This season Emma and I decided to tweak things a little bit for our seasonal challenge*.  Rather than both sewing the same fabric (from Darn Cheap Fabrics), we decided to sew the same pattern!  The pattern that we chose to sew was the Style Arc Lara Jane dress/top.

I suspect that many of you may have twigged by now that the lovely women over at Style Arc actually named this dress after me! I feel extremely honoured and flattered. And fortunately – I love the dress!

These photos really would have benefitted from a background that wasn’t pretty much the same colour as my arms! They blend into it and it makes it difficult to see the overall lines of the dress. From the Style Arc website:  This gorgeous “cold shoulder” dress features a feminine frilled sleeve which is perfect for all occasions. Make it in a silk for that special occasion or in rayon for a casual shift dress. As an option this dress can be made with or without the sleeve. Why not turn it into a cold shoulder top? FABRIC SUGGESTION: Silk, rayon, crepe or any soft woven fabric.

I sewed this in size 12, but added a bit more room to the front for my tummy by cutting it a bit wider from the bust darts down.  I’m glad that I did.  I don’t think that I made any alterations to the pattern length.  The fabric is a beautifully geometrically striped rayon from The Cloth Shop.  It was lovely to sew, but did cause me a few dramas in cutting out as I did my best to centre the print and line up the stripes.  They’re not completely perfect down the centre back, but I suspect that only another sewer would notice!

I can usually get most dresses and tops over my pin head without having to undo buttons (so I often leave out centre back openings and their closures) but this dress does actually benefit from having the opening. I can just get it on without it – but not without messing up my hairdo and/or makeup!

I chose to do the topstitching in the same cream colour that is in the print, but in hindsight – mostly after looking at these photos – wish that I’d chosen one of the other colours. The cream stands out that little bit more than I would prefer. The only slightly fiddly part of sewing this dress is doing the narrow hems around the bottom of the sleeve flounces. I just turned a narrow hem twice and stitched it, but there are lots of tutorials around for turning very narrow hems that would probably have given an even nicer and more precise finish. I’ve read those tutorials and instructions – I’ve just never taken the time to follow them!

The sleeve cut out is bound with bias binding on the inside, which encloses the edge of the sleeve and flounce and joins them together. Once again, it’s a little bit fiddly but isn’t difficult. Other than that, this was an extremely easy dress to sew.

So you know what pattern Emma has used for this season’s challenge – but what version of the pattern did she sew, and in what fabric? Pop over to her blog and take a look!  From the sneaky peeks on Instagram I know that it will be wonderful.

And as for me – I’m very pleased at how this dress has turned out. It’s comfortable, with plenty of ease through the mid-section, without being very voluminous. The sleeve cutouts are still on trend, but don’t actually extend to the shoulders and interfere with bra wearing. It feels a bit special – not surprising considering that the pattern bears my name! Thanks again, Style Arc!

* Emma and I started the DCF Seasonal Challenge a year or two ago – we buy  a couple of metres of the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics each season, and each make a garment.  We then reveal it on our blogs on the same day.  It’s just a fun thing that we started when we realised how often we buy and sew the same fabrics (often from Darn Cheap).  This season we’re using the same pattern, rather than the same fabric!

Ta-da!  I actually bought the fabric, sewed and photographed my DCF Autumn Challenge* garment during Autumn!  Pity it didn’t get onto the blog until Winter had started.

Oh linen, you do wrinkle so! The fish printed linen comes from Darn Cheap Fabrics. What a fabulous design! I enjoy something a little bit quirky, and when Emma and I spotted this fabric (thanks Shelley for bringing it to our attention) we were unanimous in selecting it for our Autumn challenge. I bought the fabric, pre-washed it, and took it on our trip to Sewjourn at the end of April.

The real drawcard with the Style Arc Sadie tunic is the sleeves. Only one pattern piece produces this fabulous sleeve with an angled seam and a twist at the bottom. These women are so clever!

From the Style Arc website:  SADIE TUNIC:  This cleverly engineered twist sleeve gives this tunic a fashionable edge. The shirt tail hem line with its wide stitched facings makes this a perfect stylish tunic. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Crepe, Linen, Silk.

I sewed size 12, without alteration (other than cutting the back and back facing pieces on the fold to eliminate the seams – pin head, remember!).  Despite the rating of medium to challenging, this isn’t really difficult to sew.  Darts, shaped facings, and the sleeve.  The only challenging part is taking it slowly when you do the twist in the sleeve.  I strongly suggest that you do both sleeves at the same time so that you can be certain that you are twisting them both in the same direction.  Don’t rush, and it will be fine!  There are also diagrams to help.

I’d like to sew this again in something super swishy and drapey. I’ve seen some really lovely versions on Instagram. It would also be great lengthened to a dress. The bust darts are in just the right place for me, and it would be quite straightforward to make it longer. The sleeves might be good grafted on to the Style Arc Marilyn dress too (I like V necklines)…ah, so many possibilities!

So, what did Emma sew? I already know, but you can pop over here to find out!

* Emma and I started the DCF Seasonal Challenge a year or two ago – we buy  a couple of metres of the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics each season, and each make a garment.  We then reveal it on our blogs on the same day.  It’s just a fun thing that we started when we realised how often we buy and sew the same fabrics (often from Darn Cheap).

Edited to add: For those of you who wonder what I do with all those clothes I sew, pop over here to Anne Whalley’s website to read an interview with me!

I know, I know, it’s not summer any more.  But I bought the fabric during summer, so I figure that this still counts as my summer DCF Challenge* garment.  And the last few weeks in Melbourne have definitely still been feeling like summer!

Sometimes it only takes Emma and I a second to agree on what fabric we want to use as our challenge fabric each season. Other times neither of us feels particularly inspired. We decided on this one when it popped up on Darn Cheap Fabrics‘ Instagram – I think it was about January by then, so well into summer! You will be pleased to know that we already have our autumn challenge fabric in hand.

The fabric is a broderie anglaise, with bright, almost fluorescent orange embroidery around eyelets cut into white cotton.  It’s not a style of fabric that I often purchase or wear, but part of the fun of the challenge is to sometimes work with something that isn’t completely typical.  And we all know that I do enjoy orange!  The holey nature of border anglaise means that lining is generally required.  I dove into stash to find the a printed orange/yellow cotton voile to line the front and back of the dress.  I also chose to cut strips to make my own bias binding to finish all the edges.

I underlined the front and back pieces by simply overlaying the fashion fabric on top of the printed voile and cutting them as one. I then treated the two layers as one throughout construction. I left the sleeves unlined. The print on the unlining provides some additional dimension to the garment.

The pattern is the Style Arc Mary shift dress, which I’ve sewn before. I’d already shortened the pattern by taking a fold out of both the front and back midway down, and decided to omit the pockets completely. There is enough going on with this fabric! I also cut the back piece on the fold.  It also made this a very quick garment to sew.

Because I’d sewn this before I knew that I’d want to make the neckline a little larger.  I’d already decided to bind it, but was a little concerned about the fabric stretching out.  After joining the fronts, backs and sleeves I ran a line of stitching around the neckline, about 5/8″ in from the edge.  I then trimmed away the fabric close to this stitching, then ran another line of stitching around also 5/8″ in from the edge.  I trimmed that down to a quarter of an inch, then applied the binding.

Since I had plenty of binding made I decided that the same trim would work nicely on the sleeve edges. And then again on the hemline!  (This photo also nicely shows off my latest Django & Juliette sandals…I am very addicted to this brand).

You need to consider edge finishes carefully when working with fabrics like this one, as all those holes mean that seams could easily be seen. I finished the raglan sleeve seams by overlocking them then pressing toward the body. A final row of orange topstitching holds the seam allowances in place and provides a subtle detail.

I think that I am converting to raglan sleeves. If they are well drafted – and these are – I think that they can fit really nicely. The key for good fit in a raglan sleeve is a shoulder dart. They still need shaping! The shoulder dart in this pattern in combination with the gentle curves of the raglan armhole allow this to fit really nicely across my back and shoulders and upper chest.  Raglan sleeves are also incredibly easy to sew.

So, although it took me ages to decide what to sew from this fabric, the finished garment is very satisfying. It feels nice and cool, and just skims across the body. And the colour is lots of fun – and you know that I enjoy fun in my clothing!

So, what has Emma sewn? Time to pop over to her blog Ernest Flagg and see!

* Emma and I started the DCF Seasonal Challenge a year or two ago – we buy  a couple of metres of the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics each season, and each make a garment.  We then reveal it on our blogs on the same day.  It’s just a fun thing that we started when we realised how often we buy and sew the same fabrics (often from Darn Cheap).

Well, I suppose that there are a couple of things that I’d better make clear right from the start.  This is the garment that I sewed as my DCF Seasonal Challenge* garment for winter.  And it’s a summer dress.  And tomorrow is the last day of winter.  It doesn’t look as though I’m doing a great job of being seasonal, does it!  Luckily for me, Emma and I make up our own rules for this little challenge.

So, to the dress. The pattern is Vogue 9186, which I originally passed over before stumbling upon these beautiful versions by Eli Cat of the blog Cat In A Wardrobe.  The high collar had been putting me off, but Eli had sewn one with a scoop neckline.  Well duh! If there are elements of a design that I don’t like, of course I can change them!  After all, I am the one doing the sewing.

(No, I still haven’t addressed that fabric pooling in the centre back issue. Head in the sand on that one). Vogue describe the pattern as follows: Very loose-fitting, pullover dress has mandarin collar, front band, partially elasticized waist with casing, side pocket, and shaped hemline, wrong side shows. Narrow hem. A: Cap sleeves. B: Long sleeves with placket and button cuffs.

I did initially contemplate sewing the long-sleeved version of the dress, particularly because I had chosen denim.  But then I read a few reviews that talked about how difficult it had been to set in the sleeves, and I considered the challenges of sewing the cuff plackets in the fabric I’d bought…and changed my mind.

So, to the fabric. It is a “shredded” denim from Darn Cheap Fabrics. It came in a couple of colours; this is the darker one. The photos above are NOT a good representation of the colour – it is actually a normal denim blue twill, woven from indigo threads one way and white threads the others. The square “holes” are in a regular pattern. I did pre-wash the fabric, not only to see if there was any shrinkage or colour leakage, but to see how well those shredded areas would stand up to washing. They did surprisingly well.

That’s a more accurate representation of the colour! The denim is nice and soft, not lightweight but not too heavy either. I hemmed the dress by turning a narrow double hem and top-stitching it in place, and I used self-made bias tape to finish the edges of the armholes and the neckline. The same fabric as was used for the bias tape was used for the shaped elastic casing that is sewn to the inside of the dress.

In order to alter the neckline, I cut out the dress front and back pieces but omitted the neckband and the front placket pieces. I then sewed the back neckline darts as per the pattern instructions, as I know that I can always do with a little more shaping in that area.

I had decided that I like the neckline of the Tessuti Pia dress, so pulled out those pattern pieces and overlaid them on the front dress piece and the back dress piece, lining up the edge of the pattern pieces with the centre front and the top of the shoulder. Then it was a simple matter to recut the neckline, while retaining some of the back neck dart shaping. From there on this was a very quick dress to sew. Shoulder seams, finish the neckline with binding, one side seam, apply the elastic casing, other side seam, finish the armholes with binding, hem the dress.  I sewed size Medium (12-14) without any alterations.

You do need WIDE elastic to go in that casing for it to sit nicely. It really needs to fit just inside your lines of stitching. I think that I still need to redistribute the gathers just a little, but I do have to be careful fiddling too much with the fabric. It’s on the delicate side. So overall, I recommend this pattern, and suspect that it might get another outing at some stage. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Emma has sewn with hers.  I have a little bit of the denim left too.  I wonder what that might become – and whether I’ll have to fight the girls for it.

* Emma and I started the DCF Seasonal Challenge a year or two ago – we buy  a couple of metres of the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics each season, and each make a garment.  We then reveal it on our blogs on the same day.  It’s just a fun thing that we started when we realised how often we buy and sew the same fabrics (often from Darn Cheap).

The seasons are flying by.  It’s the last day of autumn – and I’m only just getting my Autumn DCF Seasonal Challenge* garment up on the blog!  Thanks Emma for your patience.

This is the Style Arc Dixie top.  I’ve been meaning to sew this for ages, and now that I’ve made it I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner!  Especially considering that the weather in Melbourne is now getting very cold and I probably won’t be able to wear it until Spring.

From the Style Arc website: DIXIE WOVEN TOP: This is just a great top. The curved front and back yokes make it a fashionable style that can be worn on any occasion. Colour-block this style in your favourite colours to create your unique look. FABRIC SUGGESTION & DESCRIPTION: Silk, Crepe, Rayon or any soft woven fabric.

Emma and I chose a geometrically patterned polyester woven from Darn Cheap Fabrics for our Autumn challenge.  This is an unusual polyester.  It feels a bit like crepe, and has a matt finish, but when I look closely at it the weave is a regular but very slightly open weave and definitely isn’t crepe at all.  It pressed well, frayed very quickly when cut, and appears to gather static rather quickly.

I adore the colours, and the print.  This will work beautifully for me as a work top.  I sewed straight size 12, and it’s almost fractionally snug across the boobs.  This could be partly because the curved seam above the bust is topstitched – and there is a similar seam curved seam at the back – and therefore the garment is quite stable at that point and doesn’t have a great deal of give. I decided to omit the back neckline slit and the loop and button closure, and just seamed the centre back shut.  Interestingly, I appear to have a centre back seam in the lower back section as well – I wonder if I did that deliberately, or if it was omitted from the diagram, or if I just made an error?  These things do happen!  Either way, the backs could have easily been cut on the fold, and that is what I will do when I sew this pattern again.

I find that curved hemlines can be slightly tricky to sew.  They need to stay narrow if you are just doing a “turn, press and stitch” hem.  I chose to overlock around the edge of the hem before turning it to the inside about a quarter of an inch – just a little past the overlocking – then topstitched it in place.  The overlocking draws it in a little bit around the curves, which helps with the smooth edge, and keeps the edge flat and neat.  After a burst of steam from the iron it sits really nicely.  Other options for curved hemlines are shaped facings or the use of bias strips.

The instructions suggest that you ease the sleeves into the armholes, and I found that I definitely needed to do this.  No skipping the easing stitches in this top!  They set in quite nicely with the judicious use of pins, and also responded well to a tailor’s ham and shot of steam. And by the way, ignore the fact that the pattern illustrations says that the sleeves are 3/4 sleeves – I made them exactly as per the pattern and they finish just above the elbow.

I applied the neckline binding to the wrong side of the fabric first, then turned it to the right side and topstitched from the right side.  This keeps the topstitching nice and even near the edge of the binding and there are no concerns about not catching it in place on the inside.  If I am not hand-sewing binding in place I always apply it to the wrong side of the fabric first.

This pattern would look wonderful sewn in contrasting fabrics with the front and back yokes and sleeves done in one fabric and the body of the top in another.  You could also use sheer fabrics for the yokes and sleeves.  I’ll definitely be sewing it again.  And I definitely hope that I am a bit quicker off the mark in completing my Winter DCF Challenge garment (especially since we haven’t even chosen the fabric yet).  I’m looking forward to seeing what Emma has sewn with her Autumn fabric!

* Emma and I started the DCF Seasonal Challenge a year or two ago – we buy  a couple of metres of the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics each season, and each make a garment.  We then reveal it on our blogs on the same day.  It’s just a fun thing that we started when we realised how often we buy and sew the same fabrics (often from Darn Cheap).

How is this for just squeezing Summer’s DCF Challenge* in?  Even with an extra day this summer, I’m getting my blog post up with only a few hours to spare.  Hopefully the autumn challenge garment post will be a little less tardy!

Emma and I bought this woven viscose from Darn Cheap Fabrics when she was down in Melbourne during the summer holidays.  We came this close to buying silk for our challenge this season, but eventually the miser in both of us kicked in and we decided that the viscose would be much more practical and significantly more budget friendly.  Not only do we have similar taste in fabrics, but we have similar spending preferences!  I wasn’t entirely certain what I’d make when we bought the fabric, but thought that a top I could wear to work would be good.  And that’s what I ended up with – a top that I can wear to work, or wear casually.

I have to admit that the pattern choice was entirely inspired by Anna.  I saw her version of the Uptown Top (from a little known to me pattern company called A Verb For Keeping Warm) and I very quickly hit the pdf pattern purchase button.   This was the pattern that I had been looking for to pair with this viscose!  The pattern company describe the top as follows: The Uptown Top is a flatteringly oversized garment, designed to be worn with a great deal of ease. Make it with the hip band and it is the perfect length to wear with tights or leggings, or make it without the hip band and it will be your new favorite top to pair with jeans or a skirt.  Wear the Uptown Top for a night out with your friends, or as a cool, lightweight layer at the beach this summer! Sew it in a variety of fabrics for different moods and occasions. 

Yes, it is super simple.  The front and back pieces are almost rectangular, although the shoulders do slope down gently.  I lowered the front neckline an inch or so.  The sleeves are elongated triangles that are sewn to the sides of the front and back pieces.  They are sewn together across the shoulders and up most of the sides, leaving an opening at the top of the side for the armhole.  This means that there is no gaping – hooray!  I didn’t bother with the hem band, but turned up a two inch hem.

I decided to sew the middle size, which is for a 44″ finished hip measurement.  This top is designed with plenty of ease.  It’s certainly not a top for those who like waist definition or a more fitted silhouette.  The triangular sleeves allow for lovely curved drape at the sides of the top, while leaving the front and back fairly straight.  It’s a little reminiscent of the Style Arc Hedy dress.

You can see the shape of the top very well in these photos.  Most construction was on the overlocker, with the hems and neckline binding on the machine.  If you make this top, remember to overlock the edges of the sleeve separately before stitching them together on the machine – this makes it much easier to turn the armhole opening to the inside for a narrow hem later on.

I made my own bias binding using an 18mm bias maker to finish the neckline.  The pattern does come with a facing option, but I tend to prefer binding in soft drapey fabric like viscose.  I chose to sew the binding to the wrong side then turn it to the right side and topstitch it down.  After a shot of steam from the iron the binding curves beautifully around the neckline and adds a tiny bit of extra detail.

I wore this top to work today with Style Arc Linda pants in navy and heeled court shoes, and felt great in it all day.  I wonder what Emma has made from her seasonal challenge fabric?

* Emma and I started the DCF Seasonal Challenge a year or two ago – we buy  a couple of metres of the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics each season, and each make a garment.  We then reveal it on our blogs on the same day.  It’s just a fun thing that we started when we realised how often we buy and sew the same fabrics (often from Darn Cheap).

Many regular readers will know by now that Emma and I have a quarterly seasonal challenge where we each use the same fabric from Darn Cheap Fabrics to make a garment, then reveal it on the same day.  I always look forward to seeing what Emma has come up with!  For Spring we chose a vibrantly printed viscose from Darn Cheap Fabrics.

Unfortunately many of these photos haven’t come out well; I think that there was sunlight glaring off the phone when Clare was taking them, but beggars can’t be choosers and these are all I am likely to have.  The pattern is the Sway dress by Papercut Patterns, in the longer length but without the waist tie.

This is the first time that I have used Papercut Patterns – they recently had a sale which was finally enough to make me hit the pdf pattern buy button. The website description of the pattern is as follows: The classic sway dress every wardrobe needs. Loose fitting and gorgeously flowing, make it as the short variation or long variation with waist tie. It has a centre front and back seam with a scooped and V neck so you can mix up the look by wearing either neck options to the front or back. It also features side seam pockets. 

I left out the side seam pockets.  I usually include them if I am sewing pants, but for dresses I only include pockets that are a feature of some kind.  Those that are hidden in the side seams generally won’t be used.  The neckline and armholes are faced with a combined facing applied “burrito” style before closing the side seams.  This works beautifully and ensures there is no visible stitching around the neckline or armholes.

I left this dress hanging on Ada, my dress form, for over a week, and boy did those bias side seam areas drop!  I intended to level out the bottom and cut and hem it around knee length, but after discussion with Clare and one of her friends one day decided to leave the hem shorter in the centres and longer at the sides as a design feature.  The girls both thought that it looked “cool” and I figured that if I’m unhappy with it I can easily shorten and level it later.  I finished the hemline with bias tape made from the same fabric.

I sewed this as size Medium, since the only measurement that really mattered was the bust measurement.  This gave me just enough ease, and kept the neckline and armholes fitting close to the body.  The armholes are heading toward the low side, but I found that they didn’t expose any of my bra and stayed next to the skin.  One of the lovely things about this dress is that you can wear it either way around, so can have the V or the scoop at the front or at the back.  The V neck didn’t expose my bra at the back either, so overall I was pretty happy with the pattern drafting.

This dress does swish and sway beautifully as you move.  I adore the colours in the print, and like most viscose it is very soft and comfortable to wear.

Now I just need to see what Emma has made!