Rainbow Denim Ness Mini

Hi guys, I'm here to share my latest sewing project with you, not because its anything spectacular, but because its something I spent a lot of time and energy on an I felt it deserved a bit of lime light. I have been doing a lot of thinking about sustainability lately, and about the fact that fashion is one of the biggest pollutants on the planet today. Sewing of course has its part to play here, so I have been trying more and more to think carefully about what I am sewing to make sure that its something that I will get use out of, and will last a long time.

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

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!

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.

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! 

Sewing for Your (My) Style

Tilly wrote a very informative post a while back which I came across recently called 'Sewing for your style'. This is something which I really want to keep at the forefront of my mind whilst trying to develop my sewing skills. It's all well and good being able to make stuff, but if I am never going to wear it what really is the point. For example, I know I am not a fan of floral prints. They look incredible on some people, but they are just not something I would pick to wear. But show me some leopard print and its straight in my wardrobe.

With that in mind I bought my first sewing pattern for the year from M is for Make which is Ava by Victory Patterns. I really like the idea of sewing dresses, because most of the clothing I buy tends to be jersey basics, they are so cheap there is not much point in making them a lot of the time. However I can never buy dresses that suit or fit my shape. The things that really draw me to this pattern, and that I feel fit my style, are the sheer neck, the sweetheart neckline and the fact it comes in at the waist.

This pattern is great as it comes in 3 different lengths, peplum, above the knee, and tea dress. I am going to have a go at the peplum version first just because it will require less fabric whilst I am practicing. I haven't yet decided on the final fabric choice as I am just making up a toile at the moment but I want to make sure it is something which I will wear.

With this philosophy in mind though I have been out and bought some fabrics which just caught my eye, and that I thought fitted my style. First is this stretch fabric in black with pink lips on it. I purchased it from ebay and expected it to be quiet a thin jersey type stretch with just lip print on, but when it turned up it actually has a bit of weight to it and the lips are a sort of raised brushed velvet or something of similar description. It would make a really good dress I think. Isn't it funny how you really need to feel a fabric to know what you are going to get.

Finally I picked up another few of meters of the brown leopard cotton from My Fabric Place in Beeston. I went in and just couldn't help myself from making sure I had some more of this stuff in my stash! I am not sure of its destiny either, I was thinking either a version of the prom dress, but who knows, now maybe the Ava peplum, or perhaps my next project. Only time will tell.

Do you have any patterns which you think particularly fit your style, or any staple fabric choices which you make over and over? Leopard is what I magpie over every time! are you the same but maybe with stripes, or floral prints?

My Version of Tilly's Picnic Blanket Skirt

I really enjoyed the Christmas edition of The Great British Sewing Bee, it was great to see it back on our televisions and I really can't wait for next years series. Along with that I have been really getting in to reading the sewing blogs I have on my list lately and its really inspired me to get sewing again. I thought it was a perfect chance to re-post a blog post from my previous blog on here. What makes it even better timing is that 1: this skirt probably fits perfect now, and 2: in my attempt to get inspired and back on it I am going to attempt to finish the top at the bottom of the post which has been sat half finished for 6 months! What really inspires me about sewing bee though is trying out something which is outside of your comfort zone, so I hope it continues to help me grow, my tailoring skills do need a lot of work. So here you go:

I know most internet seamstresses have come across Tilly's fabulous blog, and her 'Picnic Blanket Skirt' tutorial. Well, I wasn't going to give this one a miss was I!I originally thought I might make this up in the out to sea fabric, so went to the local fabric shop for some cheap cotton to make a mock up and check I liked the design. Well, those that know me well will know I cant walk away from the leopard print once I have seen it! So what if I made a mock up with fabric I adore, at least I will get some wear out of it (I think the shoes might be a bit much!).

This is the first time I have ever EVER sewn buttonholes and I am so proud of myself. I took the extra time to measure them, and did a couple of practice runs first. They came out so pretty and neat, and I love the little wooden buttons to match the brown.

After also reading Tilly's post about sewing with cottons I decided to add a lining. Now this is not at all in the instructions for the pattern but it was so easy. I just used an old bit of black synthetic fabric which I had lying around, I have no idea what it is but it worked a treat. It added a nice amount of weight to the cotton without it getting too heavy, and I hate wearing a skirt without tights so it stops the cotton from sticking to them. All in all I am very happy with the way it turned out. It was a great little pattern, and was so simple to follow but very informative at the same time. I think I might have been a little bloated when I took my waist measurements as it is slightly too large now on the waist. I will either sew some belt loops on to the waist band or save this for my winter wardrobe when I will be carrying a few extra pounds!

So what is on my sewing table next? I am trying out the 'tunic' pattern from the sewing bee book as the pattern is included. I am aiming to conquer my fear of jersey knit armed with a walking foot and a super easy pattern which doesn't include any binding on the neckline! Still sewing every stitch with my fingers crossed and my eyes closed.