sewing patterns

Citronille “Solveig” Pattern Review

Projects

While traveling, I came across a lovely fabric/art shop that I could have stayed at all day. They had wonderful patterns and more linen than I could ever imagine. Needless to say, I brought home a few souvenirs.

One pattern I purchased was the Citronille “Solveig” top. They had a sample made-up in the store and I thought it looked quite nice. The pattern is in European sizes so I had to figure out what my US size would be. After this, the pattern was very easy to make-up. The only part that gave me any hesitation was the placket. I had not made a placket like this before. I decided not to ruin my project, so I got out a scrap fabric to make a test placket on. I am glad I did this as it let me figure out how to approach the placket and gave me the confidence to tackle it on the original garment. The directions for the garment were easy to understand until I got to the step with the placket. I felt it could have been written a little more clearly for the beginner in mind.

The pattern pieces were printed on a heavy paper and not a thin tissue paper. I liked this, as the tissue can often be too delicate and can rip easily. As I said above, the directions were easy to follow if you have experience. The only step that threw me was the placket. Probably this step would be ok for someone familiar with the process.

I made my shirt from Essex Linen. It was a good material choice for this shirt. I went to my button stash and found three 3/8″ buttons that were perfect for the shirt.

I liked the way the top turned out and I would buy another pattern from Citronille, although the patterns are expensive. However, if one uses the pattern more than once or really likes the garment, it would be worth it. I also feel that with the Solveig pattern, one could use parts of the pattern to create another style if they are an experienced sewer.

As always, Happy Sewing!

Drawstring Waist Dress

Projects

Years ago, while vacationing in Las Vegas, I purchased a very comfortable, soft, knit, sleeveless dress with a drawstring waist and front pockets. This was the perfect casual summer dress. A great dress to have for going to the beach or going shopping. Of course, one can never find the exact dress years later, so there is only one thing to be done. Make one.

I hunted on the internet until I finally found a similar (but not exact) dress pattern. It was the Connie Dress Pattern (from the UK Sewmag site https://www.sewmag.co.uk/free-sewing-patterns/connie-dress#) and it was a free printable download. Nice! The only trouble with the download was that I could not get it to resize to the proper dimensions. It was supposed to print out with a test box a certain size. Mine did not and I could not get it to print properly. However, I cut it out anyway in a larger size so that I could account for the wrong dimensions. This worked and the dress fit beautifully.

My finished dress.

The pattern was so easy to make and I learned a couple of new techniques that I have a feeling I will incorporate into future patterns that I make. One technique was sewing the neck facing into the neckline. In this pattern, one shoulder seam is sewn together and then the open neck facing is put in place and sewn in. After this, the neck facing and remaining shoulder seam are sewn. Brilliant! No trying to get a circular facing to fit into a circular neck. I absolutely love this method! The other technique I learned was to use bias binding to form a casing inside the garment for the drawstring. Fast and easy.

Why is it that the UK has all the good patterns, merchandise, stores, etc… for sewing and knitting products? I am jealous. Anyway, thank-you for sharing via internet to those of us in the States.

As always, Happy Sewing!