Stripy Anna/Elisalex/Darling Ranges mush again!

Hello! I'm just back from the Bologna Book Fair for work, and then a few jolly days in Lucca. There was a film festival on, some of which was zombie-themed (my worst!) but excellently fun. 

This is a dress I made for a wedding just before I went. It's the same pattern mash-up as the last one, so I've nothing more to add about it really. I can see from the pics that I think I made the skirt a little short, so I'll lengthen it for any further versions!

The cotton was on sale from Miss Matatabi, and I love it - I bought some in the same cream with red stripes, which I'm hoping will make an excellent skirt. 

 I've started making dress drawings, so that I don't forget plans, and also they're helping me work out pattern placement a bit. It's nice to look back and see how close things stayed to the idea. Here's the last blue dress, which I wasn't so keen on.

And here were some plans for the wedding guest dress. I decided against the red buttons and Fimo belt, but apart from that it's the same!

And here's the dress with an escort. Isn't he a sharp fella?

Anna/Elisalex/Darling Ranges mush

Hello sewers! Do any other Nancy Mitford fans out there hear Uncle Matthew saying "damned sewers" whenever they read that? 

Here I am again with yet another blue chambray dress... this bodice started out as an Anna hack - here are my first and second versions. The neckline wasn't working that well with the facings I'd drafted: the points were un-crisp and more curved that pointed. Then somewhere in blogland I read about making a placket using Megan Nielsen's neckline drafting from the Darling Ranges dress (which was one of my earliest sewing projects). 

So I tacked that onto the centre front of my Anna hack, and I'm much happier with the neckline now - it's an excellent way to bind a neckline, and I generally prefer bias binding to facing anyway, as my facing tends to get a bit bunched up, try as I might. The skirt is the Elisalex, with a bit of dart moving to match the bodice, and 2 1/4" added to the front to make the button placket. And I shortened the skirt quite a bit.

The fabric is from Classic Textiles on Goldhawk Road, and the buttons from Shepherds Bush Market. I had to add a hook and eye on the torso as it was all kinds of gaping; perhaps I could widen the pattern a little there for the next time - which there will be.

I did have pause about using the Elisalex skirt, as although I love the shape, I wondered if the more casual look of a button-through might look weird with the dressier tulip shape. 

And perhaps it does! But I like it! Is it fancy?? Is it casual??? WHO KNOWS???!?

Simplicity 1880 AGAIN

Hello! I hope you are having good Easter weekends. I've spent the past two days sewing, and I'm actually feeling like I might have ODed a bit - I was having weird dreams last night about plackets (really) and feeling a bit antsy and rushed, so I'm going to give it a rest for a bit! 

This frenzy is a result of having three weddings and an 80th birthday party coming up soon, and wanting fun homemade things to wear to all - I may have to accept this will not be possible, and I may have to resort to *gasp* old ready-to-wear...

Anyway, enter another Simplicity 1880. And I promise I won't keep saying this - but I really don't like the finished dress! Sad really, as it turned out how I imagined, complete with with a Premo (a polymer clay like Fimo but I think less brittle) belt buckle and matching brooch, love-themed for the first wedding!

I've not much more to say about this pattern after my last two. The fabric was a striped chambray from Miss Matatabi, and lack of fabric meant improvising with some piecing on the front and back skirt, making the v-shapes which I was happy with. I'm not sure where the dress goes wrong for me - I think perhaps I hemmed it too short, and something about the pinstripe looks a bit formal. All in all, a bit blah... 

This is before hemming... rats! Now I see the pics near each other, seems obvious that the longer length was better... CURSES! Live and learn... or, as I prefer to do, live and NOT learn!

But on a positive note --->

I was really happy with my belt buckle and brooch vision! I can see myself wearing the brooch a lot, and I made some more shapes to paint up in the future. I'm going through a brooch stage at the moment!

This is the white Premo after it's been in the oven for an hour. Then a few layers of acrylic paint and a couple of coats of clear nail varnish (haven't yet found a satisfactory gloss water-based varnish yet... any steers would be most welcome!) and it looks super, I think!

Hearts and smooches. Happy Easter all!

Sending out an SOS

Hello! On this sad (for us), good (for Bruce) day when tickets for The Boss's Wembley show sold out before we could get any, here is a cheeeery jumpsuit! 

I was a bit under the weather on Monday, which gave me a chance to realise MY VISION. Which was of this super alphabet fabric from new-to-me shop Fabworks, combined with the Sallie/Hudson jumpsuit. MY VISION turned out to need testing and new glasses... 

Oh woe. Definitely more Alpha-Barney than Alpha-Betty.

More of a chumpsuit than a jumpsuit ho HO! I didn't make much change to the pattern after my last version of this, apart from to extend the trouser rise by 1" to circumvent the wedgie problem I had with the last one. And it STILL wasn't enough. I guess I have a relatively long torso - like a chimp. This is a better fit, but for the next version (I fancy one in something from Fabworks's animal print selection!) I'll raise it a bit more.

Let's see a fabric close-up - the fabric is really nice!

Can you read the top row please? Oh my poor "i"s...

I tried to get a photo of my bum in this jumpsuit which didn't make it look like a distended sack of scrabble tiles, but, like getting a Bruce at Wembley ticket without first getting it on with a roadie,

let's

NOT

ASK 

THE 

IMPOSSIBLE

I'll take a P please.

Anyway, although this may not be the world's most successful garment (unflattering, a bit see-through, just generally a bit weird), it sure is Born for Fun, Dancing in the Park, and Glory Days! So wrap your legs round these velvet rims, and strap your hands 'cross my engines! 

Gingham and dungs

Hello fellow sewers! 

I'm here to show a second dress made from the same pattern as the last one. The top is a hack of the Anna bodice, with a gathered rectangle skirt again, this time in nice gingham from The Cloth House. 

I didn't really make much in the way of changes after the last version, bar taking a 1/2 cm wedge from the shoulder seams on both front and back bodice. Also I remembered to stay stitch the neckline this time - I think the combination of these two moves eliminated the small bit of neckline bagging that the last dress suffers from.

I also added a long tie made with the remnants from 1.5m of fabric - wrapped twice round I think it adds a nice touch. I tried out buttons but they didn't seem to work for this dress, so the tie was a way to add some interest. 

Next up are these dungarees from the excellent Marilla Walker's Roberts Collection. I cut a size 3 on the top tapering to a 4 for the bottom half. I think this was an error, and next time (I'd like to make the jumpsuit for summer) I will cut a 3 throughout.

I used a nice medium weight cotton from Goldhawk Road, and these chaps are very comfortable, though they are also a little big. But I think they'll come into their own in summer, and I was excited about my first go using snaps - a pleasure to get hammering with those. 

The thin straps and high back are a particular feature of this pattern that I love!

I finally took the plunge and ordered some fabric from Miss Matatabi, so I'm looking forward to making something with it - there are some weddings coming up and I'd really like to sew some special things for them... the top dress pattern was made with that in mind, but I'm not sure it's dressy enough for a wedding... plans plans plans!

Anna hack - Reality Bites dress?

Happy New Year fellow sewists!

I hope you've been having good Januarys. I've come into 2016 so far with a sad lack of sewing enthusiasm... but I dusted off my machine last weekend determined to make something to get me feeling better about it again. I'm stalled halfway through a cotton jersey dress which is currently looking kind of depressing, so I went back to an old idea.

This dress is a hack of the By Hand London Anna bodice. I lowered the bust darts by 1" and added 1" to the centre fronts plus 5/8" SA to make a button placket. The buttons are just sewn on, and I put in a side zip - it's a bit of a squeeze on and off, but once on is very comfortable.

The skirt is just two rectangles slightly gathered to fit the bodice - I only had a metre and a half of this Goldhawk Road cotton find, and I think it's a liiiitle bit tight, hence the bunching up over my bum at the back... oh well, out of (my) sight, out of mind!

Bunchy bunchy bum.

Once I'd tried this dress on, it reminded me a bit of the old grunge look, albeit a bit more form-fitting than the dresses I used to snap up. I always found Reality Bites much more annoying than I wanted to (I had a lot of good will for that film, but they were all so irritating!), but I certainly coveted Winona's wardrobe. 

I'm happy with this dress, and have already bought some black and white gingham for the next version - I might lower the neck a little... anyway, it felt good to have made something again!

Check please! I'm feeling Rigel.

Hello! Well, almost all my Christmas-related gift sewing is now done, and I thought I'd squeeze in blogging these two projects! Here are the Rigel Bomber by Papercut Patterns, and another Closet Case Files Nettie Dress (leaping far into the lead as my most made pattern).

There's little to say about the dress - I sewed it up on my normal machine and then serged the hems, which gives a nice finish inside. The sleeve is extended to make a slight cap, for which I followed Beth's instructions. This fabric is a mystery knit from the excellent Misan Fabrics stall on Berwick Street. I picked up two metres for a bargain £10, and still have enough left over after this dress for another project - I'm toying with making a matching Morris Blazer!



The jacket is probably my most ambitious make so far, and took me the longest. It was quite a few firsts - first full lining and welt pockets, both of which I'm fairly happy with, although something went awry at the lining stage and there seemed to be an excess of it. I wonder if I did something weird at the pattern cutting stage in fact, as the main fabric seems too long at the back too, and bags right over the ribbing to the point that it's hidden... which seems unlikely to have been the intention.



I followed Katy and Laney's excellent instructions for lining the jacket exactly. As a result it's nice and warm as well as looking much sharper.



I'm happy with the way this project worked, but the result on me... not so much! I think it's the raglan sleeves. I'm quite a square shouldered person, and these sloping sleeves just make me look hunched and weird. So, it's a success, but I think will be gifted to someone who it will actually suit! I'm going to hunt out a bomber pattern with normal set in sleeves, and have another go.

I'll sign off here for 2015 with one of my favourite drawings from the inimitable Charles Addams!



Happy Christmas! See you in 2016!