Black denim mini skirt

My quest for the perfect little black mini skirt pattern continues with this lovely little number and what a good contender it is. Its got a very cute shape and fit and is very versatile. I like it! 

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!) 

Sew Over It: Ultimate Pencil Skirt

Hi there, you know I've been putting off making a pencil skirt for such a long time, but I have no idea why. I think its got a lot to do with a skirt I tried to make when I first started sewing from a free pattern which just didn't really turn out that well. Thankfully though I have finally gotten over that hump and I bought the Sew Over It Ultimate Pencil Skirt pattern. I've bought a few fabrics from SOI before, but never sewn one of their patterns.

There are a huge number of pencil skirt patterns in the market but I have heard good reviews about this one in terms of fit from social media and a quick hunt of instagram showed up some really lovely examples. It seemed like a good fit to try out SOI with this pattern. The style and fit of this skirt are just spot on for the way I like to dress at the minute, especially for work.

Lately I have been reaching to my wardrobe for a black skirt in this morning, but the truth of the matter is I actually only have 1 which fits me. So to rectify this I am on a promise to myself to make myself some more black skirts. I have some gorgeous metallic fabric earmarked for this project but I wanted to toile it first so I ordered some plain black cotton sateen from Sew Essential. This fabric is perfect for this skirt because it has a good amount of stretch in it. It meant that even if I cut the pattern ever so slightly on the small side I knew there would be some give in it. Its a lovely quality fabric and I'm glad I bought a few meters. I can definitely see me using the rest for some other projects.

I had absolutely no problem with sewing this up. The fabric was so easy to work with and the pattern was perfectly straightforward. I really don't know why I put this off for so long, and the results speak for themselves, I mean look at how sleek it is. I had no issues with fit and it fit me straight from the packet, which barely ever happens, though I think the stretch sateen might have something to do with that. All in all it only took me a few hours to complete this the first time so I will definitely be making more. I don't know if its just me but I did find the instructions a little simplistic, I had to google the SOI blog for the kick pleat instructions, but that might just be the nature of the drawing inside rather than the instructions themselves.

To Sum it up:
Pattern: Sew Over it Ultimate Pencil Skirt
Fabric: Stretch cotton sateen in black purchased from Sew Essential
Extras: a 12" invisible zipper
Modifications: I took about 6" off the total length in the end as I prefer my skirts to sit just over the knee than below but I am quiet short.
Fit: Like a glove!
Difficulty: Pretty easy

So I love this skirt, I mean its sexy no?! I will definitely make another, and I want to have a go at lining it next time as this one doesn't do to well with tights. I mentioned earlier about it being a toile, I actually don't think this skirt is right for the fabric I had in mind but I have made a couple of alternations to the pattern to change it up a bit and will do another toile shortly to see how that goes on... watch this space.

Have you sewn up this pattern, or are you putting off a project because of something that went wrong in the past? Let me know about it, I would love even more to hear about your post drama successes x

Kwik Sew 4041 - Coral striped slouched raglan top

Isn't this fabric beautiful :) I love the huge coral stripes and I think it lends itself really well to this lovely draped top.

I have switched my focus of personal sewing now from maternity on to postpartum so the next few posts from me will 100% have breastfeeding in mind. From my experience last time, and from talking to fellow breastfeeding mums I have been advised that using the one up one down method of clothing is by far the best for feeding. This basically means wearing a  vest top to cover your tummy with a baggier top over the top which you can lift up to feed. I love this idea for so many reasons: 1. You can wear regular clothes (with the exception of nursing bras) 2. Nursing clothing can be really overpriced for what it is and 3. I always really hated putting a cloth over Master Fox's head, it felt so rude, and this method is discreet enough to not need to do this.

So anyway, on to the make itself. The fabric is a gorgeous lightweight polyester jersey from Guthrie and Ghani. I am a little annoyed at myself because whilst I followed the pattern guidelines for the amount of fabric (which I only just pulled off) I didn't have anywhere near enough to match the stripes across the raglan sleeves. It looks ok thankfully but it would have been nice to have them running across the top properly.

The pattern is Kwik Sew 4041 which I bought from Sew Essential (the lovely ladies that helped me choose my sewing machine). This pattern is so ridiculously easy! The whole thing was made in one evening and the results are brilliant. Its a lovely loose fitting top with a very wide neckline.

The pattern actually has a regular sleeve which is just turned under and stitched with a twin needle like the hem but sadly as mentioned above I was struggling to get the whole top cut out of the amount of fabric I had. I decided the best thing to get around this would be to cut the sleeves short and then add a folded cuff to the bottom cut from some of the leftover smaller sections of fabric. This worked brilliantly and I love the finish of it. It makes it feel a bit more sweat top like which I don't mind one bit.

I made the top up in a size medium (I am usually a small) without doing any measurements because I wanted to make sure it would go over my postpartum tummy and still be nice and drapey. I think in hindsight, given as the pattern is supposed to be baggy, I could probably have got away with a small. It is a bit like a tent but it is wearable and will fit the desired purpose, even if I just end up slobbing at home in it.

Its a real shame I can't 'model' this for you, but it just looks a bit silly over my rather large growing bump. The hang of the top really doesn't work with that obstruction! I'll be sure to stick a picture up on instagram once I get around to wearing it.

Llama Llama Baby Dress

Hopefully you all remember my amazing Llama Llama dress, well obviously I saved the very small amount of leftovers I had from that dress in my box of fabric scraps which can only have been called the 'just in case I ever have a little girl' box of sewing supplies! Thankfully that box of scraps is now getting its very own lease of life again and this is one of the first makes from it.

Its ok for mama and baby to wear matching dresses isn't it?

The dress is the Puperita Mini Tulips dress which I have blogged about before. The dress is reversible but I have only lined it with a grey cotton as why would you ever wear it any other way round than this?

The pattern is for an overall type dress, so ideally worn over a tshirt or baby grow, but its such a simple pattern. Very easy to sew, easy to adapt and perfect for using up odds and ends of fabric you have collected. I made this dress in 3-6m so it will be a while before we are wearing it, but I think its a pattern better suited for slightly older children than tiny babies.

Just look at those happy little llama faces!! The fabric is Michael Miller 'packmates' and its 100% quilting cotton. Sadly its no longer listed on their website so you will have to do some digging if you wanted to try and blag yourself some of this fabric.

The fabric type isn't ideal for baby clothes as its very rigid but this pattern lends itself so well to a sturdier fabric as it doesn't call for much drape.

I don't really have much more to say about this make, I'm just going to let those little llama's do all the talking instead x

Leopard Maternity Dress

Hello, finally as a little respite to all the baby sewing I am pleased to say this week I am here to show you some slightly more grown up sewing in this lovely leopard print maternity dress.

I love wearing dresses when pregnant, nice big stretchy ones! You see all these stunning pictures of pregnant ladies in their skinny jeans, but its not for me. I wish I could wear a pair of jeans but I just find them so uncomfortable. Hand me a nice stretchy dress instead and I'm so much happier. As you can see my bump is progressing very nicely (with a big help from chocolate!) so its nice to get another outfit to add to my currently very limited wardrobe of clothes that actually fit (and look good).

The dress is actually a mash up of two of the patterns from the Megan Nielsen Maternity survival pack set of sewing patterns. It is the Erin skirt and the Cara top. I cut out both patterns to my size and they overlay one over the other. The ruching is in slightly different places in both patterns so I had to wing it a bit but it came together really nicely. I think the ruching maybe could have been slightly higher but it works where it is perfectly fine.

These patterns really are so quick and easy to sew and this dress was no exception to that. The fit is lovely and its just so easy to pull on and can be worn with tights or without. I can definitely see me adding at least one more of these to my collection before baby is due.

The fabric is some very old jersey that I bought at a local market which I used to make my first lady skater dress (some time ago now). Its been sitting in a box in my craft room for at least 2 years maybe more. I hadn't managed to find a better project for it before now so its nice to see it finally getting some love and in turn making some more room for me to buy more lovely fabric in its place.

I hope you like the dress, and I hope it inspires you to have a go at making one if you haven't already. Its so nice to make maternity clothes, even if they aren't going to get the most wear ever.

Now i'm off to go consider whats next on my ever growing list of sewing projects, whats your next project going to be?

Mexico Kitty Ceramic Pot

I am so excited to show this little fella to you, he is the first thing I made in my ceramic workshop and I'm so pleased he is finally home. He is named 'Mexico Kitty' as he was inspired by some Mexican art I saw, with the painted design. Isn't he the cutest!

He was made using the snake pot technique; i.e hand built using long snakes to form a pot. I really like the shape of him, he sort of curves in like a nice plump kitty but I think its a really aesthetic shape. I then added four legs onto the bottom. Sadly I don't think I secured them well enough, so as you can see here they exploded off on the first firing but they have been very cleverly attached back on by David when dip glazed. David also put a hole in the bottom of my pot for the water to drain out so I also made this little stand for it to catch any water that drips through. This I just made out of a flat rolled piece of clay which I made dint's in for the legs to sit in so its all nice and sturdy.

The pattern was hand painted on using some oxide and water after I added the blue slip to colour the main pot. I really like the way this looks actually, its definitely something I will try again. I like how delicate the brush strokes are on something which is otherwise quiet chunky. With the face I cut away from the clay and then painted in the gaps but as you can see the oxide has burnt away during the firing process, which is a shame but I really see all this as a bit of a learning curve, there are no errors only happy accidents!

The final shiney glaze was added by dipping him in glaze, this helped to stick his legs back on, but we would normally paint the glaze on to the pot. After firing the shrinkage of the clay caused the glaze to crack which is the effect you can see above. David suggested that we paint over the pot with a watery acrylic paint to show off the cracks it has caused. We gave it a test on the bottom of the plate and it looked really nice so I applied it to the whole pot. I think its a really interesting effect.

I hope you like Mexico Kitty :) It just goes to show just how easy it is to make something amazing. I love this pot and as I said at the beginning this is the first one I made so it just goes to show what you can achieve when you give things a try. I have put David's flyer below for anyone who is local and fancies giving ceramics a go. 

Now I need to go and get on with trying to finish some of my sewing projects! Honestly, I have a pile so high of half done makes that I really need to tackle, they are in the way if nothing else!

Interview Dress: Atelier Brunette Bettine

This post is going to get a bit personal so please bear with me.

I have had this beautiful Atelier Brunette 'like a dandy' fabric for a while now. Its really lovely and light, it feels a bit like a really good shirting cotton. I had originally thought of making a 50s style dress but since decided it was too delicate for a structured bodice.

I then recently go offered a job interview, but I don't do interviews very often (I think its now 3 in 10 years!) I obviously didn't have anything to wear. I decided to team this fabric up with my recent obsession for sewing the Bettine dress. The lightness of the fabric works really well with the gathers but it's structured enough to look a bit more formal. 

I'm really pleased with how this came out especially as I made the pocket version. Those pockets! they really are a brilliant addition to this dress. Sadly now when I put the other versions on I wish they had the pockets as well! The fabric is amazing as well, I genuinely can't think of a fabric that I've enjoyed sewing with more it just behaved perfectly, I'd definitely recommend giving it a whirl, the extra little expense is totally worth it. 

So now your desperate to know and I'm sorry to say that I didn't get the job. I'm not going to lie about it, I'm thoroughly pissed about that. The job would have been a promotion in my area of work which I believe I thoroughly had worked hard towards but sadly wasn't meant to be. I'm trying to look on the bright side and move forwards but i am still a little bitter. I keep telling myself it will hopefully lead to something better but only time will tell.

(I want to add an extra line to this, I am editing this post a week after i wrote it and I am much less bitter, and feeling ok in where I am at the moment so its not all dome and gloom).

Thankfully this set back hasn't killed the dress, I have worn it twice since that dreaded day without that bitter feeling because it just makes the perfect summer work staple, it really is such an easy pattern to wear. 

So that's it for my little ramble, but before I go, I am sure you've already noticed but can we just take a moment to marvel in my pink and orange hair (excuse to angle!!). I'm torn between it being amazing and really badly executed, and sadly I had a massive allergic reaction to the orange, so its likely to not last long but we can enjoy it while it lasts xx

Bettine wearable toile: AKA the Robin Hood dress

Sorry to start with such a posey photo but its quiet flattering so I'm rolling with it! This is my first version of Tilly and the Buttons Bettine Dress which I made as a wearable toile (something you are getting used to seeing me doing here!). Its actually a pretty good version and my god this dress is easy to wear! Its made from some green viscose that again I just bought off eBay.

I have been wanting to make a green dress for ages as green really suits my colouring but is not a colour I would normally be drawn to when clothes shopping. I really like this shade of green, its a sort of emerald colour and it goes really well with the pink (that pink belt is an awesome pairing though I'm not sure everyone would agree). However the first time I tried this on after making it Mr Fox turned round to me and said 'Oh hello Robin Hood, you look like your getting ready to star in a panto'! I don't really think that was a compliment but do you know what I know exactly what he means, it pretty much summed up what I was thinking as without the belt it does look a bit like that.

But anyway lets not let that deter from this actually being a dress I really quiet like. This is an amazing pattern, really simple, easy to follow (as always from Tilly) and really quick to make. I made it much harder by using french seams rather than the overlocker (something I probably wont bother with next time) but it still came together really fast. Tilly has said on a number of occasions this is the most comfortable dress you can wear and she is not joking! You just slip it over your head and head out the door. The top is drapey giving lots of room for movement, the elastic belt helps flatter your waist and the fitted skirt makes a lovely shape around your bottom half. I sewed a straight size 3 because there is lots of room in the top for me to not need a FBA.The sleeves are perhaps a little tighter than they should be and its a little snug in the seat but I don't think I will bother making any adjustments for the next version. Its summer after all I'll just finally try and get round to loosing that 3lb i've been meaning to get off for the last 2 months (as much as you can 'mean' to loose weight whilst eating chocolate!).

As mentioned above the fabric is a lovely drapey viscose. I chose viscose as the fabric I have for my proper version is a polyester crepe so I needed something which had a lovely drape and viscose does that. It does however have a tendency to fray so I used lovely french seams throughout. The other issue with viscose is it has a tendency to stretch when you sew it. I didn't use interfacing on the facing piece as suggested because I wanted to keep the bouncy nature of the fabric so I self faced it with another piece of viscose. This did mean my inside facing is not as neat as I would have liked but it was a lesson for making up my crepe version.

The other odd thing I thought about this dress as soon as I put it on was 'do you know what this dress really needs? Pockets'. I can totally see why the pattern comes with a pocket variation I would love to just sink my hands into a lovely deep pair of pockets on the front so I definitely need to plan making one of these vertions. I have some lovely Atelier Brunette fabric which I think would suit this pattern very well. I think this dress is something which definitely benefits from a print fabric.

So on that final note I am giving some serious thought into adding some kind of embellishment to this dress, its something I don't normally do (hand sewing urgh!) but I am not really sure what or where to start? So if you have any ideas of how I could embellish this dress to make it a bit less plain then PLEASE leave me a comment. I am possibly thinking of a sort of black floral trim around the neck with maybe some pink sequins/beads hand sewn on?

Me Made May 2016

May is a special month for sewcialists (internet/social media sewers) in that it is Me Made May, where the idea quiet obviously is to wear handmade clothes every day in May. You didn't really need me to explain that did you!

 Knit dresses: Wren and Lady Skater

So I suspect you expect this post to be about me telling what I wore every day for MMM16, well its not! I don't have near enough clothes to do that yet (or I do but I would have the washing machine on near constantly and it would very boringly be the same clothes every week). So instead of actually joining in on MMM I thought I would just use it as an excuse to have a look at the things I have made that do actually get lots of wear so that I can see what things I like and also see what I want more of, where my wardrobe is lacking and see if there are any trends in the kinds of things I do wear.

Summer Viscose Dresses: Lilou and Kim

Lets start with the dresses. I know every home sewer always sews dresses and I'll be honest I never used to wear dresses but that's mostly because I am 2 sizes bigger in the bottom than I am in the waist so they either clung way to much to my wibbly bits or looked a bit like a sack on me. I love that I can now wear dresses. They are so easy, just wack em over your head and go! I have a lot of fit and flare but the shape is so good for hiding that post baby belly whilst still making a feature of my waist. Lovely, I see many more of these in the future, but I am actually on the hunt for a more fitted dress pattern, something with a pencil skirt, that I can tailor and make nice and flattering.

 Skirts: Zinnia and Clemence

Then on to separates;  I say separates but well I make a good few bottoms but really only ever one top which is the Mimi parrots blouse. Skirt patterns are so plentiful though and there are loads of nice ones to choose from. I think its also because I enjoy a pretty skirt but actually just tend to wear jersey vests on top, and well they are so cheap to buy why would you need to make them. I am all for handmade but I sometimes think there are some wardrobe basics which should just be bought: Jeans, jersey basics, leggings to name a few. I am sure there will come a time I will attempt them but for now I am happy to play with more fun patterns. I do have a plan to get the Agnes tshirt pattern (mostly to make a dress out of) so there will probably be a few long sleeved tshirts in here by Autumn. 

 Chataigne shorts

I think you can see a definite theme here in terms of colour/pattern choice in the clothes that I actually wear. Animal Print, Monochrome, pink, coral, blacks and whites. I have learnt over the past couple of years that there are a lot of clothes that I have made which I don't really wear. Some of that is down to the fit or shape not suiting me, but actually its mostly to do with poor fabric choice. It really is worth thinking about the colours that suit you, and that you like to wear as it really does go into making a better wardrobe.

Mimi blouse

So that's the wardrobe which I enjoy to wear. There are obviously things which I haven't included here. Looking back on this there is actually a lot less than I realised, I guess when mixed in with your bought wardrobe you don't consider what you have made and wear and what you don't. I really should think about sorting out the things which I don't wear and either charity shopping them or hacking them into something new. 

If you are taking part in Me Made May 2016 how have you found it? And if not and you haven't heard of it before go and have a search for #mmm16 on instagram and see all the gorgeous outfits people have lovelingly handmade themselves.

Neon Skulls Kim Dress

There seems to be a bit of a neon theme going on here at the minute but this dress is a lot less gawdy than the tutu outfit I posted last week! I totally wasn't sure about this fabric when I bought it but I actually really like it now its turned into a dress. Also, before we carry on can I just address the fact that I bloody love my shiny Dr Marten Mary Janes, they literally go with everything.

This was a mock up test version of By Hand London's Kim Dress. It's the first time I've made this dress but I was looking for something with princess seems so it fit the bill. 

A couple of things to say about this dress before I go into a bit more detail. I really like the sweetheart neckline and the full skirt, especially in this viscose, the skirt is lovely to wear but my god it's a bit boobalicious! You cant really tell from these pictures but when I am sat and look down they are all I can see! I had the same thing with my last by hand London dress so they obviously like a low neckline but I'm struggling to wear this in the daytime! I think It's going to have to be an out to the pub dress rather than a chilling at home on a summers day dress.

The fabric was some viscose which I got from ebay. There is lots of it on there so you should be able to find it, I also think its one of those lovely cheap fabrics you are likely to find on your local market stall so certainly very inexpensive. I have started to really love viscose. Its so easy to wear and really cheap to buy. The only issue is it can stretch out of shape quiet easily when sewing and also it frays A LOT. but if you can get over that you can make some lovely summer outfits out of it. The reason I used this to make a mock up is because it was so cheap. You can see in the photo below there is a bit of excess fabric in the front bodice and this is due to it changing shape and ending up bigger than the cotton fabric I used to line it but its totally fine to wear.

I re-took my measurements before I made this dress and matched them up against the pattern and I fit the size 12 exactly (35, 28, 36). I sat there and I thought how can I have the exact measurements of the pattern but know even before I begin that if I sew this straight from the pattern pieces its not going to fit me? What I realised was that my back is proportionally smaller than my front and that what I need to do is cut out the size 12 but take a % out of the front and equate that into the same in the front as a full bust adjustment. I made a 3/4 inch adjustment to both front and back but actually I think that maybe should have been a whole 1 inch but again its a better fit than it would have been.

I started off making this dress really fast and rushing through it because I have another version planned which is the one I really want to make. I have spoken before about how when you take your time over something you are much more likely to enjoy the result but I was totally ignoring my own advice here. Thankfully Karen over at Did You Make That made a very well timed post about learning sewing patience. I really needed this. I think I sometimes try and make things really quickly to have something to blog about but what she made me realise was that actually you can have some very useful things to say as a blogger without always having to blog about something you made. So I thank Karen for the great outcome of this dress for making me slow down, take my time and enjoy the process. And do you know what, it really worked. I do love this dress (I've had it on for 2 days) and I think its totally down to the fact I took some care over it.

 So that's it from me for this week, I hope you like my new dress :) I am going to have to sign off because I can hear master Fox has woken up. But as a closing thought have you ever read any non sewing posts which totally inspired you in other aspects?

Avert your eyes! Neon tutu tutorial

The brief was 'neon tutu' I think I nailed it don't you!

I love orange and pink together, I think its my favourite garish colour combo. I am desperately trying to decide whether put some orange back in my hair again, last time I got told I reminded people of a tutti frutti! Haha I don't think that's a bad thing do you?

Anyway, why have I made a neon tutu I hear you wondering? Why not? Honestly though there is a reason. I recently went to Leeds for a friends hen do, the theme was 80s and we were told we should be wearing neon and tutus! I did do the obvious and look on ebay for the cheap option but every time I looked at them I couldn't help think 'I'm not paying for that!' I didn't really have a plan beyond that though and by the time it was 3 days to go I realised I was a bit late to order one, there was no fancy dress shop near work and so I was just going to have to make it.

I did a bit of a search on the net for how to make tutu's but most of the results were for the no sew kind, and well I wanted to yes sew kind. I thought being as I just made up a process I would quickly type up how I did it whilst I show off the tutu in all its neon glory!

I bought one meter each of two different coloured cheap fancy dress nets from my local fabric shop (thank you My Fabric Place in Beeston) in these amazingly neon pink and orange colours. I then folder the fabric in half width wise and then in half again width wise and cut along the folds. This gave me 4 x 1 meter long pieces of both colours (8 pieces total).

Please note that I do have a small waist and whilst there is plenty of material here to make larger sizes if you want a bigger tutu, or in fact a fuller tutu you might want to consider buying 1.5 or 2 meters of each fabric colour.

Next I cut a piece of elastic which I measured to fit comfortably round my waist where I wanted it to sit (with a bit of stretch) and then added an inch for where it meets at the back. Make sure the elastic is not too stretched its uncomfortable but not so loose its not going to stay sat on your waist where you want it. I then marked the middle of the elastic with a pin.

I then lay 4 of the pieces of fabric on top of each other. I alternated mine so orange pink orange pink (have the colour you want facing out on top). You can of course do this however you like it, play about with the colours and see what works for you. You need to do the same with the remaining 4 pieces but keep these to one side we are going to be working on one half at once.

Next you need to attach the net to the elastic. You do this by making lots of large folds in the net and pinning it to the elastic. You don't need to stretch the elastic, but it might help if you do give it a little stretch as I did find my waistband didn't have much give. You want to put in enough folds that the piece extends just beyond the half way pin so there is a bit of an overlap.

Once you have done this with the first 4 pieces you then need to do the same with the second 4 pieces starting by overlapping where you left off and continuing to fold until the piece reaches the other end.

Finally you can get out your machine and using a zig zag stitch sew that bad boy down! take your time and make sure you catch all the layers.

Once you have done this overlap the two ends of the elastic and sew some tacking stitches to close the waist into a circle and that's it, time to twirl!

I did trim a couple of inches off the bottom of mine after I had stitched it as I preferred the shorter length, but you can choose whether you do this or not after trying it on.

 

It certainly is neon isn't it! I'm pretty sure I'm now at a point in my life where I am getting too old to wear outfits like this but regardless we had an amazing weekend away and had a great laugh (as well as some rather odd looks as we walked the streets in the day dressed in neon tutu's!). 

FYI, the matching bow I made using my Tulle Bow Tutorial

You have to excuse the lack of my face in these photos, I was a bit sleep deprived when I took them and my gaunt baggy eyes really didn't do these pictures any justice!

I hope this was a useful tutorial, or if not then a fun look into a crazy outfit! I do actually love this skirt, and I think its all to do with the colour. If only I had more occasions to dress like this!!

Have you ever made anything like this? Or bought one of those cheap ebay tutus? You should totally try making one, this one cost me £5, which was £1 less than ebay, and much nicer I think.

Now I want you to show me your crazy makes (or tutus) so I don't feel so silly!