Twinkle Sews 'White Magic' with shibori dyed fabric

A few months ago I attended a class on natural dyeing at the Fremantle Arts Centre. I met the lovely Lucy of Maud Made there and we learned about, and experimented with, several different natural dyes, mordants and dyeing techniques. We tried such things as tumeric, eucalyptus leaves, indigo and onion skins and used various twisting and tying methods as well as clipping objects to fabric to get different patterns and designs. That process is known as Shibori and was so much fun. I had brought along several pieces of fabric and merrily dyed them and draped them all over the workroom.

This dress is the first thing I've made from my dyed fabric. The fabric is a lightweight cotton which I folded into a concertina shape lengthways and then again widthways to get a square. I then clamped wooden sticks over the fabric square using bulldog clips and immersed it in the indigo dye for around 30 seconds. The dye penetrated differently due to the folding of the fabric, so I ended up with almost a border print (the fabric that absorbed the most dye was used at the hem of the dress).

After 'making' the fabric myself, I wanted to sew it into something a bit special and I pondered at length on what that would be. I eventually chose the 'White Magic' dress from the book 'Twinkle Sews' by Wenlan Chia.

I made the following changes to the pattern: lengthened the tunic into a dress; left off the pockets; and attached the back tie lower down.

I was very careful to place the pattern so that the design on the fabric was centred and symmetrical and, as mentioned, used the darkest dyed part for the hem.

I made the dress in size 8 which corresponded most closely to my measurements on the size chart in the book.

The dress went together fairly easily although the instructions would have benefitted from some explanatory diagrams. The main area I had difficulty with was attaching the tiny sleeves. I initially did them the wrong way round, which looked ok but restricted arm movement. I think in the end I attached the shortest side of the sleeve to the dress using a normal seam, not leaving a raw edge as suggested.

I am very happy with this dress. The pin tucks on the front and neckline and the shirring on the back add subtle interest and were fun to sew. I am a little bit proud that I dyed the fabric and made the dress myself. I highly recommend this pattern and the dyeing course.

My tutor for the course was Bernadette Aitkin. The course I attended was her last at Fremantle Arts Centre (FAC) before she moved to Melbourne to start teaching there. If you are in Perth, FAC does still offer dyeing courses. If you're in Melbourne maybe you can find a course by Bernadette. I really enjoyed the course and Bernadette allowed us to go a bit wild experimenting and dyeing our own fabric. Great fun! I still have several pieces of dyed fabric to use on other creations.

Pants the right way and the hack (Burdastyle 04/2013 #114b)

I love raiding the remnant baskets at fabric stores. I often pick up fabrics that I would not normally look at twice on the shelf but, because it's cheap, I give it a go and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

Such was the case with these pants. I found this piece of fabric, approximately 1 metre, for $2 at Textile Traders. I had just made some grey floral pants (below and here) using Burdastyle 04/2013 #114b and still had the pattern out. I decided to make another pair with this thin, woven, snakeskin-like print fabric for the warmer weather. I'm wearing them above with my Twinkle Sews 'On the sidelines' top and below with my Christine Jonson 'Princess wrap' top.

But I was feeling like making something quick and simple so I cheated a bit with this second pair. I just left the darts unsewn and added some knit fabric for the waistband - done in no time.

They are so comfortable and I've had several compliments on them. This was very shortcut sewing, but with a surprisingly useful outcome.

 I never really reviewed the pattern properly when I made the grey floral pair of pants from stretch, woven fabric. I was actually not all that thrilled with the fit. They were a bit baggy in the wrong places. Also, the design has a side zip and no waistband, a combination that feels less than sturdy when I bend over. Actually, in a burst of morbid curiosity, I find myself deliberately bending in a certain way so that the zip starts coming undone. This does not make for a comfortable or dignified outcome and I must rectify the situation with a waistband and other adjustments at some point. One day. If I get a chance between making more new and shiny things!

Here's the pattern photo from Burdastyle.

Source

So, which is best, following the pattern or the hack? I think in this case it's the hack. And somehow, doing it the wrong way even looks more like the pattern picture. Weird.

Twinkle Sews: 'On the sidelines' top

I loved this top as soon as I saw it in Wenlan Chia's book 'Twinkle Sews'.

I have been so busy lately making other things that this top was put on the backburner. Then, last week, I finally set aside some time to make it. And, I have to say, it was worth the wait! I'm thrilled to bits with this.

Now, this is not a quick project. The book classes this top as 'Advanced' and it was certainly time consuming and fiddly, although that was partly due to the fabric I chose. I used an unstable, lightweight, cottony, soft knit (can you tell I'm not sure what it was?), which looks and feels lovely, but stretched horribly out of shape at every cut edge. There are 14 pattern pieces used for this top which ends up being 22 pieces once everything is cut out. You need your wits about you to keep track of all those, I can tell you!

This gorgeous front pocket was a work of art in itself. It was made with five pieces, two with the scalloped curves, that needed to be joined and topstitched (and, in my case, pressed and pressed to shrink those stretched-out edges) before attaching the rivets. I used a little kit I'd found at a jumble sale with little silver and diamonte rivets that were very simple to apply with a plastic tool. I imagine craft shops would have these. So fun :)

Then it's straight into the interesting neckline/shoulder panels with button detail at the front. I had one pattern piece left over from this that I never did find a use for! The sleeves have several sections too, which I changed slightly to increase the length of the sleeve. I added long cuffs so the sleeves were full length for winter.

The instructions were slightly lacking for this top and I had to feel my way and check the picture to work out quite a lot of the construction. However, the pattern pieces are well drafted and I love the attention to detail in the design and the addition of the buttons and rivets. I just took my time and enjoyed the ride. By the way, I've mentioned before that the size chart is odd in this book, but I went with my measurements again and made a size 8. The fit seems right to me.

I loved this so much when I put it on that I wore it two days in a row, despite getting a bit of lunch on the pocket that I had to Photoshop out of these pictures! It is a bit sheer, so I have a cream top underneath. Next time I'll look for one with a higher neckline to match.

So yeah, a new top that feels very designer to casual old me. Lots of work, but so worth it.

I think so anyway.

Twinkle Sews: Cool Contrasts Top

For Easter, I bought myself a new book! It's 'Twinkle Sews' by Wenlan Chia. The author is a fashion designer who has decided to make some of her designs available to the home sewer, which is fantastic. The ideas in this book are definitely a bit different to the usual patterns available and, to me, are more reminiscent of clothes you might find in a lovely, little boutique somewhere.

The patterns are available on a CD included with the book. You can open them either as PDFs to print at home (which I did) or using Adobe Illustrator to print at a copy shop. The patterns are sorted into sizes and can be printed only one size at a time, which is a bit of a disadvantage if you want to blend sizes within a garment. However, many of the designs are loose-fitting so this shouldn't be too much of a problem with those ones at least. Upon googling sizing info for this book, I noticed that many bloggers felt confused (justifiably) about the information provided with the size chart, which suggests adding several centimetres for ease before reading off your size. I have come to the conclusion that this is an error in the book and that the size chart should be read as any other size chart, using your actual measurements. That's what I did and it was fine. I used a size 8 for this top (I am usually a size AU/UK10-12 in tops).

For my first Twinkle project, I chose this 'cool contrasts' top, which was described as 'easy'. 

The top is made from three colours of chiffon with a lining. The neckline and hem are bound with bias binding covered with a tulle layer for added interest.

 I didn't want a cropped top, so decided to extend the pattern pieces to finish on the hip. This was very simple to do, I just extended each vertical line, keeping the angles the same as they were for each piece. So, the front and back pieces became taller triangles with a wider base.

I spent some time communing with my stash to find three fabrics which worked well together. I chose this lovely, ruched, white cotton ($1 from the op shop), some plain grey cotton ($3 from the op shop) and some white muslin with grey flowers (Textile Traders).

The top went together very quickly and easily. I decided not to line it as my fabrics were substantial enough on their own. The only issue I had was with my ruched fabric because it's actually stretchy where the gathers are and was stretching out of shape, especially on the shoulders before I added the binding. I ended up inserting a gathering stitch and drew each white section up to the appropriate length before stitching on the binding. The sleeves re easy to insert, but I got a bit mixed up as to which edge matched up with which. It would help to label these when cutting. I had to trim some excess fabric from the neckline after inserting the sleeves - not sure why!  

The book provides instructions for making bias binding, but I already had this grey binding so took a short cut and used that. I covered it with a strip of tulle as instructed before sewing the neckline and hem. The neckline binding needs to be stretched slightly while sewing so it sits without gaping. The binding is attached on the inside by stitching in the ditch from the front. I should say here that after wearing this for 5 minutes, I took it off and cut out the tulle from the inside of the neckline as it was very scratchy, even though I'd used soft tulle. I cut it along the fold of the neckline binding and left it loose on the outside, which looks fine. As my tulle was so fine, I opted not to add the tulle strip below the hem as it wouldn't have really been visible.

I finished the sleeve edges with a rolled hem. The two rolled hem edges meet the side seam at the underarm quite neatly. I winged this bit as the instructions weren't clear. Overall though the instructions were great.

I love the design and look of this top. It was made totally on the cheap with scraps of fabric, but looks expensive(I think) because of the cut, fabrics, seam detail and binding. I can't wait to make more from this book. I have my eye on this top for winter.