Remember the fuchsia shrug I posted a couple of weeks ago?  While I was at Sewjourn I made another one.

This time I used a lace embossed knit from Darn Cheap Fabrics. I have no idea how they made this fabric – it’s like a stretch lace that somehow has another knit woven through it.  It’s not a typical bonded fabric or a jacquard – at the selvedges was just the cream lace, then the grey becomes incorporated into the fabric.

Anyway, it is lovely and soft. I sewed it on the machine, and simply turned the hem edge over and twin needle stitched it in place. It won’t fray, as it is a knit. The stitches absolutely disappeared into the fabric.

As this is a soft knit it falls in lovely folds around the back and around the neck. And it goes so well with my new Moneta. I absolutely love it.

But guess what? This shrug isn’t for me – it’s a gift for my cousin Freya. So as hard as it might be, I am going to give it away. But just might need to return to Darn Cheap for some more of that fabric….

So, to what I sewed at Sewjourn!  When Colette patterns released the Moneta, I was actually quite sceptical.  I though that there were loads of patterns around for knit dresses with set in sleeves and full-ish skirts.  And I really didn’t think that it was a shape that would work on my body.  But surprise surprise, eventually I jumped onto the bandwagon and gave it a go.  Nothing like a bit of peer pressure.

Well hooley dooley, I really really like it! Who’d have thought! This is view 3, with the sleeves obviously. After all, it is May! My first dilemma was in regard to sizing. For the record, my current measurements are bust 39 inches, wait 35.5 inches, hips 39 inches. This corresponded with a Large for the bust, XL for the waist and Medium for the hips. This is a typical situation for me when I’m sewing. So I cut out the pattern accordingly at a Large, grading up to XL around the waist. The end product has a waist with a slight amount of positive ease, which I think is quite flattering to my shape, and the bust and shoulders still fitting nicely too. I didn’t make any other adjustments.

Hems were all turned, secured in place with Vliesofix tape, then twin needled. You could easily add a band to the neckline if preferred. The skirt is both gently flared and gently gathered, and the combination is very easy to wear. I actually followed the suggested technique of gathering the waist with elastic before attaching it to the bodice, and I’m really happy with the result. I didn’t use clear elastic but used another soft elastic that I had in stash. It made the gathering faster than my usual two rows of stitching drawn up by hand, and also provides support at the waistline. Speaking of waistlines, I am quite short through the body and this dress pretty much sits at my “natural” waistline. There are handy “lengthen or shorten” lines on the pattern piece, so others might want to use those depending on where they would like the waist seam to hit them.

The fabric is a lovely crushed knit from Darn Cheap Fabrics. I cut it so that the darkest stripe was around my middle (waist paranoia there maybe?) but failed to realise that would put the light grey stripe closest to my face. And light grey against my face is not my most attractive option. So I actually wore it with a chartresuse crocheted scarf, and added a darker grey cardigan when I was out for added warmth.

So despite my initial skepticism, I think that this is a terrific pattern. I’m going to make another with wrist length sleeves for winter. There is lots of opportunity to play around with this dress in terms of length, sleeves, neckline and collar options, and it satisfies my basic dress requirement of comfort as well. Recommended!

We all know the saying about imitation being the highest form of flattery, don’t we?  I’m not sure if that is actually true, but when I saw Anna’s wool shrug (and a second as yet unblogged one) it wasn’t long before I made a blatant copy.

Well, it’s not an identical copy – Anna’s is grey, and as you can see mine is anything but! The fabric is a fairly fine wool coating remnant from Rathdowne fabrics. This is the simplest thing ever to sew. It’s essentially just a large rectangle folded in half, a couple of seams up half of the sides, then cuffs set into the opening above the seams.

To wear it you just stick your arms through the cuffs then arrange the front around your neckline and the back around your waist. It was surprisingly warm and comfortable to wear.

As the fabric was a woven coating and a little thick to turn twice, I finished the inside edge with a strip of bias binding (taking the lead from Anna in that detail too). I simply zig-zagged the seam allowances on the inside and the matching thread colour sank right into the weave of the wool.  So simple, so effective! The pattern is from a Japanese sewing book, May Me Style Sewing by Michiyo Ito. It takes very little fabric, and very little time. Highly recommended!

Sometimes when I type in the prosaic titles that I give my blog posts I almost despair at my lack of creativity.  Clearly whatever creativity I have goes more into the sewing of the garments that the blog posts are about.  I have had McCalls 6841 in the back of my mind for a couple of months, and picked up a copy at the last Spotlight pattern sale.  The pattern photo in the catalogue didn’t particularly inspire me, but I’d seen a few versions around the blogosphere and the thought of such a complex looking top sewn from just two pattern pieces really appealed to me.

This really was just meant to be a muslin. I used some fabric that I’d picked up from the Darn Cheap $2 table, and actually had to add a piece to the centre front in order to get the full piece from the amount of fabric that I had available. So try to imagine this top without those seams that you can see in the centre front of the drape – they shouldn’t be there!  I cut and sewed size Medium, and I think that I made petite alterations.

This is such a clever pattern. The kimono sleeves are cut on. There is one pattern piece for the back, and one for the front. The drape and neckline facing are all cut in, and there are tucks along the top of the shoulder seams that also give shape. As it turned out, the fabric was absolutely perfect for this top in terms of all the wonderful drape that it had. It’s also beautifully soft and comfortable to wear. I wish I’d bought more! I did add a lead sinker inside the centre front of the drape to give it a little weight and keep it hanging nicely, but later removed it as it didn’t really seem to need it.

I also stitched the centre front seam up much higher than the pattern had marked. It was SUPER low – even for me, who isn’t afraid to show a little cleavage. You can do this after you’ve sewn up the top, so can try it on then alter the depth of the neckline by just sewing it up a little more. I used a simple zig zag to hem the bottom of the top and the ends of the sleeves.

The skirt is the Colette Mabel, in the simplest – and shortest – view. Remember I am 158cm (5’2″) tall. I wouldn’t wear shorter than this. I made this skirt from ponte scraps from another (as yet unsewn) project. It has a pattern embossed into it and was also from Darn Cheap Fabrics.

There were lots of shades of blue in that outfit by the time I added a (purchased) jacket! I had almost forgotten how much I like teal blues and chocolate browns together. Time to pull fabrics in those colours out of the stash!  I will make this top again – this time with enough fabric so that I don’t need to piece any – although it is a rather distinctive design.  It would also be great lengthened to a tunic.  And the pattern includes a sleeveless version.  Hmmmm……