Category: tricot knit

Teeny lingerie

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Susan recently released her new Emma racer back bralette and slip.

Did you see the dark moody floral version she made?

She’s developed this style because traditional straps on nightwear and slips just don’t work for her shoulder shape. Racer back tops are really supportive for gymwear so I wanted to road test this pattern out.

The slip I made was such a game changer for me. The straps are so supportive. The upper bust holds to me firmly. The skirt on the slip lends itself to applying all sorts of gorgeous knit lace.

I was able to use up bra elastic, bra notions and black tricot that I had in my stash.

There are also lace remnants used to on the bra cups.

The lace on the hem was bought last week.


Susan’s a friend and she gave me this pattern to test. Yes I admire her work and ability to develop patterns that are different and useful.

It’s Winter here and I tend to wear slips to stop knit dresses from ‘sticking’ to me.

Now for the bralette. 
This is the first version I made and I had a ball making it.

I’m not the ideal candidate for a bralette but my amazing, youngest niece (all the nieces and nephews are amazing) was thrilled to have a bralette made by her aunty. Yay me!

It’s not often I sew for others so I did a bit of research and asked her Mum what colours to use. I had thoughts of florals, gorgeous lace, all sorts of ideas. 

Thankfully she’s an urban kid at heart so black and grey were what she wanted. This set kept me using my lingerie stash.

Ok, I bought the grey fabric but the rest is all from my stash.

The instructions for both the slip and the bralette are helpful and complete. 
That meant I could follow them easily in between bouts of housework over the weekend.

The bottoms are made using View B from McCalls 5651. 


The bottoms took a bit of time to work out because the McCalls pattern doesn’t use elastic on the legs, so I had to work out the elastic lengths I needed. 

Above is View A and View B in lace remnants for me and not young Miss. The lining in these views is too short and also not as wide as the front pants.

So I think I’ll give Susan’s Emma racerback pattern lots of thumbs up.

Those Prym sewing notions need to be used so I have plenty of lingerie projects ahead.

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Easy slip

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Burda 6964 was a breeze to use for a couple of very quick slips.

The burgundy slip was the test version. I felt more comfortable wearing the Bella dress with this slip.

On this black version, I moved the shoulders closer to the centre so it sits better on me.

You might also be able to see I’ve added lace to the hem of this version. The lace was bought from some fabric shopping excursion and had been sitting in my stash for a while so I was really happy to use it.

No more cling when I wear these slips with knit dresses now.

Burda wrap dress

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This is my first Burda dress (11/2012 #116) this year using Spotlight fabric and lined with tricot. This pattern doesn’t need lining and doesn’t come with lining pieces. I added the lining so there are no ‘visible lines’ or ‘clinging skirt’ syndrome.
Burda patterns provide just the pattern with no seam allowance. In the past this was a stumbling block for me. Lately I’ve been enjoying sewing patterns with 6mm seams so I’ve used my little magnet thingy to add the seams at the ‘tracing off the pattern onto paper’ stage. I then use the little magnet thingy again for cutting out those tricky fabric bits with the pattern.
Magnet thingy
While the fabric has a subtle all-over print, there is a repeat in it. Love a good repeat challenge. It adds that extra hurdle to get my sewing projects to look more spesh.
Here’s the final dress
If you sew Burda patterns then you would know the aspects I’m about to mention below. These notes are mostly for me to use as a reference for making future BurdaStyle patterns.
Burda sizing
This is a petite pattern. I chose size 20 for the bust and hips and 18 for the waist. When I checked the bodice during the project it was too big so I sewed 18 at the bust. If I’d checked the actual body ease on the pattern pieces, I’ve probably taken out the built-in pattern ease.

Checking for bodice fit

Burda notches

Even with my dodgy tracing skills, the notches were spot on.
Back view

Petite

The Burda sizing /proportions for a petite like me were also spot on. There are two petite modifications I’ve made.

Pocket petite: I made was to cut the pocket bag to a smaller depth. I don’t adjust the pocket opening, just the depth of the pocket.
A shorter pocket

To keep the pockets from bagging, I’ve used seams great a tricot trim on the pocket seams. The pockets are sewn into the skirt side seams. 


What is clever is the top of the pocket piece is also sewn into the waist seam, so the pocket doesn’t flip backwards.

Sleeve petite: I’ve shortened the sleeve at the elbow so that the wrist width is at my natural width. If I’d lopped it off at the hem, the wrist width would have bagged out. 

Adjustments
Roll shoulder adjustment across the whole shoulder and on the sleeve head.
Sway back adjustment on the back bodice and the back skirt pieces. That’s why my version has a centre back seam – to add the shaping I need.
Back bodice view
Lining
This pattern isn’t lined but I prefer lining. So the easiest way to make the lining pattern was to trace off the bodice pieces again minus the facings. That’s the beauty of having a pattern with no seam allowances.
The skirt has the facing built into the skirt front so I had to sew the lining in a few stages, in between three coffees and a good night’s rest.
Aligning and hand stitching the hem with the lining on the floor.
Hem
My fabric was too wriggly for a mitre corner. I’ve hand sewn the hem onto the lining. I’ll try this again on the next version. If the next version is also very fine, I might interface the corner so it’s easier to mitre.
Cutting out the collar pieces
Detailing
The sleeves have two versions – one with a cuff and one without the cuff. There’s a belt and belt loops. The closure used are two snaps. I’ve used three – one clear snap at the bust because this is a work dress. If this wasn’t a work dress, I wouldn’t add that third safety snap.
Matching the print on the sleeve pieces

What didn’t work

I tried to add piping on the collar and the fabric was way too thin to handle the extra weight without adding additional layers of fabric. Piping is not part of this pattern. It was a feature I wanted to add. Oh well…
Ready for work
Wrap top or wrap skirt
On the pdf, there are some lines on the front bodice indicating it could be for #115 of the same issue. I don’t have Burda 11/2012 so I can’t confirm this.
So I’m guessing it’s for a wrap top pattern. The back pattern pieces can be modified if I decide to remake this as a wrap top. That’s what I’m thinking.
Which also means I could easily use this pattern for the wrap dress, a wrap skirt and a wrap top too.

I have another four BurdaStyle patterns to make and you’ll see these over the coming months: 
Cigarette pants 02/2014 #129
Split neck dress 09/2014 #101
Structured peplum top 02/2014 #115
Asymmetric jersey dress 05/2014 #115

Quick slip of desperation

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Last week I decided to wear my purple/grey knit dress (McCall 8557) to work. I’d made the dress from fabric I bought in Melbourne in March and the weather was right – not too hot and definitely not freezing. I had the shoes to match. Because I wore the dress to work, I wore stockings.

The problem was static cling (no picture required here) with my stockings. I felt like a cling wrap piece of chicken. In desperation, I found a stash of tricot knit that I bought at a factory clearance, measured my widest hip measurement (derriere) and cut the fabric so it was above the knee.

I grabbed some basic skinny white elastic and zigzagged it onto the waistline.

On the weekend I added this lace and it’s kind of ruffled, when not stretched. I’ll keep my eye out for some stretch boned coloured elastic and make a second ‘quick slip’ with a bit more time and skill.
I’ve since been told there are products to stop static cling (‘chicken cling wrap), as well as rubbing moisturiser over your legs when you wear stockings.