Moonlight LDT Dress

There is a tendency each summer for me, to sew identical clothes, which I feel lacking in my wardrobe in a particular point of time. Some years it was Rhapsodies, last year it was yoke tunics, this year its wide short viscose dresses. The latter is no wonder, given the unusual high temperatures we've been having for a second month already.

So, after I finished my last LDT short dress, which I absolutely love to wear, I remembered a piece of fabric I was left with after finishing my mother's nightgown. It is super soft, super tender to the skin viscose knit fabric, which felt perfect for a casual lounge dress.

I used again the LDT, short dress length, the smallest size, which, given how huge American sizing is, is enormous on me. However that was exactly what I was looking for in these hot days. I fidgeted a bit with the shoulders and the arm openings, as the original tank top upper part of the dress is too cut out for my taste. The alternative design, however, intended for sleeves, is too wide - in the end I cut something in between with 6.5 wide shoulders. Next time I might even go to 6 cm wide, or alternatively, use again the tank top version, but with armhole bands.

Pattern: Laundry Day Tee

Size: XS

Fabric: viscose knit

Time to make: 3 days

Do I have now enough short viscose dresses for this summer? IDK, I might need just one more :)

Bright Red Tunic

Last year I made three LDT tunics to be worn with leggings and I still love them and wear them a lot. However, summer this year is so hot, that I found that I prefer a longer tunic to be worn like a short dress without any shorts or leggings. I took out my old LDT dress, now much faded and worn out and came to the conclusion, that I would like something similar out of cotton/viscose knit, but without the sleeves.

I was planning a trip to the fabric shop, but I remembered, that I had a fairly large remnant of cotton-viscose fabric from the T-shirt I made for my husband last summer. As l liked the idea of color combos, with which I experimented in these tunics, I found some matching colorful remnant from this blouse  and I am totally in love with the way these two work together.

I chose the tank top version of the Laundry Day Tee, with the added 3 cm wide armhole bands. It seemed to me, that the wider bands kind of brought the two fabrics better together, but I might be wrong. I'm planning a second short dress out of fabric remnants and I'm going to experiment with narrow finishing bands, so we'll see.

Pattern: Laundry Day Tee

Size: XS

Fabric: bright red cotton-viscose knit and cotton knit

Time to make: 5 days

As my piece of fabric was wide but short, I had to cut the back at the same length as the front. I didn't have enough flowery fabric for the back yoke, so I cut it out of the main fabric. I think it works perfectly like that, with the flower accent at the front and the solid back.

I spent the whole day today working from home in this short dress and I can tell you - it's a winner for the hot days :)

Third Red Wine Tunic

It's been two months (!!!) since my last make! It was another tunic, my favourite piece of clothing this summer, that I am wearing right now. I'm sure quite soon after I finished it I found out, that a tunic, made out of ITY, was the perfect lounge-ware in the heat and I took out my last pieces of wine red ITY and other scraps of knit fabric and concocted this pink and red combination.

And then - then life happened. I took another commission this summer, Gaby and her boyfriend visited us and we traveled across the country, then this, and that, and the other, and the sewing project I had started just stayed in an unfinished phase for two months.

Until I took it out two days ago and finally finished it. My hands itch for sewing and I plan to gradually return to it. Yesterday I bought the new Burda Style issue in German and today I bought a very detailed online course for blouse 124 of Burda 03 /2021 (22 video instruction lessons plus the pattern). I love sewing video tutorials and one learns so much about the small and refined details that go into making good quality clothing. Watching the making of this blouse is more enthralling to me than a crime show :)))

Pattern: Laundry Day Tee

Size: XS

Fabric: wine ITY (100% polyester) and cotton knit

Time to make: NA

Notes: This is the regular LDT, without the sleeves. I did not like the cut of the tank top version around the armholes, so for my third tunic I chose the regular pattern, but took in the shoulders by 3.5 cm. I also shortened the back yoke by 2 cm in length, as I didn't want the armholes to be too gaping under the arms. I still haven't worn it and I don't know if my modifications were good, but judging by the success of my tunic number II, I'm sure this iteration will get a lot of wear next summer. 

And yes, as this tunic was made out of scraps, it has a seam at the back. But, as I recently heard, a good master never lets good fabric go to waste :) I don't mind the seam and I make these tunics for wearing at home, so I am happy I put my scraps to use.

One More Wine Red Tunic

And because I was in the mood and had red thread on the overlocker and my Laundry Day Tee pattern out and still plenty of fabric, I made another Wine Red Tunic out of the same tandem of fabrics, this time reversed - striped top and solid bottom.

 

I also opted for the tank top cut of the LDT - I had actually never tried it before. I found it a bit too much cut out at the front - I prefer my tank tops more covering around the arms area. I had intended to make the tunic without armbands, but I did not like the way the tunic gaped, so in the end I added 3 cm solid bands.

I also tried to add a small feature to one of the shoulder straps, making it in solid fabric, but I don't think it shows that much. It might even look like a defect rather than the intended effect, but I'm not at all bothered by it, so whatever.

Pattern: Laundry Day Tee

Size: XS

Fabric: wine ITY (100% polyester) and striped cotton-viscose knit

Time to make: 3 days

I have still quite a piece of the solid color ITY fabric, but I think I'm done with Laundry Day Tunics for now. It could be good for a small light top with spaghetti straps, probably because it's rather hot recently and spaghetti straps are all I can think of right now :) However, I'm so busy, that I doubt I'll have the time to whip up a new top any time soon.

Wine Red Tunic

My latest make - a new tunic for myself. This summer I'm totally into tunics and calf-length yoga pants. 

The pattern is Laundry Day Tunic, with modified kimono sleeves, cut at tunic length. This is actually almost a repeat of another tunic out of small pieces of fabric I made two years ago and still love and wear all summer long.

Last year I made a striped longsleeve and I had a decent piece of fabric left. I had immediately the idea to make it into a mixed solid color and stripes tunic. I even had very small remnants of an ITY in wine red, that matched the striped viscose perfectly, but unfortunately I didn't have enough of it and there was no more in the shop (they actually closed that shop entirely).

However, the idea kept haunting me and I would regularly check for suitable wine colored knit fabric in the shops I frequent, until I recently came upon the perfect ITY match. And I know, it does sound a bit like having a button and buying materials to make a coat to match it, but sometimes this works too :)

 

Pattern: Laundry Day Tee

Size: XS

Fabric: wine ITY (100% polyester) and striped cotton-viscose knit

Time to make: 2 days

Now, that I made the new tunic, I am constantly juggling ideas in my head for other similar tunics too - I just can't get enough of them, they are so comfy!

Apple Green Dilgul Top

I am building a small spring wardrobe for Gaby, as I intend to send her a package to Vienna these days. So far I have only shown you the hoodie, and here is one of the blouses. 

I had a nice quality viscose knit in a fresh apple green color and I wanted to make something flow-y and spring-y from it. I wеnt through my Burda blouse patterns and nothing clicked, so I googled images of long sleeve blouses and came upon these tops with interesting pleated plackets.  

I am always in for a challenge, and I decided to try and make that look, starting from a basic long sleeve pattern. For my base I chose a true and tried Burda long sleeve - Burda 6820.

I left the sleeves and the back as they were and modified the front. I cut the front pattern in seven places at 1.7 cm intervals and added 1.5 cm pleats. If I were to make this pattern again, I would reduce the width of the pleats to 1 cm or 1.2 cm and I would raise the neckline by 3 cm and make it a bit more square, as it is in the original. The way I made it, the neckline sits low enough and does not favour unbuttoning, which kind of makes all this elaborate button closure redundant.

In the original the bottom hem is simply roll-hemmed on the overlocker, but to me this kind of finishing looks a bit cheap, so I decided to hem it with a narrow hem with a double needle.

And one more detail - always finish the neck with the neckband first and then add the Henley placket. I made it the other way round and it proved the wrong way, as the finishing of the placket is not that sharp. Lesson learned, I hope :)

Pattern: Burda 6820 (base), Dilgul Pleated Top (inspiration)

Size: 36, heavily modified to #makethatlook

Fabric: viscose knit, 1 m

Time to make: 4 days

Still, I think it is a nice and different long sleeve, the fabric is extremely pleasant to the skin and i hope Gaby will like it and wear it this spring. And it was a fun #makethatlook challenge.

Blue ITY Tunic

And here's the last thing I made in 2021 (finished on December 26th, to be precise) - a tunic out of a small piece of nice ITY fabric.

This was again one of those small cuts I find sometimes in the local fabric shops, less than a meter long, which I find a sweet challenge. As I am small, I can usually easily get a top out of such pieces. In this particular case I wanted to combine it with a remnant from another ITY fabric - white with blue hearts, the same blue as this navy ITY. And I even bought the dress pattern with these two fabrics in mind.

The pattern is Burda #117 08/2021, made in two complementing colors. My idea was to make the front and the back out of the white ITY and the sleeves and the skirt out of the blue. Nice idea and I might actually one day bring it to fruition with some other pieces of fabric. However the cuts from the white ITY turned out to be too small and strangely shaped and I could not fit the body pieces of the dress, however I tried. So, I decided to make the whole thing out of the blue ITY and to cut it as a tunic, similarly to the tunic, shown in Burda #109 06/2021, which I also happen to have.

I should probably mention here that the tunic was initially intended for Gaby and I was hurrying to finish it before her flight back to Vienna. She was totally on board with the idea for the color blocked tunic, but when she saw the finial all navy result, she did not like it and left it to me.

Demonstrating the ruffle on my sleeve :)

Because I was making the tunic for Gaby, who is some 3 inches taller than me, I did not make any corrections to the length of the body, I simply cut size 36 and cut the skirt about 14 cm long from the waist. Unfortunately, the fit turned out rather loose and unflattering and if I were to make it again I would have to introduce some crucial corrections to fix it.

Pattern: Burda #117 08/2021

Size: 36, cut to tunic length

Fabric: ITY

Time to make: 3 days

Despite the somewhat unflattering fit, the fabric and the pattern are very easy to wear - the fabric is very fluid, doesn't wrinkle and the color is pretty basic and universal, so I expect this little top will actually get a lot of wear once we are out of the -14C temperature range (the forecast for tonight).

Striped Tunic

One more tunic in my wardrobe! This is a modified Laundry Day Tee by Love Notions, with added kimono sleeves and color blocking, tunic length.

Initially I wanted just another tee, but it turned out that my piece of diagonally striped cotton knit was only 50 cm long and would barely produce a cropped tee. I sat on the project for two days and finally decided to color block it. However, I didn't want to lose any of the striped fabric, so - it had to be a tunic. And it occurred to me that I liked a lot the curves of the LDT, so I turned it in a color blocked kimono sleeved tunic.

The black fabric was a serendipitous newcomer to my stash - a few days previously I had bought it for a dress version of Burda #114 06/2021 and it married the striped fabric perfectly. I risked to cut the upper part of the tunic from the black fabric before cutting the dress, but I had just enough for both projects.

 

Pattern: Laundry Day Tee

Size: XS

Fabric: black ITY (100% polyester) and striped cotton knit (100% cotton)

Time to make: 2 days

I didn't even try to match the stripes at the sides, as because of the curve of the cut and the diagonal placement of the stripes such matching would have been impossible anyway.

 Now all I need is a new pair of black(er) jeans and a new haircut :)

Leopard Tunic

I watched and read quite a few disappointed reviews of the latest Burdastyle magazine 06 / 2021, but for me this is one of the best issues lately. I want to sew at least five or six of the patterns and I was lucky to win three of them free by participating in a survey on the Burda ru site. 

My first make is top # 114. I had a piece of rayon knit, a fairly large remnant from a Movie Night Pajamas I made for myself two months ago. I'm definitely not an animal print person and this fabric wouldn't have been my first choice if it wasn't for its tempting price (it was on discount) and super soft and stretchy texture. I do not regret sewing my pajamas for a minute, they are definitely the most comfy PJ I've ever had and frankly - my preferred piece of clothing, if only I could stay in my pajamas all day :)))

I hate to throw away fabric and I try to use up all of my remnants, so I was saving the remaining leopard print for probably a t-shirt of some sorts, but hadn't gotten to it. And when I won the three Burda patterns, it occurred to me that the leopard rayon knit would be ideal for a wearable muslin for  top #114.

The top, which is the shortened version of dress #113, the actual pattern I got, is tailored and features a gathered bust area. As I am fairly slim and small busted, such dress design is very flattering on me and I plan to make at least two more versions of this pattern - a short black dress and a long flower print dress. I don't have the fabrics for neither of these future dresses, but that's my plan, anyway.

As Burda patterns are made for height 168 and I am 156 cm and I have narrow shoulders and back, I had to make quite a few mods on the pattern:

• I shortened both the front and the back by 2 cm above the waist
• I shortened additionally the back by 2 cm at the level of the arm opening
• I eliminated the dart at the back neckline
  
• I narrowed the back by straightening the line from the waist to the neck
  

Trying to match my animal print to the texture of the rocks around :)

Pattern: Burda top #114 06/2021

Size: 36, modified

Fabric: rayon knit

Time to make: 2 days

 

 

This is the Movie Night Pajamas I made for myself from the same fabric, I can't recommend enough this free and supercomfy pattern!

And because I still had some scraps, I made a pair of bikinis for myself as well, using Megan Nielsen's Acacia pattern and two different types of elastic for the finishing. Ever since I bought my serger I haven't bought a single pair of undies (blushing) I love sewing them from scraps, they take so little fabric and are such fun to make!