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.