Nyoka knit dress, upcoming projects.

 After my week away, it was hard to get focused again on sewing, but I still have a pile of projects I want to get to, or even get DONE in the next week or so!

I spent yesterday sewing up the Nyoka dress by Sinclair Patterns, using the bamboo knit I had purchased from Our Social Fabric. I continued to have doubts about the colour. A pale yellow with a nice print, but decided to face that problem after making it up.

I think I should have chosen the larger size, because the dress is a bit snug. I am not entirely comfortable revealing quite so many curves as that! But the bamboo feels lovely!

original colour

The dress went together fairly easily; there are some minor problems with the instructions, which I mention in my review at Pattern Review. I am only getting acquainted with sewing with knits, and have a lot to figure out about how to stitch, how to handle it, etc. I used the walking foot, but it did not always go straight, since I was sewing 1/4 inch from the edge, so it wobbled. I did not use the serger; in fact for most of the seams the counselled against it.

When I finished it I put it on and "disappeared". I also felt very matronly. The colour washed me out, and the length felt, as I said, matronly. 

So I spent today dyeing it. (Okay, not all day!). I had been to Fabricland on Friday when I went to pick up the serger I had tuned up. I got some Rit All-Purpose dye, wine colour. (Not cheap - nearly $10 for a bottle that can do about 1kg of fabric. The dress was about 300 grams.) And I had to buy fixative, too... 

The dress came out pinky-burgundy. A fun vibrant colour (seen in the photos). I worried it might have shrunk, since I used (as instructed) HOT water (from the tap). 

French seams

I was happy I finished that, in a day, so that I can get to my next projects. Still in process is the special occasion outfit. Actually, I worked on that on the weekend too. I got the front and back outseams done, with a French seam. A bit complicated around the pocket, but the fabric and pattern are forviging (wide pants, and busy design can hide little imperfections!).

I also decided to use a silvery grey viscose linen-like slub fabric that I purchased at Riopelle when it existed. This must be the late 80s. It has bugged me each time I looked at it. It looked as though it would fray if I so much as looked at it. However this week I thought I could make another jumper (like the black one I made in March), and use the turquoise/pine/silver sari as an underlining.

Viscose, original colour

But the more I thought of it, the more I thought the colour was too pale for me, as well. So, today being dyeing day... I bought some charcoal grey and dyed it. The colour turned out gorgeous (it is still damp, but it looks good.) Only problem is that it looks almost black. So if I make up the same jumber, it will look like... the same jumper. At least from the outside. So I may make up the Marta skirt. Want to get things cut out tomorrow.

I also bought a viscose/cotton mixed print to make up wearable muslin number 2 of the fitted shirt. I wanted cotton Gingham but they only had poly/cotton mix. And I did not want to pay full price for a muslin (wearable or not!). The fabric I got cost only $5/m. Bargain!

My plans to make a pair of cargo pants for my man have hit a snag. The fabric I got is really a shell fabric, and won't be suitable for pants. It is very difficult to get the quick dry stuff. So I might switch to a cycling jacket. But the only pattern I can find is from Argentina, is in Spanish, and comes with pretty scarce instructions, apparently. 

In other plans, I really would like to get to the Vogue 1865 jacket, soon, but it has stalled.