A Summery Coco

Ta da! Yes, folks...what we have here is ANOTHER Coco! And I think I really love it...thought it's still growing on me...like a slow burn kinda thing. I actually thought I'd finish this dress and then chuck it in the charity bag...but it's a keeper for sure.

I bought this crazy fabric from the Alannah Hill Clear It Outlet in Fitzroy during my trip to Melbourne in August (it was the ONLY fabric I bought during my entire four day trip...impressive, huh)?

The fabric is some sort of Polyester/Elastaine mix that has a little bit of weight to it, and a good drape. For me, the Coco works much better in this sort of fabric rather than a stiffer Ponti-type fabric that the pattern recommends. It just sits better...

After have some..."issues" with the necklines on my other Coco's I really didn't want to try attaching a neckband to this dress. I also didn't want to use the funnel neck option as I think it would look weird with this fabric and would be too hot for summer anyway.

Soooooooooooo....I decided to try and make a facing and I have to say it worked pretty well for a first attempt (it's a bit puffy, but meh, I can't see it when the dress is on so I can pretend it's perfect). I topped stitched the facing down near the neckline, and then again at the bottom of the facing as it was curling up quite a bit (should I have used some stretch interfacing perhaps)? I think the neckline looks really good, and coincidentaly the exact same technique is used on a Leona Edmiston dress that I bought which I noticed after I brainstormed this technqiue all by myself *fist pump*.

I also decided to make this version with shorter sleeves and I added a cuff as I think it's a neat way to finish a sleeve. Twin needling is just way to risky and I didn't want to use a zig-zag stitch! The cuffs could possibly be a fraction tighter so I'll keep that in mind for next time.

I think the dress looks OK from the back too, but it still pools above my butt...I think I have a sway back in addition too much junk in the old trunk. Whatever.

I feel really pleased that I managed to come up with some ways to adapt this pattern for summer and to address some issues I've been having with the neckline. I'm not sure the facing would work with a ponti version (would it?) but it worked well this time. This is basically the dress I've been wanting to sew since I first sat down at a sewing machine just over a year ago.

So now that I've made the dress I always wanted I guess it's time to move on to a new hobby, right? As if!

A Planetary Coco

I should know better by now than to just "pop in" to Tessuti for a browse. "Just looking, no buying" I tell myself. Pfft! Who am I kidding?

I had some time to kill before a food blogger lunch in Chatswood recently so I thought I'd just duck into Tessuti for a quick lap. And then I spotted this AWESOME acrylic knit which felt just lovely, all drapy and cozy. Better still the fabric is called "Space, the final frontier". Irresistible to a Star Trek fangirl like myself (Voyager is my series of choice just incidentally {for those of you who are curious}).

Although the Coco pattern isn't perfect on me I feel that I have finally found a pattern that fits and will work (reasonably) well in different types of knits (theory yet to be tested of course). So I've made myself a "spacey Coco".

Urgh, does anyone else hate cutting out on the floor as much as I do? I don't want my own sewing room as I find sewing alone quite lonely...but I'd KILL for a great bit cutting table.

Despite my best efforts to get the neckband "just right" I failed. Spectacularly. Why so much gape Coco? Honestly I hated the neckline of this dress so much I was contemplating just chucking it into the Vinnie's bag. For some reason the gape was also making the dress REALLY darn uncomfortable on my shoulders.  Unpicking the neck would've destroyed the fabric as it just frays/falls apart quite easily as soon as the unpicker is near it.

I think I probably lost a bit of sleep over this dress as I was disappointed. I kept trying it on and looking at the gapey neckline. It seemed like such a shame to chuck the dress as the fabric was SO AMAZING! I then thought I could just turn the neckline in on itself and stitch it down...and you know what? It actually kinda worked though it's a bit bulky, almost like quilting. The neck sits much closer to my body now and for some reason is more comfortable (though not perfect) on my dodgy shoulders.

I wore the dress to work and got quite a few compliments so that was nice. However, when my boss didn't comment on my dress I made sure he knew it was handmade (by me)...and that he should say it is awesome (he obliged). I was "mostly" comfortable for "most of the day". As the day wears on and my shoulder gets sorer and sorer and clothes get more and more uncomfortable as they restrict my movement. But I work in an office and nakedness is frowned upon despite our casual approach to dressing. I think next time I'm not going to take Tilly's advice of sewing ribbon to stablise the shoulder seams...I'll use clear elastic (another of her suggestions I think) as that should give the shoulder a bit more "give".

Big thanks to my work buddy Kirsty for taking the photos for me as my in-house photo was away. It was pretty windy (can you tell) and we had to dodge people coming in and out of the building but that's life in the big city, hey?

Until next time Trekkies!

Navajo Print Coco Dress

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we have a winner!

So far my favourite Coco on the interwebs is this one by A Stitching Odyssey. I LOVED the Aztec printed fabric she used and really wanted to make a version of this for myself.  It's hard to find nice, printed ponti in Australia so I started trawling fabric sites and found this Navajo Arrow Desert Tribal Ponte de Roma on girlcharlee.com. Along with postage I paid about $45AUD for 3 yards of this fabric - not cheap, but not bank breaking either considering the price of fabric here.

This ponti felt nothing like the version I used for my previous Coco. It was much thinner for a start and felt quite slinky. It was defiantly more stretchy (55% stretch according to the Girl Charlee website, whereas the sparkly ponti had only 25% stretch). This Navajo ponti also feels less "stiff". Although this version of Coco has the same fitting issues as my other version it seems to drape much better so all is forgiven (or hidden).

I had a total brain fade when cutting this dress out. On the last version I couldn't cut the back out on the fold (due to lack of fabric) so had to add a 1.5cm allowance to the back pattern piece. Stupidly I forgot to take this off when cutting out this new version and didn't realise until I went to sew the dress up. Ergo...I had to remove the extra 3cm by basically cutting the back in half and sewing it up again with a 1.5cm seam allowance. It does ruin the flow of the fabric but I cannot see it so I'm going to pretend like it's not there.

I didn't like the turned down neckline of my last version as it feel messy...and I didn't like the funnel neck on my first version as it didn't suit my bigger bust.  This time I decided to finish the neck with a neckband.

As you can see above (and below) the band is a little big (though I did use the pattern piece provided) so next time I'll just cut it a bit smaller if my fabric is similar to what I've used here. I could probably unpick this and redo it but it's pretty securely attached so I'm just going to live with it.

I'm pretty happy with my stripe matching - I spent a lot of time trying to make sure that the stripes would line up on the side seams. I didn't give much thought to the rest of the pattern placement so I'm just thankfully I don't have too big yellow blobs right on my boobs.

You can see below that I still have quite a bit of a fabric pooling above my butt and below my shoulder blades. I'm not sure how to get rid of this within my current skill set - and I think the drapiness of the fabric - and busyness of the print - pretty much hides it. What do you think?

Next time I think I am going to cut the sleeves a size smaller too - and possibly reduce the size of the sleeve head thingy as I'm having trouble fitting it to the sleeve "hole" thingy.

All in all I'm pretty happy with this dress - especially as I sewed the entire thing whilst immersed in the worst cold I've ever had (complete with sinus, chest and throat infection). I didn't refer to the instructions once and was on total autopilot - so snaps to me that it's actually wearable! I think what makes me really like this dress is the print...I LOVE the fabric.

And...I've already worn the dress. TWICE. IN PUBLIC! Once to work where I got quite a few compliments, and once out to a family dinner (where I had to point out to everyone that I made the dress myself - but that's family for you)!

AND...there was NOT one single problem with my overlocker or my sewing machine whilst sewing this. Both behaved perfectly. Go figure.

Coco...the sparkly

I got stuck straight into my second Coco Dress once I'd set the last stitch of my ugly poo-brown version. I'd actually bought this fabric from fabric.com with a pair of groovy Anita Ponti Pants in mind - but the pants are on hold until I can work out how to heighten the back rise (which I will do in an upcoming class with Silva at Tessuti).

It's a pretty wild print - a black fabric with a silver glitter cheetah print! The glitter means I couldn't iron on the right side of the fabric without a piece of muslin over the top...but it was a small inconvenience for something so bling-a-licious.

As you can see I've eliminated the funnel neck on this version and I think this is a much better look for me. I had a bit of trouble turning the neck down though as I added in some iron-on stabilising ribbon "stuff" I bought from Tessuti and the neckline lost all its stretch (also making it not 100% comfortable in that area and it sort of pulls on the shoulders). The neck is also not very neat which bugs the bejesus out of me!

Overall I'm fairly happy with my finished dress but I'm not sure that I love it due to some fitting issues.  I'm not sure that I'll wear it all that often, but only time will tell. It feels more like a "going out at night dress" rather than a "wearing to work dress", but that's OK as I actually go out to dinner quite a bit.

You can see on the photo below that there is a bit of excess fabric around the top of my arm/above my bust. It makes the dress feel a bit big but I'm not sure how to get rid of this. I think the top of the shoulder seams are also a tad too big as they drop off my shoulder a bit...I wonder if I should size this area down on the pattern (but would that make the arm hole too tight)? I'm finding the dress really uncomfortable on my right shoulder (which is my "sore" shoulder)...perhaps if I eliminate the neck stabilising "stuff" it'll have a bit more give to it?

My main "issue" with the fit on me is the excess amount of fabric on the back of my dress - above my bum.  You can see the fabric pooling at my shoulders, and then also pooling in the curve of my lower and upper back. I'm sure the issues with pooling at my lower back can be fixed with a swayback adjustment...so I need to work out how to do that. Not sure what to do about the pooling around the shoulders....if I fiddle with this area too much I think I risk making the dress to tight on my arms/chest.

I had to add a back seam in to the dress as I didn't have enough fabric to cut both the front and the back on the fold. I'm really pleased with how this worked out. I even topped stitched the seam down so it's super neat (AND my line of stitching is pretty much straight - winning).

I decided to add cuffs to the sleeves again as I think it's a really tidy finish. I LOVE them...though next time I think I'll taper the sleeve in a bit as both the sleeve and the cuff feel too loose.

I'm not sure why I am having so many fitting issues with this pattern (and let's face it, every pattern I've ever attempted). From all the reviews I've read on line seem like straight forward sews, and I haven't spotted any of the fitting issues on any of the (million) photos I've been stalking on Google.

Coco...the first

I'm slowly slowly getting my sewjo back, despite the best effort of both my machine and overlocker to thwart me at every turn.

Tilly and the Button's "Coco dress" is the next item on my hit list. I bought this pattern as soon as it was released and then sat on it for ages. I'm not exactly sure why. I kept seeing great versions on the Internet...along with some not so great (to my eye) versions every now and then.  So, of course I thought I was going to make a wadder, and not a great version, so I just never made it at all.

Now that the weather has turned cold, and I've sort of run out of things I feel like sewing I thought it was high time to turn my attention to Coco. For this stunt dress I've used a fabric bought from The Remnant Warehouse back in March. I was specifically on the hunt for some printed ponti for Coco (which is impossible to find in Sydney) but at the time this "mystery fabric" was all I could find.  It looks and feels a bit like the material a man's polo shirt is made out of it. The colour is so ugly...best described as Baby Poo Brown...but it was easy to sew with (though my scissors didn't like cutting through two layers of ponti).

Overall I like this pattern (though I hate my fabric). It's a simple make and good silhouette.

Next time I'll forgo the funnel neck however as I think my bust works better with a more scooped out neckline which makes me look a bit smaller "up top". For this version I cut a straight size 7 and next time I'm going to go for the size 8 as it's a little snug across my chest and caboose.  I'll keep the sleeves at the size 7 however as I think any bigger and they'll just be too baggy.

Excuse the dodgy photos...with the onset of winter it's hard to get home in time for "daylight" photos

I used a zigzag stitch to sew the majority of the seams on this dress, though I think my stitch was too big as it's not holding very firm...I can see the stitches pulling even as it's hanging on the coat hanger so I'm worried the dress is just going to fall apart if I wear it. The seam edges are finished with my old overlocker which only had three spazz-outs during this sewing session. 

I had a few issues trying to attach the funnel neck as for some reason I thought I should add interfacing to the funnel to make it nice and stiff. Good in theory (actually, dumb in theory as it felt like scuba wear) but the addition of the interfacing meant it was impossible to stretch the funnel onto the neck. But we got there in the end. It's not pretty, and the funnel is half the height it should be as I had to recut it and ran out of fabric.

Please excuse the dodgy top-stitching! I was totally sober whilst sewing this. Honest.

I'm pretty chuffed with my sleeve cuffs. I didn't follow Tilly's instructions for the cuffs as I was feeling lazy and I just wanted to get to bed.  I totally winged it, but they worked out and look good. I feel quite proud of these cuffs...chuffed with my cuffs.

I already have my next lot of fabric washed and it's hanging up to dry. Once I stick the new PDF together and cut it in my new size we'll be onto Coco...the second!