Colette Palette Challenge: A Summary



So far I have made 3 and am close to finishing my 4th item under this years Spring/Summer Palette Challenge. I've managed to utilise all my chosen colours except khaki & mustard, so I thought I'd sift through my patterns once more for inspiration, and I have drawn up a few ideas to round this challenge up for me.



First up is khaki

I had originally bought some navy cotton from ebay, but the seller messaged me to let me know that there had been a mix up with the listing and she had no navy left. She reeled out a list of colours she did have and as soon as 'fawn' came up I snatched that one, which ended up being a bigger piece of material than the one I thought I had bought! Now while I really want to make khaki shorts, this material is just not suitable so a dress it shall be! I love all the double peter pan collars I've seen in magazines recently, so I'm going to have one with lace underneath. Question: Do you think the lace should be underneath or on top?

I'm not sure about the fake pockets, but I like the idea of some buttons on the front and side seam pockets. I thought that the below Butterick pattern (flared skirt) would be suitable?

Next up is mustard

I so wish I was the type of person who had the confidence to wear yellow shorts, but I'm not. So my mustard drill cotton will be an a-line skirt with an inverted pleat at the front as seen in last months Glamour Magazine.

I already have a few tops that I know will work well with this colour & style.

Then there's blue



I really want to use my pheasant print georgette in this challenge, and instead of making a dress which I feel is quite the obvious thing to do with it, I want to try my hand at a sheer like blouse, possibly with a mullet type hem that seems to be doing the rounds in rtw clothing at the moment. Do you think having a pussy bow tie & a mullet hem is a bit much? Maybe I should have one or the other? Choices!

And lastly burgundy

This drawing explains the red marks coming through on the pic above! All my markers seep right through the pages of my sketch book?! Anyway, with the left over polyester suiting blend I have from this skirt I'm going to try and squeeze out the above top which is made with this Burdastyle pattern

The top is the same pattern on the front, just shorter. This should suit the fabric nicely and the gathers will allow it to hang the way it likes to.

So there are my plans for the rest of this palette challenge! Which one do you think I should make next?

Butterick 5599: Update

This has been a really fun make so far, and I'm so happy with the results i'm getting already.
When cutting out all my pattern pieces I realised I wasn't going to have enough interfacing without buying some more, which I can't do until the weekend. So I decided to sew up as much as I could until then.

This is the front of the skirt which has 6 small pleats at the centre, there are also 2 deep pockets either side.

This is as far as I could get the outside fabric without needing my interfacing, but I have sewn up the lining all ready which should save me some time at the weekend.

Please excuse the crinkled lining! It will all be ironed out rest assured! You may also be thinking why has she used black, blue & brown lining? Well, I wanted to use brown & black originally, but ran out of black lining for the skirt. The only similar colour I had in the length I needed was navy, so I've ended up with a bit of a mis-matched lining, but hey! It's only gonna be me who sees it?

So now I'm a bit of a sitting duck until the weekend but I can never stay still when it comes to sewing and have already drawn up a few more ideas to round up the palette challenge. Stay tuned as tomorrow I'll be sharing them! 



Spring/Summer Palette Challenge: The Dress

Holy moly, I am excited for this one. I have had this material & pattern matched up in my head for a while, but it's one of those projects that you just never really end up getting around to? Not this time!
I bought this pattern quite spur of the moment, and was initially drawn to the interesting bodice & the deep looking pockets.

I've been quite jealous of all the people that have made Gerties Bombshell Dress, but i knew i'd never get around to buying to the course (I'm just lazy really!). Seeing this pattern made me think of her design so I thought why not?

I like the idea of having a contrasting colour outlining the bodice, so I'm making version B.

For my fabric I've chosen the rather bright orange/black African wax cotton I picked up in a closing down sale from a fabric shop that's been located in my hometown ever since I can remember (very sad).
I'm going to stick with black cotton as the contrasting fabric.

I'm gonna warn you all now, this pattern is NOT for the faint hearted. There are 20 pattern pieces, then there's the lining & interfacing as well! I'm currently in a sea of fabric & tissue paper.

However I am excited to get started on this as despite the amount involved it looks like the construction should be really interesting.

I also wanted to quickly share something I came across while I was re-hemming a 1950's dress for my car show stall, I realised something very familiar about the thread I was using.

On the instructions of one of my 1950's blouse patterns there is an advert for this exact thread!

I thought it was pretty cool that I was using 1950's thread to repair a dress from the same era?!

Finished Project: Burgundy Pencil Skirt

Ok, so this skirt has had a bit of a transformation since Mondays post. The pattern I was using (Butterick 2115) is no longer recognisable as to be honest, my fabric choice for this skirt was all wrong.
This pattern needs stiffness, preferably wool, not a drapey suiting fabric that has a slight stretch to it.

 

I followed the instructions to begin with anyway, but after trying it on after the sides had been stitched I knew it was all wrong. If I took the skirt in and used some of that stretch it would have shown off all my lumps & bumps, which nobody needs to see!

So in an effort to not have wasted my time I unpicked the darts and replaced them with gathering stitches. I cut the length to sit at the knee, and added a side lapped zipper (my first ever go at this) and then attached the waistband as normal. Finishing it off are 2 grey buttons to secure the waistband.

 And now another confession...I broke my 'No Polka Dot' rule just a little. I've had a fat quarter of this fabric in my stash that called my name when I was looking for something to back my waistband. I succumbed, I'm sorry, forgive me?

I also haven't gotten around to taking photos of me in it yet, as I have been mega busy recently due to having secured a stall at a local vintage car show, where I will be selling my stock of vintage clothes! It's on 19th May so things may get a little quieter around these parts as I need to fix a few of these dresses before they can be sold.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! (and Bank Holiday Monday if you're in the UK!)

Palette Challenge: Burgundy Pencil Skirt

I've been wanting to make another pencil skirt for a while now, my first attempt was blogged here and was made using a self draughted pattern. As much I like the outcome, and the skirt is in constant rotation for work, I've decided to use a ready made pattern I picked up very cheaply on Ebay.

The pattern is Butterick 2115 and is dated 1963

I'm going to be using some of the burgundy suiting I picked up at my local fabric shop at £5 a metre.
I came extremely close to actually using this for a circle skirt as it has a very nice drape, but as much fun as circle skirts are, I know I will get more wear out of a fitted skirt.

At the moment I'm going to be sewing up the red version which has a plain front and 2 inverted pleats at the back, but we'll see how well this fabric behaves.

Palette Challenge Finished Project - Simplicity 3688

After sorting through everything for this challenge, it really spurred me on to get something started. I thought i'd start with a simple blouse, and instead of making a shirt I opted for this instead.

Simple, versatile and quick to sew. I decided to use the orange and blue squared polyester I had, which was originally intended for a dress. I soon realised however, that I don't wear a lot of white or cream and I knew it would be such a waste of fabric to make a whole dress that I probably wouldn't wear that often.

You'll have to excuse my face in some of the snaps, I look a little washed out/tired!

I also once again, had a little visit from Milo who was totally engrossed in sniffing that particular part of the lawn. We get a few cats hopping through our garden time to time so I'm guessing someone enfringed on his 'territory'!



The top itself is super easy to put together, and has a button closure at the back. You might be able to see that the front of the blouse features 4 small pleats, and there's the obligatory yoke and gathering of the bodice that's so popular in 1940's clothing.

To give myself a more 'authentic' look I tried out this tutorial on how to create a faux bang, which is surprisingly easy, even with a side fringe!

I also had a bit of time to make the same blouse in the last of my polka dot fabric which was spare from this dress.

I had to leave it sleeveless however as there wasn't enough fabric, but it's still perfect as a work blouse and it fits in with my colour palette!