Princess Seamed Skater Dress

During Kids Clothes Week, as well as playing around with the Skater Dress pattern to make a peplum top, I also played around with giving the bodice princess seams.  I only had the tiniest of scraps of Blue Vikings left and never got a chance to use it before it disappeared.  As good a time as any?

Despite starting it a couple of weeks ago I only made it as far as the bodice and bindings before putting it aside because I wasn't entirely convinced it was working.  Feelings of guilt that I hadn't made anything specifically for her birthday made me pick it up and finish it yesterday...  A weirdo dress is better than no dress, amirite?

The original plan was to pipe the seam lines and I did that to the back bodice before the OMGCurliness of the trim (and the resulting seam ripping) made me forgo piping the front.  Of course, I wish I had now because I dig it.  Just walk backwards holding the hair cape, girl.

I think the piping works as it separates the side panels and their expanse of blue from the centre print with its predominant blue- the seam lines get kind of lost and the print kind of runs into the plain. Another idea I had was to mix two prints within the bodice.  Is a princess seam bodice hack something you'd like me to share?

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Skater Dress for grown up ladies in hot climes (named Amanda)

For the non-Instagrammers, I wanted to quickly update with the heady progress of the grown up Skater Dress. Making no changes to the version one pattern (save omitting the sleeves), I whipped up version two from ye olde stash fabric to test the behaviour of interlock and to see how it works sleeveless.

As you can see, there is some gapping under the arm but that is easily fixed by taking in the side seam at the armpit.  Interlock is not my favourite fabric for clothes for me; I find the lack of lycra means it can pull across the chest where there's negative ease and it also relaxes from its intended shape through wear.  However, overall I'm happy with everything and will start the grading up and down this week!  Exciting / nerve-wracking times.

In tangential good news, I also now have two wearable muslins.... However, seafoam green and pastel pink are the absolute worst colours on me (unless I make a pastel yellow one and that becomes the absolute worst) and I want to do something to the fabric to liven it up.  Inspiring things I've seen recently are Alida's Casual Lady Fabric Sharpie treatment, Delia's mind-blowingly awesome Fabric Sharpie-ing of all the things, and Jess's hand-carved fabric stamping.  Or even not carving the stamps myself, but buying stamps.  Or another possibility would be freezer paper stencilling.  What would you do with these dresses (other than burn them in a fire)?  Any ideas?

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Announcing... The Skater Dress Pattern Tour!

I'm really excited to announce that The Skater Dress is going on a pattern tour with a huge selection of amazing bloggers!

The timing of the tour is most fortuitious as I'm actually bringing the kids Stateside over the Easter holidays.  And I'm bringing them solo for the first time ever.  The good news is that they are fantastic travellers; the bad news is that I am not a fantastic traveller.  Nineteen hours from door to door (starting at 3AM) does not a happy Amanda make.  Any tips for me?  Specifically, any recommendations for activity books that I can unveil on the plane to great critical acclaim?

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Breaking News: Shenanigans Pay Off

On Instagram, I've got a completely irritating adorable habit of commenting on other people's pretty pictures with 'I can't wait to receive this!' or 'Really excited that you're making me this!'.  And you'll never guess... it actually worked!  The esteemable Kate from M is For Make sent me very generous cuts of these two amazing fabrics with instructions to make something badass.  Unfortunately my badass cup is running dry... Any ideas?

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The Critical Decision Shirt

Last summer the lease came up for a very small shop near our house.  Shops hardly ever come up locally, this is very much a residential area.  I had a look around and found out a bit more about rates and costs from the current tenant, but then I went on holiday and it was snapped up by the time I came back.  Maddeningly, the new tenants never did anything with the premises (as in they never even unboarded the door) and every time I walked by I was a bit peeved.

Friend Sarah and I had a business meeting on Friday (that means we went to the pub and I talked about work a lot), and I was going on about 'the shop that got away' as I am wont to do.  And then I walked by today and it's available again.

Now- some things have changed since it first caught my attention.  Back then, I hadn't yet converted the spare bedroom into my sewing room so the appeal of a dedicated space was greater.  And the rent is 15% higher than advertised last year. 

The space is small , probably not that much bigger than my sewing room.  But it's dedicated space and appealingly not-in-my-house; I hope I would be more productive and focused away from housey distractions. And Jamie and Maia won't want to share a room forever.

It's funny how you can fixate on something being The Answer when it's not available and then have the bejesus scared out of you when it is! It would definitely be more of a studio than a shop as such, although I'm sure there could be some shopping-type events.

Pros of shop-dom:

• Dedicated space
• Makes it feel more like a 'real' business than working at home, and I would pull my boots up accordingly
• Could run small workshops / classes
• Reclaiming an extra room in our house

Cons of shop-dom:

• Cost of lease immediately and dramatically affects profit margin
• Not a lot of extra space than my no-extra-cost sewing room in the house

Tldr: risky but appealing.  What say you, hive mind?

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The Great Work / Life Balance Challenge

Please accept these pictures as a counterpoint to the words that follow. In them, you will see Maia sauntering around Boston like a boss. Because she is the boss, of all of us...

Ladies and gentlemen, please tell me how it's possible to work with the children at home. Obviously, I was well-aware that I would need to shut up shop while we were physically away but expected that I'd be up and running (albeit at a slower pace) now that we have returned. Sporadic blog silence and my semi-closed shop suggest I'm finding it harder than I imagined.

Topically, this post on Design*Sponge popped up in my feed this week about how to work with / around your kids over the summer holidays.  Through a wily combination of bribes and clearly separating work and play the author purports it's possible to get stuff done.

This has loosely been my tactic: a fun non-work activity outside the house every day to buy me some good will and time for work inside the house.  Which should work in terms of bribery, but also in teaching the lesson that in order to do fun things I need to be able to pay for them by, you know, working.

So far, this is working beautifully on paper and in my own mind but unfortunately not in actual practise. Constant interruptions mean that everything is taking me at least double the amount of time to complete; one particularly bad day this week saw an order* that would normally take me two hours to complete take five.  Mostly because someone required half a dozen time outs**.

Pictured: someone

One of my children is from the school of thought that any attention is better than no attention.  If I'm working, she's constantly bothering her brother.  He in turn is constantly complaining to me.  The only way to end the cycle is to get out of the house, which was the ultimate plan anyway but I've accomplished nothing other than angina.  Normally I'd work in the wee small hours but I've had to do incredibly sexy things like tax credit renewals / income tax submissions / VAT returns at night as they're impossible to complete with constant interruptions.  And also without constant interruptions.

Dancing to the beat of her own drum. A vengeful drum.

So fellow work-at-homers, how do you manage it? Any tips to share? Commiserations? Also- twelve sleeps til school!

*Although my shop is technically closed to clothing orders I am accepting orders via email.  Makes me happier when I can confirm that an extra day or two longer than normal is okay with the customer.

** Time outs are only administered for extreeeeeemely bad behaviour.  And don't make an iota of difference.

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Proto-pants begets Proto-suit

Whence before I attempted to distract you with detritus in the background, I will now distract you with detritus in the background and terrible lighting.  I will take pictures of the next version through rain-streaked glass.

These are actually Proto-pants V2-- tighter and higher than their forebearer.  I doubt you've noticed, however, being unable to tear your eyes away from Inadvertant Sports Bra.  I don't even know how to fix this travesty.  Ideas?

I will now cleanse your visual palate with a picture of my new short and blonde hair.

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Proto-pants

Now here's something I didn't think I've ever do...

But then I was thinking that if I'm going to, you know, actually wear my Wonder Woman bathing suit in public I should probably be okay with wearing something similar on the internet. But I will distract you with all sorts of detritus in the background.

So: one-piece, two-piece, different two-piece, burka?

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A Woman Wondering about Wonder Woman

Time is marching on before we leave for our trip and I've been thinking of little else than my Wonder Woman swimming costume.  I lie in bed a night and obsess about what to do with these three fabrics.  My original idea was to panel my Pin-Up Bathing suit pattern into three pieces but in a fit of insanity I'm considering a bikini. Because, you  know, I haven't worn a bikini in fifteen years so it's completely logical.  I guess I reckon that a Wonder Woman Bathing suit would be so outlandish that it doesn't even matter if it's a bikini. No matter what guise this suit takes, it will be ridic.

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This is the picture that started the wheels in motion.  Bottoms, yes please. Top, you are not for me with your width-producing expansiveness.

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I like the ruching on these bottoms, they might be more flattering than a straight brief.  The top is dismissed by default as it would only look like this if I wore it backwards and my shoulder blades nestled in those tiny cups.

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Speaking of which, just what is going on here?! It is so incongruous to me that these modest (and awesome) bottoms are paired with this lol-tastic top. Retro- you're doing it wrong.

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Now here is an interesting proposition. My immediate thought was that I would use the gold for a bog-standard waistband, but maybe it should be an independant belt attatched to starry briefs?  The top is more-or-less what I'm planning, minus the halterneck, which would pull my neck and head forward to such a degree that I weep and phone a chiropractor. I hate halternecks.

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And finally, I leave you with a anxiety pic.  I love the briefs.  I covet the briefs.  I wish to recreate the briefs.  However, look at the sliver of skin between top and bottoms.  I am incredibly short waisted (and top-heavy obviously), so I'm worrying that a supportive top and high waisted bottoms might leave me with approximately half an inch of flesh between the two pieces. Which would no doubt result in fantastic tan lines but would render a two-piece obsolete.

Here are things I await you telling me:

• Very modest two piece on the short waisted: is this crazy talk?
• Gold fabric: waistband or mock belt?
• Wonder Woman bathing suit in general: will I end up crying because people laugh at me?

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I may be tricky but I might be missing a trick or two

I've been concentrating so hard recently on making clothes that showcase my new stretch fabrics that I've put my woven stash on the back burner. Not literally of course, that would be at best fool-hardy and at worst sacrilege.  But the fact remains that almost all of the emails I get for custom orders are for clothes out of woven fabrics.  This week alone, I've been asked about making four rainbow dresses, three tunics, and a coat. And I know that the woven items I sell through Monkey and Bo are very popular.

My original plan with opening the fabric shop was to streamline my clothing line, but maybe I've been thinking so much about which direction I was taking the business that I lost sight of what my customers want.  Which admittedly might be variety.

So, do you want to see frocks and tunics and jumpsuits in the shop?  My woven stash can certainly take some bashing!

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The Androgynist

A dolman top for the boy and the jury is still out, the judge is getting impatient, and it might just end in a mistrial.

The hesitant model's immediate reaction was that it was 'for girls', but when questioned it was blamed on the fabric rather than the style.

The quite-conservative husband thought it was fine for boys.

The nothing-if-not-predictable Maia wished this top was hers.  Which it might be.

And wishy-washy ol' me think it would probably be fine for boys, although if in doubt it could be masculinised with an applique, a more boy-centric print, or perhaps the subtitution of a normal hem for the waistband.

What say you:  A-okay or pre-book therapy?

Bonus topic of conversation: How much does everyone love Picmonkey?  I like it even more than Picnik!  Last two pictures have filters on them. Urbane and Orton if you're a naturally curious person.

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The Stripey Missoni Muslin

It's down to the wire here, with only three sewing sleeps until the soirree and I'm still swithering about cutting into my Missoni fabric.  The first draft and mock-up over the weekend was, shall we say... less than successful.  Which is a particular shame as I used the fabric I intended for the lining fabric.

Most of the fitting issues from the never-to-be-shared muslin one were through the upper bust and arms.  The dolman sleeves were too tight and pulled the neckline wider than it should have been, baring my bra straps.  And my shoulders. 

It was also too tight across my hips and upper thighs so I added some extra ease.  Version one went straight down from my hips; stripey version two tapers a little bit.

The side view is still causing me angst as the bosoms are being smashed pretty flat.  I am hoping that this is because the stripey fabric has very little stretch to it.  It also feels kind of nasty, in case you're wondering.  I suspect it's acrylic.

And finally with a belt, because if I do make the Missoni, it'll probably be belted.  And at least three inches longer.  Muslin one was not this hootchy, I'm blaming the fabric again.

Proceed with caution or mission: abort?

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The unintended consequences of being tidy

I had an epic five hour cull / clean / organise of our bedroom today and look what I found under the bed!

Before you think I am so rich and privileged that I could forgot I had genuine Missoni fabric under the bed, it was in a vacuum pack. After coveting it hardcore over a long period of time, when a discount code popped up last summer I bought it right up.  It should have been about £35 a metre! Of course, about two days after buying this spendy fabric Missoni collaborated with Target and I felt marginally jaded.  Day-dreams of people thinking that I was wearing a designer dress were replaced with thoughts of people thinking I was wearing a Target dress.  Which is absolutely fine, before anyone says 'Hey you jerk, I wear Target dresses.' It just didn't tally with my year-long covetfest.  So half through petulance and half through not knowing what to do with it, I stashed it away safely.

But just look at those pretty colours.  I can't stay mad at those zigzags. Or that selvage (although I reserve the right to get mad if I attempt to keep them and have to hand-sew them to massively tidy them up). 

And now we have a Plan C* for the party (in six sewing sleeps), and that is to use the Missoni for something simple and sheathy like this:

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It's a sweater knit with enough stretch that I shouldn't have to resort to zippers, but the weave is loose enough that it should probably be lined.

Today's burning question:  Best plan ever or waste of semi-precious horded fabric?
Bonus points: If I had this fabric I would ___________.

*Plan A: make a Macaronesque dress, Plan B was the much less stupid 'wear one I already have'

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Adventures in negative ease

After taking some time to mull over your most helpful advice on how to remove the drag lines from my Renfrew shirts, I concluded that if you don't want any wrinkles and pulls in a knit shirt, it needs to be tight. So I went down even smaller than size zero (although I stuck with 8 at the bust for the front piece), changed the fit through the shoulders and sleeves, and moved the neckline down.

In short, I pretty much un-Renfrewed it.

In no particular order, here are some things we're going to pretend never happened:

• that I made a top out of this fabric
  
• that I'm trying it on with red jeans
• that I have a glaringly obvious dark coloured bra on
• that there's all that detritus in the background
• that my camera is still taking consistently terrible pictures

The good news is that I removed the drag lines. The bad news is that it's hello-police-I'd-like-to-report-an-indecent-exposure tight. Should I cut into precious fabric or make another muslin (with the changes you are going to tell me to make)?

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Turquoise and Lime. Rhymes with 'Whine'.

I made a second attempt at a Renfrew today. The catalogue of changes I made to the pattern include (but are not limited to):

• Graded to size 12 at bust on front piece tapering back to 8 at waist
  
• Sleeve cap changed accordingly
• Overall length shortened by one inch at shorten / lengthen line
• Shoulder point moved half an inch towards neckline
• Shoulder slope reduced
• Neckband tightened / shortened by at least two inches (and it still needs to be more!)

The result is better, but still not the ever-elusive great fit. Excuse me, God, THIS IS WHAT I WANT:

Can anyone tell me how she did this?! It is worth mentioning that she has to FBA the Renfrew two sizes (like I did) but wherefore art thou, draglines? Just look how thoughtful this is making me:

So thoughtful. While I have God on the line (and also many helpful readers), please can we address how to pose for pictures without looking like a complete wally? My full facial repetoire is 'pensive' (see above)...

And 'benign'. How do you all take natural and normal pictures when you're modelling clothes?*

I do relax a bit when Jamie is behind the lense, but he knows nothing about ideal lighting.

To summarise: How do you solve a problem like a Renfrew? And then photograph the results without having to crop your head out.

*Or look natural and normal as you go about your day-to-day life, in fact.

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