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Pattern Review: Citronille Mia Tunic

I was over-the-moon excited to be included in the Sew, Mama, Sew Citronille pattern challenge, sponsored by Fiddlehead Artisan Supply. I first discovered these charming French patterns for children while traveling in Paris some years ago. Swoon!

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew Mama Sew by Sew Maris

Citronille is more well-known for their sweet, classic children’s patterns, but they also have a selection of adult patterns (many based on the same design lines as the children’s patterns). I made the Mia Top, a classic-looking asymmetrical tunic. I used some grey and white ikat Japanese cotton from my stash, because, well, evidently I can only sew black for myself. 😉

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew Mama Sew by Sew Maris

First off, a few things you should know.First, Citronille patterns are written in French. If you are not fluent (and I am not), Fiddlehead has done you a favor and provided a glossary of terms plus a translation of the pattern instructions so you can figure how to put these garments together. Thank you, Fiddlehead! Second, the instructions are rather minimalist. If you have ever sewn with Style Arc patterns, the “depth” of instructional information is similar for Citronille. If you are an absolute beginner, you might have a little trouble. The patterns themselves are simple with only a few pattern pieces, but the finishing details assume you have some sewing knowledge. Finally, there are no fitting alterations/adjustment lines included. No biggie for me, and you can (should?) get this information from fitting books anyway.

Now, let’s talk about the Mia top specifically. I was very attracted to this style because I love anything asymmetrical. It is just an edgier, more interesting design line to my eye.

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew, Mama, Sew by Sew Maris

Here are a few things I noticed when I started working with the pattern.

  1. I was very surprised to see the front dart was the same size for all pattern sizes. Generally, the larger the garment size the larger the dart size, so that set off a little alarm bell in my head. I decided to just go ahead and try it as drafted.
  2. The grainlines were marked on each pattern piece, but notching was almost non-existent. OK, I know where things are supposed to line up, so I could deal with that.
  3. The pattern included a front, back, sleeve, front facing, and collar pattern piece, but no back facing. OK, no biggie, I drafted a back facing pattern in about 2 minutes.

The only pattern adjustments I made to the Mia top were for a forward shoulder and petite-ing above the waist, because I need those 2 adjustments on every pattern. Every.Single.One. Ready to cut out!

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew, Mama, Sew by Sew Maris

Since there are only 5 (+ 1 back neck facing) pattern pieces, the cutting was fast and easy. I stitched the darts, then the shoulder seam, and then set in the sleeves. The instructions call for running an easing stitch first to help set the sleeve, but the Mia sleeve fits correctly into the armhole so I did not find this necessary. If this “no easing” technique is new to you, be sure to read over my How to Set in a Sleeve Without An Easing Stitch tutorial.

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew Mama Sew by Sew Maris

When I went to stitch the side seams and sleeve seam (in one continuous seam), I discovered a pretty major drafting flaw. The front and back sides do not match up. By a lot; specifically 3/4 of an inch. “Walking” the seamlines to ensure the lengths match is Pattern Drafting 101, so I consider this to be a major AND super-easy-to-correct pattern flaw that Citronille absolutely should correct. At this point, all I could do to my top was shorten the back to match the front. Depending on your preferred tunic length, you may prefer to extend the front and front facing pattern pieces to match the back length. At any rate, be aware of this pattern flaw!

The rest of the pattern went together fine. I did not follow the pattern instructions regarding the collar + facing technique, because I detest the no-back-neck-facing-kludgey-collar-system. Truly. I hate it and never do the sew-one-collar-layer-then-stuff-the-seam-allowance-inside-and-hand-sew-the-opening-closed method. Far cleaner and easier to sew by including a back neck facing. Two minutes of pattern drafting solves this issue, and is well worth it IMHO.

The rest of the construction was easy. All in all, this top sewed up very quickly.

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew, Mama, Sew by Sew Maris

Now let’s talk about fit and design. Despite my concern over the dart drafting, the Mia Top fit me very nicely, especially though the shoulders and armhole. There is good arm movement in this shirt, which is important in a woven garment! I think it fits well thru the bustline, but just barely. So if you are bigger than a C cup, beware. The fit through the waist and hip area was also just fine.

As for design, on my body I think it is just OK. It is a little too shapeless to be really flattering for me. Rolling the sleeves up helps, I think. Note that IMHO the overlap on the fronts is very odd; the extension is completely across the entire shirt front. This means that you are attempting to tie/button/snap the garment together in your armpit area. And just for the record, that is darn hard to do. The Mia Top would be much more wearable from my standpoint if it wasn’t so irritating to get into/close up properly, and reducing the front overlap would easily solve this issue.

Citronille Mia Tunic for Sew, Mama, Sew by Sew Maris

Despite the fact I think this top is a little “meh” on me, I definitely plan to sew some of the Citronille children’s designs. Maybe it was my fabric choice, or maybe they do not design for my body type. At any rate, I definitely plan to sew up some of their children’s patterns because I love, love, love many of their designs and my darling granddaughter needs a few of them in her wardrobe.

Be sure to check out the beautiful things sewn up by the other bloggers in this challenge, who have all been posting this week—you might just fall in love with Citronille designs, too. And don’t forget to enter to win a free Citronille pattern at Sew, Mama, Sew next week!

Michelle Morris of That Black Chic
Sherri Sylvester of thread riding hood
Tenille Brien of Tenille’s Thread
Ari Green of Max California
Marisa of thirtynine
Sara Johansen of the Sara project
Natalie Strand of Vegetablog
Diane Reafsnyder of Gator Bunny
Jessica Wright of Willow & Stitch
Sara Homer of Now Try This
Kelly Donovan of Craftree

Sew Mama Sew Fiddlehead Artisan Supply
“Sew Mama Sew are offering a chance to win a Citronille pattern of your choice, pay them a visit!”
Happy sewing!
Maris

Pattern Review: Davina Dress

It’s no secret; I love Itch to Stitch patterns!

Itch to Stitch Davina Dress by Sew Maris

I was lucky enough to help test her latest design, the Davina dress.  Pretty, feminine, classic, great fit—she pretty much hit all my buttons.

I sewed up my version in an ITY knit from my stash. This pattern requires a knit with a high stretch factor (at least 75%), and great recovery. This pattern is extremely fitted thru the bodice, so if you decide to use a fabric with a lower stretch factor you really should go up a size.

Itch to Stitch Davina Dress by Sew Maris

Wow. Someone didn’t even hem her Davina dress. I do normally hem my knit dresses, even though it is not required since there is no raveling. But this dress was barely long enough for my taste, despite adding 3 inches to the skirt length, so I opted to be daring. My mother is seriously rolling over in her grave. 😉

Itch to Stitch Davina Dress by Sew Maris

Such a great, twirly, half-circle skirt. Love, love, love!

Itch to Stitch Davina Dress by Sew Maris

There are loads of sleeve length options, and when I originally sewed this I tried out the medium short sleeve. Notice my version as pictured has no sleeves—for 2 reasons.

One, sleeveless knit dresses are more  practical for me, since I find them more comfortable with a cardi over a bare arm rather than wrestling the sweater on top of sleeves.

Two, the one thing I wasn’t crazy about on this pattern was the armhole fit when the sleeve was inserted. Maybe you can see that the armhole does not sit directly over the shoulder line. Super pretty design line for a sleeveless dress, but not so great IMHO with a sleeve. I do have fairly broad shoulders, so maybe it is my personal fitting issue, but if you make the Davina Dress (and I hope you do!), this is an area to pay attention to.

Itch to Stitch Davina Dress by Sew Maris

I love this dress so much I plan on making another one very soon, in a solid jersey knit. The pretty gathers on the front bodice don’t show up well in my print version, and that + the circle skirt are my two favorite features of this pattern.

Right now you can buy the Davina Dress for 20% off, + also enter the raffle on Kennis’ web site to win a free copy of this pattern. If you are in the market for a fresh, feminine new dress pattern (duh, who isn’t??), then I hope you give the Davina a try. I’m pretty sure you’ll love it, too!

Happy sewing!

Maris

Quick Tip Tuesday: Easy templates

Do you want a fast and easy way to turn hems up evenly? Or casings for skirts or pants? Templates!

Hemming templates by Sew Maris

Using a gridded ruler, old (or new) manila file folders, draw straight lines to create tagboard templates in dimensions you use frequently. Time to iron your hem turnback? Turn the fabric over your uh-mazing template, and press the hem turnback. YES! You can iron right on top of the manila file folder. A cheap, accurate, easy, solution for fa-a-a-a-a-a-a-s-s-s-s-s-st hems, casings, and more!

Happy sewing!

Maris

Style Arc Allison Skirt

Swingy. Classic. Feminine. Fast-to-sew.

Style Arc Allison Skirt by Sew Maris

What’s not to love about Style Arc’s Allison Skirt? I made this skirt up in a cotton/lycra knit I had in my stash. Double win! Used a pattern + fabric from my stash!

Style Arc Allison Skirt by Sew Maris

There are 2 inverted box pleats in the front and the back, so another bonus: easy dressing because there is no difference between the front and back side of the skirt!

Allison Skirt-1-5

I love this pattern, and plan to wear the heck out of my skirt. One skirt pattern piece, and 1 waistband piece. Even with the fiddly pleat stitching on a soft knit, this skirt is a definite fast-sew. It is swingy and comfortable, and the narrow waistband (about 1/2 inch finished) is comfy but doesn’t scream “big ole fatty elastic waistband for old people.” Yeah, I’m a little sensitive about that one. 😉

My one reservation is the weight of the fabric + the topstitching that secures the pleats in place. If you have not ever ordered Style Arc paper patterns from Australia, they include actual fabric swatches glued to their patterns, so you can tell exactly what fabrics they recommend. My fabric is a dead ringer for their sample swatch.

But. Those pleats. I feel like the weight of the pleat, stitched down to that pretty flimsy knit…..I dunno. Seems like an opportunity for a big ole hole to develop, right?

I will definitely make this skirt again, but I plan to stabilize the WS of the skirt front and back with a fusible stay tape before adding the final topstitching. Since I did not have this wonderful foresight on version #1, at this point fusing a bit of stay tape at the ends of the “V” just *might* help prevent a disaster. I also might try a light-weight ponte, so the skirt has a bit more stability/structure. I am planning to make a track-style jacket out of ponte in the near future, so if I can remember I will experiment with the scraps to see how pleats will behave in that fabric. Too thin, too bulky, always looking for that “just right” fabric!

Style Arc Allison Skirt by Sew Maris

Cutest little photo-bomber ever, huh? She likes to get in on the action, plus see “Nana-made” garments up close. And talk about why she didn’t get a new outfit, too. 😉

This skirt will definitely become a basic in my wardrobe. I have about 10 tanks and  T’s that will go perfectly with this skirt, and plan to give it a test drive on my upcoming trip to Italy.

What about you? Have you ever sewn a Style Arc design? Have you tried the Allison skirt? What is on your sewing machine right now?

Happy sewing,

Maris

Kari Made a Cosmos Skirt and Purse!

I love seeing all the different versions of Cosmos skirts and purses that are popping up around the world from the One Thimble release last week!

Cosmos Skirt by Sew Maris designs

Kari (from That’s Sew Kari in Australia) is part of the blog tour reviewing Issue #8 of One Thimble magazine, and I can’t even believe how totally adorable her version of the Cosmos skirt and purse is. So.Stinkin’.Cute! And that flower crown, designed by Molly and Momma, really is the icing on the cake, amiright? Love everything about this look!

Check out what Kari has to say, and I’d love to hear what you think about the Cosmos patterns. Have you made yours yet?

Happy sewing!

Maris

Cosmos Reversible Skirt and Matching Purse

Maybe you  know what it is like to give birth: painful, exhilarating, and completely overwhelming, right?

Cosmos Skirt and Purse pattern by Sew Maris Designs

My newest baby! Welcome to the world, Cosmos Reversible Skirt and Purse pattern! For now, and until early November, you can only purchase this sweet little skirt + purse pattern thru One Thimble (yep, affiliate links). It is a digital download (both the mag + my pattern), and you can purchase either the entire magazine (12 patterns, plus tutes, articles, and more!) for $25 AUD, which is about $18 USD. Such a bargain! If you prefer, you can buy patterns individually, too, but really, the full edition is a bargain and full of other patterns you are going to be begging for.

I am loving the adorable print Jen used for her Cosmos Purse!

IMG_2297

Looks like somebody likes their new purse!! 🙂

Want to hear what others are saying?

I just love Kimmie Sew Crazy’s review and her crazy-cute little girl in the Cosmos Skirt! Krista Smith of Bee Quilted Beauties thinks this reversible skirt will be soooo practical for school (she’s right!). Melissa of Rebel & Malice loves the super fast Cosmos skirt sew, and Amy of Sew-Well tested this pattern for me. I am sure her little peanut is just too cute for words in her Cosmos skirt.

What about you? I’d love to see pix of all your #cosmosskirtandpurse versions! Tell me what you think, I am dying to hear from you!

Happy sewing,

Maris

 

 

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