Tea House Dress

 This is the Tea House dress pattern by Sew House Seven. I made this once before, but now I have used a smaller size and changed the length for the second sew up. This dress was finished earlier in June, but I'm just not getting around to taking pictures. They are not great pics, but it's going to be in the 90's here today and I wanted to get these in before the heat. 

Surrounded by squash plants

The fabric is from Lillian and is great for a breezy summer dress. It is very lightweight and I like the subtle stripes. It sewed up beautifully and really feels almost gauzy when I'm wearing it. One drawback to its 'lightness' though is that it is fairly translucent bordering on transparent. I knew I needed to wear light colors of undergarments, but after my first round of picture taking I realized that I also needed to wear a slip.

The hibiscus and roses are blooming

The large pockets are wonderful and after I lengthened the dress above the waist I can put my hands in them without hiking my shoulders up. 

The sun is really starting to heat things up

This dress is shortened in length from my first version and I think it will make it easier for moving around in the garden.

Checking on the potatoes

Under the clematis

This dress affords plenty of room to sit, reach, stretch, etc. within it. I don't feel restricted by it in any way. There is a good chance that this fabric is going to wrinkle easily though and you will be able to tell when I have been sitting.

Geraniums, petunias and a zinnia

Looking up to the sunflowers

Only a few wrinkles as of yet

There are two different ways to tie the waist. I haven't decided which one I prefer. Maybe I need to look at a fancier way of tying in the front?

Tied in front

Tied in back

The pics were a bit tricky in the bright sun and heat, but I'm glad this will finally get posted. 

Chambray Shirt Dress

Heading into fall

This chambray dress is one of the most comfortable dresses I own. It's a shirt lengthened into a dress and the only complaint I have is that I didn't add pockets. It started as Butterick 5526 shirt, view A. The shoulders were cut 3/4" narrower and I added several inches to the length. The fabric is a light blue chambray from Victoria's mom. Lillian. There were some pink polka-dot stains in a few places on this piece and I could not cut around them, so I just kept them in the pattern. I don't think anyone will notice other than me and I don't think to look for them anymore.

Fabric

The cutting was done on my dining room table and I overlapped the shirt pattern with a dress pattern I had to get the skirt shape I wanted. 

Shirt pattern on top of dress pattern

After cutting, I decided the length was too short so I added a 3" band and used the selvedge for the hem. The selvedge will probably fray and will need to be patched at some point, but think it will add to the worn/lived in look of this dress.

3/4" taken off shoulder

When I narrowed the shoulders I just drew the revision on my pattern. I will go back and trim the pattern if I'm happy with the final fitting, but for now the change is not permanent.

Measuring grainline off of selvedge

I was going to try the tab sleeves, but then decided I could roll them up loosely if needed. I had already lengthened the sleeves and used the pattern on another shirt, so I was pretty confident that would work for me.

I'll hold this for you

All sewing was done on my Bernina 1230. I do want to get this machine into the shop sometime soon. It's got a couple issues that need to get sorted out. First, the bobbin winder, it moves dreadfully slow. I'm not sure if this is the winder itself or the foot control, but it needs attention. Second, when I'm using the zipper foot, I cannot move the needlebar all the way to the left. Is that something faulty in the circuit board or just a machine in need of a good cleaning? Third, there is a squeaking noise in the nose of the machine. Needs lubricant? I bought this machine from a woman in Cedar Rapids, IA and I really do enjoy sewing on it, but the records show it was last serviced in 1994! Yikes, get thee to a certified Bernina technician, post haste. 

The shoulders are French seams and the sides were finished with the serger. This fabric does not have any stretch to it, so I had to minimize the seam allowance at the widest part of my thighs. Otherwise, I would have split the seams the first time I sat down. 

Edgestitching front button panel

Underside of front panel

Seams were done with light blue thread and top-stitching was a light gold/yellow. When cutting the two front pockets, I used the selvedge for the upper edge. Again, it is in keeping with the well-worn look.

Topstitching

Top of pocket is selvedge

Time to place pockets

I basted in the sleeves by hand to check fit and then sewed them with the machine and finished with a serger. The side seam in the sleeve is a French seam.

Sewing in sleeves

With the collar, cuffs, and pockets on, it was time to find buttons.

I was very please with how this was coming together

I knew I didn't have enough of any one type of buttons, so I made a trip down to Vogue. The final choice was blue buttons that matched the fabric, but also had flecks of color. They were $.75 each. I did purchase enough to put a button on each pocket too, but changed my mind and kept those flat.

Selecting buttons

My assistant helped decide on spacing for the buttons.

For the buttonhole thread, I used the closest color spool I had. It handled the 12 buttons on the front fine, but when I went to make the two buttonholes on the cuffs I had only a partial spool left and I hoped that would be enough. I thought about making the cuff buttonholes a different color as a plan B, if needed.

Spool before cuff buttonholes

Plenty of thread left after buttonholes, nothing to worry about

It was a few weeks after making this dress that I actually remembered to photograph it. Even then, I had already worn it once and then these pics were taken after a full day of work. I had stopped for a walk in the forest preserve on my way home and remembered that I needed to get pics of this project. The pictures were taken with the timer on my phone as the sun was setting. The light isn't great and my choice of footwear indicates that I wasn't planning to take pics, but sometimes you have to seize the moment.

Rolled sleeves is how I wore it to work

Very practical water pumping dress

Side pockets would have made this perfect

Corduroy Shirt Dress

Dress to match the sky

B5526

This pattern is my TNT Butterick 5526. This time, I again opted to lengthen the shirt into a dress and I used view A with the front pockets as the base. The sleeves are full length and I did not put in the sleeve tabs. I do find myself wearing long sleeves rolled and unrolled throughout the day. I also opted to leave off the collar and only used the collar band. Inseam pockets were added as I missed these on an earlier version of the dress.

The blue corduroy fabric is from Lillian and while it had quite a few stains or imperfections throughout, fortunately, there was about 6 yards of material to work with while cutting. I tried to cut around as many flaws as I could, but I had to incorporate several marks in (hopefully) somewhat inconspicuous places.

Very difficult to photograph the true color, but imperfections are visible

Originally, I did cut out a collar, but in the end I did not use it.

Collar I ended up not using and rust stains on selvedge

For sewing the dress together I set up two machines. My Bernina 1230 for seams and my Bernina 717 for the top-stitching. I did audition several colors for the top-stitching, but ended up not thrilled with anything I had on hand and made a trip to Vogue to pick up a matching blue color.

3 options that did not get chosen

The pattern starts with sewing up the front pockets. I changed the square shape by taking off the bottom corners. This made the pockets a bit smaller and took very little extra time.

For this picture the pockets are two different lengths, I fixed that

The rest of the dress went together quickly. For the side seam pockets I tried to put them in myself the first time, but had to take them out and watch a short how-to video on YouTube before I finally got them inserted correctly. To help them lay a bit flatter, I top-stitched the front of the pocket opening. The fabric for the pockets is out of the scrap bin and is an old pair of floral sheets. The little blue flowers match the dress perfectly.
I had planned to use some buttons out of my stash, but there was nothing in the box that had enough of the same button to do both the front placket and the cuffs. A trip to Vogue provided buttons that matched extremely well in color.

Plenty of buttons to finish this project

At first, I had the buttons spaced at 2.5 inches apart, but when I compared this to a RTW shirt I found that I could move them out to 3.5 inches apart.

2.5 inches apart

Buttonholes were done on the Singer 201, as usual and I used the same blue thread as had been used for the top-stitching. When it came time to sew on the buttons though, I had a bit too much help.

Pet me instead of sewing on buttons

The buttons were sewn on by hand and I opted not to put any on the front pockets. I don't keep anything in front pockets and they don't need to fasten closed.

Most of the pictures of this dress were taken at work and clearly, I do not do very well with the tripod and timer.  Here's the best of the bunch. 

Dress was ironed before I drove to work

Love having pockets

Back view

Front pockets and buttons looks great

Inside of pocket

One pic at the end of the day

This dress was very comfortable all day. The fabric is soft and lightweight and it feels like wearing pajamas. I hope it will transition well to cooler weather in a few weeks. I plan to pair it with leggings and a scarf.