Category: polka dots

Polka dot fun

~ velosews ~ Leave a comment

Last time we travelled I experimented and wore dresses 80% of the time. I enjoyed the experience and found I had less-stress choosing what to wear each day.

Initially I felt a bit over dressed. Wrap dresses like this Sew Over It Eve dress is a great shape for travelling.

This version of Eve is a test dress. The fabric was a cotton remnant from the Fabric Cave.

Using an all over print like this gave me the opportunity to get the fit right.

Honestly I love the fact that it has a waistline, but it’s also a waistline that can change without being obvious.

Even the skirt back width is forgiving.

On the pattern I did a forward shoulder adjustment and lowered the skirt centre back hem to cover my rear.


The pattern does offer a short flutter sleeve option as well as a high-low hem skirt.

If you take a closer look at the inside of the neckline, you’ll notice stay tape is used to finish the neckline. They beauty of the stay tape is you can ease any neckline gaping on the stay tape so the neckline closes against your body.

Now to work on a border print version using a John Kaldor print from Minerva Crafts.
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Minerva make – Jumpin polka dots

~ velosews ~ 22 Comments

After making a summer work wardrobe, I chose to go easy and enjoy celebrating summer with this top and pants. Actually, this is a jumpsuit McCalls 6083. The fabrics including the interfacing are from Minerva Crafts UK. These were ordered before Christmas and arrived in Australia from the UK before New Year. You’ll find a few jumpsuits at Minerva.

Pretty plain looking on the hanger right? These fabrics washed nicely and were easy to work with. I used ‘Seams Great’ to stabilise the shoulder pleats. The pockets have swimwear elastic to give the gathers. 
You don’t need a super duper sewing machine to sew this successfully. Just a normal sewing machine will help you achieve this easy, breezy piece. Being knit fabrics, seams don’t need to be finished. These fabrics have been through the wash a few times now and the seams edges remain intact. This such an easy jumpsuit to wear.
Invisible snaps at the front will keep you in (and get you out) of this comfortable jumpsuit. The sleeve edges and back neckline are folded down once and zigzagged. I did use the coverstitch machine for the hems on the pants but you don’t need a coverstitch machine to finish the hems.
This was taken outside the Amory buildings in Sydney. Summer is coming to an end.
The kit from Minerva includes McCalls pattern 6083 (sizes 14-20), spotty jersey cotton knit fabric, plain jersey fabric and woven interfacing. This is the perfect project if you only have a sewing machine and aren’t confident sewing in a zipper.
You can see how flowing the pants fabric is. It’s gorgeous to sew with too.
This version has

– pleats at the shoulder line. Pleats suit the cotton knit used for the top.

– wide elastic at the waist. I added more seam allowance on the top and on the pants to do this without distorting the pattern.
– smaller arm holes. I raise the arm holes of the front and back bodices
– The base of the pocket bags have been cut off. The original pockets ended at mid-thigh level.

Wear it will a cute belt and flat shoes.
Or wear it will heels in a similar print. I decided to wear these heels and not the flat shoes.
When I took these indoor photos, it was a Friday night after a busy week and I was about to catch up with friends, so I wanted to feel comfortable but look sharp. I’d be happy to see you in this outfit too. Grab the kit and make your version today. Thank you Minerva Crafts.

And that’s my Sew Grateful project brought to you by Minerva Crafts!!

Left hand blue

~ velosews ~ 17 Comments

You’ve seen these before here and here. I wanted a navy pair in blue, so this is the blue pair with a new blue top for Blue, blue February.


The pattern changes were refined on the second pair but I wanted to tackle one more issue. Making room for cyclist thighs. Well I think that’s the last piece to my shorts puzzle.

The lifesaver is right behind me 🙂

After checking the notes on the Pants Club, I thought the legs part needed a bit of room. Using the big red book, they call this change ‘circumference thigh adjustment’. Who knew?


Here’s the back view. Lots of cover stitching used again and my attempt at matching the dots on the back pockets didn’t happen. Oh well. These are my final summer shorts.

The top is a replica of the RTW top I wore with these shorts yesterday.

Spotto

~ velosews ~ 10 Comments

Spotted fabric lives in my stash. A recent hunt in my stash made me realise there were spots here and there. Navy spots made their way onto my Chloe dress by Victory Patterns. These spots are small and the fabric is light weight. So good to wear in summer.

Well I found another navy spot fabric. I’m sure this was from Pitt Trading. The spots are larger and the fabric is more firmer and light weight. The solution – trousers for summer.

This spots below is my second test trousers for McCalls 5397.

I had to check the fit of this pattern and the fly front I added. The centre back zip wasn’t working for me. Not that it was uncomfortable. I’m not used to a centre back zip on trousers.

This fabric holds its own because it’s very firm and because it’s dark it won’t show creases.

So while the pattern shows slim-fitted trousers, they do have room in the leg, but the leg line is straight.

My ‘white shirt’ is Vogue 8815. The top feels a bit short but it looks ok in these photos so I’ll hang fire on adding an additional longer peplum.
 
November posts
I have a stack of post about everything that’s happened this month. I’ll get these posted once I have a chance to regroup. This has been an inspiring month in lots of ways!

Chloe by Victory patterns

~ velosews ~ 23 Comments

With our meeting with Kristiann Boos of Victory patterns looming, I decided to sew Chloe version 2, with sleeves. 

 

Melbourne weather being a changeable affair, I needed to make this up in a classic fabric – navy with white polka dots in cotton. I can wear any shoes with this fabric.

The lace used for the sleeves is a remnant so I was very careful to cut out plenty so you can see the flowers on both sleeves. Acetate bias was used as were some largish shiny white buttons.

Adjustments
Roll shoulder, sway back, check pocket depth, check hem length and lastly check the dart point.

 Thanks to my niece for taking these pics of her Aunty wearing Chloe.

The littlest niece was making faces to make me laugh. It worked. They are smart girls.
Minerva Crafts has a huge range of fabric with dots of all shapes and colours. I used dots in the search field and I’m still looking through their huge range of dot fabrics, buttons, bows….