Wardrobe Architect Week 9 - Choosing Silhouettes

This week's Wardrobe Architect starts us thinking about our capsule wardrobes.  I've never been able to get interested in capsule wardrobes before as when I have read about it in magazines, it has been about 10 items in neutral colours, all wardrobe basics.  This is really not me.

Since Sarai mentioned that this was the method she was following, I have spent a bit of time reading the Into Mind blog.  (Warning, this is a total rabbit hole if you are interested in this kind of thing!) and I was so glad to find that this is not the method at all.

You decide on the number of days with no repeat outfits so you can have say 3 weeks of outfits planned, and this tells you the size of the wardrobe you should consider.  Sarai is suggesting 20-33 items - this is much more me!

First of all, we have to choose up to 6 of our silhouettes we created in Week 4 for our Spring Summer wardrobes.  Here are my chosen ones:

Full skirted shirt dress with cardigan and pumps

Sleeveless summer dress with cardigan and pumps

Boat neck print dress, long or short sleeved with pumps

Flared or gathered skirt with boat neck tee and boots

I am all about the skirts and dresses!  Since starting to think of my wardrobe and what I feel good in, I have gone from wearing jeans a lot to only wearing them a couple of days a week.  I feel much better about my wardrobe!  I may add a wide-leg trouser option in there too.

The sleeve lengths will vary, and the tights/ boots will be worn in spring but (hopefully) not in summer.

Hemlock Tee

A quick post for a quick make!

This is the Grainline Hemlock tee which is a free pattern that you can download from here.  It's available in one size (Jen's!).

I bought some navy jersey, planning to fill a wardrobe gap (I have one navy tee and lots of things that go with it which I can't wear when it is in the wash, as it is every week).  I was going to make a Renfrew, but totally failed to notice that my jersey had precisely zero stretch in it (why do they make fabric like that?).  I needed something looser fitting to compensate for lack of stretch and Hemlock fit the bill!

I after a little bit of measuring, I cut the pattern as drafted.  I have seen looser fitting versions which work well too!  It went together in about 40 mins on my overlocker, and I twin-needled the cuffs and hem.

I'm not sure this fits into my everyday work style, but I think it could still work tucked in.  But it's certainly a great lounging staple - I do like the dropped shoulder and the wide neckline.

I still need that navy Renfrew tho - must check the stretch of jersey before buying!

FO: The Gertie Portrait Blouse

Anyone who followed me during Me Made May will have seen this - It's become a wardrobe staple!

It is the Portrait Blouse from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing.  I loved this from the first time I saw it.  It's such a pretty style with very clean lines and shapes.  I am really getting into blouses after being a t-shirt girl for most of my life - I have several more planned.  This one feels very ladylike!  Maybe I fear the ironing board less than I used to since starting sewing?

For such a simple pattern, I did have to make a lot of adjustments however.

Of course, I consulted the fabulous #sewcialists on Twitter - there's always some fab advice available - and found that Katie had made it already so she gave me some great tips.

The sizing on Gertie's book patterns is quite different from usual pattern sizing - I made an 8, and added slightly (about 1/4" at each seam) to the waist and hips.  I have heard that the book is quite wide across the back which suits my broad shoulders and I think the shoulders fit well!

Gertie says in the book that it is a short style, so I knew I'd be in for some considerable lengthening - she wasn't wrong.  I lengthened by 4"!  I also did a small FBA.  For me, the neckline is perfect and I love the loose tucks rather than darts.  I did have to lengthen them quite a bit to get them to sit flat - the fabric would insist on poofing out above them, but I kept extending them until this stopped happening!  I suspect this was to do with my lengthening making the end points hit in the wrong place.

I also did a couple of new techniques on this make - narrow hems, following the instructions from the book.  It was fairly easy and looks nice and neat.  I also handpicked the side zip.  I don't know why I haven't done this before, as it made the zip so easy to insert neatly.  My only complaint is that the thread matches the fabric so well that you can't see my pick stitches!  As you would expect, Gertie's instructions on both of these were nice and clear with good photos and illustrations to help.

The fabric was a poly remnant with lovely drape that I picked up from the legendary remnants table at Ditto in Brighton (I love that table!).  I had just over 1m and I think it was the princely sum of £1.80.  So that plus the cost of the zip makes it a practically free make!  I've worn it lots and have a couple more in the pipeline (OK they are in my head but they'll get done sometime!).  They definitely smarten up my jeans!

And finally a back view for Nessa:

Me Made May round up and learnings

Better late than never!  I made it through all of Me Made May and met my pledge in terms of wearing me mades - taking photos was another story (well I have to have something to work on for next year!).  Going on holiday mid month definitely helped as I was able to wear the more summery me mades that I wouldn't have had a chance to given the crappy British May we had (although don't speak to soon but June's been OK so far.  Shhhhh).

I have flexed my design muscles and created you an infographic of my month (OK I googled and found www.infogr.am which is really easy to use!):

Me Made May 2013 | Create infographics

Fun huh?  I love an infographic - probably goes with the job!

Looking at the above, it definitely shows that I should make more knits - they are my default wardrobe staple to throw on with jeans.

I also need more separates (which I knew beforehand).  I thought my me made wardrobe mainly consisted of dresses but they do tend to get worn less often, so luckily I made a few extra knit tops beforehand! 

My wardrobe saviour was my 5 (yes 5!  It's a great pattern and free download so don't judge!) Maria Denmark Kirsten kimono tees.  I wore them on 8 days of the month.  I was also surprised how many Burda items I wore, given that I'm not usually that complementary about them.  Maybe once I get better at sewing I'll mind less about the terrible instructions!  But as someone pointed out on the Flickr group I am massively focused on indie patterns.  I hadn't realised that before!  I guess I prefer the styling and the more consistent (or at least in line with measurements) sizing.  Also I read so many blogs and a Vogue pattern number is harder to remember than Laurel or Alma!  But I only wore 1 big 4 item - and that was my Mad Men dress which was a heavily modified NL 6000.

The only me made items I didn't wear were my Brave Peony (still languishing in needing new zip hell), my Macaron (I need to reinforce the area around the zip before I feel happy wearing it as it's looks pretty messy), my grey Tira (still fabulous but the fabric feels quite wintery) and my Gertie polkadot skirt (got left at the back of the wardrobe when I brought the me mades to the front - oops!).

As a result of trawling the Flickr group and seeing other people's blog posts, I have bought a few new patterns which I hope will help address some of the gaps in my wardrobe.

I have seen so many lovely versions of this and it seems like a great basic skirt.  I have almost finished my first one with another couple of versions in mind!

Another great basic - the Renfrew tee.  I know I'll be the last sewist ever to make one of these but it's a versatile patterns which indulges my t-shirt habit.  Just need to find some great jersey!

There were fabulous versions of this dress popping up the Flickr group, notably from Sew Hopeful - check out her gorgeous bird print version on her blog.  She's been super-helpful on Twitter and advised me to use a drapier fabric than I intended so I'm going to use a charcoal grey knit from my stash and see how I go.

And I preordered Cabarita when Steph put it up for sale.

I've loved seeing her versions on her blog so looking forward to making my own!

Long post, but thanks to the lovely Zoe for organising Me Made May, the helpful and welcoming ladies in the Flickr group and all your fab comments.  It's been fun!

More Pavlova

One of the things I really like about the Pavlova top pattern is how you can get different looks depending on how tightly you tie it.



This navy long sleeved version is tied at the back quite loosely and even lie this there is no gape at all at the front - nice drafting Steph!  It's a nice casual look that I think goes well with jeans (although they need to be relatively high waisted even with my 4" extra length - and I remembered to do front and back this time!)

I wonder if leaving a gap in the seam at the waist and threading the wrap part through would allow it to be pulled down longer?  I think I have seen this in RTW wrap tops.

Still no builder's bum due to the fab muffin cover flap at the back.

I've also got some red denim to make another pavlova skirt for my holiday but it's gone on the back burner due to deadline for the Mad Men Challenge!

Finished: Milkmaid skirt - another backlog garment!

As soon as I saw the Milkmaid Skirt for Grown Up Girls on Crafterhours, I really liked it.  I totally wanted to stalk Adrianna's striped version in the instructions.  And no pattern needed!

So I set to work.  I struggled to find the right fabric but went for the closest one and in doing so broke what has now become one of my cardinal rules of sewing - if you don't love the fabric, don't bother as you won't love the finished garment.

I worked out all the pattern  pieces from the very clear tutorial, and it went together really easily.  Except when I put it on, it was horrible.  I think the fabric was called Toothpaste stripe and it was as awful as that sounds.  And a kind of shiny canvassy twill.  I think I may have gone temporarily insane at the time of purchase!

The fabric was too stiff and I had made it too A-line.  I was also still losing weight at this point which probably didn't help with the look.  So I did what any self-respecting sewist would do in that situation - threw it in a corner and started on something better!

The next time i was in Fabricland I did spot the right material and nabbed it straight away.  It's a grey and white striped cotton.  I harvested the broad elastic from the waistband in the corner and whittled down the pattern pieces to fit my new smaller size and take out all of the A-line. 

Much better (scuse the horrible wrinkles - I didn't notice on the camera and it's far too cold now to get back outside and retake the pics!):

I really love stripes with florals and wore this outift a lot this summer.

It's a cheap as chips make - only 1m of fabric and you make your own pattern.  And speedy too - I think I might have taken 1.5 hours to sew up once I had the right sized pattern pieces. I think it could make a good winter skirt with tights and boots in a heavier fabric (although I would probably omit the pocket binding as I think that might become a bit bulky - perhaps a separate binding would work better on thicker fabric than the way this is applied)

And I had fun with the stripes on the pockets.  And matchy matchy waistband seams (the first time I have really managed this, but on a straight pattern piece there's no excuse not too!)

The spotty skirt

I have a thing about spots. And stripes. But at the moment it's spots! I
think they are lovely for summer.

As soon as I saw Gertie's tutorial for her full gathered skirt I knew I
wanted it to be in navy with white spots.

I really enjoyed making this one. Gertie's directions are really clear and
the pictures really helped. I also learnt a few new techniques with this
make. I had done some traditional gathering using the bobbin thread on some
of the clothes I made for N but Gertie suggested a different way using a
crochet thread and zig zag stitch, as per the tutorial here. It was really
easy and I think given the volume of gathers in this skirt, it was much
easier.

I also inserted my first invisible zip, which I found much easier than
expected! The random lump of plastic that was the invisible zipper foot I
had went on easily and did the job perfectly! I used this method to insert
it and I'm very pleased with the result (altho it doesn't actually pull up
past the bottom of the waistband so a hook and eye is needed). Not sure
what I did wrong, but perhaps I needed to move the zip out slightly at the
joining of waistband and skirt?

As the actual sewing was so simple, I though I'd give it a little twist
with a bound and handstitched hem. Note to self: when comtemplating a
handstitched hem, think about the circumference of the skirt first! But I
really love the flash of red and the deep hem. Looks fab with red shoes!

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