Copycat Plantain dress

Earlier this winter, I saw a lovely dress on Instagram and immediately fell in love.  It was a lengthened navy-blue jersey Plantain dress and the shape was perfect and easy.  

Fabric Mart had a sale a few days later and in the sale was a 4-yard pre-cut of this navy jersey, which was listed as cotton/rayon/lycra.  My striped Blackwood cardigan is also cotton/rayon/lycra from FabricMart, and I really liked the heft and hand of the fabric, plus it was in the exact shade I wanted, so I was sold.  The fabric didn't disappoint, and I was even more pleased with my purchase when the yardage came out of the wash with that unmistakeable wool smell.  I don't think it's a pure wool/lycra, but some percentage of the fabric definitely came from a sheep.  The dress took just under 2 yards, and I have about 2 yards left for another garment in the future.

I made up a Plantain from the same adjusted pattern as the purple Plantain tee I made last month.  I lengthened it 17", continuing the side seam angle all the way down.  I ended up cutting about 2.5" off before hemming it up another inch.  (I actually didn't realize that I had ended up with a dipped hem in the back until I saw these photos.  I might even it out, I might not.  Haven't decided yet!)

Following my frustration with the Plantain sleeves when I last made the pattern, I decided to use the size 16 Renfrew sleeve with 1/2" shaved off each side seam. The Renfrew has a symmetrical sleeve, but it generally fits me with the right amount of ease once I take in the side seams.  

I had assumed that the sleeve was just wider at the top, but I was curious, so I compared the two pattern pieces.  Apologies for the blurry iPhone photo, but it illustrates the differences well enough.   The Plantain sleeve, in white, is underneath the Renfrew sleeve, in pattern tissue.  

I walked the Renfrew sleeve cap along the Plantain sleeve cap, and they are almost exactly the same length.  But as you (probably can't) see, the Renfrew sleeve cap is about 1/2" taller than the Plantain sleeve cap.  I was also surprised to find that the Plantain sleeve is actually a bit wider than the Renfrew sleeve at the top of the arm (and more than it would seem, because this newest version of the Plantain only has a 3/8" seam allowance, while the Renfrew has a 5/8").  And yet the Plantain sleeve is much tighter on my biceps than the Renfrew sleeve.  So it turns out that the height of the sleeve cap has a good deal to do with fit at the bicep.  I feel like this is a pretty significant lightbulb moment for me, and am looking to the prospect of better-fitting sleeves in the future!

There is a bit of fabric bunching at the front armscye.  I think I could fix that by moving the center of the sleeve cap towards the front sleeve, the way you do when you adjust a sleeve for a forward shoulder (and this would take care of making the sleeve asymmetrical).  I may try that out next time I make a Plantain (which might be sooner than I thought, now that I have a better-fitting sleeve for it).  The folds on the lower 2/3 of the sleeve indicate that it's too big, but they really don't bother me - they pass the "would I notice this if it were on a RTW dress sleeve?" test just fine.

All in all, I think the dress was a great success and I am very excited to have it in my closet.  I'm looking forward to wearing it with clogs and bare legs in the not-too-distant future!

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

Mixed-print Sewaholic Renfrew

So, not only am I late to the Renfrew party, but it appears I actually had no idea what kind of party it was.  All the Renfrews I had seen on Flickr looked awesome and effortless, but I hadn't done much more research beyond that when I ordered the pattern a few months back.  After it arrived, I did a little Googling and learned that Sewaholic patterns designed for the pear-shaped (which I am not - at least, not as pear-shaped as the woman for which this pattern was designed).  I also found many, many bloggers who had to do multiple test-runs before getting the top to fit them properly.  I wasn't expecting this (because I am dumb) so the pattern sat around for awhile.

Renfrew, looking unspoilt for a brief few minutes before my kids wake up and
embellish it with their snot tears fingerprints love.

This week I finally cut into my Renfrew pattern.  The size chart would have me cut between a 14 and a 16 if I were going by bust size, but all my selfish sewing the last few months has taught me NOT to do that.  I am always happier with the fit through the shoulders if I use my high bust and then adjust the pattern pieces to make room for the girls below the armscye.

So, after reading a million and one blog posts about it, I decided to cut a 10 in the shoulders, widening to a 14 at the bottom of the armscye (to make extra room for the bust), then grading to a 12 at the waist.  (My measurements are 39.5-31.5-41.5).  My hip measurement coincides with the Sewaholic size 10, however, the finished measurement of the hem is less than the hip measurement for the same size.  I believe this is because the pattern is drafted to hit higher than the hip, but I felt like I could use a little extra room.  So I kept the size 12 all the way down.

The pattern calls for "stable knits."  I wasn't sure what that meant.  But I did have 1.5 yards of a French terry I had bought on a whim from fabric.com awhile back, and I thought it would make a cute cowl-necked top.  1.5 yards wasn't quite enough for view C, though, so I dug through the stash and found a striped mystery knit for one of the cowl pieces. Originally I had planned to hide it on the underside of the cowl, but on an impulse I decided to have it be the part of the cowl that shows.  The plaid print would have been a little much on the cowl too, I think.

(I should mention that I did not realize there was an errata until I'd already serged the two cowl wrong-sides together as instructed in the printed pattern.  I didn't feel like unpicking the overlock so I left it.  But actually, you can't really see the serged edge when I wear the top anyway.)

I ended up sewing the sides up with a 3/8" seam allowance instead of the prescribed 5/8" allowance; and I'm glad I did.  This French terry has almost no stretch so I needed a little more wiggle room.

Once I got the pattern traced, this sewed up FAST.  I was finished in the time it took my girls to watch two episodes of Sofia the First (on Youtube, no commercials in between).

Pattern matching?  Ha.  My official excuse is that I was working with limited fabric.

After some overnight consideration, I have concluded that I like the top.  It is comfy to wear and I like the pattern mix.  I think it could use just a hair more length.  I also think that a wider and lower neckline (and slightly longer/drapier cowl) would be a little more flattering on me. I want to try again, but my next attempt will be with a stretchier knit, so I know I will have to start from scratch on the sizing (and I really don't want to ... maybe I'll just make another Plantain and add a cowl to that!).

I should note that my husband, he of the silver tongue, proclaimed it "cute." Hopefully that means it will get more wear than my last Washi dress, which I put on the other day only to take off and change into something that looked less Amish.

Me Made May Week 2

Me Made May is halfway over, and I'm really enjoying it since I actually have enough me-mades to make it fun this year.  This year I wore quite a few things that I don't like that much.  I haven't made any decisions to let anything go, but I think that is coming.

Day 8: I wore my pull-on Ginger jeans and a RTW long tee.  I thought about forcing my two-items-a-day rule but I really just wanted to wear a longer shirt and I don't have any that I've made.  On this day, I made a mental note to sew a few longer tops.

Day 9: Same skinny Ginger jeans, a Plantain/Renfrew mash-up tee and a Blackwood cardigan.  This outfit is just "meh." I made the tee out of a remnant bin find that had been sitting in my stash, but it just doesn't really go with anything in my closet.

Day 10: I actually wore two outfits on this day because it was 50 degrees when I left the house and 70 in the afternoon.  This is the second outfit - my mustard linen/rayon Simplicity 1887 and a Kirsten Kimono Tee.

Day 11 was a rainy, rainy day during which we had an outdoor field trip.  I started the day off wearing some Ginger jeans but they got soaked so I changed into RTW jeans.  The top is a Sewaholic Renfrew that I don't wear that much because I forgot to stabilize the shoulder seams, and they stretch out.  I think sewing some elastic to the seam allowance would fix it, but I haven't done it yet.

Day 12: It was overcast and chilly.  I was looking for another cowl-neck Renfrew that I made last fall, but which seems to have been lost in the move.  As I couldn't find it, I wore this Traveler shirt hack with my skinny Gingers.  Though this top fits well and is comfortable, I don't wear it often.  The print was one of those "love it to look at but not to wear" purchases.

Day 13: I wore my newest ponte pencil skirt along with a hacked Kirsten Kimono tee that I made for my 20-year high school reunion and never blogged.  The shoulders aren't stabilized on this one either, mostly because I wasn't sure how to do it since the shoulder and sleeve are one long seam.  The neckline stretches out with wear and shows my bra strap, so although I love how the top looks when I put it on, I never wear it for an entire day.  I wonder whether sewing clear elastic to the shoulder seam for five or six inches would do the trick?

Day 14: I let N pick out my outfit today (I gave her two choices).  She chose my new Kirsten Kimono t-shirt dress (not yet blogged) and my striped Blackwood cardigan.  I got a lot of compliments on the dress today, which is kind of funny because without the cardigan and belt it is totally a sack.  But the color is nice.

May is really a great month to do this challenge because of how variable the weather is.  With the cold snap this week, I realized I had lost one of my go-to cool-weather tops.  I also was longing for some more button-downs, so I bought the Itch to Stitch Bonn Shirt pattern and sewed one up (post coming soon).  I'd like to sew up two or three more long-sleeved knit tops and two or three more long-sleeved button-downs for next fall/winter.

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Me-Made-May Roundup #2

Selfie fatigue is a real thing.  Never having participated in Me-Made-May, I didn't really understand what people meant when they said they had it.  But I already do.  It probably has partly to do with the fact that I really just wear the same clothes over and over again all the time - they are constantly being smeared with snot and mud so there's no point in subjecting lots of different garments to that sort of treatment.  That's my life these days.  So my photos are pretty monotonous.

And it's been rainy for 95% of May so far.  But I'm still truckin' on Me-Made-May in general.  I had pledged to wear me-made four times a week, but I've only missed four days so far.  

May 9: I wore my Made By Rae Josephine blouse with my Lisbon cardigan.  I love this blouse but the elastic is just a teeny bit too tight around my arms.  If I fixed that, I'd wear it a lot more often. 

May 10: Still rainy and dreary - I wore a Plantain tee and my trusty Lisbon cardigan.

May 11: Finished up the day in a pair of me-made cozy thermal knit pj bottoms and ... what else ... my Lisbon cardigan over a RTW tank top.

May 13: Slightly warmer, with a hope of sun which sadly went unfulfilled.  I wore a my rayon Plantain/Renfrew mash up tee with a ponte knit pencil skirt.

May 14: A rayon jersey Kirsten Kimono tee with my new rayon challis Dyyni Skirt. It wasn't really warm enough for this outfit so I ended up changing later into jeans and guess which cardigan?

May 15: The McCall's 3341 with a thrifted cardigan and RTW tee that I've had for about 10 years.  This day I was also a little under-dressed for the weather, but I'm not going back to tights and boots until fall!

May 16: Once again, I wore thrifted jeans with a me-made tee and my trusty Lisbon cardigan.  At this point I stopped Instagramming the photos because they are so repetitive!

May 17: Another cold and rainy day.  I wore my long-sleeved Renfrew tee and the Lisbon cardigan.  I did actually start sewing a second cardigan today but it is lacy and more of a evening-out kind of cardigan than a cozy ward-off-the-unseasonable-chill cardi.

May 19: Rayon Plantain/Renfrew mash-up again with my first Colette Mabel.

May 20: A brand-new Kirsten Kimono tee in a beautiful thick and drapey knit, worn with a rtw maxi skirt.  By the end of the day it was stained in three places.  This is why I usually do not buy white fabric.

May 21: The same thing I wore on May 4: my navy and white striped Plantain and a denim quarter-circle skirt.

Renfrew x 2

It's fall and I am missing my plaid French terry Renfrew!  It is in my closet, but way too small.  So I decided to make a replacement.

After consulting the finished measurements, I decided to make a straight size 16, knowing full well that the shoulders would be a bit big.  It was late and I did not feel like futzing with flat pattern adjustments.  I think it actually turned out pretty well - the oversized look of the slightly wide shoulders is casual and sweat-shirt-y.  It is very cozy for a cold fall day.

The fabric is a nice thick houndstooth-print jersey at the thrift store a few months back.  I am not sure what the content is - it has great recovery, so there is definitely a good amount of lycra in there.  I think it is probably a cotton/poly blend.  The cowl is Laguna jersey.  

We took a bunch of outside photos, but the top one is the only one that did not make me look ridiculously top-heavy.  I have to figure out where to stand in relation to my husband (or daughter) to get the best angle.  The mirror shots are much better.

After that Renfrew, I decided to make a scoop neck.  This time I used a 12 shoulder, widening to a 16 at the bottom of the armscye.  I ended up taking in quite a bit at the seams from the waist all the way up through the arms.  I used a cotton/lycra knit with good (or so I thought) recovery, but it still fit much wider than the cowl version.

I also noticed while sewing this one, that there was definitely a problem with excess fabric at the sides of my chest.  I did not notice it as much with the cowl version, but it's really noticeable in the top photo in this blog post.    After some Googling, I found that I was not the only one with this problem.  The armscye is too high.  I'd like to scoop it out, but then I will have to alter the sleeve too. Instead I think I will just try a Plantain for my next knit top.

After making the top, it occurred to me that perhaps the print was a bit too loud (I had actually bought it with a summer skirt in mind), but I wore it last Sunday and got a bunch of compliments!  I was really surprised.  It's funny how a compliment can make you think about an item of clothing differently.  

My six-year-old took the outside photos.  I didn't realize she had me lined up right in front of the very attractive composter.  After she was done, she requested that I photograph her.

Me-Made-May - second half

Starting from the top, left to right:

Day 16: A Sewaholic Renfrew shirt and a new pair of Ginger Jeans (now all finished, to be blogged).

Day 17: A Bonn shirt and denim Tillery Skirt.

Day 18: A Josephine top and Chi-Town Chinos.  I love this outfit but it needs work.  I need to loosen the elastic in the sleeve hems of the top, and just make a new pair of the chinos, since these are too tight in the thighs and bag out to the point of falling down within a couple hours' wear.
Day 19: A Plantain tee with a brand-new cropped Blackwood Cardigan and my first pair of Ginger Jeans.

V-neck Renfrews

V-necks used to be my t-shirt of choice.  In college I had a heather gray one with the most perfectly-shaped neckline.  I wore it twice a week for several years before it got lost in the laundry room.  After that, I searched to no avail to find another v-neck that fit me as well.  Once I began sewing, it had been so long since I'd worn a v-neck, that it never occurred to me to try to sew one.  But recently I was inspired by a great striped v-neck tee sewn by Inder.  I remembered that my Sewaholic Renfrew pattern had a v-neck view, so I got to tracing.

As for my most recent long-sleeved Renfrews, I cut a size 10 shoulder graded to a 16 and did a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment.  I shaved 1/2" off the outer shoulder and 1/2" off the side seam at the top to deal with some excess fabric I always seem to have in the armpit, and I lengthened the top and the sleeve because I didn't want to use bands.

I couldn't be more thrilled with the results.  While it took me a little while to puzzle out how to sew the neckband, once I figured it out, it was pretty easy.  I normally construct knits entirely on my serger, but I found that in order to get a nice, sharp mitered point to my v, I needed to stitch about 1.5" on either side of the v's point using my sewing machine.  After that, I serged starting at the point, going around the neckline and ending by serging over the point again.  Then I wove in my serger tail and, voila, perfect v-neck!

I think the shape and depth of the v on this pattern is perfect.  I decided that I wanted a wider band on the white tee, more like my husband's undershirts, so I sewed the band on with a smaller seam allowance.

Since the long sleeve on the Renfrew has too much ease for me, I didn't bother with a full bicep adjustment.  Turns out I should have, though, as the sleeve on my first iteration were way too tight.  I tried a 1/2" adjustment on the small stripe Renfrew, but it wasn't enough (and the whole shirt turned out too tight for some reason). So for the white one, I did a 1" adjustment and then sewed it and the sides together with a 3/8" seam allowance, and it was perfect.

All the fabrics are stash from Fabric Mart.  The navy and white fabrics were listed as cotton/lycra jersey, but the navy one feels like it also has some poly in it, and the white definitely has some rayon.  The small stripe is a rayon/lycra.  I'm pretty psyched about the stripe placement on the neckline of that one.

It's nice to have some v-neck tees back in my closet.  I only completed them a few weeks ago but they've all already been worn multiple times.  Thanks for reading and see you next time!

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Renfrew, take two

Despite all my grumbling about having to re-fit the Renfrew, I cut a second one immediately after finishing the first.  I used an unrelentingly drapey knit purchased long ago when Joann's was having a 50% off Red Tag fabrics (on another note - that Red Tag section is so deceiving - I have never actually found the bargain basement pricing as I would expect there).  I think it is this knit from their web site.  I had some buyers' remorse after I bought it - I had purchased three yards thinking I'd make a wrap dress, but then decided I wouldn't wear such a spangly dress.  As it turns out, though, it's kind of a perfect fabric for a cowl-necked top.  And it's not as spangly, made up into a garment, as it appeared as a cut of yardage.

I decided that the stretchiness of the knit would require me to cut a smaller size.  After much hemming and hawing (and really no mathematical or scientific reasoning), I settled on an 8 through the shoulders stretching to a 12 in the bust and a 10 in the waist on down.  I also added an inch of length to the main body and cut the neckline 1/2" lower.  Again I sewed the sides with a 3/8" seam.   The 8 shoulder works well but I should have kept the 14 in the bust.  Finally, I did a forward-shoulder adjustment.  I have noticed particularly on my recent woven tops that I have to keep shrugging them forward. After some Googling I found that there is a relatively common and simple fix for this.  It's less necessary for me in knit tops, but I still think it made this top fit better than the last one.  I'll blog about it in more detail the next time I make a woven top.

It's funny how I never notice drag lines in my RTW garments, but they are all I see when I scrutinize my sewing.  I totally would have bought this top for $19.99 at Marshalls.

The above pic is a little washed out due to flash, but you can kind of see the spangle in the fabric.  From far away it just reads gray, though.

I think the cowl looks better on this one than on my last one, but that probably has mostly to do with the drapiness of the fabric - it's like a Slinky in that it just pours over itself.  I'll keep the lower neckline for my next Renfrew, though.  Maybe even lower it a tad bit more.

Me-Made May Week 3

Only 10 days left of Me-Made May! I've had such fun with this challenge this year.  I did not make any pledge to avoid repeating items; only to avoid repeating outfits.  Even so, I've tried not to repeat items too often.  This forced me to reach for less-worn things in my closet and is helping me evaluate my wardrobe.  Happily, there isn't much that I'm planning to part with!

Day 15: I wore my red linen/rayon Simplicity 1887 skirt again.  I really love this skirt (and its yellow sister), and am considering making a third one out of some teal linen I bought last year with this pattern in mind.  How many is too many?  I paired it with my new linen Bonn shirt, which I also really love.  And I wore the shirt tucked in the whole day.  I'm usually not a tucker, because I always feel like I am having to adjust the tuck and it feels too high-maintenance.  But this shirt is long enough for a fuss-free tuck and I very much like how it looks with the skirt.

Day 16: I wore a new v-neck Renfrew tee (blog post coming soon) with my green bamboo Lisbon cardigan and my denim Alberta Street skirt.  I usually wear this skirt a lot (like two or three times a week) even though it's not the most flattering one I own.   It's relatively high-waisted so it sucks me in and I feel secure in it, if that makes any sense.  I am still meaning to raise the hem a touch and maybe peg the side seams a bit.  The cardigan is getting pilly, but I have enough of this fabric left to remake it, so I might do that at some point too.

Day 17: I wore one of my Kirsten Kimono tees and my McCalls 3341 skirt.  Sadly, I think I am going to have to retire both of these.  Both items are kind of stretched out and I felt really frumpy wearing this to our homeschool enrichment program.  The fabric on the top was listed as a cotton/lycra jersey but it seems to have no lycra in it at all and is starting to bag out beyond repair.  The skirt has also stretched out considerably around the waist.  I washed and dried it in the dryer after wearing it to see if it would shrink up a bit, but it doesn't seem to have helped much.  I do have another cut of animal-print stretch twill in my stash that will make a good replacement skirt.  But I'll need to buy fabric for a new black t-shirt.

Day 18: I wore my rayon/lycra Kirsten Kimono dress.  I actually don't wear this all that often because I had got it into my head that the elastic around the middle was uncomfortable.  I wore it the whole day, though, and it really wasn't.  I feel like I should make another one of these. 

Day 19: It got really hot!  I pulled out one of my pairs of linen/rayon Simplicity 1887 shorts and a brand new v-neck Renfrew.  I felt quite a bit more casual than I normally dress, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  These shorts, and the others I made last summer, are very comfortable but the pleats aren't the most flattering thing around.  I think I might want to try to make a pair of elastic-waist flat-front shorts; maybe the Parkside Shorts?  I am not sure.  

Day 20: It cooled off.  We had brunch at a friend's house and I wore my new seersucker Bonn shirt (blog post coming soon) and my pull-on Gingers, rolled up.  Then Niko got sick in the afternoon and threw up all over me.  I changed into a new me-made outfit - a skirt, new t-shirt and cardigan - and proceeded to splatter chicken grease on the brand-new tee.  I should have worn an apron.

Day 21:  Niko was still sick so I took the other three kids to church by myself.  It was only in the 60s today.  I wore my new Alberta Street Pencil Skirt, my white v-neck Renfrew tee, and my green Lisbon cardigan again.

I think the most valuable part of Me-Made May so far has been the pressure to not repeat an outfit.  I definitely am guilty of wearing the same easy things over and over again, and I don't really need to do that anymore, because I have a pretty sizeable and varied wardrobe now, almost all of which is me-made.  Aside from that one long-sleeved tee from two weeks ago, I haven't even considered reaching for any of the remaining RTW items in my closet.  I like the stuff I have made better, mostly because it fits properly.  And that is really satisfying.

Thanks for reading!