Inspinration: Itch to stitch Birthday Tour

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Itch to stitch Birthday Tour

Parties are fun, especially digitally ones where I do not have to arrange a babysitter for my kids. Today, I am part of Itch to Stitch's party, she celebrates her one year anniversary. Like for a non-digital party, I dressed up. To avoid showing up in exactly the same pattern as somebody else, I did put my own spin on the pattern.

The pattern I used is the Kathryn shirt/dress. I bought this pattern a few months ago when it released and the anniversary tour was the perfect occasion to sew it up. I bought the pattern because of the folding detail on the chest. I suspected that this would be a perfect pattern for my shape and I was right. Although the pattern doesn't explicitly support different cup sizes like many of Itch to stitch's pattern do (those come in 5 different cup sizes, it is very easy to make the shirt fit your front perfectly. For the fulled part of the shirt I choose the size that corresponds with my chest size and I graded down to the size that corresponds with my waist size. I assume that this pattern is flattering on any breast type. For the fuller breasted the pattern is perfect to create enough space, for the smaller breasted I assume it creates more volume.

Due to the fall weather conditions, I added sleeves to the pattern. I used a retail bought sweater as example. The Kathryn pattern has short (Dollman) sleeves, and I simply added (3/4) sleeves with a flat head. Due to the flat head, construction was super simple, no cruve sewing. This constitutes to a very easy sew, which would be perfect for beginners. I drew the sleeves based on that retail sweater's. The sleeves of the original sweater are relatively tight and I kept them that way, I really like the result. What about a sleeve extension Kennis Wong?

The fabric is called "Leaves" and is from Lillestoff, it is an oldy and probably not available anymore. I bought it last years and I still love the colors. I had one and a half meter of fabric and that should have enough for this dress, but I managed to cut the front bodice upside down. Due to the pleats, the bodice piece looks a bit weird and because I sewed this on a sewing date, I wasn't paying enough attention and the leaves ended up upside down. I considered claiming creative freedom for a moment and just using it, but decided against it. I managed to use that wrongly cut piece again, by cutting a sleeve from it, but this mistake made it impossible to cut a new front bodice plus the skirt pieces etc. It almost fitted, almost.. I solved this issue by just sewing a small extra piece to the bodice, did you spot the extra seam?

I flared out the skirt part of the dress, the little girl inside of me demanded a bigger skirt. The fit was immediately perfect. I finished the hem with my "signature style" double colored twin needle seam. It had been a while since I last used a twin needle. Now a days I usually use a zigzag to finish my seams, but the colors of this fabrics just begged for double colored seams.

Of course I am not the only guest to this party, make sure you mingle and check out the creations of the other bloggers through out the coming days. Like all good parties there is also a goodiebag with sale codes (20off, 30off and 40off) you will get 20% off one pattern, 30% off two patterns, or 40% off three or more patterns. Participate in the rafflecopter to see if your goodiebag has the golden ticket.