Miss Bernadette Decks the Halls: Butterick 6244 and Cashmerette Turner Dress

Good evening, kittens! There's time for one more 2016 blog post, right?

We originally had grand plans for tonight, but after two straight weeks of travel, decided to plant ourselves on the couch and watch college football instead. Sam is making steaks, I may whip up some brownies, and we'll ring in the new year in my favorite way: clad in pajamas and drinking mimosas at home. I would make such a fabulous hermit, y'all. 

Despite my introverted inclinations, we did spend most of the holidays celebrating in style. Not only were there a million parties to attend in December, but our third anniversary fell right before Christmas. Usually, I make up one fabulous holiday dress, then wear it endlessly for a month. This year, I made a dress and a coat. It wasn't overachieving, so much as self-preservation. We had a series of cold fronts, before Christmas, and I would've been a beautiful popsicle, without a festive coat to throw over my festive dress. 

No shivering under the mistletoe for me, this year!

Butterick 6244, the coat in this ensemble, is a pattern I've longed to make. It's one of the new Lisette patterns for Butterick (she moved from Simplicity, last year) designed by Liesl Gibson, of Oliver + S fame. The pattern features two pieces: a simple princess-seamed dress and a drape front coat to pair with it. The dress is cute enough, but that coat! Be still my heart. Unlined, with that dramatic collar and flat-felled seams, it's the elegant, but easy-to-sew outerwear of my dreams. 

Gorgeous versions of this coat first popped up, last winter. Lori, of Girls in the Garden, made an elegant camel version; Margot, of Creating in the Gap, made this glorious red one; and 

The Frougie Fashionista made a buffalo plaid iteration that I have coveted ever since. We had a remarkably mild winter, last year, and I never got around to cutting it out. This year, however, coats seemed like the smartest thing to sew. We had a cold snap early and those Arctic waves of weather keep on coming. I'm relishing them, if only for the opportunity to wear my favorite layers. 

For the fabric of this coat, I chose a dishy boiled wool from Mood Fabrics in cayenne red. This color is, sadly, no longer stocked on their site, but a dozen or so other colors are still available. Boiled wool is exactly what it sounds like–wool fabric that has been agitated in hot water, so that the fibers shrink up into a tighter, more felted fabric. It has a gloriously soft, nubby texture and a bit of springy stretch in one direction, thanks to this process. In addition to coats, I’ve had a couple of winter skirts made from boiled wool and they are such cozy layering pieces. It is one of my favorite fabrics to wear during colder months.

It's also a bit strange to work with. Boiled wool is densely packed, but isn't opaque. It's super warm and a bit heavy, but also drapes beautifully. This is the first of two projects that I'm using boiled wool for, this season, and I'm treating it differently in each case. This fabric works brilliantly for unstructured, drapey pieces like this one, as it doesn't unravel and has beautiful movement on its own. However,  if you add the right lining and understructure, it's also a fantastic fabric for a more structured coat. It's almost more chameleon than cloth.

The construction of this coat was about as easy as outerwear gets. There are two darts at the neckline, no lining to fuss with, and only five pieces in total. The instructions are pretty clear, with a lengthy explanation of flat-felled seams for beginners, and there’s a sew-along on the Lisette website for the entire pattern. Boiled wool doesn’t actually unravel, as mentioned above, so if you wanted to leave the drape unhemmed and the seams unfinished, this pattern would be easier. You’ll see unhemmed boiled wool in ready-to-wear all the time and it gives a bohemian, casual look to the finished garment. Despite my penchant for perfectionism, I almost did that myself. This wool looks seriously beautiful left on its own. 

In the end, though, I hemmed everything and finished all seams as instructed. The armscyes are the only seams left unfelled in the directions, which I kept out of pure laziness. The fabric is a little bulky for flat-felled seams, but it takes both pinning and pressing well, so it’s not too big of a challenge. My seams aren't perfect on the insides, but look nice and neat on the outside. I'll take that!

My only note is that, if you’re going to use boiled wool for an unlined design, expect it to wrinkle. I wore the coat for an hour, before these photos, and signs of wear are evident even after a good pressing, earlier that morning.  Its organic, unstructured nature is part of the charm, in my book. For more tailored designs, definitely consider those lining options well, however.

Underneath this coat is another version of the Cashmerette Turner Dress, which is easily my favorite pattern of the last few months. It's a simple design, but also a timeless one. Depending on fabric and design variations, soooo many different looks are possible with this pattern. Plus, those multiple cup sizes are amazing. I will never be able to praise Jenny enough for making the FBA a thing of the past. It's freeing to skip such a major fitting step! 

For this Turner, I used black and white geometric rayon jersey, also from Mood Fabrics. This fabric is extra stretchy, drapes like a dream, and has abstract hearts and circles marching diagonally across the print. It's absolutely beautiful and just a little strange, which I dig. In order to take advantage of this fabric, properly, I made a few small changes to the pattern: 

• Rounded the neckline and subbed in a neckband, in place of the lining. 
• Elongated the shoulder seam slightly to give it the illusion of a cap sleeve, which I thought would be fun with those diagonal stripes. 
• Kept the 1" added to both the bodice and skirt, last time. 

Like my other knit makes, I constructed this one in the usual way. It's sewn on my machine, with a lightning bolt stitch for the seams and small zig-zag for the hems. Lightweight fusible webbing is used on both the skirt and sleeve hems to stabilize them and make sewing much, much easier. 

I really adore this pairing, y’all. A black-and-white print worn with bright red statement pieces is one of my favorite combinations, especially at the holidays. It’s festive, but also works at other times of the year. You can deck the halls or just bundle up for an elegant evening out. Even better, this coat is eerily similar to wearing a gigantic blanket. Between it and the secret pajamas factor of a knit dress, it feels like I’m cheating at dressing up! When I’ve eaten record amounts of holiday food, that’s a definite win.

Happy New Year, kittens! I hope you had a joyful holiday season, filled with friends, family, cake, and maybe even a little selfish sewing time! I'm really looking forward to seeing what 2017 has in store for us all. 

Note: The fabric for this post was provided by Mood Fabrics, free of charge, as part of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network. All opinions and thoughts are my own, however, and I choose all my MSN fabrics. 

Project Sewn: Twice the May Flowers

Good morning, dear ones! It's time for another round of Project Sewn, this week with an emphasis on all things floral. As you can imagine, when I got the news of this challenge, there were whoops of Mary joy heard far and wide. Florals are kind of my thing. 

The problem with having a thing, of course, is that it makes decisions complicated. Should I make another go-to Liberty shirtdress or perhaps try my hand at Alabama Chanin embellishments? Should I make one piece or two? Should I...? There were too many options! In the end, I circled back to my personal goal for this competition. No matter what happens, make things you really want. So, I picked a piece I've long lusted after: a floral trench coat. 

There's something so unexpectedly chic about a printed coat. The silhouette is classic, but the print lends a bit of whimsy to an otherwise practical basic. As luck would have it, Hancock Fabrics had just the right print for my vision--a bright, multicolored floral rayon blend "linen-look" fabric.

Side note: Blessed be, I've discovered a nearby Hancock Fabrics! The town 30 minutes south of us not only has a Hancock's, but a Hancock's staffed by the fabulous Garment Farmer. When you've lived with only a JoAnn's for six months, there is no more exciting day than visiting a store with actual apparel fabrics and stumbling upon a fellow sewing blogger. Land of pretty cottons, how I've missed you!

Ahem. Back to the coat at hand. In addition to being gorgeous, this blue floral rayon was also conveniently hefty and fairly water impermeable. Fate, quite obviously, knew it would be a trench coat. 

For the coat pattern, I decided on Butterick 5966, a princess-seamed coat, with a wide skirt and collar options. This version of the coat is a reinterpretation of the Victorian tailored dresscoat, with delicately puffed sleeves and that dramatic collar. It's so Dr. Who meets Oscar Wilde! I absolutely adore it. 

Rather interestingly, the coat is finished off with a hidden button fly down the right front. This was my first time inserting a fly and it was surprisingly easy. You know, after I accidentally sewed it shut once. Whoops! I'm going to go ahead and blame this on Butterick's horrid illustrations, however. Big 4 direction pamphlets really need to catch up with their detailed, helpful indie counterparts. 

The rest of the coat, though, really was a breeze. I lined the whole thing in aqua-and-white pinstriped cotton and finished it with white vintage gumball buttons down the front. You can barely see them in these pictures, but they're there and they're adorable!

For modesty's sake, I did need something to wear under the coat. People get arrested for NSFW trench coats in Texas! To the rescue came my trusty Mood Fabrics. Last month, I'd ordered this gorgeous white cotton voile, heavily embroidered along each selvage with a white floral motif. It made the perfect little white dress to show off a colorful statement coat.

Thanks to all that gorgeous embroidery, working with this voile was tricky. The fabric itself is quite light, so it snagged and ripped with the slightest pull, even from its own embroidered parts. To mitigate this, I kept the dress silhouette simple. For the bodice, I chose the darted princess seams of Butterick 5982, then attached it to a wide, gathered dirndl skirt. The dress is lined in white batiste, which provided both coverage and kept the floaty, ethereal quality of the voile.

As a final touch, I cut away the rest of the selvage (about four inches) from the hemline of the dress, so that it finished with those lovely embroidered scallops. It took forever, but it was so worth it! It's special touches like this one, which make me fall in love with a piece.

Twice the florals for Week Two of Project Sewn! Woohoo!

I'm going to be honest, friends. Taking these photos was a bit of nightmare. After we combated gale force winds our first time out, I was unexpectedly thunderhailed upon the second time around. Also, WHITE IS REALLY DIFFICULT TO PHOTOGRAPH. No matter how cute this dress looks in person, the camera refused to pick up all the details. 

Le sigh. I actually had a good cry about these photos last night, in a ridiculous flailing sort of way that only a Ramos Gin Fizz and Sam could cure. It was so silly and probably caused by other stressors. Now, I'm thinking of suggesting a new law to the science community: The more important a photoshoot, the worse the weather in Waco will be. It's always when I have Vision and Plans that a surprise hurricane blows into town. Though this outfit deserves all the fancy things, the only worthwhile shots ended up being in a parking lot in low light. 

That's the way the needle sews, kittens. I joined Project Sewn to push my boundaries, after all, not become a photographer (Which is good!). Though this photoshoot didn't turn out as envisioned, both of the pieces did. I'm going to wear the heck out of these. Even better, today is downright chilly! I would complain about not having a cute, lightweight coat to wear, but that's just been fixed. It's going to be so much fun wearing this little lovely around today.

What's also fun are the other AMAZING outfits in this week's Project Sewn challenge. If you were knocked out last week, prepare your smelling salts. The other contestants absolutely hit the ball out of the park with this challenge. Each and every piece is well-crafted and swoon-worthy! So, hop on over to Project Sewn and vote for your favorite!