| I just knew after sewing up the bright yellow Peony dress during the Fall Palette Challenge that I was going to love this pattern! Sadly, I have not worn the yellow dress once. I am going to have to find a way of toning the color down to something more suitable for me. However, this dress is for sure to get a lot of wear! The fabric is a gorgeous linen given to me by mother-inlaw out of her stash. I never thought to ask her what she imagined making out of it when she bought it - but I hope I did it justice! The belt fabric is a silk chiffon I picked up during my trip to Portland - just for this dress. Since I had made this dress before the construction details were fairly easy. I can't believe I am going to admit this next part. The meringue skirt was the first garment where I ironed all seams after sewing them, seeing the difference this really makes during construction I ironed after every step for this dress. The ironing will helps give the dress a more professional finish. I guess now it is time to invest in a good tailor's ham and seam roll! |
Hello Readers! Are any of you joining along in the Sewaholic, Minrou Sew-Along?
Tasia from Sewaholic is one of the best Sew-Along instructors I have seen out on
the web. She provides very detailed instruction with little extra tips and other
extras - all in bite size portions. You can sew a little each night to keep up with
the pace or save-up and catch up when you have time.
My fabric choices (shown above) include a lovely Japanese cotton canvas - don't
you just love the polka dots? ... and the neutral colors will look great with just
about anything in my closet. Tasia and I must be on the same wavelength
because a few days after I bought my fabric she posted about a
polka dot Minrou Jacket!! So Lovely! I also choose a very lovely shade of pink
bemberg for the lining. I will be making a muslin for this jacket and should
have pictures sometime late next week on my progress!
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 go together, the skirt and blouse- do! I finished both of these garments right after I got the Colette's Sewing Handbook in November, but was a little slow on posting at the end of the year. Anyone who wants to learn sewing or even hone their skills should pick this book up! The 5 patterns included are all gorgeous and the instructions and encouragement provided by Sarai Mitnick the author and proprietress of Colette's patterns makes the book a steal! Now about the skirt... the material is a bottom weight cotton poplin which was a breeze to sew. I don't want to give away the extra tips that Sarai provided in the book, but I will tell you that I used her methods for sewing the invisible zipper and for getting the best finish on scallop bottom and they both came out lovely. The invisible zipper is the best I have installed to-date and this task which always disappointed me and made my garments look less finished is now a breeze! For the Taffy blouse, I made the bias tape for the finish using the continuous bias tape method for the first time. I will definitely be using that again! I wasn't as even with cutting my strips as I would like to have been but once ironed and sewn onto the garment - you really wouldn't know. Cutting the Chiffon was an absolute nightmare and I was almost afraid the shapes I was left with at the end would not fit but I managed to make them work, and a few days later Sunni from a Fashionable Stitch came out with this great tip for cutting these types of garment. I am extremely please with the way both of these turned out and hope to make each of them in different color combinations at a later date! |
