FINISHED! A Lounging Liberty Kimono

I have been wanting a kimono to lounge about in for ages.  I’m one of those people that loves nothing better than to change into pyjamas at the end of the day and then potter around in them for the rest of the evening.

I have had the Liberty Book of home Sewing for a while and have had the kimono book marked but haven't got around to it until now.

I've also had the Liberty Fabric Growing Fonder from the AW13 Liberty Art Fabrics collection,  in my stash for a little while as well.  My love of the fabrics by Mo Coppoletta is well documented, having sewn with Joy and Sorrow and Daydream.

Growing Fonder explores and re-interprets the famous Liberty peacock feather, it was the first design Mo created for Liberty, so he wanted to adapt a subject that defined Liberty at a glance. Mo feels Liberty epitomises English style, rooting itself in its turn of the century heritage.

Growing Fonder was also the first Mo designed fabric that I bought and it is an intricate and beautiful print that I couldn’t resist, but there was something about the colour scheme and the ombre effect that rendered it difficult for me to make into a garment.  Mrs Pomeranz had no such trouble and has made a gorgeous dress for sale on her website.

We are going on holidays in a couple of weeks so I decided that the time was right to make the kimono as I have a lot of lounging planned and decided that this would be a good use of the Growing Fonder fabric. I wanted a contrasting fabric for the binding, just as in the book.  I went to Addicted to Fabric as they have a good selection of Liberty there so I thought I’d be able to find something. It was hard though. Harder than I thought it would be to find something within their range of Liberty that also suited the aesthetic I was trying to create. I think I found it though with the Torsten B. A pattern from the SS14 Gallery of Prints collection by Liberty Art Fabrics.

Inspired by the unique structure of retro fabric and the optical shapes found within them, the Torsten fabric design represents Liberty’s eclectic Men’s Designer Collections Department. 

The Basement fabric story celebrates Liberty’s eclectic Men’s Floor. Each design pays homage to a different area or department, taking on the intrinsic mood of each individual space.

I looked at it when I was at Addicted to Fabric with my sewing friends a couple of weeks ago, but then went back to get it on Friday after turning it over in my mind for the whole week.

It is a masculine print, but I think it has a bit of an art deco feel when combined with Growing Fonder and works better than you would expect by just holding it up against the fabric.

The pattern is straight forward, although you have to draft it as the book doesn't come with patterns. I added side seam pockets and omitted the belt straps because I didn't need them.  I couldn't perfectly match on the sides because I only had 2 metres of fabric. In the end I don't mind as the peacocks match, just not perfectly on colour.

I machine attached one side of the 'binding' and then hand stitched it to the opposite side. My stitching in the ditch is always a bit rubbish and on the weekend we had a 6 hour drive to some family events so I utilised the time to hand stitch in the car.

Oh how I love this make. It is already getting nightly wear!

 

FINISHED! A Daydream Carme Blouse

Early in February I was very honoured to be asked to test the new Pauline Alice pattern, the Carme blouse. I jumped at the chance of course.  I am such a Pauline Alice fan girl (having made both the Cami dress and the Malvorosa dress and the Ninot jacket is sitting high on my to do list).. and well a blouse is actually my favourite thing to sew.  Knowing that it was a pattern test I probably shouldn't have used one of a Liberty fabrics, but life is too short to not sew with beautiful fabrics and mistakes are so well hidden in a Liberty print.

More on the fabric later, but now to the most important part, the pattern. It is gorgeous isn't it! There is so much to love about this pattern. The pintucks on the front bib, the button cuffed sleeves, the rollup tabs and the stylishly slim fit, allowing it to be worn out or tucked into skirts.   

I cut a straight 36 with no adjustments at all.  The pattern comes together well (I love the way you pintuck and then cut the bib) and the sleeves set in perfectly. Pauline provides good instructions but she has also produced some video tutorials to assist even a beginner sewer, so there is no excuse not to try it. The pattern has also been updated to include a fabulously easy way to attach the collar which I'll be using for my next make.

I have worn this top already many times since making it.  Just a couple of things I'd take more notice of next time...  The instructions give you the option to interface or not the collar, so I took the middle ground and only interfaced one side of the collar. In hindsight the collar would have sat better, in this fabric, if I'd interfaced both sides.  

Sadly, in testing I made a small error and can't quite get my collar to do up with the buttons I have which is annoying and I couldn't find any slightly smaller buttons that I like. As a result when I got to the buttons I had a bit of a hopeless moment..first, I thought I wouldn't put any buttons on it. Then I thought 3 and the opening, then I thought more,..but by then I'd cut the button holes and the amount left at the top isn't exactly even.  Aaah. So annoying, but really, with the buttons undone, which is how I wear this top, it isn't at all noticeable (thank you busy Liberty fabric).  But my next one I'll get right as I'd love to be able to wear it all done up.  

Lastly, inserting the bib into the front requires precision and spot on top stitching. I need to up the ante next time and use my blind hem foot or something to provide guidance for immaculate top stitching so I'm not tempted to keep unpicking a less than perfect result. 

Despite those little things, I really enjoyed making up this pattern and look forward to making it up again in a denim/ chambray. For an amazing version, go and see Merche's version. It is stunning and then go and buy the pattern here!

Lastly, back to the fabric.  I bought this fabric from Tessuti after being lured into purchasing it from Velosewer Maria after spotting her purple colourway on instagram.  No regrets with the purchase of course.  As soon as I saw the line drawings from Pauline I knew this fabric would become a Daydream Carme Blouse.  I am a big fan of the work that Mo Coppoletta did for Liberty last season having made the Cami dress out of his Joy and Sorrow print and still have some Growing Fonder in the stash.

Daydream is from the AW 13/14 season and is hand painted by Mo Coppoletta who was inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, a style that represents Liberty, as it is a Mecca for Arts and Crafts visuals. Peonies were chosen as they are known as 'the king of flowers' in Eastern tradition and defined as the flower of riches and honour bringing health, wealth and wisdom.