flounce

Happy New Year 2015! I wish the best for this new year: happiness, health and lots of sewing of course!I’m finishing preparing the Quart coat tutorial which should be ready for next week, but in the meantime, let me show you my last make of 2014. This is what I wore on Christmas eve and it was so comfortable that I ended up wearing it again the following week end.

I made the Alameda skirt and the Aime comme moelleux top from Aime comme Marie in neoprene fabric! This fabric is amazing: I want to make so many neoprene things now.
This beautiful fabric comes from Supercut, an italian online fabric shop run by the sweet Marine. The plaid neoprene is fused with jersey which makes it soft and warm (oups, it’s out of stock now, but if you ask Marine, I’m sure she’ll let you know if she’ll receive more).

I wanted to make the Alameda skirt with this fabric as I knew the flounce would hold its shape and look very… well flouncy. And it does, every time I move, the skirt hem dances.
I made it a size smaller to allow for the fabric stretch and used a stretch needle.
My favourite thing about neoprene is that it’s perfect if you don’t have a serger and very little time to finish nicely your seam allowances. To keep mine from being too bulky, I just edgestitched them. For the skirt hem, I just turned it in and edgestitched. I’m in love with neoprene, it’s so easy to sew and cozy!
As for pressing, I wasn’t sure about the right side of fabric so I just pressed lightly on the jersey side (and because it doesn’t crease, it’s great for packing in your suitcase).

I chose to make the Aime comme moelleux top with what I had left of the fabric. In total I had 2 m of fabric and was able to make these two pieces. The top is very easy to make, I shortened it considerably and didn’t make the cuffs. And as contrasting fabric for the shoulder yokes, I used leather.
I love the contrast between the short and boxy top and the fitted skirt with its flounce.

Best part: I made an elastic waistband for the skirt. As the fabric has a little bit of stretch, I didn’t add the back zipper and I’m able to pull it on without any problem. As the Christmas dinner was huge, I was thankful for my elastic waistband, so comfy!I love wearing the two pieces together, and I think they’ll also get useful for pairing with simple items (top and jeans or skirt and jersey).
What about you? Did you succomb to the two-pieces trend? Or the neoprene one?

How do you feel about a Sew-Along?

You’ve been asking for one for the new pattern, the Alameda dress, so I thought I would repeat the experience and prepare some videos for you like for the Carme blouse (you seemed to like it, no?).

The Alameda dress is not difficult, it’s an intermediate seamstress level, but I think a beginner with good bases would be more than ready to make it. The more complex steps are adding the piping to the princess seams, stitch the lining and the invisible zipper. And with the help of a Sew-Along, no need to fear these techniques.

Let’s see what we’ll cover in the first week:

Choose the right fabric and lining for your Alameda
Make the ajustements (FBA and SBA, shortening or lengthening, join different sizes)

Then we’ll start with the video tutorials:

Stitch the piping
Make the bodice and bodice lining
Sew the skirt (with pocket option)
Attach the zipper
Finish (fellsticth and hem)

Grab your Alameda Sew-Along button, prepare your hastags #AlamedaSewAlong, get the pattern if you don’t have it (Alameda Dress pattern) and #paulinealice and start thinking about your fabric. We’ll talk about that on Monday, July 21st for the official start of the Alameda Sew-Along!

Neoprene Two-piece Set

Alameda Dress Sew-Along!