Day Trip to Cambridge

ケンブリッジ大学で有名な、ケンブリッジに行ってきました。
金曜日まで最高気温が33度で、扇風機一つで乗り切るのに限界を感じていたところ、土曜日は最高気温が23度まで下がって、これこそイギリスの夏！って感じの風が吹くと寒いぐらいのいい天気で、お出かけにはぴったりでした。
ケンブリッジはうちから小一時間で行けるんだけど、実は今回が初めてで、なんで今まで行かなかったんだろう！って思うほど、ものすごく手近な超観光地でした。
ケンブリッジ大学のある街の中心部はものすごく小さいので歩いてどこでも行けるし、もうどこ見ても歴史的建造物でとてもヨーロッパ風。
寒くなる前にもう1回ぐらい行っておきたいな。
お土産に骸骨なベルトのバックル購入。骸骨に弱いんだよね、私。

We had a quick day trip to Cambridge on Saturday. Cambridge is only an hour away from where we live but this was our first time visiting Cambridge.

It is a small town and all you need to look at are pretty much all gathered at the town center so you can drop off your car at a car park and just walk around and admire all the historic buildings.

I really liked Cambridge, and definitely would like to visit there again before we leave England, which by the way is happening before the end of the year, probably sooner. However, one thing I did not like about Cambridge was... there were SO MANY tourists. It was as crowded as Piccadilly Circus on the weekend. Interestingly, almost half the tourists were Chinese and many shops even had crude hand written Chinese signs.

I saw this skull-shaped belt buckle at one of the craft stalls. It was only 5 pounds so I obviously had to have it. I don't wear a belt but thought if I make another shoulder bag, it would be cool to have the buckle on the shoulder strap. Now I have to think about a shoulder bag suitable for this buckle.

Festival of Speed in McCall's 6696 Shirt Dress

イギリス南部のグッドウッドという大邸宅の広大な庭で行われるイギリス最大の車の祭典、フェスティバル・オブ・スピードに行ってきました。10万人収容できる庭ってすごいよね。
去年も行きました。オットは駐在期間が延びるにつれ、今年もこの時期にイギリスにいるなら絶対行く、と言ってたんだけど、ずっと滞在期間が1か月ごとに伸びていたのでチケット買えずにいました。５月末になってやっとチケット買うことにしたら、なんともうVIPチケット以外は全部売り切れで、オークションサイトでチケット購入。
車が大好きなオットにとっては大イベントでも、私にとってはそうでもないこのイベントをもっと楽しむために、車柄の布でシャツドレスを作ってコスプレ気分で挑みました。
型紙はマッコールの6696番。
ちょっとスカート短すぎたわ。

I went to the UK's biggest car show event, Festival of Speed. We went there last year, too. Since our expat stay had been extending almost month-to-month, we were not sure if we could go this year. By the time we decided to buy the tickets in the late May, all the tickets except for the freaking expensive VIP tickets were all sold out and MOTH had to try his luck on eBay.

In order for me, who is not a car enthusiast, to enjoy this event, I made a shirt dress for this occasion using a classic race car printed fabric. Spirit of cosplay.

According to MOTH, the printed classic race car is probably a Jaguar Type D. So I took a photo in front of a similar Jaguar classic race car to commemorate this event.

The pattern is McCall's 6696, shirt dress pattern. I made a View A, a sleeveless bodice with pleated skirt and belt loops on the waist band. The fabric for the main bodice/skirt is aforementioned gray poplin, and the waist band, button placket, collar stand and collar were made using black cotton voile for accent.

I cut a size 10 and graded up to size 12 for waist band. I kept the skirt as size 10 and just adjusted the outermost pleats to fit the size 12 waist band.

Other modifications are:
-Shortened skirt by 3" at the hem;
-Took in 3" at center back for back bodice to narrow the bodice;
-Changed the back bodice gather to back darts;
-Cut back skirt piece on fold;
-Raised shoulder point by 5/8";
-Shortened bodice 1" horizontally above bust both front and back;
-Lengthened bodice 1" at lengthen/shorten line to restored the length;
-1" swayback; and
-Narrowed shoulder width by 3/8".

Oh, and I added a flat piping at the yoke seam.
Since the poplin does not have any drape, the skirt turned very poofy so I pressed the pleats all the way down.

By the way, looking at the McCall's website photos, I noticed that the white sample the model is wearing is different from the pattern: there is no yoke or back gather and it's a simple one piece bodice with back darts. False advertising?

I really like the buttons. They break up the harsh contrast of black button placket in the center.

I french-seamed all the raw edges including pockets. I watched Kittenish Behavior's sew along videos for the french-seamed pockets. And yes, I watch the daily waffles.

Since I read previous reviewers' comments about the size of the pocket, I deepened the pocket about 2". My cell phone fit in the pocket perfectly.

I made 3 mock-ups before I got to the actual fabric but the fit in the bodice is still not right. The side bust darts are too high and there are drag lines in the front bodice. The center front needs to be lengthened. I also somehow messed up my belt loop markings so the loops are not placed symmetrically in the back. Skirt is definitely 2" too short. But overall I'm quite happy with the dress, and it's always fun planning and making a garment for an objective in mind.

Itch to Stitch Chai Shirt Dress

朝晩はまだまだジャケットを羽織りたいぐらい寒いけど（10度ぐらい）、日中は26度ぐらいまで上がる本格的な夏になりました。
うち扇風機すらないから暑くてやってらんないわよ、という話を向かいのおじいちゃんとしたら、おじいちゃんが使ってない扇風機貸してくれた。
扇風機があるとないとでは大違いです。これで乗り切れそう。っていうか扇風機だけで乗り切れる夏っていうのがすごいね、イギリス。

そんな暑い夏用に、シャツドレスを作りました。布は以前まとめて買った高級リバティ社のタナローン。
とても60年代の主婦風になってしまったわ。
散歩直前のため長靴姿で失礼。

I wanted to join the shirt dress contest at Pattern Reviews but I ran out of thread so wasn't able to finish it before the deadline. Bummer.

By the way, I was about to go for a walk when I had the photos taken, hence the wellies. (I pretty much wear my wellies for a walk every day, rain or shine.) Oh, and please excuse all the wrinkles. These photos were taken around 9pm so the dress has all day worth of wrinkles, plus I did not iron after it came out of the wash. I hate ironing.

Anyway, the shirt dress.
The pattern is Chai Shirt & Dress pattern by Itch to Stitch. This was my very first time using this indie pattern.

The fabric is from my Liberty tana lawn stash #4. The print is called Capel and I think it's an old print.

It's a typical Liberty ditsy flower print. But what I found when I was about the cut the fabric was that the print had clear pattern repeat that goes diagonally. That meant pattern matching...

I think I was able to sort of continue the flow of the print from the bodice to waistband to skirt. The pattern repeat in real life is not as distinctive as it shows up on the photo above but I'm glad I at least tried.

I cut a size 2, graded up to size 4 for the waist band and back down to 2 for hip.
I also wanted a more traditional empire waist so I shortened the bodice by 1" to make the waist band hit the under bust line.

The waist band pattern piece was divided into 2 pieces; the one that attaches to the back bodice and the other to the front bodice. I combined them to make a single waistband piece that goes all around. I also interfaced the waistband, even though it was not called for in the instruction.

I love my flowery glittery buttons. Call me juvenile. The color matches well with the fabric so you wouldn't notice until you really look at the buttons.

The only fit issue the dress has is the collar. Because of my square shoulder, the collar does not sit well at all if I button up all the way. So I did not even bother putting buttons all the way.

Overall, this was a good practice for making a shirt dress. I french-seamed everything including pockets and I'm satisfied with the finished dress. I'm still on the fence if I really like the dress on me; the Liberty print and the feminine design makes the dress very vintage 60's look. I may chop off the skirt to make it into a blouse. We shall see; I need to wear it a few more times to decide.