Oakshott Lipari blog hop

Welcome to the first stop on this month's blog hop to show off Oakshott's newest line of gorgeous shot cottons, Lipari. I'm so happy that Lynne and Michael let me join in! These colors - oh my goodness - they are so rich and yummy. I had the hardest time deciding which was my favorite. I have this thing where too many choices are a bad thing. So I'll just take a yard of everything! I finally decided on Salina for my main color.

Lipari is made up of 18 colors woven with black thread on the warp and a color on the weft. It makes them shimmery and iridescent. You can see close-ups of each on the Oakshott site  and find out more about the inspiration for this collection here.

These fabrics definitely have a shimmer that makes them look different when they are turned different ways. If you're having trouble figuring out which color is which (the differences in some are very subtle!) here's a trick I learned - the bundle picture above shows them top to bottom in the same order as you'll find them here.

All the heart eyes for those weft colors!

I expect that you'll see some pretty wonderful quilts over the next few weeks from some amazing quilters. I love making quilts too but when Lynne mentioned the 54" width of fabric, the first thing that came to mind was apparel. It just so happens that we're getting in the swing of Me Made May right now too so, a Washi dress it is!

I've been wanting to try a woven Washi with a patchwork band around the hem and this was the perfect opportunity. I drafted this outlined plus block and went to town.

Maybe you'd like to make something similar? Here's how I did it.

Start with a pattern you've already adjusted and fitted if needed. There's nothing worse than wasting time and good fabric on a garment that does not fit you when you're done! Prewash your fabric while you're at it so there will not be any shrinkage surprises. When I prewash my wovens I like to serge the edges beforehand to keep them from fraying in the wash.

Now measure the width of your hem, remembering to double the measurement for anything cut on the fold. My dress hem length was 32" in the back and 36" in the front. My block finishes at 4.5" and I'll be adding some sashing so I divided the measurements by 6" to calculate how many blocks to make (11 total). It doesn't have to be exact as we will square up the pattern later.

Make your blocks. Take advantage of strip piecing where you can. Measurements can be printed out from here. I was able to make all 11 blocks with 2 fat eighths and some of the main fabric for background but you could also mix and match the colors.

On each seam, I went back and stitched a second line in the seam allowance to make sure there would not be any unwanted fraying. Zig-zag stitching would also work but I'm using my straight-stitch-only Juki. Once you have all your blocks, sew them into strips for the back and front, adding 2" x 5" sashing pieces between each block and on the ends of the rows.

Next up, cut your dress pattern pieces from your main fabric. On both the front and back, cut it 8" shorter than you normally would. I simply folded that part of my pattern up out of the way so I would not need to cut and tape it back together.

Cut 4 more pieces from your main fabric - 2 that are 5" by length of your patchwork sections and 2 that are 4" by just a little longer than the patchwork sections.

Lay out the folded front pattern piece with the patchwork strip (folded in half) below it and the additional 5" plain strip below that. We're going to sandwich the seam so the raw patchwork edges will be enclosed all the way around.

Matching the center of the dress to the center of the patchwork, pin them right sides together. Pin the plain strip to the wrong side of the dress piece. So your sandwich is: plain piece right side up, dress piece right side up, patchwork piece wrong side up.

Sew these together, adding a second seam as before. Press the patchwork and the plain piece away from the dress, hiding all of those pesky raw edges.

Pin the 4" strip right sides together with the patchwork section. Make sure you're also catching the plain strip in this seam so as to completely hide all patchwork raw edges on the inside of the dress. Sew or serge - this seam will be exposed on the inside of the dress so you'll want to finish it with a zig zag stitch if you don't have a serger. Press the strip down away from the patchwork. The thickness of it will naturally go that way anyhow. Your front dress piece is complete, you just need to even up the sides to where they should be.

Carefully fold the front dress piece in half and get your pattern piece back out. Line the pattern up carefully with the part you've already cut out and then go ahead and finish cutting the along the pattern.

Repeat these same steps for the back of the dress.

Finish sewing the dress and hem as you usually would. Voila! I love the way the Oakshott gives the dress a little body in the way it drapes.

Whew, you made it to the end! You still with me?

Make sure to visit all of the other stops on the tour - I am definitely looking forward to seeing what they've made! Until then, I'll just be twirling around in my pretty new dress.

5 May     Allison Dutton       that's me!
10 May   Nicholas Ball         quiltsfromtheattic.wordpress.com 
12 May   Helen Purvis          archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com
17 May   Lynn Harris            thelittleredhen.typepad.com
24 May   Jessica Skultety      www.quiltyhabit.com 
26 May   Karin Jordan           www.leighlaurelstudios.com
31 May   Elisabeth Vaughan  sharksdinner.com
2 June     Kitty Wilkin           nightquilter.com

I almost forgot - this was also on my finish along list for the quarter. Oakshott dress: check!

Montlake Tee

I've been spending some time the past week or so helping to test and tweak a new pattern release from Straight Stitch Designs, the Montlake Tee. I'm happy to report that the process was great and I love the final product!

Kimberly Payne, the designer behind Straight Stitch Designs, also lives in the Seattle area and names her patterns after different parts of the city. So fun! She was great to work with, really listening to all of our feedback and suggestions during the testing process. I won't bore you with my hideous muslins but check out this finished shirt. Not too bad, huh?

The Montlake tee is a great relaxed top with a flattering scoop neck and 4 different sleeve length options. I considered doing an FBA but decided to keep it simple by instead taking in the front waist a little more than the back. I have fabric washed and ready to cut out several more of these - this blue one is a Robert Kaufman Laguna jersey (cotton lycra) and is super comfy. I would recommend you get yourself this pattern if you're looking for a great basic to add to your wardrobe.

A matching dress for me

My last post was about dresses made for my niece but I actually bought that black floral print for myself. I've been muslining and experimenting with the Greenstyle Laurel dress and was finally ready to try the dress length. It was a happy coincidence that there was also enough of this print to make a little girl dress too!

I really like the Laurel pattern. It's similar to other patterns I have but so much more flattering for me with the pleats for the skirt instead of gathering. There are options for a few different sleeve lengths and a cowl neck too, but it's summer and it has been extremely hot over here in Seattle so I opted for a sleeveless scoop neck. And pockets. Mine had to have pockets too!

I don't recall what the finishing instructions were in this pattern but I went with another Coletterie recommendation and did wrapped binding to finish the arms and neck. For the hem I used a little seam binding tape to keep the bottom even, folded up twice, and finished with a twin needle right next to the fold. I think the seam tape gives it a little extra stability for the twin needle so I don't have any tunneling and the maxilock stretch thread in the bobbin gives a great stretchy seam.

The fabric came from Denver Fabrics, my first order with them. I love the print and it is sooooo soft - it's a cotton lycra. It's also survived a few washings so far in good condition and with good color retention. I would order from them again but now know they do not actually ship for a week or two after ordering. At least I know that now!

Until next time,
Allison

Uptown Downtown dresses

When I was little, my mom was always sewing my sister and I matching dresses. We are only 18 months apart so of course it was adorable to put us in the same dress, or the same dress pattern but different colors. She kept it up awhile after my younger sister came along too. Looking back, I have no idea where she found the time to make us those adorable creations with 4 little kids running around. I'll have to dig up some pictures one of these days. I'm also not sure when I stopped being a dress girl but I'm trying to get back to that a little bit these days.

Anyway. Now that I have a serger, I've started sewing some little dresses for my niece as well. I've made her a few dresses over the past year that she loves (this woven one and this knit/woven combo) and so I thought I'd whip up a few more for her 4th birthday. I mean, is there anything cuter than a small child wearing a dress you made for her and her bragging to you that YOU made it for her? This kid has a great memory!

I've been collecting some cute knit prints lately (I may or may not have been on a knit-buying binge... oops) and a few were just perfect for tiny dresses. I broke out the Uptown Downtown Dress pattern by Sew Straight and Gather to once again sew up. It's the same pattern I used for her rainbow fishy dress and I seriously love this pattern. My little niece is tall for her age so I added 2 inches to each of these and of course had to include the pockets this time. I even remembered to put a little ribbon tag in one of them to mark the back.

When she opened these up on her birthday I knew she liked them. I was so excited to get pictures of her wearing one a few days later -  so cute! Apparently she also told everyone that her auntie made her that. Awww! I wonder if she told them I had made myself a matching dress? Because I did. More on that later.

Now that they are done and gifted, I realize I should have taken some construction pictures but alas, I did not. You'll just have to take my word for it that these are finished with 2 different methods, both found in this amazing Colette guide. The white dress was finished with bands and the black one used the seam covering binding. In both cases I was silly enough to close up the underarm seam before finishing, leaving me with tiny arm holes to wrestle through a giant serger foot. I won't make that mistake again!

After attaching the bands and binding, I secured them with my trusty twin needle and maxilock stretch on the bottom. I use the stretch thread in the loopers of my serger to make the seams a little softer but I've also discovered it's wonderful in the bobbin for twin needle sewing. Woolly nylon is also great for these uses but is a little more expensive.

I have a Pinterest board I've started with great tips and tutorials like the one above if you'd like to follow along on Sew: Apparel and Sewing Tips.

 Have a great weekend!
Allison

Makin' shirts

So I've been on a bit of a kick lately with trying to make some shirts for me. I made a Staple dress and tried a few tiny pocket tanks in wovens but those were a little tricky with the darts and such so I decided to try some knits instead. Most of the clothes I like wearing are knit anyhow and I have a serger so I might as well go for it!

I got some pretty purple jersey knit from Girl Charlee (affiliate link with 10% off for you) and tried out Stitch Upon a Time's Flora pattern. I really like it! This one is the tunic length and it's super comfy.

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Mar 7, 2015 at 4:52pm PST

Once I saw that I liked the pattern of course I wanted to make it again. Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness was looking for people to sew up something with her very soon to be released fabric line, Fantasia. It's an adorable, whimsical collection full of unicorns and happiness. I've been wanting to try some of Art Gallery Fabric's knits so I asked Sara to send me some of Bous Trail Bluet. You guys, this knit is amazing. Soooooo soft and stretchy with great recovery.

I whipped up another Flora, this time in the shorter shirt length and with the button back closure. I really like the end result but oh my word was it hard to make buttonholes on knit, even with the help of interfacing.

Thanks so much for the fabric Sara! I can't wait for this line to be in stores so I can make something adorable for my little niece. Unicorns and pink are pretty much the best combo ever in her world!

Allison

Field trip day!

I'm working on a great post for you for tomorrow to show some of my favorite Quiltcon quilts in terms of the FMQ so be sure to check back tomorrow for that.

In the meantime, today I made a little field trip over to Tsoniki Crazy Bull's Me Being Crafty podcast. We talk all about Quiltcon and how much fun it is.

iTunes link: http://mebeingcrafty.com/itunes

Stitcher link: http://mebeingcrafty.com/stitcher

I also mention that I've been sewing up a few garments lately which leads right into the second part of my field trip to Sandi Crafty Planner's Learn More Sew More series. I have a tutorial up over there today on how I use fold over elastic to bind necklines and arm holes on shirts for a quick and easy finish. Come check it out and give it a try!