Sewing for me: A striped moneta dress

Pattern: Moneta Dress by Colette Patterns, version C (3/4 sleeves)

Fabric: 100% organic cotton striped interlock knit (I had 2m50 but I have a nice piece leftover)

Notions: clear elastic, coordinating thread

Size: xs

I finally made myself a Moneta dress and what better incentive than to select it as my June garment for the Make a Garment a Month challenge?! I'm so pleased I made this dress, or rather two dresses, since I made a test version out of a similar interlock knit and that version, after some tweaking, is quite wearable too.

The Moneta dress seemed like the just the thing for me - versatile, relaxed, comfortable, and elegant. After seeing wonderful versions like Lauren's from the Guthrie & Ghani blog or Mary's from Idle Fancy (Aren't the fabric choices just delightful? And I love the idea of pleating...must try that next time!), and seeing this beautiful interlock with fine stripes at my local fabric shop, how could I resist? 

I chose to make version C of the dress and initially, I thought I would make pockets since I tend to leave them out of garments for me. I did my test run (I'm hoping to get good pictures of that dress soon too) but decided against pockets for my second 'real' dress as I found that I didn't use them at all and the fabric was a bit heavy making them not quite as discrete as I would have liked. 

In terms of fit, there was some tweaking to do, especially for the sleeves and armscye. As you can see in the pictures, there was quite a bit of extra fabric in the sleeves, making unflattering folds. I reduced the overall width of the sleeve and reduced the armscye depth. Those changes seemed to work pretty well, leaving me with a comfortable sleeve with a bit of ease.

 

 

I also reduced the bodice to get a closer fit as the dress is designed to be worn with negative ease. I extended the neckline edge at the shoulder part of the bodice because I liked where it was sitting before turning it under and finished it with a twin needle. Otherwise, the length of the dress was just right for me with the seam line of the bodice and skirt at my natural waist and the length of the dress hitting at the top of my knee. 

 

 

I used the clear elastic technique as described in the pattern where one shirrs the skirt by basting the elastic in place while stretching it to fit. I didn't experience any problems with this method (I just had to be careful to not get the elastic twisted) and the elastic was not sticking at all to my presser foot so I have not yet tried gathering the skirt first and then putting the elastic in.

 

 I took the time to match my stripes, basting my pieces together first before sewing to assure the correct placement and I'm quite pleased with the result. The interlock fabric behaved itself beautifully, remaing quite stable and not stretching too much while sewing which helped a lot. I trimmed my seam allowances down a bit as the fabric is a little bulky and I finished my hems with a twin needle.

I like the dress(es) a lot and I'm glad I decided not to put pockets in this second version. I've already worn the dress 5 times since making it almost 2 weeks ago and I love how I feel in it - feminine and summery. I want to make another Moneta dress but using another version and perhaps a collar variation. 

Sewing: A Negroni Shirt for my love

 Pattern: Negroni Shirt by Colette Patterns

Fabric: about 3 meters dark purple cotton (not exactly sure what it is)

Notions: coordinating thread, 9 buttons, interfacing

Size made: M

I mentioned a little while ago that I was hoping to sneak in an extra surprise birthday present for my darling, which is, I am most happy to announce, exactly what I did!  It definitely got down to the wire but I sewed on the final button late late late the night before. Success! He was able to wear it on the day of!

I purchased a 3 meter cut of this 100% cotton fabric at my local marché for 10€. The fabric has a beautiful hand, slight drape, and feels lovely, light and soft, and happens to be one of my husband's favorite colors! Otherwise, I don't know much about the fabric apart from what I found out by working with it. It holds creases very well, so I must be very careful whilst ironing because it holds the right creases just as well as the wrong ones. (I'm not sure how to say it in English. In French they are called 'faux plis') The fabric also stretches quite a bit on the bias so I was particularly careful sewing curves so as not to stretch the fabric out of shape. Time will tell how this fabric ages.

I've made a few dress shirts for my baby boy but this was the first time I made an adult sized dress shirt. I felt a little daunted because I thought it would be so much harder to get it to look right because it was on a much larger scale. I was cautious and measured and re-measured again and again to make sure that the shirt would fit correctly. I even pulled out his nicest shirt to compare the sizing. All that led me to ascertain that a size M with sleeves shortened by about 2" would be ideal. I think all that measuring led to a pretty good fit! I also put only one pocket.

The pattern includes some wonderful seam finishes such as a flat felled seam for the shoulder seam and the side seam to give a clean, comfortable, durable finish. Folding over the sleeve edge before sewing in the sleeve was a revelation for me. I'm still such a novice at sewing! Inserting the sleeve was also incredibly smooth by using the technique of readjusting and repositioning the sleeve every couple of inches whilst sewing. The result looks really nice!

Everything came together really easily, which surprised me, and to my even greater surprise, my machine absolutely adored making buttonholes on this fabric! (What!? You mean I don't have to coax, beg, force you to make them?!!) My husband is really pleased with the shirt and his official verdict upon trying the finished shirt was "I feel really good in it". Yay!!! 

All in all, I like the pattern but I'm not too sure about the collar. It's not quite a classic collar and I think I would like that a bit more. The facing also seemed rather wide. That said, I think I would make this pattern again. The instructions were really good and I'm glad I started my first adult-sized shirt with it because I feel much more confident in making a shirt pattern with fewer instructions and explanations.  And since one of my husband's other shirts tore at the sleeve just the other day, I have an excuse to make another shirt!

Happy birthday, my love! I hope you'll get a lot of wear out of this!

(If you're wondering, the artwork in the background is a hooked rug my mother made specially for me. Oh, and please excuse my ironing! L damaged my ironing board and I'm just not so sure how to iron that collar to get it to sit nicely! After looking at pictures of the shirt on Colette's website, I guess it is supposed to just be kind of flat.)

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Kids ClothesWeek is around the corner! Monday, April 7th to Sunday, April 13th and I am so excited about it. I'm hoping to get some super sewing time in but most of all, I want to enjoy this coming week of sewing!