Vogue 1496 ended up being my Christmas Day dress.  At first I’d planned on wearing the blue linen Mary dress that I blogged a couple of days ago, but when I tried it on I just wasn’t feeling it.  So at 4.15pm Christmas Eve I started cutting out and sewing this dress.

Surprise, another sack dress! What what a comfortable, and dare I say it, flattering, sack dress! Vogue describe the pattern as follows: Very loose-fitting, tapered, pullover dress has V-neckline, optional pockets (stitched in place), front extending into yoke back, no shoulder seams, back armhole openings with narrow hem, and stitched hem. A: Optional neckline inset.

I sewed view A, the shorter length, but without the optional neckline insert. I did actually read the pattern instructions and follow them when constructing this dress, and I’m really glad that I did. Firstly, I raised the neckline two inches as per the instruction. This is a very low neckline as drafted.  It does say that in the pattern, and there are instructions on how to raise it. That alteration needs to be done on both the front pattern piece and the neckline facing piece.

I also topstitched the neckline facing down, after trying it on. I found that on the shifty rayon the neckline just wouldn’t sit nicely as it was (despite under stitching etc) but when I put in on my dress form and pinned it suddenly the whole neckline sat flat and the entire dress was more supported. So I topstitched it all down. Design feature!

The construction of this dress is quite unusual. Excluding the facings and pockets there are just two pattern pieces. The front piece extends around to form the back yoke – there are no shoulder seams. The armholes are formed where the lower back is seamed to the back yoke area. You definitely need to make all markings and refer to the instructions to get this right. I also used 6mm Vliesofix tape as per the instructions and found it really useful in construction.

Even the pocket construction is a bit unusual. The pocket bags are topstitched to the front pattern piece, so the front of the dress is the front of the pocket and your hand slips through a opening just beside the side seam into the pocket. The pocket opening is also topstitched.

Even though I sewed the shorter dress length, after finishing and trying on I folded the hem up another one and a half inches and topstitched it in place. That resulted in a better length on my 158cm height and a doubled hem, which gave the dress more pleasing weight and drape. Size-wise, I sewed size D (Sandra Betzina patterns have different sizing to other Vogue patterns) which was about one size smaller than my measurements suggested. The fabric is printed viscose from The Cloth Shop in Ivanhoe, bought some time a year or so ago.

This was actually really quick to make. Even though I didn’t start it until 4.15pm Christmas Eve, I didn’t take any short cuts along the way, still had dinner and went to the Christmas Eve service at church, and had the dress finished somewhere around 8.30pm. It’s a great pattern – just read the instructions before you start!

Thanks for your Christmas wishes.  I hope that all of you have had a pleasant couple of days, doing the things that you enjoy doing.  Boxing Day is generally my favourite day of the season – low key, no rush, no pressures.  Yesterday I managed to fit in afternoon drinks with some of the Melbourne sewing blogging/instagramming community – since this is the second year we’ve met up, it’s clearly now an annual event!  I was able to end the day with our annual Boxing Day family event of watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special.  It was highly entertaining.

I wore one of my more recently sewn garments, the Style Arc Mary shift dress. I originally made this to wear on Christmas Day (which means it was finished Christmas Eve) but changed my mind and sewed/wore something else. This pattern has been in my stash for a little while. Now I wish I’d sewn it up sooner.

I’ll talk about the pattern first. Style Arc describe it as follows:  MARY SHIFT DRESS: This wonderfully versatile dress is suitable for all occasions. The raglan sleeves and patch pockets give this shift dress a sense of style. Create your own design by using a contrast colour or fabric on the sleeves, neck bind and pocket tops. Why not sew this dress in a beautiful lace and omit the pockets. FABRIC SUGGESTION & DESCRIPTION: Silk, Rayon, Crepe, Lace.

This is one of those simple patterns that can be dressed right up or down depending on the fabric combination that you use.  The raglan sleeve shoulder dart means that it sits nicely on your shoulders (really, all woven raglan garments need that dart in the sleeve piece).  There is a neckline facing option if you prefer that to binding the neckline.

I’d better talk about that fabric. What a colour!   I think it’s called Kandinsky Blue.  It’s Merchant and Mills linen, purchased from Stitch56. I have a few garments in this fabric now, and while it’s definitely expensive, it is always so lovely to sew and to wear. I chose to sew the entire garment in the one fabric, using triple zig-zag stitch to secure the sleeve and dress hems, to highlight the raglan seams, to secure the pocket tops, and to hold the neckline facing in place. I do make sure that I under stitch facings properly so that they roll to the inside to sit flat, but find that in fabrics with a lot of give or shift, such as rayon or this particular linen, the neckline sits better if I topstitch the facing down. It just gives it more support. So I used the triple zig-zag for that too.

I did make some minor alterations. I folded out about three inches from the length of the dress, just above the pockets. Luckily for me a friend Kathryn, who is not much taller than me, had already sewn this dress and was able to give some length advice. I also made the neckline about 5/8 inch larger all around. I sewed on the facing and turned it and tried it on, and it was just too round and high for my preference. So I restitched it, another 5/8 inch from the original line of stitching, then trimmed, under stitched and turned before trying it on again. Much better! I prefer a more open neckline on me, especially in summer.

This will be a terrific dress for our forthcoming overseas holiday. Linen wasn’t one of the fabric suggestions – and it definitely wrinkles enormously – but it works well in this design and is so comfortable to wear. I can now visualise this dress made up in fancier fabrics. It’s a very versatile pattern.

You’ve seen the tween version of the Madeit Patterns Groove dress on the blog before.  I sewed myself a couple of versions too, months ago, and have actually worn them quite a lot.  It’s taken a while for this blog post to be written!

This pattern has plenty of options. From their website:  The Groove Dress is an utterly covetable swing dress made using knit fabric, with short or long sleeves and a high low or straight hemline.  And as if that wasn’t enough, we went crazy to offer you five, yes five different neck options. Round, scoop, slash, cowl or hooded, whatever takes your fancy. The combinations are endless (well nearly, you do the maths).  Comfortable and practical, it even looks good over a baby bump.  It’s quick and easy to sew, which means you’ll be using this pattern over and over and over again.   Come on, machines at the ready, time to get your Groove on.

Both mine were winter versions, so long sleeved. The orange is a lovely mid-weight viscose knit from Clear It. This was great fabric to work with, with beautiful handle and drape. I included a centre back seam for fabric conservation reasons.

This is a super fast garment to sew. All construction was on the overlocker, with hems twin needled on the machine. I chose to sew the high-low hemline, which is delightfully swishy.

I chose to sew the cowl neckline. It uses a fair bit of fabric, as it is a double layer, and is shaped so that it is narrower where it attaches to the body of the dress.

The other version of the dress was sewn in striped ponte from Spotlight. If you think that it looks familiar, I have actually sewn four garments in this fabric. It’s really a soft and stretchy double-knit. This was a slightly slower garment to sew because I needed to stripe match.

This time I cut the dress with the back on the fold, and used the even hemline option.

I went with the scoop neckline for this version. It’s not terribly scooped, really. There are also options for a slash or round neckline, and I suspect that either of those would be too high for my taste.

This is a great staple pattern if you like a knit dress without waistline seams or much waist shaping. I like that it fits well through the shoulders and bust, then flares out from the body to provide comfort and style.

And it’s a great layering piece for winter!

I have decided that my biggest issue with Hot Patterns is how LONG their pattern names are!  So many words!  This is technically the Hot Patterns Fast & Fabulous Kimono Blouson T.

The pattern description is as follows: Take your T-shirt game to the next level with this elegant style, designed for fluid, drape-y knit and woven fabrics like rayon, modal or silk(y) jersey, or georgette, crepe, crinkle or double gauze, charmeuse or rayon challis.

Relaxed-fit pull-on T has a narrow self-fabric bound jewel neckline, a center back seam and cut-on elbow length kimono sleeves finished with self fabric hem bands. We’ve transformed that essential bust shaping into soft gathers at the front hip-band; keyhole openings at each side seam allow the self fabric ties to close easily at each side.

This T is the perfect dressy-casual piece…depending on your fabric choices, this one is going to become your favorite going-out top, an easy way to dress up your weekend jeans, or the perfect vehicle for a treasured special fabric. Rock this fabulous T with chic city-shorts, a crisp tailored pant, or make an
elegant two-piece dress or jumpsuit with a skirt or flowing pants in the same fabric.

I always enjoy the descriptions on Hot Patterns designs.  They really do help with visualising the possibilities of the pattern.

I usually buy Hot Patterns as pdf downloads.  Postage on the hard copy patterns from the USA is a killer.   I have learned a few things about doing this. Most important – order the format appropriate for your paper size. For me, that is A4. If you order the other format it just doesn’t work properly and sticking the pattern sheets together will absolutely do your head in. It took me a while to figure this out after having a few of the free Hot Patterns from the Fabric.com website. They are all formatted for letter size paper, and it was hell trying to work out where to leave gaps and where to overlap. Save yourself hassle and ensure that your pattern is the right one for your printer.

The other thing about Hot Patterns that you need to be careful with is the sizing.
I sewed this in size 10, despite my measurements suggesting size 14.  It’s still loose, but that is design ease.  As a point of comparison, I generally sew size 12 in Style Arc tops and often size 12 – 14 in Vogue/McCalls/Butterick etc.  It really reinforces how important it is not to necessarily go by the size suggested by the body measurements on the envelope but to double check the actual pattern pieces and choose the size with the ease that you prefer.  Sometimes this will be the same size as on the envelope, but other times it definitely won’t be.  I will start with size 10 for myself in all Hot Patterns now.

The fabric is a batik sarong that I bought in Bali on my textiles trip last year.  I still have a few more waiting to be transformed into garments. I’m fairly certain that this one is rayon. The hip band is probably a fraction loose on me but that’s because my hips are comparatively small as compared to the rest of me. If I made the pattern again I might grade it down there.

Overall this top is a win. Easy to wear, great print, comfortable and very me.  Now that I’ve worked out Hot Patterns sizing a bit more I’ll definitely be sewing more of their patterns – the styles are always very current.

I am so behind with everything this year – except for holiday planning, that is!  I have masses of garment photos to edit and upload, blog posts to write, and all of the other things that happen in life.  I’ll do my best between now and when we head to Thailand and Laos in January to get my blog up to date.  2016 has been a big year.  Then again, what year isn’t?

So, pyjamas. I like cool, comfortable pyjama tops that stay on my shoulders and pants with elastic waists. Nothing new there! I last sewed a pair from this pattern back at the beginning of 2012, so it’s no wonder that they had worn out and needed replacement! The pattern is Kwik Sew 3595, which I suspect is out of print.

The yoke is self-lined, and the hem bands at the bottom of the top are a double layer. This is a really straightforward garment to sew.

I wasn’t interested in slip-stitching anything in place for a pair of pyjamas, so topstitched the front and back yokes down as well as the hem band. From memory the armholes are finished with bias made from the same fabric.

The pants are typical elastic waisted pants, also finished with hem bands. I sewed size Medium for both the top and the pants. The fabric has been in my stash for ages – it’s an Anna Maria Horner voile, and I know from the last pair of pyjamas that I sewed in a similar fabric that it is absolutely beautiful to wear.

These should be great for keeping me cool but well enough covered to answer the door to room service (and wear on the overnight train from Bangkok to Vientiane) while we’re away!