Uvita Top-Free pattern from Itch to Stitch

A new pattern from Itch to Stitch, a  FREE Christmas surprise from Kennis Wong, the Uvita Top !

A relaxed, dropped -shoulder top that is designed for maximum comfort and style. Perfect for showing interesting fabric.

My fabric is not really interesting, just a knit with sparkle:) but if you will go and check the other testers versions you will see beautiful stripes, flowers, prints, and velvet. The top comes with two sleeve length options; 3/4 and long. I made the 3/4 in size 4 with 6 for the bust.

The top is really easy and fast to make so a real instant gratification sew kind of top :) !

You can download your Free Uvita top here. 

There is also a 20% discount of any pattern with code bye2017 

Faux leather Santi Skirt -Designer Stitch Patterns

I don`t get so much sewing time these days so while I have a lot of patterns on my sewing wishlist, I  don`t have the time for tracing patterns, making muslins and so on. Testing patterns for Ann Grose from Designer Stitch is making it easy, as I know how her patterns are fitting me.

This is the latest pattern from Designer Stitch Patterns, the Santi skirt! 

The Santi Skirt has 8 gore panels for shaping, front patch pockets, and a self-shaped belt.

I made a size 3 and as you can see the original pattern is much shorter than my skirt. First I was planning to make my Santi in corduroy ( blue, rust or dark red) but while trying to decide on the color, I saw this fabric at Driessen Stoffen ( no affiliate) and thought that it will be perfect for my skirt. It is a kind of faux leather and the back side of the fabric is a kind of  knit...or something very soft and nice so I`ve got immediately this idea of a midi skirt and the result is exactly what I had in my head. The fabric drapes also very nice.

To get this look I lengthened the pattern by 19cm. The Designer Stitch patterns have lines for length adjustments so that was easy.

This is the back of the fabric, very soft and also easy to sew.

Of course, on this pattern, you can go crazy with topstitching! I love topstitching and I made a few swatches before I decided on the topstitching thread. I am happy with my choice, not too bold but also not getting lost in the color of the fabric. 

The pattern is pretty easy but all the topstitching can take some time.

The skirt has a centered back zipper opening. The belt should have been cut on the fold, but I have a center back seam because I did not have enough fabric. I ordered only 1.5m which it would have been enough for the original design but not for my extra lentgh.

I think this fabric is perfect for this pattern and now I only need to find some time to make my corduroy version or versions :) too.

The Santi skirt is now on sale for a limited time on the Designer Stitch shop. 

The turtleneck is the Hepburn from Itch to Stitch Patterns which I made a few times, also here 

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Tanner Culotte -Designer Stitch Pattern

Culotte, a style totally new to me. The new Designer Stitch PDF pattern, the Tanner culotte ( aff) is not something I would choose to make but being a tester for Designer Stitch you get the push to try new things. I gave it a try and I am so happy I did. The pattern is pretty easy to make and if you love topstitching this pattern is perfect for it.

I just love the big pockets and the look with the self-fabric belt, wide belt loops, the back yoke and the width of the hem. This pattern (aff) is made for no stretch fabrics and this denim has no stretch but it is still very comfortable.

I struggled with the length of my Tanner culottes but I think this works perfectly for me, love the look with the long boots. 

I am very pleased with this pattern (aff) and can`t wait to make it in some other fabrics.

Aurora blouse and dress -Wardrobe by me pattern

This is a new favorite pattern, the Aurora blouse and dress from Wardrobe by me. I saw the tester call on Facebook and I was thinking that a pattern like this will be perfect for al the blouse fabrics I bought the last weeks so I applied and after getting accepted I started immediately to work on it. This is a timeless PDF pattern and that is always a good thing, saving some time. 

I made size 38 for the upper part, based on my bust measurement that fits exactly on size 38 and 36 for the waist and down. I also took 2 cm off from the sleeves length and added 2 cm to the bodice length. First I made the blouse version with the mandarin collar. I did want to make the pussy bow version but I did not have enough fabric, I had only 1.5 m of this crepe polyester. 

The construction is pretty easy, good instructions with clear illustrations.

I love this blouse, I had it a few times on, love the comfortable fit and still looking put together.

And...because I loved the fit on my blouse and the pattern is so easy to make, I made also a dress version...and this time with a floral crepe, long sleeves, pussy bow, ruffle and pockets, yes I know, all in one garment I was thinking it will be too much, but I really love it. 

This fabric is so beautiful, sewing it and wearing it is a pleasure. The colors are also fantastic, I think these pictures don`t give the real colors. 

 

I wanted first to make the yoke in a plain red, but changed my mind at the last minute ( my sister said that the floral will make it perfect no need to disrupt with the red so I could not see it another way :) 

Seeing this, I still believe all floral was the good call :))

I like that the dress is not very boxy so I can wear it unbelted. Also, I am happy I made the pockets, I never know what to do with my hands when I take pictures :).

I am very satisfied with this two items, happy I used again two fabrics that I love, the green one was more than two years ago bought...or maybe more, who knows :)) and the floral just a few weeks ago.

In other news, I made Liana jeans, with a few changes I`ve got a pretty nice fit, these are more a wearable muslin and I need to make two small changes ( longer front crotch line, I`ve shortened a bit too much and the back pockets need to be bigger) and I think the next pair will be perfect.

Aurora is on sale for a few days, at the Wardrobe by me shop.

Frida Dress, Designer Stitch pattern

The new pattern from Designer Stitch, the Frida Khalo dress (aff). In this pattern, the main focus is on the fabric. The pattern with its simple lines is perfect to be used with beautiful special fabrics. The inspirational images were really beautiful and when I started looking for some embroidered fabric, the search was not easy. After the test was done, these fabrics were everywhere, so lucky you, if you want to make a Frida. 

The Frida pattern (aff) has a few options for length ( top, tunic, dress ), with or without a flounce and also a few sleeve options ( short, long, short gathered puff or gathered long sleeve bishop).  I made a muslin in size 2 and I only made a 1 cm narrow shoulder adjustment. 

My first version was made in this gorgeous embroidered velvet ( no aff.), which I ordered  when I knew that I was going to test this pattern, but at that moment, I did not know ( I missed that) that in the front  are 6 pintucks and when I got my fabric I knew that there was no way to make nice pintucks in that fabric so I changed that in gathers.

Also to fit nice in my embroidered motifs I decided to add 10 cm to the full dress option....at the moment I had something in my head, like a nice cozy autumn dress but after making the first pictures it felt not really "me " so I got an idea to add some elastic at the waist, to make it more fitted. I used a method similar to this

 only I attached the elastic directly on the dress, instead of making the casing first.

Also, the sleeves are different than the pattern...I did that to fit nice in the embroidery, it is the normal sleeve pattern with a length of 31 cm, from the shoulder down. I added elastic at the sleeve hem too.

 Another change was to finish the neckline with bias band turned to the inside to get an invisible result on the outside. 

Love this dress!

This version is made in a border embroidered cotton. I loved this fabric when I saw it online, only when it got to me, it was not blue with white embroidery, as advertised but a bit purple with light purple embroidery. 

I played a bit with the embroidery, to get a nice pattern on the front and back yoke and that is why I added a center front seam. In this version, I made the pintucks and I love the look in this thin cotton. 

I am very happy with both versions and I know what I am going to sew with the next embroidered piece of fabric I will find. 

The new Frida Dress is to be found at the Designer Stitch shop, in PDF format with English instructions.

Beryl Bomber Dress-Named

Ahh, Named Patterns, they have so many patterns I want to sew and

 most of them I have them too but from past collections, I only managed to sew the  Tyyni Cigarette trousers, which I wear very often and the Talvikki Sweater, also a favorite. I hope I can sew this fall the Pilvi Coat dress   and some more but until then I managed to sew one of the patterns out the latest collection, Fall/Winter '17 Earth Science and that is The Beryl Bomber Dress  .

This pattern is inspired by the bomber jacket, with a V-neck and wide rib knit collar. The dress is unlined at it has a front zipper closure. The advice is to use a firm rib knit for the collar, but I could not find any in the right color and so I went with this fine rib knit but next time I will try to find something much more stable as this one is a bit too soft and is not staying up  at the back .

I used a stretch cotton which I bought a while ago only because I loved the colors and even if I love the result I think that this dress will be perfect in a softer fabric with a bit more drape.

I agonized about choosing which size to make. I am between 3 sizes on Named size chart so I kind of blended between the three. This is made in size 36 for the shoulders, 40 for the bust, 38 to the waist and 36 hips, I know, I think I was still agonizing when I decided on what to cut :) . I make almost always a muslin but I thought this was a loose fitting dress so I took my chance. I  got lucky this time as I am very happy with the fit. I can`t wait to make another version of this!

Yeah, I think the sleeves are a bit too long...the pattern is saying 3/4 sleeves but on me is a bit odd length, not long and not 3/4, so that will get adjusted in the next version. The front has bust darts and I am happy that those are coming in the right spot. Love the big pockets on this dress !

For the waist elastic casing is used a 4.5cm ribbon but I did not have that so I used a piece of cotton instead and that worked great. The instructions are great and this dress was pretty easy to sew. 

This little guy wanted to help but actually, he made the whole "taking pictures process"  taking three times longer :)) 

So, this is my Beryl dress and I am very happy with it. I would love to try the Agate Pencil dress but I think first I want to make a new shirt, Lisette has a new pattern, The recital Shirt , and because I already made that other shirt pattern they have ( and the pieces of the new one can be combined with the Classic shirt) , the fitting part is easy. 

Kristen Dress -Designer Stitch Two times

Finally something new in almost one month! And this is not just  "something", there are actually two dresses that I love. This is the latest pattern from Designer Stitch, Kristen dress, and the testing started exactly when I was going away for the summer holidays so I can`t say that I tested this, so this is more like a review.

The Kristen dress has a princess style bodice with pleated flared skirt. It comes with cups sizes ( B, C, D and DD)  and in sizes 2-22. It can be sleeveless or with flared sleeves. There are also optional side seams pockets.

 I wanted to make this dress really bad as I love the ruffles and the skirt volume. You can see that I loved the ruffles so much and so I made the first dress without them :)). 

I could not decide on the fabric to use, and because I was not pressed by the timeline for the testing I did have a lot of time to think about my fabric choice. I had a few other fabrics in my stash for this but the skirt was not fitting and so I had to search again ( in my stash :) ) and found this...perfect width, great print/color but the weight was not good to make it with the ruffles. This is a stretch poly crepe, medium weight and there was no way I could get ruffles out of it...or at least nice ones. I think it looks great without too.

I made a size 2C ( US4) for the shoulders and bust blending to size 3 at the waist. It was possible to make a size 2 also for the waist as I have a bit of ease there, but like this, it is very comfortable around my waist ( I can eat at ease without being afraid that I will pop out of my dress ). I made my usual changes ( 1cm narrow shoulders adjustment, 1 cm sway back adjustment and at the center back neck I took 1 cm ( with a total of 2cm) out blending to nothing as I had a bit of gaping in my muslin stage) Also I took 5cm off the length of the skirt ... I am thinking now that I could put that back in a future dress to get another look. Really happy with the fit, like very very happy! 

   I had to decide on the print matching...while I was only in the mood to sew, so after getting up on the front, pretty fast,  I took some time to get the back matched, at the zipper. It looks ok...maybe like 1mm off but who is looking ?? :)) I interfaced the zipper area for strength and to get a bit more grip on my stretchy fabric.

I love this dress, the fit is great, and I think I love it so much also because I did not have to work so much to make it fit,  Ann from Designer Stitch knows her thing :).

And because I love so much this version and because this pattern is about the ruffles, I made immediately one more, with ruffles! Both fabrics are from Driessenstoffen  ( no affiliate).

I love when I can sew, without worrying about the fit. You get that when you make repeats of the same pattern, so this was easy and fast. The ruffles did make my life difficult ( and my fingers to hurt). Actually, the fabric is to be blamed! This is a polyester crepe, lovely print, and drape but sewing was a bit of a pain. I had to use a 75 stretch needle as the 80 and 90 were too thick and this 75 stretch was the only one that wanted to sew well. Also gathering this fabric was a pain ....I used big stitches for my gathering stitches but not too big as the front and the neck ruffles are gathered with one row, but oh boy the fabric did not want to move on my thread! For the armholes ruffles I tried to gather with my serger as I sometimes do on 6mm SA, but that was also a pain...anyway , after a bit of swearing and sweating, it was done ! 

This is not me twirling :), is just the wind, the skirt has nice flare and the fabric is light...which makes it dangerous  wearing it on the street on a windy day :)))

There were no changes, I used the same pattern as in the black/flowers print.

Really love the ruffles! New haircut, as you can see in these pictures, I have no idea what to do with it, I wore my hair for years in a pony tail so I need to find my way with it, I hope :))

And now off to do some more sewing :) 

PS: The Kristen dress is now for a limited time on sale  

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