Sydney Frocktails

On Saturday night Sydney held its second Frocktails - a cocktail party/raucous catch-up where attendees are encouraged to wear something fancy and me-made. Frocktails happen all around Australia and are usually organised for members of the Spoolettes group by members of the Spoolettes groups - although anyone who sews can attend.

Saturday night saw 70 ladies descend on the The Edinburgh Castle Hotel in the city. It was a great night - catching up with old friends and meeting a lot of new sewing buddies. It was perfectly acceptable to go up to someone and say "I love your dress" and make a grab to fondle their fabric...often followed by "hello"! Priorities!

I still don't have any "fancy dress" sewing under my belt so I went with a Mabel Skirt made in a bonded lace ponti from the Fabric Muse. The fabric doesn't have much stretch so I added 2cm to both the front and back fold to ensure I could breath and not bust any seams. The top is just a cheapie modal jersey from Uniqlo -- I knew it was going to be hot so wanted something that I knew I'd feel cool in. To "pad out" my me-made skirt I also took my leather Essential Wristlet with me and made some VERY sparkly polymer beads for a necklace and earrings - I don't think I'll ever get all the glitter out of my house after making these!

I felt pretty good all night - comfortable and not too hot. Best of all I felt like me, not dressed up in clothes that I just wouldn't wear and would feel not myself in. And, best of all I can re-wear and re-use everything!

I think everyone had a VERY VERY good time and is eagerly awaiting our next Frocktails which I've heard may be in late October this year. I'm already thinking about what to sew for my next Frocktails outfit...I have an idea for a dress! Fancy!

A big thanks has to go to Caz from UsefulBox who arranged the entire event as well as some great door prizes too! And thanks to her hubby who took great photos of everyone on the night.

Navy Mabel Skirt

Lucky me received a Tessuti gift voucher from Dave for Christmas. Over Christmas we were in Melbourne so I ducked into Tessuti to see what they had for me - plus it was sale time. Winning.

I did a few laps of the store and nothing really jumped out at me that would work with my $50 voucher. After fondling some Navy Ponti for a while I decided that I NEEDED a navy skirt for my work wardrobe (I also bought some fabric for a top/dress - not yet made up as I'm waiting for the pattern to arrive from eBay).

Yes, I know, ANOTHER Mabel Skirt! But, it's a pattern that works for me, is comfortable and when it's hot they are something I reach for to wear with a simple tee to work. I'm not really loving my earlier ones anymore with the "original waistband" and having put on a bit of weight others are not comfortable like they used to be. I NEEDED a new Mabel. Honestly!

For this version I added just 1cm to the centre back and front. The fabric has good stretch, but I need just a bit more room that I used too (funnily though some of my earlier Mabel's still fit OK at the original XL size). Everything else is the same as usual....

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Pattern: "Mabel Skirt" by Colette Patterns

Size: XL, sewn with 3/8" seam allowance
Modifications: 5cm elastic waistband (added 10cm to the pattern to accommodate for this), 16.5cm added to length, pegged in the bottom by 0.5cm at each seam (so 2cm in total). 1cm added to the CF and CB to accommodate for  winter weight
Fabric:  White on Black Ponti (60% viscose, 35% nylon, 5% elastaine) from Tessuti

B+W Striped Mabel #2

My last Striped Mabel Skirt - refashioned from a 'not-right' Marianne Dress - turned out to be too tight around the hips and butt. I tried to wearing it to work one day but as got as far as the bus stop before I came home to change - sad face!

I found some nice Ponti at Tessuti so snapped it up and set up making a second striped Mable Skirt. This time I added 2cm to the centre front and back of the XL (my last iteration had 1cm added) and it fits well. The fabric does not have a lot of stretch to it so 2cm is definitely the right amount.

The waist elastic size is the same -- in fact I unpicked the 'not-right' Mabel Skirt and re used the elastic.

Back view...

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Pattern: "Mabel Skirt" by Colette Patterns

Size: XL, sewn with 3/8" seam allowance
Modifications: 5cm elastic waistband (added 10cm to the pattern to accommodate for this), 16.5cm added to length, pegged in the bottom by 0.5cm at each seam (so 2cm in total). 2cm added to the CF and CB to accommodate for less stretch (and winter weight) 
Fabric:  White on Black Ponti (23% viscose, 5% spandex, 72% poly) from Tessuti

When dresses become mediocre Mabels

I've made two Marianne Dresses lately -- neither of which were quite right due to the high neckline and funkiness going on with the sleeves. Rather than just pop the dresses into the charity bag like I usually do I thought I should try and rescue them and upcycle them in to Mabel Skirts.

Like the dress, this fabric looks great in photos; and the garments look great on the hanger. As soon as the fabric hits my body though - blergh! The colours look awful on me...and the skirt is WAY too small so it's not a keeper.

This dress would probably be wearable if the fabric wasn't pure sweatiness - ugh, get off my body. I did drop the neckline a bit, but the stiffness of the fabric made the sleeves look like I was in some 80s band...hello shoulders! As the skirt above was WAY too small I added 1.5cm to the centre fold of the back and front pieces -- 6cm overall. This fabric has hardly any stretch so it's still a bit snug...but wearable if I suck my gut in and think skinny. It's a keeper. For now.

And here's my attempt at rescuing a RTW dress that must've shrunk in the wash (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). It's not bad as a skirt, but the shape is not as pegged as I would like. It's comfy though and I'm still deciding if it will get worn.

So, some success and some fails - my typical sewing story. My overlocker and sewing machine really fought me on these makes...skipped stiches and the like. Sigh.

I'm glad I have these three projects out of the way though as they've been my roadblock to embarking on any new projects...

A week of Mabels

Last Monday I wore my new denim ponti Mabel Skirt to work.  I was pretty happy with the simple outfit I came up with. My work is fairly casual, so a me-made pencil skirt with a RTW t-shirt and sandals is PERFECT - especially on super hot days (and when the s-hirt is a linen blend). Perfect summer work outfit!

On Tuesday, as I reached for another of Mable Skirts, I realized I had made more than enough Mabel's to be able to wear a different one each day of the week (and then some)....so I did!  It was SO hot here last week and I have to say the skirt was perfect for the gross humidity we've been suffering through.

I loved wearing all my Mabels and after the week was over I wore another to work...old habits are hard to break! I have a mix of the "old waistband" vs "new waistband" style in my wardrobe and I can report the new waistband method is far more comfortable for me....

I look so grumpy in most of these photos - it was a rough week at work I'll tell you now! But by Friday I was smiling and happy as I was off to dinner after work, in my green skirt, with the Sydney Spoolettes.

Do you tend make a the same thing over and over again - I'm not the only one, am I?

A trio of (modified Mabels)

After the raging success of my modified Mabel Skirt I jumped right in to the stash and decided to finally sew up my BELOVED teal butterfly ponti that I've been hoarding for about two years. Of course, because I love the fabric so much it turned out less than perfect.

This one should have been a #woohoomake but sadly it's more #meh due to wonky hems (the hem became totally wonky when I overlocked it, like I was drunk sewing - so the whole thing is now uneven), dastardly overlocking of the waistband (overlocker is still not stitching over the elastic at the seams very well) and it not being pegged in enough for my liking, plus I'm thinking the waist is a smidgen too big (cannot seem to get the length of elastic needed quite right). On this make I also increased the length by 3cm which I think is a bit long.

All stuff other people won't notice but I know so I'm not enjoying this as much as I'd hoped too - which is gutting as the fabric is beautiful. Nevertheless I am still wearing and I could remove the elastic, and fix up the hem too at some point.

Next up we have a simple black ponti skirt made for wearing to work. It's WAY too long, as I still kept the 3cm addition to the length but other than that it's OK.  I also wish it was more pegged in.  The elastic waistband is comfortable though the overlocker is still playing up here (I think it's the needles, they don't seem long enough to handle the elastic at the seam - any thoughts people)? The good thing about this skirt is that there's always black ponti out there, so I can remake this as some point to better suit my tastes - but for now, it'll do Pig.

And lastly! I've been desperately scouring the shops for a pull-on denim skirt to replace one that I have that it's getting a bit ratty. Of course when you want something, you can never find it. Nor could I find jegging-like denim in the fabric stores -- stretch denim that I've found just does not have enough stretch to work for a Mabel.

After a quick Google search I found some "denim ponti" online from Emma One Sock (an online store in the USA). I ordered 1.1 yards which was way too much, and with postage it come in at under AUD$40 which is OK I think.

Image from Emma One Sock

For this skirt I removed 1.5cm off the length and pegged the bottom in a tiny bit, 0.5cm off each pattern piece. I think the shape is much better BUT this skirt is super snug - I just cannot cop a break with this skirt can I? It's still wearable, but with a longer top - but I've ordered another length of fabric to make another that fits better. I think this fabric must not have enough stretch as my other skirts; and the fabric has a rayon content, not cotton (like most of my other skirts) so I guess that's affecting the stretch too.

I'm telling myself it looks like a denim skirt but Dave thought I'd made the skirt for a suit. Sigh.

I still have two pieces of fabric in my stash for two more of these, but I think I have Mabel fatigue at the moment and I think there's about 10 of these in my wardrobe now and that's enough.

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Pattern: "Mabel Skirt" by Colette Patterns

Size: XL, sewn with 3/8" seam allowance
Modifications: 5cm elastic waistband (added 10cm to the pattern to accommodate for this), 16.5cm added to length, pegged in the bottom by 0.5cm at each seam (so 2cm in total).
Fabric: 4-way stretch rayon blend ponte from Emma One Sock
Changes for next time: none.

Modified Mabel = Happiness

I've made myself quite a few Mabel Skirts and I really love the shape of them, and how easily they fit in to my wardrobe. That said, I don't love the waistband, and probably half of the Mabel's I've made have ended up in the charity pile as the waistband has ended up too big.

The pattern has a simple waistband that you sew to the skirt, but with no elastic involved my first ever Mabel was just too big in the waist. To counteract this, I would sew some clear elastic between the waistband and waistband facing and sometimes this would really work well, and other times my waistband would still be stretched out and too big. I really have NO idea why sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't...that's sewing for you. But when I fluffed my beautiful butterfly ponti I was ready to put the Mabel away for good - which is a problem as I still have quite a bit of fabric in the stash for this very skirt.

After sewing a few Lady Skater Skirts and attaching a 5cm wide elastic waistband my love of the wide elastic waistband grew.  Why couldn't I do this for my Mabel Skirts -- after all I have a few RTW ponti pencil skirts just like this. It's only taken 2 years, but my brain finally got there in the end!

In order to change the pattern piece I just added 10cm to the top to account for the 5cm elastic and 5cm to turn it over and then stitch it down. In hindsight, and now that I think about it it probably needs a bit more added as turning the fabric over would take maybe 1cm so the skirt is a smidge shorter than I would like.

To make this new "waistband" I sewed a loop of 5cm elastic tight enough to fit my waist, but not so tight that it would be painful. I've found that different types of elastic will make the loop bigger...or smaller  I like "soft elastic". Then I just overlocked it to the inside of the waist, turned it over and stitched it down with a zigzag to keep it from flipping over.

And the verdict? I wore this skirt to work yesterday after finishing it the night before (it took an hour to cut out and sew). It was VERY comfortable - much more comfortable than my "clear elastic waistband sandwich method".  In fact I also wore it again today for a 2 hour car trip up to Newcastle and it was pretty comfortable to sit in. My only change for next time will be to add a bit of length to it. As it is it sits just above my knees, and I prefer this type of skirt to sit on the middle of my knees.

 

The fabric was bought from my local fabric store - My Hung in Parramatta. They stock a lot of woven fabrics and stretchy "dance stuff" so I often walk out of there empty handed. I feel in love with this fabric though - I do love the pattern on this fabric and it only set me back $6.50/pm.  It's probably not the best fabric for a hot summers day - it's 100% Polyamide (whatever that is) and feels like (fake) wool on my skin, but I'm willing to suffer for my sewing (and something that goes so well with my clogs).

I'm going to call this a WIN and I finally feel confident enough to cut my really nice piece of ponti from Tessuti that I've been hoarding in case my Mabel waistband went belly up. I'm also now going to remake my butterfly skirt with some "back up" fabric in the stash, and I've even ordered some "denim look" Ponti from the USA to make myself a much longed for denim Mabel.

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Pattern: "Mabel Skirt" by Colette Patterns

Size: XL, sewn with 3/8" seam allowance and lengthened by 15cm.
Modifications: 5cm elastic waistband (added 10cm to the pattern to accommodate for this), 15cm added to length.
Fabric: 100% Polyamide (???) from My Hung, Parramatta
Changes for next time: I will probably use this elastic waistband method again, it's less fiddly than what I have been doing, quicker and the elastic is pretty comfortable. Will continue to lengthen by 15cm.

Tessuti Melbourne + a disasterous Mabel Skirt

Over the Christmas break I decided to take myself down to Melbourne for a few days. Now that I sew I ALWAYS stop into Tessuti located conveniently on Flinders Lane (my favourtie lane) in Melbourne's CBD.  I LOVE the Melbourne Tessuti store - so big, bright and open and it has that indescribable "Melbourne feel" that Sydney so tries to emulate but never really does.

I wasn't going to buy fabric this trip as I was traveling with carry-on luggage BUT I'd packed super light so definitely had room in my case for this "perfect for a Mabel skirt" fabric I found in the remnant bin.

Of course best laid plans are often laid to waste and whilst the construction of this Mabel is the same as my other two skirts my machine DID NOT like this fabric at all. It especially went berserk when I tried to top stitch the top of the waistband to ensure the elastic I'd overlocked between the waistband pieces didn't twist around. I spent about an hour re-threading the machine, cleaning out the bobin case, changing needles + bobbins but nothing worked. I hate this skirt SO much that I wore it once to the supermarket but it's going in the Vinnie's bag as it feels so uncomfortable to me (both physically and psychologically). The stitching is dodgy at the waist and every time I look at this skirt I feel RAGE! I cannot be bothered to get properly dressed to take photos of this monster so the photo below from my phone is all you'll get from me!

Ummm...not sure what else to say on this one. I hate you black Mabel skirt. So there!

It's raining Myrtles

Although the armholes of my first Myrtle Dress were WAY too tight I really loved the dress and was gung-ho to make myself another one ASAP.

At our recent Spoolettes sewing day my Sewing Yoda, Susan from Measure Twice Cut Once had a look at the dress on me and made a few simple changes to the pattern. She reduced the armhole from an XL to L and dropped the finishing spot of the armhole by 2cm. Simples.

I went home and knocked up a toile of the new bodice and attached the skirt to it as I think the skirt is necessary for the toile as the weight of the skirt pulls the top down somewhat and gives a true indication of what the finished garment would look like. This was a SHAMEFUL piece of lazy, haphazard sewing with a super slinky fabric that made me want to jump off our balcony. But it did reveal the armholes were VERY comfortable now, though possibly slightly too low under the arm (fine everywhere else though).

I wasn't really sure if I should raise the armholes up a bit so went ahead anyway to sew my next Myrtle with this fun, 100% cotton jersey from Spotlight. This umbrella/raindrop clad fabric is pretty appropriate for the current Sydney weather that has been non-stop rain for about 2 weeks.

On the plus side this fabric sewed like a DREAM (though was really hard to iron for some reason - the iron would not glide over the fabric like it should do) however it is quite stiff and I have to say I'm not in love with the fabric or this dress...I probably won't wear it be honest.  Look how STIFF the cowl is. I also totally botched the hem and am still tramatiesed when I look at it (FYI, heat + bond is THE enemy)!

With this version of the dress can also confirm with me 100% that the armholes are too big. The are fine at the front and back, but just too low under the old armpit there.

When I tried on the finished garment the stiffness of the fabric was making the shoulders really stick out....in a very bad, 80s "hairband" kind of way, so I jimmied up a makeshift tab in order to contain the shoulders. It took a few goes to get this right, and it's not very neat on the inside, but it's what on the outside that counts...right?

So whilst I don't "love" this particular Myrtle, I do love this pattern and I've already adjusted the pattern and made my next version...so watch this space for more Myrtle Mania coming soon!

Pattern: Myrtle Dress by Colette Patterns
Size: XL
Modifications: Reduced armhole front and back from XL to L; and dropped the underarm by 2cm.
Fabric: 100% cotton jersey from Spotlight - purchased 3m and used most of it
Notions: 25mm elastic and thread
Changes for next time: raise armholes by 1cm.

A Mabel Skirt (+ some tricky pattern placement)

When Colette first released her pattern range for knits I jumped in feet first, wallet WIDE open and bought both patterns PLUS the sewing with knits book.

When her second knit dress pattern came out I bought that too. And then I didn't sew any of the patterns. Hmmm...curious. I'm not sure why this is the case given that I LIVE in knits and the style of both dresses appeals to me.  I think there's some tricky (for me) construction elements in the dresses (elastic waist - argh) so I've balked at the thought on embarking down that road. One day...maybe?

And then one day I was browsing in (you guessed it) Tessuti and saw this digitally printed FABULOUS ponti and I KNEW it'd make a great Mabel Skirt. The pattern calls for less than 1m of fabric so I felt it was OK to splurge on something that a bit fancy. At $49/m this is definitely the MOST expensive fabric I've ever bought...but then I have similar RTW skirts in my wardrobe that I've paid more for so justified it is. I love when a good self-enable when it comes to shopping.

I have tried to make a similar skirt to this without a pattern (twice) and let's just say epic fail doesn't even cover how wrong I went.  Overall I think this is a pretty good pattern for me - the fit is pretty good and it's super simple to sew. I will definitely be making a few more of these babies that's for sure. I already have two more versions swimming around in my head.

The Mabel pattern comes with three variations - version A being the most simple.  That said it's UBER mini so I had to lengthen it by a whopping by 15cms (I'm just under 5ft 8"). I used one of my existing RTW ponti skirts to make sure I got the length spot on. 

Before hacking into my fancy fabric I actually made a toile *gasp*. The waistband on the toile was a bit "too comfy" (aka loose) and the pattern doesn't include any elastic and relies on negative ease (and big guts I'm guessing) to hold this baby up. I made a straight XL and the waistband wasn't going to last the day with me, let alone 5 minutes. I tried make the waistband a size smaller but it was still not snug enough for my liking. Noone needs a pants-dropping incident in the office let me tell you.

I thought I could try adding some clear elastic into the waistband as a means of offering some support and I'm so happy to report that this actually worked. I recut the waistband to a size XL and overlocked the elastic to the inside of the waistband and then topstitched it down to ensure it didn't move around. Hurrah! It took me a few goes to get this right but I'm totally owning overlocking clear elastic now.

My only issue with this pattern...or probably the fabric was that no matter how I laid out the skirt I was going to have either bright arrows and glowing squares pointing to my "lady parts" and on my caboose. I probably should've thought about pattern placement before I laid down my big wad of cash, hey?  Ooops.  We've jokingly called this dress the "flaming V-jay-jay dress" at home and I think you can see why.

I'm super happy with this skirt. It's perhaps a little tight over my hips and bum, but I have big hips and a big bum and I'm totally fine with that. It fits no differently than my RTW skirts and I would always wear a longer top over a skirt like this...so I'm happy.

So, confession time. What's the most you've ever spent on a meter or yard of fabric?

Denim Ginger Skirt + a zipper class

I find the best way for me to learn a new skill, and to become somewhat confident with it, is to do a class! I suppose if I had a mum or grandmother (or anyone) to teach me how to sew I wouldn't need all these classes...but I do love them. And for me the best way of learning is to be shown...in real life...by a real person. None of this YouTube business for yours truly!

I recently enrolled in a "zippers + skirt class" at Sew Make Create in Chippendale. I did learn how to do a few zippers back in my first "learn to sew class" but it's been a long time between zippers.

During the class we practiced three types of zippers: a lapped zipper, a double lapped zipper and an invisible zip. Depending on how we went we could choose what zipper we'd like to go with for our Colette Ginger Skirt. For me, I found the lapped zipper the easiset. I thought my brain was going to explode right out of my head trying to figure out the invisible zippper *pop*.

I pretty much completed the skirt over the two classes that we had (I just had to finish the hem at home) and I'm really happy with it. I didn't think it would fit me (my constant worry when sewing) but it fits really well....and I'm actually going to wear it! I did reduce the seam allowances to 1/2" which definitely helped in it fitting.

The style is "high-waisted" which is not my normal style as I like things to sit a bit lower than my waist.  I also wouldn't normally wear it with my shirt tucked in...but just this once for the blog photos (and so you can see my awesome waistband skills)!  I added 2" to the hem as I thought it was going to be too short, but ended up cutting off 1" during the class as it looked a bit "frumpy". Next time I think I'll just stick with the normal hem length.

I had a bit of trouble with inserting the zipper as the fabric (which I bought from Fabric Cave for $5 for 1.5m) stretched from top to bottom rather than across the grain. This meant that as I was sewing the zipper the fabric kept "growing + stretching" and the zipper ended up with lumps, puckers and bumps (despite adding interfacing to the fabric to make it more stable). After two attempts I had a small tantrum (which we like to refer to as a "throw down" in my house) and the teacher finished putting in the zip for me. Thanks teach!

And outfit change...I really like how the light coloured denim looks with grey (and black too)!

I'm so glad I did this class...not only because I made a great skirt that I'm going to wear  ALOT but because I got to hang out with Pepper, the shop dog at Sew Make Create! Woof.

I've already bought some dark coloured stretch denim for a second Ginger Skirt. Hopefully the zipper will be more cooperative this time!