First Make of 2015

Of course my first make of 2015 had to be a Grainline's Linden Sweatshirt. I've been hoarding this fabric not knowing what to make with it and finally decided that it'd be quite fitting as a Linden. This knit is a red and navy St. James stripe. I bought it from the sale bin at a local shop in Alaska, but I'm pretty sure that I found it on Fabric.com...or at least its look-a-like.

This linden is a hodge-podge of view A and B. I used the front bodice and hemming method from B and the sleeve length and back bodice from view A. I'm really diggin' the high low effect it gave the shirt. I cut a size 0 and the only alteration I made was shortening the sleeve by about an inch. Since I didn't make a muslin I just made an educated guess based off of the other Grainline patterns I've made up (specifically the Archer). 

Can we take a second to check out that stripe matching?! I love stripes and last year vowed to get more of them into my wardrobe, but boy do they make me anxious. I tend to stare at the fabric for a good ten minutes getting up the nerve to cut into it.  Luckily this knit is medium weight, so it didn't shift and stretch a lot. It also retained it's shape well after pre-washing which is awesome!! 

p.s. Carrie of Oh She Dabbles and Ingrid of We The Sewing started a Linden Swap on Instagram! I'm sure it's not too late to get in on it. I ordered my fabric for my partner's (@Jesssomewhere) Linden and hopefully it'll get here by next week, soon excited!! Who else is participating in the swap??

p.p.s. I realized I never actually explained the why behind my want to create a handmade wardrobe...i'll get on that :)

Black, White and Knit all Over

Today I present to you the Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes. One of the four finished garments I've finished recently. The Marianne is Christine's newly released sewing pattern. As soon as I saw the post saying it was available I knew I HAD to make one…add to that a kit including this beautiful black and white striped knit and I was swooning. It's seriously the softest silkiest knit ever! All of the fabric kits are sold out, but there are still notion kits available. 

I ordered an organic black knit from Fabric.com in order to make view B. Pretty sure I still have enough of the black and white knit to make view A as well. My measurements were between size 0 and size 2, so I just cut the 0 since it included a good amount of ease already.I might cut a size 2 as well to make a drapier (?) version. If you look closely you can see that I left off the buttons on the cuffs. No life shattering explanation behind that choice…I just didn't have enough buttons plus I put myself on a sewing "no buy" for the rest of December haha. The struggle is real. 

This is a super quick sew and after cutting can easily be sewed up in a few hours. The instructions are clear and include notes on how to sew this dress up on a regular machine or a serger. There's really not much to say other than how much I love love love this dress. I'm definitely going to be making a whole heap of these… especially for summer. 

Keep a look out for the Marianne Sew-A-Long in the beginning of January! I'm already plotting my next version.