Thursday, January 14, 2016

Safari Raglan with Pleated Skirt and Elastic Waist.

Woohoo, we made it to the grand finale of my self-proclaimed (and only participant) of Safari Raglan Tee and Dress Week, ha.
If you missed Day 1 or Day 2 click on the links.


And we are finally at the swan dresses that started the whole thing. (Read the first post to get that story).


These dresses were suppose to be the girls' christmas dresses but it was so warm that day (plus E was ill) so they stayed in their christmas pajamas all day instead. Hey, it was still Mommy made :-)


Instead these dresses spend the whole christmas break being moved around in my sewing room just waiting to be worn and photographed. The other day on a grey and drizzling day it finally happened.


They love them so much. There was lots of uhhhs and ahhhs when they got them on. The swan sweatshirt fleece really is crazy soft. This color is sold out from Miss Matatabi but you can see a pink version HERE.


And as I said in my first post I had planned for their dresses to be made entirely from this sweatshirt fleece......and look at what I got out of what I bought, hahaha. And I even did look at the width of the fabric while ordering. But I think I did my 'look without really looking' because yes, I noticed the fabric was narrow but not how crazy narrow it is. Frances even writes on the listing: "Please note this fabric is only 32" (83 cm) wide!
 So from the 2 meters I bought I juuuust got bodices and sleeves - oh well, better than nothing I guess, he. I don't even think 2 meters would have been enough if this fabric was normal width. Yup, epic fabric calculation fail, ha.

For the skirts I used this gorgeous grey with gold sparkles French terry from Mood Fabrics. It seems to be sold out, which is a bummer because I really wanted something for myself in this. It's such a perfect neutral because the gold sparkles adds a bit of fun.


As per usual I was struggling with the look of the waist in a knit dress. I always have these visions of a more loose style but when I see it actually sewn up I usually wants to tighten the waist a bit. So silver glitter elastic to the rescue. 

I also went with pleats in the skirt as opposed to gathers because it adds less volume to the seam, which can really make a difference when you work with thick fabrics like this.


The shape of the skirts is not a rectangle. Well, it started with a rectangle and then I slit and spread that paper pattern rectangle from the bottom/hem to give more width at the bottom than at the waist. It just gives a slightly better fit/look that way.


After a few tries I decided that a more organized placement of the pleats looked the best in this case. So I have a wide center pleat and then like 5 or 6 more narrow next to it on each side and the sides are left plain. The more organized your pleats are the more 'formal' the garment is going to look, so since these were suppose to be holiday dresses it made sense (to me at least, ha).


And yes you can dance and twirl in these....yes, any dance and style you like, ahem.


And you can kiss your sister in them too - awwwww.
Told you this was going to be the finale (of the finale).
I might need a poster of this....you know, to remind me that they also love each other.

Get your own Safari raglan Tee and Dress pattern HERE.

And if anyone is still with me at this point....thank you so much for following along! 
I promise no posting at all next week, ha!

13 comments:

  1. What? We want more posts next week! I think the grey works so well with the baby blue fabric and probably turned out better than if you had the dresses all in the swan fabric. It all turned out beautifully and your daughters are the cutest! What a fun week this was.

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  2. Yes, more posts! Love the way these dresses worked out. So comfy for them yet dressy enough for a special occasion.

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  4. I'm speechless..(and believe me I'm quite talkative!) really classy, I love them. The elastic in the waist is an amazing detail and that swan fabric!!!beautiful.

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  5. Very cool dresses- I love the muted colors, the swans (!), and the wide waistband. But most of all, I love your photos- they are gorgeous!!!

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  6. Loved your self proclaimed safari raglan tour! You really ended with a bang! Love the fabric pairing, it worked out so well. Amazing! and don't you dare stop posting! :D

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  7. are you kidding with the "promise to not post next week"?! This week has been such a treat for us and super fun to follow. I could get used to your self-proclaimed pattern tours, especially when you knock out such amazing creations! Thanks so much for sharing them this week - it's been super fun:)

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  8. Ahhhhhh, happy-dream-inducing swan dresses!! I love swans so much, and the colors you used are (of course) so perfect. I'm also in love with the pleating! It would never occur to me to pleat knits, and yet it is hard to imagine these dresses any other way. Please post something next week, too! I propose a new series: Twisted Trousers Tuesdays, ha ha!

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  9. You know this is just absolute perfection to me. Love everything about this style. The fabrics, the elastic, the pleats. <3 <3 <3 I wish I had made this version hehehe And thanks for the tip about slash and spread the rectangle. I'll sure give it a try. Also I want posts every week! Hehehe so work it out! Lol ;)

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  10. awwww :) Your girls are so crazy cute :) I can only imagine how much fun they had dancing and joking around in their super gorgeous swan dresses :) I think there needs to be a law that cool fabric should only come is super wide rolls!

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  11. Your girls clearly loved their dresses, you got so many amazing photos of them. I think not having enough of the swan fabric definitely worked out for the best, the colours go so well together. Beautiful! I feel honoured that your have had your very own Safari Raglan week :)

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  12. I am crazy about raglan sleeves. Not sure why, but i am. Lovely series Mie!!

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  13. This is just so, so good! You really nailed these colors and it all goes together so perfectly! Also - THESE PHOTOS!!! Just perfect. These are ones you will someday treasure - and probably already do! Just all around amazing!

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