One more vacation dress

I didn't actually make it this year, It's an oldie from three years ago. I did however revamp the style. There was a wide black band around the bottom the waistline was dropped, and it didn't fit well from the underarm to waist. I fixed all of the above, another save from the back of the closet. The fabric is a silk and rayon mix.

vacation 2010

Silk charmeuse wrapover top.

Next to black and white I decided to throw another colour into the mix, the blouse is a silk charmeuse, the skirt a stretch jersey knit. The pattern I used for the blouse is an old Vogue from my stash, the skirt I made some years back.

This fabric is a fine cotton gauze which I truly love [should have got some more the vender had it also in pink]. It needed to be lined because of it's transperency, had nothing on hand except a poly lining which kindof defeats the purpose, however it turned out nice. Burda style of course.

My favorite of all fabric's to sew is hands down cotton lycra it made up so well in this tee, I can wear it with a white skirt also.

I wanted to stick to black and white for vacation as I think it's always easier to mix and match. This is also a Burda style[nowadays I sew nothing else]
it's a silk charmeuse with a front panal of silk georgette, I lined the panal with skin coloured satin, can be worn with or without a belt.

A closer view of black dress.

Packing I hope will be easy with this soft silk top and cotton skirt. Both are patterns from Burda style . The top was a BREEZE TO SEW no darts just perfectly straight, with a flounced neckline, definitely needs a belt.

vacation 2010

Shirtwaister

Fabric is 100%cotton from vogue fabric's , pattern BWOF 105 from issue 2/2009. It's a nice medium weight with a slight sheen

Technical drawing. I omitted the side pockets, cut out 38 on top 40

from hips down, no other alterations

I am old enough to remember this style from the fifties

Photo from magazine

I lined the skirt portion of the dress as it's cotton I figured it would crease less. If I make this again I would choose fabric with a little stretch. I think it would be more comfortable and provide freedom of movement

It's sporty and the belt gives it the retro-look. Instructions were pretty good for BWOF.

Over-Blouse

Fabric is a cotton from Vogue fabric's. I wanted something with a small print and I think this fits the bill, I also had in my stash a lightweight wool in black so I made a skirt to with this blouse.

There is a lot of different small pieces to be cut like a drawstring band, bias binding strips 3 tie bands and 4 drawstring bands for the pockets time consuming stuff.

100% cotton black background, with tiny pink and green flowers.

The original style is made with two different matching fabrics I made it with just one fabric. The pattern is easy to follow, they have you trim away the SA on the neck edge, this is after applying the facing, I thought this was a bit bizarre and I was reluctant to do this but I did and it turned out ok. Did I read this correctly or was I just lucky.

Technical Drawing

Over-blouse with little puffed sleeves, waist drawstring and little tie-string fastenings lend this blouse a romantic touch, so says the description of this BWOF blouse 133 in the June issue.

Me wearing my blouse

BWOF BLOUSE&SKIRT

This is a nice little blouse, has a slim silhoutte, extended shoulders and a self fabric belt that is loosely cinched at the waist also side seam gathers. It has an illustrated sewing course in the supplement which is very helpful. I did however make a large mistake cutting out, I didn't add SA to the centre back [must have had a stressful day] But luckely I left 1' seams on the side still I thought this is not going to fit around the neck, so I ended up making the shirt bands a little narrower. Worked out ok.

I didn't follow the pattern exactly. I have a palmer pletch dvd on sewing shirts & blouses. I do like the way Martha Alto explains in the dvd how to attach collar to collar band and then to the blouse. The same method is used in the pattern, but its nice to look at the more detailed instructions. I also made a double yoke for the back, which is a nicer finish, this is also shown in the dvd. This is a very easy style to sew, especially the added bonus of the sewing course.

l also had some rayon fabric left over from another project so I made BWOF 106 skirt from issue 10/2008. This is a nice fitting skirt , it also has a sewing supplement.

I am not so sure about this one , it has two small pleats supposed to give it a slight tulip shape supposed to be trendy . I don't like trendy I prefair classic, however it is different

BWOF blouse 105 from issue 6/2008 & BWOF skirt 106

from issue 10/2008

BWOF dress &BWO jacket-blouse

BWOF dress121 issue 2/2009 BWOF jacket- blouse 111 issue7/2008

I also made a BWOF jacket in black to go with this dress, its 111 from issue 7/2008. Its a nice summer weight jacket blouse, uncomplicated no lining easy to sew,its a mix of wool and poly from a local fabric store.The only negative thing about this stlye for me is the dropped sleeves I have small shoulders and this is not a great look for me. How ever I did add small shoulder pads. Black is a also a color I very seldom wear but I think it's ok if you dress it up with other colors

this photo of the back is a little lobsided I think my dress form is a wee bit off

I just love back and white and think it looks great with a little red thrown in, be it beeds, a silk scarf or red shoes. In the BWOF issue 2/2009 on page 67 there is some really great looks in black and white. next project on the agenda is the shirtwaister dress 105 also in black and white. I am alreday looking out for a nice wide black belt to go with it

The fabric is a 100% rayon from vogue fabric's in Chicago. the patteren is 121 from2/2009. What I like about this patten is the simplicity and the very feminine look of it, it has a self fabric tie-belt that cinches the waist, casing under the bust, tied raglan short sleeve, it's also bias cut.

Sleeve pattern w/o SA . I added SA when cutting out the fabric.I am always trying new things, mainly to be a more efficient sewer without sacrificing the quality of the finished work.For the past three years I have sewn only BWOF although thier instructions are notorious sometimes, they are very well drafted . They dont fit me without tweaking, but there is mush less tweaking to be done then other patterns

Sleeves showing thread tracing ,I usually don't do this step but here I wanted accuracy

Closely spaced zigzag stitchs on the sleeve edges and sleeve hem. Stitch lenght 10mm stitch width 30mm