Swimsuits and Summer

I've always had a slight obsession with swimsuits. I started this swimsuit right before I saw the Sophie swimsuit pattern come out! I always wanted a swimsuit of this style but I could never find a pattern, and I never really wanted to tackled the bra cup portion of it without a starting point. I briefly thought of abandoning this one and buying the pattern, but this one was working out really well so I continued, while envying all the amazing Sophie makes as I sewed. I can always make another swimsuit right? or 10 more...

I am really glad I didn't restart because I'm so happy with the end result! I pieced this pattern together with various things. I started with tracing out my favourite swim bottoms, then combined that with the Boylston bra pattern from Orange Lingerie. And I compared the pattern to a few others to make sure I was getting the proportions right. I loved the Boylston bra pattern, but I did have trouble finding my size. I usually wear a 34B, but that was way too small for me on this pattern. I ended up making a 34C, but if I made it again I might even make a 36C or 34D. All in all this one fits pretty well! I think part of the issue too was finding good underwires. There really aren't good resources for that kind of thing here and it does take a bit of experimenting.

I decided to line the whole thing, so its pretty thick, almost like a wet suit! The only issue is that it's almost impossible to get on!!! It's basically like doing up the back of your bra and then trying to shimmy it on legs first! But I didn't want to ruin the smooth back so I just put up with it.

Me and my sister went hiking on the last day of my holidays and we found this amazing lake! It was basically a private lake, in the middle of nowhere with only one cottage way on the other end. We thought the mosquito season was mostly over so neither of us wore any bug spray, but little did we know this area was known for having some of the worst mosquitos! So I wasn't so much hiking as I was literally running through the trails with my arms batting the bugs away from my face! Luckily, once we got to the lake the pests cleared.

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I've been out relaxing at my beautiful cottage for my holidays. My family cottage is honestly kind of amazing, with only a few other cottages on the entire lake, but it has no electricity, or plumbing, or basically anything else! So I love it for a few days but then I'm anxious to get home and start sewing again!

My New Venture & a Pretty Summer Dress

I have launched my new website! mousseline-patterns.com. I am starting a new venture and I thought I needed a website that better represented it. I will continue to post my next few posts on this blog, hopefully until anyone who wishes to follow me over to my new website has had the chance to do it. I am starting a new venture as an independent sewing pattern designer! I am currently working on my first pattern and I hope to share it with you guys soon. Home sewing seems to have a skipped a generation and re-emerged online in a really exciting new way and I can't wait to be a part of it. I love to sew other patterns as much as I love to design my own. I will continue to post my sewing projects on my new website as I did on this one, and I will also post tips and tricks as well as notes on my future patterns.

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I made this dress little while ago and I've been saving it for my very first post on the new website. This is a Kathryn Brenne Original Vogue pattern 9168. If you don't already know, I work as Kathryn's assistant, and while we were working on this design at the studio, it took forever to get it just right. So when I picked up my fabric to make one for myself, I was preparing myself for a really long involved sewing project, but it was surprisingly quick to sew up! I guess since all the kinks were ironed out before it went to print, it was just smooth sailing the whole way!

I read a review of this pattern before I started it, saying the skirt was wrongly printed with a 'cut on fold' marking, I bought my pattern not long after that and it was already rectified on my copy. We posted some tips for sewing up this design on The Academy of Fine Sewing and Design website which are quite useful. Although the dress is a pretty simple design, all the fine finishings really make the garment special.

This dress is impossible not to spin in! As soon as you put it on it demands to be spun in! I like how light and floaty the dress is, and i think it could work for formal dress or just a day dress as well. I chose to make a different slip to go under this dress. Since I wanted to wear it more as a day dress, I made a jersey body-con type slip to go underneath. I used Closet Case Files Nettie bodysuit pattern in the dress view and just re-drafted the neckline to have spaghetti straps.

I found this fabric at Fabricland for 4$! Thats the great thing about styles of dresses like this, theres so many beautiful polyester chiffons and georgette's that are really inexpensive and turn out just as nice as some more expensive textiles. And they are super easy to wash and care for, not to mention they wear like steel!

When I was sewing the skirt side seams, I notice that one side stretched almost like a bias seam would, but the other side didn't stretch at all. This was just because of the way the skirt is cut to hang perfectly as it does, but it makes one side a bit shorter than the other after the seam has stretched. Since this skirt hangs on the bias the hem inevitably goes all over the place depending on your fabric, so regardless it needs to be evened out. But I might add a bit of extra length to the hem, because I had just enough to hem it to the length I wanted, but an inch or so extra would have been handy.

I decided not to make the belt for now, I am waiting to go down to Toronto to pick up some leather to make a leather belt instead of a fabric one. I thought a skinny purple or brown suede belt would be really pretty for this dress. And it's totally wearable without a belt too.

I am really happy with the way it turned out and I can't wait to wear it somewhere other than my backyard! Thanks for reading :)