Autumn Sewing Plans - Cozy Lounge Wear

1/2/3/4/5

For me fall is all about falling leaves, long walks in the forest and sipping hot chocolate or a nice glass of red wine around the fire place. 

I want to be comfortable yet stylish while lounging around the house. Mc Call's 6658 is the perfect pattern, providing countless options for separates and variations. I particularly love the sweater top with the large cowl. 

I never really cared much about my pj's, but all of that changed when I saw pictures of Rosie Huntington Whiteley's line for M&S. I loved the effortlessly chic style. Of course it helped that it was modelled by a gorgeous woman in full glamour mode. Who wears make-up like that with their pj's?!

I sprinted to M&S to try on some items. Bummer number 1: it wasn't available for sale in the Netherlands. Bummer number 2: after my online order I discovered that this line is created by a (I suspect) tall supermodel, however it is designed to fit smaller people. The pants and sleeves were way too short. And for the price tag that was a part of comfort I didn't want to compromise on.

Lucky for me I now sew and found a pattern that will help me create some glamorous lounge wear of my own. The key will be in sourcing luxurious knit fabrics. If you have any suggestions where to find them in the Amsterdam area, please let me know in the comments.

What is your favorite pattern for lounge wear? 

Kitschy Coo Lady Skater aka The dress that started this blog

So far I wrote a few blog posts, but never made an appearance. By now you're probably curious what I look like - I know I would be! - So here I am, all 182 cm of me, in the lady skater dress that kick started this blog.

I finished the dress a few months ago, but never got around to wearing/blogging it, because it's more of an autumn dress. When I finished the dress I was so proud of myself: I actually finished a garment that didn't look hideous or homemade, but something that I could actually wear. 

You may recognize the pattern as the Kitschy Coo lady skater dress. The pattern was a gift from my mom, after I expressed an interest in picking up sewing. My mom taught me the basics as a kid and under her supervision I created a few skirts and pants for myself. 

I wish that would have resulted in a prosperous sewing career from then on, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. After I moved out I made a few sewing attempts on my own, that all failed miserably as a result of poor pattern and fabric choices. 

I think the Colette wardrobe architect series was the last push I needed to consider sewing again. I felt limited by the choices in RTW, and being tall means it's hard to find a proper fitting garment to begin with. The wardrobe architect really helped me to reconsider how I select what I wear. 

The great thing about sewing is that you can influence almost every aspect of your garment. While hunting for fabric I was immediately drawn to this green ponte knit. I don't usually wear much green, but it's always been my favorite color. My childhood room was green, my favorite hat is green, my bike is green. So it seemed fitting that my first dress would be green. 

Construction of the dress

The pattern comes with photographed step by step instructions. I loved them! It made the steps really easy to follow and the whole process enjoyable. Even the new techniques were easy to visualize based on the pictures. 

The only step I experienced some difficulties with was the neckband. The first time it curled up like crazy, but after some mail support from Mrs. Kitschy Coo and a practice attempt in my muslin it turned out pretty nice and flat. 

One thing I'm not so happy with is the overall fit. As you can see in the picture above the top turned out very tight. I made a muslin to test the fit, but made the rookie mistake of making a muslin in a wildly different fabric. My muslin fabric had a lot more stretch than the ponte knit that I used for the final version, hence it turned out very tight. 

If I were to make the dress again I would check the stretch recovery of my fabric, size up, broaden the shoulders, lengthen the sleeves and skirt a tad more and scoop out the neck. 

This particular dress probably won't get a lot of wear, but I don't mind. The process was very enjoyable and I learned a lot. For now that's all that counts (and it helps that my second make was already a lot more successful)

Until next time!