The Marilyn Dress by Style Arc Patterns

This is the first Style Arc pattern that I've sewn even though I own a bunch of them.  It's taken me a minute to get on the Style Arc bandwagon because I had issues with waiting for a pattern to arrive from Australia. I know not very global thinking...but I'm an instant gratification kinda girl!

Anyway, as soon as the nested patterns appeared on Amazon, I bought several...and then several more...without sewing any of them. However, I've seen a few of these dresses on the Internet and knew that I wanted one for my wardrobe too.

First impressions...
The instructions are scant. The diagrams are scant. I believe you need to have some sewing knowledge to make this pattern. The dot on the pattern "instructions" suggests Medium skills and I would agree with that assessment. Also, the seam allowance is 3/8", it's very important to remember that!!!

At first I was confused by the stitching and cutting lines but after handling the pattern a little, I caught on. I read the scanty directions and then proceeded to go my own way.

Materials ~
Fabric:
A blue embroidered border print chambray by Telio purchased from fabric.com

Notions:
24" invisible zipper
white corded piping
white rayon bemberg lining

Construction ~
There were a couple of things...

One:
I didn't have enough fabric to make lined sleeves. So I used a white rayon bemberg fabric from the collection to line my sleeves.

Two:
I added an invisible zipper to the back of the dress, cause I hate button & loop closures. Which I'm so glad I did because it allows me to unzip the dress and step into it instead of wrestling with it to get it over my head.

Three:
I made a v-neck that is between the high and lower necklines the pattern recommends.  Because of that I had to make an adjustment to the front neckline facing also.

Four: 
I added 3 1/4" to the hemline so that the dress would cover my knees. Since it's a border print that I wouldn't hem, I needed to make sure that was correct and was the source of much angst before cutting it out.

Five:
I added white piping to the neckline. The dress seemed too plain with all of the party at the bottom. The white piping carries some of that detail to the neckline.

I cut a size 24 but probably should have cut a size 22 because I ended up going back in and sewing 3/4" side seams to remove some of the width. Before I did that, wearing the dress felt sloppy and nightgownish and even now it's a very loose fitting dress. 

Sleeve Construction ~
The sleeve construction was particularly trying. I know I'm not good at puzzle pieces and the way the sleeves went together wasn't intuitive to me.  Also, scant instructions...so I had to sit and puzzle it out. I did eventually figure it out but it was dicey there for a bit. I made no changes to the sleeve patterns figuring that they were open on the sides and that would cover my bodacious biceps.

However, I don't like how open the sleeves are...they seem to flop around on my arms. I notice that Megret (Cookin' and Craftin') made the same observation. I checked Linda (DanvilleGirl) and Lara (Thornberry) posts and they don't mention it either so I wonder if it's a curvy girl thing?!

After sleeping on it, I added a bartack halfway down the sleeves. This does pull on the front a little when I put my hands on my hips but I'd rather that then the floppiness that was occurring.

Neckline Changes ~

  
As I mentioned above I added piping to my neckline to bring some color to the top...otherwise it was kind of bland. Also, I cut my neckline between the highest point and the lowest marking on the pattern. Was this a precise cut, hell no?! You do know me right?! *LOL* I just picked a point that looked like it would work for me and cut. It worked though! The piped neckline is one of my favorite parts of the dress.

A few pictures of the dress ~

Conclusion ~
I'm glad that I made the dress. Though I won't be making it again.  I could tell midway through constructing the dress that it was a one and done. However, the experience hasn't soured me on StyleArc patterns. I will definitely try out some of the others in my collection.

...and I'm hoping that during the next heatwave, I will turn to this dress because of the air conditioned sleeves and the loose fit. Those features will make it perfect for the humid, steamy, hundred degree weather we can experience.

This dress does fit into my plan to make as many denim/chambray dresses as I possibly can. I love the ease of wearing a good denim dress especially since it works in my office...and while I'm probably still a little more dressed than anyone else but I'm not over dressed.

I know that I said the border print NL 6340 would be up next but I have a packed weekend and I plan to wear this dress. I thought it appropriate to move this one up in the queue and share it now instead of later!

...as always more later!

A Black/White & Red Concord Tee Maxi

I really wanted a red maxi Concord Tee dress as my final rendition of this pattern. My original vision was a red scooped neck maxi with short sleeves and black/white check accents at the neckline and the sleeve hems.  As you can see that's not what I ended up with...

Due to a shortage of the red knit, I had to cut the sleeves from the black/white check accent fabric. This small change salvaged my vision. At first I wondered if I would like it. However, I really do love the final version.

The only change from this maxi dress and the other Concord Tee Dresses is the length. I added side slits from my knees down to make it easier to walk in. 

I used a red rayon knit from the collection which I think is from Fabric Mart but don't hold me to it.  The black 'n white check is also from the collection and I have no idea where it was purchased from because my accents were cut from a 1/2 yard scrap from my scrap bin. Although the knit was last used here in the granddaughter's back to school clothing.

I love the versatility of this pattern...and I guess I've really worked it out this summer! However, it's a real testimony to the pattern's great bones!

A few more pictures ~

Conclusion ~
As you can see, I'm thrilled with this last Concord T-Shirt Maxidress and I'm sorry to bombard you with pics but I really love how this one turned out! It's also soooooo comfortable.

I did end up making five t-shirt dresses from the Concord Tee pattern...even though the Flamingo Sleeve dress won't be able to be worn until fall. The way it shakes out is three of the t-shirt dresses can be worn during the summer - the rose print, the peach print and this one. The black & creme lace ponte with black lace sleeves and the flamingo sleeve dress will work both in the spring and the fall. So I covered the spring/summer season with these makes. I really am putting the pattern away now. *LOL*

Next up on the blog is the border print version of New Look 6340.

Parting Shot ~

...as always more later!

New Look 6340 - Woven Summer Dresses

I bought this pattern during the spring to hold onto for summer sewing. Inevitably it gets hot, humid and sticky here and all I want are loose and flowy dresses to make it easy for a breeze (any breeze) to blow through the dress.

After a romp through the collection, I found two pieces of fabric that fulfilled my requirements for the dress. I wanted something printed, woven and lightweight. The two fabrics I chose fit the bill!

Pattern and Construction Information ~
- The pattern only goes up to a size 20 and I'm a good 22-24 with adjustments in the Big 4. 
- However, since it's a loose fitting pattern I used some of the ease from the dress to fit me. 
- I did add a 5/8" to the side front and side back pieces. 
- I also sewed the dress with 1/2" seam allowances from the waistline down.  
- The shoulder seams and the seams in the bust area all have 5/8" seam allowances. 
- Oh, be careful of the bust darts...make sure that they work for you because they are kinda on the low side. 

Those are my only pattern and construction changes. Here are my finished versions of the dress.

The Purple and Lime Floral Dress ~

This fabric is from the collection via Fabric Mart. Since this was the first one, I omitted the loop and button at the back that the pattern calls for and added a 12" invisible zipper in the back seam.  I hate button & loop closures so I ALWAYS look for a way to replace them.  However, the neckline is so wide, a back opening is totally unnecessary.  So I sewed the back seam closed for the next version.

I did add a ribbon that I'd saved from an old Godiva chocolate box as the tie for the back of the dress. Besides a little interfacing in the facings, that's all of the elements in this dress.

Here are a few photos of this version...

The Rogue Linen Print Dress ~

The fabric for this dress was bought during SewExpo 2016 from the Marcy Tilton booth. Because I'm extra, I added red piping to the neckline and armholes to accent the red print in the fabric. For this dress I omitted both the back loop & button closure and the tie. Even though I did buy some red grosgrain ribbon to use for the tie. I just decided after trying it on that I wanted a simple a-line dress. Adding the ribbon was one step too much for me.

Here are a few photos of the dress...

Conclusion ~
This is a really simple sew complicated only by my addition of the piping. However, these are great dresses for that time of the year in NYC where it's hot, humid and sweltering. Wearing a loose flowing dress is the only way to be comfortable in the heat. I also think that a great print is what stops these dresses from looking like house dresses. Of the two, I prefer the Rogue Linen Print, the piping gives it a sophistication that the first one is lacking. Also, I've already worn that one and it was so comfortable to wear alone or with a sweater in the air conditioning.

I have one more that I made using a great border print that I found in the collection when I was looking for these fabrics!

Parting shot ~
The girls were with me and my daughter while we took pictures. My daughter took this shot of us walking back to the house. If you can't tell pink is their favorite color and they always have some pink on!

...as always more later! 

Simplicity - A Step in the Right Direction

In January I wrote a post asking why Simplicity Patterns didn't apologize for some social media snafus regarding People of Color and how they marketed towards them.  Yesterday my girl Marcy, wrote this awesome post about Complicated Thoughts, that made me realize I should circle back around and give credit where credit is due.

See to me Simplicity has done an AMAZING job of adding diversity to their pattern covers for both vintage and regular garment patterns. I recently visited the website and was thrilled with the company's response to the sewists outcry.

Here are some examples:

VINTAGE:

COSTUMES:

MENS:

Now I know to some this was a big addo over nothing and you're wondering why I'm bringing this back up. But to me, if you're going to criticize you should also acknowledge when the company has responded to your criticisms...and I think Simplicity has done a wonderful job of rectifiying this situation. I'm sure that this will be carried over to all aspects of their social media channels now too.  So kudos to Simplicity for thinking enough of the concerns of their consumers to change the optics. 

BTW, I spent quite a bit of time on the website and now I've got a list of patterns that I need to purchase and add to my pattern collection. Just when did Simplicity get so cool! *LOL*

...as always more later!

Catch Up...

July has been a weird month this year. It use to be that July was my most productive sewing month but the last couple of years, it seems as if my sewjo goes on vacation during this month.

I have been sewing, though. I have three versions of NL6340 to share, a new Concord T-Shirt hack and my first pair of wearable pants that I've sewn since I changed jobs. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to get everything photographed this weekend...which means that things have to wait until next weekend.

New Look 6430 in a border print

New Look 6430 in a Marcy Tilton print with piping

New Look 6430 in a floral linen print

New Concord Hack

Those were some teaser photos. They were taken on my iPad and sent to my sewing buddy for fit and sewing advice. Also normally when I sew, I hold all of these sewing conversations in my head that I want to share here. For some reason that hasn't happened either this month so there hasn't been a Question of the Month post.

Hopefully everything will get back on track in August.  Just wanted to keep you in the loop and let you know that I was still around.

I expect to have photos of new garments on the blog starting new weekend. Well at least I hope to!

...as always more later!

The Last Tuesday of Every Month

The last Tuesday of every Month the NYC Sewcialists meet at The Houndstooth Pub in the Garment District.  This meet-up is the brain child of Carol and Grace. The inaugral meeting was last month on June 27th.

All of the attendees

At that first gathering there were 13 of us and we spent 3 hours talking about everything sewing.

Lara

Marcy, Grace & Syreeta

I met some new sewists. I made a date to go fabric shopping in Queens, cause y'all know I'm always looking for more places to fabric shop! *LOL* I touched some me-made garments and before I knew it, it was almost 8:30pm.  2.5 hours went soooooo fast!

Carol, Amanda, Lara & Claire

Kten & Marcy's curls

So this Tuesday, July 25th, we will be meeting again at:

The Houndstooth Pub 

820 Eighth Avenue

6pm - until 

If you're in the NY, NJ, CT, PA area and want to spend an evening with other sewists talking about our favorite topic, come through!  If you can't make it this Tuesday, then we will be there the last Tuesday of every month...come then...

...as always more later!

Some So-So Concord Tee Hacks

I thought it was important to share two Concord Tee hacks that didn't quite work out as I'd planned. I know it seems like experienced sewists turn out beautiful garment after beautiful garment. However, I don't know about anyone else but sometimes I have less than spectacular results. I believe it's important to keep it real and share the losers as well as the winners!

So here is the first one ~

I am calling this one a failure. I bought this white & black polka dot lace from Fabric Mart a couple of months ago...maybe late 2016. I've always wanted a slouchy top from it. I thought I could use the Concord Tee to achieve that look.

First the top is too tight. While the lace has some stretch, it doesn't have enough. I thought on it and added some triangle inserts into the sides hoping it would help. It doesn't. Now the top just looks sloppy not slouchy. 

The sleeves are also too tight. Why? Because not enough stretch. These could be shortened and it would relieve some of the stress. 

Even though the pictures make the neckline work, it doesn't in real life. Again this could be fixed by adding the band that I omitted. 

I could fix all of these issues and make this work but I've got other things to sew and am calling uncle. I'm admitting that my fabric + pattern hack just didn't work the way I wanted it to.

I tried my black maxi dress with this too and it looked just as bad as this black ponte skirt does. Though my daughter did take some amazing photos of this fail!

The second one is a black tee with a ruffle ~ 

Technically it isn't a fail until I turn around...

See I added a ruffle to the tee because I wanted more than just a black tee. Why? A black tee is a staple in almost every woman's wardrobe, why did I feel I needed to do more to make it special?

So the ruffle cups right underneath my backside.  You can see it better here...

I just find this look so unattractive from the back and side views.  Though to be honest, the top is quite cute from the front...

This is the look I was going for and would actually wear this to work.  Now though, I'm totally on the fence about this tee. 

To solve this, I could cut the ruffle off and hem the top to have a normal tee. Or I could cut the top off around the top of my hip and add a lace peplum, which would be great. I even looked in a couple of my fave trim stores in NYC for a lace that was precut but found nothing in a price point I wanted to pay. I'm sure I have a lace in the fabric collection that I could use but I've been to lazy to look. 

Or I could just wear it as it is...

BTW, I've lightened the heck out of these pictures so you could see the ruffle details, cause as we all know black is hard to photograph.

These tops have been hanging on my wall for about a month. The polka dot one is definitely going to be disassembled. I will save the scraps to use in a future garment. The black one will have some alteration done to it...even if it is just removing the ruffle...so it hangs waiting for me to be inspired. Though now that I've seen these pictures I may be a little more willing to figure something out! *LOL*

I've been home from vacation for a week. My sewing mojo obviously went on vacation with me since I'm struggling to come up with ideas to sew. I don't think it helps that I have a back log of things I've photographed for the blog but haven't worn in real life yet. Working only four days a week in the city and one day at home, definitely affects what I wear. Especially since I tend to make garments quicker in the summer than in other seasons, thus the back log.

I know that I've been desiring some woven dresses with a looser fit. I have a ton of maxidresses, short tank dresses from ITY knits and a wardrobe of t-shirt dresses now. I would also like a couple of shirtdresses but those take more effort than I have in my sewing tank right now.  So we shall see what comes out of my sewing machine...

...as always more later!