Tilly & the Buttons Etta, Freya, and miscellany

It’s been cold and rainy here in L.A. (OK, cold-ish, this isn’t exactly Canada) and things have been similarly bleak here on the homefront. We’ve all been sick with colds, and the beginning of the new academic quarter sent everyone into a tailspin, as it always does. For awhile the best I could do, sewing-wise, was a seam or two a night. Still, I’ve gotten a few projects finished.

One of the many privileges of my job is that I can more or less wear what I want most of the time. On non-teaching days I often roll up in jeans and a t-shirt, but I like to turn it up a notch or two for the classroom. Some people don’t; it’s just personal preference. But it does mean I can indulge my dressmaking desires and actually wear what I make. The Tilly and the Buttons Etta dress struck me as a good option for teaching and presentations, with enough fun details to keep it interesting and flattering.

The fabric I chose is a cotton-lycra blend from The Fabric Store, which I picked up during my visit to Sydney. It’s really nice — a little heavier in weight so it takes a little bit of structure. I decided, somewhat disastrously, to line the dress. I find that I prefer the way lined garments hang — they seem to smooth things out — and they just feel really nice to wear. I chose a navy poly from Joann that is nothing special but does the job.

I assumed I’d be OK lining the dress because I’ve made lined garments before and because the TATB blog has instructions for lining the Etta. But, whoo, they. Are. A. Mess. I could follow almost none of them, and what I could follow didn’t make a ton of sense — why do I need the bulk of a facing when the dress has a lining? The instructions that come with TATB patterns are generally very clear, but I guess this blog post didn’t receive the same level of quality control. I ended up just googling “kick pleat lined dress” and “invisible zipper lined dress.”

As the days stretched into weeks and the dress refused to be done, I started to regret the lining decision. In the end, though, the lining is nice and adds a level of polish I appreciate. It did cause some unforeseen problems, though. For some reason, the bodice lining doesn’t exactly match the shape of the shell, and as a result the fabric pulls and wrinkles a bit around the sleeve caps. It’s mostly not noticeable, but it was kind of a bummer after working hard on the fit.

Speaking of which: I cut the dress in a size 6, blending into a size 7 at the hips. I didn’t do a full-bust adjustment, but I did lower the bustline a couple of inches, due to my sad fate as a Droopy-Busted Person. I also fiddled with the hip curve quite a bit. I do something that’s not exactly right when I grade hip curves — I end up with a little bit of pooching at the place where the hip curve dips back in. I don’t know exactly why that happens or how to fix it. In the end, though, I’m really happy with the dress. I felt, after initially putting it on, that maybe it was too short and tight, but looking at these pictures, I see that’s absurd. It’s just maybe more fitted than I’m used to.

In other making-stuff news: I made some pajamas for Dora out of some jersey from Joann. The pants actually do not fit very well at all, but she loves them anyway.

I also made a Rosie top, by Hey June, out of some mushroom fabric that Fabric.com sent me, I think, by mistake — I’d asked for a swatch but they sent a yard. I had fun piping it and adding buttons.

Finally, I made another Tilly dress, a cowl-neck Freya out of some merino from The Fabric Store. It’s actually a little shorter than what I normally wear (I know, I just don’t wear anything resembling short most of the time) but I’ve been reaching for it a lot in this colder weather. I’m starting to see the attractions of the much-vaunted merino.

Next on my list: Dora, of course, wants a dress to match my Etta dress, so I’ll have to see if I can patch together enough swallow scraps to put something together. I also used a Christmas gift certificate to buy some awesome/ridiculous dinosaur otomi fabric from Spoonflower. I thought I might make it into another Jarrah sweater — a quick, fun sew after being locked in my Etta prison for so long. Aaaaaand, I found myself, for whatever reason, wanting a mustard dress, so I got some mustard ponte from eBay, for which I’m eyeing the Ruska knot dress from the Named Breaking the Pattern book. 

SO MUCH STUFF I want to sew!!! I wish I were faster! But I’ve been really loving wearing stuff I make. Who knows why, I just always feel a bit more confident when I’ve made my own outfit.