Winter Wear Design Radiant Rouched Top

So excited to share this beautiful beautiful pattern that i had finished testing from Winter Wear Designs not too long ago. 

I have this thing for gathers and asymmetrical necklines and interesting details and this pattern ticks all the boxes and makes my heart sing when i see the finished product I made. 

This Radiant Rouched Top I made uses stretch crepe fabric from Spotlight and the drape is just perfect for the top. I made mine asymmetrical with mutton chop long sleeves. 

The pattern also comes with a high neckline, normal sleeves/mutton chop sleeves in cap, 3/4 length and long length. 

This green top is made with milk silk, and left unhemmed cos i got lazy and also cos milk silk doesn't fray. (Ok ok I'm lazy 🤣🤣🤣 but u got to admit it does look good unhemmed!)

If you like what I made, you can buy urself a copy here!

Because every little girl NEEDS a full tulle dress =)

I hacked the recently released Sugar Ruche dress by Candy Castle Designs into a very full tulle dress and lived to tell the tale! 

If you are looking into making a georgeous tulle dress for a little one that is simple (at least as simple as tulle dresses can be =p ) then read on!

So this is the ruched version of the pattern in dress length. The outer fabric is very soft tulle and the inner fabric is slinky and soft rayon.

I'm going to tell you how I hacked the pattern to achieve this look! But first, you need to purchase the pattern here!

Now that you have the pattern, here's what you do:

You are going to need 1 front ruched piece in tulle (This version i made is using the exact dimensions provided. But seeing as it is tulle and therefore very light, my suggestion for an even prettier ruched look in the front bodice is to double or even triple the height of the bodice front)

You also need 2 front linings. Preferably in something really soft and thin. Rayon works great or thin cotton lawn wld be perfect (and easier to sew too) 

For the back, you are going to need 1 back bodice piece in tulle and 2 back bodice lining pieces.

I skipped the strap pieces, choosing to instead use 2 pieces of lace that is cut to the length indicated on the pattern cut chart.  

For the skirt piece, you will need skirt pieces in both tulle and lining (the number depends on the size you chose to make, for my girl who is a 12m/18m blend, she needs 2 pieces in tulle and 2 in rayon) You will also want to follow the height for the skirt pieces but use the entire WOF. For bigger sizes, I would make sure to at least double the width of the skirt pieces for the tulle. For ease of gathering, I also added additional seam allowance at the top of the tulle skirt so that i can gather further in from the edge of the tulle. This is optional if you are really good at gathering tulle!

You will follow the original instructions for the bodice exactly with 1 exception: sew the back bodice tulle piece to one of the back bodice lining piece together on all four sides with a seam allowance of 1/4 inch. Treat that as ur "back bodice main". 

Now that your bodice is done, let's talk about gathering tulle. (This is not as bad as you may think!) 

Candy Castle Designs has very clear instructions on how to gather ur skirts and there's not just 1 or 2 methods, but a total of 3! My preference was to use the dental floss/zigzag method that was described in her instructions. Here's a photo of how that looks like... 

What I liked about this method is the ease at which i can adjust the gathers without worrying about the thread breaking which frequently happens for the normal long stitches, high tension gathering method (especially when u have long long pieces to gather!) 

After gathering both tulle and rayon skirt pieces to the correct length, u can simply sew/serge them together at the top first, then attach the skirt to ur bodice. (go slow here, The skirt is BULKY!) 

You hem the rayon skirt lining but not the tulle so the tulle will be longer than the lining at the end. And that's it! 

A beautiful tulle dress perfect for the Ball. She's looking for her glass slippers here 😆

Now who wants to give this tulle dress a try? =)

More photos =)

Gathering - the "cheat" method that works!!

Ah... "gathering"...

 Let me put it out there.... I dislike gathering fabric. My thread breaks frequently when i pull to gather (prob cos i don't buy very expensive thread!) or the gathers just don't look even.

But I mean... LOOK AT IT! Gathered dresses ARE GEORGEOUS! By the way, this is the tiered Talia dress from Goober Pea Designs that is FREE when u subscribe to their newsletter.

So here's my dilemma: I love the look of gathers but hate the gathering.

Thankfully, I've learnt a few tricks to gather effortlessly!

1. Use the longest stitch length you've got on ur sewing machine!
2. Increase the tension. (for my machine, brother FS101, that is usually a 5 and it wld gather very nicely (see above!)
3. Stitch at the highest speed (no really, slow sewing doesn't seem to gather as well!)

Oh, to help ur gathers be more even (though it isn't really needed if u are feeling lazy), I usually start from one end, backstitch first then sew to the other end using the settings above, turn clockwise 90 degrees, stitch 1 stitch then turn clockwise 90 degrees again so that I'm parallel to the first line of stitching and then stitch my second gathering line parallel to the first.

I find that the 2 gathering lines help keep the gathers in place much much better and with the backstitch at the start, i only need to adjust the gathers from one end without worrying that the other end unravels (cos then u have to gather again and nobody wants that!)

And that's it! Lovely gathers with zero frustration. Give it a try!