Lucky Cat Frock

Here is another of my much used patterns, Simplicity 2215.  Though I've only made the dress/pinafore once before and it was not too fab.  So I'm out one day having lunch with my friend Cat and we walk into a little Japanese crafty gift store and they had some lovely linen type fabrics and one which screamed out to me, naturally featured pusscats. I'm not sure if I've actually seen the lucky cats on fabric before but here it is. The fabric was a dream to work with.   

 

So overall this Simplicity pattern has been pretty good to me and I had seen some lovely versions of the dress on blogs. Certainly the type of material you use is the key ingredient and I am very happy to have another kitty frock in my collection. 

I found some nice reddish coloured buttons at Spotlight which were a fairly good match the red tones in the material.  

And finally, I have the perfect outfit for my kitty bag.  I bought this bag last year and was initially put off by the horrid smell that kept emanating from it.  It was one of those strong chemical smells. Fortunately after airing it for about 6 months the aroma has now passed and I can wear my crazy cat lady ensemble with pride.  



And on the subject of "lucky cats", I would like to introduce a new family member to the FrocknStuff household, Salem.  He was my first and last foster cat.  I thought I'd do a good turn and become a feline foster carer.  But a 5 week foster, turned into 7 months and well I couldn't imagine not having him around. So Polly-Jean now has a little brother. 



McCalls 6794

I'm on a mission to make some more tops. Pretty sure I have enough dresses for the time being, or do I. I've had this material for quite some time. I didn't know what exactly I wanted to do with it. I thought it would be good for a dress. But with a most sewing projects I tend to pull certain materials out and contemplate whether they are worthy of the specific pattern I want to make. It's a super light weight cotton so it would have needed lining so that kind of makes up your mind. It was perfect for this top.     

 

Such an easy pattern to work with. This is definitely a top you could make in one day.  I actually love these type of sleeves. So much simpler than adding sleeves separately and you just turn over the seam instead of using binding or facing.  By just adding length this would a perfect dress also.  

Simply a great top that would go with pants or skirts.  I think now the weather is finally cooling down I might try the longer sleeve top. 

Butterick 4443

I was lucky enough to be given a bag a fabric recently from a friend of the family. I guess there are many metres of fabric lying stashed away in homes across Australia. I personally didn't have that much fabric lying around from my years of sewing. Though my mum actually had a couple of items which were even still bagged up with cotton, and notions all ready to make. Now, I could almost fill a whole cupboard with fabric bought in the last 5 years.  Anyoldhow, pink seemed to be the colour du jour in this little bundle.  

So I located one of my old patterns which was perfect for this cotton/denim combo. The pink cotton is a drill which does need a good press.  Rather than fully line the bodice I just used a section as facing and self-made bias binding for the armholes.  For some reason though the material is a tad crinkly around the arms.  

I had used this pattern previously with a purple and white spot, with a sleeve.  Unfortunately the zip broke and I didn't feel motivated to put in a new zip. Too many other new things to sew. 

And I dedicate this photo to my friend Anna who says I don't smile enough in my photos. And yes, I know it's not really a big smile as such, but when  a girl gets to a certain age it's hard to take a good smiley photo that doesn't leave you exposing some double chin action. It's hard enough trying to take a decent photo of the upper arms for goodness sake.

Vogue 8185

A definite blast from the recent past this 2006 pattern.  I made my first version I guess nearly 10 years ago.  My word where has the last decade gone.  I had intended to make version F with the triple frill layering. But of course I did my usual thing in not really concentrating on the instructions when cutting it out I cut the main part of the dress a bit too long and I didn't realise until I'd already put the first frill on.  Bother!  So rather than unpick a perfectly good frill I just had to stick with the most basic of versions. 

Anyway you can't really tell but this is a black and white spot pattern.  You know the kind of cotton when you bend over to buckle your sandals it leaves these ghastly wrinkles all through it.  I also used some nice buttons from my vintage button collection. 

All in all a very easy make and a nice summer dress. 

Italian anyone?

Inspired by a dress I saw on line I was keen to try a red and white check dress.  But seriously you can't look at a red and white checks and not think Italian restaurant.  

I chose my favourite go to pattern New Look 6223. I did fully line the dress this time. Sometimes I just do the bodice depending on the how sheer the fabric might be.  Unfortunately the dress is a little snug on the waist darn it all.  This could be because: 

(a)  I gathered the skirt instead of using the pleating; or 
(b)  I ate too many hot cross buns at Easter and my belly is telling me to get on the treadmill.

I may try letting out the darts a bit and see if that makes it more comfy.  As per usual an easy dress to make and quite satisfied the end results. 

Pretty happy with our my checks seem to match up.

Annie Dress by Tessuti

Finally a more successful maxi dress.  This dress didn't get off to a very good start.  Firstly as far as printing the dreaded PDF pattern went, I thought I'd printed all the pieces.  I chose the A4 option and spent a lunch hour at work putting the pieces together.  I didn't pay much attention to what was written on the pattern pieces. If I had I would have noticed pieces missing.  So upon setting out to make the dress I realised that at least one piece was missing, the shoulder straps.  I went into the original email and found there was a second A4 PDF print out.  I found the strap amongst that.  As far as I was concerned I had all the rest of the pieces so didn't understand what this other print out had on it.  I just assumed I used the same pieces for front and back, particularly for the lower half of the dress.  In fact front and back of everything seemed identical. 

It also became clear on assembly, that I was missing a front yoke and front side section.  As it turns out the facing sections comes as one piece not 2 front/back and side panels (see below). I just assumed one piece was the front section and the two pieces were for the back yolk section and side. I only noticed the word "back" on the pieces after I had laid out my fabric.  

Rather than find the missing pieces I just used the back facing section for the front and joined it up with the back and back side sections. So instead of having 2 side sections there is one little side section that is different. I think it looks fine given the colour of the fabric.  I also didn't want too much under arm flab showing so I added an extra centimetre to this section. Once I worked out the issues with the pattern pieces the dress came together really quickly. A nice easy and super comfy frock. Will definitely try this pattern again. 

I bought the black chambray on line at the Remnant Warehouse. I didn't think I'd have quite enough fabric when I started cutting it out.  But managed to stretch it to get a decent length.  Once again I didn't bother with the pockets.  They may be good for posing for blog photos but I rarely find myself putting hands in pockets in my daily life.   

So lesson learned re: reading pattern first before starting to make it.  It probably would have been more apparent it there was a picture of the layout for cutting out the fabric. Then I would actually notice there were different pieces.  And also I apologise for the grainy nature of my photos.  The weather turned overcast just as I was all ready to shoot my photos. 

Things in the works and purchases anew

I haven't been motivated in the last 3 or 4 weeks to photograph any of my recent makes.  Initially when I set on this blogging odyssey I wasn't even going to take that many photos of me, but rather post photos on my dressmaker dummy.  But now that I've been mostly blogging photos of my mug to showcase my frocks I guess I'll stick to that plan.

 

In lieu of a new frock shot I shall share a few recent ebay purchases.  It is hard to stay away from pattern shopping on the interweb.  And I do like some vintage patterns. 

 

 

Hard to go past a good classic 70's wrap dress.  I haven't actually tried a wrap dress before purely because of the amount of material that you usually require.  This one however doesn't appear to be too bad. And I loved the bodice and pockets for the 1950's pattern.

  

 

Love love loved the 70's sun dress pattern. A super easy pull over the head little number.  However, it does use a poo load of material (4m).  I can't really see how it would given the bodice and skirt are separate pieces, and I'm not sure it's cut on the bias or anything.  And finally the 60's dress above was just too divine to pass up. I can definitely see me in the red version.   

 

And finally, when in doubt make another cat themed frock.  I bought this lovely material from a little gifty knick-knack shop. And I'm going to give this old favorite Cynthia Rowley pattern another burl using the dress version.

 

I bought about half a dozen patterns on the weekend when I was away at the coast with a friend.  Surprisingly I bought mostly 80's patterns. I'm tempted to try my luck at culottes or just some fullish style shorts. Also there were some decent elastic wasted dresses which I could alter to give them a more modern finish.  I really didn't see myself ever buying 80's patterns. I mean, been there done that. Wasn't a big fan of that decade, particularly the fashion.  And don't get me started on the couple of times I permed my hair. Fortunately those hideous times aren't very well documented.