers, which raveled like crazy during the construction process. After handling it for the last month, I'm concerned that too much rubbing on the fabric will cause piling. I will keep this in mind when wearing the dress. I will also have to make sure that there isn't too much stress on the seams due to the fabric's tendency to ravel.
• This is a spring/early fall dress because of the weight of the fabric and lining. Once the temps start to rise, I will need to put this one in the back of the closet. I will get at least one wearing out of it before summer comes roaring in and that's fine. It will be nice to look forward to wearing this in the fall.

Some stats ~
Pattern ~ 
Butterick 5147 - now discontinued and out of stock on Butterick's website.

Fabric ~
A linen brocade purchased from Emmaonesock

Notions ~
Piping made by me
22" invisible zipper
brown rayon bemberg lining
linen bias binding
1" brown lace

Some more photos of the dress ~

Finally ~
I will probably make more renditions of this pattern in the future because it works so well for my day job. Presently though, there are no new ideas for it on the horizon. But, if you have this dress pattern in your collection, I highly recommend that you take it out and use it, it makes a great dress.

...as always more later!

Even I can do better...

Okay so I got my butt in gear and finished off the Vogue 1250 dress.  However, that doesn't mean that I finished the Butterick 5147.  But I did get started on sewing the piping down and inserting the lining...as pictured here:

So can I talk to you a little about making this dress...well I'm gonna anyway. I made a typical sewist mistake,  I didn't stabilize the neckline so of course it stretched out of shape...this folks is where experience comes in.  Having been in this situation before, I knew a few tricks to "Make It Work."  

• First I opened the side seams and stitched them with the smallest seam allowance.  
• Then I stitched them again to reinforce them.  
• Pressing them open and flat gave me some more space.  

Next it was a matter of carefully matching the shorter lining to the stretched out neckline.  Some steam, a few carefully placed puckers and the lining and fashion fabric worked with each other...but I really should have double checked that neckline before I added the piping to it.  

Finally, I also should have added some ltwt. fusible interfacing to the neckline to hold the shape of the original neckline.  Next time I will double check this so that I don't make that mistake again!

Now I just have to tackle the armholes which are experiencing the same challenge. I'm only working four days this week, so hopefully the extra time will allow me to not only finish this dress but to also work on my Mood garment for this month...which I guarantee you won't be as involved as my Lace Challenge Dress!

Here's a sneak peek of the fabric I'm using for the Mood project...

Things are settling down at work and I'm spending some quality time in my sewing cave which always makes things right in my world...

...as always more later!

Is it Winter or is it Spring?

I'm telling you it's hard to tell here on the East Coast!  The calendar says "Spring"...the weather says "Winter."  They are predicting a snowy/rainy mix here in the Tri-State area for tomorrow morning, right around the time I will have to commute to work...*sigh*  Because of this, it makes it hard to know what to sew...

However, I've decided to go ahead with spring sewing.  I refuse to endorse this weather since I'm confident in the fact that spring will come...some day!  Originally I was going to sew a quickie and I still will make that garment but I just wasn't feeling it yesterday when I went to pull fabric.  

Instead this fabric really called out to me.    It is a French Linen blend vintage floral tapestry purchased last month from Emmaonesock.  I bought this fabric knowing that I wanted to make another version of Butterick 5147 which is sadly now out of print (OOP).

Butterick 5147

I love this dress pattern as much as I love my TNT dress pattern.  It wears easily, looks professional and sews up well in a lot of different fabrics.  I've already made five versions of this dress. This will be the sixth one and I can guarantee that there will be more.  Hey, I really like the dress! *LOL*

I've decided that I just want to sew more than I wanted a quickie.  A quickie meant that I had to finish it today.  Just sewing means that I can meander along and enjoy the process...because it's not like I'm going to be able to wear this dress anytime soon, anyway.

Friday is Good Friday and my office is closed.  So I'll work on the coordinating jacket to The Lace Dress, Friday and Saturday.  All the pieces are all cut out, it just needs to be sewn together.  I can get that accomplished in two days and probably finish up whatever isn't completed on this dress, too.

Those are my plans for today, to just sew...

...as always more later!

To pocket or not to pocket...

...that was the question.  The original dress, the one that inspired my version definitely had pockets on the front.  However, I'm really NOT a pocket girl.  And while I did ponder on this and worked out two different types of pockets for the dress front, I ultimately decided that since I'm not a pocket girl there was no reason to include them.

So the dress is a basic Butterick 5147 dress made from a brown/orange tweed recently purchased.  It works with the orange turtleneck pictured above or the orange cardigan pictured below.

Some stats:
Fabric ~
Brown & Orange Rayon/Wool Tweed

Notions ~
22" brown invisible zipper
2 yards brown rayon hem tape
2 yards aubergine rayon lining
1 yard brown bias tape

I have no new construction techniques to add.  No alterations were made to the pattern.  This was a cut and sew garment ~ you know the kind that I like from a TNT pattern.  I do have one or two more versions dreamed up in the back of my mind which have slight pattern alterations that I would like to make for fall/winter.  They may show up before the season changes, they may not.

This was the first completed garment from the Thanksgiving Weekend Sew-a-thon.  A few more pics of the dress in action...

...as always more later!

A Tweed Flare Dress

As I've slowly been putting fabric back into the shelves, this new piece didn't make it onto one.

Rayon Wool Heather Stretch Twill Suiting

and brown invisible zipper

I purchased it because I wanted to duplicate this Lafayette 148 dress...

After some thought, I decided not to add a metal zipper to the back.  When I wore my Jason Wu dress, I never took off my cardigan.  Even though it's a cool application, it's not something that will be shown often, so no need to apply it to this dress.

I'm starting with my Butterick 5147 dress pattern.  It's getting quite a bit of a work out this season, isn't it?  But I like the flare skirt and it will work alone or with a turtleneck and I have the perfect orange turtleneck to wear with it.  So this is my next project and I still have a few design decisions to make.  I'm not sure if it will go with the City In Winter separates, but that's fine.  Like I said before, I can wear it with a turtleneck or with an orange cardigan that I already own.

It will be a wonderful new addition to my work wardrobe!  Oh and one other thing, the RTW version of this dress costs $648 and doesn't come in my size (which is unusual for Lafayette 148 because he designs great plus size garments!) I will make my version for about $50.  That's a great deal...dress I want in the color and size I want...but for a fraction of the designer price!

...as always more later!

Stone & Brown Butterick 5147

I like this dress' silhouette.  I like how it's a great staple, how it can be made up in various fabrics and that simple embellishments can give it a new twist. Somewhere in my travels through the internet, I saw a dress like this and I knew that I could make my own using Butterick 5147. This is my fourth version and I have version five already planned...I'm sure that there will be even more in the future. 

Some stats:
Fabric ~
St. John ponte knit purchased earlier this year

Notions ~
22" stone invisible zipper
brown embroidery floss

Construction Techniques
Instead of cutting the front pattern piece on the fold, I added a 5/8" seam allowance and sewed the two front pieces together.  I wanted a front seam for embellishment purposes. 

I hand stitched around the back & front neckline and down the front of the dress using brown embroidery floss. To make sure that the stitching was relatively straight, I added scotch tape down the center front seam to use as stitching lines. I also added an inch strip of lightweight fusible interfacing down the back of the center front seam to insure that the seam line and fabric was stable.

Since I didn't line the dress, I simply pressed down a 5/8" seam allowance at the neckline and the armholes. I pressed stitch witchery into the seam allowance to stabilize them and used a twin needle to stitch the armholes flat. I also used twin needle stitching for the dress' hemline.

I got a lot of bang for the buck from this very easy sew. It took about 4 hours from cut to finish ~ even with the hand stitching! I definitely see more of these in my future.

A few more pics...

Dress front

Dress with Butterick 6002 jacket

Dress with Burda 8869 cardigan

Dress & Cardigan back

Piece number five for The City in Winter Collection is done.  This was an unexpected piece that I added but since it works with both toppers, I'm glad that I did include it.

...as always more later!