Sep 6, 2014

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!


6 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures! I really like the color on you!

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  2. Lovely! With your figure you can wear that proudly!!

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  3. The colour is really very nice on you (I agree with Marianne), and the setting is lovely. Its good that you can critique your own garments - the back does look a little tight, as you mention. I must say I always want to know who is behind a blog and really like to see the clothes on the person rather than a hanger or dress form. Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kate!
      All the compliments gave me the confidence to buy another piece of green fabric for a future project. Achieving the perfect fit is really where the fun is at for me. Being tall means that it's very rare to find it in RTW. There is always an element of fit I need to compromise on. I love that sewing gives you the tools to try and tweak to perfection. As a beginner I still very much need to develop my fitting and sewing skills, but I'm confident I will get there with time. For woven pieces I will make muslins first and play around with those.

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