Simply Sewing Polka Dot Headband

 

I finally got round to stitching up the headband from the first issue of the new simply sewing magazine using the free polka dot fabric which came with the magazine. The mag did provide patterns and instructions for three things which could all be created from the one piece of fabric provided. First was this headband, second a gathered fabric flower and third a fabric covered book. I have done both the gathered flowers and a covered book on the blog already so I have gone for the headband (and I used the rest of the fabric to make the pockets of my new dress!) 

Pink Cherry Print Crepe Bettine

Its been an eventful month; Great Britain voted to leave the EU (the less said about that the better) and we have had the final of the GBSB (well done to Charlotte). So with all that going on, and a little bit of work behind the scenes on an exiting project has meant I haven't had chance to show off much this month but I am going to remedy that with this dress made from the most gorgeous fabric I think I have ever laid eyes on. Honestly, I tried to take the pictures for this blog 3 times and just none of them do it the justice it deserves.

So the fabric: Its some beautiful polyester crepe which I purchased from the Sew Over It online shop. Sadly I believe it has completely sold out, with no obvious sign of there being any more (sorry). However I don't feel too bad showing it off because I stalked instagram for 3 months trying to get hold of it and my patience finally paid off. Because this fabric was so hard to come by and so pretty I wanted to make sure I made something good with it. I didn't want to make a blouse as I just don't wear them and I really liked the idea of a dress. It was suggested by Lisa on her Vlog that she might use the Bettine pattern which is what made me buy it. It is a nice floaty drapey dress which works brilliants with the crepe fabric.

Just like the last one I cut a straight size 3 and it fits just about fine. I could do with doing some fit adjustments on this dress; not doing a bust adjustment means the neckline falls back on my shoulders, the arms are a big tight and the skirt maybe needs to be a tad wider in the hips. The fabric is a little sheer so I am wearing the dress with a full pink slip from M&S. This does make the dress sit a little differently as it slides up to my natural waist instead of clinging to my hip which has made this version sit a little differently to the green viscose version I last blogged about. I will see if I can be bothered to tackle these adjustment this next time I make it (probably not!).

I hope you think this is a fitting use of the fabric, thankfully I have enough left to make something else; I'm thinking some kind of floaty cami top would suit it very well. I just need to find a suitable pattern.

Have you sewn up your favourite fabric or is it still sitting in a drawer waiting for the perfect project? I know we are all guilty of hiding away our most coverted buys in fear of not doing it justice but go on, take the plunge!

Post Wedding Round Up: The Bridesmaids Dresses

Its that time of week again, and this week I am showing off.... The Bridesmaids.

How gorgeous do they look! These girls they are the absolute perfect mix of absolutely wonderful, and a little but nutty! We have my sister on the left, my friend Stevie in the middle who gets far too excited about everything, and Yvonne on the right who is just the right amount of good and bad influence on me (probably tipped on the bad side, but that's ok right!). They really did make my day, and I couldn't have got married without them, so thank you ladies xx.

The dresses were handmade by the talented ladies of at Frock in Nottingham. Rather than explain how they work myself, here is how they put it:

'Frock was born from a love of beautiful vintage dresses. We have a passion for vintage sewing patterns and enjoy experimenting with original patterns, adapting them and making them  relevant to the women of today. Women who want something unique and an alternative to todays mass produced throw away fashion.

At Frock we make our dresses by hand in small runs, this means that we are free to customise our dresses to suit and to play with the design, mixing up fabrics and design elements at will.

Although our dresses are inspired by vintage, we are not restricted to one era and like to embrace the fun and flirty best of all decades and give it our own twist.'

I really wanted the dresses to be something which they might choose to wear again at another occasion. I also wanted to be able to make them similar enough in style, but also allow my bridesmaids some room for freedom. This is why Frock were perfect, because not only do they do a made to measure service (at a reasonable price) it is also fully customizable. So we went through the fabric swatches book, picked a fabric, and then my Bridesmaids picked the style of dress from their patterns that they liked the most. I think this worked out well and I hope they were more comfortable in their dresses as they picked the fit. Frock then made up all three dresses to our specifications and I couldn't be happier with the result.

 

So I hope you like the dresses as much as I did, enough that I had to go and buy my own Frock frock! I was really pleased, as you can see above, at how well everything came together, from the shoes to the dresses to the bouquets. Not bad to say I am pretty sure I winged all this design stuff!

I am planning an exciting Monster Magic style festive tutorial for you at the weekend (when I actually have some daylight to photograph it) so check back on Sunday to take a look.