Stripey Mindy

 Hello sewing friends!

Here I am with a Fibre Mood Mindy, this time made into a long shift dress. I LOVE this one! It's in stripey fabric from Merchant & Mills - a little see-through, as these photos have shown me, but nothing a slip won't cure. And I really feel good in this dress.

Having made the Mindy top a couple of times, and having modified the back to be higher (I don't love designs that have my back out - it feels weird, like sleeping without a cover on. Monster bait!) I felt okay just extending this from the bodice, flaring it enough to get over my hips.

It's a bit of a shapeless tent without the tie belt - a magical addition to so many dresses, in my opinion.

I also made another Fennel Fanny Pack. I love this pattern - but I think the original isn't really big enough for life's day-to-day essentials (now including sunglasses and earphones). I deepened it this time by 1", and lengthened it by 2". I didn't use either stiff fabric, or interfacing - which was an error. It's a lovely bag but I think should be much stiffer to hold its shape. Next time, which there will be - these make great gifts, too.

Until soon my sewing friends!

Feeling a good kind of blue

 Hello April sewers! 

I made this dress over the long Easter weekend - it's been on my mind for a while to make a long, swishy summer dress. I had to steel myself a bit as I've mainly being sewing separates over the past year, and much prefer it - I really don't enjoy wrangling big bits of fabric.

For a few years I've had this dress pinned on my Sewing Inspiration board and a hankering to recreate it. 

This blue fabric from Minerva was intended as a toile, but has turned out much nicer than I expected - and the whole process was such a faff, I'll take a breather before embarking on the orange dot cotton one I have in mind next! 

For this dress, I used the shirt block that I've been making so much over the past months. I cut into the bodice back and front to make seams to put the ruffle into - the ruffle is a long rectangle about 1.5 times the length of the overall seam, back and front. I cut the bodice to my natural waist, and gathered it to fit a self-drafted skirt - adding a ruffle 1.5 times the length of the skirt bottom. I've put in a side "invisible" zip to get in and out - I haven't yet bought an invisible zip foot for my Pfaff, so that didn't work too well... but it's fine! 

The glass bodice buttons are from The Swagman's Daughter once more. 

I like this dress a lot - maybe it won't be the most practical thing in the world, but it turned out just as I'd imagined, and I'm excited to realise the orange one at some point...

Until soon!

Cord 'n' ruffles!

Hello Spring sewers!

I've been sewing up a storm to get through these last weeks, and here are two fruits of my labours. The skirt is a modified By Hand London Charlotte Skirt - front extended to make a button placket, and three belt loops added round the back. The nice brown baby cord is from my stash, and I can't remember where before that... 

I've made the Charlotte Skirt A LOT, one way and another. Mostly as part of the button-through dress I've made four iterations of. I'm happy with the fit on me, apart from the normal (for me) pencil-skirt issues. I love the pencil skirt silhouette, but in order for it to fit by the evening, it needs to be too big in the morning... the belt and loops help with this adjustment during the day. I guess an elasticated waist at the back might be another solution... till then, this fix is the best I've managed.

Back vent for added walking potential. 

The shirt is yet another version of my ongoing play around with the original Simplicity 8523 (view B) - this one is the same the last in every way except for a gather ruffled collar this time. I think I measured the neckline and multiplied by 1.5 - ruffley goodness. The cream buttons are from The Swagman's Daughter - lots of lovely goodies on there, I highly recommend a peruse if you aren't familiar with the website!

Hard to photograph this lovely black Swiss dot - here's a better one - and the ruffle shows up more as well! There's a lot of SD cotton around at the moment, hurrah, but this one is from Minerva and I'm happy with its quality.

Until soon, sewing friends!