Tempo Sundress by Love Notions

I learned a new skill in order to sew the Tempo Sundress: shirring.

I still had the elastic thread I bought many years ago when I tried unsuccessfully to shirr. I read that many others had been unable to shirr with a Brother machine, and the tension on the bobbin case needs to be tightened by turning a screw. I decided to experiment before taking apart my machine. The shirring tutorials say to hand wind the thread with little to no tension. I tried hand winding the bobbin with a significant amount of tension, started sewing, and suddenly my flat, squiggly lines bunched up into shirred fabric.

My fabric was a cotton from deep stash with an interesting plisse texture with some stretch from the slightly gathered texture. I had two yards and never knew what to do with it.

The photo below shows the pattern piece and how much smaller the fabric became after shirring.

I cut out a size large according to my bust measurement. Then I added an inch to the bodice front. That was a mistake, as the bodice was too large on me. For the interfacing for the bodice facing I used a light woven fusible interfacing. I switched to an orange cotton for the facing at the top bodice because I thought a smooth fabric would work better than my lumpy main fabric.

I took an inch off the bodice length. I have a difficult fitting situation with needing more length in the front for my bust, but having a short back. I added 1/2 inch to the front tapering to nothing at the sides, and subtracted from the back in the same way. Even so, the bodice hits past my waist in the back.

The straps are sandwiched between the facing and the bodice, making it difficult to access the fit and placement before sewing.

The deep inseam pockets are attached to the waist at the top, which keeps them securely anchored. The skirt is gathered to the bodice. I tried taking big seam allowances on the bodice to compensate for the largeness, but the fit is still off and the straps are too far apart on my small shoulders. I will have to make some alterations to feel more comfortable wearing the dress. I would have liked to made another bodice, but didn’t have enough fabric. The straps are supposed to be wide enough to cover bra straps but they don’t on me. I made them 1/2 inch wider, which wasn’t enough as they are folded in half. I may add some elastic to the straps because I can tell I will have a problem with keeping them up. You can see the strap ready to slip in the back view photo. In the photos, I wore the dress with a bra with clear plastic straps.

A cute dress, good use of stash fabric, but needs some work. And I can shirr!

Summer Dresses: Laundry Day Tee and Bardon Dress

Shorts are a summer staple for me. I’ve sewn six pairs since 2017, and I love wearing them. But I want to have an alternative to shorts for going shopping or out to lunch. My plan for this summer is to sew casual dresses that are comfortable, have pockets, and are loose enough to not need a zipper. No constricting belts wanted either, but a self -fabric sash is a comfortable option for shaping.

I started with two fabrics, a knit and a woven, and two free patterns.

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I used the navy stripe cotton/spandex knit to sew a sleeveless Laundry Day Tee by Love Notions with a V-neck. I sewed a size medium and added inseam pockets. I chose to cut the fabric with the stripes being vertical for the lengthening effect.

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Next up is the Bardon dress by Elbe Textiles for Peppermint magazine. I chose size E by my upper bust measurement and did a 1/2 inch full bust adjustment to the darted bodice. The adjustment added 1 inch to the waist which I should have taken away with vertical waist darts but I forgot that the FBA also added to the waist. I also shortened the bodice by 2 inches due to my short torso. I didn’t want the pockets, which are sewn on the first tier, to hang too low for my short arms to reach. My fabric is a red cotton I bought at a thrift store many years ago, with the pattern having a stripe-like effect. The bottom tier was very wide, 48 inches per side, and I cut it on the cross grain in order to be able to cut the full width of the pattern. I also like the visual interest it creates.

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A gust of wind caused the dress to billow into a perfect bell shape!

These patterns are keepers! I would make both of these dresses again, perhaps with some alterations. For the Tee dress I would add ease to the underarm area and some width to the back hip as I would prefer the dress to hang straight and not pool at the back. The tiers of the Bardon dress lend themselves to playing with the lengths and proportions, and I can imagine several variations.

I styled these dresses with accessories for going out. They are even easier to wear than shorts since it’s only one item of clothing, but look more polished. The Laundry Day Tee dress is a sporty classic in the navy and white stripe, and doesn’t feel too different than wearing shorts. The red, flouncy Bardon dress is a fun dress and more of a stand out look. So I hope I’m ready to be outstanding this summer!

Love Notions Patterns Summer Outfit

I sewed up another pair of shorts and a tank top. They are two Love Notions patterns, the Laundry Day Tee, and the Allegro bottoms.

 

I love that Love Notions pdf patterns are quick to put together because there is no cutting of page margins.  You can choose to print only the size or sizes you select, and the instructions tell you which pages to print for the variation you have selected.  Love Notions pattern are very affordable, often just $5 or $6 during their frequent sales.  They also offer many cute and practical patterns!  This is my first time actually sewing their patterns, although I own a few more.

Let’s take it from the top. The Laundry Day Tee is close fitting through the shoulders and bust, and then flares out into an A-line shape.  The pattern comes with many  neckline, sleeve, and length variations, and is free when you join the Love Notions Facebook group.  The idea is you can whip one up in the time it takes to do laundry.

I had a rayon spandex knit with a tie dye type print in stash in mind for this.  I thought the swinginess of the A-line shape would be ideal for the hottest days of summer, and I opted for a sleeveless tank.

I folded away a few inches of length at the shorten/lengthen line and added some width to the straps.

I bought the fabric online so didn’t see the variable colors of the dye pattern of the fabric.  There was more light space than I expected, and I played around with the best way to cut it.

I have since decided I don’t like sewing with this type of rayon knit because it’s so very very stretchy which means it easily stretches out of shape and grows.  I cut a size large and then had to snug it up at the underarms quite a bit.  I should have also cut it an inch higher at the underarm to give me some leeway, because I don’t want to deal with too low underarms.  The neckline and armholes are finished with 2 inch bands folded in half.  I don’t have a serger so I used a stretchy zigzag stitch of 1.5mm  long and 3mm wide to sew the seams.

This is such a fun and cool top!  It feels as light as a whisper. I put it on before pressing the hem and bands, and didn’t want to take it off!

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For the Allegro, I cut a size 10 of the 5 inch inseam shorts. The pattern is for woven fabric, but I had a yard of stretch denim I had ordered to see if I liked it enough to use for pants.  It is the Robert Kaufman super stretch denim.  I didn’t like working with this denim.  It’s supposed to be indigo but looks almost black and attracts lint.  As soon as I touched it, the color came off on my hand. I prewashed it twice, and started sewing with it.  And the result was still a deep blue stain on my hands.

I didn’t want to use the denim for the pockets, so substituted a scrap of cotton with a cute dolphin print.

I lengthened the rise and narrowed the legs on the shorts pattern.

The waistband has an inserted piece of elastic that was hard to get through the channel.  The elastic is then stitched down in two rows. I had never made this type of elastic waistband before. The elastic called for is 1 and 1/2 inches wide.  I didn’t have any so substituted a 2 inch elastic which I cut down.  I omitted the drawstring.

I  topstitched  with the same gold thread that I used for my previous denim pants. Partly because I lengthened the rise, the slash pockets had too long of an opening.  I added some bar tacks to help with this, but need to change the slant of the pockets in the future.

I considered doing a turned up hem on the shorts, which I see on denim shorts a lot, but sewed a deep hem instead.  The funny thing is I could see a blue ring on my lower thighs from the turned under hem after wearing the shorts for only an hour.  Hopefully, a few more washes will make them wearable because it’s super annoying shedding dye everywhere.  They pass my test of not slipping down while walking and total comfort while sitting.

The photo below shows the comparison of the waistband to my favorite denim shorts I made last year.  I wear them so much I thought I would sew a similar pair.

I love the smooth fit of the Itch to Stitch Mountain View Jeans waistband.  It probably would have been better to use that pattern for these, because denim is a little thick to be all bunched up, but I wanted to try out the Allegro pattern.

I will be sewing variations of both the Laundry Day Tee and the Allegro bottoms again.  They are patterns that make the kind of comfortable, casual clothes that I live in.