Stretch & Sew 1260: A swing and a miss

Myra needed a new swimsuit and given how fast and easy they are to sew, I just can't make myself buy them anymore. Unfortunately, she is still in need of a new swimsuit, despite my efforts...

This is Stretch & Sew 1260, a long OOP pattern that my mother sent me. I think she used it for my little sister, although I can't recall. The design is super cute - a basic maillot with an opening at the side seam, front and back ruffles and a low back.

The fabric is a tactel/lycra swimwear fabric from Chez Ami. It is really lovely. I've fought with some annoying swim fabrics in the past (hologram lycra, anyone??), but this stuff is nice and stable and easy to sew. I used swim elastic from Sew Sassy, which I'm also very happy with. It is soft, but with good recovery.

I lined the front with a white poly/lycra knit. It is much beefier than swim lining, which made it a good match to the fashion fabric, not to mention far less annoying to sew. I love the awesome little buttons at the side seam. You can also see that I used a triple zigzag to topstitch the openings. I actually sewed all but three seams on my regular sewing machine. You totally don't need any special equipment to sew swimwear.

So, that was the good... The bad - This is not the style for Myra's *ahem* ample rear end. This shot was the only one (of many) that actually covered her little ghetto booty, and this was immediately after readjustment. And it isn't exactly the best coverage even then. The high cut legs resulted in a backside with really poor coverage, and Myra spent the whole time she wore the suit picking at it.

The final verdict? It really isn't wearable. Myra only spent about 15 minutes in it before she was ready to take it off. When I asked her what I should do to fix it, she said, "Make a new one." I think she's right about that.

Monthly Roundup: July 2012

July was kind of an awesome month, at least for the first three weeks. I totally sewed my heart out, then the whole household came down with a dreadful cold, and I didn't see the inside of my sewing room for 6 days. That's a seriously long time for me, y'all! Fortunately, we are all on the mend now, and I got a swimsuit for Myra cut out this morning. Despite the week "off", I still had a pretty amazing month.

I sewed:
1) New Look 6723 wedding dress for Breanna
2) Kitschy Coo Dolman Top for Logan
3) Jalie 2805 top for me
4) Butterick 5645 top for me
5) New Look 6807 top for me
6) Simplicity 1880 dress for me
7) Ottobre 06/2007-9 dress as a baby gift
8) Ottobre 06/2008-2 leggings as a baby gift
9) Ottobre 01/2010-2 tee as a baby gift
10) Ottobre 02/2005-12 dress for Myra
11) Butterick 4167 dress for Myra
12) Ottobre 03/2012-13 dress for Myra
13) Lily Bird Studios Summer Blouse for Girls for Myra
14) Ottobre 03/2011-26 dress for Myra
15) Ottobre 03/2011-11 romper for Duncan
16) Vogue 1027 dress for me

That is 16 items in a little over 3 weeks! Woo-hoo!! Not including the wedding dress, I sewed up 23 yards of fabric, but 40 yards came in. Some of that was a gift from a friend (yay, free fabric!) and 8 yards of the new fabric has already been sewn up. Still, some stash busting definitely needs to happen.

The star of the show this month was obviously the wedding dress. I am so glad I was able to contribute in a small way to Steven and Breanna's special day. The wedding is on the 10th, so hopefully I'l get some good pictures of the dress in action. After the wedding dress, I had a knit top frenzy, which was a great way to refocus. Then I had another run of dress sewing, this time for Myra. Little girl dresses are so fun!

In August, we have several birthdays, so I may have some birthday sewing coming soon. There will definitely be a Minnie Mouse dress on the machines. Other than that, I'm not sure what I want to sew. I've been staring at my fabric wall, but nothing has really been speaking to me. We'll have to play it by ear and see what happens...

Vogue 1027

This dress waited in my queue far too long. I'm not sure what my holdup was. It has a ton of positive reviews on PR and Elizabeth's versions are amazing. In fact, I totally copied her brown version with this one.

The pattern is Vogue 1027. Write that down (or click the link and order). If you do not have this pattern in your collection, you neeeed it.

The dress itself is a surplice bodice with a half circle skirt, kimono sleeves and waist tie. The waist is designed to be slightly above the natural waistline, but I am high waisted, so it sits right at my waist.

And it has pockets. I have recently discovered how essential pockets are in a day dress. These could be a smidgen deeper, but they hold my keys and phone admirably while I chase kids at the park. The fabric is a lovely ITY knit that came from Gorgeous Fabrics.

The bodice is shaped with two pleats on each side, as well as the wrap. It is cut with the grain parallel to the wrap, which I think makes a big difference in a woven wrap in reducing the tendency of the bias to stretch out, but I don't think it makes a ton of difference in a knit. The pattern doesn't instruct you to stabilize the wrap fronts at all, although I think this would be a good idea. For this dress, I bound the front edges with self fabric, which I interfaced with Pro-Sheer Elegance to stabilize it. This helped tame the binding strips, but also prevents the wrap from stretching out.

The binding really turned out nicely on the neckline. The interfacing really made a huge difference. I also bound the sleeves, but that makes them a little snug, so the next time I will do a plain hem on the coverstitch.

For fit, I noted that many of the reviewers on PR felt there was excess ease in the waist particularly. I found this to be true as well. I generally cut a size 12 for my lower half, and a 10 with a large FBA for my upper half. For this dress, I cut a straight 12 and had to take in the waist 2 inches all around. It fits comfortably, but there is still about an inch of ease at the waist. I also did not remove the hem allowance on the wrap fronts when I bound them, which effectively raised the neckline 5/8 inch. The neckline is PERFECT this way. I can honestly say I have never had a wrap dress fit this well. I am thrilled.

Hmm, my turnout isn't what it once was.

The style of this dress reminds me strongly of the dresses my ballet instructors wore when I was a young thing. I found myself "dancing" through my day as I wore this dress. It's amazing the effect a dress that makes you feel pretty can have. I held my head higher, smiled more, and basically had a great day, despite the fact that I had a miserable head cold. I'm going to make a few more of these.

Ottobre 03/2011-11

Duncan has decided that diapers are fun to remove, and elastic waist pants and shorts present no challenges to the little nudist, so we've been dressing him in overalls and rompers, which gave me a good reason to sew this one.

The pattern is #11 from the 03/2011 issue. It's another one that I wanted to make as soon as I saw it. 

I did make a few changes to the design. I really dislike back closures on baby and toddler clothes, and the original design had a back zipper. Instead, I switched the neckline with a envelope style (from the Happy Animals tee, #12 from the same issue) so that I could just pull it over his head. I also omitted the interfacing in the waistband panels, since I needed those to stretch over his shoulders. I cut the back waistband and tee on the fold.

The fabrics I used were all given to me, so this is pretty much a free garment! Even the button was left over from another project. The tee is a printed interlock from Joann that my mother had left over from a project for my nephew, and the denim colored knit as well as the ribbing used for the binding were given to me by a friend when she de-stashed.

So, laugh now. Y'all, I seriously thought all those snaps were blue!! I need better light in the sewing room. Once those suckers are in, there is no getting them out, so Duncan has a mismatched snap. 

How cute is that kid?? I did make them a little bit long. If his rompers are too short, he reaches his little hand up there and sneaks his diaper out the pant leg, and then I don't notice until I find the diaper. Or a puddle. These have elastic on the back leg to snug them up, and with the extra length we'll have to see if he can manage his trick. Little stinker.

Ottobre 03/2011-26, the "Rosy Posy" dress

Can you stand one more girlie dress? This is the best one so far!

The pattern is Ottobre 03/2011-26, the "Rosy Posy" dress. When the magazine first came out last year, Myra was still too small for the smallest size, so I was thrilled when she grew into a 98 and I could make it for her.

The fashion fabric was a lucky Walmart clearance find. It is a soft, sheer voile border print and it was only 2 bucks a yard. So awesome! They didn't have much left on the bolt, so although I coveted it for myself, there was really only enough for a Myra sized dress.

The voile is super sheer, so I underlined the bodice and skirt in white muslin. I'm really starting to love a nice underlining. I catchstitched the hem and facings down to the underlining, so the stitches are totally invisible, but the hem and facing are both very secure.

The closure is an invisible zipper. It isn't completely zipped in the picture, but it does go all the way to the top. I'm pleased that it matched well at the waist, as I couldn't fudge at the neckline since the ric rac was already in place.

Speaking of the neckline, how stinkin' adorable is that ric rac?? It's a perfect color match for the darkest shade of purple in the print. I'm tickled with how well it went together. The sleeves are sweet, too. Just the caps are gathered, then topstitched to the bodice for maximum puff. The hems are elasticated.

Myra loves a good twirly dress! I'll be making this one again soon.

She has requested pink polka dots. Just like Minnie Mouse. And she has a birthday coming next month.