Sunday, June 5, 2011

Dress and cardigan

Two weeks ago, after my ling erie set and in my desperate mood that my sewing was not going the way I wanted I went shopping for some notions and came home with two fabrics and two patterns. More or less to console myself and to get a quick start. The Burda pattern I just cut, instead of tracing it, what I usually would do. Though I was not completely taking risks, I made a quick muslin of the upper half of the dress to make sure there was enough space in the bust area and to see how the armhole would be. Burda is very consistent in sizing and this time I took the size 42 for the upper part, tapering down to 46 at the hip area. It was almost right the first time. I took out 1 cm in the back arm hole because it had a little gaping problem and took out half a centimeter of the back shoulder at the side of the arm.  Otherwise I didn’t change anything.

The waist is not completely “fitted”. There is a bit of extra space. Enough accent on my waist as it is now, think that if I fitted it more, the hip area would be too prominent.

I did line the dress and was stupid! I had sewn the zipper and back seam, the shoulder and side seams and then thought: there are some tutorials on lining a sleeveless dress on the internet. Let me check how it’s done. To be remembered of the fact that the order of construction is completely different. So I had to do it different, which involved some hand sewing the lining. Live and learn, I’ll sure remember next time. If you don’t want to be as stupid as I was, check this or this tutorial

Thanks Rose, I used one of your zippers here!

The picture on the envelope and the line drawing.

 

 

I can wear this dress with a jacket, I even have two (one black, one grey) that I can wear with this dress. But I also made a cardigan to go with it. It’s a pattern from a new pattern line: It’s Afits. A bit of a strange name to me, I think I read it’s from the German company that also makes the Abacadabra children patterns.

First the pictures from the envelope:

 

The minimal instructions are in Dutch and in German. For my version of the cardigan the instructions tell you to zigzag or serge the edge or  leave it as it is, because knits don’t ravel. Well, that’s not what I like, so I cut 2 cm extra on the edges, interfaced them them with strips of Pam’s tricot interfacing and topstitched with a double needle. I quite like the result, especially as this only needs a little more than 1.5 meter of fabric.

   

And to finish off this already picture-heavy post a picture of one of my roses: Félicité and Perpétue. The buds are dark pink, but opened they have  beautiful white, small flowers. I’ve been working in my garden a lot this long weekend, but I also did some sewing. Next post will show some results.

34 comments:

  1. Your dress looks so fresh and summer like, and the fit is excellent. A summer dress is far more cool to wear if the waist is not tightly fitted.
    Beautiful roses

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  2. Great fabric and the pattern fits you well! Back to feeling good!

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  3. Thank you for the warning - I'm busy plotting a lining for a dress right at this moment and was well on the way to a meltdown if I hadn't read your post!

    Your dress is just gorgeous on you with a lovely fit. I might have to give that pattern a try!
    The fabric is beautiful - is there a chance you bought it online?

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  4. I love the fabric you chose for your dress and I appreciate the info you shared on fitting and lining it. The black wrap works perfectly with the dress. Glad to see that you found a way back to your sewing mojo!

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  5. I love the fabric! The dress looks fits nicely.

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  6. A lovely outfit Sigrid, great fabric choice and fits beautifully.

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  7. I love that dress and the material is really pretty!!! I have to have that cardigan pattern. It reminds me of an anthropologie cardigan.

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  8. It looks beautiful! Love the fabric for that style :)

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  9. I really like the fabric you used in the dress! The dress is nice as well!
    The cardigan pattern is neat. Not sure if that company is in the US never have heard of it.

    The dress looks nice just by itself as well :O) for for a warm day.

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  10. Well, these are very successful projects! The dress fits beautifully. I made a dress way back in the 80's exactly the same (pattern anyway). Very classic style. Mine did not fit so well. It was before I knew about fitting and altering patterns ;/ Oh, and I have made the same mistake in lining a dress and had to hand sew the armholes!

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  11. I love the dress, it's a beautiful, classic style, made in a lovely print. It makes a perfect outfit with your gorgeous black wrap.

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  12. Lovely summer coordinates! The fit is great.

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  13. Nice you see that your mojo is back. The dress is lovely and perfect for summer. Great fit on the dress.

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  14. The fabric you chose for the dress is fantastic. I like it made up as a classic sheath. I also sometimes don't fit my waist as much as I could in an attempt to not make my hips look any wider. It's nice to know I am not alone :-)

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  15. What a pretty, classic-shaped dress. I bet you'll make a dozen more iterations of this.

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  16. Wow - I really like the dress and the fabric!

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  17. Beautiful dress Sigrid. It fits so nicely (very flattering!) and I like the fabric. Thanks also for the link to a new-to-me pattern company. The more the merrier. :)

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  18. Lovely classic style in a fun fabric. I think I have this pattern!

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  19. Beautifully fitted dress and I like the wrap cardigan too. When I saw the grey cardigan from your inspiration pictures, I couldn't help thinking that a grey cardigan would also compliment your dress and bring out the tones in your fabric.

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  20. What a great dress! I love that fabric. That new pattern company looks very intriguing. I'd love to see more from them. :)

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  21. I love the dress. It is very flattering on you.

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  22. Very nice dress! Isn't it aggravating when you work yourself into a corner and have to hand-stitch stuff as a work-around?

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  23. Excellent dress. I think you did the right thing by not overfitting the waist. There is definition there, but not enough to throw the body proportions off. You've got two nice pieces that can be very versatile!

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  24. Perfection, Sigrid! Well done.

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  25. What a great fabric you chose. I like that square neck opening with the soft corners. With the cardigan, the outfit is perfect. Bravo. I am going through a bad sewing phase. I did stupid beginners mistake. As you did, I need a project that works. I am happy to read on your blog that bad phases can go better after.

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  26. The dress looks perfect on you and has a great fit!

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  27. This is a lovely dress and cardigan combination. I always like your fabric choices, especially the prints, modern but in classic color combinations.

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  28. Very nice and extremely flattering. Great fabric.

    Thanks for the post. :-)

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  29. Wonderful outfit. The dress is perfect for summer, especially in that fabric. The cardigan has such an easy look as well. Good to hear that you are feeling inspired to get back to sewing!

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  30. The dress looks like it fits really well! Nice work!

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  31. Gorgeous outfit! I am like you, in a dress like this I can't totally fit to my waist or it just makes my hips look freakish. I think you struck the perfect balance here.

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