Deer and Doe Datura

I will be posting this make in more detail on The Drapery's blog soon, but I'm so pleased with how this turned out that I can't resist posting it here first. I'm a bit in love with Deer and Doe patterns right now... you know when you find a pattern company whose designs really appeal and they seem to fit just right? Yep, it's a rare thing so I'm going with it. Don't be surprised if there's more Deer and Doe from me in future.

The Facts:
Pattern: Deer and Doe Datura Blouse, View A
Fabric: Anna Maria Horner cotton voile, a leftover in my stash (yoke lining is from an old white cotton baby bedsheet)
Notions: wee bit of light interfacing in the neckline bias, 4 buttons from my big tin-o'-buttons
Size: 42
Alterations: none for fit, but I added an extra button at the back (pattern only calls for the top 3)

Technically, the bust darts sit a bit too high on me. But I am delighted with the fit and would worry about messing with that if I tried moving them.

We had some beautiful winter sunshine today so grabbed the opportunity for these photos, but in reality it's way too cold here for this floaty sleeveless top right now! But before we know it the mercury will be at uncomfortable highs again so that is not a complaint. See you soon, Datura!

Oh and because I have a hard time posting only serious garment photos on my blog, here's the 'looking at her pigeon-toed feet' blogger/garment model pose, just for fun:

Hmm, don't think I'm getting it quite right there, because that has to be the most unflattering angle possible for my thighs, haha!

- Jane x

Anna Maria Horner + Melody Miller

Anna Maria Horner's beautiful Painted Portrait Dress pattern meets Melody Miller's gorgeous arrows cotton/linen blend (by Kokka)... a match made in heaven! (Well, South Australia. But it's pretty nice here.)

This is my second version of this dress, which I made before in linen, here.

I actually made it a while ago but it spends a bit of time hanging in the shop as a sample (I want everyone to know how awesome this pattern is!) so it's taken a while to blog it.

Things I love about this pattern:

1. It's loose and easy to wear, but has lovely shaping so it's not just a big ol' sack. The side panels and yoke effectively give it princess seams.
2. Massive great capacious pockets.
3. Incorporation of one button - chance to find that perfect button from the stash!
4. Totally wearable on its own or layered with things under and/or over it.

I had some fun figuring out the pattern placement with this beautiful border print fabric. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I ummed and ahhed about using the scalloped border and flower again on the yoke, and cut it out to try, but in the end just went with arrows. The yoke is fully self-lined so the flowers and scallops ended up inside! It's quite a fabric-efficient garment. I can't remember exactly how much I used but it was definitely less than 2 metres (1.7 maybe?).

If I made this pattern again, and there's a high likelihood of that, I would probably try to figure out a minor FBA. It's a size M and in the linen, which had a bit of 'give', there's a bit more breathing space than this version. Shouldn't be too hard to add a teeny bit of width at the side panel where it meets the bottom of the yoke, should it? (Tips welcome!)

- Jane x

Painted Portrait Dress in linen

Do you love a crumpled sack cool linen smock-dress as much as I do?

This is Anna Maria Horner's beautiful Painted Portrait Dress pattern made in a fabulous washed linen, which is an amazing crossweave of orange, purple and light blue.

The pattern gives a number of options, including sleeves and a pieced yoke. I chose the plain yoke to let this gorgeous fabric shine. The button is an old one from my stash and the button loop, as per instructions, is from perle cotton.

I'm afraid all the pictures make it look particularly crumpled and sack-like... the ones above are after its first wash and iron. I think there's a lesson there to grab it straight out of the washing machine as soon as it finishes spinning, and hang it out before the wrinkles have time to set. Or... embrace the wrinkles. The latter is more likely.

And below, taken earlier at the end of the second day of wear, so crumpled in new and interesting ways. (A few extra unnecessary photos because I thought you might enjoy my little helper.)

The colours uploaded strangely in a couple of the pics. Odd.

So - I love this pattern. It has the Anna Maria Horner trademark of interesting, thoughtful construction, and awesome pockets. What peeves me a bit is the sizing, and I've had this problem with her other patterns too. By my measurements I was at the upper end of a Size L. I was wary so I whipped up a quick muslin. It was way too big. I made a straight size M which is a perfect fit. What's with that? There also seems to be an error in the instructions for applying the bias binding on the armholes. Using a 1-inch bias strip, it says to sew it first right sides together with a 5/8" seam allowance, which would leave only 3/8" for wrapping around, which obviously doesn't work. The hem is bound with bias as well, which is a lovely touch, but even sewing it on at 3/8" as instructed, I had to trim the seam allowances to get it to wrap around properly. Solutions: either use slightly wider bias strips or sew the first seam at 1/4".

***Correction! The incredible Anna Maria herself (eep!) dropped by here to help and pointed out that I missed a cutting instruction under 'sleeveless' which says to cut 1&3/4" bias strips for the armholes. MY BAD! Honestly I went just about cross-eyed looking for something I'd missed in the instructions but clearly I still missed it. Ms Horner, you are even more of a goddess than I previously thought :D

Anyhow, these are minor quibbles really and I would certainly love to make this pattern again.

If you are taller than my 5'3" then you may wish to lengthen the dress a bit.

There's a little bit of hand-sewing, to finish the yoke lining. I find this kind of soothing and prefer to think of it as 'couture' rather than 'tiresome'. Yes, I used more of that Alexander Henry lawn for the lining. How much of that did I buy? Will it ever run out?

Do you love a good crumply sack too?

- Jane x

Stylish Dress Book style A

I briefly mentioned one of these dresses a couple of posts back. The pattern is Style A from the popular Japanese Stylish Dress Book. My first one, in an Alexander Henry cotton lawn - see further below - was getting so much wear that I made another. This absolutely gorgeous Anna Maria Horner voile has been in my stash for about a year waiting for just the 'right' project. 

Check out our seven day forecast and you'll understand why this is the best thing to wear right now (degrees Celcius): 35, 41, 42, 31, 36, 41, 41.  (42 being 107.6 Fahrenheit.)

Apparently I was never going to be able to get any photos of me that did not also contain a fairy-bread-munching five year old.

I should note here that I have the translated version of this book which is also graded up into 'Western-style' sizing. I haven't tried any of the other patterns yet but I can say that this one is certainly generous. By my measurements I made a muslin of size 14 which was so immensely vast, I went straight down to a size 10, which as you can see still has plenty of room.

I added simple gathered-top pockets to this first version to match the gathering at the front neckline. I also gave both dresses pintucks around the bottom above the hem because they ended up too long and I thought they could use a little more visual interest.

Then on the voile version I decided to use four small pleats instead of gathering at the neckline, and repeated the pleating on the pockets. Uh, sorry this is the creased-up version after wearing it all day yesterday!

Yes, it's probably a bit see-through in certain lights. And the style is loose and not the most slimming and flattering thing I've ever worn. But the supreme comfort factor and fabrics I adore are certainly winning in this heat!

- Jane x

new handbag

Yay, I made myself a new handbag, which is from Grand Revival's Flea Market Bag pattern, below. I made the small size with shoulder bag length straps and the optional petal ties.

It replaces this sad old grubby thing made from the same pattern probably about three years ago, using fabric left over from blinds that were made for our bedroom window. Dear bag, what a good bag you have been. Time to rest.

zzzzzzzzzz

Fabrics are an Anna Maria Horner quilting cotton remnant I bought with this in mind maybe a year ago, and some Heather Ross moons which I adore and had left over from my quilt last year. I used some sturdy iron-on interfacing on the outer fabric which is making it feel a little crisp now but I'm sure will soften up with use. 

Button is a single beauty from my stash acquired during a brief eBay-old-button-frenzy.

I made the inner pocket larger and put a zip in, so that I don't have, you know, Ladies' Things falling out all over the place.

I've never done a zip pocket before and just improvised, sewing the zip into a cutout I made like this:

  And here are those petal ties which is something I particularly love about this pattern.

look at those happy little moons

 Ah, new handbag. A simple daily pleasure.
New handbag came to school sports day today. I particularly like this photo of Charlie.

Doesn't it look like he is quietly summoning strength as the only red team member in view? Ommmmm....   

(We didn't win but much fun was had by all.)

- Jane x

some pre-blog sewing

That's a very dull post title isn't it? My apologies.

Seriously, with Andy overseas and three kids home on holidays, plus playdates, appointments and squeezing in some paid work, my brain is about the consistency of the lovely new lot of corn-fibre toy stuffing that arrived today.

Quick, a photo.

You know when you take a piece of exquisite fabric, and cut it just so, to use almost every scrap, and create a piece of clothing that you think your child looks utterly edible in?

So of course, child refuses to wear it? Yeah.

I made this over a year ago from some precious Liberty Tana Lawn - a half metre from eBay - to a pattern I sort-of traced from an existing top. It has French seams, side splits, neck binding painstakingly unpicked and re-applied to make it perfect. He's probably worn it about five times. So when he actually chose it from his wardrobe recently I had to take some photos.

Have you ever hugged a child wearing Liberty Tana Lawn next to their skin? I highly recommend it as one of life's most delicious sensations.

A disclaimer for the following photo: the clothes sit better than this when there is not a gale-force wind plastering them to me. Top and skirt both made, I think, pre-blog.

Top: New Look 6808 in a Japanese double-sided double gauze. This is really comfy and totally doesn't need the invisible zip I painstakingly inserted down one side as per the pattern, but then I like it loosely fitted. I added the contrast band down the bottom, and put an old glass button on the collar instead of the bow in the pattern. I thought a bow would be a bit twee added to the whole picnic tablecloth effect I have going on here. I think this pattern would look good extended down in an A-line shape to make a dress, don't you?

Skirt: Anna Maria Horner Proper Attire Skirt in a bamboo denim that I have used previously for Charlie's shorts.  I love this skirt, wear it to death and this photo does not do it justice at all. It's a reminder of how much wear I get from really good, plain basics. It's fully-lined, has great pockets and a really lovely shape.

The waistband is cut on the bias and the denim has a lot of stretch, even though interfaced. Next time I'd take the time to hang the cut waistband up to stretch then re-cut... a technique I saw somewhere and can't Google-find now, drat.

The photo above was taken on a day out at the Barossa Valley. It's a world-famous wine region but you can guess how much fun it is going wine tasting with the three boys in tow. One of the best parts was visiting a sculpture park set at a lookout with views over the whole valley. The boys had fun on, in and around the sculptures.

That Witchard, he gets around the place! (Oh yeah, he'll wear the dress-up garment made of nasty synthetic stuff... but I'm not complaining about that.)

- Jane x

sewing down the stash

A little bit of Christmas present sewing, but not so much I feel panicky. And all from the stash. Yay!
For my nephew who's 12 and developing a love for photography (developing! ah so funny):

In Australian-made Stella knit with velour iron-on, both from Crafty Mamas. I probably could have bought a grey t-shirt from Target for about $5, but the fabric was in the stash, the pattern is tried & true Ottobre Best T-shirts and... I am justifying my purchase of a coverstitch machine a few weeks back. Ahem. I mean really... a hem! Check that hem! (Terrible pun, I blame it on living with Andy The Pun King for so long.)

A skirt for my niece who's 8, has fiery red hair and looks awesome in citrusy tones:

In Hilco 'Ringel' rib knit and Anna Maria Horner voile that I was saving for I-don't-know-what, but I figure Ms Horner isn't about to stop releasing gorgeous new voiles just yet.
I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. I keep walking past this skirt and thinking gosh, that looks comfy and fun. Probably a style best left to the eight-year-olds of the world though.

Not for Christmas but long overdue, a wall pocket for Jasper's loft bed, seen here in action holding many treasures:

He chose the fabrics from my stash, showcasing his opulent tastes.... Backing is a lush upholstery velvet I found in an op-shop and the pockets are silk brocade that my Mum brought back from a trip to India.

Jasper has been in on the sewing-for-Christmas too. We were lucky enough to attend the book launch for Hop Skip Jump, by Fiona Dalton who lives locally, has a daughter at the same school as my boys, and is completely lovely. It's a beautiful book about sewing eco-friendly toys and the boys and I are very inspired to create some of the lovely critters. The day after the book launch Jasper decided to make this adorable cloud pillow from the book, as a Christmas gift for his Dadda.

Cream flannelette for the front, green chenille for the back. We used some new corn fibre stuffing I'd bought recently which was great. Jasper did almost all the work: I just started off a few threads, demonstrated a few embroidery stitches and guided the fabric through the sewing machine while he pushed the pedal.

And what would a current update be without a chook pic or two?

We ended up with eleven chicks but - sob - lost one when we were all out on Tuesday. I suspect it slipped under the gate and was snaffled by a cat. I've now netted over the whole chookyard and blocked all gaps under and around the gate. They're still so tiny but growing fast. You can just see in the photo above, they're starting to get proper but miniature wing feathers! It's so lovely to see the mother hens teaching their chicks to scratch about and eat weeds and bugs.

Boys all home. Chaos. Time to hit publish.

- Jane x