Dresses are always a must have in every girls closet, but I often take the easy route and sew up some in knit, it´s just quicker and I don´t have to worry about openings or small details. And for normal everyday wear it´s actually more practical, but from time to time I like to add a more polished one to her wardrobe, and the newly released Eleena dress by Coffee and Thread ticks all the boxes.

It features a perfect pointy collar and a central pleat that gives it the A line and movement girls like. I used a japanese cotton lawn with a little stiffness and a little swiss dots remnant for the collar. Because this last one was see thru and I didn´t want the seam allowances to show, I interlined it with a plain cotton, which led me to skip the recommended interfacing, hence the pushing lines around the collar. I also think it shrunk a bit with all my pressing: overpressing guilt again, ha!

This was my tester version with no adjustments, the fit was perfect for her as a size 5, though a little long because she is below the charted height and I actually didn´t correct it after because I like where it falls to give it a more traditional look. I´ve got another version with short sleeves coming soon.

She was not in the mood for pictures until I started doing some monkey business behind the camera, which totally made me lose a bit of focus and framing, but it´s worth it to have that smile captured.

The Eleena dress is still on sale here so check there for some more details and to grab one for yourself!

 

This was oficially my first make of the year and has been a faithful companion thru the cold days we had. I finished it about 3 weeks ago and have been wearing it since. Well, not all day everyday but you get the picture.

The Silvia coatigan is a pattern by Schnittchen and it´s translated into english so no googling around needed. The instructions are a little scarce if you´ve never done a coat before, specially when adding the lining. I still need visual reference for this part in particular but decided to improvise based on what I knew already.

The main fabric is a taupe boiled wool blend that is already pilling but I kind of like it. It was cheap enough for a first go with the pattern (around 7€ for 2,4m) but it´s also suprisingly warm. It pressed beautifully, but I think I´m guilty of overpressing, still need to find some balance. The lining is an acetate taffeta that I already had in my stash.

As always I was worried about sizing since I´m always below chart, but I did want it to have the baggy look, so my only alteration was shortening the sleeves by 4cm. It´s amazing how a little alteration goes a long way. If I had tried this coat on a RTW brand I know the sleeves would have been to long and that alone would make it look like the coat was wearing me instead. Just by shortening them to the wrist line I still have the oversized look but the general fit is visually so much better. I also removed the centre back seam.

I didn´t add closure because it would interfere with the end of the shawl collar and alter the way it lays. I also noticed very little ease at the hips, despite the fact that I barely have them, but still I sensed a little push when trying to close it.

I love the dropped shoulders and the built in pockets. The shawl collar is also one of the design features that atracted me, it´s interfaced to give it some structure but still very easy to construct.

The sweater is a mash between the Bento Tee and the Union St. Tee. I just used the Bento´s main pieces, without the pockets, for the slouchy look, and the Union v neckline, and also added the waisband because the double needle hem made it really wavy. It´s a super comfy wool knit with some golden threads. The jeans are the Kendall skinnies that I´m not showing just yet because they´ll soon be released by Baste and Gather and bound to be a hit. Yep, I just make it and wear it.

So, quick and satisfying make if you´re looking for a stylish coat design, with great hacking potential. I see a more traditional look if you shorten it a bit, forget those pockets and make your front pieces whole and then add some rounded patch pockets or welts. Oh yes, I´m dreaming about it already.

Well let me welcome you back since last time we met here was last year, ha! Slowly getting back into blog mood after all the peace and quiet from the Holidays. Not that the machine had any rest, just the show and tell. In terms of sewing, last year was quite productive and my wardrobe appreciates it. It´s coming together rather nicely and I´ve been wearing homemade everyday quite proudly. Winter is always harder since warm knits are a must have and I haven´t really thought about knitting because it takes too long and I like the fast reward I can achieve with sewing; even a pair of pants, after the muslining phase, is something quite easy and a project for a couple of days in my turbo mode.

So, pants. Yep, hardest and scariest thing to fit just right. You take 0,3 from one side, then a wrinkle appears, go and add 0,5 somewhere else, now you´ve got a thousand wrinkles, gaaah! Well, this is just my dramatic self speaking. It´s actually a learning process where you understand what you´ve got to do and it´s a visual one too. I muslin first, usually a half muslin, meaning I make it shorts lenght with minimum detailing (no pockets, no zipper) and spend hours back and forth in front of the mirror pining and marking my alterations. It looks like it´s a lot of work because I´m an absolute beginner for fitting issues: I can do small alterations without a problem but pants really take a little extra work, specially if you´ve never done it before. But it´s like everything, you must try it to learn and improve.

I had been trying to suggest Sarah (Cali Faye Collection) to take the plunge into a pants pattern: I feel she has quite a good collection of patterns but one cannot live on skirts and dresses alone. I was thrilled to know she took the challenge and obviously it´s a total home run.

The Hampshire trousers have a lounge, baggy feel still with some classical detailing. Since they have no stretch, the waist and hips area are bound to have some wear pleats, which are totally acceptable and you also see on RTW. Depending on fabric used, you can make a more classical pair in light wool or try to recriate some chinos like I did with a light twill.

This pair is actually my wearable muslin, hence some detailing in white thread. The size is the xxxs which I think Sarah made specially for me (thank you!). I still have some front crotch wrinkles, though I lenghtened the crotch seam by 0,5cm, but it might need to lower a bit more. I tappered the legs also by removing 0,5cm from each seam, meaning I took in the side seams from the pocket down and the inseam starting at the hem and grading to none at the crotch area. Small alterations go a long way, notice that those 0,5 on each leg mean a total of 2cm, so it´s best to do them little by little rather than a big alteration all at once.

For lenght I removed about 10cm since I´m 1,57m and instead of the normal hem, I turned in the same amount and then folded out half of it and stitched in the ditch of the side seams to lock in place. My favourite feature are the welts that are beautifully explained in a visual tutorial. I did mine a little diferently by not having any stitching at sight but still securing all the welt parts in the wrong side of the pants.

There are no detailed shots of my sewing this time because well, I didn´t do a spectacular job in terms of detailing and trust me, I´m not depreciating my own work, please, it´s just as it is. I´ll gladly continue with it once I do a new pair soon.

You can get this and other of her great patterns here with 30% off your entire purchase with code 30HAMPSHIRE (ends 24/1 11:59pm EST)

This blog post contains affiliate links but all opinions are my own, as always.