Sewing Scientist: December 2020

George + Ginger Clio and Anniversary Sale!

George + Ginger just turned 5! I started to make a new blog post and discovered that I never finished this one! I only uploaded the photos and that was it. I know I shared these photos on Facebook and I think Instagram, but now I can't remember. As you can tell, these photos were taken earlier this year when the weather was warm and my patio was covered in greenery.

George + Ginger started a new section of their shop labeled as “Level Up” patterns. These patterns are for unique styles that included expanded information sections for design specific adjustments to get the perfect fit. It is stressed that a fit muslin (or toile) must be made first. Then you make adjustments to it until you get the proper fit. I decided to give the Clio Level Up pattern a try. These photos are actually of my muslin that I decided to finish because it looked so good!

The Clio is an add-on bodice to the Mix It Up Pattern and works with all the skirts included in that pattern. But the pattern does include a simple peplum skirt – which I used, but slightly modified. The Clio is a fully lined, fitted bodice with a unique criss-cross front and a flattering gathered waistband. Suggested fabric for the Clio is a 2-way stretch, stable knit with 30% stretch – highly recommended is ponte and scuba. This one is made with a liverpool.

The Clio pattern involves a lot of gathers. The bodice pieces are gathered at the top and bottom and the waist band has gathers. I used my sewing machine for the entire construction of the Clio. Definitely take the time to do two rows of stitches for the gathers.

I think my bodice turned out beautifully. I really love how unique it is. The Clio bodice can be worn backwards with the crisscross in the back. Since I decided to do the high-low skirt, I can't do that. I have not hemmed the skirt yet and am still thinking of cutting the skirt to be a simple circle skirt so that I can wear it backwards.

Here is a look at the second Clio I made. This one was for the Minerva Blog. Please follow me over there to see more photos.

Today is the last day of the George + Ginger Sale and all patterns are 25% off!

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

George + Ginger Anniversary Top

George + Ginger is celebrating their 5 year anniversary this week! The Anniversary Top is the pattern of the month and I can't believe this is my first time making one! I found the pattern printed in my sewing cabinet and went to work making it this weekend.

I think cold shoulder tops are fun. I have a few and wear them alone and if I do get cold shoulders, I just throw on a cardigan. Today I wore my Anniversary Top and the weather was fairly mild and I found myself putting on and taking off my cardigan all day long.

TheAnniversary Top is fairly fitted, but I did grade mine out to avoid looking like a sausage casing, Especially since I made scones for breakfast and ate more gluten than I should have today. The Anniversary Top can be made with cotton lycra and I had fun selecting a fun print to use. I settled on this print by Riza Peker that Made Whimsy ran a few years ago (this print is out of stock, but there is stock of a few other prints by Riza). The turquoise matched my glasses perfectly.

I had a bit of a mishap making my Anniversary Top. I often have to remove length for my height, but I also like my tops long, so I left this one as is. When I tried it on before hemming - it was way too long. I took a hair clip and clipped it where I though I needed to cut the bottom off at. When I got back to my sewing room and found the clip, I thought I placed my finger where it was when I removed it and placed the top on the cutting table to measure how high up it was from the hem. I measured 7 inches. That sounded like a lot, but it was really long so I went a head and cut 7 inches off. I put it back on and to my horror found it to short now!

I grabbed the 7 inch strip that I cut off and folded it and added it back on as a bottom band. It's still a little long, but better than too short. Now all that was left to hem was the sleeves. I didn't feel like pulling out my coverstitch to only hem the sleeves, so I cut bands for the sleeves too. I thought something was wrong with the neck on my top, and after I made it, I went back to the pattern and found that there are two neckline options - high and standard. Who knows when I had made the decision to print the high neckline version. I rarely wear a high neckline. I might go back and cut the neckline lower.

The Anniversary Top is on sale for $4.50 the entire month of December. Below are the special sales this week for the 5th Anniversary Sale.

Sew Beautiful Taktsang

A few weeks ago I showed you a few of my makes from the new book from Kennis Wong Sew Beautiful: Make Stylish Handmade Clothing with Simple Stitch-and-Wear Patterns (Sew Beautiful to be brief). Since then, I have been busy making a few more items from that book. This is the Taktsang Dolman Wrap and it's paired with the wide leg version of the Fortuna Pants (blog about those will be on Sly Fox Fabrics on December 8, 2020).

I think this is my absolute favorite make from the Sew Beautiful Book to date.

The Taktsang Dolman Wrap is for woven fabrics. I was making a size 8 graded to a size 12 hip and needed between 2 3/4 and 2 7/8 yards of fabric if using 54" wide fabric. I didn't find anything in my stash that spoke to me, so I went to My Fabric Designs to find a design.

I knew that I wanted the Faux Linen Slub. I had previously purchased the Faux Linen Slub for another project and loved how luxurious it looked and felt. This base has a printable area that is 42" wide. I'm also short and knew I'd be taking a little bit of length out of the top and I was hoping to find an abstract design that was non directional so that I could maximize my fabric usage.

I decided on a design by LoriBorealis (she also goes by Keweenawchris) called Stormy Silk Scarf. I'm going to try to curate my wardrobe around the colors blue and green and add in pops of Yellow and Purple. I loved that this design had many beautiful shades of blue, with a bright royal blue featuring prominently. The design brings in many other colors and I especially love the golden yellow tones in it.

I love that My Fabric Designs allows the buyer to change the scale of the design. I liked the scale that the designer had set (It fits absolutely perfect on 1 yard of the cotton silk and silk crepe de chine), however as I visualized the pattern pieces on the yardage as displayed, I wanted there to be more opportunity for variety in the design across each piece. Therefore, I scaled down the design to where each quatrefoil element was approximately an inch.

I ordered 3 yards of the Faux Linen Slub and crossed my fingers that it was going to work. The website states that the Faux Linen Slub is 100% polyester, so I didn't think there would be much shrinkage, but they indicate it can shrink 2% in length and 4.5% in width. I did not think to check my fabric for shrinkage after washing. I did quite a bit of pattern tetris, but am happy to report that I got my Taktsang out of 3 yards with a little bit left to spare. In true 2020 fashion I will likely make masks with the remainder.

The Faux Linen Slub is not a tight weave with a 90 x 90 thread count. It does have a "flowing drape" as described my My Fabric Designs and I have to agree. It has a nice feel and texture to it that I really love. The fabric is considered a midweight at 4.84 ounces per square yard. This will make my Taktsang perfect to wear year round. The Faux Linen Slub is $18.50 per yard - I think that is a great price. You can take advantage of a 15% discount using the code SS15.

For these photos I wore a camisole under my Taktsang, but in cooler weather I think it would still look great over a long sleeve tee or turtle neck. Below is a photo of my entire outfit.

The Sew Beautiful book releases on December 8th. This is a great gift for a sewist or to yourself.

Patterns included in the book:

Mornington Top & Dress
Taktsang Dolman Wrap
Prague Top & Dress
Carlsbad Cardigan
Fortuna Pants and Shorts
Castlepoint Skirt
Palermo Top & Dress
Orosi Top & Dress

The book is available as a softcover book with printed patterns that are nested (tracing will be needed) and in a digital (ebook) version with the patterns available in A4, letter, and A0 versions for printing. The book is available at the retailers below.

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. These links provide me with a small compensation if you make a purchase using my link. There is not cost to you when you do this. My thoughts and opinions given in this blog post are mine.

Greenstyle Cambria Top

It's not often that I buy a pattern when it's released and make it right away. When I saw the Greenstyle Cambria Top I knew immediately what fabric I was using and I needed to make it right then!

I recently received this fabric from My Fabric Designs and while I had a different top in mind initially, I just knew the Cambria Top was the best choice to show off the design when I saw it released. Every tester photo I saw of the Cambria Top was just beautiful and it was so flattering on all body shapes and sizes.

This fabric was designed by Vincent Desjardins (Vinpauld) and is called Women of Science and Learning. It's a beautiful toile design featuring some lady scientists that I have always admired. I was very pleased when I saw that Rachel Carson's portrait ended up front and center of my bodice. In high school I read her book Silent Spring and aspired to be like her and try to save the planet. While I haven't found a way to save the planet, I did become an environmental scientist and do my best to make our world a better place.

Jane Goodall is also featured and her life story has always been so inspiring to me as an animal lover. The design also include Marie Skłodowska Curie for her work on radioactivity and earning two Nobel Prizes. And many others that I won't bore you with.

I ordered the Polyester Pongee Silk. I love this base for its softness and slight sheen. It has a dressy feel and love it for making items that I will be wearing to work. My Fabric Designs describes it as a 100% microfiber polyester interlocking silk knit. It's stretchy with 50% stretch horizontally. Since it doesn't contain spandex, I would not suggest using it for fitted items.

The Cambria Top comes with many options. There are 4 top length options - high hip, low hip, banded and hemmed. I did the banded length which is cut between the high hip and low hip then a band is added. The Cambria Top also has neckline options - mock turtle neck, high crew, low crew, and wide scoop. I made the low crew. There are also fit options - FBA front piece, easy fit, and slim fit. I went for easy fit.

Then there are sleeve option. Lengths are short, 3/4, long, and with a long cuff. There are 3 sleeve styles gathered at top and bottom, pleated at top and gathered at bottom, and a Bishop sleeve which is only gathered at the bottom. This is one area where the pattern instructions could be clearer. I printed both sleeves and the pleated sleeve is easy to identify, but the other sleeve is not clearly labeled. I was thinking of doing the gathered at top and bottom sleeve, but since nothing had it clearly labeled I ended up with what ended up being the Bishop sleeve.

All sleeves are finished with a band. Since the Polyester Pongee Silk does not contain spandex, it is possible that my sleeve bands will become loose over the course of the day. I used the Pongee Silk on another top with sleeve bands for a short sleeve and have not had an issue with the fit over the day. With these bands lower on my arm where there is more movement I will have to see how it fares.

The Cambria Top is one of the Patterns of the Month for December at Greenstyle . The top has so many options and I plan to make a few more and to try the gathered sleeve and the pleated sleeve.

I also have a discount code for My Fabric Designs! You can use the code SS15 to get 15% through December 31, 2021 (this code can be used up to three times per user)! The Polyester Pongee Silk is a bargain at $15.50 per yard and even better with the discount. I also love several other bases offered.