Well, January is long past, Spring is finally making its first appearances and this year I tried to run from bunny prints for Easter, but that doesn´t mean this January peplum won´t have lots of wear like it did so far.

The January peplum from Califaye Collection is a pattern for wovens, with cute shoulder insets and a hi-lo peplum. I did a size 5 for my almost 5 girl, in french terry from the Sweet Mercerie. This bunny print is sold out but they have amazing other ones and it´s worth to check.

Regarding the pattern, I did mostly no big alterations: I cut the back piece on fold (remember to remove SA) because I wasn´t adding the zipper, lowered the neckline 0,5cm all around and also used smaller pieces for the peplums (each shortened by 5cm) to have less bulk on the gathers.

For the neckline I used a neckband in the same off white french terry as the insets and I also added some sleeve cuffs. The bottom hem is serged and then folded and topstitched with a double needle right on top of the serger threads. The sleeve is designed simmetrically to be beginner friendly and no gathering is required.

This is a very beginner friendly pattern and also quite fast; although I haven´t made a woven version yet, this knit one came together in no time. I finished it and hang it in my girls bedroom and when she came home from school one day I just told her "There´s a surprise for you there". When she saw it her eyes literally grew and shaped as hearts, ha! Nothing like a girly pattern and an adorable print to get you some mummy points!

Once in a while you have special occasions that require a little more dressing up than just Linden´s and jeans. Wedding season has begun around here and oh the drama too. I had nothing to wear but most importantly, nothing to sew. I couldn´t find the patterns I had appropriate for formal wear and I wasn´t feeling what was on the market too. And then, stars alignement (I get that a lot, ha!), angels choir singing and along comes Adrianna announcing this vavavoom one week before the wedding, should I thank my lucky stars or what?

The Charleston is not just a dress, it´s a curvylicious thing you´ll wrap around your body and feel like a million bucks. Princess seams from top to bottom, front and behind, and a sexy negative ease at all the right places.

The pattern is designed for knits but this is a stretch woven (around 20%); it´s kind of a twill on the right side but I used the wrong one as main as it appeared to have a little sheer. I was planning to use a ponte with a lace overlay, but the lace didn´t have enough stretch to work.

Though this was my tester version, I made a couple of changes: the back is supposed to have an exposed zipper all the way down the back, which I replaced with a shorter invisible one. And once I wasn´t needing that skirt center back seam, I cut it on fold instead of two pieces. I also finished the neckline with a facing instead of binding: I just cut out directly on the pattern´s front and back at the width I wanted the facing to be, interfaced, stitched and understitched. The ends are enclosed, sandwiching the zipper with the main fabric.

For the hems, since I didn´t want any stitches at sight and I´m still not keen on my machine´s invisible foot and stitch, I used fusible hemtape. I also added a bit of that to the facing to keep it in place.

Because this was a tester´s version and a more fitted dress than what I usually do, I didn´t grade any seams in case I needed to let them out in some places. I ended up grading in the side seams of the skirt from the hips downwards about an inch, for a more fitted and pencil skirt look.

It´s really comfortable and was worth almost freezing to death. Naa, I had a little RTW jacket too, not very warm but looked good. I also stud up those heels all day in the name of poshness, so that´s why you now have to look at my ugly wall trim, ha! A few accessories composed the look

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

This was just another of those indulgence sewing projects and proves my bipolar sewing organization: one day I´m sewing for warmer days, the next I´m still late doing coats. But it really depends on the fabric finds that have been happening around here. I found the fabric at my local shop, fell in love, needed a fast sew - yes, this is indeed fast, for a coat, that is - and here it is, her royal pattern from Schnittchen dinasty, Silvia Coatigan The Second, in my line of production, ha!

This one succeeds my first not altered version (except for sleeve lenght) and hopefully the wool will behave a little better. My camel one is pilling like I knew it would, the wool blend was low quality and though it gives it a little of a vintage touch, it´s too much and just needs to be shaved. This wool, although it must be a mixture too, has a knit grain on the wrong side and a mini herringbone on the right one, in shades of blue and white. The lining is a basic tafeta acetate or something really polyestery that doesn´t tolerate steam at all but it was on my stash and it was enough for it.





The coat was born out of my stubborness to make it out of the remnant I found which only had around 1,4m, so a lot of problems derived from the fact that I´m scroogy. It´s the smallest size (34/36) and the coat pieces were shortened by 20cm and the sleeves were shortened around 10cm - simply because not enough fabric for more. The front facings also had to be pieced at the bottom.
Neverthless, having such a short coat gave it a more classic feel, so I went with the single welts for pockets. Their construction is rather easy: one large rectangle you place where you want the welt to be and then work from that. My pieces were 13cm long so my hand goes in nicely. I placed it in an angle because the coat would be too short for straight, and I also liked the inclined look better. This way it just looks like it follows the arm natural fold as you slip in your hands. And let me tell you, welts in wool is such a satisfying sew: even with a little bulk which you can´t really escape, it presses beautifully and doesn´t shift like lighter fabrics.
For the pocket bag I used the lining fabric only halfway thru because I wanted the wool to peek when it opened up. It was still a bit long in these pictures but I shortened it already so it stops before the hemline. And now you´re wondering "oh, but how did you shorten it if the coat is finished?". Even if you´re not, I´m telling anyway. My method for attaching the lining includes no hand sewing: I just leave the opening at one of the lining sleeves and once the bottom and front is sewed I work from that sleeve opening to finish off the sleeves. And I haven´t closed it yet because well, who has time for hand sewing?






Because the wool was so thick I choose not to interface. I think it was a mistake and definitely not skipping it again. It would really give the front lapels and the hem a little more structure that fabric thickness, by itself, cannot achieve alone, nor all the pressing.
You might notice the sleeves look a bit wrinkled and it´s not from wear. Because I didn´t want the sleeves to be shorter than they were due to my fabric limitations, there´s only 1cm folded in to give the lining ease and it´s not enough: you see the main fabric needs to go in another cm but I´ll wait for Spring to come and then assume the shorter sleeves. It can bring problems in a long term, making the wool look ugly and marked on those lines and not really lay perfectly straigth as it should.
As for the overall lenght, a few 5cm more would look better. It´s assumedly an oversized coat with the dropped shoulders, but a little more lenght would balance the square look. I decided to go with no closure again, but I did line a botton with the same wool, just still not sure if I wanna do a buttonhole or use a snap inside and make the button decorative.









This one will count as my March entry for Project Sew It from Celina´s Petit a Petit and Family. Seriously, it´s easier to make something new than to rescue my failed projects like I had thought, ha!
The pattern itself is full of potential and worth all the beautiful wools one can find. Up next I might try some patch pockets in a longer lenght, but not until next Winter. Or if some gorgeous wool happens to cross the street at the same time as me.