pajama party!

sometimes things just don't work out the way i planned. i wanted to join in on the pajama party over at did you make that? so i took a pair of pajama pants i liked, traced them and made a pattern and dove right into my material. i really should have double checked my pattern measurements, because by the time i had my pants to where i could try them on... well things were a bit snug. not unwearable snug, just too snug to be comfy pajama pants. i guess my overconfidence got the best of me on this one...

thankfully not all is lost! i decided not to dwell on it and just cut those suckers up and refashioned them to fit my 7 year old daughter. lucky her! these pj's have pockets and everything. i used some pink bias tape for the pocket edge.

i'm so bummed they didn't work out for me, but if you saw how excited she was to come home from school and find a new pair of pj's... well it made it all okay in my book. i might even use the scraps to make her a matching top. seriously, my kids get all hopped up over things like pj's and new toothbrushes.

on her nightstand... "animorphs: visser" by k. a. applegate

hopefully i can take another stab at pj's soon because i could really use a few pairs myself! anyways, i'll be back soon with my finished eclair. i'm just waiting for a semi-warm, non-windy day so i can take some outdoor pics!


—lisa g

eclair pt. 2: pockets!

okay, so who doesn't love a dress with pockets? it used to take me forever to put a pocket in so i frequently skipped it, citing "bulky side seams" as my excuse. which is often valid, but the skirt of this dress (colette patterns eclair) is so voluminous and gathered that even if you screw up the pockets, it'll probably be hidden out of sight. the left pocket provides a particular challenge in that there is also a side zip that runs into the pocket area. fortunately, the directions perfectly explain how to do this. i used some very confusing directions once and i swore it was a miracle that it turned out wearable!


for the non-zip side i'll show you step by step how to sew in-seam pockets so you can still press the side seam flat, as is my preference. now, fair warning—i did this a month ago so if i jump around funny and don't make much sense... well just give me a holler.


finish the seam allowances on the front and back skirt pieces as well as the pocket edge that will be on the side seam. line up the pocket pieces according to the pattern markings on the right side of the skirt fabric and pin. don't screw up this first step or you'll be cursing and swearing in a minute. yes, i've sewn it to the wrong side before...

back skirt piece

front skirt piece. sorry, you eyes work fine, this pic is just fuzzy.

sew the pocket to the skirt piece by sewing just between the two dots. you want to leave the seam allowance of the pocket free.

press the pockets out and understitch on the pocket bag, staying within the two dots. repeat on the other pocket piece.

now, pin the front and back skirt pieces together lining up those dots and secure it with a pin. make absolutely sure your side seams where you stitched the pockets line up. continue to pin the front and back pocket pieces together.  now sew around the pocket making sure to stay completely clear of the skirt pieces.

once you have sewn up the pocket bag finish the seam allowance.

you have your pocket done, now sew up the side seam above and below the pocket opening, making sure not to catch the pocket into your stitching. and make sure you don't sew the pocket shut. it can happen.

once this is done you can press the seam open with the pocket to the front.

now, if you want, you can stitch or tack the pocket to the front seam allowance just so it stays to the front. totally optional, i'm pretty sure i didn't. just thought i'd share.


so there you have it. in-seam pockets are super easy and not scary at all!


oh by the way, did you see the pajama party going on? yeah! count me in!!! i can announce that i'm participating because i have my pajama pants nearly done and barring some unforeseen circumstance i should totally have them finished on time. 



are you making pajamas?


—lisa g

eclair pt. 1: a quick overview

easter came and went so quickly i barely knew what was happening! i did that stupid thing i sometimes do and decide to sew outfits for all the kids for a particular event/holiday. the last time i did this was for halloween. since i seriously disappointed the kids by not making them christmas outfits (or new years outfits, or valentines day outfits, or st. patrick's day outfits, or we're-going-to-a friend's-house-for-some-random-occasion outfits...) i decided i could manage easter outfits. as always, time got away from me and i had to sew marathon style to deliver everything i had promised. but before i get to the kids outfits, how about a peek at mine?

for christmas i received colette patterns eclair, and thought it would be a perfect for easter. since it requires a good amount of fabric, i made sure to keep an eye out for a deal and fell in love with this cute floral print. i snagged up the last few yards of it at under $4/yd!!! it is a cotton lawn and feels so dreamy and soft, perfect for a full-skirted spring dress. is it just me or does this fabric have something of a liberty print vibe going on? 

if you haven't noticed, i've become something of a colette patterns junkie. they have me so spoiled with their sweet packaging and hand-holding instruction booklets. i'm one who normally skips over the pattern instructions, but from colette i read every word whether i need to or not. a benefit to sewing from the same pattern designer repeatedly is that you quickly get a feel for what adjustments you will need. i know i have to cut out basically all the bodice shaping, so that's what i did. i finally figured out how to do sba's on darted bodices, so the princess seams threw me for a loop initially. on this bodice, the princess seams narrow to the center more than normal, so it took a bit of fiddling to get the shaping right without losing this (slimming!) design feature.

front bodice pieces

back bodice pieces

seriously. you don't even want to know where the original seamlines were. why i don't just start out with a rectangle and then add tiny amounts of shaping is beyond me.


as a personal preference, i'm not totally comfortable in a strapless dress so i added spaghetti straps. they don't do anything structural, i just felt like they would be a nice insurance policy on account of my lack of boobage to keep this sucker up. also, my shoulder to bust measurement is shorter than average, so i just hiked the bodice up and added some length under so that the bodice hit my waist. all in all, i added a good inch and a half to the length of the bodice because i need the waist seam to hit under my ribcage. ya know, so i can breathe and whatnot. i think this pattern is a tad short-waisted anyways, fyi.

being a strapless dress, the bodice needs some solid construction to make sure everything stays in place so i underlined the bodice pieces with muslin. but, before i underlined the bodice pieces, i added some lightweight fusible to the muslin. this gave me the benefits of the fusible interfacing without having it directly applied to my shell fabric. i hate to risk the bubbling or weird creasing you can sometimes get with the fusible. yes, i could have just underlined in a heavier material, but i was using what i had on hand, and this worked out rather nicely.

against my better judgement i followed the "press seam to center"
directions... i don't see the reason for this, i'll definitely press
princess seams flat from now on!

i used a lightweight poly lining to which i added boning. the pattern suggests a sew-in caseless boning but i went with the good ol' roll-o-boning from joann's. it's not my favorite, the plastic can be a bit unruly, but it gets the job done.


quick tip: bring a pot of water to a boil then shut off the heat. take the boning out of the casing and drop it in the hot water for about 5 minutes and it will magically uncurl!

also since i was dealing with an essentially strapless bodice i added a waist stay. the waist stay helps to anchor the whole dress so i don't feel the need to constantly tug at it. even a well fitted bodice can start slipping.

as colette patterns is famous for, this dress has pockets! the full skirt hides them beautifully, but i strayed from the pattern directions slightly because i wanted to be able to press the skirt side seams flat. i'll elaborate on what i mean here in my next post and give you a full step by step.

mmm... don't you just love a neatly finished interior?


—lisa g

this fabric should come with a warning label

so i had been admiring this double sided voile shirting fabric for several months (purchased here), and when it went on sale and i had a few other fabrics i needed, i snatched up a couple yards. i had this cute shirtdress pattern to use for my oldest daughter (to see if i could successfully make my first proper button down and collar garment) and thought it would be perfect!

don't be deceived by it's cuteness

i was wrong. okay, i wasn't wrong... but it was definitely not the right fabric to try a new skill on. it's lightweight, it's shifty—shifty i tell you!!! oh, and to top it off, it's plaid. and it's a princess seamed pattern. and i'm just right at this moment having a slap-palm-to-forehead revelation: why didn't i switch the princess seams to darts? duh.

button down shirts have lots of pieces. ergo lots of plaid matching. but the fabric is so darn cute! sigh. by the time i had finished cutting my pieces (one at a time because i could not line up the plaid to cut the fabric double sided—not even the folded pieces) i had already invested four or five hours. just to cut a shirtdress for a seven year old.


this fabric should come with a warning label!!!


but it didn't. and i bought it having no idea what i was getting myself into. once the fabric was cut i had to set it aside for a few days to convince myself that it wasn't really that hard to work with... argh, felt like every single seam was a struggle. it felt like i was sewing for the first time. but, i plowed ahead and sewed and topstitched, and sewed and topstitched. i wanted it to look like a real shirt, so i topstitched every seam i could!

remarkably once all was sewn and done, it actually looked like... a shirt. a real shirt. but the thought of making 8 buttonholes made my head spin. also, a timely blurb on sunni's facebook page cued me in that what i needed to finish this thing off properly were snaps. yes, those adorable pearly snaps!

yes, those are turquoise colored snaps in the background... might
they be going into another shirt in the (hopefully) near future? perhaps...

so, the shirt was sitting in my sewing room completely finished for over a week as i waited for my beautiful snaps to arrive. thankfully my first snap application was a huge success! they went in super fast (i think it took about 15 minutes total. take that buttonholes!) and they totally finish off the look of the shirt. dare i say, they were a snap to put in! you knew that was coming.

i am 95% pleased with the outcome of this shirtdress! which is high, i assure you. despite the horrifically difficult fabric i was working with (did i mention it was shifty???), i finished the whole thing without mishap. but seriously... only use this fabric if your patience is on heroic virtue levels. for real.

believe me, unpicking seams with this fabric would have been nearly impossible. my button placket is passable (two piece button placket, not one of the faux just turn it to the inside button plackets, mind you) and my first real life two piece collar is very close to perfect.

i won't point out the flaw in my collar application, only someone who actually knows anything about collars would notice what's wrong with it. i couldn't accurately mark this fabric so something got a little off... but like i said: you will never know.

and, for your amusement... i also made this skirt.


it is ridiculous and poufy and too stiff of a fabric, so i'll probably never actually wear it. does look much cuter in pictures than in real life though, go figure!


and lest you think i haven't been doing that much sewing, i have five made for easter outfits coming up! just have to finish up that last dress...


—lisa g

pastille pt. 3: finished!

i have to admit, when i first saw this dress as one of the patterns in the colette patterns handbook, it wasn't my favorite. maybe it was the pastel color scheme that doesn't really suit me or just my own limited imagination. at any rate, i had some fabric i had bought for super cheap and decided to give this dress a shot. i started to really notice the feminine details: the curvy neckline, the tucks, the cap sleeves and thought: wait. that's exactly what i need in a dress. plus, i had red fabric. red. everyone needs a red dress. sometimes my projects just decide themselves.

in my last post i showed how to maneuver the zipper and lining and facings to make everything nice and tidy. i love insides i can be proud of! i'm a sewing nerd, i know...


so, let's go over the details, shall we? my material is a cotton rayon blend with a twill weave. while the material is medium weight, the weave is a little loose. to keep everything in place, i underlined the bodice in a purple cotton broadcloth. this really helped while sewing to keep everything lined up. the skirt is lined with the same material as my underlining.

the innards: pre zipper and pre tacking down of facing.
the facings for this dress are crazy unruly beasts!

as far as the pattern alterations went, i graded from a 0 at the shoulder out to a 4 at the waist. then i butchered the bodice to pieces (reducing it to a mere shadow of its former self) doing an sba like this.


on the back bodice piece, i cut the whole thing a size 0 (size 4 in length though) and reduced the waist dart so that my waist measurement was still the same as the size 4. i also did a slight swayback adjustment, removing a 1/4" wedge out of the back. nothing as major as i have seen in so many people's versions though!

i cut a size 4 skirt and added 1" above the hip as my waist to hip measurement is longer than average. this also helped bring the hem down to a better length for me.


this is really one of the best fitting dresses i've made. i could mess around a little with the shoulder because that is the one place where the fit isn't perfect. it's also something that i can alter without a major undoing of stitches.

now, as i mentioned on my macaron dress, i think i have weird shoulders. since this is just a cap sleeve it isn't bothersome, but i can tell that i may need more material to reach my shoulder in the back, and less toward the front. it's as if i need to rotate the armscythe forward half an inch or so. does this adjustment have a name? i really don't know.

i am so pleased with how this dress turned out. it was a snap to sew up, i only spent a couple days working on it. and by days, i mean naptimes and an hour or two in the evenings. so, don't let some of the mixed reviews on the fitting of this dress throw you off. give this one a try, it's perfect for spring. and yes, it's finally spring!

• pastille pt. 1: fitting & muslin
• pastille pt. 2: the zipper & lining maneuver

—lisa g

pastille pt. 2: the zipper & lining maneuver

before i show off my lovely finished pastille, i thought i'd show you how to manipulate the lining around the zipper.


for this one, i chose to underline the bodice and line the skirt. now, when i started sewing dresses and was trying to figure out how to put everything together neatly inside and out, i would study books and poke around dresses at shops. then when i discovered sewing blogs and burdastyle, even those who showed the insides of their dresses usually left out the construction around the zipper (probably for good reason!). and that's what i always struggled with. so, in this post i will show you exactly what i did with the lining around the zipper. it's a very clean finish, and will hopefully be helpful to somebody.

here is the inside before the zip is inserted.
i choose purple for the underlining to help keep my red from
looking too orange. and cuz it's fun.

as i mentioned, i underlined the bodice. when you do that, and don't include an additional lining, your seams will be visible. i'm okay with that on a casual dress such as this. i serge all my seam allowances to keep the raw edges from fraying, but if you don't serge i highly recommend seam binding. so my underlined bodice is attached to the skirt, then the skirt lining is sewn on. make sure to stop about 1.25" from the zipper opening. i will want to sandwich the zipper tape between the shell and lining fabric once the zipper is in.

now sew in the zip. i love invisible zips. i think they are the easiest to put in, provided you have an invisible zipper foot. considering you can get one on amazon for $5-$10, there's really no reason not to have one! for this dress, the zipper is very long, so i will hand baste it in first. believe me, that is a lot of zip to screw up, it's practically a mile long.

if you baste first, you can easily check to see if everything lines up satisfactorily. on a shorter zip i usually just pin it in place and hope for the best. oh, you did finish your zipper seam allowance first, right? good.

make sure that top zipper stop is 1/8" down from your seam line at the neck opening. if you like doing a hook and eye at the top (i don't) align the zipper stop about 1/2"-1" down. now, stitch it in! i usually do a long stitch, 3-4 mm.

once you have sewn both sides of your zipper, turn your skirt lining in and slipstitch it at the waist seam and down the zipper tape if you wish. fyi: i usually don't bother sewing down the zipper tape. what can i say, i'm lazy.

on to the neckline facing. you should have left a little unsewn as you came into the zipper opening. now, turn your facing to the outside of the dress (right sides together) and finish sewing the neckline across the zipper

then switch to your regular zipper foot and sew down the side of the zipper.

trim the heck out of that corner then turn it right side out. i trimmed it much more than the picture below shows, so you know.




give it a good press and ta-da! you have a perfectly finished zipper with neck facings and skirt lining!

—lisa g

pastille pt. 1: fitting & muslin

next up, the pastille dress from colette patterns book. i went into this pattern with knowledge about some tweaks i would have to make. i've read other people's reviews on it and seen some serious fitting issues going on in the back! so, thanks to the awesome interwebs, i went into my muslin taking all this into consideration.




first, the front: colette patterns are designed for women with an "average american bust." i, however, am not so "average american" in this respect. so, i knew i would have to do a serious sba to make it work for me. also, i had been studying how to draft a basic bodice block from a pattern making book and discovered that my dart intake is only 1 1/2" -2", whereas this pattern has more than a 4" dart intake. uh... yeah.

on the left is the bottom half of the bodice
front which, you can see, i altered significantly

i only had to look at the pastille pattern pieces to know it in no way would fit me as is. not even close. i won't go into details over the sba right now because some searching led me to a very good tutorial. it's easy and totally demystifies how to reduce a darted bodice, something i have struggled with in the past. i highly recommend checking it out here.


on to the back: so, i've seen that people using this pattern have had some seriously excessive amounts of fabric going on in the back. since i'm rather narrow on top anyway, i decided to cut the back a size 0, but reduce the dart intake at the waist to give me the size 4 width at the waist.

to do this, i marked the innermost leg of the dart on the size 4 line (on the seamline), but narrowed the dart and redrew it (this ensures that the dart is in the right place to line up with the skirt dart). did you follow that? instead of adjusting my side seam (transitioning from a 0 down to a 4 at the waist) i just went with the smaller size then added width by taking a smaller dart. i noticed that many of the fitting problems others had seemed to be caused by excess fabric vertically and this adjustment took care of that for me.

the green line is my re-drawn dart, the line
i'm pointing to is the original outer dart leg

i know that isn't the clearest explanation ever, if you want more details just ask and i'll be happy to clarify!


all in all, it worked out really well and my muslin fit almost perfectly. i still had a little extra in the bust i had to reduce, but that was pretty much it. success! oh, wanna see my fabric?

that's the understitching on the facing at the neckline,
this picture just happens to show the fabric most accurately

it's a red, cotton-rayon blend with a twill weave. loooove this fabric. it's so chic, classic and perfect for the winter/spring transition. and the best part, i got it for less than $3/yd. so basically, this dress (with lining) cost me less than $20.


—lisa g