New Ottobre Woman

The new issue of Ottobre Woman is nearly here! You can also check out the Ottobre Blog for pictures. Some highlights for me are shown below :-)

A pretty frilly scarf

I'm a sucker for shirts!


there's some sensible looking underwear :-)

and a nice sporty outfit.

Stalking the postie!!

Ugly Duckling?

I finished one of my Ottobre SWAP 2009 garments today, Viscose Jersey Crossover Top design #17 in the Autumn/Winter 5/2008 issue of Ottobre Woman (size 44). I really thought it looked absolutely awful as I laid it out on the table for a photo. I thought it had been a total waste of time and fabric making this top :-(. See what I mean?


I was dreading the look of it on me but amazingly I was absolutely thrilled! The fabric feels gorgeous, a lovely soft stretchy viscose jersey, and the top looks alright after all (just standing a little awkardly I think, tired back after sewing and trying to keep my arm away from the side seam detail) :-). I think it'll look great with this skirt.


The side pleat detail is my favourite part of the top, 3 little inverted pleats giving the front a little 3D interest. It's also nice to have two layers of jersey fabric across the tummy, a little more forgiving of curves!


Alterations:

The pattern is able to be made with or without a collar and stand. I made it without the collar because I find jersey collars look a little limper than I like a collar to be and other members who have made this top commented on not liking the collar style. I may have tried using a woven for the collar if I had a suitable piece but couldn't come up with one!

I used pale pink ribbing for the neckline binding rather than self-fabric. I thought the jersey was too stretchy to support itself as binding. It peeps out a little but I can live with it, I'll just have to try to be a galloping horse ;-).

Being of shortish stature, as usual I had to cut 1" off the sleeve edges and 2" off the top length before hemming.

There are some funny lines under my arm, when I lift my arms it looks a little like the sleeve opening is a little too big. Surely my chest is not big enough for a bust alteration! Any hints ideas would be welcome, but be kind ;-)!

Catching Up

I made a skirt for myself recently which I'd like to share with you. The main fabric was given to me by a generous work colleague, leftovers from a skirt she made for herself, a very pretty embroidered fabric. There were quite a few wedge shaped pieces which worked really well for a 10 gore skirt design from Ottobre Woman.




Do you like the fun little secret touch inside, lining remnants! Feels like my own secret carnivale skirt :-). Would you believe DD(16) saw it and asked if she could borrow it and wear it inside out, LOL!!!



I would really love to make this skirt again but without the contrasting hem band. I much preferred the drape of the skirt before the hem band was sewn on, it seems to hold the skirt out making the biggest part of my body look more voluminous!

Ottobre Waterfall Blouse

My Ottobre Woman 'Waterfall' blouse is finished, pattern #5 in issue 2/2009. Many thanks to Pam for her tutorial on sewing the draped cowl neck, I highly recommend following Pam's instructions for a lovely finish! This top will be worn with my new Ottobre 'Swing' skirt sewn earlier in the same fabric, although it looks quite nice with jeans and I think it'll be beautiful with my grey, navy and turquoise Ottobre skirts. Very versatile :-)

Surprisingly the sleeves are a little shorter than usual on me, you may like to add a bit of length before cutting to ensure that the sleeve finishes past the wrist after hemming!

I'm sorry there's no modelled shot, my photographer is away on a three day practice hike for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme (Gold) :-).

Ottobre Swing Skirt

I've sewn up the Ottobre Woman "Swing" jersey skirt, design 11 issue 2/2009, in a beautiful polyviscose fabric from Knitwit (Autumn 2009 portfolio no. 24 Chelsea Printed Knit Teal).




There is only one pattern piece for the 10 gore skirt, but to make cutting out easier I traced two pattern pieces. The skirt is hemmed with a twin needle using teal coloured thread. I've also used a twin needle to encase the elastic waist. I cut a length of 25mm wide elastic about 2 cm shorter than my waist measurement and overlapped the ends about 1cm to join.

The fabric was tricky to sew, being quite slippery, curly and fine so I basted most of the seams first and then sewed the real seams, unpicking the basting stitches afterwards. You certainly realise how long around the hem of a 10 gore skirt is after sewing around it a couple of times ;-)

I also have the "Waterfall" top cut out in this fabric, ready to sew! Hopefully it'll be a little easier to sew.

Ottobre Elegance Pants

I couldn't wait to try this pattern out when the new Ottobre Woman (issue 2/2009) arrived! Ottobre now gives their patterns names, this one is called "Elegance" pants. I had some orange striped denim in my stash ready for a nice pair of elegant jeans, and this was the pattern that spoke to me :-)

I find that a shaped leg is more flattering on me than straight legged jeans and I love the wide hem at the bottom of the pants.

Darts (at the back) and a shaped waistband give a nice shape to the top. The best feature of all is that there is no chunky jeans zip at the front!

The front hip pockets are really interesting, like a bound button hole, it'll be interesting to see how they cope with wear and tear and how they sit during everyday movement. There is an invisible zip in the side seam of the pants. I followed the directions and put the zip on the left side but being a right hander I think I'd put the zip on the right hand side next time, I'm finding it a bit awkward to manage!

The inner waistband is bound with bias binding, made with a pretty yellow print in my scrap box. The wrong side of the fabric is a bit bright isn't it, LOL!

I only made a couple of modifications; I cut 8cm off the length of the pants (being petite) and had to fit the back of the pants by bringing it in 3cm at the centre back to cater for my sway back (or should that be my big butt ;-)) grading it gradually back to the centre back seam. I didn't sew on the back pockets, I thought the back would look better without them and I couldn't face trying to match the stripes :-P.

The front could be a bit more fitted, perhaps I should bring in the centre front seam a bit too. Sorry, not the best shot . Any suggestions?

Next time I'll choose better placement for the belt loops, I was trying to follow the design sketch but I'm not entirely happy, they're too close together at the side seams and not close enough at the front of the pants.

Despite these negative comments, I'm absolutely thrilled to have a new pair of more dressy jeans :-).

Bird Shorts

I had some fun frayed stretch denim in my stash that I thought would be great made up into the stretch capris from Ottobre Woman issue 2/2007, #14.


The pattern included a pretty little bird pattern for the back pocket which was really easy to machine embroider with a straight triple stitch along one continuous line, plus a separate curved line underneath to finish the branch.









The triple topstitching on the back yoke and around the front hip pockets is a nice design feature. The topstitching was done in a medium tone grey for a more subtle effect than white, which is what I was initially contemplating.


The pattern has a leg cuff included but by the time I got to the stage of sewing them on, the capris were already much too long and would have been ankle length by the time I added the cuffs! I decided to leave off the cuffs and shorten the length by 10cm and keep a little slit in the side seams. I already had a matching set of buttons for the waistband and cuffs so I decorated the top of the slits with the little buttons.


I love these shorts, very comfortable and they feel fun!

I have sewn for myself this year

My all time favourite jumper was a white cowl neck jumper, fashionable in the eighties :-). I fell in love with this cowl neck sweater Ottobre pattern when it came out late last year, Ottobre Woman issue 5/08, #18. I had a lovely wool knit in my stash which was just waiting for this pattern, absolutely perfect :-)


I don't normally wear tops with raglan sleeves but the shoulder pleats provide beautiful shaping. This was a brilliantly quick pattern to sew up, cut one day and sewn up the next, even though I sewed the inverted pleat AND the cowl neck on the wrong way out the first time, LOL!!