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!

High-Vis Pia Dress Toile

I've really been struggling with my sewing lately...for a number of reasons. I guess my main "issues" are that I'm having trouble finding patterns to fit my body, that suit my lifestyle and are what I like to wear. Whilst I love the look of a fit + flare woven dress I just don't wear them. Same goes with woven tees and woven pants. I need ROOM in my clothes to flap my arms about and eat big meals. Couple that with my "year of sewing failures" and various machine meltdowns I'm not a happy sewist lately.

Given that I've invested so much time and money in this hobby (I shudder to think how much I've spent on classes and fabric) I'm NOT ready to throw in the overlocker just yet. So when I saw the lovely Bodhana wearing the relaxed-fit Tessuti Pia Dress at a recent Spoolettes meet up I thought it might be the perfect dress for me.

I decided to use this crazy bright orange fabric that I picked up for $10 for 3 meters at the recent fabric-a-brac market. I'm not really sure why I bought this fabric as it's pretty full on...it's a whole lot of orange! But good news is that it's prefect to make a stunt dress...

Good news is the dress fits...and it has some pretty great pockets. So double YAY!  I've not bothered to finish the dress (so it's not hemmed, nor have I bound the arms or neck) as I'm not going to wear it...that colour is TOO much.

I am definitely going to make this dress again once the weather warms up...but there are few changes I want to make:

• Take the dress up about 100m as it's REALLY long (I'm almost 5ft 8" and it's nearly on my ankles)
• Modify the sleeves to be more tank-like as I'm finding this style is restricting my arm movement a bit and it makes me feel like I'm "surrounded by fabric"
• Make in a more soft, drapey fabric
• Scoop out the neck a little bit
• Sew a smaller seam allowance as it's a smidgen snug on my bust and caboose

I really LOVE the pockets on this dress and the way the "bag out". I did have a major spatial meltdown though trying to fit them together as the pocket and pocket facing are two different sizes...which I totally did not realise until I came to put them together.

So watch this space...this dress will be making a comeback once summer rolls around.