Thursday, April 6, 2017

Coffee + Thread Tour

Yaaaaay, it's time for the Coffee + Thread Tour!
We could use whichever of Olga's patterns we wanted. In this post I used four patterns. All hacked one way or the other. Some quite a lot and some just a little.



I have used The Mulberry Tunic (turned knit cardigan), The Ania Tunic (made sleeveless), the Wild and Free Lounge Pants (cropped and with elastic hem) and The Ila Dress (made in a stable knit).


Three of the patterns I have made before and it was pretty much smooth sailing the whole way. Which is what good patterns will do for you, right!


The Ila Dress was the only pattern I haven't made before but that didn't stop me from breaking the rules right away. Making a pattern made for woven fabrics in a (stable) knit. It's basically a standing joke that I sew all Olga's patterns in knit and it was a spot on my reputation that I haven't made this one yet. Well, mission completed....well, except for the fact that she just released a new pattern The Polina Dress. Darn it, will.it.ever.stop haha.


And as you can see, that worked out splendidly! 
If you think it looks slightly big on her, you are correct! The fabric was thicker than expected (the wonders of internet shopping) so I made sure it can fit her next fall and winter too.
She just turned 7 in January and this is a size 8 and I would say that the stretchiness in the knit probably adds another half size.

The fabric with glitter deers is this really fantastic soft and warm sweatshirt fleece from l'oiseau (only blue left). Really fantastic quality but not suitable for an upcoming summer dress, ha.
Absolutely perfect for a long-sleeved winter dress though!
The grey thick French Terry fabric is from Mood Fabrics. I bought 3 yards and it's an awesome basic to have.


Normally when I convert a pattern from woven to knit, I also add a knit rib in the neckline. Since the firm neckline yoke is a pretty significant part of the design for the Ila Dress, I didn't do my 'normal' procedure. Instead I cut the inside yoke in woven plus of course interfaced it - all to keep it stabilized.  

I also kept the back invisible zipper which wasn't a problem at all to sew in this stable knit. Of course with a strip of interfacing along the two CB seams.
It turns out she can, for now, get the dress on and off without opening the zipper but I'm hoping she will be able to fit this for at least a year so I'm happy the zipper is there.

If you also want to learn how to sew an invisible zipper with nice sharp top corners and the inside facing or lining shifted compared to the outside fabric then check THIS tutorial of mine.


You can call me a perfectionist all you want but when I have an invisible zipper going through a yoke etc like here, they damn skippy better meet up to perfection. It's like the eyes get drawn to it if they don't. 


The original pattern has hidden pockets in that front waist seam but because of the thickness of my fabric I skipped them for the sake of sewing sanity.


Someone was certainly excited about this shoot, ha. Must be the candy payment. And someone decided that a stuffed monkey and a straw hat was the perfect accessories for this event. I'm not going to mention any names!


Next outfit....both the Ania Tunic and the Wild and Free Pants you see here were actually my wearable muslins that I both ended up loving so much that I decided they were perfect for the tour. Told you it was smooth sailing!


If you have read my blog for awhile you know that I have made SO many different versions of The Mulberry Tunic already. (The Original/Tester, The Drapey, The Sweatshirt, The 70s Tunic) and now I can add The Cardigan! It's strange that I have not thought of doing that before, thinking of my general cardigan obsession, but better late than never I guess. I really wanted to have added the hoodie that the original pattern contains but then it would not work for our school dress code and that was exactly my plan for it.
I'm definitely planning on making another in more colorful fabric for weekend use with a hoodie.


The original pattern has that big front yoke (with a half button placket) but then it is closed at the bottom part. So instead of cutting the bottom front bodice to fold, I cut it as wide as the yoke, and folded the placket all the way down. I of course interfaced it all the way down.
I also straightened out the hem at the bottom and added a knit rib. That of course made this cardigan longer than the original pattern.
I made this 9 year old a size 10. Both because I want her to fit it for awhile but also because a cardigan needs to be more roomy than a shirt. It turned out exactly the size I hoped.

Instead of the hoodie I just sewed in a narrow knit rib.


I kept the little center back pleat under the narrow back yoke.

The fabrics are woven eyelet from Imagine Gnats Shop, thin soft and stretchy rayon bamboo French Terry from Fabric.com (sold out but I think THIS is the same) and the rib is my go to bamboo rib from Michael Levine Fabrics. The snaps are from SnapSource.

I layered the woven eyelet on top of the French Terry and I was a little nervous how that would work. You know woven over stretchy fabric. I very carefully stitched all the way around the pieces, so they wouldn't shift during sewing and with a firm pressing it worked out really great.



After we came home form the photo shoot I realized that I forgot to get some photos of The Ania Tunic by itself so we took at few afterwards.
The pattern is made both for woven and knit and comes with two different tutorials depending on material so I can't claim that I hacked it like that, ha.


I did skip the sleeve though and used a knit rib instead for a sleeveless look. Normally you can't just 'skip the sleeve' and then it works as sleeveless because the lines in the armscye needs to be different but here it worked. I definitely think the fact that this is knit fabric (more flexible) helped a lot in this case. I did tighten the rib quite a lot (aka made the rib much smaller than the armscye) and I like how it hangs a bit over her shoulders but is still tight.


The fabric is this lovely and drape bamboo jersey from Hart's Fabric. They only have this left in green but I'm linking to their general selection of bamboo jersey knits because there are many lovely ones. The rib is one of the very few things I brought with me from Denmark when I moved to the US 8.5 years ago.


The pants, eeek I love them. The Wild and Free Lounge Pants is sort of a hybrid between leggings and pants. Sort of very narrow knit pants.

I fell in love with Nature Fabrics enormous selection of velour (93 colors!!) and this color is even organic cotton. The quality is really lovely and I absolutely love the texture.

I skipped the pockets and the animal knee decorations but kept the front knee seam. Lastly I made them cropped so she can use them during spring and added a bit of elastic at the bottom hem for a bit of a sweatpants feel.


Yup, that's how we feel about Coffee + Threads Patterns!
Thank you for inviting me Olga.

Don't forget to enter the great giveaway below and check out all the other fabulous ladies participating in this tour.


April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

April 10

April 11

April 12

April 13

April 14

19 comments:

  1. Oh Mie! Everything is so so good! Love all the pieces! I really want to copy the cardigan and the sleeveless Ania and the Ila in knit... Ok I want to copy everything! Thank you so much for being on the tour! 💙💙💙💙

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gaaaaaah... PERFECTION one more time Mie !!! I love everything but this cardigan is just pure genius ♥♥♥

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such great looks, as usual. I am learning to love interfacing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh I love all of these makes! I think I'll need to give a sleeveless, knit Ania a go! Also, OMG tiny kiddos in those past mulberry makes...so cute!!:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. How delightful! I love that we both hacked the Ila dress in similar ways, and ended up with such different dresses!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness, Mie! You totally outdid yourself! I love every single piece. Your invisible zipper is so awesome and I completely agree with you about the seams lining up! It's amazing that you made that cardigan. The eyelet fabric was such a good find!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love these pics. Your girls look so happy and seem to have so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  8. YOUR ZIPPER!!!! AMAZE-BALLS!! I MEAN REALLY!!! I want those skills. Can we be friends?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, sure we can be friends but I'm pretty sure it's lots of practice that will help your zipper game and not my friendship ;-)))

      Delete
  9. I am glad your reputation of that one person who sews everything in a knit is preserved... Of course now I am holding my breath to see a knits version of the Polina dress :P Everything you make is oh so lovely! That invisible zipper... I love it when every seam, every line matches up <3 Gorgeous outfits!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow Mie!! You seriously can turn any pattern to knits! I love the cardigan so much, I would wear that myself! Your sewing technique is superb on that invisible zipper!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Okay, I might just have squealed with delight when I saw this post (luckily no one was around to witness it). All of these makes are so amazing -- a sewing feast!!!!! Everything is perfection, as always <3

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm totally gonna copy you on that Ila dress!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! I love all of them, but adore the cardigan! It looks so stylish and comfortable at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I don't know where to start, it's all so good! I love your pattern placement on the Ila, and that Mulberry hack is fantastic. Gorgeous photos too

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my goodness....you nailed every single piece! I am totally going to borrow your idea for those lounge pants, I really love the look of the elastic hem! And that cardigan...GENIUS. Really, all of your makes are so gorgeous!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. YEP This is an amazing post just like I expected! Everything is so so good! I feel like copying every single piece! The Ania without sleeves looks so cool, and I love the cropped pants idea, perfect! The Ila in knit totally my cup of tea, (me the Mie follower that also likes to make woven patterns in knit hehehe) I'm so in love with that bambo fabric <3 but that Mulberry... ohh MY gosh that is just the coolest idea, I'm obsessing with it since the first moment I saw it <3 Thank you so much for all the inspiration my friend, you nailed as usual. xo

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wonderful outfits, I especially like the cardigan but they are all lovely. x

    ReplyDelete
  18. All your makes are so good but the cardigan is amazing, absolutely love it!

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments.
Thank you!