Come on over Valerie

The change in season brought about a strong need for some cosy clothes, and how convenient that Greenstyle Creations just released their Valerie Dress - or in my case, tunic. 

The Valerie 'dress' is a simple tee-dress with a hood - just right for hiding under on rainy grey days. 

I did initially make the dress length version however there was not much chance of me actually wearing it as a dress in colder weather, and also, it was just a fraction too short on me (5ft7") to be wearable as one anyway. 

My lounge wear involves leggings so the tunic length was ideal for butt-coverage and practical wearing. 

I went for a size H -I (I like that the sizes are not numbers, the chart made a lot of sense).

 

My first version was a trial run in some pink leopard ponte fabric from eBay. It's quite thin so did a nice drapey job of becoming a Valerie. Turned out to be very much wearable!

It sews up really really fast on the overlocker. The back has a centre seam which gives some shaping to it, good for my sway back. The sleeves fit in well and the hood just wraps around the neckline meeting in the middle. The hood was a bit of a squeeze to get on but, it does. 

 I then dug out some fabric I had been stashing for a rainy day and quite literally that occurred. I bought this beautifully soft fleece back jersey from Lamazi Fabrics last year as a remnant and managed to fit this pattern right on there!

(No prizes for guessing why I bought this particular remnant....)

Art Gallery Fabric - Hawaiian Honu Dusk

On this version I added some eyelets and a drawstring for the hood just for a bit of added interest. 

Lovely and warm!

Leggings 'Apostrophe Patterns - My Fit'

On another note, in addition to our lovely Triple Tortoise crew we have a new family member. Meet Bagel the Cat! (Tortoiseshell by pure coincidence! Rescued from our local RSPCA shelter).

 

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The Long and Short of It - La Jupe

Dressed - La Jupe.

Le Nope.

Continuing my quest through Dressed by Deer & Doe I thought I'd make the skirt pattern 'La Jupe'.

This was against my gut feeling and knowledge that I just don't wear skirts. At all. I did however want to try the whole book and I wondered whether this pattern might change my mind. 

It did not.

What looks trendy and cool on many people just made me feel frumpy and about 87 years old. This pic was taken on my 37th birthday. I did not need that feeling.

At first I thought it was the length so I remembered Year 7 school skirt rolling up tricks and tried it on like that.

Still nope.

Fortunately I still have a large piece of this lovely berry viscose left and therefore 'la jupe' will face reincarnation at some point. I was actually saving it for another Myosotis dress and wish I had now however perhaps it can be squeezed into that in the end and fulfill it's proper destiny.

For now though at least I can say with 100% certainty. I don't do skirts.

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Elodie Wrap Dress - Painted Lady

Coming to you this weekend with a highly seasonally inappropriate bit of sewing, but it's a belter of a pattern.

This is the latest release from Closet Core Patterns - the Elodie Wrap Dress.  

Of course it coming from Heather and crew, there's not much doubt about the fact it's fantastically drafted as usual. 

Quick bit on the fabric - this amazing painterly brush stroke print is a cotton lawn from The Eternal Maker called 'Amarachi Art'. No super drapey but enough to hang and sew well. 

This is View A - the short sleeve and shorter length version.

As per instructions I picked my size as a 14 bust and 16 waist. I didn't grade any further to be 18 hips due to the skirt being fairly flared and the wrap-ness being a bit more forgiving aswell. 

 No alterations were made during the making of this pattern. Straight up out of the packet sewing.

I only had 2 meters of this fabric and I managed to squeeze the entire thing into those 2 meters!!!! Facings, belt and all. Very pleased about that. The inner waistband is a bit patch-worked together but it was pretty satisfying to have so little waste. 

Cue 'touch the hair, show off the pockets' posing as recommended on Closet Core Patterns site!

The instructions are easy to follow with plenty of diagrams and comes together surprisingly quickly at first given how detailed it is. You can't see on my dress due to this jazzy fabric, but there are under bust pleats and back pleats that give it shaping.

 

How flat is that neckline?? I was expecting gaping every which way but no, it stays intact! Even if you got a bit of gaping it's an easy fix just to add a little popper in at the bust. I did this anyway.

Voila. Additional security measures. 

The bit I slightly struggled over was attaching the waistband and belt pieces so that it all flowed into one piece with no raw edges and a gap for the belt to come through. At this point I found an amazing tutorial by Sewing Therapy on You Tube where she shows how to make all the details of the Elodie dress. Would Recommend!

She recommended sticking the seams down with wonder tape first before stitching and this worked really well.

The side seams in the waist get opened up from the right and wrong sides to form the belt opening. This was very fiddly and I ended up hand sewing the raw edges shut. The print is fairly forgiving to see any dodgy sewing!

To finish the dress off with all the bells and whistles I added a Kylie and the Machine label from Sewisfaction - love these! (Plus wow they are really soft.)

Really enjoyed making something a bit different and new this time. It's getting worn to a restaurant this week but after that it may have to retire until Spring time! #winteriscoming

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