Voila: Pusan Wrap Dress by Couture Nomad

Hello! Today I have another Couture Nomad dress, sewn up over several weeks at my lovely Teacher Catherine's Couture Nomad Sewing School here in Shanghai!

This is called the Pusan dress, and part of Catherine's Urban Jungle collection. She uses a business shirt style fabric for her version, and when I saw how easily she pops on her pushbike with it, I thought I've got to sew it up for Spring... well spring kind of came and went here in Shanghai, there were some nice warmer days, but it's RAINED so much. At least once a week, and today... it actually was quite cold. Humid AND cold. Not fun!

So I started this to wear in Spring, and only just wore it yesterday on a lovely humid & sunny day... AND in our NEW HOUSE! I have so much to tell you about... I definitely need a pause button for our life right now!

Pusan Dress was Couture Nomad's Pattern of the Month a few months back, and is a light and loose wrap dress with optional collar and different ways to tie/clasp. Catherine has a lovely light mustard one that I've seen her wear, and I wanted something green for me... and this polka-dotted light linen cotton was the first thing I spotted across the road from the Renmin Lu Haberdashery Spot... but a funny thing, half the store was a fabric shop along the left wall.... and the other side of the shop was a camouflage sport gear shop... Strange Combo, but CHINA! And so I asked how much the fabric was on the roll, and the shopkeeper didn't know... she was the camouflage shopkeeper! Not the fabric shopkeeper. So I waited a while, no one came back... more waiting... I thought I'd go buy some stationary (Yu Garden Markets have SO many things you can buy for cheaps!) and then come back to get the green fabric.

So probably half an hour later, after buying my pens and envelopes, I came back ... and NO shopkeeper! Ridiculous! I waited another 15 minutes... and in the end haggled with the Camo Shopkeeper to sell me the fabric for 38RMB a metre (it's usually that at the other market for this kind of think...) and she was sooooo reluctant selling her fellow shopkeepers wares... but I couldn't stick around, I had sewing class and a three year old to pick up from kindergarten!

So funny, and so China!

As for the pattern, it was a great trace, cut & sew over 3-4 sewing nights... love the shape with this light fabric. I did felled seams for the back yoke, and they came up quite nicely... I had a wrong machine bobbin problem on one side of the dress (also felled sleeves) so there's some wobbly stitching, but it's under my arm... so who will know! It's a well covered wrap dress too, in that it doesn't gape and reveal my undergarments. And the coverage around the legs is also great!

I shortened the sleeves a bit, and then made the bands half the width, for I decided I would fold them up anyways... and last minute decided not to do a button/snap close and then attached the ties. It's the same material as my Bettine Dress from last year, actually... so having the ties reminds me of that. I loved wearing it yesterday!

It's a great wrap dress pattern, and very quick to make! For all up my sewing hours wasn't too long, but just spread out between all the other things going on! I'll share another update soon on the busy-times here... but at least you get to see my lovely balcony, on the 5th floor of a normal building, no elevator, but in a Chinese compound. So we're stretching all our conversations, and practicing Chinese all the time now! In our old house, lots of people spoke English... but not here! We're still around downtown/Former French Concession, but more in the thick of it... brilliant green Plane Trees are all along the street and heaps of local places to check out. And walking distance to kindergarten!

Thank you to Teacher Catherine for sharing her pattern & her skills with me! If you're interested in sewing in Shanghai, I highly recommend getting in touch! Send me an email and I'll connect you with Cathy! If you're in Singapore, or other parts of the world... do go and visit Couture Nomad for there's lots of e-learning spots but also there might be a Nomadette teacher in your hometown!

Speak soon, and hope you're well wherever you are in the world!

Voila: An Exaggerated Bettine Dress

A dress sewn in Shanghai, China and photographed in Gippsland, Australia! Very excited to show you this dress today, and yes! I’m back in Australia for a short visit, with Husbie’s demanding work schedule clearing up around Golden Week in China, we’ve secured a few extra weeks away and catching up with all the nature we can find at my parents place in Gippsland.

It’s GLORIOUS!

I made this dress the week before we left for our trip and had hoped this fabric would turn magically into a happy holiday dress, and that’s what happened! Yay! It’s a different shape for me, but after my Orangey Floral Kim Dress wasn’t my favourite fit (the fabric is exactly the same light linen feel) I wanted to try a flowy kaftan or kimono sleeve with this absolute favourite purple fabric! And I think it worked!

The fabric is from the usual fabric markets (you can see it here) and I got it at the start of summer. I am in LOVE with these colours. Purple, green, red, yellow. I think they’re my absolute golden ones. Outside of black, but I actually don’t see myself wearing black as often… I haven’t sewn it for ages…. so I might be off it! Sewing this up was easy but it creases a lot and that’s why I think it’s linen… but very lightweight. I need to get a list of fabrics and have them translated so I can try and find out what things are at the markets.

Anyways, the pattern is the Tilly & the Buttons Bettine Dress but super exaggerated… I imagined Bettine dropped by while I was tracing and just kept whispering “more sleeve… you can drop that underarm curve more… you can do it” to me… so I did and in the end didn’t use the skirt pieces at all, because as I traced lower and lower under that arm… it almost matched up with the waist seam so I just drew the side seams straight down to the hem. I tried to keep the same length of the Bettine though, because I wasn’t sure how I’d make a waist (elastic like the Bettine pattern or ties like I’ve done) before I started sewing.

But it’s a Bettine pattern front and back, and instead of that wide facing pieces for the neck, I just used bias and handstitched/blindstitched it down… I didn’t want any topstitching near the neckline.

So I’d stitched the shoulder seams, the neckline and the side seams… and tried it on and was officially a Bettine Bag. Lump of Linen…. and of course no shape for my curvy body made it look even more enormous… so I measured out a long couple of pieces of fabric to make the ties… then attached them at a spot either side (unstitched the spots on the side seam stitching) kind of at the same point the waist seam would be on the Bettine skirt piece (or I guessed it was). The idea came from this photo I pinned but of course didn’t have the extra fabric pieces to make it smooth like that... but hindsight doesn't work as well with fabric, so this worked fine really.

I hemmed it and that was it. QUICK and easy and florally flowy. I tried tying it two ways… this way is pulling the ties forward first and then wrapping them around… that makes a smoother bum and a gathered front. The other way I tried to make a smoother tum and a gathered back waist/bottom but Husbie said this way was better, and showing my body shape a bit more than creating a weird extra shape at the back. I don’t feel frumpy because the fabric hangs so lightly, but I don’t think I’d make it again unless the fabric had heaps of drape.

But I like it and could kiss the big flowers for being so richly coloured. I think these jewel tones suit me ok? I haven’t really thought about it until I went normal blonde last year and then strawberry blonde this year… it’s hard finding the colours you like and that suit you… After a bit of googling I came up with pastels (not my favourite colours/tones) and jewel tones… so will try to stick to these to see which suit my skin and hair colour… When you’re platinum everything looks bold and really good (or I thought so anyways) apart from yellow… so at first I felt muddled having to find the right ones… I feel great in these colours though, so that makes me really happy!

We’re going to a wedding this weekend, and I’m hoping to wear this lovely purple relaxing dress… (unless I make another dress or wear the other Fabric Market dress, who knows what I’ll be in the mood for?!) and cannot wait to catch up with loads of good friends. xoxo

Voila: Summery Kim Dress

Hi! Welcome to my fabulously printed Kim Dress blog post! It’s full of brightness and clever camera angles thanks to my clever clogs Husband and his new camera attachment on his iPhone! I’ll tell you about that at the end, but sewing this dress was fun! Pity I didn’t get the fit right!

I bought lots of light fabric this summer as I visited the markets here in Shanghai. It’s been very hot and I wanted to be prepared but I actually couldn’t sew much. I got too hot even inside with the AC on. Of course I did sew up a few things, but it’s only these last few weeks that I’ve felt like sewing again. Luckily, in Shanghai it’s mid 20s for a while and it doesn’t seem to get cold at nighttime till November (I remember really balmy November nights) so I might be ok with making these lighter dresses … as I have a purple one on the go this week.

But ALSO, we’ll be visiting Australia for a bit, so I’m hoping it’s not freezing cold there when we’ll be there!

So, this is the Kim Dress of the By Hand London pattern collection… I have no idea when it came out, maybe this time last year? Anyways, it officially is a party dress… and perhaps (now I’m 37 years old) a younger person’s party dress as I just don’t feel comfortable wearing it.

Size wise I went for 8/12 but shortened the shoulders by 1cm and shortened the bodice by 1cm.. the other BHL patterns are larger for me in both places and I’d seen Heather say she’d shortened the shoulder seams (I mean shoulder to bust measurement when I say that… is that right?)… and sometimes I feel her changes are similar to mine there.

So I traced it out, and decided to do the gathered skirt (AKA large rectangle with gathers how you like it) to save some tracing time and so felt the pieces looked ok after the small shortening. For patterns like this, I definitely want to avoid large flowers on the boobs, so I tried a few options for the front pieces (it’s the princess seamed) and was happy with how it looked together. I absolutely love the fabric and the painted look of the flowers in the pattern, but as it was around 6 bucks Australian per metre I also didn’t mind using it as a wearable muslin. Might be someone else's dress though... I have to have a think if I'll wear it again.

The lining is completely unknown grey cotton, probably a lawn but as I’m in the markets going on feel - who knows… it feels light but I don’t think I cut the bodice pieces on the grain (or maybe something else explains the pulling of the back pieces). Gah. I’ve been going too quickly at sewing lately… rushing to get it done rather than paying full attention.

The invisible zipper is good, I can do better... I just read about Jenny sewing the zipper and the facing together at once, which sounds do-able but I'm not sure my invisible zipper would be so invisible after that... will have to try that one time! So this little dress was lovely and quick to make up, but I can see that I DO need a small FBA for it and should probably just do the Size 6/10 (like I always do for BHL previously) with that adjustment. The bodice sits too high now because I took off the length and I actually think it feels too WIDE. The straps slip off even though they're shorter and while the fabric is lovely and light on, it's just not right for a fitted bodice like this one.

But I feel like a little girl or extremely matronly (what a contrast) in this style. I also look a bit pregnant - which I'm not - in some shots because the dress hangs from a higher than the waist waistline. I’m trying to find a fit and flare dress that I can make oodles and oodles of versions, and this isn’t it. I’m also wanting to be really quick and not have to fiddle with a FBA, so perhaps I’m dreaming there. But the other thing is that depending on the time of the month, my body measurements are fluctuating! What a woman hey?! Plus I ate a bunch of chocolate and drank all the wine when my Australian friends came to visit! Tim Tams, Mint Slices! All the Australian treats!

My sewing classes with Couture Nomad come back next month so I could ask for help in blocking one up for my size… as I’ll just be adding different skirts, I just need a bodice front & back. Unless you know of a great pattern for larger busts & curvy petites bodice pattern for me!?!

Did you have luck with the Kim Dress? Should I try it again or just keep searching!?

Now, about the photos! Husbie met a guy here in Shanghai who is developing a new attachment for your iPhone… it helps you take photos just like a Digital SLR and while these photos have amazing contrast with the shadows and the dappled light of the trees on this gorgeous Shanghai Former French Concession Street… the ordinary iPhone camera wouldn’t be getting the images as sharp. (He is actually telling me now that the 'latitude in the exposure allows you to have a really large contrast ratio without you losing information' and the lens is really sharp compared to the iphone camera... it's 20 megapixels so that helps too. Here ends the photography chat! Latitude, haha!

He’s testing it out for another week, so we might get some more photos to show you, but we’re pretty impressed with it so far! I’ll have to sew like the wind to get a few more street photos with it!

Voila: Bettine Dress by Tilly & the Buttons

This week is my BIRTHDAY week and I wanted a bright and cheery dress to wear out and about in Shanghai… but especially to wear a nice new dress on my birthday day. It’s my first time having a birthday in Shanghai, so I was looking forward to sitting on a rooftop sipping some bubbly and generally being amazing in the summertime… compared to wintertime birthdays in Melbourne. BUT, no one saw more TYPHOON weather coming! It rained all day Saturday & Sunday and even most of my birthday on Monday. Husbie was glowingly positive saying “Shanghai smells so beautiful and fresh thanks to all the rain!”. He was right, despite the wetness, the town was smelling amazing! So before we picked the little one up from kindergarten, we popped out for some photos but without a lot of covered areas near our apartment, we found a little corner near the cafe that was sheltered from the blustering wind and rain for some photographs!

And can you see my birthday present from little Felix? A phone case shaped like a camera - Oh China, where you can find everything fun!

The dress pattern is Tilly & the Buttons Bettine, and this is the FIRST time I’ve sewn one of Tilly’s patterns. Moving to Shanghai last year, I only brought a few patterns with me… and now that I’m back enjoying sewing so much AND blogging so much again… I started to pick and choose a few new patterns to try! While I thoroughly welcome all the independent pattern designers, I am usually consistently thrifty & mindful of just buying secondhand. BUT, this recycling way of life is WAY different & trickier in Shanghai… there aren’t ANY op shops here and definitely no sewing patterns for sale! LOL! Anyways, new patterns can be EXPENSIVE, right?! This dress & the little underwear set pattern Fifi were on sale together, so thought I’d take that as a sign to get thrifty AND sewing. I was curious to try a different dress shape too… and I think it’s a lovely casual day dress.

OK, so I actually loved how simple this pattern was to sew… there are not many pieces, and the skirt front and back is the same piece. I don’t have much of a toosh sadly, but it might be something to consider if you’re more rounded at the back than the front. But it's a simple beginner project, this version, and while I’m probably an intermediate seamstress, it’s nice to have some simple projects once in a while.

I size between a 4 (at the bust) and a 3 at the moment, so because the shape of the bodice pieces (a big fat T!) so I traced the 3 size everywhere but around the bust/underarm area where I tapered to the 4. Also while tracing the skirt, I shortened it by 2cm, which made it all perfect in length for these short legs but also made the shape of the skirt tricky to know the right side up… which is why I attached it upside down. Oops.

The fabric is some very light cotton from the Dongmen Lu Fabric Market, and the same market stall I got the fabric for my Anna/Circle Skirt dress. The seller said it was cotton, but due to it’s drape it could be viscose or a rayon, I just don’t know my fabrics well enough to guess. But it’s very comfortable to wear and irons ok but there are a few creases that come with it while wearing. The floppy nature of the Bettine bodice is perfect for the amount of drape in this fabric.

I also have become a bit of a french seam lover when it comes to this fabric, it’s lovely to sew up… with the 5/8 seams the Bettine suggests, I just did 5mm wrong sides together and then 1 cm right sides together. Have no idea if this is the right measurements… it comes up lovely on the insides though… I just wish I’d folded and stitched the overlocked facing edges and hem now as the overlocked finish with the grey threads looks a bit ghastly with the nice neat french seams. Oh well!

As I made this up over several days, sneaking a few minutes here and there around my Mama Life Responsibilities… I somehow lost track of the top of the skirt, and until I tried it on finished & sewn up, I realised the skirt piece with the blue pattern was upside down… looking in the mirror I was like, hey that blue key looks different on the skirt piece. URGH. Maybe I’m more of a beginner seamstress after all. What a dickhead! Of course a print like this can hide it well… but there’s a slightly different drape shape in the skirt (haha drape shape) so I will have to make it again to get it done well.

It’s a very quick dress to make up, and Tilly’s instructions are VERY easy and fun to follow. I don’t mind a bit of handholding sometimes and I took the advice of actually measuring the neckline facing topstitch and drawing a fabric pen line… it makes it incredibly neat. Thanks to all you Instagram friends who suggested the black threads (instead of yellow or white) sometimes it’s hard to know what to do!

Thinking back to my old vintage pattern stash, this dress would probably have been similar to a late 1970s or early 1980s elastic waisted dress… the built in sleeves making the T shape… I wonder why the dress couldn’t have been just one long T shape instead having a separate T or skirt piece. I also wonder if trying the pocket version will hide a cute as a button tummy bulge or will it accentuate it?

Anyways, I’m looking forward to trying the Fifi pattern now! I think I’m going to team it with a Sew This Pattern Venus Kimono! Just gotta work out how to mix and match the fabrics!

Hope you’re having a lovely week and remember that my giveaway is still open till Monday. A great prize, your own personal Shanghai shopper (me!) and a gorgeous Megan Nielson Pattern of your choice!

And because this is my first Tilly & the Buttons pattern, here are some Tilly-esque photos! Il est une petite femme mignonne! Just like you Tilly!

Notes & Summary:  
Pattern: Bettine by Tilly & the Buttons
Fabric: Cotton with a floaty light drape. Purchased from 168 Dongmen Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Er Lu, 东门路168号，近中山东二路  
Size: Size 3 but a Size 4 at the bust  
While Sewing: All fine, and lovely! Just got to label the top of the skirt a little better next time!  
Will I Wear It? Yes, the weather is a little cooler so it’s not annoying to have elastic around your middle. This could be my autumnal staple!

xoxo

Voila: Two Dresses for Summer Part 2

We made it! Ah! It's a Happy Friday!

Here's my second version of the summer dresses I've made recently; for some reason the entire week has flown by due to sickness in our house! *glee* being ill in summer just hits you for six! *gush* love being sick with a toddler around! *squeal* (actually genuinely here) I watched the rest of Orphan Black season 3 and now all of Sense 8. I am officially addicted to Sci Fi TV shows when I'm sick. Learning new things all the time about being me!

This fabric was also from Taobao, and while it's not my usual colour, I actually just picked it because it looks weird. I thought it looks like pixels like the flowers are hidden underneath gingham pixels or something. I like it. It also has a little stretch in the fabric, and while I used the same pattern for the bodice pieces as my black dress, this fabric is a lot more floppier, so stretched out a little differently widthwise... I noticed this week after wearing it a bit that I have to wear a certain bra that doesn't show too much of the boob because this dress is way scoopier.

See?

I just checked the Taobao store where I got this weird fabric, and there's Liberty fabrics (if you're into that stuff) for really cheap! Maybe they're fakes? It's so hard to know!

For this dress, I cut it the same, but had less fabric for the skirt pieces... I decided to sacrifice a little for bias binding tape, so that the neckline/armholes had the same fabric... so I only had about 50cm to 70cm for the skirt pieces each... and actually turned them to be on the opposite grain (what's that called again?) so that the longer widths were gathered, to make a fuller skirt. The print pattern is so weird, I didn't think it'd be noticeable and I like the effect it gives the skirt.

There's the front bodice pattern piece above, and I kept the back bodice a little longer to accentuate the high low hem. But in this dress, I had to go with what fabric I had left, and so made the skirt this length and slowly graded the back to match it... it's not perfect, but I made a very thin hemline so it's ok for now.

The neckline also sits very flat! Yay! Very happy with that!

And this is my "I'm not sure I like this one" face:

It's hard fabric to photograph too, some shots came up really overexposed. Don't stare at the dress too long though, it'll make you feel weird.... I think it's like stripes on television, sometimes it doesn't work...!!!

BUT, I wore it a couple times in the last week and it IS cool, and it's much better than I thought... after making the two-for-one I thought the black one would be the best and I'd give this one away... but I like it now.

And, since Carolyn asked about the turban style attire with my last post, here's my blog post from wintertime on wearing the 'urban turban' and where I found some great videos on tying different styles! I've often liked a headscarf in helping pincurls set, but have a read of my post for some more thoughts.

Lastly, next week, it's my BIRTHDAY and I'm going to be hosting a GIVEAWAY! So if you like sewing things (and sewing patterns!) check in for that one (and to wish me happy beeday!) xoxo

Voila: Two Dresses for Summer Part 1

Darlings, today I have some double trouble darling dresses! Have you ever needed something sewn up super quickly because the weather calls for it? You need to wear it EVERY day because everything else in your wardrobe is so hot and heavy, you need a floppy frock STAT!

Here’s my quick fix for that humid hotness and I quickly created two dresses at once and I made this first black one, put it on, and then started the next one right away. Shanghai has been a huge bowl of hot velvety air, and just these last few days thanks to a (very) southern Typhoon, we’ve started to breath normally again and felt some fresh cooler winds! Oh it’s hard to do anything when it’s THAT hot, so you can imagine me slowly plodding through the days with a 2 year old…dragging him from various pools to indoor play centres trying to avoid the crowds and any stickiness!

So, the first dress to talk about today is the black one, and tomorrow I’ll post about the creamy/greeny one!

The fabric is light cotton, that my Chinese friend helped me buy from Taobao (maybe you can see here, if you use Chrome it'll translate for you - that's how I do most of my shopping online here in China!), and while I asked for 3 metres, I think it was '3 units' where 1 unit is 50 cm. Oh well! It's super cheap for such lovely fabric and I kind of wanted to test out buying fabric from Taobao to see what the quality was like! This says it's South Korean in 'style' but have no idea! Anyone able to read the characters for me in the selvage? Luckily there was only JUST enough for this dress. There is also a slight stretch to the cotton, and thought it could be good with making a summer frock even comfier and floaty.

I have used this dress shape a few times in my sewing, originally I had an 80s dress that I refashioned to be a cute shortie toddler looking thing (yes I have often dressed like I’m a child/Strawberry Shortcake) and then I made a red floppy summer dress one morning because I didn’t have anything to wear to a music industry panel I was talking on. You know that feeling, when there’s NOTHING to wear. But I also wore it on holidays in Bali. And then I made this floppy frock for a few summers ago in Australia and I wear it ALL the time. From the MMM month of wearing my handmade clothing, it was the thing I grabbed the most as the weather hotted up and so I had it in mind to sew up a couple more when I had the chance.

So pretty much the pattern is two bodice pieces and whatever fabric you have left over for the skirt. This time, since I have tracing paper, I decided to use the Plantain pattern pieces from Deer & Doe’s free pattern, and make them a little more like the dress I wear. So the pattern is now a hybrid shape that’s evolved to this silhouette… but I’m kinda happy with how you can just chuck it on, no zipper or clasps and flop around on a hot day. For you step by step readers/sewing peeps, I cut the bodice pieces, measured what fabric I had left and then cut two rectangles, for back and front skirt pieces. I used the longer rectangle edge for the gathered skirt piece to create the volume/width to the skirt.

For the construction, I stitched the shoulder seams, attached the neckline bias tape, gathered the skirts, attached the skirt pieces and then stitched the side seams with the overlocker. I then did the armholes with bias tape, and that turned out great, but I’m not so pleased with the neckline. I had to guess the length of bias tape (I think I even googled to find a measurement tutorial or some such thing - I found Grainline’s fantastically smooth tutorial on attaching), and used this gingham bias I made earlier in the year because there was no fabric left to make bias tape to match. While this is totally wearable and fine, I’m not too happy with my skills on the neckline though...

It curls up and I think that’s because I haven’t included enough bias tape length, so that made it harder to stretch out the tape to the curves… sound right? I have done this in sewing school just three months ago, so maybe I should check my notes. Also, in the above right photo, you can see my little patch up job under the arm... as my scissors snipped a little too much as I was cutting the loose threads and I had a teeny 5mm hole right on a fabric spot... so it was easy to patch and stitch up... I got a bit carried away by the swatchy patch though, so it looks much worse.

But YAY for summer floppy frocks, soooooo cool to wear and the high-low hem is perfect for bike riding, I sit on the longer hem while pulling the front around a little so it doesn't fly up while riding around town. Last week when it was oozy steamy hot, we all went on a trip with the children to a museum and the pool and I felt just lovely and as cool as one can be in that heat.

Notes & Summary:  
Pattern: None but used Deer & Doe’s Plantain as a guide for shape even though this is woven, and that’s for stretch fabric.
Fabric: Cotton with a seersucker look  
Size: Not sure, my size!  
While Sewing: All fine, but snipped the fabric with the little scissors while cutting loose threads! DAMN.  
Will I Wear It? Already worn 5 times in the last 2 weeks! And what a special day for you, you've had an EXCLUSIVE glance at my indoor slippers! Glamour inside the house here in Shanghai my friends!

Voila: Maxi STRETCH Anna Dress

Ha! I have a great summer frock for you today! AND some fun nighttime photos! Sewing in Shanghai in Summer is getting *very* hot! Wearing clothes, sewing clothes, all exhausting! I have lots of projects on my wishlist, but I also have lots of water, swimming plans and cocktails on there too. Fingers crossed the humidity here in Shanghai doesn't melt us all away!

OK, so firstly, the photos are very rough, but cute... Husbie and I took them very quickly after Pizza Friday (just made that up) and we did try to get some daytime photos on another day, but our darling boy wasn't interested, and then we bumped into friends and we drank and laughed the day away while the children ran around in the afternoon shade. A lovely afternoon, but yes, that's why we have some fun and spontaneous photos for you... but it's kinda funny to show you a totally random Shanghai street! That white shop bag! Felix showing off his many facial expressions!

Onto the dress. Yes, this is my THIRD By Hand London, and that maybe shows you how little variety I have in my pattern stash, I also didn't realise I was sewing up so many BHL so last week I bought a couple of pre-birthday present patterns so you'll see some different shapes soon. PROMISE! But hey, this Anna is STRETCHY *and* a MAXI (breaking my petite rule - did I ever have a rule? Not sure/Can't remember/Who Cares)... so voila! Here are some photos for you to study, take note and let's discuss after:

When I was sewing the Colour Pop Anna Dress, I started wanting a stretch fabric project and googled up Anna Stretch Fabric (original) and found Dixie DIY's version, I think she made as a pattern test (I have no idea, I was having a baby & on maternity leave for 2012-2013 so missed a lot of 'sewing blog news') for the BHL... and thought, GREAT I'll use my newly traced pattern pieces! The fabric comes from the Dongmen Lu Fabric Market (details at the bottom of this post) and has great stretch, drape but a slightly rough feel instead of that sheen/smooth feel a knit has. I've never sewn with it before, and it wasn't too bad, however my overlocker wasn't the greatest at cutting it, so I had to go slowly or the offcuts would get sucked into the serged pieces and MESS AND CHAOS would be inside the seams. Yuck.

For the skirt piece, I traced the three BHL Anna skirt pieces together and used the same for front and back, but making the back slightly wider around the hips. The stripes weren't too hard to match up, but I took a long time with pinning and for cutting I did cut on the fold so to match the stripes either side. I spent the most time looking at where to place the racer stripes (with the yellow in it) ... above the bust, below, just below, whatever... so I jumped in and I'm not sure this is the best stripe placement, I like the shape it has from front to back at the waist though:

I folded over the neckline, ironed fusible tape to hold it and topstitched it slowly, and it is ok (it's lifted a little in the photo above, after I wore it)... I folded the sleeves like the pattern suggests too and they went ok as well. Everything went fine until the side seams, where the overlocker serged a bit unevenly, so the stripes aren't fully matched up... I will baste properly next time... my hasty mistake. THEN, the overlocker did that thing where it kind of 'gathers' slightly instead of serging... does anyone know this or experienced it? It may have been the fabric, but I un-gathered it ok and ironed flat, but not sure if it's a me problem or a machine problem or a fabric problem.

Anyways, after lots of shirring testing (I had sewn a little dress earlier this year at Sewing School but not at home) I ran around the middle twice... but because I didn't secure the ends properly, it unravelled/unstitched a bit, and you can see that on the waistline:

But I'd run out of shirring elastic in my bobbin and I just wanted to wear the dress by that stage. I have a Brother sewing machine, so the shirring option involves taking the whole bobbin case out, turning the tension screw by hand, and threading it up by hand to make sure it's secure under that little tiny leg thing. Anyways, I'd already changed it all back to hem, and then it unravelled! Gah! I'll be aware of it next time, as I will probably make this again, I like the shape and it's cool to wear! I usually don't like elastic around my waist but maybe I'm changing! So because of this shape, I've bought the Closet Case Files jumpsuit AND the Tilly & the Buttons newest dress... so we'll see if they go as well for my measurements.

So, the Anna dress can be stretchy! AND I'm actually liking this higher neckline for me! Oh, I totally used the same size 6/10 as I did for the normal woven Anna from the other week... but instead of French Seaming I did the normal 5/8 seams... I know with shirring it can bring the whole dress in too tight, somewhere online I saw the ratio for fabric to waist size... so I thought keeping the normal woven size would be good for bringing the elastic waistband in... the fabric is so drapey and light, I don't think it looks too big across the shoulders/back.

Lastly, I think this is my Sundress for Heather's Sewalong as well... even though I drank all the rose wine instead of photograph this in the sunny afternoon... the Sewalong runs til August, so I might get another one in before then too!

Notes:  
Pattern: By Hand London's Anna
Fabric: A light drapey stretch. Purchased from 168 Dongmen Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Er Lu, 东门路168号，近中山东二路
Size: BHL 6/10 with 1.5inches FBA  
While Sewing: I contemplated buying some new patterns, especially some to beat the heat of Shanghai.  
Will I Wear It? Yes, I like it a lot, and it'll probably fall apart, but job well done in the short term.

Hope you're having a great week! xoxo