chebe | Entries tagged with woven

So I made another half-circle skirt, identical to v.1, but in Luxury Crepe Black Dress Fabric (100% polyester). To pair with my Vogue V1869, asymmetric top. Are we seeing the vision? The plan is to create a flexible collection of fancy occasion separates, that can be mixed and matched. And few things are as versatile as a simple black skirt.

Last Friday I went to Dublin Frocktails 2025, my first Frocktails. I, uh, didn't get any photos, because I'm bad at this. So you'll have to imagine how the two pieces went together. (The skirt is shorter than the lowest point of the top, and the crepe had an amazing lustre under the venue lighting.) It was a fun event, and was great to see so much creativity, and skill, and excellent taste in patterns and fabrics. I hope to be not so exhausted next time, and maybe even get to socialise a bit.

Finished, front
Photo by chebe

Seamwork's Riley is a simple sleeveless woven top pattern. With a high neck, and self-fabric ties at the waist. Just a front piece, with bust darts, and a back piece. Bias tape facings. No closures.

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Finished, front
Photo by chebe

McCall's M8536 is a pattern for awesome looking wide legged jeans. The only catch is that it is a mens pattern. But why would we let that stop us?

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Finished, front
Photo by chebe

I'm back to self-drafting skirts again. I haven't been completely satisfied with the instructions given in the Sew What Skirts book, so I did a bunch of research around the internet and came up with my own process that works for my brain.

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Finished, front
Photo by chebe

I loved v.1 so much that I made another one! Everything is the same, except I overlocked/serged the raw edges before doing the clean seam finishes. And feel I managed most things more neatly the second time around.

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Finished, front
Photo by chebe

Vogue V1944 is, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It's a strange woven collection of bias cut skirt, with two dropped shoulder shirt-inspired top options, one both fitted and cropped. I was interested in view b; the boxy oversized shirt.

But being a Vogue pattern, sizing is not straight forward. The measurements corresponding to the sizes are only shown on the envelope flap (not visible in the online envelope scans), and the useful finished garment measurements are typically only to be found on the pattern tissue itself. Being at the edges of the size range is quite risky. Last time I made a Vogue, I found the sizing ran large, and that a size 22 was the better starting point for me. Which is just as well, as size 22 is the maximum size available for this pattern. A size 22 is given as bust 112cm, waist 94cm. This would not fit me. But I'm looking at a boxy oversized shirt. So, I took the gamble. Turns out the finished garment measurements for view b are bust 132cm, waist 128cm. This is 20cm and 34cm of combined wearing and style ease. That should be plenty.

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Finished, front
Photo by chebe

We're making Megan Nielsen's Tania culottes, view D, again (v.1 here).

But this time we'll make them to actually fit as intended, high waisted and everything. To solve the between sizes issue we'll use Curve size 20 for the front, and size 22 for the back, to the length of the size 20.

We'll be using a bright purple linen, Gütermann thread colour 392. And we'll need an invisible zipper (in black) for the side seam, cotton stay tape to reinforce the pockets, and stiff fusible interfacing for the waistband.

And that's it really. Started by overlocking the raw edges, and it sewed up very quickly. This fabric takes a press very well, so the super narrow hem came out lovely. The missing pleat marking on my pattern did trip me up again, momentarily.

These are delightful in hot weather. I'm still not sold on high waists in general, but can admit it does work lovely here. The swish, the colour, the in-seam, so far so good.

Finished, front
Photo by chebe

McCall's M8479, woven short skirt pattern with faux-wrap options. I previously made the 'base' skirt, without any of the wrap options; v.1. Now it's time to wrap.

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McCall's M8479, view b, finished, front view with wrap closed
Photo by chebe

McCall's M8479 is a woven short skirt pattern with faux-wrap options. I was having a hard time understanding how all the pieces went together, so I made a 'base' version of the skirt with the most common pieces and without any of the wrap choices, which isn't technically an option provided. It is closest to View A, but without the over-wrap half skirt (read on for explanation of this).

But first, why a skirt pattern? Well, simply, I need basic/versatile skirt options to fill a gap in my wardrobe. And this skirt pattern has a fly front zipper, which I haven't tried before. Skirts use less material even than shorts, so it's a lower stakes way to practice. And I really couldn't figure out what they were doing, without examining the pattern pieces closely. Curiosity, basically.

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McCall's M8479, finished, front view
Photo by chebe

I have tried self-drafting basic blocks a few times before. Unfortunately I have not yet found any instructions that actually work for my body proportions. I have, however, gotten fairly competent at altering existing patterns. So how about I try that route instead?

Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book is a course in book form, about learning how to fit the basic blocks of dress patterns (from woven fabrics), and then mix-n-matching for near endless possible combinations. The Floral Day Dress project is the most basic there is; basic bodice, a-line skirt, no sleeves, all-in-one facing. The prefect place to start.

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V-neck bodice with a-line peplum, finished, front view
Photo by chebe

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Busy hands | Disquiet mind

Craft and Tech Notebook

Entries tagged with woven

Self-drafted Half-Circle skirt, v.2

Seamwork Riley woven top

McCall's M856 (2024), view a, denim shorts

Self-drafted Half-Circle skirt

Vogue V1944 (2023), view b, oversized shirt, v.2

Vogue V1944 (2023), view b, oversized shirt

Megan Nielsen Tania culottes, view D, v.2

McCall's M8479 (2024), view b, v.2

McCall's M8479 (2024), base skirt

Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book - Floral Day Dress modified to v-neck top

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