Sheath Burda Dress

My latest dress, a sheath dress based on a pattern I've had for years and finally tried.

I've had several attempts at sewing sheath dresses and found them very unflattering on me, so I was under the impression that the type of dress just wasn't my thing. However, this pattern completely changed my mind - I love it and i am definitely going to repeat it, with very minor mods again, most probably with sleeves.

The piece of fabric I used for the dress, was a gorgeous purple georgette, a small 80 cm remnant. It was completely insufficient for a dress, I had bought it just because I loved the color and the fabric, with the idea that I should be able to make something out of it, whatever, anything.

And then I printed the dress pattern and began thinking of some fabric to make a test garment. I took out this piece, saw that it was too short and put it back in my stash. But after some deliberation, I decided that I wasn't going to waste my efforts on unwearable tests and would try to make a short dress.

Once I had finished the dress, I found that it was too short for my taste, but luckily I had a piece of fabric left, from which I could cut strips to attach to the front and the two back pieces. I bought some decorative ribbon and covered the seam of attachment with the ribbon, and then added a second ribbon, just for balance. I like it with these ribbons and I think they actually look organic on the dress.

Things I would change next time - I could take just a tiny bit from the neckline at the back, not more than a centimeter from each side. I would also make the dress 2-3 cm longer and would move the front darts 0.5 cm towards the center of the dress. The main fabric is comfortable, but the lining is a bit stiff and probably needs just a bit of additional width - some 2 cm at the hip area wouldn't hurt.

Pattern: Burda #6890 dress

Size: 17 Height: 154 - 160 cm

Fabric: purple georgette, polyester lining

Time to make: 3 weeks

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 :)

Pink Sleeveless Shirt for Gaby

This is the last item I made for Gaby in April. The shirt was kind of an afterthought after  had finished with the jeans. I bought the fabric last summer, but let it marinate in my fabrics drawer with a lot of other fabric pieces - yes, these tend to increase faster than I manage to sew them, I'm sure it's a tendency known to all seamstresses worldwide :)

I'm not sure what type of fabric it is, but it is something like gauze - fairly loosely woven and slightly transparent, with tweed like insertions of colorful threads. The threads run horizontally, but I though the vertical striping made more sense, so I cut the fabric across the grain. 

I've made this pattern before in red viscose and I knew it fit Gaby well. The original pattern starts from size 36, but I had drawn the 34 size myself, based on the proportions of the given sizes. Cutting the shirt this time was super easy, as I already had the pattern pieces prepared.

I played a little with the stripes, as one does, cutting the yoke so, that the stripes run horizontally. All of the seams are french seams and the yoke seams are enclosed, using the burrito method.

As the main fabric is very loose weaved and frays easily, I chose to use some complementary viscose for the inside of the armhole openings.

Pattern: Burda 6840

Size: 34, modified, shortened by 5 cm

Fabric: cotton\polyester gauze

Time to make: two days

I was very happy to find the perfect colour buttons, although they could have been a tad smaller

The blouse in the photos is still unhemmed, I hemmed it after Gaby tried it on. She liked the length I had cut, so I just folded the curved end twice by 1 cm and sewed it.

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.

Tropical Rhapsody

After I made the Burda blouse with butterfly sleeves, I was left with quite a substantial piece of fabric, so of course, I made another blouse.

My initial idea was to make it a sleeveless top, however, my piece of fabric was kind of wide but short, so it had to be a top with an yoke. 

And when it comes to tops with yokes, there's only one true-and-tried yoked blouse for me - Rhapsody. For this iteration of the pattern I had to make quite a few adjustments to fit it into the piece of fabric - I raised the cut on the back by 5 cm, thus shortening the yoke, I additionally shortened the yoke but 3 cm (so a total of 8 cm), I also shortened the front and back pieces a bit - in other words I used up the entire piece of fabric and modified my pattern pieces to fit in it.

After the front and the back were assembled together with the double yoke, I tried it on and found it a bit too simple, so I decided to add a henley opening. True, it was a whole day of additional work, but I'm happy with that look, I find it much more interesting than a plain round neckline. There's more to be desired from my execution of the henley, I did try my best, basted everything in place, etc. and still it is not perfect to my satisfaction, but for this attempt it will have to do. I have definitely made some mental notes for my next henley. 

Of course, my buttonholes are real operational holes :)

 

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: cotton viscose knit

Time to make: 5 days

Sleeveless Rhapsody

I know, Rhapsody again, boring...

I didn't really expect to be making another Rhapsody so soon, but this summer there are several blouses I wear almost all the time and two of them are my favourite Rhapsodies - a sleeveless one out of viscose knit and my latest puff-sleeve georgette Rhapsody. 

It just turns out, that this is the style of blouse I find most flattering and easy to wear, this year - maybe I'll change my mind next year; and I can't get enough of these. I'm planning yet another one, but with some heavy modifications - I want to add a collar and buttons and turn it into a shirt with an yoke, but we'll see about that.

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: Cotton Georgette, 1 m

Time to make: one week

I have almost nothing to write about this Rhapsody, as I made it very much following my usual modifications - shortened body and yoke. The only super minor novelty - I replaced the pleat at the back with some gathering. The yoke is double, as per pattern, all seams are french seams and the neckline and arm openings are finished with self-made bias band.

Shkatulka Blue Tank Top

Something quick and easy I made for my summer hiking trips - a new tank top. 

I took advantage of our hike today from Dragalevtzi to Momina skala to take a few pictures of my new tank top, while standing on a bridge over the Dragalevtzi river.

The pattern is an oldie I've had in my collection and made a couple of times - a free pattern from Shkatulka. I've used the T-shirt pattern with various modifications, but this is my first with the tank version. I am fairly happy with it, and I actually have another one already made for Gaby. However, I am now curious to find and explore other tank patterns, as this one is a bit too simple for my taste.

For my first try of the tank pattern I used the material from a failed blouse - my so called Picasso top. Because of the unusual construction of the top, I had to cut the back in two pieces, which I then embellished with two color stripes. 

Pattern: Shkatulka Tank Top

Size: 42, shortened

Fabric:  double knit

Time to make: 2 days

All in all, not so bad for a hiking tank top, but I really want to find a better fitting and more interesting pattern for my next sleeveless tops. And, it turns out, I need quite a few with the hot summer days ahead.

Buttoned Rhapsody

 My seventh Rhapsody blouse!

Remember this polka dot Burda blouse I made recently? It was made out of a wide viscose knit fabric with mixed print - polka dots and stripes and after I used up the polka dots, I was left with two strips of stripes, 40 cm wide and approx. 1 m long.

After giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that the strips could be used to make a blouse with buttons and a yoke out of a complimenting fabric. It would have been cool to use the polka dots for the yoke, but I didn't gave enough even for a single yoke, not to mention double. Fortunately, I still had a fairly large scrap of navy cotton knit I have used here and there for neckbands and such and I managed to cut the two yokes and the bands for finishing the armholes and the neckline out of it.

In order to fit the blouse into the small strips, I had to slightly shorten it by leveling the curves at the back and the front. Of course, I also modified the neck into a V, added button bands and adjusted the curve under the armholes to fit my smaller bust, as the armholes were gaping. Now everything fits me comfortably and this is my recent go-to blouse when I go out shopping, as it is extremely easy to wear and requires no ironing :)

 

Pattern: Rhapsody by Love Notions 

Size: XS, modified

Fabric: viscose jersey (stripes), cotton jersey (yoke)

Time to make: 5 days

I'm keeping my modifications to this sleeveless version of the Rhapsody blouse and I'll definitely be making other if I find a suitable summer fabric.