Love at First Stitch; but was it love at last stitch?

 

You knew it was coming after all that sewing didn't you? Yep, that's right, I couldn't work through a whole sewing book without ending with a review could I so here it is;

Firstly I should say a massive thank you to my sister for buying me this book, I think it was well timed but it really inspired me to pick up sewing again and it really helped fuel that fire. So thank you Rachel :) . I think that in itself is testament enough for this book but I'll not leave it there.

So let's go over the patterns quickly and talk about my successes and failures. Remember though, my failures are not yours and mine have more to do with personal style than the patterns themselves. 

Starting with the positives my favourite pattern from this book is definitely the Lilou dress. Honestly, since making this dress I've worn it 3 times in a week and it's back on as soon as its out the wash! I already have plans for maybe 3 more, and a possible peplum pattern hack?!? It's become my favourite so far dress pattern :) Yippee! I am also really pleased with my Mimi blouse because it was a new challenge for me and I am still in love with that fabric.

I think my biggest failure was definitely the Delphine skirt. Mostly because the pattern shape doesn't really suit my body type or personal style and so it just didn't sit right. The pattern itself was very easy to follow and the skirt lovely to sew. This probably has my best invisible zip insertion of all the projects as well which is just typical.

Working through the book definitely made me think more about the types of clothes I prefer to wear and the fabric types/patterns which suit my personal style. There is no point spending hours on a beautifully fitting dress if you've sewn it up in a colour that you hate. It's a good thing to keep in mind when sewing for yourself as it will save you time, money and disappointment in the long run. Plus, when you do make something which is so totally you its definitely worth it as you will want to wear it again and again.

I got a lot out of this book in terms of sewing practicalities, tips and tricks and I definitely think it made me a bit of a better sewer. It made me a lot more aware of little things you do while sewing. The biggest thing it taught me was to stop being so lazy with pinning! It really does help when pinning to use more pins and this is definitely something I will keep doing. I also now think a lot more about the type of machine needle I use for a project rather than just using whatever happens to be in the machine, or the first one I pull out the drawer. I paid a lot of attention to the instructions as well, its so easy to assume you know whats coming next but it really helps to read every step and saves you a lot of time unpicking.

The book really is great for beginner sewers as well as those of us with a bit more experience. The projects are really well laid out in that you learn one or two new techniques with every project and build on them as you work through. Its a really nice way to pick up some sewing basics while making yourself some lovely clothes while you go along. Even with already knowing the basics I tackled a few new things because of this book, things which otherwise might have put me off because of not having enough information. This book however took away any mystery and explained things really clearly. The step by step illustrations really helped here. The new things in particular that I tackled were adding in sleeves and also piping. Its been a great sense of achievement knowing that I conquered these and don't have to be so worried next time.

The only downside I think to this book is that all the patterns use woven fabrics. I know this is because they are easier to sew with and the obviously suit the patterns better so are much better for a beginner. However it would have been nice to see some use of other fabric types. I did manage to switch a few out (crepes and viscose) but most of the instructions are for cottons. It's not a major flaw, I just don't really wear cottons so for me it got tedious a bit quickly.

So in conclusion? I think you can tell I definitely give this book a big thumbs up :) It's lovely to have got to the end of this book and know I will be coming back to it again and again, Albeit probably not for every pattern.

Tilly has done a great job here and whether you are new to sewing or already know all the tricks and want a few cute patterns you can't do much better than this. Go on! you know you want too! Have you sewn anything from this book yet, tempted to buy it for a particular pattern or have another sewing book you covet? Let me know.

Finally as a sort of note from the editor I lost a stone from the start of this book to the finish! Go me! I don't think you can tell much from the pictures but I can definitely tell I started to cut patterns smaller by the end! Its a good job I prefer the patterns from the last half of the book to the first ;)
x

Houndstooth Lilou Dress

This is the last pattern from the Love at First Stitch book and the one which I was really keen to make as its the pattern in the book which I think most matches my personal clothing style. I opted for the pleased skirt version over the gathered one as I think that pleats flatter my shape a little better, at least in a more structured fabric. This dress is made with all my style points ticked: Cute little sleeveless dress with a fitted bodice, monochrome (everything has to be monochrome at the minute!) and a punky hounds tooth print. There is a massive error in this dress though. I'll talk about it later but I wonder if you can spot it in the meantime. The dress as a whole does make me very happy though.

The fabric is a gorgeous large hounds tooth print viscose which again I bought from Croft Mill. I realise it looks monochrome but its actually a very slight off white and dark purple weave but you might as well call it black and white, its about as damn near. You are probably wondering if I ever buy any fabric from anywhere else but here or eBay but the truth is Croft Mill just have this brilliant knack of finding fabrics which suit my taste. They have a nice mix of different types of dress fabric, so there is usually something for every occasion, they manage to find lots of interesting prints which you don't see the same in every fabric shop, and finally their prices aren't crazy. (You just made me go check out their newly stocked section and I'm already coveting a load more fabric from them and Ive got at least 4 in my sewing pile already!)

For the lining I used some cotton fabric from Makower with a cute scissor print on. Now this is a total copy from the book as Tilly's version also has a red version of this fabric as a lining, but the truth is I've had half a meter of this in my stash for forever and never had a project for such a small piece so it was fate really. The cotton does react differently to the viscose but it has helped the give the bodice a bit of structure which is better, whilst the skirt still flows beautifully because of the drape of the viscose.

I made a lot of alterations to this dress, and its still far from fitting well. I cut a size 3, did a 1.5 inch bust adjust and then added a small back adjust. The small back adjust made a huge difference to the fit there and I'm really glad I tried it. It will definitely be doing that again. However once it was sewn there was a lot of room in the waist still and there is far too much fabric in the back so I ended up re-sewing the side seams. So now I am thinking that for one bodice piece I really need to make all the following adjustments: full bust, small back, small waist and sway back! It's probably time I took my sister up on her very kind offer to help me and my mum make a body block.

There are a lot of things I really tried to do right with this dress, especially given the print, that just didn't work out. I made a muslin which seemed ok, but turned out not to be so great. I was so particular to cut with the print and pattern matching in mind, especially where the dress and bodice meet, but I made a glaring obvious mistake and sewed the pleats on the wrong side of the fabric. The front skirt is actually wrong side out (thank god for viscose!) but it means the print is reversed and that there was no way I could pattern match down the front. I actually don't think its that obvious to spot but its really annoyed me. On the plus side at least the print runs in a straight line so that I am very grateful for.

That being said I really like it and I figured that if I had bought this dress in a shop the fit wouldn't be great, the pattern wouldn't match and given how much I paid for the fabric its a bargain. I really do need to get this pattern matching thing sorted out though. The bottom line is that I really like the dress pattern so I will definitely be making it again, I just need to work a bit harder on getting it to fit perfectly. I am doing really well at getting closer to my pre-preg weight though so I think I will give it another month and then work on really getting this pattern to fit, as I can see me having a few versions of it as a wardrobe staple.

Did you manage to spot the mistake?

Dreaming of Summer Mimi Blouse: Parrots and Palm Trees

This has been a real labour of love but I'm really proud of how my Mimi blouse has turned out. It's  my first time making a shirt or blouse and I didn't pick the simplest of fabrics to use but I'm super happy with it! The blouse is the 6th pattern in the Love at First Stitch book by Tilly and I'm really pleased I didn't procrastinate on this for too long. I LOVE IT!

 

The main thing that got me going on this project was this amazing crepe de chine fabric which I bought from Croft Mill online. I mean what's not to love? It's covered in parrots and palm trees, it's amazing! It's the perfect way to celebrate that spring is truly on the way. As soon as I saw it I just couldn't resist, it was meant to be for this blouse. It makes me want to be sipping cocktails on a sunny day. 

I've really enjoyed the way working through this book has given me a list of projects, it means I've been able to buy supplies in advance and get on to next make so much quicker. 

 

I didn't make any fitting adjustments on this pattern I just cut a size 3. It's a lovely loose flowing blouse with gathers in the yoke front and back which adds plenty of room so less need for a perfect fit. The gathers make it lovely to sew as you don't have to worry so much about lining everything up perfectly. It's a great starter blouse, and definitely gave me the confidence to try others. Sadly the sleeves are a little bit on the tight side (damn bingo wings!) but it won't stop me wearing it. 

I did however add a few more buttons than the pattern allocated. The reason I did this was to make sure that I placed a button on the fullest part of my bust so I didn't get any gaping in the buttonhole. I also knew I needed a button at the top so I measured the distance between, added a buttonhole half way then used that measurement to work out the placement of the rest of the buttons. It worked really well and the buttons turned out really nicely spaced. 

  

I really liked the version in the book with the piping and contrast collar. Being as I have never used piping before this was a good excuse to have a go. I love the way it looks but my god I HATE my piping foot! It was so difficult to use, but I guess I just need to practice a bit more. Hopefully it will get a bit easier next time.

Being the first time I've sewn a blouse it's the first time I have ever done a yoke or a collar. I am so pleased the collar came out so well and pretty even looking, especially as it's such a contrast and so obvious. I used some double Georgette for the collar and because its very sheer I used another layer of the Georgette as the facing. I owe May Martin for that tip after my recent binge re watch of GBSB, thanks May! I did apply interfacing to the facing of the main blouse though as instructed. In hindsight this wasn't the best idea, the crepe is lovely and drapey but the interfacing made the facing really stiff. It felt really awkward under the blouse. The facing pieces were very wide so I trimmed them right down to 2cm after sewing the button and buttonholes using the overlocker. I also tacked it to the blouse in a few places under the collar to stop it poking out the top. This made a massive difference and it's much nicer to wear now. It would have been better to use a plain light crepe fabric as a facing. 

I did try to do some pattern a matching which I really failed at again! Thankfully the print is quiet forgiving so I'm not going to cry about it. I'm going to have to work out how the hell to do that at some point though, it's my total nemesis! 

  

So in case you couldn't tell I'm very proud of myself and I can see me wearing this for work A LOT! I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can wear it without a cardi to show off its full awesomeness!

It's lovely to make something super quick but don't you often find the things which you spend a lot of time and attention on turn out to be the things you really love and want to wear again and again. Have you got something you have made which you spent a lot of time on that you really love. I would really like to hear about them :). Finally if you have this book and haven't tried the blouse pattern I strongly encourage you to do so xx

Valentines Clemence Skirt

Ok so I'm 5 days late posting about Valentines but you'll forgive me right? Hopefully the day went alright for you and you were treated, whether it was a treat for yourself or from someone else. Sometimes the treats for yourself are the best kind, at least you are getting something you really want ;)

Anyway, on to the point. Here is my lovely little version of the Clemence skirt from Love at First Stitch in a very well timed cute tiny heart print viscose. I wore this little number whilst out on a date with Mr Fox at the weekend, I think we are probably two of the last people in the world to go see Star Wars at the cinema!!. It's a very comfy, easy to wear little skirt with lots of swoosh, as I found out today when I stepped out in the wind! Whoops!

The pattern is the 5th in the book and calls for you to draft your own pattern. Honestly, its so easy, you just have to draw 3 rectangles using your own measurements. I did get the measurements spot on, but it must have been an off day as honestly I could not transfer them to paper for love nor money! I got there in the end though. Its a very simply concept of 3 skirt pieces sewn together, gathered across the top (its a lot of gathering!) in to waistband and then inserting a zip. I did half the height of the waistband after my problems with Delpine and this made a massive difference. The skirt sits much better on my hips now. This is something I will definitely keep an eye on when making any skirts up in the future.  This pattern also had us learning french seems, again not a first for me, but it does make a lovely finish for this inside of this skirt.

I chose to use a viscose for this project (sorry, another Ebay purchase) because I have made a gathered skirt before, Tilly's picnic blanket skirt, out of cotton poplin and I wasn't a massive fan of how poofy the cotton made the gathers under the waistband look when sat on my hips. I think this is because all my chunk sits just here and it just exaggerates it a bit too much. I had hoped that a nice drapey fabric might stop this happening so much but the truth is it didn't really. Never mind, its not so bad that I won't wear it, I'm actually quiet a fan of this skirt, I think its because its so full at the bottom, its really nice to wear.

So that's my Valentines skirt, next up is a blouse. I am in two minds about this. I love the fabric I have chosen for it, but the pattern (and the fabric) frightens me a little bit. I can see the urge to procrastinate on this one so fingers crossed that isn't the case.

A well adjusted Megan dress

As I write this I'm actually sitting in our kitchen at work wearing my Megan dress and proudly saying 'thank you, I made it'. Don't you just love that feeling! 

Making Megan has been a little bit of a fitting journey for me, with two toiles, so she has taken a little longer than the other projects. Seeing the fit at the end totally makes it worth it though, no more ill fitting store bought dresses. She is made from some cotton sateen that I have had in my stash for a little while. I really like sateen, it's a bit heavier than some other cottons but has a nice little bit of stretch in which makes fitting a little more forgiving, I wasn't really too sure if I was going to like either the fabric or the style of dress when making this, but do you know what it's not all that bad. It's definitely wearable, and whilst I don't love it in a way that makes me want to wear it every day I certainly don't hate it. I think the only thing for me is that the neck is too high for my body type, and a bit formal looking for my style ,but it's definitely fine for the office. 

In terms of fitting I made made the following alterations. I did a full bust adjustment, adding about 3inch in total and elongated the front and back bodice by 2 inches. My main reason for this is when you have a slightly larger bust you don't really want a dart tuck just under your bust area. I find it can make it look a bit like your boobs are hanging low which is definitely not a good look! I think I did a pretty good job of making the dress flatter that area in the end. I also moved the bust darts, though looking at them they still look like they could do with some adjusting. The final alteration was to take 2 inch off the skirt to accommodate the fact I made the bodice longer. I normally do this at the end before sewing the hem and think I will in future as I only just got away with it being decent!! The only thing I would try and do better would be the neckline. It doesn't sit quiet flat, I think I should probably pay more attention to the shoulders next time. 

This section had us putting in a neck facing and fitting a sleeve. I am very proud to say that this was my first attempt at fitting a sleeve and I'm really pleased with them. There is  some puckering showing but given that you are asked to gather the sleeve I think this is how they are supposed to be. I've had a look at other versions of the dress and they look to have some gather in too. Yay! Go me. It wasn't anywhere near as frightening as I thought! 

So all in all that went pretty well :) a nice introduction back into full dressmaking and pattern adjustments. Now just to work on improving my skills and trying to get them perfected. It would be nice to learn the types of adjustments needed to standard patterns for my body shape but that will come in time. My sister has very kindly offered to help me draft up a body block at some point so I can start making patterns from it. So that will be a fun new skill to try and learn.

Next up Clemence which is a gathered skirt and I think (hope) this is going to be something I can make that feels a bit more like my personal style. Lets see how we get on.

The skirt that didnt work - Pink Delphine

Check out my lovely version of the Delphine skirt, the 3rd make in Tilly Walnes Love at First Stitch book for beginner sewers. I am so pleased with the skirt its beautiful and a triumph, its just such a shame that I'm never going to wear it. Why? I'll get to that in a minute, lets start with the positives shall we.

The skirt is made from a lovely baby pink cotton chambray which I bought from eBay. I've never sewn using Chambray before but its a lovely woven to sew with. Its crisp and clean and glides through the machine. Definitely a good fabric for a starter. Chambray also comes in a few lovely colours (and patterns) now as well rather than just the usual pale blue denim effect. Now I am one of those people who has to wear tights with skirts and dresses pretty much all year round and woven's don't lend themselves well to this, they tend to stick and ride up as the day goes on so I lined it! Tilly has done a lovely little tutorial on her blog for lining this exact skirt, so I followed the pattern instructions and the ones on the blog and I have to say they were really clear and helpful and I didn't have any troubles whatsover. Yay! Its not very obvious to see the lining in the picture below but it is there. I used some of the lovely cheap shiny  'lining fabric' in a matching pink.

This section of the book had us learning how to insert an invisible zip. This wasn't my first time but I appreciated the crash course and am really pleased with this one, its sewn in beautifully and all the seams are level which is always the tricky bit with any zip. The other thing I am really pleased with is the hem on this skirt. Honestly I think its the best hem I have ever stitched, I'm so proud of it.

So why am I never going to wear it? Well, its all in the waistband. I made this to measure and the bottom of the band sits perfectly where it's meant too but the top sticks out A LOT and doesn't sit flat against my waist at all. I know its because I am one of those lucky people to have an actual hourglass figure but it means my waist isn't straight at the side. I think this could be quiet easily rectified by halving the height of the waistband so its a lot thinner and as a result sits on a smaller area of my waist. It's just a shame I can't really do anything about that now. I am a little sad about it, it does just make this whole thing look a little bit awkward. But one of the skirts further in the book has the same waistband so hopefully I can fix this issue for making that one. This is how you learn about tailoring to fit your body shape though right. Lets live and learn and move on :)

The next pattern in the series is the Megan dress which has a fitted bodice, flared skirt (not unlike this one) and some sleeves. This is going to be a fun one to tackle, I've never fitted a sleeve in before and I'm going to have to do a full bust adjustment on the bodice. So watch this space, lets see how we get on.

Have you ever made anything that you loved but for whatever reason just didn't work? poor fabric choice, fit issues or something entirely different. Share your faux pas with me, go on! 

Too much pink? Cotton lawn Margot PJ's

It seems like every sewing book has a pattern for a pair of simple PJs but anyone actually ever make these? Well I did! Check these babies out. Actually, after doing a quick search on Pinterest it turns out a lot of you do enjoy making a comfy pair of pyjama bottoms and your all very good at it. For me they have always just been a bit uninspiring, if I am going to put the time and effort into some sewing I want to make sure everyone gets to see how amazing it is. Having said that though, having a little boy, being up at all hours, and lazy half asleep mornings I have found a new love for PJs so maybe I should start thinking about making a few more of these.

As I mentioned in my last post, whilst sewing my way through Tilly's Love at first stitch I want to try experimenting with new fabrics and techniques to make sure I get something new out of these makes. For the PJs I chose to use a cotton lawn. Two reasons; firstly I don't really have any warm weather night wear and secondly the last time I tried to use a cotton lawn it all got chewed up, I got very annoyed and the project basically just got thrown out in a sorry mess! This time I have decided it's time to wrangle that beast and I've taken on board Tilly's tips on using a finer sewing machine needle and this seems to have made a huge difference. It actually stitched up perfectly fine this time. What was I getting so stressed about? Hoorah. The only downside of these bottoms is that the lawn is pretty see through and so my pants are very visible through them (hence the reason you are not getting a shot of these from behind!). Definitely just something for slouching about in when only the husband and baby are going to be around. 

Great Tip: if you are making something like this with long straight lines a spotty print is amazing, it's so easy to line up and cut along the dots.

The pattern as usual was a doddle to follow and really clear with instructions and images. This section had us learning how too choose fabric, lay out the pattern and mark the instructions. The notches on the pattern were brilliant and lined up perfectly for me which is always a big help. The only issue I had was sewing the waistband. I could not get it to sit flat no matter how I folded or pinned it and so it's quiet puckered and generally not very well done. I'm assuming this was just one of those off sewing days we all have but I couldn't get rid of the ease. Though I figured the whole waistband gathers when you tie it so who's going to care? The other thing is I cut these in my actual size despite having a huge preference for baggy loungewear. I always buy a size bigger when buying pyjamas, why on earth didn't I do the same to this when I was cutting out the pattern? 

The next pattern in the book is the Delphine A line skirt, I'm excited to get on to some actual clothing makes. I'm a much bigger fan of the patterns further on in this book and the temptation to skip is huuuuge! But nope, on track one at a time, I might surprise myself with one of these patterns or learn something amazing, who knows! 

Have you ever made a pair of PJs? How did it go? and particularly, what fabric did you use? Tell me tell me!

Love at first stitch Brigitte scarf

My sister very kindly bought me a copy of Tilly Walnes love at first stitch book for my birthday. I have had a look at this book before and have been following Tilly since the very first sewing bee but haven't actually gotten round to getting a copy of the book yet so this was a brilliant present (I haven't put it down in the last week and made 3 fabric orders within 2 days of getting it!). The book starts off with the basics but does contain some lovely skirt and dress patterns which I like the look of and wouldn't mind trying and I'm actually quiet keen to try a blouse pattern seeing as I've never tried sewing tops before. What I actually really like about this book is the way the projects are laid out to gradually ease a new seamstress into home sewing. So each project gives you new tips and techniques to try. A good few of these I will have done before but I really like the idea of starting at the beginning of the book and working through the projects one by one to perfect my technique and hopefully pick up a few tricks and new skills along the way. It is also my intention to either try a new fabric type or alteration (or both) with each project (collars/plackets/piping etc) so I can hopefully expand my sewing repertoire. 

The first pattern in the book is the Brigitte scarf which is a long thin head scarf tied in a knot/bow around your head. Not a complicated make in the slightest but as I said above I'm going to start at the beginning, follow the instructions from the beginning and concentrate on making it well and as instructed. I chose to use a skull print polycotton which I had in my stash for this scarf. The fabric was sadly not wide enough for the pattern piece so I cut two lengths of the fabric and sewed them together on the bias in the same way as you would if you were making bias binging and then cut to size. 

The pattern was very easy as expected but I did pick up a little trick to pull out your corners with a pin from the outside, normally I would do this by shoving a knitting needle from the inside so hey, I did learn something new :). The nice thing about this project was it was super fast so I get to move onto the next one really quickly! 

Now my chances of actually wearing this type of head scarf are slim to none, despite quiet liking the print. However the good thing about having to cut two lengths was I was left with a piece which is just long enough to fit round my tiny head so I made a wired headband following the same instructions but adding a piece of wire inside and tacking it in place. I'm not going to do a guide for this, the Internet is littered with them so if you want one just go do a quick search. I do much prefer this and might actually get a bit of wear out of this one in the summer months. 

So what's next? I am going to cheat a little and not make the other scarf pattern in the book as I won't wear that either so next it's on to a pair of pj bottoms which is something I have never done before. I plan on using a cotton lawn as I have a lot of winter pjs already. This will be interesting as the last time I used a lawn it went horribly wrong and ended up in the bin! Here's hoping I can get a few more tips and make it go right this time.

I'm still a little anxious about starting to sew for myself again as I am still a lot bigger than I would like to be at this time post pregnancy. However I start back at work in a week or so, have no clothes that fit me and am really missing doing it, so what the heck. Whats the worst that can happen?