I hate Elsa

November 2, 2015November 1, 2015 ~ Tia Dia ~ 23 Comments

Yup. You read that correctly. I hate Elsa. I hate her because she’s got a dress that is impossible to replicate without doing a full toile with numerous fittings and fussy floaty fabrics that would make the dress an investment, not something to make for your 15-year-old DD2 to wear to school and one party.

Ugh. I was truly looking forward to this project. I love the colours of the dress and the sparkly sequins and snowflakes. The fabric alone had me excited to pull this one together. But I well and truly hate this dress. I hate this dress so much I’m probably going to pull it apart and remake the stupid thing because I’m so disappointed in it. I don’t think DD2 will wear it again, but at least mom will be happier with it!

I find DD2 is very difficult to fit. She’s petite, and getting the proportion correct/flattering is always a challenge. So, needless to say, she always shows up my limits as a dressmaker in the fitting department. And that frustrates me. But frustration is good, right? It means one is pushing through to the next level of mastery. I measured twice, and cut once, and this is what it fit like at the end of the day. *headdesk*

In my defence, I couldn’t find any fine stretch mesh or tulle for the upper bodice and sleeves, which would have been ideal. I plan to go hunting for that and remake this thing ‘properly’. So, for lack of any better option, I used the snowflake nylon organza-type fabric for the sleeves and upper bodice. The sleeves I cut on the bias so they would easily follow DD2’s movements. The bodice is not as fitted as I would like it to be. I cut it straight out of the envelope, since the bust measurements matched DD2’s measurements, but the shaping is all wrong for her. I debated altering it, but decided against it because a) I wanted enough ease to keep it comfortable during the day; and b) it was always in the back of my mind that it was going to be remade properly with a stretch upper bodice/sleeves once Halloween was done. As it is, the organza pulled away from the top of the bodice and some of the neck binding by the end of the school day (which included bowling, btw).

Why I didn’t think of cutting the upper bodice on the bias is beyond me. Oh. Wait. I did think of cutting the upper bodice on the bias but was afraid it wouldn’t lie flat and would grow out of shape. So I cut it on the straight grain. See? Bad, bad, ugly bodice.

The sequins were from hell. They won’t stay in place, so it looks like sequins are missing in places, and they had to be trimmed from the seam allowances, which I expected, but also contributed to my decision to not alter it until I get the stretch mesh/tulle. *sigh* I decided to underline the sequin jersey with polyester lining for this version. The bodice is also lined. I bound the neckline and cuffs with skirt fabric (satin-backed polyester crepe), and the armscye seams with lining.

The best part is the attached cape. The nylon is sheer, lightweight and very floaty. It’s quite lovely when DD2 is walking.

There’s a CB zip (I put it in by hand to accommodate the sequins) to the top of the lower bodice. The upper back bodice has a button and thread loop. The attached cape is split to just below the bottom of the zip. See? It’s the best part of this project.

This version is a wadder for me, but once I get my hands on some stretch tulle, and do a good job on this, I’ll publish an “Elsa Improved” post for your entertainment.

Rosie the Riveter

October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 ~ Tia Dia ~ 15 Comments

I’ve made another jumpsuit, albeit for DD3, this time ’round.

She wanted to be Rosie the Riveter for Hallowe’en, and I offered to make her a denim jumpsuit if she agreed to it becoming part of her wearable wardrobe. She gave it a few days’ thought, and said yes. Yay! After scouring Burda’s website, she loved the May 2010 jumpsuit best, so I found the magazine and purchased it via eBay from Germany last week. In a perfectly-timed coincidence, Fabricland emailed me a coupon for 50% off any single cut of fabric, and I used it for 4 metres of stretch cotton denim, purchased last Friday. The Burda magazine arrived on Tuesday, and I’ve been sewing ever since. Today she wore it to school.

The pattern is pretty straight forward, but, because the magazine is in German and Google translate is horrible for sewing terms, I didn’t follow the directions. And I made some changes: I put a proper placket and cuff onto the long sleeves; left off the epaulets; and omitted the elasticized hems on the trousers.

My DD3 loves blue, and wanted blue buttons and blue top stitching. The shirt pockets are faux, although I made fully functioning buttonholes because I don’t like the look of buttons sewn over faux buttonholes. I think it looks unfinished.

The trouser portion of the jumpsuit runs large.. surprisingly. I cut DD3’s recommended size, and then narrowed each side seam of the trousers 3 cm to get a good fit. No other changes were made to the pattern. In retrospect, I’d lengthen the back crotch length, but she hasn’t changed out of it since coming home from school, so it must be comfortable.

Oh, and, because it’s a jumpsuit, here’s another jump!

Galactic Princess Costume: the Amidala-wannabe dress

October 30, 2014January 28, 2016 ~ Tia Dia ~ 9 Comments

Pretty, isn’t it? This was a hoot to sew up. I love sewing frosting and working with taffeta and chiffon and all things unnecessary to basic wardrobe survival. The pattern for the overdress is Burda 1/2013 #142.I used a poly black/white shot chiffon, black/white shot poly taffeta that reads like liquid silver and a poly silver shantung for the bodice lining and belt. I chose to add piping to the neck and arm edges because I just think it looks better than a simple turned edge. You can see the poly shantung bodice lining below.The “epaulets” are remnant bits from DD1’s fish-scale skirt hand-stitched over the shoulder seams. I must say, I like the sparkly bits. And doesn’t that taffeta look amazing? I changed the back to a corset lace-up style so that it can be worn without alteration if people grow. The loops are self-fabric bias loops, and there’s a 4-inch wide modesty panel lying underneath, so lots of grow room in this garment.The modesty panel is stitched directly to the underskirt along the bottom of the placket opening. Burda had the skirt and lining cut as large rectangles. I chose to shape them into very wide gores, with pleats to eliminate some bulk at the waist. The pleats are then gathered into the waist. I also cut the chiffon a slight bit shorter than the taffeta underskirt to prevent tripping and tearing of the fabric. I think taffeta will wear harder than the chiffon through school halls and classrooms. Here’s the back view with the belt.What fun, eh? The belt is a 12 x 32 inch long rectangle of poly shantung stitched into a tube and turned right side out and pressed. I used remnants from DD1’s fish-scale skirt, cut into strips and stitched down through all thicknesses. Very slowly stitched, I may add. Then I added the same silver trim from the blouse sleeves down the centre of the belt and finished it off with a heavy-duty velcro closure.Here’s a pic of the blouse front with the self-fabric ties. Perhaps they’re a bit long, but I prefer them to another texture (like cording). It keeps the focus on that belt. Love the belt. DD3 has already worn the ensemble around the house several times, and at one point walked into the kitchen without the blouse and a little black sweater over the dress. “Look, mom! It’s going to be perfect for Christmas Eve!” It’s a good thing, since she’s outgrown Blue Christmas.

Galactic Princess Costume: the blouse

October 29, 2014November 5, 2014 ~ Tia Dia ~ 4 Comments

DD3 wanted to really dress up for October 31st this year, which isn’t a big holiday in this house, but what do you say to school peer pressure? Especially if sewing something fun like a costume is involved, right? After much research through Mommy’s Pattern Stash, she chose an ensemble from Burda’s January 2013 carnival collection. It’s actually a set of patterns to mimic clothing from Star Wars, but there’s no mention of Star Wars, probably for copyright reasons. I frankenpatterned the little white Leia costume in the bottom right corner of the photo for DD2 last year.

The Galactic Princess costume consists of this Fairy Tale Blouse (Burda 1/2013 #118) with an overdress (post on overdress to follow later). The blouse is very straight forward to sew; it’s only three pieces. And due to it’s loose fit, no fitting required. How lovely is that!I made a few changes to the instructions. First, I made the ties from a long strip of bias fabric instead of purchased cord. It doesn’t look like much in these pictures, but in the context of the costume, I thought the self-fabric tie would be a better choice than yet another texture thrown into the mix.

Second, I did not leave the edges raw. I hauled out my overlocker (serger) and did a rolled hem on the neckline, sleeves and bottom edge. And I used French seams for the construction.And third, I decided the looooooong trails of trim tied loosely around some nebulous wrist area of the arm as per Burda was ridiculous for an 11-year-old, especially since she will be wearing this to school and she’ll need to be working, not untangling herself from yards of trim trailing from her sleeves. So I stitched the trim down on each edge, which left me a channel about 5/8″ wide. I backed it with bias taffeta strips (no edge finishing required) and ran an elastic through the casing. Et voilà! Nicely gathered sleeves that won’t drag through school work.

Frankenpattern: Princess Leia Costume

January 8, 2014January 28, 2016 ~ Tia Dia ~ 10 Comments

My DD2 wanted to dress as Princess Leia this past October (yes, it’s taken me this long to blog about this) and since Carnivale is just around the corner, I thought I’d share my version of this famous outfit.

My starting point was Burda 1/2013 #148, but I made a lot of changes. My fabric choice wasn’t jersey, like the original Leia costume, but white polycotton broadcloth because it was cheap. Obviously it doesn’t have the drape of the jersey, and it’s a bit transparent, so I doubled it for the body of the dress.

First, I added width and length to fit DD2 with enough extra ease to fit over her clothes. I actually think I used Burda 4/2011 #135, a traced pattern from this tunic for the front and back because it would be faster than grading up the Leia costume, and added enough length to achieve a slight blousing effect over the belt. I left a hemline slit at the side seams from the knees down to facilitate easy walking.I used the sleeve pattern from Burda’s Leia pattern. It’s a nice shape.And for the collar I traced off the collar pattern from Vogue 8846 but only attached it from the back sleeve seam of one sleeve across the front of the dress to the back seam of the other sleeve.The back of the collar was left unattached at the back with a velcro closing.I cut an over-sized hood, using Vogue 7110, and attached it to the back between the sleeves, turned down the seam allowances to make a casing and ran elastic through it all to facilitate easy dressing. This is the centre back of the dress with the hood up. The belt was a new adventure into leather land, having never sewn or cut leather in my life. My husband had brought home a large upholstery-quality piece of black cowhide from a business colleague of his, and I thought it would be perfect…. So I used the Burda Leia pattern, spray painted it silver and added a little centre spot of copper paint. Not very accurate from a costume point of view, but it did the job. It fastens with velcro in the back. My favourite part is the hood. BTW, frankenpatterning is great fun for someone draft-challenged (or draft lazy) like me. Just pull all the pieces you’d like from 100 different patterns and see them work.

Impromptu: Portuguese Traditional Dress

December 13, 2012January 8, 2014 ~ Tia Dia ~ 15 Comments

DD3 mentioned last week that today was to be Spirit Day at school, and the required dress was her national heritage costume. She reminded me Tuesday evening, and again yesterday morning.

Profound moment of intense silence. DD3 waits and looks expectantly at the resident miracle-worker a.k.a. MOMMY. That would be me, still silent while frantically thinking at the speed of light. “National heritage costume”, I say. Oh, boy. Oh boy, ohboy.

That’s a problem. Which heritage shall we dress DD3 in for Heritage Clothing Day? I am 5th generation Canadian, and my DH insists that he is Canadian first, regardless of his heritage. Needless to say, we have a large pool of choices from which to pull the costume: DH’s family immigrated from Portugal in the early 1960’s; my maternal grandmother’s family is Swiss German (immigrated late 19th century); and maternal grandfather’s family hails from England, with an honorary Scottish tartan apparently bestowed whilst helping some clan or other win their respective war. On the paternal side: Scottish, arrived this side of the Atlantic in 1895, to be precise. I don’t have a kilt. I don’t have typically Swiss clothing lying around, and nothing traditionally “English” with said family tartan and crest attached anywhere. Therefore the only possibility is perhaps to make up something on one day’s notice for DD’s special day, since, of course, I didn’t do any thinking, planning or sewing for this most special of required dress!

Heck, why not? I need yet another break distraction from the SWAP program, and costumes – like ball skirts – are just so much darn fun! I love sewing completely unnecessary articles of clothing! Seriously. I’m not being facetious or sarcastic. My yearly Christmas ball skirt is what keeps me going. >_<

First thought – go with Burda’s traditional costumes, since it’s pretty close to the Swiss German thing going on. But guess what? The very particular issue of Burda (September 2011) that is chalk full of traditional dress in all sizes, is not anywhere that I can find in the sewing mess. Botheration. I refuse to pay to download – do I really want to tape all those damn pieces of paper together and have to pay for something I know is in this house somewhere?

Second thought – Google Portuguese national dress and see what we can come up with. Quite a lot, apparently. Some very expensive on Etsy. I want this, BTW. It would be perfect for the family Christmas Eve!

Some quite simple to pull together from random articles of clothing in various daughters’ closets. Simply because it’s black and white, and surely we can find gold jewellery in the dress up box.

But nothing will do for mommy, of course, who, after doing a couple hours’ research realizes that Portuguese traditional dress is very particular to regions. Hmmm….. DH’s family is from the Azores, so northern Portugal is out. Minho region is out. Lisbon area is out. Let’s Google Azorean traditional dress.

Voila! I even found Christmas ornaments with traditional Portuguese dress. Who knew? Etsy is completely amazing! And this particular little Christmas ornament was so darned cute, I actually ordered one. But never mind that. Back to the costume. I need a black cape, which, apparently was typical of Azorean dress. I randomly wonder if my MIL knows this. DH says DD3 will look like the grim reaper in her black cape when I show him my inspiration photo (see Christmas ornament above). He’s incorrigible sometimes, so I give him a look that Medusa would be proud of and go on my merry costuming way.

I have Vogue 7110 in my stash, albeit in XL (for a very tall King David royal robe several years ago), but I can grade it down to, say… oh, I don’t know… a child’s size 134? Sure! That’s what rulers and pens are for, right? RIGHT! Oh, and I need 4 m of black something. But I don’t want to use any black something from my stash because I want the cape to be wearable in Canadian winter weather. Actually, the truth is I just don’t want to use any of my lovely stretch black stash wool for a costume. So off I drive like a crazy woman to the store and discover a wool/poly blend whose price has been slashed to affordability. Perfect! I can even wash it, thanks to the polyester, which I do as soon as I get home.

The cape goes together quickly. It calls for velvet or lightweight wools. Well, my wool is melton-weight and warm, but I decided to do the double hood anyways. I trimmed the seam allowance from the self-lining and attach grosgrain ribbon in place of the supposed-to-be-turned-under seam allowance, which will cut down on the bulk. And obviously save my machine, fingers and sanity.

It’s very full. My eldest “has plans” for it, she said as she tried it on. Well, it’s warm enough to wear instead of a coat, that’s for sure.

I used grosgrain for the single loop button closure.

And just for the fun of it (please excuse the mess – it’s garbage day today!) this is a shot of DD3 waiting for the bus with her backpack on underneath the cape. It was my morning laugh. Still chuckling as I look at this silly photo!

Referring to the ornament (my inspiration), I see that 2 scarves are required. I know there’s at least half a dozen scarves in the dress-up box that can be used for the shawl and the headscarf.

I just need a dress. Should I raid the Liberty stash? For a costume…… uhhh…. NO. (See how selfish I am with my precious stash fabrics? It’s shameful, really, especially when there is a lot more Liberty to be had for the paying out there in the big wide fabric world.) Although I do have some French cotton twill that wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I could use that. Or some gifted sari fabric, which would work quite well. But no, of course I find other treasures in the right pennies range while shopping for the black required something, and come home with enough to make a very full skirt and a peasant top (Burda 05-2011-136).

Perfect, but boring. So into the Liberty stash we dive after all, because I know there’s fat quarters of some blue stuff in there somewhere (purchased to accompany said French cotton twill for a me-made version of a Robert Graham style shirt for DH’s birthday….. three years ago… and never made up for a variety of reasons, mostly, though, because the French cotton twill was so ridiculous). And, of course, there’s the perfect little ditsy flowers of a print to make the stripes look just right.

And for the fun of it, I added little triangles to the hem side vents. Well, actually, if Claudine hadn’t talked about hers here and here, I would honestly have never though to add this little detail. But I liked hers, so I thought I’d try it on this. And of course, did mine backwards!

For the skirt I cut two lengths of a wider striped fabric, pleated the front into a flat waistband that has raw-edged applique in the same Liberty print, and pleated the back into an elasticized waistband for easy dressing and possibly future wearing by other sized people.

DD3 has a petticoat, which I suggested wearing underneath for the additional fullness it would provide and the warmth of the top. You can see more pictures of the petticoat here.

And off to school she goes for the day! That was a fun diversion, and now, back to serious sewing. *wink*

Empire Dress

February 24, 2012February 24, 2012 ~ Tia Dia ~ 7 Comments

I can’t believe my last post was two weeks ago! My time is definitely not my own some months, never mind that I’ve been in technology Neverland for a while. So now to do catch-up posts.

In my last post I talked about my DD1’s Historica project for school and the costume we slapped together for her friend. But DD1 wanted to model an empire gown from the Napoleonic era. The range of the project was enormous – Canadian women’s fashion from the 18th century to the present. They did a large backdrop highlighting a few eras, a couple of Barbie models, and the girls themselves each modelling an outfit from other eras.

For DD1, I chose Butterick 6630 for the starting point for this costume. It had all the different pieces that I needed without actually having to think about this too much. Again, I was rather pressed for time, so I wanted something that would do all the “thinking” for me and be easy to put together.

DD1 wanted an everyday sort of look – nothing special. I didn’t want to go to any huge expense, so I bought old sheets at my local thrift shop: one ivory one – since clothing was preferably light-coloured – with embroidery and lace along one edge, which I used for the hem; and a green gingham one.

The Butterick pattern is very shaped – something that is not accurate from an historical point of view – especially the skirt. I just cut straight rectangles for the skirt pieces instead of using the pattern pieces. The result was a little more fabric to gather into the bodice, but I thought it looked better without the extreme shaping of the side seams. Because the fabric was light in colour, I lined the skirt. The bodice is both lined and interfaced. I sewed in an extra layer of broadcloth for the interfacing. The back is laced. I was going to hand-embroider the eyelets, but ran out of time. Instead of cording, I made one very long bias tube. DD1 added the brown ribbon for a more “authentic” look. The sleeves consist of two layers: a sleeve stay and the very “puffed” sleeve proper. There are two huge pleats in the sleeve stay, which made it easier to set and and fit. The dress is slightly bigger than it ought to be on my daughter, but she’ll be wearing it again in May for the city-wide Historica Fair.

I chose to make a short jacket instead of the long formal one in the pattern. I piped all the edges on the bias, and cut the bottom of the sleeves on the bias as well. The entire bodice of the jacket is interfaced and lined, but, again, I simply used another layer of polycotton broadcloth.It has the same two-piece sleeves as the dress and a hook-and-eye closure, which I obviously didn’t bother measuring properly! And, for the fun of it, here’s the Barbie’s: one in a hoop skirt, the other in a hobble skirt.

The New Woman

February 8, 2012October 22, 2014 ~ Tia Dia ~ 7 Comments

My eldest daughter is participating in an Historica fair at her school. It’s actually required, but it’s still fun. This year she chose Canadian women’s fashion from the 17th century to the present. Large scope, yes. I tried to tell her she bit off a bit more than I thought she could chew, but as she was working with a partner, it’s been manageable. Part of what the girls wanted to do was wear period dress during their presentations and the fair. DD’s friend is to be dressed as the “New Woman” c. 1900. After perusing every single book on the history of fashion that she could get her hands on, DD presented me with a picture and asked me to replicate “if it wasn’t too much trouble”. Initially I’d thought her friend could just borrow one of the existing ball skirts in my closet (regardless of their bright colours), add a shirtwaist and be done with it. Easy peasy.

Then I wandered through my local Fabricland looking for a pattern for DD1’s Napoleonic costume and stumbled across a table of taffeta for $4/m. I used to have a black ball skirt from my performance days, but thrifted it years ago and regretted doing so ever since. And here was the perfect excuse to have a (completely unnecessary) replacement!! I made it up from Vogue 1015 – an old Belleville Sassoon evening ensemble that was the pattern for the sorely missed original in my closet. I decided to go the whole gamut and put in the lining and the full-length net petticoat with a hem ruffle. We added a jabot – not a proper period lace jabot – but one that I slapped together with 1.5 metres of eyelet edging gathered and stitched at regular intervals to a strip of shirting remnant. And I mean slapped together. The edges are totally unfinished and the neck band is simply folded over into thirds and stitched together from the right side with a zigzag stitch down the entre length. jabot

It’s not perfect, but it gives the period silhouette, which is what we were aiming for. Then we pulled together an RTW shirt and jacket, and it looks pretty good for a wannabe costume on 3 days notice!

So, what have you been doing?

October 18, 2011April 27, 2012 ~ Tia Dia ~ 3 Comments

I’ve been sewing up a Scottish National dress, or a lilt dress, for a good friend’s daughter. It’s due on Friday, and includes a separate petticoat. I’ve made several petticoats over the last few years to go under all the dresses that I’ve smocked for my daughters. Little girls smocked dresses just look that extra bit more special when they’re supported by a petticoat.

I usually go by the guidelines in Australian Smocking & Embroidery #50 for girls’ petticoats. They have 3 options: a petticoat with a lycra bodice, half petticoat, or a petticoat with a purchased singlet (tank top). In my experience with girls and their petticoats, the version attached to a tank top stays in place guaranteed, and since this one will be used for Scottish dancing competition, I thought it would be the best option. No one wants their petticoat sliding down around their knees in the middle of a dance!

I worked backwards for this petticoat, beginning with 6 metres of eyelet trim, and calculating down to determine the length of each tier. In other words, 6m for the bottom ruffle, 4.5 m for the 3rd ruffle, etc. Petticoats are simple to make. It just takes a lot of thread. This one is of the same poly-cotton broadcloth that the dress is made of.

And I finally finished the embroidery on a UFO, which has been languishing in my life for the last 18 months or so.I used to smock all my girls’ dresses when they were small. Some of the ones I bothered to photograph can be seen at my Tia Dia Needleworks Flickr site on the left. Some I sent to Haiti with my mom, who goes for about 6 months every year. But now that DD3 is 8 years old, the smocking just doesn’t seem stylishly appropriate somehow. I do miss it, though. I find it strangely calming after a stressful day of “mom taxi”. This particular dress was supposed to be for Easter a couple of years ago. It’s of white linen, and I have no idea whether DD3 will wear it, or it will go into storage for some other little person in the future. It’s supposed to have a peter pan collar and tulip shaped sleeves with embroidery, but I’m in doubt about both. I may make this into a sundress, or leave off the collar and bind the neckline. If it doesn’t have a peter pan collar, DD3 just might wear it next spring.

Young Image and Pippi Longstocking

October 8, 2011October 8, 2011 ~ Tia Dia ~ 2 Comments

I was asked about 6 weeks ago to make a Pippi Longstocking costume for a friend’s daughter for Hallowe’en. I’m familiar with the character from the books, but I’ve never seen any shows or movie versions. So, off I went to search the web for ideas.

There are a lot of images on the web for Pippi, but I liked this one for all it’s colour. Several pictures had drab earthy colours for her costume, and I just didn’t think it would suit my little client.

There is a Fabricland close to my DD’s dance studio that has an incredibly large selection of remnants, odds and ends, and generally crappy quality fabric that I would not look at twice. Don’t get me wrong, but why buy cheap T-shirt material when you can just go to your favourite RTW haunt or thrift shop and pick up a decently made one for less than material costs? Anyways, I found a denim blue linen that must have been an upholstery remnant, because it’s quite heavy and about 1 metre of pink ribbed knit – all for a song. I pulled the patches, buttons and other notions from my various collections. But what to do for the shirt pattern?

Enter Young Image Magazine. I have Tanit-Isis to thank for bringing its existence to my attention.I chose the tunic (Y1165), and left off the front yoke pieces, which actually are a mock tied shrug attached to the front. This was my first foray into Young Image patterns, and I was pleasantly pleased. It’s similar to Burda, but the pattern pages are a lot simpler to read and follow. The English translation is understandable, although sometimes the syntax is interesting. I used my regular sewing machine for this top. The last few knits that I’ve sewn up using the knit stitch hold together much better than using my serger. And I finished it quickly with a mock lettuce edge hem.

tunic hem The jumper was a “wing it” project. I measured my DD3 and loosely based the dimensions of the garment on her measurements. I added two godets to the side seams for extra jump-and-run-around-on-Hallowe’en room, and used velvet, pique and duppioni remnants for the patches. The fun part of this costume was experimenting with all the decorative stitches on my sewing machine. My DD3, who is around the same age as my little client, agreed to model it for this blog post.