Bellini & bunnies

If I really like a finished garment, it's fairly common for me to then dream up an infinite number of different versions in my head that I could possibly create. Most of these don't happen because I don't have endless amounts of time on my hands, or enough money to be able to afford all the fabric that I'd need, but sometimes the perfect fabric is just sitting there already patiently waiting to be used, and that's just what happened for this project, my second version of the Capital Chic Bellini blouse!

I quite like making second (or third, or forth....) versions of a pattern. I know some people might prefer to always use different patterns so you're potentially using new skills and not just doing the same thing, but the way I see it, a second version of a pattern means that you don't have to worry about muslins and possible fitting issues, and you can just get on with the fun of sewing - always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Plus you can be fairly confident that you're going to like the end result if you liked your first one. I also figure it's fine to have multiple versions of the same pattern as long as they're all a little bit different and you're going to wear all of them. And that's definitely true in this case!

In some ways, there are similarities between my two Bellinis; they're both made of fabric with a small-scale print on a blue background (albeit different shades of blue), but they feel very different. I made my first Bellini using a nice crisp cotton, whereas the fabric for this version is viscose, which has much more drape to it so feels very different to wear. Plus the prints are different - this one may look like slightly odd blobs from a distance, but look at it up close....

....and you see it's actually BUNNIES! Yes, I have a whole herd (is that the right collective noun?!) of rabbits jumping about all over my blouse. It's probably meant for children, but I like it so it's all good. I bought it from Fabric Rehab, at the same time as I bought the fabric for my Cambie and first Lilou - that was a good fabric haul!

I used the same buttons as I did for my first Bellini, but this time in pink to match the pink bunnies. I realised that I actually also used the same buttons in blue on my Sureau dress last autumn! Obviously I like little flower buttons, and the people that make them have a strange ability to produce them in exactly the right colours to match my fabrics.

In terms of the pattern itself, I stand by everything I said in my post about my first Bellini - the instructions are nice and clear and I really like the finish of the blouse, it's all so neat and tidy and professional-looking. This one was slightly less of a joy to sew than my first one, but that's entirely down to the viscose not behaving as nicely as the cotton did. It didn't slip about too much though and was totally manageable, just not quite as cooperative as cotton!

I possibly like this one slightly less than my first one too. That's not to say that I don't like it, I definitely do, but the way that the viscose hangs means that I can sometimes get a bit of gaping between the buttons if I'm not standing quite right, which doesn't happen with my cotton one. It's a minor problem though, and I should probably just use it as an incentive to have better posture - it definitely won't stop me wearing the blouse anyway.

So there we go, that's my second Bellini for you! I'd like to try another version with the scalloped collar, or possibly some collar embellishments at some point, but it might have to wait for a while because I've got so many other ideas buzzing round my head at the moment! Do you like making multiple versions of the same pattern too?

Sewaholic Cambie Dress

Back when I first started making my own clothes last year, there was one pattern in particular that caught my eye that I knew I wanted to make at some point - to be honest the only reason that I didn't start making one there and then was because I knew my very novice skills wouldn't do it justice! While I'm by no means claiming that I've become an expert in the last year, I knew that I was now definitely up to the task so it was time to sew myself a Sewaholic Cambie dress.

The Cambie is rated as an intermediate pattern, which is what put me and my then-limited skills off last summer, and I think that is probably right as it is a bit more complicated than a standard beginner pattern due to the full lining. At the same time though, there's absolutely nothing scary about this and, as always with Sewaholic patterns, the instructions and diagrams are totally clear and easy to follow and everything came together really nicely.

The Cambie is such a gorgeous design and so flattering - or I think it is at least! The sweetheart neckline is really pretty and the gathered cap sleeves add an interesting bit of detail. I think having the separate waistband also really helps to define the waist, which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. It's also probably no secret by now that I'm fairly fond of girly dresses with nicely fitting bodices and twirly skirts, and this definitely fits that bill - plus there's the added bonus of pockets in the skirt. That's not to say that I don't like view A with the A-line skirt though - that will be on my to-sew list at some point in the future.

Without wanting to tempt fate, I think I might have done a U-turn in my opinions on invisible zips! After completely losing faith in them when one broke on me a month or so ago, they now seem to be behaving themselves and I haven't had any trouble (touch wood...) with the last couple that I've sewn, and they do give a nice finish to a garment.

I cut a size 14 at the bust, grading down to a 12 at the waist and back out to a 14 at the hips, although I could probably have got away with using a straight size 12 for the skirt - it's lovely and full so there's plenty of room around the hips. Other than this, as normal I needed to add a bit of length to the bodice (an inch and a quarter in this case), and that gave me a toile that fitted really nicely. 

Once I came to try on the dress to check the length for hemming, I noticed that somewhere between the toile and the finished dress the sleeves seemed to have grown a bit and, even though the bodice fit me perfectly from the neckline down, I had extra material up around my shoulders. I fixed this by unpicking the seam between the front of the sleeve and the neckline, and then inserting more of the sleeve through the gap that is left there. This does mean that my shoulder seams are slightly further forward than they should be, but I don't think anyone other than fellow sewists would notice this, and it seemed like a much better option to me at that point than unpicking all of the lining to adjust the shoulder seams instead!

The fabric that I used is a John Kaldor cotton lawn that I got from Fabric Rehab, although unfortunately it looks like it's sold out now. It was lovely to sew and it's great to wear. As the shape of the Cambie is undeniably pretty girly, I quite liked the idea of using a more geometric, abstract print for this one, and the gorgeous shade of blue and white together are a good colour combination for me so choosing this fabric was pretty much a no-brainer. I intentionally cut the waistband with the print in the different direction to try to make it stand out more, which I think has worked. For the lining, I used some plain white cotton voile that I got from Abakhan - again it seems to have sold out (and I'm now wishing I'd ordered more!) but this is the same fabric in black, it works really well for lining summer dresses.

This might be quite a big statement to make, but I think this may possibly be my new favourite dress. I love the print and the colour, it's really flattering and it feels great to wear. 

I've come to the conclusion that one way to judge the success of a sewing project is to compare how easy it is to get decent photos of each garment - I always make far more weird faces and awkward-looking poses when I'm wearing things that I'm not entirely happy with, whereas with this one, while I'm definitely no supermodel, the main "problem" was not getting blinded by all the lovely evening sunshine - which isn't a problem I'll be complaining about any time soon because, after all, more sun equals more excuse for making pretty sundresses, yay!

Gabriola in Greece

As soon as Sewaholic released the Gabriola maxi skirt pattern, I knew I would have to sew myself one pretty quickly. I love maxi skirts, particularly if they're nice and swishy as the Gabriola definitely is, and I had a holiday coming up so wanted to get one finished ready to take away with me.

I spent last week in Greece consuming roughly my own body weight in feta and aubergines and twirling about in my lovely new skirt - I apologise for the pasty whiteness of my skin in these photos, my skin doesn't tan really, it's white or it burns so I figure it's best to stick with the whiteness.

Gabriola is a lovely pattern and was pretty straightforward to put together. It has some added interest thanks to the angled panels around the waist - they're completely lost in the print that I used (and are partly covered by my top - tucking this top in didn't look right), but I promise you that they are there and they definitely do a lot to give the skirt such a great shape. I may have to make another version at some point with contrast panels to make them stand out more.

The skirt flares out beautifully and swishes about really nicely when you walk, as I was trying (and probably failing!) to show in this picture.

I cut a straight size 12 and didn't need to make any alterations. As far as I'm concerned, a maxi skirt should definitely be a maxi (as long as it can be it without the risk of tripping up on it when you walk!), and this skirt definitely fits that bill. I'm on the taller side of average so I was a bit concerned that it might end up a bit short but it's a great length, but this might mean that some people would need to remove extra length when evening out the hem.

Speaking of which, getting the hem even was probably the most difficult bit about making this dress. All the lovely swishy-ness means there's a lot of hem, and the way my fabric flows about meant that each bit ended up looking different lengths every time I moved. I enlisted the help of my Mum and after some perseverance, and me standing on various items of furniture to give her a better view, we finally sorted it - thanks Mum!

The fabric I used is a really pretty floral print viscose from Fabric Rehab. I love the fact that there are quite a few colours in it so I'll be able to pair it with lots of different tops. It drapes really nicely, it was slightly slippy to work with but not too tricky. It feels lovely to wear as well and doesn't crease too much - these photos were taken at the end of being worn for a day and it still looks good I think.

As you can probably tell, I'm really happy with my Gabriola - now I just need to wait for the weather to warm up a bit here so that I can wear it again!