My Coral Silk and Lace Zinnia

OK so I will start with a huge apology for how many pictures there are in this post, but I am so massively proud of how this turned out so I am going to ram it in your face as much as possible!

I hadn't planned on making this skirt, but I had decided I wanted a project which was not a dress. I also wanted to try using some more complicated fabrics to challenge myself a bit. When I saw a post from Colette patterns about The Stitchery hosting a sew along for this skirt I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to have a go at both those things.

Project details:

Pattern: Zinnia by Colette patterns

Fabric lining: Real silk crepe de chine in peach, a fabric remnant from eBay

Overlay fabric: Stretch lace in coral from Tia knight on eBay

There are three versions of this skirt, 1: a gathered waist with button placket and pocket details. 2: A pleated waist in a solid fabric. 3: a pleated waistband in a sheer fabric which includes full lining. I went for version 3 to give myself a bit more of a challenge, also because I love the drape and flow of how this version looks on the pattern website.

Before I go into the construction of this skirt I want to start by saying that I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!. I wasn't sure if the colours would go but they work really well together, the fit is spot on, the drape is perfect, there is nothing that I don't like about the finished item, Woo Hoo!

This pattern is labelled as 'beginner' which I do agree with, but take this with a pinch of salt if you are doing version 3 and handling difficult fabrics. The fit is very simple, you only need to fit in the waist band, lovely and easy, I like that. I wanted to time how long it took me to make this skirt but decided to stop caring after 10 hours! 10 hours to sew a skirt that only requires fitting in the waist!. This did include all the patter cutting, the fabric cutting, markings etc etc but still, yeowch.

The main issue I had with this skirt was sewing the two fabrics together. I was using a delicate silk crepe and trying to sew it together with a stretch lycra lace, not easy, those little buggers just kept slipping and stretching and puckering all over the place. However, after my first attempt at the waistband I calmly decided to try attaching my walking foot to my sewing machine to see if that made a difference. Did it? hell yes, that made things so much simpler, the fabrics really wanted to just flow together through the machine with those extra little feed dogs helping them along. Phew. 

I really wanted to get a good finish on this make and so tried very hard to make this skirt as perfect as possible. Because of the sheer fabrics I did my first ever French seams on this make on both layers of the fabric. I am so happy with these, I keep showing them to people whilst I have the skirt on (stop flashing at strangers Helen!) much to my surprise they sewed up pretty easy and they make the whole finish look so much neater and more professional. 

The pattern instruction for version 3 is a little vague on the back seam/hemming instructions. When inserting the zipper you are told to sew both layers together joining them in the back seam. However, later on you need to hem the underskirt separately and shorter than top layer. How are you supposed to do that when you have attached them both together? I eventually gave the pattern to Mr Fox to see if he could get his engineer brain around it and he suggested sewing the back zipper seam short of the bottom to allow me enough room to turn both layers under. This did seem to work a treat but it did baffle my brain for a while. The only other thing worth mentioning is that marking the pleats is a painstaking task, but make sure you do it. I used some contrasting tread but by the time I got there half of them had come out and it made life very difficult.

So the end result... big beemy face from me, and I will finish off with a compilation windier pics to show you just how lovely and swooshy it is.

I got me an overlocker!

Last weeks edition of The Great British Sewing Bee was so timely as it came just 4 days after I put in my order for my very own overlocker. I am so excited to give this baby a go.

I have never used an overlocker in my life and have no idea where to even start. All I know is that looking at my wardrobe, and the type of clothes I like to wear, they are mostly all made of some sort of jersey or stretch fabric so this will make attempting to sew them so much easier. Now I know I don't NEED an overlocker by any stretch of the imagination, but I came it to a bit of bonus money recently and thought I might as well treat myself. Who doesn't love a new piece of machinery or tool!

I wanted to make sure I did a bit of research first as this was my first time buying one. Things which are looked out for are:

• 3 or 4 Threads: Having the option for either or means that you have a larger range of stitch type options.
• Rolled Hem: This will turn under and overstitch them edge of the fabric, perfect for hemming
• Differential Feed: This is an adjustment to alter the feed so that fabrics don't become too stretched or gathered giving you a beautiful flat seam (see example below).
• Retractable Cutting Knife: Allowing you to sew decorative stitches without cutting the seam
• Colour Coded Threading: Allowing you to see easily how to re-thread the machine
• Adjustable Cutting Width: Change the amount of the seam which is cut
• Variable Seam length and width: Some come with one or the other or neither. I wanted a good variation on this.

I opted for the Janome 9300DX in the end because it was within my price bracket and on comparison gave a good range in stitch adjustments for what I wanted. However if you are thinking about a cheaper version Tilly has been raving about her Brother 1034D.

The picture above shows you what differential feed really means (the clue is so not in the title). It is a dial that changes the amount of 'give', for want of a better word, in the seam stitches. If you look at the top one my differential feed is not set correctly and so the seam is stretched and out of shape (not good). If you turn the dial (up for jersey) then you change the differential feed and you can see this has made everything nice and straight and flat, magic. So that is what differential feed means, I know, I didn't have a monkeys either so don't worry. I will definitely be showing you what happens when I get to have a proper play with this.

Do any of you have an overlocker and have any tips or tricks for me? Alternatively, if you are thinking about one why do you want it? And I hope this post might have given you a bit of an insight in to what to look out for. 

By Georgia, She's an Animal!

Happy Friday! This weekend will mostly be spent looking at new kitchens which is both very exciting and very dull both at the same time. However it is the first time I have ever had to design my own kitchen so I must enjoy the process as much as possible Yay!

This week I am proud to present my second version of the Georgia dress in this gorgeous leopard print cotton poplin... Rawr! Topically Animal by Def Leopard is playing as I type this and because you are bound to want to know, the ears are from the fabulous Crown and Glory.

Project Details:

Pattern: Georgia, By Hand London 

Fabric: Leopard print poplin, bought locally from My Fabric Place

Size: 6-10-14 with a 3" FBA

Other adjustments: shortened and  widened the straps

I am very happy with this dress, it's so easy to wear, the fit around the body is lovely and the straps are much better on this version meaning I can actually wear a bra (can I just say that my bra, pants and socks are also all leopard print under this outfit! Meow!). I did have some fitting issues, I don't think it needed to be drafted out to a 14, I think a 12 would have sufficed. In addition to this, because I shortened the straps the waist sections came up a bit high so I had to do a bit of adjusting in the seams there. Nothing too complicated though. 

The only issue with this version is my chest just will not fit in there and so if really needs to be worn with a cardi, though I am carrying some extra pounds, so hopefully that won't always be an issue. I think this is again down to the straps being a little too short, I think I need some sort of happy medium between the two versions. 

The thing I like very best about this dress though is the inside, its shocking pink! I almost wish this was the outside its spectacular. I wanted to line the dress because I know that poplin has a tendency to stick to tights and so I wanted it to be a bit easier to wear. Lining the dress was very simple, essentially you just make the dress twice and joint them at the top of the bodice... simples!

This time I also needed the zip so check out my invisible zipper insertion, I am really happy with this. I realise its not perfect (its not invisible for a start) but looky it goes all the way to the top and everything. 

I am thinking about the possibility of adding a trim to the outside, just under the bust, to break up the print a bit as it is quiet overpowering. I am thinking of some kind of thick lace trimming but can't yet decide if this should be black or shocking pink to match the inside. I think I am worried that if I add the pink it might start looking like nightwear instead. Do you have any thoughts?

Finally, on a complete side note, I was outside happily snapping these pictures for the blog and little to my knowledge the cheeky Mr Fox was inside doing his very best to photobomb me! Well, he gets what he deserves and so here he is acting like a banana for all your amusement.

The Ava Sweetheart Neckline

What could be more romantic than a sweetheart neckline review on Valentines! I had a lot of trouble understanding the instructions for joining the two neckline pieces on the Ava by Victory patterns instructions. Its not that they are badly written, just as a new sewer it completely baffled me. I also know from when I tried to search the internet for help that it had stumped a few others as well. Since I have now done this 6 times I decided it might be helpful to visually describe how I did it. Please excuse the fabric choices and bad darts, I am using one of my toiles as my example.

Firstly, the picture on the pattern shows you attaching from the right first, I couldn't comprehend sewing this way so I started on the left.

Starting in the middle, first don't forget  to snip the middle of the neck, this helps A LOT. you need to be careful not to go too far, but you can snip a little and cut a but more away later. on the top bodice piece identify the middle of the point, 5/8 in from the point (luckily for me, this is about at that dot) then pin this exact point 5/8 from the center of the lower bodice under the snip. use the pin to mark out that spot (you could make a mark using tailors chalk or similar). Pin the top and bottom bodice pieces together at the edges working from the center to the left edge.

Now, from the left edge, sew towards the center 5/8 from the edge until you get to the pin/marker in the middle of the neckline. Make sure the needle is down and lift the presser foot.

You now need to pivot the whole lot, so the bottom bodice is lined up with the 5/8 marker on your machine ready to sew. This is where the snip comes in handy. If you find this difficult to pivot then try making the snip slightly longer, but not too close to the needle. Then, you need to pivot the top bodice piece so it lines up. You will notice it gathers a lot in the middle (see above) that's fine. At this point I found it easier to pin by lining up the right hand armhole edge and working in towards the needle in the center. Make sure that there is no fabric being pinched together under the needle (just give it a quick pull/stretch with your hand) pop the foot down and sew to the other edge. 

You can see that there is a lot of the top bodice fabric gathered in the middle underneath but this doesn't matter as it will all get tidied up when you trim the seam allowance and top stitch it down later on. 

And fingers crossed you end up with a nice, smooth, unpuckered sweetheart neckline. Now give yourself a pat on the back, breathe, make a cuppa, and get on with the rest of the pattern.