Washi in Blue

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Cherie

*UPDATE!!! The Washi Dress pattern has been released. Find all the information you need here. GO NOW. You won’t be sorry!*

Did you hear?? It’s WASHI WEEK! What’s Washi Week you ask? Well, the fabulous Rae, from Made by Rae, has an awesome new pattern coming out this week called the Washi Dress and she’s posting a bunch of different versions all week. Ever since she posted photos of the original Washi dress, people have been going CRAZY asking for a pattern and waiting (not so patiently) for Rae to produce a pattern. Well, ladies and gents, it’s finally arriving and it is soooooooooo worth the wait.

I was extremely lucky to be a part of Rae’s pattern testing group and I got to try out the original pattern. There have been many adjustments and improvements made since I tried the test pattern, but even in its draft form, the pattern was phenomenal.

The dress is super cute, simple yet stylish, and very flattering. It has a fitted bodice with a pleated a-line skirt, pockets and a unique cut-out scoop neckline. Shirring in the back assures a perfect and comfortable fit and makes it so you do not need a zipper or button closure. Genius!!! When I saw how professional Rae’s versions looked and considering how intimidating sewing women’s clothing is to me, I thought this pattern would be complicated. But it was surprisingly very simple to sew up!! Rae has labeled this pattern for intermediate sewers, but I think ambitious beginners should certainly give this a try. The trickiest part for me was learning the shirring technique. The rest was a breeze!

The pattern is extremely well written with clear instructions and awesome diagrams. Rae is extremely thorough in her explanations and really goes beyond regular directions to try and help with tips, suggestions and troubleshooting. There is a whole section in there about getting the best fit which I think will be very helpful for people who are new to sewing adult clothing (like me!).

I would definitely suggest making a muslin (Rae talks about it in the directions). This is one of those steps that I always skip, because I don’t like wasting the time or fabric. But coming from someone who hates doing it, JUST DO IT!! This pattern is pretty darn amazing, but no pattern can fit every woman in all our different shapes and sizes. I used some fabric from an old sheet and made a muslin using the front bodice piece and the back piece cut just below the shirring lines. This way I could practice a few lines of shirring and make sure the bust darts and shoulders fit well. Rae offers suggestions for adjustments if you find it necessary. I would have been devastated if I finished the entire dress only to find out it didn’t fit.

The one thing that I screwed up on my dress is the cut out at the neckline – it’s a bit puckered. I was rushing too much when I sewed it together (I’m sorry, I was really excited!) and couldn’t press out the wrinkles. Luckily, my fabric is dark and it’s not too noticeable. But I would recommend taking your time when you sew around the cut out, making sure your cut out is symmetrical and when you flip the facing in, that all your fabric lays nice and flat (this will probably all make a lot more sense when you are making your own).

I don’t have any specifics about this fabric, except that I bought it on my recent trip to Japan at Tomato. It is a navy blue border fabric with eyelet at the bottom and embroidered flowers all over. The print is kind of a funky mix of whimsical shapes resembling clouds, petals and pebbles. It was kind of a random pick when I was shopping and I thought I might make myself a skirt or something. But right after I got back from Japan, the opportunity to test this pattern came up and I immediately thought this fabric would be perfect. And luckily I had JUST enough fabric to do it. It turned out to be a really practical choice for me – neutral and simple, with a little bit of fun.

The Washi can be made as a dress or a tunic, and with cap sleeves or sleeveless. I’m already dreaming up different versions of Washis for me and ways to remix the pattern as well. I can assure you, there are more Washis in my future. Near future, I hope!

Overall, I really can’t say enough good things about this pattern. As someone who does not normally sew for women or from patterns, this one really gave me the confidence to do both. Now I’m psyched to sew more for myself! It’s a very quick and simple sew with impressive results – I bet you’ll get so many compliments when people find out that you made the dress yourself! And it’s a really flattering style for pretty much every body type. I love how it skims right over my tummy and hips. Serious WIN.

You can’t go wrong with Washi. It’s my new motto.

Oh and to see more Washi inspiration, check out Kristin’s awesome Washi, Emmmy Lizzzy’s THREE Washis, and the official Washi Dress flickr pool. I’m telling you, that pool is about to blow up with fabulous Washis.

Ok, ok. Now you can go. 😉

Maxwell Top Pattern

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Cherie

One of my goals is to sew more clothes from patterns. So when the opportunity came up to be a pattern tester for some of Shwin & Shwin‘s new patterns, I jumped on it. These gals come up with some of the cutest patterns for kids! And there are so many amazing free tutorials on their site too. One of the patterns in their current collection is the Maxwell Top for boys and I LOVED it as soon as I first saw it.

I debated whether I should make the top a little more feminine by picking more “girly” fabrics, but decided to go with something simple and (in my opinion) gender neutral. I knew Yuki could pull it off. The fabric reminds me of a Japanese shirt, though I don’t actually know if the fabric is Japanese. I love the finished shirt and all the cute details.

It was my first time sewing a collared shirt so I had a little trouble attaching the collar. For that reason, I’d say this is a good intermediate or intermediate beginner pattern. Otherwise, the shirt came together nicely with pretty clear and simple directions.

I think she looks adorable! I know I will definitely be making more for her as she gets bigger. The pattern is for sizes 12m-5T! And it’s always great to find an awesome boy pattern. I can’t imagine there’s anyone who wouldn’t need this pattern!

Buy the pattern here!

The Saturday Blazer – Outerwear for PR&P

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Cherie

Yikes! I really fell behind on blogging this week. I had a tutorial lined up for this week, as well as projects from BEFORE Christmas that I haven’t shared and I certainly didn’t get to blogging about my Project Run & Play Sew-along entries before I posted them to flickr. I just BARELY made the deadline this time.

So the theme was Outerwear. I figured I’d probably make a coat of some kind, but I don’t have much experience making coats/jackets. I’ve made a hooded cape and a little coat, and though they turned out ok, I was just making it up as I went along and knew that I wasn’t doing it the “right” way. So I took this opportunity to learn more about jacket/coat construction (did you know how many pieces a basic jacket is made of!?? A LOT). I thought a little fitted blazer would be adorable on Yuki and I found this Toddler Blazer pattern by Melly Sews.

This is a super cute pattern for toddlers and young kids (the pattern is for 18m-4T). It was very easy to follow along and I highly recommend it! It’s $6 and you can buy through that link I posted above. I’m REALLY glad I decided to work from a pattern first because I had NO clue what facing was or how to sew it in and now I understand!

The smallest size is 18 months and even though Yuki is 17 months, she is small and is closer to a 12 month size. So I had to take the pattern down in size. I also wanted the blazer to have a fitted, slightly feminine look to it. I didn’t want it to look boxy on her, so I added a slight curve to the sides of the jacket to bring it in around her “waist.” It’s hard to see in in the picture, but I think it makes a difference. Of course, I made it TOO fitted. So now it’s snug when I button it over her big baby belly. Oops.

I used a gray bottomwear fabric from Jo-Anns because I love gray and it goes well with everything. The lining fabric was something that I had in my stash (also from Jo-Anns). I had bought it because I loved it, but had no idea what I was going to use it for. I love the bright splashes of color that it gives to the gray blazer!

I call it Yuki’s Saturday Blazer because that’s probably when she’ll wear it. Monday through Friday, while H and I are at work, Yuki goes to a nanny share a few days a week and is watched by H’s mom the rest of the week. We just dress her in comfortable “whatever” clothes because all she is going to do is eat and play and nap and roll around and get messy (which is generally ALL toddlers do). We never dress her up during the week. But Saturdays are for going out and doing special activities so I might dress her up in this. Sundays too, so maybe I should have called it the Weekend Blazer 🙂

So this wasn’t even meant to be my entry for the PR&P Sew-along, since I made it as practice. But I do like how it came out so I figure I might as well share it anyways. After I made the blazer, I applied the same construction steps but drafted a completely new pattern for a coat. I’ll share that one as soon as I can 🙂

Thank you Melissa from Melly Sews for the awesome pattern! I’ve learned a lot from you!

And here’s a little blooper from the photo shoot. I feel like I usually have one or two jewels that are just hilarious or cute – so I’ll start saving them for the end of each post: