An Emery and a date... and my first post.

Hi, my name is Caitlan. Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere where I’ll be writing mostly about sewing, a little about knitting and some bits and bobs from my daily life. I had planned to do a ‘first blog post’ post but have changed my mind and decided to just get straight into talking about the dress I made using Christine Haynes’ Emery Dress Sewing Pattern. I made this decision based on two reasons- First reason is that I couldn’t think of anything to write except for the above and the second reason is that I am pretty excited about the Emery dress.

When I am not at my big girl job I run a sewing pattern boutique called Indie Stitches. I came across Christine’s patterns a while ago, I think from memory I read about them on a blog and just had to have them in my store. I was super excited about the Emery when it was released and dearly wanted to make one up for myself. I had a baby 12 months ago and to be honest, I haven’t really sewed much since I became pregnant so I wanted a simple but structured pattern to get me back into the swing of things. I was a ‘start in the morning, sew all day and not stop until it’s finished’ kind of sewer before I had my son. I am not able to sew like this anymore so I am teaching myself to fit bits and pieces in where I can. I am trying to teach myself patience and to enjoy the process rather than focusing on the end satisfaction. I should also do this with food rather than scoffing it down for the end result of being not hungry anymore. I am worse now I am a mama, I never know how long I’ve got before I won’t have the use of both of my hands again. My husband thinks I eat like I am in prison and big Bertha is going to come and steal my food.

Last month my husband went to soundwave, so my son and I caught up with my friend Liz, from Sewn by Elizabeth for an Emery date while we were in the city. We both wore our dresses (my son wore his Pantera onesie to keep in the spirit of the Soundwave music festival) and headed out for a cuppa and some fabric shopping. Check out Liz's Emery Dress here. A great thing about this dress is that it is really versatile. Even though our dresses are from the same pattern you wouldn’t be able to tell that we were in fact wearing the same dress.  We stayed in a really lovely apartment in the city and I am kicking myself now for not doing a mini photo shoot there of our Emery dresses. Bummer.

I should have gone to Melbourne fabric shopping before I made my dress as there is not much around as far as fabric goes where I live. I did manage to find a nice cotton lawn though that I thought would suit the pattern nicely. My sizing is still changing a bit from being pregnant so I was a little unsure about ranging across 3 different sizes. I cut an 8 bust, 10 waist and even though my hips are a 12 I just used the 10 because the skirt is fuller I figured it wouldn’t matter too much and as it turns out, I was correct.




Zipper foot in action.
The little guy himself. I think he needs a name... any ideas?

Using interfacing to avoid bubbling on my zipper.
Close to perfect zipper!

This was the first time in a long time I sewed in an invisible zipper. I vaguely remember trying them when I was younger and cracking it (wanting to throw the machine kind of cracking it) so I have always avoided them and just done a lapped zipper or opted for garments with no zipper. This is until I decided that I am a grown up now so I should put my big girl knickers on, suck it up and give it another go. Just before I got to the part where I had to sew in the zipper I read a great tutorial post on invisible zipper installation from Lauren of LLadybird, in which she mentioned an invisible zipper foot. I am not sure why I had never heard of an invisible zipper foot before- really, you would think that I would have. Maybe I have but just heard the ‘invisible zipper’ part and retreated to my happy place, paying no further attention to the information. I rushed on down to my local sewing machine dealer and brought one. Can I just say, Oh mah gawd! This little foot is sensational! With that and Lauren’s instructions sewing in my zip was probably the easiest part of the process. I came across a couple of hurdles sewing it up. I didn’t line up my pockets with the side seams so I had to unpick them and start again. Totally my fault… duh. And I didn’t look up the sleeveless section of the Emery Dress sew-along until after I had cut it all out and started sewing it up. I really should have tapered the shoulders in a bit so it didn’t look too much like a “muscle tee” as Christine calls it but I didn’t do that, I thought ‘oh nah, it will be ok’. Note to self, in the future Caitlan, listen to Christine, she knows what she is talking about- you know, being the designer and all!. It turned out OK but next time I will try to make it a little more flattering around my shoulders.

On top of omitting the sleeves I actually left out something else… the bodice lining. I promise this wasn’t just me being lazy. I left it out because I made this dress to wear in Summer and on the day I made the decision to leave it out it was really hot outside, like melt your skin, annoyed that your legs are rubbing together at the top kind of heat and the thought of an extra layer was just too much to bear. So I skipped that bit. I still think it sits nicely without it but I can see the structural benefit of having the bodice lined and will definitely put it in my next Emery dress.

I really like how the dress turned out. I can wear it to work all day and get home and wear it for the rest of the night quite comfortably. I see many Emery dresses for me in the future and am looking forward to attempting one with sleeves (and a lined bodice).

Caitlan x