Tag: Boho

Fall Sewing: Alix Dress in Télio Rayon Slub

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After making a number of practical everyday garments likes jeans and sweatshirts, it feels good to make something that’s a little extra special.  I’ve been dying to make a Boho maxi dress for the days I want some statement style but still have a light relaxed feel.  Then Télio asked me to collaborate and I already adore their fashion-forward garment fabrics.  How could I refuse an opportunity after seeing this gorgeous border print?  The fabric along with By Hand London’s Alix dress pattern were going to be THE perfect match!

Fabric

The first time I used Télio fabric was here.  I was impressed with the high quality and how the fabric washes well.  So, it’s no wonder I fell in love with this Télio Kahlo Rayon (#39801) for its gorgeous double-border print.  Look how the three different patterns are layered to give an impression of a tiered dress without having to actually sew one!  It gives so much visual interest and I was able to play with the design with my fussy cuts of the dress pattern.

The fabric is 100% rayon with an incredible slub texture.  The feel of the natural fiber knobs adds to the character of the Alix Dress and Boho vibe.  As with all rayon, the fabric is still lightweight with beautiful drape and movement.  It is also completely opaque.  After adding linings to my last few makes, I’m happy to leave that step out!

Pattern

Initially when I chose this fabric, I wanted to make a long shirtdress.  But when I received it, I knew I wanted something else to show off this print.  After going through dozens of other patterns, I remembered how the Alix Dress caught my eye awhile back.  I’ve sewn up the Holly Trousers before and By Hand London writes up a great pattern.

I really love this dress silhouette.  It’s relaxed all over with a beautiful tie-back to show off the waist.  This allows a nice shape without having me look like I’m drowning in fabric….especially, when I’m petite.  The tie-back also allows for weight fluctuations, which is VERY much appreciated in a handmade wardrobe.

One of the features that drew me into this pattern were the peasant sleeves.  I have heavy arms and usually have to make a bicep adjustment with woven patterns, so the ease in the sleeves looked pretty attractive.  I ended up not having to make any adjustments to the sleeve pattern.  The darts at the top of the shoulder allow full range of motion.

However, I still did hack into the sleeve to change out the elastic casings.  I wanted a clean look and went for a slim button cuff with a 2″ long placket made with 1/4″ bias tape.  Since the cuff is only 1/2″ wide, I didn’t want to make a buttonhole and opted for a loop with my fabric covered button.  This a small detail, but I love being able to make my own custom buttons.

The other change I made to the Alix dress is the addition of pockets….because all dresses need pockets!  Amirite?  I used the in-seam pocket pattern from Christine Hayne’s Derby Dress (it’s my go-to pocket) and marked them about 4″ down from the top of the skirt.  If you ever wonder if you should add pockets, do it!  You won’t regret the extra work 🙂

Since I was working with a border print, I was limited to the 56″ wof and had to cut off 5.5″ from the skirt just to fit the pattern piece onto the fabric.  I was worried this would have to turn into an ankle or midi-length dress, but it was worth the sacrifice to show off the design.  For once, I was thankful for being 5’3″ because the dress turned out to be just long enough!  I created a 1 1/2″ hem and it just hits the top of my foot.  Phew!

There were two choices to either make a dart or gather the fabric under the bust.  I opted for the gathers and made sure to push them more toward the center of each breast.  This helped eliminate any sagging fabric around the sides into the bodice.

It maybe hard to see (which is good,) but I also added two fabric covered buttons to the front yoke.  My fussy cutting into the border left me with too much negative space right at the bottom of the V-neck.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have much fabric left and couldn’t cut out another piece.  So I made due with what I had and added the buttons to balance out the print a bit more.  Do you think it works?

I’m in LOVE with this make and it’s the perfect relaxed statement dress.  I can wear it with clogs (shown here,) flat booties and then sandals in the spring.  I’m thinking this may come with me to Thanksgiving….

Project Summary:

 

Happy Sewing Friends!

Cristy

 

Fabric was provided by Télio Fashion Fabrics for this blog post.  Pattern was purchased by myself and as always, all opinions are my own.  There maybe affiliate links in the post.  

Rumi Tank Review

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I’m a huge fan of racerback tops. I don’t know if I just have weird sloping shoulders or maybe the wrong bras, but any kind of spaghetti strap I wear, always falls down.  Over the years, its become pretty annoying having to constantly pull the straps back up.  I started to wear mainly racerback bras to combat my issue and then had to find new tank tops that would cover the new strap configuration.

So when Christine Haynes came out with the Rumi Tank pattern, I knew instantly, it was for me.  It’s designed for knits, has a classic versatile shape and is stash friendly. I can get a tank out of less than a yard and have made two tanks that out of pure scraps.  This pattern is a PDF with printing options for a personal printer and copy shop.  I decided to send this pattern to my local big box office supply store (because I had a coupon) for the first time.  Let me say, if given the option, I will always choose copy shop printing.  Taping PDF patterns is just not what I want to spend my time doing.

My first project was just the tank version and I used the Limestone Feel knit by Leah Duncan . I’m between a 6 and an 8 and also a B cup. From the waist up, I cut a 6 and then graded out to the 8 around the hip (to account for my larger rear) and used a 10 in length.

With a serger, the construction of the Rumi Tank was very quick.  However, I made sure to take the time to evenly distribute and pin the neck and armbands for a nice smooth finish. Although not necessary, I do top-stitch (with a ball-point needle!) around the neck and armholes for a professional look and to keep the seam allowance in place.

TIP: I like my garments to even be pretty on a hanger. So, I start and stop all my serging at inconspicuous spots…usually off to one side.

For my second Rumi project, I made the dress version. My family had spring break plans down on Florida and I could use a casual dress to throw over a bathing suit, if needed. April Rhodes’ Observer knit was perfect! I wore it to the beach and back.

Bonus – This dress can be worn with a jacket and layered over leggings.

I’ve made two more Rumi tanks to fill in my summer wardrobe. One with a navy and cream skinny stripe I got from a destash and then another in the same Observer knit because I love the print and color so much 🙂 The ease and comfortability with these makes are awesome. I’ve been wearing them with jeans and skirts all summer long.

As we near the autumn and winter months, I plan on sewing a few more tanks and dresses. These will make nice layering pieces under my cocoon cardigans and with some fun tights.  All in all, I think this is a great beginner knit pattern. It’s also perfect if you are working on a handmade capsule. The silhouette is classic and you don’t have to deal with pesky falling straps!

 

Happy Sewing!

Cristy

 

This post may contain affiliate links.

Heritage and Arizona After Fabrics :: Portside Duffle

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April Rhodes has done it again.  She has just dropped not one, but TWO new fabric collections with Art Gallery Fabrics.  Arizona After is a gorgeous extension of April’s inaugural Arizona line with some new prints and some recolored with soft dusty pink and blues along with some deep rust and mustard.  The color combos she puts together are always so striking.  Heritage fabrics consists of garment focused substrates…including the new RAYON.  With April’s clothing patterns, she has always been a designer who knows scale for the quilters and the garment sewist alike.  It’s the perfect collection for the me-made makers!

Beyond the fabrics, April’s inspiration for the collections is just so touching.  The way she talks about her family and memories of her father and grandmother is just pure love.  Truly awesome. I love how a lot of the designs were just a part of April’s everyday life and over time, have been permanently imprinted in her head.  To bring these images to life brings so much light to her eyes and it’s been amazing to witness it all. These fabrics are just gorgeous and I’m happy she’s shared them with all of us….because whoa, right?!?

When I was asked to make a bag for April’s Spring Quilt Market Booth, I (of course) agreed.  She has become a dear friend and I will always help her, as she has helped me in so many ways.  April asked me to make a larger duffle and suggested a quilt-as-you-go method for easy patchwork because with Market…comes some tight deadlines.  I got to immediate work, but quickly realized I had to Turn. It. Up.

All 14 quilt cottons in the Arizona After collection was used to make the Portside Duffle Bag by Grainline Studios.  It’s the perfect bag to showcase these fabrics with all that surface area.  I loved playing with all the color combos while mixing and even deconstructing, some of the prints.

Once I started to quilt with my walking-foot on the Soft and Stable, that texture just got me.  I knew I had to add more and more quilting…and change up the designs with each print. Then it dawned on me….ooooh, metallic thread would be A-mazing with this palette.  The gold really brings out the colors and I’m so happy with how it turned out. TIP: Cut a larger piece of soft and stable than the pattern requires. Quilt and then cut to size. Don’t forget to baste those edges!

Art Gallery’s textured denim in Canyon Sunset was the perfect complement to Arizona After and is a nice durable fabric for the bottom accent of the duffle bag.  On the inside, I used the Scattered Wood print and added an additional zip pocket…because we can always use some extra pockets.  I love the look of brass zippers and with the gold thread, this combo obviously had to happen.

For more texture and to turn this bag up another notch, I used hardware from ARmercantile combined with some leather from my sacred stash.  Guitar-inspired bag straps are popping up all-over the place and I just had to add that look to this duffle.  The added rivets bring out more of the brass and help round out the look.  Who says a quilted bag can’t be modern and on-trend?  I love being able to combine my love of quilting with my love of bag-making….and the gorgeous fabric definitely helps.  Thank you Arizona After for the inspo!

Make sure to check back on April’s blog and Instagram all throughout July for the up-to-date info on the Blog Tour.  Next up will be an Instagram loop on July 5th and I heard there maybe prizes involved 😉

Last, but not least, don’t forget to tag #heritagefabrics and #arizonaafterfabrics with all of your makes.  I can’t wait to see all of them!

Project Summary:

 

Fabric and pattern for the Arizona After + Heritage Blog Tour was provided.  There are affiliate links in the Project Summary.

 

Something Old Something New – Festival Bag Upcycle

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I’m a fan of fashion.  But as a mom (and as a work-at-home one,) there isn’t much motivation to step past the yoga pants and a clean (smelling) tee most days.  I do admit, when I can get my act together, it does make me feel good to step out of my slip-on Vans.  Now that both my kids are in school,  I’ve been making a conscientious effort to bring my fashion game back – nothing crazy, but pulled together looks using cues from today’s trends.  Like Boho.

I love the relaxed (aka loose fitting) style of Bohemian fashion.  I grew up near the Philadelphia Folk Festival so I saw a lot of 70’s hippie clothes and I love the laid back vibe.  Pair that with my urban life in the city for 10+ years and the result is this “Festival Bag.”  It’s an edgier take on Boho with the dark floral, leather and antique brass hardware.

When RJR Fabrics asked me to work with some of their new fabrics, this Reverie line pretty much blew my mind.  I tend to work with more graphic prints, but the photo-realistic imagery in these Digiprints are amazing.  The best part, is that these fabrics feel JUST like their other high quality quilt cottons so you know you are working with the good stuff.

This Floral Fantasy print with the the dark background is just gorgeous. I love the style contrast of soft flowers with the intense black (which is how I like to mix up my own closet.)  I like combining hard elements with something very soft and feminine. I also like a mix of textures. So this soft quilt cotton HAD to be paired with some leather and lots of hardware, right?

My mom knew I was upcycling old leather coats and gave me this great long duster about a year ago. I’m happy to finally use it.  This coat is such a great upcycle coat because of its size and the design. Too bad the shape…errr…lack of….just doesn’t work now. There are so many large pieces of leather to use in any project.  I used about 70% of this coat and I might use the rest on a future clutch…

The larger pieces were all cut into 1/4″ fringe and double-layered all around the bag. Fringe is one of my favorite things in a bag.  It’s so much fun to walk and feel the swing of the leather. The pieces add movement and life to everyday running around.

More leather was added to the top flap and I saved all the scraps. They are great to use in zipper pulls and bag charms. You can see I made some tassels and added lots of rivets. I also used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out my intials. Long skinny scraps can be turned into beautiful braids like this one as well.

On the inside of the bag, there is more Reverie with the Mirage in Bloom print. It is the perfect complement to this style bag. It is a mottled floral which gives a very contemporary feel with the more muted tones.

With spring music festivals in the news, I decided to make the bag strap differently than I usually would. Taking inspiration from the bands themselves, I modeled the strap after guitar ones. The leather strap is about 1 1/2″ wide with Floral Fantasy on top and another layer of leather all stitched in place with added rivet accents.

I am so in love with how this strap and bag turned out. I can’t wait to “rock” it all summer long.

Project Details:

 

 

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Sew It Yourself Kimono

Kimono Title

Boho style is all over the place right now and I thought I’d try to catch up with this Sew It Yourself Kimono.  The wrap is part of the Bohemian Chic trend which is all about being unconventional, artsy and spirited. To me, it’s a very relaxed and airy style but the “chic” part keeps it classy.

I’ve been in a fashion rut ever since having my little guys. I’m much happier (and more comfortable) in my yoga pants and a t-shirt any day. But whenever I have a “girls trip” with my hip city friends, I feel like the frumpy charity case…so I decided to do something about it!

I’ve been eying up Kimonos for awhile, but when Sew Caroline had a post referencing her FREE pattern on IG one day, I knew I had to suck it up and make my own. The pattern is one size fits most and being a whopping 5’3″, it was good for me 😉

KimonoFabric

When selecting fabric for a Kimono, you need some good drape.  I knew anything from April Rhodes, was gonna be perfect.  Luckily, one of my favorite prints came in voile, so I snagged up Dreamcatching Flare from the Wanderer collection right away.  For trim, I wanted some earthly lace.  I tried to get a friend to crochet some for me (hehehe,) but ended up at my local JoAnn’s!  Who knew they had such a selection?!?  As I was gathering supplies, I thought I should make two styles….so I picked up Leah Duncan’s Bare Nopal Gloom from Morning Walk in voile at my Local Quilt Shop (LQS).  For the trim on this one, I used some delicate vanilla lace from my stash to complement the steely blue.

Version A- Morning Walk:

Morning Walk Finished Side

Sew Caroline‘s pattern and instructions are pretty straight-forward and simple.  However, I did get hung up on how she attached the trim to the sleeves.  I tried to find some pattern reviews online to show me how, but couldn’t find any (at least without having to pay subscription fee.) The following are the steps as I interpreted them so there would be some pictures out in cyber world 😉

Encased Trim 1

With the right-side facing up, measure 3/4″ down from the end of the sleeve and mark.

Encased Trim 2

Pin the trim right-side facing the sleeve fabric on the line marked.

Encased Trim 3

Sew the trim onto the sleeve with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Encased Trim 4

Fold the end of sleeve up 1/2″ and press (not pictured.)  Fold up another 1/2″ press and pin in place. Sew 1/8″ from edge fold next to lace.

Encased Trim 5

Fold the entire casing to the inside of the sleeve and press.  Sew on top of the inside seam (under my index finger) to secure .

After I added the lace on each sleeve, I tried on the Kimono and wasn’t 100% happy with this technique.  The sleeves “belled” out on their own and didn’t lay down as nicely.  The extra folding and all the seams made the sleeves stiffen out a bit.  However, I left the sleeves be and hoped that some washing will soften them out.

With the lace on the bottom of the Kimono, I decided to test out a French Seam technique that would drape more and allow for more of the lace to show.

FrenchSeamCollage

Clockwise from top-left:

  1. Serge or straight-stitch with wrong side of fabric and lace together.
  2. Fold the seam over with fabric and lace are right-facing.  Press and sew 1/4″ seam
  3. Fold lace out and press. Sew seam in place.
  4. Outside of Kimono finished.

 

Version B- wanderer:

After making the Morning Walk Kimono, I made a few adjustments with this Wanderer one.  The first adjustment was to make the back a little longer with the colder autumn season quickly approaching.  I’ll wear this with denim jeans and leggings to go along with the amazing burnt orange color.
Dreamcatcher Finished Side Arm Down

 

I cut the back piece 2″ longer than the pattern piece.  After attaching the front pieces to the back, I folded the entire Kimono in half and made a cut connecting the original length of the front pieces to the longer back.  This made for the nice drop to hide my bum 😉

Dreamcatcher Finished Side

The second change I made was how I attached the lace.  I wanted to have as much of the lace showing because it’s just gorgeous and I didn’t want to stiffen up the sleeves like with Morning Walk. The lace was attached with my serger (blade disengaged) and then I top-stitched it into place.

Dreamcatcher Finished Front

The interior isn’t as pretty as the original pattern instructions, but I don’t mind one bit.  I got all the extra length and flow I expect from a Kimono.  The width and the weight of the lace will most likely keep the inside seams hidden away…

I absolutely love both versions of Sew Caroline’s Kimono pattern and definitely recommend this as a beginner garment.  I can’t wait to strut around with some more Boho Chic style this season 😉  What are you making this fall?  I need some suggestions for some future wardrobe fillers!

 

Happy stitching,

Cristy