Two challenges aced; Sew My Style Lander shorts and Burdastyle July top

Just squeaking in again with these two challenges.  The top is no. 116 from BurdaStyle July issue.  I'm really pleased withmyself for completing the first seven months of Hila's challenge.  When I picked this top I thought it would be pretty simple, but actually ...... it's not!  I cut a size 40 and it was pretty roomy, I took a little more in at the sides.

You have to bravely slash down the front facing, and then place a placket at the back and  sew the buttons that.  There are rouleau button loops.  I have to say I always find placing these accurately tricky, and this time was no different.  There is also a really long drawstring, and boy was that tricky to turn.

 

 
The neck is faced and that means that at the strap area there is as many as 6-8 layers!  In order to make sure these stay in place I added a few stitches holding both the front and facing in place.

I didn't like the really long ties on the shoulder straps so I reduced them by 4 inches.    I do love the fabric, so cute.  It sews and presses like a dream and has just a little stretch for comfort.  It's from Sew Me Sunshine, which is definitely one of my favourite websites; great fabric, excellent service and so beautifully wrapped.  Unfortunately this one is sold out, but there is a similar one.  So overall a cute pattern, but not a quick sew, even knotting the shoulders in the right place isn't easy to do on your own!

I've just finished my Lander shorts in time for the sunshine to disappear!    I do think that True Bias are great patterns, lots of nice details and clear instructions.    I cut the size 4 and used the full 1" seams.  The waist is still a little loose.  Although the pattern says you can't adjust the waist you can, if you use a technique of fitting the waistband before you sew the edges.

I added 1 2/8th" to the crotch length and I needed this (I have a high waist).  I love the pockets and the opportunities for topstitching.  I had been worried the fly might bulge a bit having buttons rather than a zip, but it seems to be lying OK.  Generally I'm happy with the fit, though there is a bit of excess in the back, any ideas anyone?

It hasn't been sunny enough to wear them to see how comfy they are, but I think this is a great pattern, and I have plans for a dusky pink babycord pair of trousers and a linen pair.  I'm already planning next months challenges!

April BrudaStyle challenge (with a bit of help from Colette!)

So this is a bit of cheat, being a hack of a shirtdress from the April issue of Burdastyle and the Colette Hawthorn.  This is make number 4 and  probably my favourite  so far for Hila's Burdastyle challenge

So what happened was I was about to start to tracing from my April Burdstyle when I finally noticed that the pattern I had chosen was a "tall" sized one.  Being only 5'4" this wasn't going to work, then it also occurred to me that the bodice and collar were almost identical to the Colette Hawthorn.  So I used the Hawthorn bodice and sleeves, just including the tie from the Burda dress and adapting the skirt to have the high/low hem of the Burda dress.

I used the Hawthorn size 8 pattern which was a really good fit.  I did raise the waistline by
1".  Looking at the photos this may not have been necessary at the front, but the back needed a touch more .... mm bit of a conundrum there.  Is that because the front is rising due to my bust, and I needed a fba?

I like to try clothes on throughout the making process to keep checking the fit and decided that the back hem dipped just too low.  Believe it or not I took about 4" off the length at the back and reshaped the curve.

As you can see the skirt is very full (and coincidentally the Hawthorn and the Burda were almost identical in shape).  I wouldn't want to hand hem it and  I chose to topstitch in a chocolate brown thread.  Fitting the sleeves was a bit of a challenge.  Looking at some reviews the sleeves looked a bit puffy, so I took around 2/8" off the sleevehead height.  Having narrow shoulder I also needed to reduce the shoulder width by 3/8".  Despite all this the sleeveheads seemed large and they were hard to ease without gathers.

While I like the look of the Hawthorn collar, I think it is a difficult one to fit and you can see below it is standing up a bit.  I takes a lot of notching to get it even this flat!  I do like the centre part though.

I love the tie, it gives lots of waist definition, and it could be added to a lot of styles, I may well use this again.    Overall I do like this dress and though I probably won't make it again, it is comfy and from most angles quite flattering.  The fabric is a mocha heavy chambray, 100% cotton and a great price at only £4 a metre.  Sews well and has a bit of a linen looks about it.  As you can see from the photos though it does hold creases, sometimes when you don't want them!  It's from Fabworks and still available.

After a busy week, Dan came home and we had a lovely time at a Tom Paxton concert and then on Saturday in the garden (Rosy loved having him home too).

#burdachallenge2018 the drape top

Firstly welcome new readers and I am very excited to now have over 400 followers on Bloglovin and I will shortly be having a give-away. 


I'm a little late posting my latest make which is part of the Burda Style Challenge organized by Hila.  I posted on my dressform in time on Instagram but didn't get any photos of me wearing it ... so here it is!  The drape top from the January 2018 issue.

This is a sort of hit/miss make.  I do like a garment where the front is quite plain and the drama is in the back, but in this case I'm just not sure how wearable it is.  You wouldn't wear it to exercise in as the drape would flop about!  It was much more complicated to make than it looks.  I used some lovely bamboo jersey from Ray Stitch, which is lovely though expensive at £15 a metre.  But I'm really not sure what is the right fabric for this top because the weight of the drape means it is pulling at the back.  I cut a size 40 and thought it might be a little tight so added a tiny bit at the fold, and in retrospect that was a mistake as it had added a bit too much fabric around the waist.  I shortened the sleeves because I didn't want the thumb holes.

Making the key-hole and drape was a bit of a nightmare.  Burda have you make the drape as a closed-ended piece and there is just no reason for this as it adds an extra 2 layers of thickness at the side seam (which makes 6 layers), so I just cut that seam off.  You can probably imagine the weight at the bottom here (and the bamboo is quite weighty).

On the left hand piece here there are multiple thicknesses to cope with and there was a problem with the size of the facings and key-hole,which may have been my mistake or the pattern.  Also the bit of interfacing at the bottom of the key-hole still shows which I don't like.  Here are the insides.

You can see the problem I had below  .... definitely a dog's dinner.  So not an entire success, but I can still wear it, though in retrospect there were better choices to have made from January's issue.

I am much happier with my progress on making leggings though using Vogue 1517.  I have had a Marks and Spencer pair and have worn them to death, and they don't seem to make them anymore, so I am desperate to be able to whip up replacements. My first version was above my ankles and unwearable.  This is the second and almost there, if I can just sort out the lines at the crotch (any ideas?), but I'm pretty pleased and wouldn't wear them with tops tucked in.  When I make my next pair I'll give more details.  Just to say they come up big, I'm usually a size 14 in Vogue, these ended up around a 12- and there is still a little more to take out.    These are made in Croft Mill ponte roma at only £7 a metre and its lovely, really soft, though for leggings something less soft (and thus showing lumps and bumps) is probably better.