Brocade McCalls 5349 (and another Heidi)

I am going to a wedding this week, on Thursday evening.
I was going to wear vintage Heidi, with a sparkly turquoise crystal necklace, but thinking about the dress code (which is "Fancy"), and seeing what my friends were planning on wearing (umm, Fancy!), I began to doubt myself and think vintage Heidi might be too 'daytime'. I went to the stash and found this chinese brocade I forgot had been given to me, and made McCall's 5349 which I have wanted to make for a long time. With some modifications, this is the result:
I made a plain sash out of the reverse of the brocade, instead of the cummerbund. I love the cummerbund, but the brocade was just too thick to sit properly. The pattern calls for an under-bodice (due to having the sheer overdress option) but I just made a panel and hand-stitched it to the bodice lining for a similar effect. I experimented with using the reverse side of the fabric for the panel, but the dark blue looked better. Here she is without the sash:
The sash has covered buttons and button loops. It's a bit sad that it falls down to my natural waist instead of sitting over the midriff band. Maybe I will tack it on and see how it looks.
A couple of weeks ago I made a quick modified Heidi out of red ponte de roma. Probably not a great idea because the fabric is thick so the pleats are a bit exaggerated, and overlocking and turning the neckline was a pain and didn't turn out so well. Oh and obviously I didn't press it before taking the photos, oops. It's wearable thankfully.

Vintage Fabric Heidi

It's been a long time between posts; I've been sewing, just not fast enough to blog about it.

I finished the final iteration of Heidi today.

She fought me all the way.
I've been working on this frock for weeks! The fabric was slippery and recalcitrant, and it just wasn't fun. I got through the ordeal by working on her in short bursts, giving up and closing the door of the sewing room when I felt ready to throw the whole thing in the bin.

I even made a self-fabric cummerbund too. I think you can tell by my posture in the cummerbund pic that I'm not thrilled with it! I think this version of the frock looks better without a belt:
The cummerbund took ages too, because of the naughty fabric. Sigh.

I lined her in bright pink cotton poplin, inspired by the little bit of pink in the fabric:

I'm pleased with the final result, but she shall sit in the wardrobe until I'm over the ordeal of making her. Also until it warms up enough to wear her. I might even warm to the cummerbund with time, but I'm not counting on it.

In the chilly weather, my thoughts turn to knitting. I love sitting on the couch with a nice warm knit!

This is what I've made:
Big Bad Baby Blanket: from Stitch n Bitch, in an acrylic from Spotlight:

Sludgy green ribbed lace bolero, for Ms Mog, who says she loves it and wore it already so maybe she doesn't lie:


Yarn is "Classic" 100% merino (colour Guava) from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

I'm knitting another, more complicated baby blanket now. More on that one later.

I am Heidi (and so can you!)*

I finally got back into sewing this weekend - it felt fab.

Why did it take me so long to get onto the Heidi bandwagon? She's a good quick sew, and just plain lovely! I shoulda know when such stylish and tasteful sewing ladies such as Livebird, Erin Dressaday and my sewing compadre kitty have made such nice frocks.

Here's my (very) wearable muslin:

Changes:
7cm length added to bodice (it's rather a highwaisted pattern, and I'm longwaisted at the best of times) - thanks to Livebird for this one!

I didn't use the Heidi skirt -as I've said before, Burda do seem to put fussy (in my opinion) details on their patterns that seem to make things fiddly to make. Also, you wouldn't have been able to see the centre panel etc it in the busy pattern. I used the plain pencil skirt from New Look 6699, and made the darts into pleats.

I made it in a stretch woven I got for $2.50/m at Spotlight - if (when!) I make this in a non-stretch I'll need to add a couple of centimetres. I might change the back bodice pleats into darts, but I'll see how I feel when I've testdriven the frock tomorrow.

I think I'll make it out of the rose on the right here. I've made a frock in the deer print on the left, but that isn't quite finished yet... and now I wish it was a Heidi.


* with apologies to Stephen Colbert.