The Burda Mag Search

As I say, I’ve been doing quite a bit of planning since I had my back surgery.  That and serving the internet!

I came across a top from Style Pantry:

Asymmetric Front Button Blouse from Stylepantry.com

I am finding that I really love Folake’s sense of style.  When I saw this I just had to make it to get the fit that I want (needless to say I am no were near as small as she).

So I remembered a Burda Magazine pattern that looked very similar:

It will only require a minor tweak with respect to the sleeves, lengthen it, and add a side tie.

Of course when I went to look in my stash of Burda magazines, I didn’t have this issue! Over 20 years in my Burda stockpile and I didn’t have this one!

Anyway, I found a copy of the issue on Ebay in German!  No problem, but what I did discovered is that in the German magazines, the patterns were in a separate magazine (The US version you have to remove them from the center of the original magazine):

As for my version of the Adidas dress, I’ve got it almost finished.

Just got to add the neckband, finish the sleeves, adjust the it and hem. Then it will b done.  Hoping to get it completed by the end of the week.

Happy Sewing. . .

The Adidas Dress - My Version

If you've had a chance to read my post on "When you can't sew, PLAN!!!, I posted a picture of a Style Pantry Adidas dress:

Image from Style Pantry

I posted copies of my plan for making this dress for myself: 

Re-post of image from When You Can't Sew - PLAN!!! blog post.

My plan for making the dress is the following; 

1. Use Simplicity 8174 (yoked sleeve knit dress) with modifications
• Shorten sleeve to 3/4 length 
• Add 3 stripes on each sleeve
• Eliminate pocket on dress

The most time consuming portion will be creating the sleeves, so I've started on that.  The dress is made from a black knit with spandex.  I'm using a beige color knit to make the sleeve stripes.

The stripes are 1/2" wide and set 1/4" apart.  

To make the stripes I cut stripes of the beige knit that were 1" in width.   (NOTE: Since this is a stretch knit, I didn't bother with trying to cut the fabric for the stripes on the bias) .  

Next, I heavily starched the stripes and folded them in half so that it would be easy to create the tape for the stripes.  (NOTE: Since this is a stretch knit, I didn't bother with trying to cut the fabric for the stripes on the bias).

Since I couldn't find my bias tape maker.  I used two straight pins on my ironing board to help with the folding.  (Some folks use large needles, but I used some quilting pins that I had which are pretty sturdy and long).  

Here's a link to more detailed instructions: Custom Bias Tape without Special Tools. 

I placed my 2 pins a little farther apart and touched my iron between the two pins.  This went really fast!  The key is to make sure you starch the knit really good so that it is pretty stiff (almost like a woven), and won't stretch out of shape.

After making my knit stripes, I used fusible webbing.  I cut some Pellon fusible webbing in 1/2 " widths and ironed this to the back of my stripes for easy placing and top stitching on the final sleeve.

Next stitch the dart at the neckline and snip it open so that it lays flat: 

To determine the placement of the stripes, I marked the center of my yoked sleeves by folding it in half and pressing.  Again I used starch on the sleeves to reduce the stretch of the fabric.  Once you've got the center of the sleeve marked, then make a line that is 1/4" from the center sleeve fold.  Use this mark to align one side of the knit stripe, such that the center of the stripe falls over the center fold of the seam.  This will ensure that your middle stripe is centered over the sleeve center.  

 Use this mark to align one side of the knit stripe, such that the center of the stripe falls over the center fold of the sleeve.  Press the center stripe in place (remember you put fusible webbing on the back of your strips.).  Then mark placement lines 1/4" on either side of the center stripe, and press in place.

Once you have pressed the stripes in place, then you just need to topstitch them in place.  Topstitch on both sides of the stripes, and do all stitching in the same direction.  I topstitched my knit stripes from top to bottom.

Below is one of the sleeves with all three stripes completed:

The key to doing the stripes from knit fabric onto knit, is to starch it really well so that the fabric won't stretch on you.

The creation and placement of the stripes on the sleeves is going to take longer than completing the dress; but it will be a "custom fit".

Well, on to finish the other sleeve, and the dress.  I haven't decided if I am going to embroider a logo on the bodice or not.  Maybe I'll do something like a fleur-de-lis in white, since I grew up in Louisiana; 

Happy Sewing. . . .

Fabric Manipulation Dress - COMPLETED!!

So I've completed it, and I think it is going to be cute on my grand-baby.

Here's the completed dress (I really wish I had a child mannequin to display it on - oh well).

Dress Front

If you take a close look at the yoke, I decided to do black piping around the neck, armholes, and bottom of the front yoke.

Closeup of yoke front

I made my own piping, because I didn't want it to be too big.  When I was looking for cording to use for the piping, I initially thought of using "by the yard" cording; but just couldn't bring myself to pay 99 cents/yard.  So I went to the yarn section of the store.  There I spotted this yarn for $2.50, and it contained almost 200 yards!  The yarn is 100% cotton and was more like a cotton cording.

Front and Back of yarn label (used to make piping)

Since the yarn was 100% cotton, I pre-shrunk it by dipping it in pipping hot water, and then steam pressing it till dry; to minimize shrinkage.  My grand-daughter will be in elementary school before I use all of this!

And finally the back of the dress.  I just used the polka dot fabric without alterations.  

I was thinking of using beauty pins on the back of the dress for the closure.  But will probably do buttons instead, as I don't think my daughter-in-law would be comfortable with the pins.

I made the dress in the size for a 1 year old.  I'm thinking she'll probably be able to wear it by summer.  She's currently in a 6-9 mos and is only 4 mos old.

On a side bar... .

Thanks for the well wishes on my back injury.  The first 4 weeks after the surgery was rough as I was flat on my back for most of it.  I've been moving more the last week, and can sit for brief moments (about 30-40 minutes at a stretch).  I'm walking more.  I've still got numbness in my foot; the doctor says that could take months to heal.  But I am walking with a cane.

Can you believe another woman in my quilting group did the same type of thing last year!!

So remember to be careful when picking up your sewing machines!!!

Happy Sewing . . .

Fabric Manipulation on Polka Dots....

Back when my daughter was little I did a lot of Heirloom, Smocking, and Fabric Manipulation on her dresses.

Well, I just became a first time grandmother of a little girl, and am dusting off my pleater, etc. I'm so glad that I kept my Sew Beautiful, Australian Smocking, and Creative Needle magazines; along with my smocking patterns and pleating machine.

My granddaughter is now 4 months old, and I am doing my first basic yoke dress for her. (Prior to this I did dozens of velcro cloth diapers for her). I'm using Ellen McCarn's "Ultimate Yoked Dress":

Image from Sewfancy.com; Pattern can be purchased at www.allbrands.com
and Sewfancy.com

However, instead of using traditional smocking I decided to do some fabric manipulation for the entire front yoke. I replaced the smocked inset and the upper front yoke with a single front yoke piece.  

My original fabric is  a black polka dot: 

I used a technique known as "diamond smocking".  The sewing pattern is diagramed below: 

More detailed instructions can be found at SewnUp blog: TeresaDownUnder. 

I sewed each of the diamond patterns individually and tied them off; rather than carry the thread between diamonds.  I did this to give the final outcome a flower like appearance. 

Once completed, the back of the fabric for the front yoke looks as follows:

Before I cut out the yoke I pressed the fabric piece with starch and applied interfacing to the back of the fabric to give the yoke some stability when cutting out.

The final front yoke looks like this.

I was so excited about this that I had to share.  This yoke is so-o-o much more interesting than plain polka dots. Can you believe a simple polka dot fabric ended up looking like this?

I can't wait to finish the completed dress. I'm hoping to complete the dress over the weekend.

Happy Sewing Everyone......

When you can't sew, PLAN!!

Well as I've spent the last couple of weeks recovering from my back injury, I began to get stir crazy.

Lately, I've been on a "planner" craze.  I use one at work, and figured it's probably time to expand that to my personal life and my sewing.

I came across the "Happy Planner" at my local Michael's store.  They were 70% off, and i had a coupon for an additional to 20%.  That bought the cost to $7.20 (regular price $29.99) for a Big planner (i.e. 8 1/2 x 11).  It's what is known as a "Disk Bound" planner.

Big Happy Planner

  I cann remove are add pages to it. I chose to add gridded pages.  This one I chose to add have a 10x10 grid.

This gives me a place to write notes and do diagrams for garments or quilts that I might consider.

The next thing I needed to track my garment projects.  Especially those where I am recreating something I've seen on the internet or in a store. Rather than creating new pages, I thought I'd see what is out there already.  I found some pages from the Seamwork Collection Planner. (These pages are free).  The pages I chose to use are the "Look" pages and the Project Plan page.  These fit perfectly for what I needed.

Planner pages from Seamworker's Sewing Planner by Collette

Here is an example of how I use these pages.  I'm currrently recreating a dress that I saw on stylepantry.com.  I like this simple casual dress that can be dressed up with pumps or down with sneakers.  Of course this isn't available in the size or length that I need as a 6 foot tall worman.

Photo from StylePantry.com and accessible on Stylepantry Instagram

This is the original page with the plan for the Adidas dress shown above.

Here is my plan to complete this dress, using yoked dress pattern from Simplicity

Well off to continue my "sewing planning" as I continue my recovery.

Happy Sewing.....