McCalls 5974 - Best Pattern 2010

McCalls 5974 was voted Best Pattern for 2010 on Patternreview.com. For very good reason... it is a fabulous pattern, easy to make and very flattering to wear. I am not sure if I will review this - see these reviews if you want to read more on the sewing of this pattern. Not that there is too much you need to know... pretty much make it (wait for the weather to warm up enough) and then wear it! ... and feel great in it!






I made this as part of my quest to make all top 10 patterns... I think I may only have 4 left to get to that goal!

Another photo opportunity

DS the elder is still home this week, so I grabbed the chance to get some photos taken of my outfit yesterday. These are taken at the end of the work day so please excuse that end-of-the-day-look!

Two new items in these photos. The top - my second version of Burdastyle 09-2010-121 (Turtleneck top). This one is made from a 70% bamboo and 30% hemp jersey. It behaves very differently to the last top in a poly jersey. It is looser, the sleeves hang further over your hands (because it's looser), however I still like it and I feel it looks a little funkier (and it certainly gets a little funkier around the sleeve edges by the end of the day of having sleeve ends in everything!)

The second item is the pants - Burdastyle 04-2011-117. Shannon from Mushywear is the only other review I have seen of these pants. I made mine from an inexpensive stretch woven purchased from Gardams a few years back. The fabric seems perfect for these pants but I am yet to find an equivalent of RTW pants fabric that has that little extra beefiness, however I was told this fabric would work for pants. Even though I don't think the weight is quite heavy enough I love this fabric - super-comfortable but did not stretch out too much on wearing. I made no changes to the pattern as this is my 'trial' version. If you have very long legs you may want to lengthen the leg length. Other than that I am very happy - comfortable, easy to wear and (hopefully) smart pants. This is a different style leg to what I usually wear but I do like them.

This pic is as I wore it with my Vogue jacket and spotty scarf (bought in Estonia of all places!).


Without the jacket...


From the back...

This is a waistband shot to show you the Petersham ribbon waist. I only had black or white Petersham and I didn't want them to show through clothing, so I tea-dyed the white so it wasn't so glaringly white (it sort of went a pink-skintone colour). It is also high-waisted - good for wearing under clothes (no tummy-peek) but if you can't handle high waisted pants it may not be the pattern for you.


My invisible side zip. Is it invisible enough or did I not quite get it??

The instructions tell you to leave the ends of the zip long at the top and tuck them into the waistband. It looks tidy enough but when you do the zip up it 'locks' into the end where they turn and it is very hard to get it started to undo... not good when you are in a hurry... I will try and fix that by making a faux stop at the ends by stitching over them. The next pair I make I will leave the zip stop at the top of the waistband and fold over only the very ends of the zip (hope that makes sense).

My review is here .  However I can say I like these pants enough to make them again and actually have another pair cut in a wool-lycra tweed (needed for this cold weather!)

I plan to wear my McCalls 5974 dress this Saturday night (office dinner) so will take the opportunity to get another round of photos ... I am on a roll...

Burdastyle 09-2010-121... the turtleneck top.

OK - two posts in two days after a month with none, but I take my opportunities to get photos when I can.

I wore my Burdastyle 09-2010-121 Turtleneck top today to work and when I got home DS the elder took these shots for me.


The fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics and is lovely to wear. The print is a little strong for me but I was determined to get use out of this top as the colours are great I think.

The sleeves are long, but if you don't like that style, it is easily changed. However I think it helps with the keeping warm thing as well as being cute.

The collar is a comfortable height (even on my short neck) and the one thing you must know about this top if you make it, is to use Summerset's tip on sewing the collar - posted here.


This is how I wore it today - lots of brown and a little red. Does it work??

If you follow Summerset's tip (above) and perhaps lower the sleeve cap by 1 cm and sew the sleeves in flat, you have the easiest-ever top to make and a great wardrobe filler.

Here is version number 2 in a bamboo/hemp blend...

Ciao for now....

Sewing room ...woo-hoo!

Well, the renovations are not over yet but we have had a lull where we have been able to move into some of the new spaces. DH & I are installed in our new bedroom, which means the old bedroom is now known as my Sewing Studio (or Sanity Studio). It is a work in progress, but this is it as it stands so far....


The room needs painting desperately but for now it is clean and I am moved in - Woo-hoo!

My sewing spirit has had a huge resurgence and I am having trouble controlling myself to not start too many projects at once. Now I have my clothes installed in a new spacious wardrobe (dressing room really) and the weather has become really cold here, it has really highlighted where I have holes in my wardrobe. Namely cold weather clothes. My staple at the moment is pants, long sleeved tees worn with a cardi or jacket and then dressed up with a scarf or a big chunky necklace.

So as part of filling this need for tops, I have tried the Turtleneck top from Burda 09-2010-121.

This is my 'trial'. The fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics - a lovely quality jersey, but the pattern is not really doing it for me. Perfect to trial this first cut.

It is a great pattern as everyone says on Pattern Review. The sleeves are long but I like that, the neck is high and not my best look but necessary in this cold. I will cut the sleeve cap down a bit for my next version, but apart from that nothing to dislike about this pattern. There are some great reviews written already, so I am not sure if I need to review it.

I have also trialled Burda 04-2011-117. I used a stretch woven cheapie bought from Gardams probably 2 years ago. Even though it was inexpensive it is quite a nice fabric and I think will get worn a bit. Only a hanger shot at the moment, but I will try and get better photos.


The waistband is made form Petersham ribbon. I only had black or white in my stash, so I tea-dyed the white Petersham to take the edge of the brightness. These pants will have tops over the top of the waistband (not tucked in) and I didn't want the white waistband to show through my clothes. I am really happy with these and have a piece of stretch wool twill cut to make a second pair (from Gorgeous Fabrics).

And while my sewing machine was unavailable I did finish some crochet...

The Frilly Enchante scarf - on Ravelry here. So pleased to have a project finished and somehow I have managed to pick up two more crochet projects to take it's place (why do I do that??)

Well I haven't blogged much lately and still haven't shown you my McCalls 6974 dress in a 'proper' photo-shoot but I hope life will start settling back to a more normal pace soon, so regular blogging can resume. However we still have the kitchen and old bathroom to go... *sigh*

Sewing odds & bobs...

My blogging is still intermittent - blame it on the renovation?

Some sewing has happened this week-end. My eldest son is attending Uni studying Contemporary Art. For an art installation he is putting on soon, he needed a flag & asked me. to sew one... no Mum can resist sewing for their boys when they ask. So a flag was made... (flags got legs!)...



This week-end I also finally got around to making up some cami's in Jalie 2564. The fabric is (I think) a merino jersey purchased last year from the Fabric Store (for this purpose). The only changes I made was to leave off the shelf bra and the bra strap sliders (for adjustable strap length). This made it a very quick & easy make and I am very happy with the result.

I made two of these and I am looking forward to having these to wear next week as the weather has turned to Winter before it is officially Winter here! The review is here

On the shopping for sewing front... these fabrics...


The first three came in the mail and were ordered at the Knitwit Roadshow. The first is Bianca - a lovely (expensive...ouch) mercerised cotton knit in a turquoise colour. The second a mesh called Italian Animal Fantasy Mesh and the third, I am not sure of the content (I think cotton, maybe rayon??) Japanese style print. The fourth fabric was purchased the same day - another mesh on a fabulous green/khaki print from the Fabric Collection. (Hi - Vanessa - I will make it up soon!)

And on that subject, some gorgeous jersey bought previously from the Fabric Collection, made up into McCalls 5974.


This is part of my goal to make all ten patterns up from the top 10 on Pattern Review for 2010.
I will get photos modelled by me, so that I can review this great pattern (soon!)

And on the renovation front, my big excitement is that this week-end I got to move my washing machine into the house into my new laundry... bliss!

Kwik Sew 3153 ... Swimmers

I wanted to learn to make swimwear as we are getting a swim spa as part of our renovation/extension. Swimwear is horribly expensive to buy and I figure I will need more (when the Spa actually gets filled) and I am wearing them regularly. I made KwikSew 3239 which contains patterns for a variety of mix and match pieces. Mine worked fine, but I am not going to subject you to pictures of my very white body in a very purple two-piece. Suffice to say it will probably only be worn at home. However it did give me some practice sewing with swimsuit Lycra and rubber elastic.

For the next set I decided I needed more sensible togs, so chose to make Kwik sew 3153.


I made them in black and made the high cut leg option. I also made the wrap in a polyester yoru chiffon fabric, picked up on the clearance table at Spotlight.

This piccie shows the back so you can see the nice secure back.


The only change I made to the pattern was to add an additional layer of lining to the shelf bra. I sewed two rows of stitching down the middle and left the sides open. I inserted bra cups into the pockets. It doesn't add heaps of support but feels a bit more secure and more modest. I copied this off my gym wear tops and crop tops. This piccie shows the inside. You can see (if you look closely) that my machine missed a few stitches sewing the rubber elastic, but this wide elastic is tough and I think it did pretty well. I did not have this issue with the narrow elastic (probably not as thick as the wider elastic I imagine).


I haven't had a chance to try them in the water yet, but hope to soon!

I really enjoyed sewing these - more than I thought I would. Nothing was terribly difficult but sewing the elastic is probably the trickiest part. Overall I am very happy, but I suppose the proof will be when I get them wet!

My review of the pattern is here.

Butterick 5562 - a variety of tops!

Butterick 5562 is a lovely set of top patterns. I was very taken with it. A few people have made View D which I loved so I bought this pattern and think I could get a lot of use from it.

As well as View D, I made View A with the shorter gathered sleeves. The fabric I used is a cotton elastane mix (I think) which has very strong recovery. It is actually a lovely quality fabric but a bit of a strange colour that looks different in different lights.

The top is very long and I have made it as per the pattern length but it is nice for the cooler days as it keeps my hips warm! The only alteration I made was to bring it in the waist seam ( you can see the alteration detailed in Mushywear's review of her delicious version).

I didn't notice those gathers across the back before - interesting what a photo shows up...


A photo to show the sleeve detail...


I also made View D while I was at it. This fabric is from Gorgeous fabrics and is called uber soft rayon blend jersey. A poly/rayon/lycra blend that lives up to its name - it is gorgeous and soft and cuddly to wear. I love it heaps and I had bought another piece but during this reno I haven't been able to find it. If I can't find it soon I may have to buy more!!

This was made exactly as per the instructions with the only alteration being to bring it in at the waist again.

Review is here.

I have one more lot of photos to show you of my new Kwik-sew swimmers - see you next post!