Where I'm back in Toulouse, kimono style

Hello there!
Guess who's back from holidays? My vacation is officially over and I have very mixed feelings about that: on one hand I really really really wanted to be back to my usual life; on the other hand, my usual life means looking for a job and leaving apart from my Chéri, so that sucks. Of course.

Anyway, I have quite a few sewing projects completed to be photographed and blogged, so this will slowly get me to my habits. I also have plenty of projects in my list and new fabrics to make good use of, but so far my apartment looks like a bomb has exploded in it, therefore I have no space for sewing.

This dress has been one of my favourites of all times. The pattern is the Kimono dress by Simple Sews for the issue 12 of Love Sewing magazine. I've made it in June, but officially photographed only today.

About the pictures, please excuse my constant frown. As I told before it's been a tough couple of days back home and apparently I have lost my already shaggy confidence in front of the camera. 

I have been wearing this dress all summer long, because I refused to pay extra 50€ for my luggage on top of a 208€ plane ticket, so I literally spent one month holidays with a handbag luggage. This also included a wedding outfit. More on that outfit in the next days.

Anyway, my summer uniform was based on four dresses, one short, one skirt and two tops. This kimono was the pièce de résistance. 

Can you blame me? I felt stylish and comfortable in it, and the fact that you are dressed with a single fabric layer which flounces at the summer breeze, makes it an immediate staple.

The most remarkable features of this dress are of course the wrap and the kimono sleeves. It looks like if you don't sew fluttery sleeves this summer you are out of the game, but in this dress I like that the kimono style is quite modest with respect to other famous kimonos around the blogosphere (I think of the SS15 collection of Named). The unmistakable sleeves are there, but it does not look as a chamber robe.

Especially not in this fabric, right? It is a present from Chéri and we bought it together in Remnant Kings in Edinburgh at the beginning of June. There was no description of the composition and it feels like viscose: it breaths well and drapes magnificently. I wish I could identify fabrics like that. But I can't. Lots of room to improve there.
With the remnants from this project I made the vintage blouse you have already seen around here.

Now that I see the pictures I realize I should have levelled the hem before hemming, but now I don't care: I have been wearing it like this all summer long, I am not going to be bothered right now. Also, I dedicated much of my time in doing a fake rolled hem all around, that I don't feel like destroying it.

The dress has a very simple construction, with three main pieces and an obi belt. If I have to do it again I would go for one size smaller but the same length. Also, I don't think I am going to sew another one of these. Don't get me wrong, this pattern is adorable and I don't need repeat how much I am loving wearing this dress, but I am the kind of girl who only needs one kimono in her wardrobe. Maybe it could become a wowing bridal shower present if made in a sexy silk and lace combination. So far none of my best friends are going to get married, so no need to plan another kimono any time soon. Also, none of them reads this blog so no spoilers, eheh.

I leave you with a couple more pictures of the dress in action during holidays. This one is taken in Pietrapertosa, in the south of Italy. You can see I can actually smile sometimes.

This one is taken in Bologna, on top of the Torre degli Asinelli. I had just climbed the tower (97 meters tall) and was super tired. Still, I smiled.

Well, that's all with this dress, I love it love it love it. After wearing it all summer long I thought I didn't want to see it again, but today I instinctively reached for it to go grocery shopping and then eating cake with a friend. I felt like a princess in both cases. 

See you soon with a few other summer makes and hopefully some autumn ones! Ciao!

Where it's #vintagepledge in polka dots

Hello there.

New week new energies to spend. This is hopefully going to be a good one. I've always been one to love Mondays: new prospects, new hopes, new planning...

Today is a special Monday for me, because it's D-2 to meet my Chéri again, after one and a half months apart. We'll meet in Rome and then spend a little less than one month travelling around Italy. We'll be at home but it's going to feel like holidays. Anyway, this dress is going directly into the suitcase:

It's my first make for #vintagepledge of 2015, and I completed it a couple of months ago. Since then, I've been wearing it regularly. The pattern is Modes et Travaux n.1176, and as usual I am having a hard time to understand which decade it is. From the styling I guess something around late 1980s or 1990s, but I can totally be wrong. Correct me if you have more informations or more pattern-dating skills.

I can easily say that is one of my favourite dresses ever. I liked the design since the beginning and then I've come to love it even more after all the details I hid into it: a lot of topstitching and a lot of satin bias binding, all handsewn. The inside is definitely more interesting than the outside.

The only thing I didn't make is a matching belt. I have the fabric to make it, and I have an idea in mind, but I started wearing the dress with a belt I already had and lost the motivation to make a dedicated one. Maybe one day. I think it is cute even without belt, but it is designed to have one and kind of looks incomplete without it.

Left: no belt. Right: with belt

The main feature of the design is the collar, with its sailor vibe. It is the collar which inspired the colour combination of this version. Maybe one day I will make this pattern again in a drapey silk and it will be very different, but the present version is perfect for summer and for my wardrobe.

I like a lot how the bodice is gathered under the collar both at the front and at the back. For this simple gathering it was quite easy to fit, since it has a forgiving shape with a lot of ease. I like that it looks fitted at the waist but remains quite puffy at the back and at the hips.

The construction was quite interesting: the front has separated pieces for bodice and skirt and the back is all one piece. You sew everything apart from the collar, which is eventually assembled to the rest with the visible topstitching. 

The fabric was a present from Chéri: last October he went to visit some friends of him in Bristol and dragged them into the fabric store to choose this very fabric. Imagine four non-sewing guys looking for fabric. Isn't he the sweetest?

Anyway, the fabric is a nice light cotton, printed in the tiniest polka dots, white on blue. Difficult to capture in pictures, but nice. I decided to emphasize the sailor look with red topstitching and big red vintage buttons I bought at the flea market here in Toulouse.

It is a wrap dress but I actually always leave it closed since I can wear it as it is, and I don't like to mess with my fragile buttonholes.

The pattern modifications I made concerned the collar and the waist, and shortening the hem. At the waist I added several cm. to comfortably host my characteristic belly; given the forgiving design with a lot of ease I could have maybe forego this step, but I wanted to be on the safe side.

For the collar, I had to widen the internal curve of 2-3 cm. to host my neck, and maybe I could have done a little more: as you can see from the picture it still lays a bit too much on my neck. Next time.

When I started working on this dress I muslined also sleeves, but then decided to go for the sleeveless version, and finished armholes with facing. I enjoyed sewing this dress, because I took my time and splurged on hidden details. Now I am enjoying wearing it because it is the perfect everyday dress with enough coverage but cute finishing, and I always get a lot of compliments for it. It makes me feel like a total vintage babe! French people often say that it looks perfect for my chic Italian style. Let's see what Italian people will think of it in a few days.