Tag: fall trends

An Anthro-Inspired Corduroy Shirt Dress

Published on by ellegeemakes30 Comments

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Corduroy seems to always find a way into my Fall sewing plans and I can always count on Anthropologie to have a offerings to inspire me. When I saw this shirt dress on their website, I had to have a new corduroy shirt dress of my own.

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I’ve made a couple of shirt dresses before using a variety of Big Four and Indie patterns (here, here and here). I decided to use a new pattern, McCall’s 7575 for this dress, because I loved how the bodice was shaped by long darts. 

I also love shirts with back yokes and two piece sleeves. View C was my choice because it’s tunic length, easily modified to a dress.

 

My corduroy was purchased at Fabric Depot. It has a soft hand and a touch of lycra, which makes a form-fitting dress sooooo comfortable to wear. The rust color caught my eye, a must have!

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I followed the pattern but modified as follows;

  1. I lengthened it by six inches.
  2. I added a very wide self tie to the side seams  (8” wide to allow for turning the edges under for a clean finish) .  Positioning this was a bit tricky. The Anthro waist tie rides a bit above the waist, and it took a few tries to get it right. Also, I think the Anthro waist tie is faced so that you don’t see the wrong side when it’s tied, but I didn’t have enough fabric. I think it looks okay one-sided with an edge stitched finish, but if I had to do it over again, I’d buy more fabric.
  3. To recreate the close-fitting look of the Anthro dress, I lengthened the bodice darts (both front and back) so that they extended the full length of the dress. Then I top stitched them down to give the look of french seams.
  4. I added French seams on the side, back yoke and on the sleeves and topstitched them all.
  5. The Anthro dress doesn’t have pockets, but I added a couple. I’m not sure that was a wise choice ( ??) as the tie overlaps over the pockets. The pockets might be a bit of a distraction from the lines of the dress. Opinions welcome…

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I love this pattern and will definitely add it to my arsenal of shirt patterns! I always feel ready for Fall when I’m wearing corduroy, a throwback to the days when I bought corduroy skirts to wear to school, I suppose. It’s so funny how that ritual of getting ready for the first days of school still dominates my Fall mood in spite of the fact that my family is beyond that stage of life.

When I’m taking photos for a blog post, I always try different shoes with a dress because as long as I’m at it, I might as well see what the options are, am I right?

 

As you can see in the photos, I tried the dress with booties with tights, booties without tights and tall boots. I think I like the tall boots best, although I’m not sure the mustard tone of my tall boots is really warm enough to go with the rust color. Opinions welcome!

Happy sewing and thanks for stopping by!

McCall’s 7430- A sweater dress

Published on by ellegeemakes26 Comments

 

img_9604As you all know, I am a big fan of sweater knits, so much so I tend to stash/horde every one I find. Yes, I have quite a few squirreled away in my sewing nook, so (fair warning here) this is only the beginning of my annual sweater knit obsession.

Here is why I love them so, so much.  Most sweater knits are easy to sew (even without a fancy serger, just use a zigzag stitch) and wonderful to wear. I’m talking about those moderate stretch wonders with just the right amount of lycra with a dense, cozy weave. This houndstooth sweater knit is a perfect example of why I’m obsessed. It’s the perfect mix of stretch and cozy…destined to become a fall/winter wardrobe staple.

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McCall’s 7430 is the perfect sweater dress.

I love the side panels, the neckline variations, and the front and back yoke. I also love the sleeve caps. You could really have fun with contrast and color blocking here. There’s so much you can do with this pattern to make it your own.

The only modifications I made to the dress were to add front patch pockets, each 6 inches by five inches (gotta keep those pinkies warm!). I added contrast sleeve bands to finish the cuffs as well, but this is so optional. You could easily hem them with your machine as the pattern suggests.

One note about fit. The side panels eliminate the usual side seams so it’s a bit harder to use them to modify fit. Yes, I’m a big fan of taking a dress in at the sides, and I hate making muslins on a knit pattern.  It’s not impossible to adjust this pattern that way. It’s just a bit more time consuming, and if you adjust those panels too much, you run the risk of changing the look of your lovely dress. So, I’m glad the sizing is pretty true on this pattern because I didn’t need to make any adjustments at all. Phew!

img_9581I guess my obsession with sweater knits isn’t likely to end in the near future :). I’ll probably make another dress from this pattern, out of a solid knit with a contrast, since it’s so comfy and versatile. I think it’s one of those patterns you can dress up or down, maybe even make as a tunic length to wear over leggings. Love these inspiring versions from Vince Camuto…

 

Hmmmm, so mamy options, so little time to sew! Curious if you all are as obsessed with sweater knits as I am? Pretty sure there’s a color blocked version of this dress in my very near future!

Happy sewing and thanks for stopping by!

 

I’m having a That Seventies Show moment

Published on by ellegeemakes19 Comments
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I took to heart the advice I saw in a fashion magazine recently. When it comes to fall fashion and prints,  more is more! Apparently, the old maxims about print on print should be damned.
Okay. It’s nice to know that my over-the-top shirt is on-trend, because then, perhaps I’ll have the guts to wear it! Personally, whenever I look at this shirt, all I can think of is ’That Seventies Show’.
imagesThe gang here, giving us some attitude!
I guess that isn’t a bad thing because some fashion experts insist the ‘seventies comeback’ trend in fashion is here for a second season. Okay! Bring it on because I Am Ready!
How did I end up with this print/look? Well, it’s a now familiar story. Both fabrics were in my stash, and I’ve been so In Love with the mixed print look that’s all around in RTW!
Here are some of my favorite examples. Burberry Prorsum is mixing up the prints in their Autumn 2015 RTW line.
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OMG. I need that. The seventies’ vibe is pretty obvious here with more of a folksy interpretation.   I’m going to have to find some fabric to recreate a mix and match look like this soon.
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Love the print and texture overload here, accented with bands of black.  And the fringe on that bag. Please! Can I have some!
Here’s a close up of my wild print. Sure, it’s not as cool as the Burberry print, but it cost only $12.99 a yard…Ha!
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I used one cotton print for the bodice, skirt and sleeves, and used the contrast for the front bands and the collar band. The cotton is so crisp, it sews like a dream (Fabric Depot). I think this cotton is meant to be used for quilting, but that’s never stopped me before, nor will it in the future. The fabric has just enough body to give the peplum a bit of a kick, and what’s not to love about that.
The top I made is Butterick 6097, a fitted shirt with a collar and peplum variations, princess seams and a front button band.
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I chose this pattern because I’ve made it before (here) and I like that fact that it has a bit of structure. Also, the style works with all sorts of bottoms; shorts, skirts, and jeans. To me, the peplum style has a slight retro vibe, which I always, always love. Peplums are nice for Waistless Girls like me, because they fool folks into thinking we actually HAVE them.
I made view B, a long sleeve version that I modified. My sleeves are closer to 3/4. I added a 3 inch cuff, so that I could push the sleeves up if it got too warm (rolled up here because we’ve had more than a few 100 degree days in Oregon this summer…EEK!).
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Because the pattern is so fitted, I chose to go up a size in the waist (since I don’t really have one), then cut my usual size through the hips. These adjustments are the same I made in my previous version. The pattern went together easily and it fit with just a bit of last minute seam adjustment at the sides. The peplum pleats were super easy to sew. You just have to mark them well.
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So, what do you think? Is this print just a bit too much? I’m not sure, but I think I’ll wear this top anyway. The fabric feels so good against my skin, and for me, that’s often the bottom line in terms of a garment’s wearabitliy.  I do love this Butterick pattern, so much so, I’ll be making another version of it this week (more is more?) and posting it here and on the Monthly Stitch Blog, since the August Challenge is ‘Two is the magic number’.
Happy sewing and thanks for stopping by!!