Butterick 5559

Whenever I return to blogging after several weeks away, I feel like I owe everyone finished products to make up for my absence. So here you go! Butterick 5559, a knit sheath dress with starburst pattern:

Butterick 5559 pattern envelope

This pattern has been reviewed many times - 51 in fact! - on Sewing.PatternReview. One thing I love about that website, despite how very outdated it looks, is the way you can search the review according to the type of fabric used. If you have a length of fabric but aren't sure what to make, it's a fast way to get inspired. Since I became familiar with ponte this year, I've been checking out what other people make with it. This dress is way up on the list, and that's one reason I chose it. Check out all these beauties:

And that's just a sample of the ones I grabbed before I got too lazy. This dress looks pretty fabulous on anyone who makes it, so I kept it in the back of my mind until a sale on Butterick patterns came around at Joann's. Then I had 51 reviews to read for advice before sewing up my own. I didn't read all of them, but I got the gist: it's a little short but otherwise perfect, and the tucks are time consuming. Got it. So I went ahead and made my own, using some rayon ponte knit for FabricMart.

Sorry about the picture quality. The sun has barely shown its face for the past month, so I was reduced to hovering near a window to capture what little light there was and then boosting the brightness of all my photos in Photoshop. On the plus side, bad picture quality makes my hair look better! It also hides the fact that I failed to match up my tucks on the side seams...

Ohhh well. Unpicking seams in knits is NOT my favorite, so I'm living with the little imperfections on this one. I was very careful to thread trace all my tucks, just like people suggested, but I think things went awry when I cut the wrong pattern size. I can't remember how I decided what size to cut - all I know is that I ignored the envelope because I don't trust the Big Four not to build in ridiculous amounts of ease. By the time I noticed that there are finished garment measurements printed on the pattern pieces, I had already cut them out. So I did something sketchy like adding a little on here and there just by eye-balling it and then also reduced my seam allowances in certain places and not others and in the end it's no wonder that my tucks didn't match up. If I want to make this pattern again, I'm going to have to buy another copy and pay better attention.

All the other reviewers were right about this pattern being time consuming. And it's not just the tucks. There are actually a whole lot of darts hidden underneath those tucks (very clever, Butterick). And they were also right about the length. I'm 5'8". I added five inches to the length, which allowed me to turn up a generous hem and still have it hit around my knees.

One reviewer noted that the neckline of this pattern dips lower in back than in the front. I don't really get this as a design feature, since it's not really enough of a dip to look intentional. Since I wanted this to be a warm dress for winter, I kinda wish I had raised the back neckline, but it's not that big of a deal. I also made the sleeves full length, for max coziness.

Other comments about this pattern - there is a secret waistline seam hidden under one of the tucks. And the waistline isn't level. It angles up on one side, which made me pause and stare, confused, when I cut out my pattern pieces. The neckline is finished with a facing, and mine didn't want to stay hidden, even with understitching. The tucks save the day - I tacked down the facing in four places to the body of the dress, neatly hiding the stitching underneath the tucks. Oh, and a few reviewers seemed perturbed that their tucks wouldn't lay flat. Mine don't either, but I don't think they're necessarily supposed to. I think they look fine sticking out a little. It gives the dress dimension.

People like to say that knits are super easy to sew, and I have to disagree. This dress gave me hell when I tried to use my serger. I thought my serger and I were friends finally, but now I don't know. It hates going over thick seams, so it would mess up every time I tried to sew over a tuck. I also can't figure out how to avoid making my side seams all lumpy. I've messed with the tension, and yet I still end up with gnarly bumps over my hips like you see in the photo above. This is highly annoying, because while I know my hips are curvy, they are definitely not lumpy. If someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, I would love to know. I actually ended up undoing all my serger seams and redoing them on my regular machine with a zigzag stitch. Lumps are still there, but less offensive than before.

On the other hand, I am very pleased with my hems! I attempted my first blind stitch on the sewing machine and I like the results very much:

Those stitches could be a little smaller, I suppose, but not bad for a first go at it! Here's the inside of the cuff:

And the scandalous knee shot, featuring my scar from falling over in my driveway seven years ago:

Blind hems mess with my brain a little, but once you figure out where to fold and where to stitch it's smooth sailing. Maybe I will throw together a little how-to. I even managed to do this without a special foot on my sewing machine, so it's really not so bad.

So that's it! More than you probably ever wanted to know about this dress! Overall, I'm a big fan and would like to make a second if I could pick up another copy of the pattern. It was a hit at our office holiday party too, and now my coworker wants me to help her make one. WE'LL SEE.

Minoru II

I don't know why, but lately blogging feels like homework, hence my procrastination on posting many new makes. Hopefully it's just a phase that will pass. Oh well. Surely you'll forgive me if I present with a photo of this guy:

Little twerp is back home! He was missing for six weeks, but after talking to a lot of people during my search for him I discovered it's not uncommon for cats to turn up months after they go missing. Still, it was hard not to lose hope. I kept getting false alarms when people would call me about lookalike cats in the neighborhood. When I got a call about a week ago from a woman out walking her dog, I was pretty dang sure it was going to be the same cat down the street who I'd discovered after numerous previous tips. (That poor cat must have gotten tired of seeing my face turn all downtrodden every time I found him and realized he wasn't mine.) But I rushed to spot anyway, and I couldn't believe it when I called his name and he started meowing. I didn't know for a few seconds whether he was my cat or not, it had been so long. It was even stranger to pick him up and feel how much lighter he was - he had definitely lost some weight in his time away. Now he's back home, and we'll never know how he spent those six weeks. Besides acting hungry ALL THE TIME, Pidgin is pretty much back to his old self - waking me up at 5 am by biting my hair, chasing rubber bands, taking lots of naps. It's nice to have him back!

Okay, hope you all didn't mind the cat update. Now for sewing. I was badly in need of a spring/fall weight jacket to replace one lost last year. The weather around here started getting cooler, and I had nothing but an old jean jacket which was not gonna cut it. I get in this position too often lately because I hate buying clothes new and don't seem to sew fast enough to fill the gaps in my wardrobe. Wow. I have deja vu just typing that. But thankfully, I'm getting faster! So I threw together this Minoru (by Sewaholic Patterns in case you're new in town):

Minoru number one was a big undertaking for me, largely because I changed a zillion things about the design and made it harder than it was supposed to be. This time I respected the integrity of the pattern a little better, and sewed it closer to how Tasia intended. Turns out, patterns work better when you sew them with the recommended fabrics and don't make a zillion design changes. Who knew! 

I'm trying to show you it's cold enough to see my breath, but it's not working. The fabric is Robert Kaufman Hampton Twill in "stone" for the main fabric and "charm" for the facings. I've had pretty good experiences with Kaufman fabrics, although it can get confusing when he has five different twills and twenty types of chambray. I'm exaggerating a little, but I wish someone would tell me how to choose among all the options when I'm shopping online. This twill is pretty lightweight, almost too light for my liking. It also wrinkles quite easily. I compensated by doing both an underlining and a lining, which gave the extra weight and warmth I wanted. So I guess I didn't exactly do things as the pattern instructed, since it doesn't call for underlining.

Ta da! Pretty insides. The lining is bemberg rayon, and the interlining is cheap cotton flannel from Joann's, except in the sleeves, where I used up the leftover flannel from the shirt I made Josh last winter. Thrifty, eh? Almost to a fault. I hope I don't regret my scrimping later, but it's just underlining. What's the worst that could happen by using cheap fabric? And actually, it's the lining that's underlined rather than the main fabric, since I didn't realize til the outer was already sewn up that it was really too lightweight. Judging fabric weight really does seem to be one of the tougher parts of sewing for me.

 If you're wondering why there's a stripe of pink through the middle of my lining, it's because I was worried that the bemberg would be too delicate to serve as a casing for the drawstrings (oh, btw I swapped the waist elastic for drawstrings). I feel like a dummy for going through that trouble, because the flannel underlining would have protected the rayon. I just didn't realize it at the time. Oh well.

This photo is kinda cheesy, but also it makes me think of a 1950s model pose. Here we go...

Nailed it! I'm trying to show off my pockets with their contrasting under flaps. I stole the idea for these off of Peter and his amazing parka.

Sheesh. What a good looking dude. And he makes such beautiful clothes. I'm pretty sure that's an entirely self-made outfit he's sporting. That parka is killer. My pockets are smaller than his, and thus slightly less useful. Here is a blurry, unhelpful photo:

Even though they're a bit small, I can fit my phone inside no problem. I don't think I could have made them much bigger and still fit them on the jacket, especially since I shortened it (whoops - is that another change?)

Okay, I better just confess to all the rest of the things I did differently from the original pattern. I made the collar pieces shorter in front, as I did on my previous version. They curve downward, and thus don't cover my face even when the coat is zipped all the way. You can see the altered pattern piece below.

I used drawstrings instead of elastic at the waist, and I hammered in some big eyelets for the cords to poke through. 

Here's the back view. I'm not a huge fan of the way it looks when the drawstrings are gathered, so I wear it barely gathered at all. As a pear shaped lady, I just don't think gathered waists are my favorite. I originally thought I would put some cord stops on my drawstrings to keep them from pulling through the hole, but I kinda like my little bows tied on the side.

Finally, I got rid of the elastic cuffs and used the tower plackets and cuffs from a men's shirt pattern.

I still need to pick out some buttons, so these are just tacked closed for now. Tower plackets don't seem very appropriate on a jacket, but I wasn't sure how else to put a vent in the sleeve. If I had been a smarty, I would have redrafted the sleeve in two pieces, which seems to be the way most jackets are sewn. I was not thinking that far ahead, however.

This coat is exactly what I needed to get me through til the real cold weather starts, and I'm very happy with it. But I also think I'm done with Minoru, unless my sister or mom requests one. It was satisfying to make it up again and do a better job matching fabric to pattern, but for my next jacket I'm ready to try something new. It's just nitpicking, but the gathered waist bugs me. Minoru also has quite a wide neckline, and unless you stuff a scarf in there it's quite drafty. Anyone else notice that? Still, it's a great pattern and I'm happy I've finally done it up a second time!

Two Lilies

I have a new favorite pattern. A new old pattern, as it was released more than two years ago. I know that's really not so long, but in the sewing blogosphere I think we may have short attention spans. Ooh! Anna!  - Ooh! Archer!  - Ooh! scuba knit! - Ooh! Kimonos! I think it's because we have a never-ending flow of inspiration and interesting new patterns and fabrics to try, which is hardly a bad thing. Anyway, I'm always a few years behind the trend, and I'm just now getting around to sewing up Colette Patterns Lily.

Lily dress pattern - envelope line drawing

Everyone else might be through with Lily already, but I felt like I was uncovering a gold mine when I made this up for the first time.

my floral Lily pencil skirt

I sewed only the bottom half, as you can see. I started a new job this summer and was in need of office attire. Rather than buy a pencil skirt pattern, I looked at Lily and thought it would do the trick. Did it work?

HELL YEAH! Why haven't I seen this elsewhere on the sewing blogweb? I kinda feel like a genius for being the first to convert Lily into a skirt, but I also feel like it's so obviously a good idea that I can't get too much credit for it. (BTW please ignore my obvious lack of styling. I took these after work and couldn't even be bothered to leave my shoes on.)

This thing fit perfectly without any fussing, which was SO NICE. That really doesn't happen often for me. I consulted the finished garment measurements on the envelope and went with the size that would give me just slightly negative ease, since I was using a stretch sateen. As usual, I graded from a smaller size at the waist to a larger size at the hips. No problem. And it worked like a charm. (Like my flowers? That's six years of marriage - So far so good!)

I squeezed this baby out of 1.25 yards of fabric (I think) which required a little creative thinking. I ended up having to make the pockets just slightly smaller, but that's no biggie. They're still plenty big. And I love them.

I didn't make the pocket flaps, but used piping instead. Also, I wore this skirt out somewhere and a man noticed and commented on my piping. Why thank you for noticing sir. I am impressed by your sewing vocabulary.

Now actually, this is the second Lily I've made. Ready to see number one?

I love it too. It is slightly more practical than my loud floral Lily, but it too is made of stretch sateen.

You may notice that is slightly different from my floral version. For one, it is shorter. Another sewing blogger said she thought Lily is a tad short, and I agree. Not too short. In fact, it seems very accurately portrayed in both the line art and the model photos. And I like the length of my navy version. But too be prim and office-y I made my second version a tad longer. Also my floral version is a tad taller in the waist, because I wished it so for the second version. The original isn't too low, I just wanted to have a high-waisted skirt.

Still, it's a dang good fit for what I only expected to be a wearable muslin. I apologize that it's hard to see much detail on the navy.

I swear this looks more wrinkly in photos than it does in person. Whatever. The wrinkles don't bother me so much.

I was inspired to add tabs with buttons after admiring this Betsy pencil skirt sewn up by Melissa of Scavenger Hunt:

I love both these skirts so much, and they are getting plenty of wear at my new job. The stretch woven makes them very comfortable, and I love the princess seams for giving an excellent fit. I like this pattern so much that I'm already working on my third version - this time with the top half. And I'd like to make a few more skirt versions as well... and maybe a version that's just the top. With a peplum? With a knit? Seriously, I feel like this pattern has loads of potential, just waiting to explode all over the place. Nice job Colette Patterns.

Okay, now that I'm done gushing, I do have a few small beefs with the pattern. But really, they are quite small. First is the length of the vent in back - it just seems too short. Not for functional reasons, but just because to my eye the proportions look wrong. Compare the two versions below:

See how the vent on the navy version seems a bit puny? I made it longer in the floral version, and I like it better. It's a small thing, but there ya have it. It's hardly going to keep me from enjoying the skirt though.

The second issue is not the pattern's fault really. As much as I love the princess seams for giving a nice fit, they are a pain in the tuckus for ironing these things.

I don't know if it's the fabric's fault or what, but the seams I pressed open don't want to stay open, and all those seams make for some tricksy ironing. Oh well. Again, it's not going to keep me from wearing them. But I would love to make a version with flat felled seems, which I think would solve the problem nicely. I could also just serge the seam allowances together instead of serging the two sides separately, which might also help. But I thought it'd be nice to be able to let the seams in or out over time, so I did it the hard way. Live and learn.

Coming soon - yet another Lily (and perhaps another), and more swimsuit bottoms!

Visiting old friends - McCalls 3562

Have you ever held an idea for a sewing project in your head for so long that when it comes time to sit down and sew it, you're no longer inspired?

I was going to make up this cute late 60s dress in navy with a contrasting yoke in white, maybe with some gold buttons to give it a jaunty sailor vibe. My mom gave me some lovely linen from NY Fashion Center for my birthday last summer, and the pattern and fabric have been dancing around together in my head for the past year.

But when it came time to put the two together, I wasn't feelin it any more. The hot Indiana summer is on its way, and when I sifted through my pattern stash and came across this one, I decided to shift my plans:

This is the same pattern I made a maxi dress from several years back...

Despite looking a little preggers in that photo, I love this dress to pieces. I don't even care about all its beginner-sewist flaws, like the fact that my straps are different widths where they cross over the shoulders and that the hem is uneven and poorly finished with some sorta weird stiff hem tape. I don't notice any of those problems when I wear it. All I notice is how lovely and swishy the rayon challis feels. I feel like a pretty pretty princess. A pretty pretty comfortable princess, since it is also loose and flowing - perfect for a hot Indiana summer. Isn't it nice to know that the sewing flaws we brood over sometimes don't matter at all in the finished project?

So I decided to make up this pattern again (in the shorter version this time), using my navy for the main body and the white for the contrast straps.

I love how it turned out! Also, if you tie the straps in front, you won't cause consternation in people who can't tell if you're expecting or not! (Although I could definitely still carry a basketball around under this dress if necessary.) Also, check out how vibrant and green Indiana looks in that photo. I haven't messed with the colors at all. C'mon Mom and Dad - don't you think you'd like to try Indiana out just a little?

Moving on, I traced off this pattern again in the shorter length because I have a feeling I'm going to want more of these. First of all, it's a super simple sew. One pattern piece for the front, one for the back, and a couple for the straps. No closures. Easy peasy. Second of all, it's the perfect dress to throw on when the weather is hot and you can't be bothered with anything finicky or clingy.

This dress also makes me feel like a pretty pretty princess - a low-maintenance princess who frequents farmers markets and likes berry picking. The lace helps. It is leftover from my sister's wedding dress, and I think it was the perfect finishing touch.

I sewed it on like a facing flipped to the outside, which made for a very easy hem finish. Here's the deets:

1. Cut two strips of lace of equal width and long enough to go around your hem when pieced together (unless you're able to cut one very long strip equal to your hem circumference).

2. Put your strips right sides together and serge or zigzag along one short end.

3. Press your seam allowance to one side. Turn your dress inside out and lay the right side of your long lace strip against the wrong side of your hem. Pin all the way around until you figure out how long you need your lace strip. If possible, make sure the seams on your lace fall somewhere inconspicuous, like at the side seams, and not at the center front - like I did. Whoops.

4. Mark the point where the lace ends meet. Serge or zigzag this short end together, and cut off the excess.

5. Finish pinning the lace to the hem, and then serge or zigzag all the way around the hemline, joining the lace and skirt fabric.

6. Press the lace to the right side of the garment. You probably want to use a press cloth like I did, or you might melt your lace (as I have done in the past). Try a test swatch first before putting any heat on it.

7. If your lace is shifty like mine, measure and pin the top edge so that it maintains an equal width all the way around your hem. Then you can either put a basting stitch in to hold everything in place or just charge right ahead and secure the top edge with a zigzag stitch. I used a basting stitch first, and I'm glad I did.

And that's all there is to it! Almost not worthy of a tutorial. I really like the result though - I'm always meaning to put more effort into embellishing my makes. I think I'm going to use this technique again, maybe to hem some shorts or the sleeves on a shirt.

Other things I did with this dress - I changed the back neckline to a V, partially because I thought it would look nice and partially because it allowed me to cut down past a weird bubble I had created in my French seams. This dress is all about embracing imperfections.

The neckline facing (which is on the outside and turns into the straps) is just kinda sandwiched inside of that center back seam. Not proper technique, I know, but who's gonna criticize me? I top-stitched the bottom edge of the facing to keep it secured against the bodice of the dress.

Also, I should mention that I cut the fabric on the bias for this dress. It's the first time I've dealt with a bias cut dress, and this is a nice and easy starter pattern for doing it. The pattern doesn't say to do this, but I thought it couldn't hurt.

I let the pattern pieces hang on my dress form for a day (maybe two?) so that they could stretch out. It created some weird puckers around the armhole where I had put in stay stitching.

You can kinda see the puckering in the photo above. I ended up pulling out the stay stitches to get rid of this, and I'm still not really clear on the rules of bias sewing. You're supposed to let the garment hang to stretch out, but what about areas that you don't typically want to stretch out? I read some forums on Pattern Review that say to let your garment pieces stretch out, then lay them down again with the pattern paper on top and trim off areas where they grew. That seems like a big hassle. I also read that some people recommend cutting your pieces with extra wide seam allowances, so that if they stretch vertically you don't loose too much width. That seems like an even bigger hassle. In the end, I put my stay stitching back in after I let the pieces stretch. I used twill tape or organza strips to stabilize the neck and armholes against further stretching. I hope my methods work, but only time will tell.

As for the bias affecting the drape of the dress - I'm not sure if it helped or not. Even though this is handkerchief linen and very lightweight, it's not particularly drapey, so maybe the bias cut helped a little. I definitely wouldn't make this dress in anything less drapey or much heavier - it's best suited to fabrics like the challis I used on the maxi version. But I think the linen works, especially for the short version.

Nothing else to report on this one, so I'll leave you with this glamour shot:

Haha! That's how I work it.