In a suburb far, far away...

A couple of weekends ago I had a trip to Sydney. I went to a musical, an opera, three museums, did some leatherworking classes (more on that in future post) and went fabric shopping in Cabramatta. It was a very busy five days but lots of fun.

I had been hearing about Cabramatta ever since I started sewing lessons. It’s a Sydney suburb that has in its shopping precinct a loop with half a dozen or so fabric shops. The shops are packed with so much fabric it can be hard to move. The prices are good and the quality is too.

In the first couple of shops I didn’t find anything to buy. My shopping list was mostly costume/historical-geared so the very contemporary fabrics weren’t quite what I was looking for. However in the fourth shop, I found a beautiful gold chiffon. I’ve had a 1930s gold lamé evening gown design kicking around for years which this would be perfect for. And only $4 a metre; I bought 10.

The next shop turned up some glorious knits, perfect for the maxi-dresses I like for day wear. One light grey with a border print is beautiful and the other looks like it is covered in lightsaber blades; I couldn’t pass that up. Usually I have to look in the ~$20m section for these dresses and even that stuff often feels cheap. But here the quality was better and only $6 per metre. Except for the mottled black which they said was better quality, so $8m. I think it dyed my hands a bit when I was folding it up so I'm a bit scared of using it yet. Not sure if it will be a dress or skirt. Hopefully both.

Lastly I found a shop that had an eggshell blue brocade. I’ve been looking out for such a fabric for years to make Eowyn’s victory gown. I was a bit concerned to find it was $17m as I needed a fair bit – and then I found out that it was 3 metres wide. Hurray!

There isn't a good picture of this in existence, sorry.

Now, I am ostensibly trying to clear out projects rather than accumulate new ones so when the next weekend came I got straight into sewing the two maxi-dresses.

Because the grey fabric has straight border print and my pattern has a curved hem I needed to make some changes. I traced a new pattern and decided to keep it as the master because not full of adjustments and layers of paper and sticky tape. Then I cut my old pattern to have gores. Though still curved, these pieces were a lot easier to line up with the edge of the print.

The border print also meant cutting the dress down the width of the fabric rather than the length so most of the stretch is going down rather than around me. This means the sleeves are a bit tight to get on. I can’t figure out if there is anything you would make with the stretch going the right way and the border being vertical. Any ideas?

I have made 5 of these maxi-dresses exactly the same now so I decided to do something a bit different with the lightsaber fabric. This time, I used mesh (bought for something else) for contrast sleeves and a double layer neckline. For trim I used double rows of foldover elastic. Also while in Sydney I happened upon a gorgeous pair of shoes by Kitten D’Amour. They match the dress perfectly.

Usually on these dresses I sew the lining and outside together all at once but to get the double layer neckline I had to start each layer separately. I sewed the shoulder seams and the very top of the back seam and put the elastic around each neckline (the red one is cut 3cm lower).

I didn’t want the whole lining to be mesh so just attached a yoke.

I topstitched the shoulder seam at the neck side to hold the necklines in place and included both layers in the back seam until nearly the top.

For the cuffs, the edge band of elastic is folded around the end of the sleeve and the other row is folded on itself and was sewn on top of the sleeve before I sewed up the seam.

I am very pleased with how these dresses turned out. For two and a half days’ work it's a great start to the sewing year.

2017 Review

This year, it was like I decided to SEW ALL THE THINGS.

Costumes
In 2016 I did very little costuming but I got back to it in 2017. Firstly, I finished off Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. The skirt and shirt were mostly done last year but this year I finished them off and added the choker, scarf, chemise, hair bow and handbag-disguised-as-a-book.

I actually made 3 chemises this year, but only one that was worth photographing.

The eternal Assassin's Creed project continues. This year I made the belt for my costume and cast all the resin pieces for AC II and Brotherhood. This included a second version of my AC II buckle because I wasn't happy with the paint job on the first. I also took my Dad's doublet apart and remade it because it didn't fit properly and neither of us were happy with it.

I've got leatherworking classes booked for early next year and I bought a Dremel last week to encourage me to stop putting off sanding the resin. I'm partly excited and partly ready for it to be over.

I made an 1830s dress, that I adore, for the Jane Austen festival. To go with it I made a corded petticoat and a bonnet. It was very nice to get back to some historical sewing after having spent 18 months or so focusing on videogame outfits and everyday wear.

In the week before Jafa I made a regency ballgown and evening spencer for a friend.

First photo by Steven Shaw

I also made a couple of regency petticoats and new stays – I will get the regency silhouette right eventually. (I mean, I won't; I'm not built that way, but I will get it as right as I can.)

I made a new Victorian corset as part of a workshop. I was very happy to finally get a corset that fits properly and I very much liked sewing with silk and hope to use it more (the muffled whimpering you can hear is my bank account).

Real Clothes
My Bioshock-induced 1940s habit is still going strong. I bought a couple of antique 1940s patterns not long ago; I haven't made them up yet, but I did use the collar and sleeve of one for the light purple dress. The write-up for the dark dress is here.

I had a foray into the fifties with the lovely Butterick 6018. I also made a slip, based on an original I own.

The slip turned out so well I made a summer dress from the same pattern. Also in summer wear, I made a dress and swimming togs with the au courant halter neckline.

I've worn this black knit skirt, McCalls 6608, so much it feels like I've had it forever, not just a year. I also made another maxi-dress. The fabric was beautiful but a bit cheap and nasty; I'm almost surprised it's survived being worn nearly every week since I made it.

Learning
I made a shirt and pants as part of some sewing classes I took this year. Learning how to adjust patterns properly has made a huge difference to how comfortable my clothes can be. With the 1830s dress and the 1950s dresses particularly, I noticed that I was able to fix fitting issues I would normally have just put up with.

This year I've started to focus more on my sewing-adjacent skills, like make-up and photography. I had my first studio photoshoot (not counting the family portrait when I was 3). Since attending a photography workshop at Gamma.Con, Mum and I are putting a bit more thought into the photos we take for the blog and are leaving the house to find different settings – you can expect a vicarious tour through Canberra over the next year.

Events
I had an excellent year of going to costuming events. Having friends to go with makes them so much better. First was the Jane Austen Festival, then Gamma.Con. We've got plans for more outings next year, and the preparatory sewing bees are already underway.

At Jafa: I made all the dresses and hats in this picture.

At Gamma.Con I won the sewing section of the Cosplay competition with my Elizabeth outfit. Elizabeth also got a first place in the Canberra Show and my Assassin won non-professional champion. My 2018 entry form is already on its way but I was saddened to see that there were no historical or costume categories. I had to enter in 'Other'.

Last year I thought I would aim to do a bit more sewing in 2017. I definitely managed it! In 2018 I might do a bit less. Although I've been enjoying it so much I don't want to stop.

Adventures in fitting

Earlier in the year, I did a sewing class where we made a pair of casual-fit, elastic-waist trousers. The pattern was Vogue 8584.

To take account of my hip measurement (which is a few sizes larger than my waist), I needed to cut out the size 12 pattern – and then didn't reduce the waist at all for the mock-up (because, to quote my sewing teacher, "it'll be funny ").

So I made the mock-up and took it to class where the teacher – while I was wearing it – demonstrated how to take a lot out of a waistband. However, when I went to get changed I found I couldn't take the trousers off. We tried letting out the waist reduction at centre front and centre back and I still couldn't get them over my hips. I always had difficulty buying trousers but I thought the problem was with the product; turns out I'm a shape that is physically incapable of wearing some kinds of trousers! #notevengoingtotrybuyingpantsagain

I made the waist high so that I would have a pattern that worked for any height of waist in the future.

Our solution was to make up the pattern in knit fabric. These fit much better. I'm still not about to become a pants wearer with this pattern – I don't love how they hang from my hips – but at least I have a pattern that fits should I need one.

I also did a course that involved making a panel-lined shirt (ie the princess seams stop at the shoulder seam not the sleeve seam). This is a seam-style I really like and I have adapted patterns to be like this in the past with varying degrees of success.

The shirt pattern was Butterick 5538, including (American) sizes 3-22. My measurements were too small for the pattern’s range. (This confuses me – I'm small but not remarkably so. I know women much smaller than me – if I am too small for commercial pattern sizes what's it like for them?) So I cut the size 3 and took it in a lot (and then let it out a bit in the hips). Other changes included a minor rounded back adjustment and a significant broad shoulder adjustment.

The class finished with a mock-up (rather than a final garment) so I set about making my own shirt at home. I promptly changed my mind about which collar and sleeves I wanted so I had to adapt the pattern some more and then made it up. The first try had poor arm movement and was tight across the shoulders but I looked at where the creases were and made an adjustment to the sleeve and managed to fix it all by myself!

I actually looked at the pattern instructions when sewing it up – which was useful as I would have missed the facing otherwise. I edged the facing with a Hong Kong finish but used ribbon rather than binding because it was 11 o'clock at night and I didn't want to wait till morning to get to the shops for proper binding. I went slightly overboard with the buttons. I’ve had problems with commercial shirts having buttons too far apart so wanted to avoid that but overcompensated. (I blame historical sewing – corset eyelets do need to be close together.)

I originally started sewing lessons to improve my sewing technique and learn some pattern making so I could make better quality costumes. It hadn't occurred to me to make my own everyday clothes purely for the sake of having them fit. The most significant thing I've learned is the fitting techniques (and that I am a weird shape). A nice shape, but difficult to buy for and sometimes, it seems, impossible to make for.

Do two 50s dresses make a century?

When I bought the peacock feather sateen for my first Butterick 6018 I also bought fabric for a second one. This fabric is also a sateen but it has a Very Big Floral border. This meant I would have to cut all the pieces across the width of the fabric instead of down the length. The border print has no clear straight lines so using it for a curved hem would not be a problem.

Before I started the blue dress I found another lovely rose floral satin. The satin is nice and sturdy and drapes beautifully. I decided to make the two dresses at the same time, assembly line style.

I had an evening of cutting, an evening of skirt seams and an afternoon of neatening edges. I took advantage of the automatic sewing feature on my machine for the neatening – press a button to go instead of constantly pressing the foot pedal. I still think this is an odd feature for a sewing machine – taking away your fine control – but it does have its uses (the other use is buttonholes).

I did interrupt my assembly line a bit as I didn’t cut out the bodice of the blue dress until the skirt was done, as I wasn’t sure which part of the print would look best for the bodice. I ended up going with the same density of vines as the top of the skirt, and placed the pieces to catch as many butterflies as possible. I used a plain section of the fabric for the collar; it nicely holds a butterfly brooch.

For the white floral dress, my mum found a perfectly matching pink fragment in the stash for the collar. It went so nicely that I decided to add it to the sleeves as well. Just not as a fold-back cuff like the pattern has because I want to be able to wear the dress comfortably with a cardigan.

Something I forgot to mention previously about the pattern is that I removed the skirt centre front seam. I find a skirt centre front seam is always at a great risk of puckering or skewing right where it’s most obvious. And anyway, I like a clean sweep of fabric in the front of the dress for a nicer look. To remove the seam from the pattern I had to straighten what was a shaped edge but I don’t think the reduced fullness is any great loss compared to what problems a seam have could wrought.

My other change was to move the side zip to the centre back. I thought the full skirt would mean I could use a shorter zip than do I for my 40s dresses but alas I still need an invisible zip longer than I can find in the shops. I have two hooks above the zip to allow for a longer opening. Next time, I must remember to extend the facing down for the full length of the opening above the top of the zip.

I feel very elegant wearing these dresses. There is something about the 50s that isn't quite me but I do like these dresses a lot.