sewing

Quilted coat toile

I’ve finally picked the pattern for my winter coat and found the perfect fabric so on to making a toile. The pattern is Burda 114 11/2019. I’m not intending to make a lot of changes, just to miss off the bow and make my usual length alterations.

Here are a couple of front views. Excuse the terrible lighting and phone pictures. For this toile I have included the facings and pinned up all the hems so the edges are where they will be on the final version.

The sleeve and hem lengths are good. It doesn’t look super roomy here but there’s a lot of ease in the body. Even with the front opening pinned all the way down it’s easy to walk in. In the real thing there will be a two way zip so it can be partly opened at the bottom for even more space.

Burda 114 11/2019 toile front view showing sleeve length

Now the back and the side. The shoulder seam is in the right place. The ease is much more apparent from the back. However I think it’s all going to be needed because the final coat will have a thick layer of wadding under the shell fabric. I often make a rounded back adjustment on outerwear which I find improves the arm mobility, but I didn’t need to on this one because the back is already roomy.

I think the front needs to be very slightly longer to make the hem level.

The pockets are in a good place. I haven’t included the pocket bags on the toile but I have doubts about whether they are deep enough. Oddly enough on this picture it looks like the back is too long. But I think it’s the way I’m contorting myself to get the photo combined with the angle of the mirror.

Burda 114 11/2019 toile side view showing pocket

The collar is enormous. I like a dramatic collar but I’m going to adjust the shape of this one a little. The front edge is drafted dead straight but looks a bit concave here so I shall correct for that on the pattern. If it doesn’t work I can always re sew along the original stitching line. I also notice the collar seems wider than in the technical drawing but I’m going to leave that alone because it might change with the wadding in, and can always be adjusted later by sewing a deeper seam.

So all in all pretty good. I’m hoping to cut the real fabric out this weekend.

Argh! On finding the right fabric

I always knew what fabric I was going to make my quilted winter coat out of: a silver foiled denim that I’d previously used for a pair of jeans. I had a couple of metres left in stash and it was still available from the original website so I was planning to buy a bit more to make up the necessary length. This is my original sample from when I made the jeans. It’s really bright silver on a black denim substrate.

I’d carefully worked out the exact amount of extra to buy by laying all my pattern pieces out according to the width of the fabric and crawling around with a measuring tape.

Then doubt set in. The pattern recommendation is for ‘technical fabrics backed with batting’. I take ‘technical fabrics’ to mean those lightweight water resistant polyester and nylon things. Here’s the line drawing for the pattern so you have some idea of the sort of garment I’m talking about.

Burda 114/11/2019 quilted coat technical drawing

The denim is medium weight and not at all drapey. Would the quilting lines even show up? Would the whole thing be too heavy and stiff? I sent off for some samples of alternatives.

Sample of lame fabric from Minerva crafts

Sample of foiled viscose from Minerva Crafts

Here are all four fabrics together.

The three new ones are at the top. They are all described as lame, but in the top two the shine comes from metallic threads in the weave and the third one is a plain white fabric that’s been coated. The fourth (bottom one) in the picture is the original foiled denim.

The first two are definitely not suitable. They have a very crispy hand and are almost transparent.

The third one is very drapey – the base is a lightweight woven viscose – but at least it’s opaque. I was concerned about the lack of body through – I’ve got to sew a heavy zip and snaps to this thing. I’m not sure how you measure drapiness scientifically, but hanging it over a chopstick demonstrates the problem.

At this point I was seriously considering going in another direction altogether. Burda had made up the jacket length version of this pattern in a gorgeous velvet which seemed like a good alternative. I went down a rabbit hole searching for the perfect grey woven velvet but nothing quite fitted the bill.

So after days of agonising I went looking on Pinterest to see if quilted denim coats are even a thing, and if so what they look like. And actually I found quite a few. They aren’t as super puffy as the nylon sort, but they don’t look ridiculous. (Yes I appreciate that a silver coat is a fundamentally ridiculous garment. But I want the particular ridiculous look I’m aiming for, not a different one.)

So, greatly relieved to have made a decision, I went back to the original plan. You can no doubt guess the next bit. I went online to order the foiled denim fabric, only to find it has sold out. And I still hadn’t found any alternative I really liked.

Finally I came across an old sample I’d acquired last year of what I think is called a tonic fabric: it combines black and white yarns in a twill weave to give a shiny, almost metallic effect. It’s a cotton/acetate blend, it’s opaque, it has more body than the viscose, and most importantly the supplier still has it in stock. I leapt on it! It should arrive next week.

Burda 116 09/2014 modelled photos

So we set out last weekend to get some modelled photos of my Burda 116 09/2014 shirt dress. I’d intended to go to the local country park, which has some great locations for photography. But my three year old really wanted to visit a particular playground in a nearby housing estate instead, so here I am disporting myself on playground equipment an attempt to get interesting shots. Kudos to my husband for managing to make a fairly small and toddler friendly climbing frame look dramatic.

The photo below shows a bit more detail. The dress is made from lightweight ivory stretch cotton poplin from Tissu Fabrics so it’s more of a big shirt than a dress. I’m wearing it over my fake leather leggings in these pictures. The original Burda version was chambray and was styled as a dress.

Here’s the Burda version for comparison.

The back view is almost entirely plain. It needs a yoke to break it up a bit. It looks a bit wide in the shoulders here but it’s certainly comfortable to wear.

As I suspected the pockets on the bodice are not very useful because there isn’t enough depth below the opening for anything to stay in them. The position is unusual too; they start just at the bust point. They add some interest to the front and that’s about it.

The bodice has come out a bit blousey. I added the usual amount of length I do for Burda patterns, so that would be worth checking if you’re making this. It’s possible that the problem is actually too much interfacing in the front bands; there’s a layer in each band and two in the button band so it’s got a lot of body. Next time I’d definitely only interface one side of the buttonhole band.

As for styling this: I think it works with the leggings, and it also looks OK with black tights and a black long sleeved t shirt underneath. I’ve also worn it with my grey Oxford bags. So it’s fairly versatile. I’m not sure I’d make it again as a shirt, but it might be a good summer shirt dress.

So that’s another ticked off my list of favourite Burda dress patterns. I’m putting that project down for a bit, because the next thing I’m tackling is my long delayed winter coat.

Tracing

It’s finally time to start my winter coat project. I’ve made a decision at last: it’s going to be Burda 114 11/2019, but without the ribbon tie. There’s a zip and snaps under the overlap so I don’t think I’ll miss the tie.

As it is a Burda pattern, that means the first step is tracing the pieces from the magazine. I do this on thin paper off a huge roll I bought from Morplan some years ago. It’s the most cost effective way to get good tracing paper that I’ve found. But when I came to start this one, I discovered I was at the end of the roll. It seems unbelievable that I’ve used up 300m of tracing paper. I trace envelope patterns as well as magazine patterns but even so I’m surprised.

I’ve acquired another of the rolls now and started work. Tracing really does take time. I’ve heard people say they can trace off a Burda pattern in half an hour. By the time I’ve copied the original pieces, added the seam and hem allowances, done the pattern adjustments I need, and checked it all still fits together I’m looking at 2-3 hours total for a moderately complicated pattern. This coat has only nine pieces – I have used patterns in the past with more than 30! I’ve already got gadgets for adding seam allowance, and a big table to work on. I really don’t know how else to make it any faster. Top tips welcome; I can’t wait to get through the tracing and get on with a toile.

More Burda dresses: Burda 116 09/2014

I’ve been working on this shirt dress for about a month now. It’s Burda 116 09/2014. This has been on my Burda to-sew list for a long time, but I struggled to find the right fabric. Burda’s version is in grey chambray. The variant design (tunic length, with a hood instead of a collar) is made in wool muslin – a fabric I don’t think I have ever encountered in the wild.

Mine’s ivory stretch cotton poplin from Tissu fabrics. This makes it more of a big shirt than a shirt dress – at least that’s how I’m intending to wear it. I had the fabric in stash, left over from a very full-skirted McCalls shirt dress I made a while ago, and eventually realised it would work for this. There was only just enough and I had to piece the drawstring casing. It’s so satisfying to only have tiny scraps left over though.

This is a dress with a lot going on. I find a lot of sewing patterns have much less detail than equivalent ready-to-wear garments, but this one can’t be accused of that. About the only thing missing is a back yoke. I haven’t got any modelled pictures yet, but here are closeups of all the crunchy details.

The collar is unusual. It’s a band collar, but it stops where the front placket starts instead of overlapping. This makes for quite a weak point at that sharp inward corner between the band and the placket. I’m a bit concerned it won’t wear well and I think next time I’d add some interfacing there.

There are patch pockets on the front, which I suspect are more decorative than useful, and side seam pockets too.

And then there’s a drawstring at the waist. Don’t look too hard at the buttonhole position; it’s too high. It won’t show when the drawstring is tied though.

The back is plain apart from the drawstring casing at the waist. I think a back yoke would be a nice addition but I’m way too lazy to adjust the pattern.

I love the hem treatment. There is a very deep hem facing which gives a completely clean finish. A weighty hem is so much nicer on this kind of dress than a narrow one.

The sleeves are finished with elastic in a casing instead of cuffs. I like how it echoes the waist.

I’m looking forward to figuring out how to style this. I might try it over my silver jeans or my grey Oxford bags. Lots of possibilities. Ideas welcome!

Andy’s gizmo

When I was doing GCSE Creative Textiles many many years ago one of the things the course included was ‘soft sculpture’: using fabric to create facsimiles of objects. I never thought I’d be using those techniques in real life. But last weekend I found myself recreating a prop from my son’s favourite TV programme in fabric and it’s actually a pretty similar process.

The prop is the ‘gizmo’ from Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures. It’s a blue mobile phone-like device that the lead character wears strapped to his arm. The gizmo is quite thick, so I used some scraps of foam heat resistant table covering to stuff it and give it shape. I also used heavy weight iron-on interfacing on the back of the blue felt body fabric.

The gizmo has a screen, which I made with black felt, and some controls which I machine embroidered. It attaches to an arm band with Velcro. Here’s the body fabric with the screen, embroidery and Velcro applied before I sewed it up.

The arm band is a rectangle of sweatshirting fabric. It is wrapped around the arm and is held together with Velcro on the long edges. The gizmo attaches to two smaller strips of Velcro.

And here’s the finished object. It’s already been well loved and the felt fabric is showing the effects. In Creative Textiles we used to use cotton twill fabric and paint it with glue to make our soft sculptures have a bit of body. I don’t think I’ll be going as far as using glue, but I bet denim or gabardine would work for the body fabric and be harder wearing.

I made a proper pattern for this, which turns out to be a good thing because we recently discovered Andy’s Wild Adventures; a very similar series to Dinosaur Adventures but the gizmo in it is red not blue. So this weekend I may be making a red version.

Knowing when to give up: Burda 116 09/2018

Looks OK on the dressform, doesn’t it? This is my version of Burda 116 09/2018, a fitted dress from my list of favourite Burda dresses. Here’s Burda’s version:

Model photo of Burda 116 09/2018. Blonde woman wearing fitted grey dress.

Sadly however the end result does not look at all OK on me. It’s oddly droopy in most places, and yet tight across the bust.

I did make a few changes which may have contributed to the problems. I used a stable ponte knit instead of a woven. I checked the ease on the pattern and it seemed OK for a knit, but once I tried the dress on I realised I should have sized down and done a full bust adjustment. I also added somewhat unsuccessful hip pockets; the lines don’t harmonise with the princess seams on the bodice very well. And I made the sleeves full length, only I got that wrong too and they are only full length because they’re not hemmed!

This is the dress where I followed Burda’s method for adding length to a bodice by splitting the adjustment above and below the bust point, instead of adding it all below as I’ve been doing for years. Many commenters said Burda’s instructions didn’t sound like a good idea and you were right! Look how deep the armscye is. At least I know now not to bother with that again.

I’m also not terribly happy with the neckline and collar. Burda’s version has square corners and a sharp v, but the sewing lines on the pattern are curved. I followed the pattern without really thinking, and the end result is pretty different to the one photographed in the magazine. It’s not curved enough to look intentional in my opinion.

I’m pleased with my top stitching though. There’s a lot of top stitched seam detail on the back. I skipped the centre back zip as I was using a knit.

I’m also quite pleased with the finish I got on the inside. The lining is black tricot mesh. It was an absolute beast to sew; it slipped and snagged at every opportunity.

But unfortunately I don’t think the dress is savable because of the armscye problem. Everything else could be fixed or lived with, but that would need recutting the whole bodice and I haven’t got any more of the fabric. And to be quite honest I’m pretty much over this one and don’t want to put the effort in! I’ll just have to chalk it up to experience.

Sewing top fives: Misses

This is my favourite part of the sewing top fives: writing about the ones that didn’t work. And the good news is that I’m struggling to find five complete fails from 2019 – this year there are only four.

The first was a pair of trousers for my son. I traced the pattern (Burda 127 03/2018), cut them out, and then left them for a couple of months. Which was stupid because children grow. By the time I made them up they were much too small.

I wasn’t entirely convinced by the drafting either; they’re intended for that awkward size where the child may or may not still be in nappies, but you’d never fit a nappy under these. What I’ve learnt from this is that it’s a lot cheaper and easier (in the UK at least) to buy trousers for toddlers than make your own.

The next fail was also for my son, but the same pattern (a RTW copy based on Burda 138 03/2014) also featured in my top five hits. I first made it in green polar fleece as a trial run, and he loved it. The red ‘real’ version here is made from soft shell and is not loved – in fact I can’t get him to wear it. I think the problem is that the fabric is too robust. It’s much more of a coat fabric than a sweater fabric. Pity because it’s a lovely colour and I was very pleased with how it came out. I may have to pass this on to one of his friends.

Now on to things for me. I made a toile of Burda 118 09/2010, a coat I’ve loved for years, thinking the pattern couldn’t possibly be as bad as all the reviews said. And I think it could be made into a wearable garment. But have I done all the work needed to fix the many problems with the pattern yet? No. Maybe next year. Maybe never.

This last one is probably my worst fail. It’s a remake of Burda 128 10/2010 in black sateen. It’s a bit tricky to sew and I put quite a lot of extra effort into adding pockets to the design, but I’ve hardly worn it. It’s too short and tight. The first time I made it I used a knitted fabric and I suspect I’ve also put on a few inches since then, so it was silly to think I could use the same pattern pieces this time around. Funnily enough it doesn’t look too bad in the picture. I wonder if there is some styling trick that would mean I can get some wear out of it.

So that’s one poor fabric choice, two fitting fails, and one bad pattern. The only one I’m really frustrated about is the black dress – the too-small trousers were made from leftover fabric, the coat never got beyond a toile, and at least I got one good garment out of the toddler top pattern.

Top five sewing hits of 2019

It’s that time of year again: Sewing Top Fives. This is definitely my favourite blog series! So without further ado, here are my top five projects of 2019.

First up is a garment that wasn’t for me: it’s a fleece top for my son. I used Burda 138 03/2014 as a basis for the pattern but the collar and neckline is copied from a much loved RTW top. He wore my version a lot until he grew too big for it. I think a big part of the appeal is that his dad has a hoodie made from the same fabric. I should definitely make it again, a size or two bigger.

The next one is a pattern repeat; this is the fourth version of Style Arc’s Toni dress I’ve made. It took a few iterations but I’ve got the pattern completely adjusted to my liking now. It’s a great summer dress; very easy to wear but still looks stylish. There will be more of these in the future.

Three is another well loved pattern: Burda 117 02/2012 made in a grey ponte. This is another one where I’ve adjusted the pattern quite a bit over several versions. I think I am finally happy with it now. I have this one and a black scuba version in regular rotation at the moment.

I haven’t made many trousers much this year but this pair of cargoes have been a huge success. The pattern is Burda 121 02/2018. They have a lot of fiddly details but the end result really looks like RTW and I have worn them lots despite a less than perfect fit (hard to see in the picture but they’re too big on the waist). I’m slightly disappointed in the fabric though. It has already faded from a mid grey to a very light grey.

But this has to be the best project of the year, my Burda trench coat. It gets worn most days and it’s the perfect combination of easy to throw on, goes with everything, but still looks like I’ve made an effort. The original pattern is 105 02/2019 but I made a lot of changes to the shaping.

Four out of five of these are Burda patterns. This isn’t a surprise: I mostly sewed from Burda this year because I’ve been cutting back on envelope pattern purchases. I have to say that my Burda back catalogue has provided a suitable pattern for practically everything I’ve wanted to make, so there’s a lesson there.

Next up: top five fails.

Pattern adjustments

So I’m making Burda 116 09/2018, very slowly indeed. It’s got quite a lot of pieces and I’m making things slightly worse by adding hip yoke pockets, although I’m also skipping the zip and most of the lining.

I’ve got a longer than average torso so I always add 5cm to the length of dress bodices to make the waist match up with my actual waist. I started sewing with Big Four who always put a lengthen/shorten line between the bottom of the armscye and the waist. Adding a ton of length there can leave the bust point too high, but it’s easy to do. But I notice Burda recommends doing it differently: adding only 2/3 of the extra length there, and the other 1/3 above the bust point. Which lowers the bust point but means changing the armscye and sleeve too. So in a fit of enthusiasm I decided to try that this time. Here are my adjusted front bodice pieces.

I’m…unconvinced. That looks like a huge change to the armscye to me. I’m carrying on for now but I won’t be surprised if the sleeves fit strangely.

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sewing my own clothes