Zinnia Skirt and Eucalypt Tank

Spring! Spring! It's sunny (sometimes) and warm(ish) and breezy (borderline gale-force) and time for skirts and tank tops (on certain days).

I'm pretty excited about my newest sewn garments: Colette Patterns' Zinnia Skirt, and Megan Neilsen's Eucalypt Tank. They're perfectly springy on their own and together. 

My husband kept complimenting me on the top, saying that I should sew more Eucalypts because they're very flattering. I agree.  I chose this floral patterned voile from Leah Duncan's Morning Walk line for my Eucalypt. It's so perfect. 

I paired the Eucalypt with my newly sewn Zinnia skirt (v. 3) which was made from a beautifully lined fabric I picked up at Finch Sewing Studio.  I cut the waistline a little bit larger on the Zinnia so that it sits a bit lower on my waist.

I wore this outfit to a lunch date with my husband this weekend, and then awkwardly posed along the W&OD bike trail while he snapped my picture.

Pattern: Colette Patterns' Zinnia Skirt

Size: 12

Pattern: Megan Neilsen's Eucalypt Tank

Size: Medium

Adjustments: Lengthened by 2"

New Classes at Finch: Moneta Dress and Garment 101 Featuring the Scout Tee and Sailor Top

I'm so excited to announce my first sewing classes at Finch Sewing Studio! I've previously taught knitting classes, but now that the weather is warming up, interest in knitting tends to wane. (Although don't rule out summer knitting - linen yarn is lightweight and perfect for warm weather knitting. Finch has several linen knit classes lined up, so check them out: Hudson Cowl; Strathcona Linen Scarf)

I'll be teaching two garment classes for beginners: The knit Moneta Dress by Colette Patterns, and the Garment 101: Woven Top class, featuring Grainline Studio's Scout Tee, and Fancy Tiger Crafts' Sailor Top.

Sailor Top

Garment 101 is a great class for those who have never sewn a garment before in their life. In one four-hour class, you will learn how to measure yourself, trace and cut a pattern, and all the fun that goes into garment sewing: cutting fabric, sewing curves, attaching sleeves, and hemming. By the end of the class you'll be strutting out the door with an adorable top. You choose the pattern you want to make: The Scout Tee is a basic woven short-sleeved tee-shirt, and the Sailor Top is a very adorable blouse with a bit of gathering detail around the neckline.

With either of the tops, I recommend a lightweight fabric with a bit of drape to it. Personally, I am a lover of voile, especially for spring and summer. Voile can, however, be on the more sheer side, especially if you choose lighter colors, so be aware of that when picking out your fabric (I tend to layer my voile Sailor top over a silky camisole). I think a double gauze would also work beautifully for both the Scout Tee and the Sailor Top. Of course, you can always choose any cotton fabric for these tops for a little more added structure.

The Moneta Dress class is also great for beginners. With only a few pattern pieces, it's a great introduction to sewing garments. For those who have sewn garments with wovens but have not ventured into the world of sewing with knits, the Moneta Dress is a perfect way to get started. The class is split up into two sessions, and by the end of the second one, you should be leaving with a finished dress. Knits are so comfortable to wear, and you'll be amazed at how impressed people will be when you tell them that you made your dress!

Sewing with knits can be intimidating to beginner sewists, and that's why a class environment is the perfect place to learn. If you only sew with wovens, you may want to step out of your comfort zone while having an instructor (me!) by your side to help and answer questions. I'll be going over tips on sewing with knits, the best stitches to use for stretchy material, and how to effectively hem a knit garment. After this class, you'll be addicted to sewing with knits!

Visit Finch Sewing Studio to sign up in person, or register online: Garment 101 / Moneta Dress

BONUS! If you sign up this weekend for any upcoming Finch class, Nicole is offering 15% off! Use the code FinchFan.

To get inspired, here are a few shots of me wearing my Moneta dresses:

Ikat Moneta

You would think after having made 4 Monetas (2 for myself, one for my mom, and one for my Nan) that I could make them in my sleep.  And while this could be true (operating a sewing machine under drowsy conditions could make for a precarious situation), I have to admit that this last Moneta sucked.  Pour quoi?  The fabric.  Ugh, this fabric.

I'd ordered it from Girl Charlee as soon as it came back in stock.  A gorgeous ikat knit with lots of drape, it felt so wonderful when I removed it from the packaging the day it arrived in the mail.  But then I tried to sew with it, and my dreams were crushed.



This fabric stretched and swished and draped and moved all around, which hardly made for an enjoyable sewing experience.  It took me several sessions to get this dress sewn together, which is nuts. My frustration level rose even higher when the bodice shell was stretched and sewn askew onto the bodice lining.  I spent several weeks playing with the bodice trying to come up with a solution.  In the end I simply folded the front neckline over toward the lining and hand stitched it, hoping to account for some of the askew-ness.  Best solution I could come up with.


























This is hardly indicative of my best work (I was so fed up with working this fabric that I didn't even hem the skirt),  but if you don't look too closely it still manages to look kind of cute.  And bonus: the dress is super comfortable due to the fabric.  Touché fabric, touche.

And here are a few pictures of my mom and her dog, Jackson:

Pattern: Colette Moneta

Fabric: Ikat knit from Girl Charlee.  I don't recall what type of knit fabric this is, which is the real issue. I've sewed joyously with other knits from Girl Charlee.

Size: Medium

Alterations: None, until the end when I had to make some fixes.

Photos of me taken by: my mom.  <3 p="">

Colette Zinnia Maxi Skirt

I've been itching to make a maxi skirt for some time now.  I knew a knit version would be simple and quick, but I was imagining something in a flowy light fabric, like a voile.

I also knew that a maxi skirt would require a lot of fabric and given that voiles tend to be more expensive than regular cottons, I kept putting it off.  But last weekend my husband went out of town to visit his brother for some boy time, so I stopped in to Finch to browse.  Yeah, browse.  That's what I told myself, anyway.  An hour later I walked out of there with three yards of April Rhodes' Arizona voile, the Colette Zinnia pattern, and white cotton fabric for a lining.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the best way to convert the Zinnia (Version 3) into a maxi skirt.  In the end, I did the slash-and-spread method, but it took awhile to determine the best way to do it.  Should I extrapolate the A-line from the top of the skirt down to the bottom, making a wide-ass hem?  Or should I draw a line from the end of the top part of the skirt down to the bottom of the skirt?  I opted for the latter, but I did a lot of researching online to make sure my skirt wouldn't end up with too tight a hem circumference making me walk like a Mermaid or something.

The Zinnia pattern sewed up easily once I got all of the specifics out of the way.  I went up a size so that it would be a little looser around my waist - I am high waisted with a long torso, so when something is designed to sit on the natural waist, it ends up being really high.  I wanted this to sit more toward my belly button, so I measured this area and sized for it rather than my natural waist.  This worked out pretty well.

My only gripe about this last-minute skirt that I sewed is that the cotton fabric I used for a lining is too thick.  It's a quilting cotton, so paired with a fabric as light and flowy as a voile, it practically feels like canvas.  It'll be too much effort to take the skirt apart and swap out the cotton for something lighter/drapier, though.

I was up until 1:30 in the morning working on this skirt, and the only reason is because I had planned to wear it that day (Sunday morning) to an event  I was attending - Blog Brunch DC.  Head on over to my photo blog to read more about it.  Trust me, you want to!

Pattern: Colette Zinnia

Fabric: April Rhodes' Arizona Voile (Triangle Tokens)
Alterations: Converted into maxi skirt.  Used V. 3, but gathered rather than pleated.
Photos: By Nicole outside of her shop!