a summer maxi and a new blog

Prost from Germany! I started off the summer with two weeks in Berlin, and now I'm living in the much smaller town of Heidelberg, where I'm doing a research internship over the summer. Sadly I had to leave my sewing machine in Montreal, so this blog might be a little quiet this summer! I'm still knitting, but it'll be a little while before that one is finished!

In the meantime, I've started a travel blog called learning to be lost! Ive been doing lots of weekend trips and so far I've been to Prague, Strasbourg and Colmar in France, Bern and Interlaken in Swizterland, and Munich. I'm going to Freiburg in Germany this weekend, and Paris next week! I'm also posting updates on Instagram, so follow me there if you don't already!

The weather here is beautiful and summery with the occasional thunderstorm - not too different from Montreal, actually!

I've been wearing my latest make a ton here - a summery maxi dress, the Poppy dress from By Hand London! I tested the pattern for them and I was super excited that it was a pattern for knits. I live in knits all summer!

The Fabric Store kindly sponsored the testers and provided us with gift cards for fabric. I ordered the most gorgeous emerald green merino wool to make the midi-dress version of Poppy, but sadly due to shipping to Canada and me never being at home to receive a package, I didn't actually get the fabric until a couple of days before the testing deadline. I would still love to make a Poppy dress with it, but I got way to busy with exams and then left for Germany. Maybe in the fall?

This was intended as my wearable muslin, made out of some inexpensive knit from a local fabric store.

Note to self: never buy cheap striped knit, because chances are it will be ridiculously off-grain after you wash it.

Cutting this out and matching stripes was a bit of a nightmare with off-grain fabric and the long pattern pieces. Did I mention that I've never actually matched stripes before and I was sewing on a tight deadline??

Once it was cut out, though, sewing was very straighforward (and my stripes even matched!). I won't comment on the pattern/instructions/fit much because I haven't had a chance to go over the revised pattern yet (and to be honest, it was a while ago that we tested this so I don't even really remember my comments), but it went together in a couple of hours, easily!

I chose to hem the neckline rather than adding a neckband, but this probably wasn't the best idea for the maxi. Because of the weight of the maxi, it's stretched quite a bit.

Come to that, the whole dress has stretched and is now too long for me. Eventually I will learn not to buy cheap fabric.

I've still worn this dress a ton, both in the spring in Montreal and since coming to Germany. It's such an easy style to throw on, and it can be dressed up or dressed down!

Also, it's great for traveling since it's knit (read: no ironing and comfy for long bus rides).

Look, it came with me to Prague! (Check out that travel blog I mentioned for more pictures)

I'll keep this post short and sweet because I need to catch up on said travel blog, and there isn't a whole lot to say about this dress other than how much I love it!

I'd never actually owned a maxi dress or skirt before and I was super skeptical about whether or not I could pull one off, but I love it!! It's surprisingly flattering, and actually the right length because I made it myself (I did have to take 3-4 inches off though, can't remember exactly).

That's it for now (and possibly for the summer....?)! Thanks again to the lovely ladies at BHL for asking me to test!!

Also thanks to James for taking these pictures for me! (This was before it got nice in Montreal and we took refuge in the underground city for photos...)

Bis später!

a life update and a new favourite purple dress

Hello, world! It's been a while.

It seems like ages that I last posted, and I guess it was. A lot has happened since then. Last semester was pretty rough - everyone said it would be, but literally nothing could have prepared me for the insane amount of work I had. After making my last dress, I didn't touch my sewing machine for the rest of the semester. I got back into knitting a little by knitting microbe plushies as a fundraiser!

This semester, my workload has been a little lighter, but I've still had a lot going on and haven't had much time to sew. I've managed to finish a couple very simple knit dresses, but you know what? I wear a lot of simple knit dresses so that feels like a pretty huge frickin' accomplishment right now.

In other life updates, I'm going to Germany this summer! I'm mildly freaking out about finding somewhere to stay, applying for visas, and booking tickets, but I have an internship for 3 months at the University of Heidelberg studying Hepatits B virus!

At the beginning of May, I'll be in Berlin for two weeks for a language course, living with a host family, then I start my internship that goes until mid-August. I'll hopefully spend the last couple weeks of August traveling around other parts of Europe before heading back to Montreal for my last year of undergrad! International sewing friends, hit me up.

(Actually though, if anyone has friends/family/connections in Germany, especially in or near Heidelberg, I'm desperately looking for a place to stay!!)

Back to sewing, I made this dress back in January in a random burst of energy for procrastination. I saw that Heather from Closet Case Patterns had released the Ebony Dress and Tee, a flared knit swing dress, and bought it on the spot! I had wanted all summer to draft a pattern like it for myself (which I've actually done already for a friend and I know it really isn't that hard), but I guess I like shiny new patterns because for the first time in ages I actually felt like sewing, and I wanted to act on that while it lasted.

The same day I bought it, I taped together the pattern, cut out the dress, and sewed most of the dress except topstitching the neckline and hemming, because I didn't have matching thread. It was a pretty quick make considering that I hadn't sewn in months - it probably took me about 4 hours for all this minus hemming.

The fabric is from Our Social Fabric in Vancouver. My mom brought it for me when she visited Montreal this summer - the perks of having a mom that volunteers at OSF and already has too much fabric! It's a rayon/spandex knit that has nice drape and body, and isn't sheer at all.

The neckline is somewhere in between the scoop neck and the jewel neck. I thought the scoop neck might be too low, but next time I'll probably just make it as-is.

I'll be honest, before hemming this, I tried it on and hated it. I didn't bother buying matching thread to hem it and it sat, unhemmed, on my sewing table for 2 weeks and all the energy I suddenly had for sewing pretty much died. I felt like it looked like a maternity dress and was probably the worst possible shape for my body!!

A couple weeks later, I decided to see what it would look like shorter. I cut 4 inches off and then tried it on, and I loved it! It was pretty much knee-length on me before, which isn't the best look for such a loose fit, lemme tell you. Shorter, though, it's super cute!

I went out and bought thread and hemmed it the next day, and I've worn it way too much ever since. It's maybe not the most flattering, but it's cute and comfortable and I don't have to worry about it not fitting during periods of excessive stress-eating.

The fit around the arms isn't perfect - the pattern was actually revised to give the smaller sizes some more room in the arms, but not until after I'd made this one. It's a little snug but I have pretty small arms and shoulders so it's not too bad. It maybe doesn't sit perfectly on my shoulders which gives the hem a bit more of a high-low effect but I kind of like that.

So tdlr; this is my new favourite dress (sorry Alix)! It's a style I never would have seen myself wearing a year ago but I'm totally in love with it. It's so easy to wear and to dress up or down. I want to make many many more and live in them all summer (in Germany!)

Thanks to James for taking such killer pictures for me! And thanks to this beautiful city for being such a great backdrop. These photos were all taken in Old Port (and yes, I was a little cold!!)

Until next time xx

SOSM Round Two: The Marianne Dress

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments on my Sutton Blouse for the first round of the Super Online Sewing Match! If you follow me on Instagram or if you follow Sew Mama Sew, you may have seen that I made it through the first round, and that the second challenge was the Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know that I love a good knit dress. I taught myself to sew with knits just over a year ago with my first Moneta dress - before that, my attempts at sewing with knits had been unsuccessful and downright frustrating, so I avoided them as much as I could. After that first Moneta, though, I really learned to love them! I made Monetas numbers two, three (unblogged), and four, as well as the Sewaholic Davie dress, the Muse Natalie dress, and countless knit tops.

So, I was really excited at first when I saw that the second challenge was a knit dress! I had also been curious about trying the shift dress silhouette for a while now, even though I usually prefer more fitted bodices and more flared skirts. The Marianne dress, though, looked like it could be a really versatile and wearable dress, so I was eager to try it.

My only worry about this challenge was that it could be too easy! I had plenty of patterned knit fabric in my stash that would be great for this dress, and I probably could have put it together in a few hours had I not modified the pattern. But, it is a sewing contest after all, and part of the reason I entered was to motivate myself to take on some more challenging projects. This project just needed something more, and it took me a little while to come up with a plan.

In the meantime, I printed the pattern (at the library again), and cut a size 0 at the bust, 2 at the waist, and 4 at the hips. I knew that the pattern had enough ease that a straight size 0 probably would have been fine, but I figured it was easier to take it in than let it out.

I made a shirt-length wearable muslin out of some patterned jersey that I had tons of. I'm really glad I did! I found it a little snug everywhere, despite cutting out the size that should have given me plenty of ease. I thought that this was a little odd, but just added on 1/2" on either side at the bust and a couple inches onto the sleeves, and moved on. I also widened the neckline significantly, which I find is more flattering on me than a crewneck.

The idea for how I could make this much more than a simple knit dress came from Laura Mae, whose fabulous vintage-inspired garments and sewing skills I've always admired. A few months ago, she posted an amazing Alabama Chanin-inspired outfit, a skirt and jacket made of two layers of cotton jersey reverse appliqued together.

After remembering this outfit, I spent some time looking through some Alabama Chanin (and Alabama Chanin-inspired) pieces online, and I decided that I really loved the idea of reverse applique around the neckline of this dress. With that in mind, I decided on a short-sleeved, collarless version, to let the applique stand out.

I had the perfect fabric for the main body of the dress, a dark purple ponte knit that I got when I volunteered at Our Social Fabric. It was great for this dress - it's so soft and doesn't feel super synthetic like some ponte knits do (although it probably does have some nylon or poly content, as ponte knits do). It was solid enough that it was a dream to sew with, but drapey enough to be flattering.

The tougher question was what to use for the contrast! I had some patterned jersey in my stash, but decided immediately that they would be too busy. I considered using some lace that I had, but it was really scratchy and I didn't think it would be comfortable around the neckline. Since shipping to Canada takes too long, online shopping wasn't really an option, and the local quilting and sewing store only had nothing, I had to work with what solid knit I had in my stash, which was a small amount of some off-white bamboo jersey.

I thought that the off-white would be too high-contrast for what I was planning, though. I was planning a leaf pattern, and I wanted something a little softer. So, I tried dyeing the fabric with tea! After making some samples with coffee and a couple different kinds of tea, I liked the colour from black tea best. I made a large pot of pretty strong tea on the stovetop, let the fabric sit in it for about 20 minutes, then rinsed it in cool water and dried it. I didn't think it was quite dark enough, though, so I tried again, making the tea a little stronger this time. Still, not dark enough... the next morning, I added another five tea bags, kept the water simmering, and let the fabric sit in it for about two hours, while I worked away on the design that I wanted. Finally, I was happy with how dark it was, and cut out the dress!

Instead of using the neck binding, I made a facing/partial lining to finish the neckline and the sleeves out of the contrasting jersey. To do this, I simply cut out the upper part of the dress, trimmed all the edges 1/8" to make it slightly smaller, and sewed it so that the seams would be concealed, but the right side of the fabric would be facing the wrong side of the ponte, so that it would show through when I did the reverse applique. I made it quite long on purpose, because I wasn't yet sure how I would finish it.

I made this on a regular machine, since I'm not living at home anymore, so I can't use my mom's serger. This is the second knit dress that I've made on a regular machine, and I'm getting the hang of sewing knits without a serger! It's a little more work, but it's surprisingly neat, and gives a little more control. I didn't finish the edges of the ponte because it didn't roll, but I did finish the jersey edges with a medium zigzag.

I started by sewing the shoulder seams, adding clear elastic, pressing them open to reduce bulk, and then basting the side seams to check the fit. Well, I had a bit of a problem! By extending the sleeves, I had made the armholes so small that I couldn't get my arms through them! I ended up taking off everything that I had added on under the arm, and leaving the sleeves an inch longer than they originally were, rather than the couple of inches that I had added. I also noticed that the dress was considerably shorter than what the finished measurements said it would be... strange!

It wasn't until I cleaned up the scraps of paper I cut away from the pattern that I realized why. I saw the 4" square and measured it, finding it to be only 3 7/8"! I've never had a problem with my printer scaling patterns before, but I suppose the library printer must have scaled it. I didn't have a ruler with me, so I never even bothered to check! It's amazing how much of a difference that 1/8" can make. Ah, I felt so stupid!

By the time I realized this, there wasn't time to start over, so I just had to work with what I had. After removing some of the extra I added onto the sleeves, the armhole fit comfortably, and I'd already added onto the side seams, so it wasn't too much of a problem. Lesson learned, though! (And, my printer ink just arrived in the mail, so I shouldn't have this problem again!)

I unpicked the side seams, sewed the facing and the dress together at the neckline, and stabilized it with some clear elastic (without it, I find that wider knit necklines stretch out over time). I understitched for a nice edge, then sewed the side seams. I used this method from the Moneta dress, to give a nice, clean finish when sewing the dress and the facing together at the armholes.

Next up was the most time-consuming part, the applique. I had worked out the designs and made a stencil from some cardboard while my fabric was dyeing, so I started by tracing the design onto the fabric with chalk. I then ran a line of long, running stitches around every leaf and stem, through both layers of fabric, about 3/16" from the chalk lines. Using embroidery scissors, because I was scared that I would cut too much using fabric scissors, I trimmed out the leaves and stems.

The whole process of hand sewing the applique around the neckline took me about 8 hours (the most hand sewing I've ever done in one sitting!), but I found it so satisfying. I loved the effect that it created, and with a good audiobook, the time went by quickly.

To finish the facing, I originally thought that I would just trim it around the stitching, but I was a little worried that doing so would make a ridge visible from the outside. Instead, I just trimmed a little off the bottom, zigzagged to stop it rolling, and tacked the seam allowances of the dress and the facing/lining together by hand. It ends just under the bust, where the dress is loose enough that it doesn't show.

In these inside-out photos, it was difficult to get it to lay flat, since the facing/lining is a little smaller than the dress, but it lies really nicely when worn, without any bunching up like there would be if the facing were the same size.

I was considering leaving the hem raw, since it was already on the short side, and I thought it would match nicely the raw edges of the applique. But, that just felt so anticlimactic! I actually love hemming as the final step in making anything, especially when I do it by hand. So, I pressed up 1/2" and catchstitched it by hand. This was my first time hemming a knit by hand, and I was a little worried that it wouldn't have enough stretch, but I was pleasantly surprised!

The most stressful part of this challenge was taking the photos! Unfortunately, the family friend that took the beautiful photos of my Sutton blouse couldn't make it at the last minute, and it was too late to find anyone else to take some photos for me. It took me a few tries to get a decent set of self-timed photos, but I think they're passable. For me next project, though, I'll definitely find someone to take some photos for me - they turn out nicely when I don't have to duct tape a camera to a tree someone else takes them!

Overall, I'm so, so happy with how this dress turned out! It's so comfortable and easy to wear, and the shape surprisingly flattering. Despite being a little surprised at how short it ended up, I think I like the shorter length - it balances out the looser silhouette! I'm so proud of the reverse applique, and I think it was completely worth the time.

To see the other contestants' finished Marianne dresses, and to follow the rest of the contest, head on over to Sew Mama Sew! I've already seen a few Mariannes up on the others' blogs, and it looks like it's going to be a tough competition - they're all so gorgeous!

Completed: Muse Natalie Dress

After filling the wardrobe gap of a LBD, this is something I’ve wanted to make for ages – a little red dress! I’m always drawn to prints, but I wear solid colours way more often. I’ve already made a few solid colour knit Moneta dresses that I wear all the time (here and here, with a third unblogged), so I knew that this would be a great wardrobe staple for me. Plus, I love red – it seems to work for all seasons and all occasions!

I’m always super excited when there’s a new knit dress pattern out, especially if it’s by an indie pattern company. So, after making the top version of the Natalie top and dress by Muse Patterns and loving it, I knew I wanted to make it as a dress.

I cut out a size 30, as I did for my top, and the only alteration I needed was to shorten it. I shortened the skirt 2″, and I can’t remember how much I shortened the sleeves but it was an inch or two.

The fabric is rayon jersey that I bought from Fabricana in Richmond. It was on sale so I bought a few metres – I already made a top from it (so far unblogged), and I have enough left for at least another top, possibly another dress.

Since I’m away from home again, I don’t have access to my mom’s serger anymore, so this was my first knit garment made entirely on a regular sewing machine. It went together more smoothly than I was expecting! The insides don’t look as professional as they would with a serger, but they’re still quite neat, and my gathering and my neckline actually look way better than on the version that I made on my mom’s serger. After sewing the seams with a narrow zigzag, I finished the seam allowances with a slightly wider zigzag wherever I thought they might roll. The local sewing store where I’m living for the summer didn’t have any ballpoint twin needles, so I just hemmed with a single line of narrow zigzag stitching. I actually quite like it – it’s very subtle, almost invisible in this fabric.

There’s a bit of extra fabric bunching up at the back because of my swayback, but I think the only way to fix this would be to put in some sort of seam or some darts there. 

The only changes that I would make next time is to make the skirt a little more flared, to make it more bike-friendly (which might also solve the problem of the bunching in the back), and to add pockets! I usually add pockets to everything, but I completely forgot with this dress. 

Overall, I’m very happy with it! It’s very flattering and a nice change from the Moneta, which I’ve made lots of already. I’ve been really impressed with all the Muse Patterns that I’ve tried – the instructions and the drafting are great, and I really love the styles. I think I might try the Gillian wrap dress next!

Incidentally, after resorting to mirror selfies for the last week or so of Me-Made-May, I knew I would need to find a better way to take photos while I'm living on my own. I could ask a co-worker to take photos, but I'm quite picky about my photos and take lots of them, so I don't like asking people to take them for me until I know them well. I'm rather proud of my solution:

It's a holder for my phone made out of duct tape, that I taped onto the railing of the porch at my uncle's condo where I'm staying! I use a timer with it, and managed to get some pretty clear photos. Although the background isn't that pretty, the lighting is good, and my phone can take decent photos so long as there's good light (inside, like for the flat shots, they get a bit grainy). They've also just replaced the wood on the porch but haven't painted it yet, so I don't have to worry about peeling off the paint with the tape. I wish I had figured this out for Me-Made-May!

UPDATE: This dress was picked as one of 15 finalists in the Indie Pattern Month Dresses Contest over at The Monthly Stitch. If you like the dress, I'd really appreciate it if you head on over and vote for me!

Thanks for reading!

Dress: Me-made (Muse Natalie dress)

Shoes: Bought second-hand from the McGill Clothing Exchange (Sperry)