Autumn Sewing Plans - The absolutely me dress

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Maybe you started to think: all that wardrobe planning: where is the fun?

Don't worry, I did buy a few patterns for no particular reason other than that

 I HAD TO HAVE THEM! Pronto! 

Especially this green dress feels absolutely me, from head to toe. 

This drawing is me: my favorite hairstyle, my favorite color, my favorite shoes.

Autumn Sewing Plans - v8787 / v8972 / b5949 - Wardrobe building dresses

I love wearing dresses. Depending on the color and styling they can both be office and party proof. For me the key to the perfect dress is the perfect fit. 

As I mentioned before I'm 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.

I plan to make muslins for all my upcoming projects and to tweak them to perfection. As this will be quite a time consuming process I was very critical in my selection. All patterns had to meet a list of criteria.

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1. First of all my sewing skills are limited. If this wasn't an issue I would be sewing (vintage) designer/couture patterns full stop. However, I still believe I can fool non-sewers into thinking that I'm wearing high end items with the right match of patterns, fabric and fit.
   
   
2. I want to be able to wear (some of) the dresses in a corporate environment
   
   
3. After altering my muslin and the pattern I want to be able to make multiples of the same pattern, without it being too obvious
   
   
4. I have a curvy figure. My waist is at least 1 size smaller than my bust and hips. Clothes that lack waist definition tend to be unflattering and make me look bigger than I actually am. 
   
   

The three patterns that I selected all fall into the easy classification of Vogue or Butterick: v8787 / v8972 / b5949  The design lines looked complicated to me, but my mom assured me this will help to manipulate the fit and grade between bust, waist and hip sizes.

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Look at all the variations that are included with the patterns already:

b5949

v8972

v8787

Once I achieved the perfect fit I can make the same dress over and over again! 

I love to hear more about your perfect dress pattern or suggestions for patterns that meet my criteria. 

Happy wardrobe planning! 

Autumn Sewing Plans - Cozy Lounge Wear

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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? 

Autumn Sewing Plans - Introduction

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. The falling leaves, the pretty colors, long walks in the forest and the return of cozy evenings spend around the fireplace. I just love it! 

This year I'm also excited for the change of seasons, because it means I can start planning a new wardrobe.

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This whole year the Colette Wardrobe Architect kept me busy reflecting on my wardrobe and personal style. Recently I followed all this thinking with some action in the form of a serious wardrobe cull. And unlike other years all the items I had doubts about ended up being tossed, instead of landing back in my wardrobe 'just in case'. A huge victory for a hoarder like me!

With space in my closet and clear ideas about my wardrobe wants & needs I started to select patterns for my autumn sewing. Since I put so much thought and consideration into the selection of each and every one of my chosen patterns I decided it would be fun to turn this into a little blog series. In the coming days I will post daily about my pattern selection and inspiration. 

"Buy Less. Choose well." - Vivienne Westwood

Can't wait until then? Pinterest proved to be a handy tool. You can find all my inspiration spread over various boards. 

Visit Canal Couture's profile on Pinterest.

***Edit***

Other Pinterest lovers be aware: The Mc Call Pattern Company is hosting a Pinterest contest. Check their blog for more information. 

Happy wardrobe planning! 

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! 

Mom-made-May

In honor of Mother's Day and Me-Made-May I'm taking you on a trip down memory lane. Long before my mom became the queen of Mabel's she made all of my favorite childhood clothes. My mom really is the best mom in the world! From dresses, to countless flowery pants, costumes and coats, my mom made it all. 

The best part of having handmade dresses? My dolls had matching dresses too! 

Even my teddy bear had a handmade wardrobe, lovingly made by my grandmother. 

On to my favorite mom-made-items. Those have to be my coats. Outerwear was her absolute specialty. We meticulously planned our jackets, up to the smallest details. I felt so special to wear a coat that was designed just for me. 

Look at all the contrasting pockets and other embellishments. I loved my coats! 

We would go on special shopping trips to pick out the fabrics, trims and notions. On the way we would stop at the candy store haberdashery, where my sister and I got to pick a ribbon to put in our hair.

To end with a bang I couldn't leave out these pictures, proudly showing off my coats and bike. I'm Dutch after all. 

Dear mom, thank you so much for taking the time and effort to create all these clothes. You are my sewing hero and the worlds best mom! 

Happy Mother's Day!