A Black Thai Affair

I ended up with this Thai mudmee cotton quite unintentionally. I had bought it for the shop but on closer examination discovered that it had a couple of faults so I had to use it myself. What a shame, eh?

M6702 in Thai mudmee

In the photo above you can quite clearly see the faded patches, which I unthinkingly placed pretty much exactly at my bust.

But back to the beginning. This is McCalls 6702 View C, minus the pocket but with View D length.
I am actually surprised by just how much I like it. Of course this is after basically reducing it down one size while making it. On top of the usual lots of ease there is actually more ease than stated as the finished garment measurements are wrong. Oh, and it is definitely tunic length (like nearly low thigh as opposed to mid-thigh) and I'm 172 cms or about 5'7".

It is remarkably comfortable and I think a lot of that may be down to the two piece sleeve.

As you can see, I used a solid black lightweight linen for the yoke and front of the sleeve. Purely because I didn't have enough of the mudmee. It also matches better than it looks here - we all know what it's like to photograph black, don't we?

You can also see a few stray threads. This cotton, while beautiful in most respects, frays if you so much as look at it. And yes, there are threads poking out of my otherwise lovely french seams, which I did everywhere, even on the armholes.

The placket is also solid black lightweight linen, although the less said about it the better. The collar shape is just off and the topstitching isn't too flash either. Most of these problems were caused by my far-too-stiff interfacing. But it was the only one I had in black so I used it anyway.

That placket is also seriously long. I handstitched it closed to make it decent. On the next versions, of which I think there may be a couple, I would probably just add buttons and perhaps even buttonholes. Although since they wouldn't need to be functioning, I may be too lazy for that.

I also think I will move the shoulders forward. As it stands the yoke finishes at the shoulder seam - as you'd expect. But that also means that the gathers sprout directly from the shoulders. I think they'd be better moved down some. And I'll probably make them tucks not gathers. I'm not really a gather type of gal.

I also can't stop thinking about a shirt dress version. I reckon it would make a great shirt dress. I have looked at so many shirt dress patterns and there's something 'wrong' with all of them. Either they have a waist seam (no thanks) or lots of pockets (safari style) or a retro vibe (not my thing). Plus of course I already have this pattern and would only have to add a little length - an easy adjustment. What do you think?

You may also have noticed from the photographs that I have a new sewing friend. I was passing a shop in Chiang Mai and saw a 'plus size' dressform. Miraculously, she shares my bust and waist measurements although her hips are bigger than mine. This seemed so serendipitous that I just had to bring her home. I think she's going to be a tremendous help.

So what do you think of this as a shirt dress? Good idea? Bad idea? I'm also open to 'perfect' shirt dress pattern suggestions.

Going Global;Going Thai

Don't you love Project Sewn?  I really admire the participants in the official competition but also really like seeing what all the participants in the sew along do. But it has never before occurred to me to participate myself. Until this time. As soon as I saw the Going Global theme, I knew exactly what I was going to make; the country, the design and the fabric.

To me it was obvious that I would choose my adopted home of Thailand as the country of influence, so to speak. I also knew that I wanted to incorporate a couple of elements that seem very "Thai contemporary"  (for want of a better description) to me and I absolutely knew that it had to be local mudmee (ikat) fabric.

So this is what I came up with. (yes, I drafted it myself:)

My Thai design

The two main design elements were the tucks on the upper bodice and the both cut-on and sewn-on godets. You can see the tucks on the left upper bodice above. And here's a close up..

Upper bodice tucks

Sewn-on godet

Did you notice my sewn-on godet?

Cut-on godet

And the cut-on godet side.

Gorgeous wooden buttons

These lovely wooden buttons are reminiscent of coconut shell buttons, which would certainly be more 'traditional' but to me scream 'made for tourists'.

Back view

And a (very crooked) back view where you can just make out the lines of both types of godet. And the fab use of the different 'stripes' of the fabric. Yes, I am mighty proud of that:)

I post full construction details in a post tomorrow. For now I'm off to have a well-deserved drink and bask in the glow of a project that turned out exactly the way I envisioned it....

And if you're of a mind to, you might like to pop on over to Project Sewn, check out the sew along entries and perhaps even vote for me.....

Happy New Year

or Sawadee Pee Mai as we say here. Yes, it really is new year or Songkran  as we call it here. It is several days (depending on your stamina) of mayhem, madness and fun. It involves lots of water, and food and drink.

Besides the traditional water throwing there are usually lots of other social gatherings as many Thais who live in other places come home to celebrate. So I decided I wanted something a-little-bit-but-not-too-much Thai to wear.

V8805

I used V8805 (again) but with only one lower bodice piece. I also used some of my gorgeous mudmee (ikat) fabric, which is handwoven here in Lampang. You can buy some here.

French seams

Since I had made this pattern before, it came together really quickly and easily. Unfortunately this fabric frays when you look at it so I tried to be really careful and staystitched everything immediately. I also used french seams throughout.

me made bias binding

And made my own bias binding. Not an easy task in this fabric but well worth the effort, I think.

Not much more to say really. I wore it out on Friday night and it was everything I hoped it would be: cool and comfortable.

Mudmee V8805

This shows the colours most accurately.

So that was a relatively quick and very satisfying make, which I'm sure will get lots of wear. I also just realised that it also fits the Monthly Stitch Sewing Double challenge and the Sewcialists  #pinkapril too. Now that's a winning combination.

Are you doing any double sewing? or pink sewing? or both?