New beginnings

Summer definitely has made way for autumn. It’s getting colder and most of my jersey Dorothy Perkins dresses (I own about six) are getting too cold. The solution? Another McCall’s 6696, in plaid!

This dress is the first project I made on my brand spankin’ new sewing machine, that was so very kindly given to me by my brother-in-law. It’s a Janome DKS100. I will spare you the pictures from my cluttered desk, as I am sure you’ve seen it around, on Tilly and the Buttons’ blog for instance. That great turquoise colour and those giant buttons didn’t make me choose this machine though. Nor did the cute kitty stitch pattern. I looked into a few machines and compared to machines just a bit cheaper, this one has so much more. I particularly wanted adjustable presser foot pressure, after all the problems with my old machine, and automatic buttonholes. Wow, my sewing life has become so much easier!

This sewing machine is actually available in The Netherlands as the DC7100. It has black buttons but apart from that it’s exactly the same. Except it’s 230 euros more expensive! Why on earth is that! So, we decided to order the machine from the UK. Of course there’s the warranty issue, but there’s usually not much covered anyway and since the exact same machine is available here, my local shop will be able to do the maintenance.

Enough blabbing, on to my dress!

(Don’t mind the glasses and the dorky legs…)

Obviously, for this plaid fabric – I once again have no idea what it is exactly, except that it contains some plastic… poor iron – I chose the pleated version of the dress, with the 3/4 sleeves. I cut the back yoke, the button placket and the cuffs on the bias. I actually replaced the cuffs that come with the pattern for simple small cuffs (I think the pattern cuffs are absolutely hideous) and I made the pockets bigger, so I don’t have to worry about losing my phone. Other than that, it was the exact same dress as the black floral one.

Oh, I am so excited about the double overlock stitch on my machine! The loosely woven fabric frayed like crazy (I had to staystitch e-ve-ry-thing), especially on the bias and on curves. This stitch is absolutely beautiful!

With the change of the season has come a change in my routine. I am back at work, which means I have less time to spend with my sewing machine. Last weekend however, I  started work on a Dahlia, but it’s appearing to be too small. Oh well, back to the dra.. cutting board! Plus. I’m supposed to lose weight anyway…