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Hello everyone!

Hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday. The weather has been well behaved for once and we have been spending many hours outside :-). Given that its half term I havent seen much sewing action but I did finish up my 3rd Moneta before the break.

One of the first dresses I made was Colette’s Moneta here. To say it was a baptism of fire is understatement. It helps that I was completely naive to the intricacies of sewing with knits. The pattern pieces had jagged edges because the fabric moved while cutting – I did not use pattern weights! There was no checking of thread tension and I didn’t even use a ball point needle!!<Shock horror>. Back then my instant gratification monkey always won out! I wasn’t going to wait for a stupid needle to wear my dress!.

The fabric was a cheap £3/meter I got from a clearance sale.  Even though it was a cheap fabric it has held up well when washed – it has been washed a lot! Though not a bad make it wasn’t quite what I had hoped for.

But moving on to Moneta No.2 – my Xmas Moneta. I decided in December that what I really needed was a Christmas dress as we were playing host to 17 extended family members. It warranted a ……superhero costume of sorts. I quickly made this up in a green velvet.

xmas moneta

This was my first time working with napped fabric and I didn’t do very well with directionality…but thats OK because well nobody noticed. It was lovely BUT the waist was too high!moneta front

I constantly felt the need to pull it down. And during one of the pulling down sessions I heard a nice sounding rip and yep the skirt was coming away from the bodice!

Umm I was too lazy and scared to change the overlocker thread...

Umm I was too lazy and scared to change the overlocker thread…

Luckily it was under my belt that I wore it with all the time after that. I managed to get by with the intention to mend it but am yet to get round to it <sigh>. I think its coming away because the fabric isnt meant to be dress fabric, rather crafting fabric..or it may be I just did not handle it properly. I love the buttons at back though and got a lot of compliments.moneta backMy most recent Moneta was a labour of love. I was determined to sort out the bodice issue by simply adding 2 inches to the front and back bodice pieces, blended the side seams, trued up and shaved of 2/8 inch on the upper bodice to eliminate bagginess around the ribs.

The waist sits more comfortably on my natural waist.

The waist sits more comfortably on my natural waist.

Decided on a colour blocked one with the roll collar in deep brown. The fabric was lush and it was an Ebay bargain for £3.45/m with free P&P. So yes a great deal. I am very happy with the outcome.sideI used the Moneta extras that come free available on the Colette website. This is the Roll collar Version. It looks and feel classy :-).side2

Interior Collage

Hems finished with wondertape and zigzag stitch. Wonky elastic shirring

I had to use clear elastic as I ran out of braided elastic. The shirring is still something I struggle with and just wing tbh.

When attaching the skirt and bodice my gathering is not even. I still need to work on that but I have plans to make another variation of the Moneta without sleeves and a scallop neckline.

I still don’t like the way the sleeves are baggy under the upper arms. I need to shave of about 1/8 of an inch there to get rid of those drag lines I think.

back

Really need to get all threads off before taking pictures!

New technique used was hemming using wonder tape. Sewing with Knits Craftsy class recommends using that and I must say I am converted. Compare my hem with my previous one well…..the pictures say it all really.

um...yeah I have come a long way!

um…yeah I have come a long way!

 

I truly feel elegant when I am wearing this dress lols. The other day I was in  a kitchen showroom that had mirrors all over the place and I swear I was ‘swanning’  with my head just that little bit higher. Don’t you just love it when me made clothes make you feel like that?

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