Sunday 14 July 2013

FO - Elisalex/Gertie mash up

Hiiiiiii

Yet another beautiful day here in Devon !!

Yesterday I was a little hungover (as you might imagine after drinking a whole bottle of champagne on Friday night :-) )and set up all my sewing stuff in the garden and sewed to my heats content under the shade of a parasol. Man I am so jelly of you folks with designated sewing spaces ! Such a difference in having everything set up in one place. No having to set up sewing machine, then deconstructing to set up serger. Back and forth, back and forth like that ! No wonder it seems to take ages to sew anything.

What a treat to have it all set up and raring to go. I made the most beautiful dress (I think !) in just half a day, including various moochings to the cooler inside of my house, and a frosty drink :-)

This dress is the predecessor to yesterday. Its the (heavily modified to fit) bodice of the Elisalex, mixed with Gerties (heavily modified to fit) pencil skirt.

I not only had to make the individual sections fit in themselves (full bust adjustment anyone ?), but then join them all to make a dress. I had to match up seam lines, darts to princess seams, you get the picture.

And I don't know if its just me, but I had to make changes to the top of the skirt (which fitted perfectly as a skirt !?!) in order to make it fit me round the waist when used in a dress. I am going to document those changes at some stage here to remember what I did for future pattern mash ups.

Anyway here is the first version of this mash up. Created with work in mind, particularly for those days when I have to work in the courts.







Excuse the wrinkles ! You wouldn't believe its freshly ironed !! I made this in apparel fabric, and I am going to do a post soon on my thoughts of sewing apparel fabric .v. quilting (decorating) fabrics.

Its cotton, lined in green cotton voile and navy bemberg.


No pretty hem on this on as I wanted to try a new technique and used my machine blind hem foot for the first time.

This version wasn't perfect by any stretch (um will you check out those back bodice wrinkles !!), but I will only wear it with this cardigan while at work, and I think they look made for each other :-) 

I have made 2 more versions since, including yesterdays, and after lots more pattern adjusting after making the above version I think it now pretty much fits me perfectly. Which I am stoked about because in my earlier days of sewing I found it painfully hard to try and fit a dress to my body, and after hours of flat pattern adjusting and muslin's I gave up, crying with defeat.

ooooo man this post is long. If you made it this far, well done !!

I am off to sit in the garden.

Cheerio

K xxx


6 comments:

  1. The whole bottle ?!?!? LOL!

    I love how people around the interwebs are calling the Elisalex mash-ups things like "Gertalex" and "Elisalotte" and "Simplex" - so funny! So, I like your Gertalex!!

    I'm having the same experience re: fitting. For my first two years back to sewing it really eluded me, but I think it's finally starting to click!

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    1. Lol ! Yes there are lots of different mash ups. Isn't it cool how you can hack patterns to make something else entirely :) fitting does suck at first, but then once you get into it, and don't mind making millions of muslins, it can be fun ! Actually I think you know you are getting better at it once you find you are no longer making those millions of muslins, and are cutting into your fabric much more quickly than you were before. :)) xx

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  2. Ooh I was thinking of doing the same mash up at some point too! I'll have to keep in mind possible modifications to the waistline when turning it into a dress than. Can't wait to see the other versions!

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    1. Awesome !! You should defo give it a try :)) I can't wait to see your version all made up !! Xx

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  3. So glad to hear that fitting woes are getting easier for you to address! I've only recently started to feel like I have a grip on fitting problems (definitely don't know what to do in every situation, but I'm getting less panicky). It seemed like up until maybe 6 months ago, every new project would introduce new horrors! But I'm so glad to hear that it's been easier for you lately. :)

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    1. Thanks ginger :)) from the looks of things over your way, you have the fitting problems all sewn up ! Good work with the skirt, it looks awesome, and you have made me want to try that deer and Doe dress, in a sailor dress version. I'm glad that we are all finding that we are getting some control over fitting, and it's great how we get to learn new (and often cool stuff) from our fellow bloggers :)) xx

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