Summer Essentials Sew-Along: an update

So, I´ve been away for a while, enjoying the summer in Norway. I have been finishing some more of my SESA- items, but unfortunately not all. I am still working on the swimsuit and the more evening appropriate things. I am almost finished with a knit cardigan, but only almost. The last bit is soooo tedious to knit…;-).

The things I HAVE finished are a white linen Beignet skirt, a cotton blouse from a 2008 issue of Alt om Håndarbeide, a UFO – a dalmatian print Vogue dress and a pair of sailor styled capris.

The Beignet was fun to sew up, and is easy to wear and as always with Colette patterns, I have nothing to say but Yey! for Colette, yet again!

It´s made out of a nice white linen, and I´ve lined it with rayon and I used cotton for the facing.

The cotton blouse was a spontaneous project, I had quite a lot of a blue cotton fabric left from the Beignet (I used it for the facing), and coincidentally, my sister had bought a bunch of old pattern magazines at a library sale, so I made this little blouse from one of those patterns.

The pattern was quite easy to follow, but the fitting was quite frankly non- existing, so I made some adjustments to make it work as both a tucked in blouse, and as a little jacket. I´ve already used it a lot!

The UFO is from a Vogue pattern (Vogue Easy Options 2530) I have had laying around for some years, I´ve wanted to make this for quite a while.

I bought the fabric on sale last year, I think, and then I finally cut it out earlier this summer. I really like how it turned out! For some reason, it reminds me of Charlotte of Sex and the City. This pattern did have some flaws, though, most important is the fact that it fails to mention when to sew the darts of the bodice. It wasn´t a big problem for me, as I know when and how to do this, but this pattern is from the easy options line, and I would imagine a beginner seamstress to find this lack of information a bit frustrating.

I needed to adjust the fit of the bodice quite a lot as well, I added some extra darts in the bodice, to make it more fitted to my bust. I made view G of this one, but skipped the hem flounce. The things I am most pleased with on this one is the anchor buttons, and the fact that I attached some loops onto the dress so that I can use a regular clothes hanger for it (I usually never bother to do this).

The last bit I made was actually on my SESA lists, and is the Simplicity 2656 capris I know some of you other sew-alongers are making as well. I made it out of a thrifted bed sheet.

Look, I can fly!

Although I am quite content with the result, I found the pattern to be very frustrating, and I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone! Only after I had made these I read what others had to say about this pattern over at Pattern Review, and though it is a small comfort to see others being as unsatisfied as me, I might have saved myself from some frustration if I had read their reviews first. Sooo, note to self: ALWAYS read reviews of patterns before you jump into a new project… I´ll write a review for it in a separate post as soon as I get into the mood of pattern trashing….;-).

Next project on the sewing table is this Vogue Retro dress, it is already cut out, I´m just building up some courage to make bound buttonholes (without this cool tool).