A Belated Tessuti Sydney Jacket

A post that's been half written since last winter:
I love the Tessuti aesthetic. The designs are modern, minimalist and often offer comfort through oversized, boxy or flowy styles. There are a few bloggers on my feed who make just about all Tessuti patterns and they look stunning wearing them. I'm not so sure about these boxy, flowy, often lengthened garments on my body. I generally admire these patterns on others and avoid them for myself.

This was true of the Sydney Jacket initially. And then these amazing coats kept popping up all over my blog feed. I went to a Frocktails fabric shopping get-together last year and I saw four different ladies in four equally gorgeous coats in one morning! About an hour in to the day I was convinced I'd give it a go.

I bought my fabric (wool/poly blend) from The Fabric Store and cut a size S. Due to fabric wanting to fray a little I excluded the exposed pockets and cut the front piece along the selvage. I didn't both about pattern matching because the pattern is a little origami like at first and I didn't want to stuff around figuring out the perfect match only to get it wrong. Especially as I wasn't convinced I'd even wear the coat.

The sewing was pretty darn quick. I found it helpful to mark in chalk the overlapped seam lines on the fabric when lining up pattern pieces. I really like the look of the exposed seam lines but they can get a little messy if you're not careful. On the edges of the coat I sew a line of stitching parallel to the raw edges and then purposeless frayed the edges a little.

These photos are from last winter, wearing the coat over Jeans. But since, I've been more likley to wear it over another drapey long sleeve cardigan with a fitted skirt. I wouldn't say I feel totally myself in it and I think I look a bit like I'm just wearing a blanket, but it's very warm and comfortable. I've been considering making another version but can't decide between a colourful tartan I've been dyeing to cut into and a basic black or tan.  I wonder also if a slightly thicker fabric would give it more structure and remove some of the blanket look?

Tessuti Alice Top

When the Alice Top / Dress pattern was released by Tessuti I knew a) it was lovely; b) the dress wouldn't be flattering on me, but the top had potential; c) it would be a great pattern for the copious amounts of eating bound to happen over the Christmas period. After seeing Rachel's beautiful version(s) I bought the pattern.

I picked up this stunning floral linen cotton remnant from The Fabric Store immediately thinking it was a match made in heaven. I used left over lime linen for the yoke and sleeve linings. Note,  many Tessuti Patterns include pattern pieces for Tearaway Vilene to be used at necklines or curved edges to prevent stretch the fabric. I just stay-stitch instead. As recommended in the instructions I interfaced my sleeves for some extra stiffness. 

I bought the PDF pattern, printed it off and started sticking. I knew that I wasn't going to be making the dress version so I was a bit peeved that I didn't know which pages to print and which I could avoid printing to save paper, ink, time. For those interested, my recommendation is to print the following pages if you only want the top pattern: 2,3,8,9,24,25,30,31, 33-50. If making the dress its probabaly easier to just go ahead and print out the whole file. If you also wish to cut a tearaway Vilene pieces then print pages 23-24 for size XS-S, p4 for XL or p10 for M-L. I know that sounds super complex but I'll definitely be doing this if I need to print out another size.

I find Tessuti patterns to be on the larger size, as confirmed by Rachel's experience with the Alice pattern, so I cut an XS despite my chest measurement falling between XS and S. The top was also very long, more like tunic length. I cut 2" off the hem, turned under 1" and then turned under another 1.5" (4.5" total). Some may like it longer, but I think the width of the top needs to be toned down by a short hem line.

The instructions were well detailed and the top came together easily. The fabric is incredibly bright and fun. The fit is pretty spot on and I really like the outcome, but I'm not sure that this style is a flattering look on me. I'm glad I gave it a try, and I can see myself throwing this top on in summer, but I probably wont make more for myself, at least not in linen. Perhaps a drapy-er fabric might crate a different look? I can definitely see this shape working on some family members so there's no doubt in my mind that the pattern will get used again, even if not for myself.

Colour Blocked Jackie Coat

Long time, no post. Would you believe I just haven't felt like sewing lately! I haven't been much inspired by any of my fabrics or patterns. I think this might have something to do with the changing seasons. None-the-less I have something pretty special to share. I bought the Jackie Coat pattern from Iconic Patterns so I could "sew-along" with the Janelle and Maria during July and August. Unfortunately I was a little late to sew-along but was thankful for their great posts explaining each step. 

I've had my eye on the colour blocked coat style for a while and had a heap of pins-piration to draw from. I ideally wanted a swing coat and originally thought about modifying the Albion Coat pattern as I'd already made it once for Tim. But why re-invent the wheel? The Jackie Coat had just the right amount of swing and I loved the idea of playing with the blocking placement and welt pockets. 

I cut a Size 10 grading out to a 12 from the waist down. In the end I probably could have dropped down a size but more room in a coat for extra layers never hurt. To enable the colour blocking I cut the front, back, and facing pieces in half 9cm below the lengthen/shorten lines. For the sleeves I made the cut at the top turning line (makes sense if you see the pattern). I then added 1/2" seams allowances. Because the Jackie Coat is asymmetrical most of it is cut on the single layer (not on the fold). This, along with having doubled the number of pieces to be cut meant that cutting out was rather a long process. 

For the fabrics I chose a black and cream flannel wool from AH outlet and The Cloth Shop respectively. The lining is a pink silk twill with printed polkadots for the Fabric Store. I love the pop of colour. I knew I wanted to keep the coat really simple on the front so I dropped the bound button holes for these beautiful snap fasteners from The Cloth Shop. They are quite big with a lovely cream speckled plastic component as well as the heavy duty metal inner.

Sewing up Jackie was surprisingly simple. Unlike usual I took my time and enjoyed the process. I catch stitched all the inner seams allowances down so they wouldn't shift and move once the lining was in. I added black/cream top stitching at all the colour blocked seams to help define the lines. The welts aren't perfect but they're good enough and I really like how the black welt pocket intersects through the cream fabric.

The Jackie Coat instructions are very good. The only time I got a little confused was bagging the lining. I've never done this on a coat before so that's no surprise. I somehow ended up sewing my sleeves in a continuous loop so that if I was wearing the coat it would have been more of a straight jacket - a really stylish one at that!

The pattern is designed to be worn with the sleeves turned up, but I really prefer the look and length of them down. The coat buttons right up (see below), but that's not really me. I'm more likely to wear it undone. I love how my Jackie Coat turned out and I could see myself giving the pattern another go next winter incorporating a symmetrical centre front opening like Janelle has done. I'm so glad I got my butt into gear and made up Jackie before the warm weather settles in. 

A Grumpy Gathered Skirt

Last Saturday I had a lovely afternoon eating and fabric shopping with a great bunch of sewers. I picked up a couple of items from Clear It and also from The Fabric Store and was gifted a Cynthia Rowley pattern (S2250) from @suluswabi who was de-stashing (Thank you!). 

I was looking for something drapey to make another high waisted gathered skirt similar to my floral emery skirt hack. At The Fabric Store I was immediately drawn to this silk/cotton blend with a black background and pink, purple and blue dotty stripes.

As it was going to be such a simple make I immediately cut into the fabric and started sewing. I was happy-as-larry when I begun cutting out the skirt pieces but quickly turned into a complete grump. The main problem being that I kept changing my mind throughout this project and lost patience with it.

Here's what went down:
1. Started out with the emery skirt and pocket pattern pieces and a self drafted waistband piece. Added about an inch to one end of the waistband as I wanted to have a button tab closure. 
2. Looked up a tutorial for French seaming when using in-seam pockets and decided it looked a little messy and imprecise. Ditched the pockets.
3. Started sewing the skirt pieces together and came to the late realisation that the skirt should probably be lined as it was slightly transparent. Cut some more skirt pieces out of a skin coloured viscose which I'm glad to be rid off because it shifts around and stretches out while sewing.
4. Gathered the lining and main skirt pieces, attached them to the skirt, serged the S/As. Realised I forgot to leave the end on the waistband free of skirt fabric to allow for the tab.
5. Cracked it (the shits, not the skirt), and wondered whether my skirt was looking a little like a circus tent with these beautiful colourful stripes.
6. Unpicked the tab end of the skirt/waistband and re-gathered the skirt so that it ended where is should have. Changed my mind all together about the tab and just snipped off the extra 1".
7. After turning an incredibly simple make into a frustrating afternoon I sewed the invisible zipper into the skirt and simply serged the centre back S/A's, turned the waist band under and stitched in the ditch, and finally hemmed the lining and the skirt.

Nothing in the above is all that terrible and it was still a quick sew, but somehow I turned a simple project that should have been lovely and satisfying into a complete frustration. This skirt has taught me a lesson about thinking through a project before cutting into the fabric (no matter how simple it seems). Also, perhaps it's best to stop sewing when you start chucking a tanty over the smallest issues.

Thankfully the final product is quite pretty and exactly what I set out to make - a drapey gathered high waisted skirt. That's enough grumpiness for one day! Thanks to Jess for taking these photos at work today.

Wool Wrap Besty Skirt

I bought this divine wool rayon blend fabric at The Fabric Store earlier in the year with a pencil skirt in mind. I'd been planning to try and perfect Gertie' s pencil skirt but was soon distracted by Bluegingerdolls Betsy Skirt. I made up version A for pattern testing/blog tour, and version C for a wedding. I saved what I thought was the best for last for this beautiful wool: Version B, a buttoned wrap pencil skirt.

My two previous Betsy's were a simple sew that came together well. Unfortunately, I had a few problems with Betsy number 3. I had Office Works re-print one of the pattern pages (size AO) and I combined pieces cut from this newly printed piece with some of the pieces I'd already cut from one of the old pages Abby sent me. I told officeworks to print it actual size, but the waistband and facing pieces were both a good 4" too long for the skirt. I assume it was printed incorrectly. Because of this issue I couldn't follow the notches on the waistband and instead just "winged it" and then trimmed off the excess. I did the same with the wrap facing.

Due to the above issues I ended up putting aside the instructions and just doing my own thing. The fabric was a dream to cut out and sew. However it doesn't press well at all so the hem and facings bubble up. I'm thinking about stitching down the facing of the inner skirt front completely. Strangely it wrinkles well despite not pressing!

I again cut a size 12. As this fabric has little stretch the fit is pretty spot on though my legs. The waist is a little roomy at the top and I think the skirt could be improved (for my body at least) by drafting a curved waistband so that the top tapers in with my waist.

 

The foe wooden buttons I used are from Tessutti. They are a little bigger than recommended so I played around the with button hole distances. I love the contrast of the tan button on the bright blue skirt.

 

Overall, I really like my final Betsy and know I'll get good wear out of her. The fabric is heavenly but something crisper, more easily pressed, might have been a better option. Big thanks to my work colleague Adriana for taking these photos in the cold and windy weather.