Back from vacation – fabric review and roundup.

During the three weeks we spent down at my parents’ house, I sewed a baby ensemble, a sexy maxi dress, and a simple spring skirt for myself. And in the car, I did, in fact, do plenty of knitting! The red sweater is waiting for arms and I finished most of the body of the gray one. Plus, thanks to my mom, I had a break from housework and had mostly just one baby to take care of, which is about as much of a break as possible with a nursling. I also found time to do some shopping. Mom and I took the baby down to Atlanta to visit Whipstitch and have lunch. That was a fun girls’ day and this is the loot I scored:

I also went twice to the Alpharetta Joann because on my first trip for supplies, I inquired about the new Lisette fabrics and learned they had more on the truck to be unloaded soon. Soooo, I had to go back a second time to see them and this is what I came home with:

The cotton sateen is wonderfully soft and drapes beautifully, yet is quite substantial. The twill is lightweight and reasonably soft. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the poplin or lawn, which is really what I wanted. The green is just a basic poplin for some play clothes to match the gray sweater.

Most exciting of all was when the very long on-the-edge-of-my-seat awaited Children at Play line by Sarah Jane Studios finally made it into some stores. I spent a LOT of time tracking down the prints I wanted for baby girl’s first birthday. I literally battled other shoppers! Just as I was trying to complete a transaction, the fabric sold out right from underneath me. If that was you last Saturday night at Hawthorne Threads, I hope you’re enjoying it. I was really quite upset. However, after much more online searching, I found more and it’s hopefully on its way. One shipper sent the wrong print by accident, and though I may keep it anyway, I had to search again for the right one. All in all, I had to buy yardage from four different stores to get what I wanted! I don’t think even Heather Ross prints are in quite such demand. Has anyone else ever experienced such craziness?

I did have two packages of Children at Play waiting for me, though, when we got home. It was exciting to finally have it in my hands. It is indeed as lovely and unique as it appeared online. The hand is soft, though not as buttery soft and drap-y as Moda.  It’s not at all stiff and rough as some quilting cottons can be. In other words, I think it will work nicely for the birthday dress, which is a relief because I pretty much took it on faith that it would be OK. I have three months until her birthday, but I plan to get cracking on the dress soon to make sure I can take my time and don’t get stressed out being down to the wire.

And if that wasn’t enough, the first thing I did on our return was to hit Spool’s summer sale and come home with several yards of the new Joel Dewberry collection and some shot cotton and promptly became distracted with sewing that up, a project I will share with you in a few days.

I have pictures coming soon of projects I haven’t yet reviewed here, including the Lisette Passport Jacket and a maxi dress in Anna Maria Horner voile, so stay tuned. Also, follow me on Twitter now!

spreading my wings

Lots of moms complain about maternity clothes, but I think that really the most challenge time of life for fashion is the whole first year post-partum. Most of us have plenty we want to cover up, but also need easy and quick access to the girls. Plus, as you start to loose some of that belly, the maternity/nursing tops don’t fit anymore either. Grr. So when I saw Anna MariaHorner’s new book last year, I was so excited she included nursing tops. And when my mother in law brought me three whole yards of Liberty Tana lawn when she came from England for Christmas, I knew I owed myself something really lovely to wear in these style-challenged months. 

 

The Mariposa project in Handmade Beginnings can be made up as maternity or not, sleeved or sleeveless, as a dress or tunic, so lots and lots of options. I first made it without any alterations in a quilting cotton, but honestly, it didn’t work out well. The quilting fabric required way too much ironing and simply didn’t look nice. Also, the pattern needed quite a few alterations to be more flattering. The first try became a muslin and last summer, I made it as a maternity dress in some of that delicious Little Folks voile to wear for C's 3rd birthday.

As a maternity dress, it works very well. I anticipated adjusting the skirt to wear as a nursing dress – and the adjustment would be easy to make – but the dress has kind of a dumpy sack-like look on me without the huge belly to distract the eye.

For my Liberty blouse, I chose a sleeveless version so I could easily layer it for year round wear. The empire tunic version is flattering for a post-partum figure as it draws attention to a well-endowed bust but skims over the baby belly. I recommend tying the bow in front for easier access. That cute bow really helps pull the eye away from the jelly belly underneath and draw the eye to the bustline.

Mariposa is very cute and I have received heaps of compliments on both versions, but I found the pattern needed quite a lot of alteration. The main issue is that there’s an awful lot of fabric over the shoulders and across the bust. All that fabric just looks matronly and frumpy on a large bust, which is probably what you’ve got if you’re making a nursing top in the first place. So, I drafted the V neckline a good bit deeper. Then, I used a semi-sheer voile for the “modesty panel” in the middle to break up the impression of a vast wall of bosom. The neckline was much improved, though if I made this again, I would deepen it even more, all the way up and around the back, which was also a little uncomfortably high. I would probably also skip the back facing and finish the back neck with bias binding, which I think would be neater in this case. I might even play with gathers to create the bust shaping instead of pleats. I think that might make it easier to customize the fit and make it most flattering.

 It was uncomfortably sung under the arms and I trimmed the entire armsyce a bit. A bit too much, actually, as it didn’t cover my bra straps perfectly. Also, after I made the dress version, I noticed that the skirt part had a weird sort of curved shape at the empire waist that simply didn’t lay nicely, so this time I redrafted it myself to more of a pencil shape.

The Mariposa instructions are, like other patterns I’ve tried by Anna Maria Horner, very thorough with plenty of diagrams to help you along. It is a complicated pattern with quite a few steps and I would definitely recommend some sewing experience before tackling this. The only trouble I had was attaching the ties to the body. Each time, it took me a few tries to get it right, but I think this was just me.  All in all, I think this is a great pattern with enough options to suit a variety of people. I recommend a fabric with drape that doesn’t need too much ironing. Voile and lawn have been perfect for my versions, though I would like to see it in seersucker or double gauze, maybe even shot cotton. 

(Thanks to Amanda for the great pictures! Please forgive my poor modelling skills.)

Tomorrow, we’re off on a road trip to Georgia. (Anyone know of good fabric stores in the north Atlanta exurbs?)  When I think about 12 hours of road time with nothing to do but sit there, sneaky thoughts of knitting creep into my head. I’m trying to finish the complicated part of the yoke on a little sweater so that I can spend the drive doing the mindless ribbed body and sleeves. I figure I ought to be able to finish it in 12 hours, right? I mean, 12 hours. Not like I'll have three kids in the back seat driving me nuts or anything. Gosh, I hope the Duke doesn’t plan on me driving. And maybe on the way back I can do the mindless stockinet part of the other little sweater. Two sweaters, one trip, not so unreasonable. Uh huh, right. Good grief! Why is knitting so prone to overestimating? It’s a freakin sickness.