A sheer adventure

This blue blouse is a ‘first draft’ of Burda pattern ... Unlike a muslin, which is for working out pattern tweaks and is never intended to be worn outside the fitting room, when I make a first draft I use nice but inexpensive material, in the hope of ending up with a wearable garment, but prepared to bin it if it’s a disaster.
The fabric is a remnant of cornflower blue ‘soufflé georgette’ that I bought on sale at Cleggs specifically for this project. I decided to do a first draft for a few reasons. My old machine doesn’t like lightweight fabrics, so I haven’t really worked in sheers or light fabrics before, and the pattern calls for silk or cotton batiste, which I understand to be quite fine. Also I was not convinced that this shape was going to be flattering on me. Third, I am still figuring out my Burda size. According to my measurements I fall between sizes 46 and 48. In Burda world that puts me into the ‘plus’ size range; however, since I am smaller on top than on bottom, with a little tweaking I think I can make some of the size 46 tops work for me. This top, and my brown kit cardigan jacket, are both size 46, and are both loose and unstructured, which I think is why they work. For this one, I added about 1.5 cm at the entre fold front and back, resulting I suppose ion an additional 6 cm all around, as font and back were cut on the fold. (it was unclear from the instructions if I was supposed to add width here, but I could tell from the tissue fit that it would be too snug without it).
The pattern is quite simple and went together fairly easily. I trialled a few flashy finishing stitches on the cabbage, but given how light the fabric is, they didn’t really take, and rather than spend sewing time faffing about with tension and whatnot, I mostly stuck with straight and zig-zag stitches. I zig-zagged the seams to prevent fraying, then pressed them to the back as much as possible. The straight stitching caused a gathering effect, most noticeable on the shoulder/top of arms seams. I am not sure if that is supposed to happen, or typically happens, but the effect is quite nice.
I left it too late to research how to mitre the neck band, and consequently had applied it incorrectly,. The finish is no as neat as it could have been, but is probably only noticeable to me (and now to my readers).

My First Official Re-fashion

Here is my first Wardrobe Re-fashion entry. Take one yellow promotional shirt, plus the cabbage from the orange knit top, to make a colour block skirt just like on the catwalks – well, maybe.
Next time I’ll remember t shape the waistband before attaching it to the skirt portion, making sure to include a sway back adjustment.

Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

The Pledge

I Belle pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months, starting 1 Jan 2010. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Signed: Belle.

Taking a leaf from Botticelli Babe’s book

Botticelli Babe has resolved to maintain her commitment to fine construction detail in 2010, following on from her commitment to take time to finish garments neatly in 2009. Go say hi to her - http://botticellicraft.blogspot.com/
I find myself inspired to do the same.
Monday I wore my new knit top (4th in a series of 4 made from the same pattern, in different fabrics, of which 2 fit really well, one is a bit loose and one turned out a bit big and gapes, which I blame on the fabric). The knit is a burnt orange colour and I did the construction seams using an orangey-gold coloured thread from an earlier project. I also tried out a couple of stitches for the first time – the stretch straight stitch and the single overcast stitch – which gave an extra neat and secure finish to my seams, without adding any bulk.

When it came to topstitching the neck and arm holes and the hem, I toyed with using the orangey-gold thread as an accent or design feature, but in the end wound some orange thread onto the bobbin that was a much closer match to the fabric. I am glad I did as I am very pleased with the finished garment. And as further proof that I made the right choice, a colleague told me that the top does not look like it is homemade – which I take to mean it looks RTW.