EuroCup 2016: Team Portual Bomber Jacket

July 6, 2016July 5, 2016 ~ Tia Dia ~ 13 Comments

Back in the fall of 2015, I participated in the 2015 PR Sewing Bee. The last challenge was making an Olympic team uniform, and this was part of my submission. I thought it would be fun to blog it now that Portugal is playing in the EuroCup semi-finals today.

I made the skirt, trousers and top as blogged in my previous post. This is the first bomber jacket I’ve made, and I thought it would be fun to pull out all the red silk and linen scraps in my stash to make up this John Richmond bomber-style top from Burda September 2013. And it is not the most simple with a gazillion pieces, but it worked perfectly with all my little pieces of red.

I used red linen from my jumpsuit for the front bands and collar; a cotton-silk voile for the lower jacket, upper front and sleeves; and a rayon plisse (a double-layered fabric where the pleated fabric is loosely attached to a flat back) for shoulder and side constrast sections. The centre back panel and elasticated sleeve and bottom bands are made from silk taffeta. Here’s the front. You can see the contrasting fabrics with the piping. The single welt pockets are silk taffeta, too.

Here’s the back view.

The sleeves have a pleating detail, which is just beautiful. I made the lining for the sleeves separately instead of pleating all layers together as one.

I did a double row of piping around each section using gold and green silk shantung. Labourious, tedious, and quite satisfying, for sure, once it was done. This is a close-up of the back shoulder (from L, clockwise: silk taffeta, rayon plisse, silk-cotton voile).

I’m not a big bomber jacket fan, but this is so luxurious to wear, and doesn’t advertise it’s patriotism too loudly, which suits me. Back view, waving my flag.

Here’s the interior. I fully lined the jacket. The body and sleeve linings were sewn as separate pieces. I put the sleeve lining/fashion fabrics together, added the sleeve elasticated cuffs, and then stitched the sleeves to the jacket body. The armscyes are bound with gold and green silk shantung. The facings are linen.

Here’s a side view.

If Portugal wins this round, we’ll be downtown at my MIL’s in Little Portugal on July 10th, cheering frantically for them to win. If they don’t, I have some pieces to wear when I feel a bit Portuguese. 🙂

A silk Cambie

January 8, 2015January 6, 2015 ~ Tia Dia ~ 9 Comments

DD3 needed a new Christmas dress this past season because she is growing like a weed. She’s 11 years old and is 5’6″. Apparently, according to an interactive exhibit at Science North, she’s going to be 5’11” by the time she’s finished growing. Lucky girl!

She chose a beautiful turquoise/black shot silk shantung, and the Sewaholic Cambie dress.

I muslined the bodice (much more satisfying experience than sewing for myself, I confess), and should have made more adjustments than I did. Am I the only person who hates vertical bust darts? I can NEVER get the bodice to fit well when a bodice is drafted like this. *roar of frustration* I obviously don’t know what I’m doing. However, in order to keep this simple and not drive myself crazy, I rotated a necessary side dart into the original dart. I probably should have done an FBA properly, but all her measurements point to fitting the bodice perfectly without adjustments for the bust. UGH.

I underlined the bodice front, back and the sleeves with the muslin.

I lined the bodice and waistband with cotton voile, and hand picked the understiching along the bodice edge.

I also added a waist stay and hanging ribbons. I know the muslin is strong, but the ribbons will just keep the stress of gravity on the waistband instead of the sleeves.

I decided to bind the hem with bemberg because I had nothing suitable in stash and didn’t feel like running to the store.

She loved her dress, and looked so grown up in it. This is the only picture I managed to snag of her in it, awaiting the arrival of family for the big Christmas Eve celebration.

LBD: Burda 9/2014 #130

November 21, 2014January 28, 2016 ~ Tia Dia ~ 10 Comments

DD1 is attending a 16th birthday party for one of her friends, and the dress code was “all in black”. Perfect excuse for making a new dress, right? Never mind that she’s never owned a little black dress.

She chose this style from Burda September 2014. It’s basically a strapless, boned bodice with a short-ish (21″) gathered dirndl skirt and a lace upper bodice. We went with black silk shantung and spider-web lace from stash. I muslined the bodice, and then used the adjusted muslin as the pattern and underlining for the silk. The cotton lining contains the spiral steel bones, which I fell-stitched to the bodice proper. I added a petersham waist stay, and an additional small stay across the top of the bodice behind the invisible zipper to facilitate zipping-up ease and prevent zipping up skin. The lace is bound in chiffon bias strips. I shortened the front upper lace bodice by about 2 inches. The left shoulder is fastened with a loop and button.The skirt is basically a rectangle gathered into the bodice. I lined it with bemberg, and finished the hem with purple lace. Mostly because I didn’t have any black lace.This was a 2-day project – crunch time, in terms of sewing hours. And there was a lot of hand sewing, mostly due to my personal choice of construction.I’m pleased with the fit. DD1 is dancing 20+ hours per week and is extremely fit these days, but I deliberately cut the bodice with about 1.5 inches (4cm) ease spread out over all 6 seams so she can wear this for a few years.