When I saw the brand new offerings from Capital Chic Patterns, I knew I needed a couple of the patterns. First one to be made was the White Russian, from pink silk stretchy velvet I bought at the Western Market in Hong Kong for the princely sum of HK$20, which is less than $3. It was a remnant so I didn’t have much to work with.

I wasn’t going to bother with the embellishment, but when I was tracing off the pattern I couldn’t resist that lion – my birth sign is Leo, so I figured it was some sort of portent (of what I don’t know!).

I have to say that I can’t remember when I enjoyed doing something new so much. I traced the pattern onto tearaway, tacked it to the top, dropped the feed dogs, put on the darning foot and went for it. Halfway round the outside I decided that it seemed too easy so consulted my manual only to discover that you should start in the middle and move out, rather than the other way round. Oops!

I was thrilled with the way it turned out

All I had to do was tear away the tear away. Oh yes, I remember now, I hate this stuff. It gets caught in the stitches and I spent the whole day trying to pick out tiny bits of papery stuff.

My big worry was getting the lion in the middle of the front, so spent a considerable amount of time measuring and lining up. I did a brilliant job, except…

… the placement of the lion’s ears is a bit dodgy. You can’t really see here because I haven’t pulled the top straight, but when I dress myself properly, their placement is rather unfortunate. When I sought Mark’s opinion he looked at me as though I was mad (which I probably am), and asked me who would be thinking such a thing. Hmm, good question, just every sewer in the world!

My only other issue was running out of fabric and having to put a yoke in the back. My remnant was in two pieces and the yoke came from the second piece and I had no idea which way the nap went

so figured I had a 50/50 chance of getting it the right way.

You will note that the bottom band seems a little loose. I wore the top and decided that I couldn’t live with it, so unpicked it, took in the top and band by 3 inches and resewed it all. The first time I twin needled the seam, but didn’t bother the second time. I do think it looks much better – it just needs a good press.

and the obligatory back view. The details: Pattern is the White Russian from Capital Chic Patterns. All the patterns are named after cocktails in case you were wondering about the name. Fabric is a luscious stretchy silk velvet from the Western Market in Hong Kong.

Teamed with Vogue 8859 pants

Quick and dirty pattern review of the White Russian. I really, really tried to resist buying this pattern. I have a truckload of sweatshirt patterns, but I loved the contemporary feel and the raglan sleeves, and I really like to support up and coming designers, and I am a faithful follower of Sally’s blog, Charity Shop Chic, so felt I needed  to buy it (hehe). It is a PDF pattern, so I printed it out, and it slotted together easily. It only has a few pattern pieces and I have to say it was a doddle to make. My only issue was where to put the lion’s head and, although I got it nicely centred it is much lower than where Sally has it on her version.