Snow white Astoria

Astoria is one of these patterns that needs no introductions - it seems that everyone has made at least one, I am no exception. In fact I made 5 of them (one already retired) but only one made it to the blog! Don't worry, I will catch up!

Astoria is supposed to be boat-neck cropped top but that doesn't really suit me much. I have modified the pattern to have shallow crew neckline and extended front and back pieces by 5 cm. It's still a bit short but works well with skirts and higher jeans. The sleeves are hemmed with triple zigzag stitch.

The fabric came from one of the fabric sales. It's some sort of poly-cotton knit with a nice texture. Easy to sew and  has nice recovery.  

The photos were taken at Castlepoint on the east coast of the North Island. Such an amazing place! New Zealand will never stop dazzling me with its beauty!

Favourite make

Finally my favourite make of 2016 made it to the blog! I have been meaning to write about this dress for a while but life got in the way, as it does from time to time.  It's one of those dresses that makes me feel sexy and good about myself the moment I put it on. I think everyone needs at least one piece of clothing like that!

The pattern is from Burda 10/2012 #118. I made it few times before (here and here) and I love them all. As usual I skipped the darts in the back in favour of more waist shaping and extended the facing by 5 cm to make it sit below the bust not across it. I played with the length of the sleeves but kept the original hem length. Because I'm quite short the dress is knee length but it grows to midi-length due to my fabric choice.

The fabric is the softest rayon knit ever with nice amount of stretch to it. And it came from the fabric sale so the total cost of my dress is about $7! The only problem was that my sewing machine hated it with a passion. It was made mostly on overlocker but the hems had to be sewn by my machine. The easiest way would be to use twin needle but the walking feet doesn't play nicely with them. So I went for triple zigzag stitch and it's kind of ok. No one really pays attention to hems anyway, right?

I made this dress back in August and it was worn to my firm's 120th anniversary. I apologize for the photo overload but in was one of the rare cases when all the photos turn out great so I'm having trouble to choose only a handful - not a bad problem to have!

Brighter and brighter

The first time I wore this dress everyone kept saying that it was very "bright". No wonder - in Wellington everyone wears black all the time. I got super self-conscious and I wasn't sure if I actually should wear it in the office.  Luckily I got over it and this dress became one of my most worn over past few months!

The pattern is another version of Burda 10/2012 #118. There are few changes I made - I extended the facing piece so the edge doesn't go across my bust but below it and I did swap side gathers in favour of pleats. Oh, and I also extended the sleeves by 7 cm or so and shortened the skirt by 10 cm. As per last time I omitted the darts. This pattern is a winner!

The fabric came from the fabric sale and cost me whole $4 to make this dress. Not bad, huh?  The fabric is some sort of polyester knit and it worked well with the pattern - the drape is good, there is enough stretch to make it very comfortable and I can throw it in the wash without worrying about my dress. And I'm very glad that I got some photos taken by Gemma after a lovely lunch we had with Kirsten and Kat. We need to have them more often!

Shirtdresses forever!

It took me quite a lot longer to blog about this dress than expected, but here it is - my second M6696 shirtdress. I had some issues with my first one but I started wearing it more often and I think it might be my summer office staple. I decided it was time to have a sleeved version.

This time I took 5 cm out of the back piece. Looking at the photos I should have shorten the length by ~2 cm or so to stop blousing. But I am so much happier with how the back looks now. The other major change was the sleeve head shape. Thanks to some fitting issues with my coat I figured out how to fix my sleeves to be less restricting and more comfortable to wear. You can see the changes in shape on one of the photos below. Such an easy fix but the difference in wearing is colossal! I also changed the pocket piece to be bigger and deeper - the original pockets are way too shallow. Now I can actually carry my phone with me. And because I was too lazy to get my pattern out and trace the cuff piece I just finished my sleeves with a mini band.

The fabric came from a fabric sale - it's some sort of shirting cotton mix in tiny grey and black stripes. It was really nice to saw with - pressed well, didn't move too much and holds the pleats quite well. I used a medium weight interfacing, which it a bit heavier than my usual. I quite like it, the collar is nice and stiff. Unfortunately I forgot to trim the waistband and button band seam allowances and there were too many layers for my sewing machine to handle the buttonhole at the waistline. I had to do it with normal zigzag stitch and it's a bit messy. Luckily it is covered by a belt so it's not a big deal. The buttons came from my tin of random buttons - luckily I had several sage buttons that were the right size and they look alright with with my fabric.

Needless to say I am very happy with this dress. It fits nicely and it is very comfortable to wear. I also don't think it's my last M6696 - I think the pencil skirt option will be next ;)