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!

Sporty Summer Sewathon: Ballet pants for my Boyfriend

This bendy boy is my boyfriend and he is wearing pants made by me. I couldn't be more proud, especially since this is only my second ever completed and wearable garment.

My boyfriend (who works as a professional ballet dancer) had been giving me descriptions of pants he would love to own, but couldn't find in stores. After finishing the Lady Skater Dress I somehow felt very confident that I could make these mystery pants. So with the boyfriend out of town and his birthday around the corner I started cracking on this project.

Clearly I was not the only one with sporty sewing on my mind, because right around this time Did you make that? announced the Sporty summer Sewathon. Sewing minds think alike!

I used a pattern from the menswear edition of Dutch pattern magazine Knipmode, also available online.

To determine the right size I compared the sizing of a few of his favorite jeans (I found the sizing charts from most brands online) to the sizing chart of Knipmode. I traced a size 48 and added a few extra cm, because he was a bit taller than designed for. The tracing was a bit confusing at times. There were lots of overlapping pattern pieces in the same color. The facings and cutting lines were not so clearly indicated. After tracing I flat measured the pattern and compared it to my boyfriend's jeans and other workout pants. For dancers 'clean leg lines' are very important, so I omitted the pockets and removed a bit of bagginess from the hip area. 

The fit turned out even better than I imagined: 

The sewing took me forever could have been pretty straight forward, if only I was a more experienced sewer. It took me one full evening to trace and adjust the pattern, another one to get a grasp of all the stretch- and overlock stitches on my machine and related tension issues, and then a few days of actual sewing. I made every rookie mistake in the book and managed to sew the wrong pattern parts together on several occasions. Unpicking overlock stitches is quite a nightmare, but was completely worth it in the end. 

One thing I learned from this process: I am definitely a slow sewer. I like to take my time and finish my makes as neatly and professional as possible. I don't mind to slow down to research new techniques or finishes. This time I was sewing under a bit of pressure to meet my self-imposed deadline. Most mistakes could have been prevented if I didn't feel so rushed. No more who am I kidding self imposed deadlines for me!

The goal was to make a pair of pants that stay up when a leg is lifted, so mission accomplished!

The only changes I would make next time is to omit the grommets, and per request of the boyfriend, change the top stitching on the waistband. I carefully picked rope and notions to finish the pants, but the boyfriend ripped them out the minute he put the pants on, out of concern for a dance partner getting caught in it. 

The pants have been worn almost daily since I made them, and even got complimented on by the ballet's costume department, so I'm one happy sewer!