Egg Coat completed Burda Style pattern / 09/2016 #117

 

Another completed UFO. This was part of my challenge with Juxnz to finish a coat or jacket for amnesty day which was 30th November. Well Juxnz won that hands down but I have finally finished one of my UFO coats.

This is Burda 09/2016 style 117 made from quilted upholstery fabric with the collar and pockets in offcuts of faux leather in navy. I previously made this skirt,
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/birthday-skirt.html
this dress,
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/teach-me-fashion-layer-dress.html


Well what can I say this was a massive learning curve for me since I had never made welt pockets.


I ended up recutting the right front 3 times due to my destruction when making the welt pockets so my advice if you have never done these do a mock up first. I started off with 4.5m of this fabric so luckilly was able to simply cut a new front (twice!) but under normal circumstances this might have been a very expensive disaster. As it is becaues I had lots of fabric it eventually worked.

First welt pocket

Second attempt

Final version works

I tacked the zip in and hand sewed the sleeve linings in place

Then I used a salvedged zip from an old gazebo because its the only zip I had that was long enough and I do not have spare money right now. I cut this off shorter in fact after inserting and hid the ends inside the collar band.

I had a few problems with the zip as well due to believing it will all be ok and I even tacked it in but forgot to check before sewing that everything lined up OK.

When I first put in the zip I did one side, tacked and then sewed and then did the other but then when I did it up it was askew as you can see here. I undid and re-sewed and shortened the hem slightly to match the first side. This means the lining is slightly out inside but I am not too worried about that. The lining is cheap (99p for 2m) polyester knit. I thought it would add warmth but its a bad idea because after I sewed it in place I found runs where it was coming unknitted so I ended up using clear nail varnish to fix the runs and stop them getting worse. Not ideal but will do for now. I will probably either re-line or add a second lining on top at some point. For now though I just want to wear this.

Happy Christmas to everyone and heres hoping next year we may have a more peaceful world.

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

Daenerys Targaryen dress using Simplicity 1008

 

This dress has been on my "to make list" since the pattern first came out in the UK. It made from stretch faux suede. However although this is stretch I do not think its got any lycra just polyester. Its lined with power mesh to try and keep the suede in shape.

 Since this wa taken I decided to use a couple of stitches to permanently attach the two bands to cover the dodgy pointed bit under the bust. Means I do not constantly adjust these. I read several reviews on Pattern Review about this dress, and can say I agree with others who had problems with the point at the front. It simply does not lie right. The cross over "dragon skin" straps help to hide this to some extent but I am not very happy with it.

I also read that it is very difficult to insert an invisible zip because of the thickness of the fabric layers so I decided (in my usual fashion if its even vaguely possible) to miss out the zip cos my fabric is stretch. Well I can just about get it on and off if I a wriggle a bit so this may not be the best option!

I used black rivet tape at the back rather than add eyelets because I never manage to get them to stay in the fabric and they always end up falling out and I am left with just a hole so I decided this was a better option. I noticed at least one reviewer has sewn eyelets which would have been an option but using the ready made tape was just faster and I hate hand sewing.

In fact most of the Pattern Rewviews all say they had to hand stitch in the lining. Well I did not. Mainly because I read other people's reviews so I lined the two skirt pieces and cut an extra bodice from the power mesh. Then I attached the bodice at the sleeves /flanges ( which I love) and sewed on the skirt after so the bodice lining stays in place being attached at the arms and skirt seams, although it is not actually attached around the neck because I decided how to do this after I started.  There is a facing made of satin backed something left over from this top:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/black-top-from-pattern-sew-and-sew-b5940.html

I might eventually get round to stitching the neck lining down but it is wearable without and so not urgent.



 

In case you are wondering it is worn with these leggings:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/24-red-lace-hoody-burdastyle-012016.html 
Well its really a costume but it happened to snow and being made of faux suede turns out to be very warm despite the lack of sleeves and it was Sunday so what the hell. I wore it all day and you know what, I like this and intend to wear it as often as possible. I am sure if I have no coat over it some people will look and think its strange but with leggings this is actually a very wearable dress and if you fancy making one I would say go for it.

Best wishes and thanks for visiting,

Bracken

Teach me fashion layer dress

Hi
I bought this pattern during indie pattern month. I was too busy with life at the time to make it.
I already had the fabric which I have used for various items here:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/20-green-leather-look-leggings.html 
and
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/25-red-faux-leather-trousers.html
and
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/24-red-lace-hoody-burdastyle-012016.html 
And best of all these side stripe leggings:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/red-and-black-faux-leather-leggings.html

So I already have loads of leather leggings so I really need to use this fabric for something else.

 

Really I used this fabric for this pattern because it was available and I wanted to make the dress for Christmas. I think it works very well in faux leather for a winter dress. Its a woven stretch coated fabric which I bought a couple of years ago off ebay. I actually ended up with loads of it very cheap because I won several different lots of this in different colours from between 99p for 3m and up to £4 for 2m depending on colour. Anyway quite a bargain. I had no idea what I would do with it it was just an interesting fabric to play with at an affordable price. Unfortunately the only invisible zip I have that was long enough is black and I did not want to buy anything for this because I lost my job through no fault of my own the other week. I was temping and now right before Christmas I am out of work. I do like being at home in the cold weather with my dogs and being able to make things like this but really I would rather be in work. Still life does not always give what you expect and in the end I have a new dress which I would never afford to buy right now and its a lovely little dress for Christmas.

Also I like this pattern because I usually make Burda and it seems the skirts are always very long for me. I hate just chopping off the bottom to shorten them because fabric is expensive even when you manage to pick it up cheap off ebay. I do not wnat to waste my fabric so I leave them the length they should be ad that means I do not wear them as much as I could. I possibly need to address this and start cutting them shorter. Now I have made this one I know the length I like. This skirt length I like a lot. Its very wearable.

I learned a new technique here too because I have never bagged out armholes before when inserting a  lining/facing. Great technique. This is the inside:

I did have to make two versions of the back because I did not understand the wriiten instructions and had lost the printout of the line drawing so the first version has a very long back dart. It was only when I watched the Youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghchQiv2NDY
I realised what was going on. I marked the darts as it says but its hard to work out what to do then you see the shoulder darts being sewn and I clicked.
Once I realised after I had sewn it wrong I made anther one because I had lots of extra fabric. You cannot really make a mistake with this faux leather because it leaves a mark so when you sew that is it. No unpicking. So even with pinning you need to do it inside the seam allowance. I did sew through to makrk the darts as the video says but did not tack so it was just a single stitch so very approximate really. So this back is my second attemp. Front and panel only first attempt thank goodess cos i do not have enough red to repeat that bit. Still a bit of a waste but when I had sewn a new one correctly I realised it ended up the same shape so I am going to make a second dress but without the layer = have yet to decide exactly what fabric the front will be.

I think I made the front panel too long because I had difficulty managing to hem the blue dress at the end so next time I would make this shorter. I like it tho. The hem is a bit rubbish and the darts could be better but its a nice new dress for Christmas when I am strapped for cash.
I did not press this very well hence its a bit creased which I hope will hang out. I was a bit worried I will lose the plastic coating which is what makes it look like leather so I only used a very cool iron. If I maded this in an uncoated fabric I think I might get a better finish but all in all I think I am going to live in this over Christmas this year.  Its also quite warm despite being sleeveless. Of course with a lace or mesh top under it I could also look good with sleeves so I need to make a mesh top next to wear underneath.

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

Butterick B5562 T-shirt number 4 and McCalls M6614.

This is another very quick T-shirt made from 20 minutes sewing here and 10 minutes there all week.

This is number 4 in my current obsession with view D of Butterick B5562 again without the collar. I do likd this pattern. Its got a wide boat neck and is otherwise just plain. So funny because I own this pattern because it has so many neck and sleeve variations and yet I keep making the basic plain version. Ah well!





This is made from left overs from a  top I made about a year ago now for Mick.

This is McCalls M6614.  It came out a bit too big for him so I should really make one the correct size for him. It has pockets hidden in the front seams which is nice.

Anyway mine is cut the opposite way so with very little stretch but it still works well. Having the grey marl contrast makes the florals more handleable. I am not a floral type of person despite inflicting this fabric on my other half!






So here are some more pictures of these two tops:

So we have a sort of His and Hers thing going on here which is not a look either of us normally does.

Still better than wasting fabric!

 Thanks for visiting my blog and hopefully see you soon,
Bracken