Calluna Cami in Herringbone - The sewing details

Oakshott fabrics are always a pleasure to sew with: beautiful colours and great feel, they lend themselves to quilts, cushions and also to clothing.  There is a post on using Oakshott's newest fabric, Calluna Herringbone over at Lily's Quilts, this post repeats a little of that along with some more detailed construction info.

Since I made the Carme blouse, I have been wanting to make Pauline Alice's Cami dress.  Pauline also has a sew along for the Cami. The Calluna  Herringbone is what I would describe as a shirting weight.  Imagine a beautiful, quality men's shirt, from the sort of gentlemen's outfitters that sells brightly coloured socks and cashmere sweaters- that is the weight of Calluna.  It is light to medium weight, perfect for shirts and dresses.  It is soft and the weave produces a two tone effect with a light colour on one side and a darker version on the other so perfect for contrast details like the button plackets, collar stands, cuffs and pockets on this dress.  This fabric most definitely needs a prewash.  I washed mine twice with  with non bio powder and on a 40 degrees synthetic wash this is the one that has one line beneath the 40.  My top tip for pre washing Oakshott or any other woven, is to clip a triangle off each corner before you pop it in the wash.  This lessens fraying and tangling.  Calluna Herringbone is wide at 132cm/52".  I used around 2.5 metres to make the Cami dress.  Prewashing (i did two) is essential as there was quite a lot of dye loss.

For a change, I sewed the entire dress using Minty, my singer Featherweight and this was a bit of a turning point.  I already love sewing with this machine but had never done an entire garment.  I have been missing out.  She is a dream for top stitching and because all operations are manual, it was a faster more instinctive and intimate process.  I used my overlocker for all seam finshing where needed although this fabric was great for french seams in in the shirt part of the dress.

I did apply a little of my experience from Chinelo Bally's free cutting class from a few weeks back.  For me this class cemented the importance of detailed and accurate measuring.  I find my bodice area hard to fit.  I am small busted, a little round shouldered and rather spare around the breast bone.  I always need to do a small bust adjustment which I have struggled with and still the fit will be wrong.  With Chinelo, a chest measurement isn't just the circumference around the fullest part of your chest, or even over or under that measurement.  This can be broken down into more detail- apex to apex is useful for me- the easiest way to explain this is nip to nip ( you know what I mean), although this presupposes the cherry is on the fullest part of the bun (again, you know what I mean).  This area is relatively narrow for me.  On a pattern with a waist dart like this, it can generally be found half an inch from the top of the dart.  In a bodice or shirt, this is usually a fitted area for me, so I don't need to allow ease- that would come instead at the side.  I also recommend Joi Mahon's Craftsy class Fast-Track Fitting

from: Craftsy.com, she covers lots of popular pattern adjustments and detailed measuring is all part of the process.    I found it very helpful, especially armhole and sleeve adjustments and her aim is to avoid where possible making muslins which I think every garment sewer can identify with!

I didn't make a muslin for this shirt, but I did do a small bust adjustment on the pattern and my main aim was to reduce the apex to apex measurement to 7" instead of 7 ⅜".  This is an area that is narrower on me than on the usual pattern size that would fit me.  It is also an area that doesn't really need ease so it is a direct measurement I can apply from my body to the pattern.  I was thrilled with the result, best small bust adjustment yet, hence the chest close ups and no muslin!  Pauline covers a small bust adjustment along with lost of others like lengthening the bodice here in the sew along.

For the cuffs, I used a single layer of interfacing as I like these to be relatively soft.  They fall in just the right place for me and I can still comfortably put a cardigan over the top.

I had pink snaps from this shop that have been waiting for the right project- I will follow up with a tutorial on these as they can be fiddly but once you get the hang of them, they give such a clean finish.

Details:

Fabric:  Oakshott Calluna Herringbone in colour 01 

Pattern: Cami dress by Pauline Alice, size 38 waist ( with a little grading from 36 in the shirt section)

Changes:

*Small bust adjustment reducing apex to apex to 7"

*Lenghtened the skirt from 50cm to 65cm

*Lengthened the bodice by ¼" by sewing a ⅜" seam at the waist- I think I would lengthen this a little further

*Lowered the collar by ⅜" and cut a larger collar and stand 

*Single layer of interfacing on cuffs.

*Reveresed the button plackets so the fabric folded from reverse to the front so I could used the reverse side of the fabric as a detail.

*Raised the pockets slightly- using a 12" zipper allows for this

*Snaps replacing buttons

*Shoes- Orla Kiely 'Matilda' for Clarks.  (Very flash I know)

Love the dress pattern, love the fabric and a very wearable, pretty and comfortable dress.  Result!

Carme Blouse

As the seasons change and I can think of a time when I won't be wearing a cashmere cardigan and boots, my creative activities always turn to dress making.  I am a sucker for anything with a yoke- skirts, trousers, shirts so when I saw this pattern had just been released by Pauline Alice- a PDF print out pattern at only 8 Euro, I bought it straightaway- the perfect fit for this Little Folks voile on sale at Patch Fabrics.

The style reminded me strongly of the Tova but with a few style and fit differences.  There are bust darts which I am guessing are cut for a B cup as I found the fit was only slightly generous ( I am an A).  If you are larger than a B cup, a full bust adjustment would probably be a good idea.  The front yoke bib panel is rounded rather than square and also has an easy pin tuck option- you would sew pin tucks in a rectangle of fabric and then cut the bib section from this.  The sleeve and cuff is slightly more complex on the Carme and includes a sleeve vent.

The yoke is attached to the body using a really straightforward technique- I know this was a tricky area for many Tova sew-along sewers!

I cut the bib section on the bias to make the most of the grid pattern and interlined this with some lightweight cotton.  I also lowered the collar a little and also lowered the placket opening- around an inch.

 Sleeve vents are a little fiddly especially with slippy voile but I did find a little Sewline glue helped hold fabric in places too small for pins.

The shaped hem is a nice touch- it dips front and back.

Stats:

• I made size 36 and took in the waist a little more on the side seams
• French seams throughout and triple stitch zig zag to neaten armhole seams
• I shortened the length by 1 ½" on the lengthen/shorten line on the front and back main sections.  I have adjusted this for next time so it will be shortened by ¾"
• I will lengthen the sleeves on the next one by ¾" so they fall a little lower at the wrist.
• I lowered the collar and placket by just under 1"- I will make this a little lower next time- the collar needs to be redrafted for this one
• I didn't make the sleeve tabs- not something I generally use
• I only made 3 buttonholes as I never wear this style buttoned up, I like it to fall open
• I used a walking foot and a Microtex 70 needle for the voile
• I used under 1.5m of 1.5m wide fabric for size 36 I cut although I used less fabric for the bib because I omitted the tucks.

I really enjoyed this pattern and after measuring the pattern pieces and comparing them with favourites like the Tova, I was confident enough to make it without a test version.  Pauline is running a Carme Sewalong on her website and each stage has its own youtube video which is so helpful if you felt tempted to make one too. Blouses (don't like that word) or shirts (prefer that word) like this are a wardrobe staple for me so I am already thinking ahead to the next couple of these.  Pauline Alice is a relatively new pattern designer but she already has four different styles available.  The Cami dress is next on my list as I prefer a fitted style and this looks really cute, at the moment though, there is a queue of patterns and dressmaking so it may have to wait…two quilts are calling, a pillow project and a bit of planning for future idea await.