Silk Crepe de Chine - you gorgeous fabric you....

I've worked with crepe and crepe de chine before - the poly(blend) kind of fabric, but this is my first go with the real deal, the gorgeous silk crepe de chine from The Fabric Store! Liberty silk crepe de chine to be specific. If I could afford it I would wear nothing else! Soft, drapey and actually pretty easy to work with. Put that microtex needle in your machine and sew away!

I knew from the moment I laid my hands on this fabric that I would turn it into 'something loose fitting'. I do love me a beautiful and fitted dress but I know from experience that a loose fitting something would get much much more wear. And this fabric deserves to get worn over and over again!

I had an idea in my mind and by combining the (slightly modified) top version of the Inari Tee (Dress) with an also slightly modified version of the skirt part from the Emery Dress I was able to create the comfy yet elegant loose fitting dress of my dreams.

Simplicity 1158 and sort of....

I've been having a little fun with Simplicity 1158.

The first thing I made based on this pattern was a short jumpsuit, then I made the jumpsuit Luna is wearing below. After that I got creative and made myself a dress, loved it so much and made one more - this one below. This nude beige dress is a severely hacked version of the pattern. In fact this is a refashioned version of a refashion. The first version looked like this. I liked but didn't love it - and never wore it. Then I added an elastic waist to the dress - which helped but still it just stayed in my closet. The fabric is just so gorgeous; a peachskin fabric with a very subtle sheen, that it deserved to get worn - so recently I butchered the dress and turned it into this little number. I didn't have fabric enough to make the original pleated version of the bodice, so I had to settle for simple gathered one instead (I like it though). Furthermore it was impossible to make the original ties from the rather small pieces of fabric I had to work with, so these ties are actually the neckline binding from the previous dress. Way to go, me! On Luna's jumpsuit you can see how wide the ties are meant to be - but I think these skinny ties work as well. Luna's jumpuit is lengthened a bit at the bodice part because of her height but apart from that it's a size 10 straight from the envelope. I should mention that the original pattern doesn't include a dress option but you can pretty much add any skirt to the bodice and it'll work out fine.

 

 

 

A little Mccalls, a little Knipmode and a little me...

My latest mash-up. This floral number is mainly based on this pattern from Knipmode and the OOP McCall's M5927 - and then modified some more.

I believe it's the first time I've tried a Knipmode pattern. This pattern is downloaded from their site but I do also have one of their magazines. I bought that particular mag months ago because it had a knit dress pattern I just had to try...and haven't tried yet. Knipmode does not offer all of their patterns as pdf files, so I had to buy the magazine to get that specific pattern. Must make it soon.

Even though I'm not at all fluent in Dutch I did somehow manage to read/get/understand/guess the instructions - nice one me. Okay, the dress isn't that difficult to sew I admit. As stated above I only used the bodice part from this pattern. It was the neckline in particular that made this pattern a must! I think it's so elegant. I made a size 40 but ended up taking it in a bit. I'm normally a size 40/42 in rtw clothes, so I guess this pattern runs a bit large in size. I can't say if that's the case with all Knipmode patterns. Or maybe I just prefer the dress a bit more fitted than it's designed to be. It's not that I don't like the original skirt that comes with this pattern - I just like this one even better :-). The pockets and the pleats on this sadly oop M5927 are just perfect. It's the third time I've used this skirt pattern for a dress. Here it is in a scuba version (which I've actually decided to sell).

The fabric is cotton sateen with a little stretch from the Danish shop Fabricroad.