Tag: Isca

Local woman finishes last summer dress of 2024

Erin4 Comments

PORTLAND, OREGON
Despite forecasts of record high temperatures for early September, local sewist Erin McKean declared the dress she finished on Labor Day to the be the last “summer dress” of 2024.

Fishca dress

The dress, another iteration of the “Isca” pattern that McKean has been sewing all year, was made in a lightweight Liberty Tana lawn featuring a pattern of little fish. “I don’t remember I where I bought this fabric,” McKean admitted. “Or when. But I did a reverse-image search and the pattern is called ‘Glimmer’.”

Instead of the stand collar of the original pattern, McKean chose to make this iteration without the collar, finishing the neckline with bias binding. “More summery,” she said. “Although it would have been better if I’d remembered to lower the neckline by about a half-inch.”

Fishca bodice

McKean also replaced the original set-in full sleeves with self-lined cap sleeves, a consistent change for her versions of this pattern. “This time I changed the inner finishing to a slip-stitch, rather than bias-binding the seam.”

Fishca sleeve finishing

McKean is a vocal proponent of pockets, no matter the season. Her dress pockets can carry several pounds of her belongings, in a pinch. “Once, in an airport, I had a full-size insulated water bottle in one pocket and a sub sandwich in the other, plus all my normal stuff—wallet, notebook, phone, handkerchief, lip balm, pen …” The pocket facings are also piped. “I don’t remember the last time I didn’t add piping to a pocket facing.”

Fishca pocket

Although she had originally planned to sew a few more dresses during summer 2024, including several in fabrics that had originally been intended for the summers of 2017-2023, McKean said she was generally pleased with the amount and variety of sewing she had been able to accomplish over the last few months. “I made a multiple-gingham Isca, and a linen stripe Isca, and a checkerboard plaid Isca. And a couple more that I haven’t taken pictures of yet.”

Fishca front placket and piping

When asked about her autumn sewing plans, McKean produced a scrap paper list on which the words ‘printed corduroy’ and ‘plaid brushed flannel’ were prominent. “I do plan to sew mostly from my stash between now and the end of the year,” she said. “But no promises.”

Fishca back

January sewing

Erin6 Comments

I did some traveling in February, which meant (as usual) I had a minor flurry of sewing in January. Three dresses made it into the “finished” column:

Another Isca, this time in a precious length of Liberty Lantana (the print is called Adriatic).

Liberty Isca front view

I’m very happy with the color of the buttons:

Liberty Isca buttons

And, of course, the piped pockets (that’s a ruler in the pocket — although I am happy to see you):

Liberty Isca pocket (with ruler)

I also finally, finally, made the Tilly and the Buttons Zadie dress that I bought yonks ago and cut out in … 2022? I like the color-blocking:

Tillie Zadie dress front

This is some heavy ponte knit that I bought in Belgium in 2020, and it’s very comfortable; my intention was for this to be a good “airplane dress” for my long flight, but I think I need to tweak the pattern a bit before it’s really airplane-worthy. The pockets need to be deeper, and it’s a little short through the torso for me. I also think the skirt might need to be a tinch longer, as well. It hits me right at the knee, and I think about two inches more would do it.

Sewing the ponte was easy … unsewing the ponte was NOT. When I make this again I’m going to be much more careful, especially with those soft pleats at the front. I got one of them slightly off and, well, let’s just say that it’s still slightly off, and will remain slightly off for the rest of time.

As long as I had my double needle setup handy (and still in need of an airplane dress, because I was still going on an airplane), I decided to make another Cashmerette Turner. (The nice thing about blogging is that I could re-read that last post and make the fixes that I thought I should.)

Cashmerette Turner Paapii knit (hacked)

I admit, I could have taken more care in matching the print at the waistband (because I didn’t take any care, basically). As a reminder, I altered the Turner pattern to have a rounder neck and changed the skirt from a two-piece to a six-gore skirt, to make it easier to add these pockets:

Cashmerette Turner added pocket

This fabric is an incredibly soft, heavy jersey from PaaPii in Finland; I bought mine from an Etsy seller but it’s still available in another color on their website. This stuff cannot wrinkle—I had 20 hours of travel in this dress and it still looked pristine at the end (making the contrast with my travel-wearied body even more apparent). Very comfortable, too!

Here’s the neckband, if you like that sort of thing:

Cashmerette Turner round neckline binding

Three dresses in January seems like a lot but I didn’t sew a darn thing in February (two weeks of travel, then two weeks of recovering from travel). I did buy a reasonable amount (for me) of fabric on my trip, though, so let’s see what happens in March!

Everything I sewed in 2023

Erin4 Comments

Early last year I claimed that 2023 was going to be ‘the year of the shirtdress’ and, for once, I was right.

The biggest winner in the shirtdress sweepstakes (prize: Erin makes a lot of you) was the Isca dress from Marilla Walker, which I made a dozen times:

Isca shirtdress
The first iteration (blog post)
Isca border print version
Round two.
Isca in Nani Iro cotton/linen
Round three (blog post). This is where I began replacing the set-in sleeves with a kind of modified cap sleeve.

After those three, they kind of came in a rush:

Rainbow Isca dress with yellow buttons
Heavy rainbow chambray. This almost certainly came from Stonemountain.
Liberty blue waves Isca
Liberty Tana lawn.
Gray-blue lawn Isca with a jackstraw-like pattern
I think I bought this lawn from Stonemountain? I’m bad at dress selfies but I made an attempt for this one in a hotel in Copenhagen.
Black and gray needlepoint-roses print Liberty lawn Isca
More Liberty, this time a little longer for autumn/winter wear. (The buttons are little flowers too.)
Isca shirtdress in cotton poplin with a distressed stripe pattern in shades of gray, teal, purple, black, and pale yellow
This one is probably my favorite? I have no idea where I got this fabric, it’s a light poplin or maybe a heavyish quilting cotton.
Liberty paint-splash poplin Isca with pink piping
Another Liberty print, this time, poplin, and again in the longer length. The piping is a very candy pink that I think goes well with the 80s-esque splatter print.
Faux bois flannel Isca shirtdress in pale green and gray
This is a warm and cosy faux bois flannel I bought from Josephine’s and sewed up the very next week. The buttons on this are very nice.
Gray and black check flannel Isca
Another warm flannel version (I just wear a long-sleeve tee underneath to make those little sleeves wintery).
Blue plaid with floral elements shirting cotton Isca
This was going to be my Plaidurday dress for this year but I didn’t quite finish it in time. It’s a plaid with a floral overlay, again in the longer “wear it with knee socks for autumn” length. The buttonholes are done in the same(… ish) red as the flowers.

Did I have time to sew anything else, you might ask? Well, yes. I also made two (and a half) of the Matilda shirtdresses:

Blue Liberty lawn paisley Matilda shirtdress front view
A blue paisley Liberty lawn (blog post).
Black and gray minicheck Matilda dress with band collar
I’m not entirely sure I made this one in 2023; it might have been a late 2022 entry. I left the collar off this one but forgot to reduce the collar stand/band. That, combined with the stiffness of this fabric, basically makes me look as if I should be saying “Yes, Lord Vader—immediately, Lord Vader!” every time I’m wearing it.
Half-finished dress in teal cotton with red cherries, with red pockets and shoulder bands
This dress is going to have to wait until spring for me to finish it; I bought the fabric in Korea, realized I didn’t have enough, faffed around to try to find a coordinating solid Kona cotton, finally got it and cut out the pockets, piping, sleeve bands, button bands, and collar, and then lost all interest. I’m sure at some point I will get motivated to find tiny teal cherry buttons, but until then it will probably live in the UFO pile.

I also made two of my favorite Farrow jumpers, one at the beginning of 2023 and one a few weeks ago, both in basically the same color.

Dark fuchsia stripe wool jumper with pockets
This is a nice piece of wool that I’m pretty sure I bought at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston in the 90s? It only goes to show that you should never, ever, get rid of any fabric, ever. Someday the right project will come and wake it from its slumber. (It’s not so grabby around the hips when it’s being worn; my dress form is fuzzy and I am not.)
Maroon speckle Shetland flannel jumper
This is in that nice Kaufman Shetland speckle flannel. I love this style for winter; I wear it over a t-shirt and with ankle-length leggings and boots.

I also made one (heavily modified) Simplicity 7512:

Pink and yellow abstract Liberty lawn Villager-style shirtdress with pink buttons
Liberty lawn, pink buttons (blog post)

The most challenging thing I made this year was absolutely the Hove jacket from In The Folds:

Gray nylon hooded jacket with front zipper
You can see a bit of the bobbly stitching on the zipper at the bottom. All the seams are bias-bound! I underestimated the amount of fabric needed and had to reorder halfway through! All I can say is, my vast vocabulary of epithets and interjections really came in handy during this project. However, I wear it basically EVERY DAY, so it was worth it. And there’s some heavier wool fabric and reflective piping waiting on my sewing table right now for round two … gonna do a button band or snap closure for the next one (or maybe even toggles!) though.

The other thing I made in 2023 and use almost every day (and which gets the most comments of anything I wear, by far) is this project:

black canvas bag with 'you can always quit' in puffy-paint with a rainbow
I bought the “You Can Always Quit” t-shirt from the Today in Tabs newsletter, but (surprising nobody) I am not a puffy-paint t-shirt wearer. It sulked in my sewing room until I bought a cheap black canvas crossbody bag from Amazon. Then I cut out the logo and just zig-zagged it onto the bag.

It’s not technically sewing, but 2023 is also the year I made my first pair of footwear! I splurged on the (totally worth it) Rachel Sees Snail Shoes sandalmaking workshop:

Pink leather fisherman-style sandals with a quarter strap and black rubber soles

Absent on picture day: the Peppermint Pocket Skirt in black and white gingham seersucker (which I’ve actually not even worn yet); a complete failure of a shirtdress that will have to be broken down for parts (but might be tried again in a different fabric and/or size); an attempt at the Tilly and the Buttons Zadie dress in ponte (I made a mistake and ripping stitches in ponte is the ABSOLUTE WORST).

Which one do you like the most? (Pass over the ones you don’t like in silence.)

Iscatology

Erin3 Comments
Gray Nani Iro Grace Isca Shirtdress

I’m excessively pleased with this new variation of the Isca shirtdress. This is my third iteration (see #1, #2). The biggest change from the last version is that I swapped out the sleeves for a band sleeve (following Gertie’s great instructions) and somehow it lightens the whole mood? I made the band sleeves about 3 inches wide at the top which takes them darn near to flutter-sleeve territory, but not quite.

The fabric is Nani Iro Grace, in a linen/cotton—I don’t think it’s available any longer, but you can still get a few colorways of the gauze, which I’ve sewn with as well.

Isca pockets

Don’t get me wrong—just because I’ve made a lot of changes (collar, sleeves, pockets …) to this pattern doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s a good pattern! It just means that I have very particular tastes. I like to think of these variations like a cover song. If it’s done right, it brings something to the original without taking anything essential away.

I’ve already picked out the fabric for the next round, it’s a rainbow stripe. I will probably change the armscye a bit to move it in at the top of the shoulder and up underneath the arm, but otherwise I’m pretty happy with my cover version!