wrapped up in dotz

The days get warmer and my hems get longer. Bye tights, bye thighs. Hello, inner schoolmarm. It's for the best, really. And we all know how brutal the office A/C can be. What's the deal with that, man.

I decided I needed some more office-appropriate garments to incorporate into my springy wardrobe. I have exhausted my two Beignet skirts and other winter-weights, so I'm starting to feel that "what-the-haaiiiil-do-I-wear" anxiety every morning now. Jersey wrap dress time was nigh. I sit on my bum at a computer all day (doing valiant non-profit work and saving lives, of course), so I welcome the opportunity to look "professional"-ish while feeling like I'm in a fancy bathrobe.

The pattern is probably the second pattern I purchased after deciding to start sewing again in 2011. It's Butterick 5546, one of those easy "See & Sew" patterns that sits on display on the back wall of JoAnn's -- I guess to try to lure in the nonchalant passersby. I did make this pattern when I first bought it, also in a jersey, pre-blog, pre-serger, pre-knowledge of ANYTHING, and I accidentally reversed the direction of the wrap and have snapped a bunch of the stitches because my zig zag tension was way too tight. Anyway, here's Round Deux. All I did this time was lengthen it three inches. Gee, I realize I haven't made a new pattern in awhile -- I'm on total repeat mode these days. 

My hair is covering the detail at the shoulders, so here's a shot of my mannequin's cleavage -- I mean, the dress' pleats:

One of the ties slips through the dress side seam from the inside to be wrapped around the waist:

The jersey fabric is perfect in every way: richly-hued (more maroon than the orangey-ness in the detail shots), whimsical, springy and drapey. It was sent to me as a thank you from Amy Alan for reviewing her Craftsy class (oh, did you forget? You can STILL get 50% off her Beginner Serging class through this link here). It's like she knew that maroon was one of the three serger thread colors I already owned. Brilliant much? And because of her class, I knew how to overlock this fabric perfectly. Well, uh, as perfect as I am patient.

On the selvedge of the fabric it says "Matchmaster Prints by Antex of California Pattern." I googled Antex of California and it seems like it's a knitting mill that's actually in California. I just hope upon hope that that means this fabric was actually milled in the USA, though I guess it's possible it was just printed here? Amy said she bought the fabric at Mill End in Portland, which used to be a fabric mill in the early 20th century. If my assumptions about this fabric are correct, it would mean that my dress was resourced and made (almost) ENTIRELY in the United States, which would make me unbelievably chuffed... and mean I was one step closer to completing one of my sewing goals for 2013. Talk about cheap labor, though. No one paid me squat.

I had planned to talk more about my coverstitch machine in this post since I used it to hem all angles of this entire dress, but I still feel like I need to be more prepared to give a proper overview of the machine's functionality. To the one person who cares (Lisa G), I swear I'm working on it!

Speaking of goals for 2013, I had also hoped to participate in Me-Made-May for the first time. And sure enough, I'm feeling ready! So I officially pledge...

I, Andrea of foursquarewalls, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavor to wear at least one handmade garment each day for the duration of May 2013.

Who's with me?! OK, better get sewing.

blue. minoru. v2.

Minoru Jacket v1 and I were two peas in a pod. We went everywhere together and saw all the sights. We held each other close when the weather turned bitter. Many people IRL commented on Minoru v1, always impressed by how well we complemented each other. Minoru v1 saw me through my long-distance-relationship and a job change and a significant out-of-state move. It was my first handmade jacket, my first creation of substance with a clean finish and flattering fit, and probably the project that started regularly bringing traffic to my blog and turning visitors into followers.

Then, one gray day in October 2012, on my way home from the Philly airport after a weekend away, Minoru v1 escaped from my loving grasp and took a tumble off the train platform into oblivion. Or something. All I know is that I had it on the train but then it didn't make it home with me. And that was that.

Of course, I exaggerate for the sake of storytelling. Minoru v1 was a decent jacket, sure, but it's not like I slaved over tailoring techniques for months or anything. I knew I could remake a Minoru in a matter of days with inexpensive materials and it would be all good. And it IS good. I like my new jacket. I still wonder, though, where did that other little guy end up?

Anyway, you may have noticed I modified the pattern a bit this time around. I was a little TOO inspired by Mika's most recent version, and when I'm TOO inspired I just downright copy ya. I liked her diagonal welt pockets in the front, and I liked the way she attached the hood to the collar piece, and I liked how her elastic waist didn't wrap all the way around the jacket, and I liked that she changed the cuffs to non-elastic. So, you know, I just did it all. I even e-mailed her asking about the shape of her pocket bags at the welt (thanks, Mika!), so I think she could already tell that I was a big fat Minoru plagiarizer. And now I have proof.

These are my first single welt pockets evar. I followed Poppykettle's tutorial for them, which I certainly recommend. However, I first sewed mine on right-side-to-wrong-side of the jacket, which I didn't notice until AFTER I had sliced them down the middle. After some Instagram sobbing (what, you don't turn to your tiny friends living in your phone at a moment of crisis?), fray check dabbing, stitch unpicking, and deep breathing, I got em all squared away. The pocket bags are kind of small but I can ball up my fists in them, fit an iPhone, my usual million tissues. I'm a snot-nosed child, if you didn't know.

The jacket shell is made from some lightweight wool suiting from Jomar in Philly. Last month this fabric was actually halfway to becoming a Colette Anise Jacket. I made four bound buttonholes and everything, guys. I decided I didn't like the Anise, though (seems to be the theme with my Colette patterns lately), and so I switched plans to Minoruville. Off topic, but does anyone know how to pronounce Minoru for real? Min-o-roo? Min-ORR-oo?

The wool is loosely woven so I fused some ProWeft Supreme Medium Interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply to the entire shell. This interfacing is like a baby blanket; it's wonderful to the touch. It really doesn't like staying fused to my fabric, though, so there's constant bubbling at the zipper placket. I wonder if it's too heavy for my fabric?

The lining is vintage cotton in a blue paisley print that my sweet boyf got me from Etsy for my birthday. The print is not my usual style for a blouse or dress, but I thought it would work well here with the navy jacket. I only used it on the front and back lining pieces. The sleeve lining is bemberg rayon so the jacket is easier to slide on and off over long sleeves.

I'm still not crazy about the elastic in the back, but the jacket had to have some kind of waist definition or I was going to look back-pregnant. I tried copying Mika's idea here, too, with the tab and buttons. I couldn't sew a decent looking oval-shaped tab for the life of me, though.

I used the same hood pattern piece as is, improvising ways to attach a lining and connect it to the collar. It's wonky on the inside (long story) but looks fine on the outside... except the hood is HUGE. I guess most people who've made the hooded version of the Minoru already know that. It tends to fall in my eyes as I walk, but I actually prefer that to it falling off the back of my head entirely. Who needs vision while walking through city streets?

I could be done now, but what blog post of mine is complete without a new Archer shirt to show you? 

This is my second of three Archers so far (first here and third here): an orange linen version that I wear obnoxiously often. I made a couple changes, like lengthening it, curving the side hem some more to make room for my hips, doing a tiny swayback adjustment, and facing the yoke with a cotton print because of fabric limitations.

I only had enough fabric to make half-sleeves, so there are no cuffs. I used French seams on the side and underarm seams because I wasn't about to buy orange serger thread and I knew I would want to roll up the sleeves and expose the seam. P.S. I'm still pretty chuffed that I know what French seams are but Richard from freakin' Project Runway didn't. Home sewers: 1. Fashion designer wannabe reality show divas: 0.

So, I like my Minoru a lot, but since I finished it, the weather went from winter coat temperatures to sundress temperatures within a matter of like four days. This is supposed to be a spring jacket -- wtf earth? Climate change is bad news for the polar bears as well as the slow seamstresses. How can I plan my spring wardrobe if suddenly spring just doesn't exist in the northeastern USA?  Bah.

How's your spring sewing going?

s.o.s. challenge reveal

· · · – – – · · · Dit-dit-dit  dah-dah-dah  dit-dit-dit

That's morse code for SOS, did you know? I'm not in distress, though. In fact I'm pretty pleased with my new handmade outfit.

If you remember from a few weeks back, fellow blogger Trisha and I announced our little "Stashbusting our Sister (SOS) Fabric Challenge," for which we simultaneously made something with this Girl Charlee nautical-flag-stripe ponte knit we each had in our respective fabric stashes. And today is the big reveal -- to the blog world and to each other. 

And we actually had someone else jump aboard! After I posted about the challenge, Beth from 110 Creations commented that she had the same fabric in her stash as well. She had only less than a yard, so I'm really curious to see what she was able to make.

So here's my knit pencil skirt number. Now, this challenge did not begin with pencil skirt intentions. Pencil skirts are NEVER my intention. I'm a self-conscious pear, you see. I made one pencil skirt last year (see here), but the zipper broke after two wears and I was never inspired to fix it. 

I was impossibly stumped about what to make with this fabric. It's just so graphic. After scouring the Internet for ages, I somehow settled on the idea that I'd make it into a Colette Crepe dress. It seemed like other sewists had success with using a busy print for that pattern. So I bought the PDF, went through the laborious process of taping & tracing & cutting those 83 pages, nearly finished the dress, then decided I hated it. With four darts in the bodice, AND the cross-over back, these diagonal stripes just looked chaotic. And the Crepe sleeve facings do not handle drapey ponte knit very well. Those suckers would not stay put.

With my fabric already cut, I didn't have many options at that point. So I decided that this "challenge" was the perfect opportunity to make something a little out of my comfort zone. Ditch the swingy skirt, I told myself. Make a STRAIGHT skirt. Use less fabric than usual. Embrace dem hips. Go wild!

For the waistband, I followed Kadiddlehopper's tutorial for a knit pencil skirt. It feels slightly unfinished because the elastic is just turned down inside and tacked in place at the side seams, but it does stay put during wear, is sleek to wear under tighter shirts, and feels more stable than a simple fabric band.

I maybe should have gone a different hemming route because the coverstitch is pretty athletic-looking. Oh boi... I just realized I haven't admitted to you all yet that I broke down and bought a coverstitch machine for myself for my birthday (...two months ago). Don't judge. Proper post will come eventually. It definitely deserves accolades, though my bank account is still feeling a bit wounded.

Since I'm new to the striped-pencil-skirt world, I had to consult Pinterest and "think like a fashion blogger" in order to figure out how to style this skirt. What would Kendi do (WWKD)?

Kendi would tuck the front of a button-down shirt into her striped pencil skirt and pair it with heels (Kendi's post here). Okay, Andrea, let's do this. So the same day I finished the skirt, I immediately made an Archer shirt. This is my third Archer! Diggin' it.

The classic-ness of this shirt helps to tone down the bold skirt fabric, methinks. I cut this Archer to be more fitted with the intention of wearing it to work with many other skirts. I made it from a bedsheet, actually, and it's unfortunately super wrinkle-prone despite the poly I know is in there.

I'm still not entirely sure where I'd wear an outfit like this but hopefully I can figure out something. If Kendi can find a place for it in her life, so should I, yes? Though in order to be fashion blogger-status, I need the full ensemble, sunglasses and smug modelly look included:

Boom. Nailed it. Though maybe I still need a sunset-drenched suburban tree-lined street as my background setting. Sorry, until I get a DSLR and a photographer husband and loads of daytime free time, you're gonna have to deal with my cracked and stained sewing room closet corner.

Be sure to check out what Trisha and Beth did with their SOS fabric! And if you're digging the fabric, it looks like Girl Charlee brought back a similar print, but in rayon spandex instead of ponte de roma (here). Until next time...

army green

I've been double-dipping into my patterns lately. Right after I finished my black Burda pleated skirt, I cut into and finished a second version. I also just made another Archer shirt but we'll save that for another day, maybe. I've been self-conscious with my blogging lately; afraid of posting something uninteresting or repetitive, I don't post anything at all. Then I eventually feel guilty about my silence and post the stuff anyway. So here I am, with photos I took three weeks ago. Ah! 

Just call me Vampira, with sun-deprived skin that matches her glowing white walls. Save my cold soul, spring.

No settings on my camera or positioning of natural light would capture the true green-ness of this skirt. It looks dull brown in all these photos, but it's much more obviously green IRL. Unfortunately that means I don't really have that many tops to wear with it. And I'm not the type to make a camouflage blouse. Don't act shocked now.

I originally bought this fabric, which is a brushed twill, to make some skinny Thurlow pants, but the fitting process went terribly wrong. Since I had enough fabric leftover, I thought I might as well copy this skirt by Sewing Tidbits that I pinned forever ago, which is made from a different yet oh-so-similar Burda pattern:

I even copied her boot styling! Her skirt has an elastic waist in the back, but I decided to keep the original design of my own version, though I did omit the faux welt pocket things. I instead added faux flap pocket things on the front of the skirt. I'm no foe of the faux, you hear. I only had two of these gold buttons, otherwise I would have added them to the waistband closure as well.

The waistband and pockets are faced with leftover paisley fabric I used to make my mom a top. (Sorry, Mom, I promise I'll mail it soon...). It's a lightweight floaty cotton so probably not ideal for a waistband facing because it's not very structured. But I like how it complements the more masculine twilliness of the shell fabric.

Et voila. Another skirt on the ole sewing resume. Never too many, right?

Have you ever made a pattern twice in a row?

s.o.s. challenge ahoy

Of all the fabric in the online world that I could drop into my virtual shopping cart, what are the chances that I could end up with the exact fabric as one of my familiar sewing bloggers? Is it possible that someone else has as good taste as I do? Apparently yes. I was scrolling through my blog reader earlier this year, and saw a post by Made by Trisha in which she announced her "stashbusting pledge" for 2013. Because she is a good blogger, she also posted a photo of the bust-worthy stash -- for accounting or accountability purposes, I assume. Wait, ooh, something familiar! 

(Trisha's stash)

I spy some fabric in your stash that's also in mine, I commented. Well, besides that gray jersey with the black birds. I DO know everyone already owns that (my attempt at it found here). But that blue and white piece -- is it the blue nautical flag stripe knit from Girl Charlee? Yessiree. This made Trisha's brilliant brain wheels crank. We simply can't pass up this opportunity -- we both own this sister fabric, birthed from the same fabric yardage womb in the same little fabric shop. But if we can't reunite them in person, let's reunite them in spirit! (Let me be clear: this is my dramatized reenactment of our first e-mail exchange, not an actual transcription.)

Introducing our S.O.S (Stashbusting Our Sister fabric) Challenge. Everything collaborative you do in the blogosphere needs a catchy title or else it crumbles away in memory and search boxes. Trisha and I have committed to using our same fabric to make a secret item, then we plan to reveal it to each other and the world on April 2nd. I can't wait to see what she makes with it! We may have similar taste in fabrics, but where will our respective creative processes lead us when it comes to choosing (or drafting...?) a pattern for it? Since our fabric was separated at birth, how similar will their personalities be after all this time?!

The fabric is cute, yes, but the design lines and large scale stripes have given me pause. It's languished in my stash for this long (almost a year) because I don't know what to do with it! It's a ponte knit, so slightly heavier weight than other cotton jerseys I've bought from Girl Charlee. I love it dearly but am afraid of making a bad style choice for it. Of course I did my Pinterest research:

Consensus seems to be a figure-hugging dress with simple lines. Naturally I'm more drawn to the Ruche dress (far left) that actually has a waist seam and some ease through the hips. But my fabric may be too thick to imitate that drapier style.

What do you think? What would YOU do with this fabric? Wait, do you already own this fabric? Hop on over to Trisha's blog to see her announcement of the S.O.S. challenge, and watch our spaces in April for the final products!

archer: all buttoned-up

Wuzzat? A black button-up shirt. How... classic. Seems to be my theme as of late. Beige wool skirt, black linen skirt, gray knitted scarf, and now a black button up shirt. AND I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH.

I recognize this is not my typical silhouette. Yeah, where's the pleated A-line skirt, tucked in top, and cardigan?! Oh there's plenty more where that came from. Today I'm going a little 80s and showing you my Archer shirt, a new release by Grainline Studio, which is a loose-fitting boyfriend-style button-up shirt. There's an option for a gathered back panel on one of the views, but I just wanted this one since I own so few basic blouses.

I really admire Jen, the designer behind Hound and the patternmaker behind Grainline Studios, so I'm glad I was finally able to make up one of her patterns. Last week I actually downloaded a McCalls blouse pattern that was somewhat similar to this, but when Grainline released the Archer a few days later, I decided I wanted to support Jen's business instead. And it meant all my notches and seams actually lined up during construction - how novel!

The only change I made to mine was add 3 inches to the length. The fabric was a Jomar find, so the content is the usual mystery. It's loosely woven but medium-weight, oddly, and is pretty drapey so I'm guessing there's some rayon in there? 

I made a straight size 4 -- though I should have made a little extra room for my hips. I reckon the shirt is supposed to hang straight down your body, not puddle over the derriere. Because it's a loose fit shirt, it seems the shoulders are supposed to hang off a little, and the sleeves are supposed to be a little long and baggy-ish. That's how it looked when I saw Jen wearing her own versions on Instagram anyway, so I was happy that it fit me similarly in the arms without any alterations.

I've probably made five collared button-up shirts by now (the majority of which were actual boyfriend shirts...for my boyfriend), so I'm fairly used to the construction techniques. I'm honestly not sure that if I were a complete newbie to shirtmaking, would I have been able to tackle the Grainline instructions alone without some head-scratching. All the text is clear and comprehensive, but there aren't illustrations for every baby step and sometimes I wished I could "see" more. The cuff placket instructions were kinda confusing to read ahead of time, but once I was actually proceeding with it, it all made sense and came together okay. 

The angled cuffs on View A are purty cute, huh. I think the buttonhole is actually supposed to be horizontal on the cuff, but it wasn't clear. Hey, it still functions!

The Archer's sleeves are inserted more easily by using the flat method, as is typical for men's shirts, and has a clever under-collar piece that is cut on the bias and smaller than the upper collar so allows the seam to naturally roll under. As with all my recent collars, I used Pam's tutorial to get a sharp collar point. It's not foolproof, but for me it yields much better results than poking at the damn thing with a knitting needle or whatever.

Are you allowed to hem blouses with single-fold bias tape, or is that just for skirts and such? Well, I did it. Sooooo sue me. I knew this fabric would be too bulky to fold under twice at the button placket, and I wanted to sacrifice as little length as possible, so I chose to do it this way. With RED bias tape to break the rules even further. Go on, girl.

I'm very pleased with my Archer, and I'm excited to make it again with more interesting colors and prints. Now I guess I need to make more fitted mini skirts to wear with it. Oh, like the Moss miniskirt? Now I see what Grainline's trying to do here... it's her evil business plan to make us all dress awesome all the time.

What's your favorite Grainline pattern to date? Planning on making this one? Joining the Archer sew-along?