Thumbs down for scuba stripes

This dress was never meant to be. I know exactly what I like garment-wise, and a dress made from striped scuba fabric with a pleated skirt has never been on my sewing wish list. Yet here it is. All because I saw a dress on Instagram, became a tiny bit obsessed with it and couldn't rest until I'd made one for myself. The making of it was relatively easy and straight forward. Whether or not I actually like the finished dress is another matter...

The original inspiration dress in question was this lovely Emery dress by Caz.

Hers was made from a striped ponte from Minerva that was no longer in stock. What was in stock (but not at the moment) was a similar looking striped scuba knit on sale at £7.99 a metre, so I bagged two metres to experiment with.

One of the things I liked about Caz's dress was the way the bodice and skirt stripes ran in different directions. The stripes on my scuba aren't as uniform as the stripes on Caz's ponte - there are several different sections of broad, medium and narrow stripes - so I knew there'd be a bit of head scratching to get them in the exact position I wanted. I ended up with the medium stripes across the main section of the bodice and narrower stripes at the top section. Much to my delight, I then jammily managed to continue the narrow striped section down the side of the sleeves (more or less). The skirt is a mixture of everything, but it can get away with it because of the vertical stripes.

Matching arm stripes (sort of!)

Pattern-wise I used the bodice from the Lady Skater dress as it's drafted for knits and fits me well, and the pleated skirt from the Mortmain dress. The only change I made was to shorten the bodice slightly - the original length ended up too far down from my natural waist and was causing a bit of rippling. It would probably have gone unnoticed in a solid coloured fabric, but the giant stripes really emphasised it. The whole dress was sewn on my overlocker, apart from the sleeve hems which I finished with a straight stretch stitch. The neckline is finished with a plain white neckband. The skirt hem has been left unfinished as I just preferred the look of it.

One giant gamble I took when making this dress was to cut it out without allowing for a zip. The Lady Skater pattern doesn't have a zip anyway as it's designed for knits and I simply removed the zip seam allowance from the skirt pieces  Because the scuba has a good amount of stretch to it, I can get the dress on without one, so the gamble paid off, yay!

There are lots and lots of positives about this dress, along with one big, giant negative - I don't think it's very 'me'. Maybe it's a stripe too far (can there be such a thing?!) and I don't really wear this shape of dress any more. Also, despite being easy to sew with and magically stretchy, I've come to the conclusion (a bit late in the day, admittedly) that I don't particularly like scuba as a fabric. The texture always feels a bit cheap and nylon-y to me and I couldn't wait to get the dress off after taking these photos!

I debated whether to even post this dress on my blog, but I think it's always good to see dressmaking fails as well as wins. I don't regret making it and it was a lovely, stress-free dress to sew. Sometimes it's good to sew something just to get it out of your system! x

   

Silver party skirt

Need something snazzy for the party season but don't have time to sew a dress? Here's the next best option: a faux leather party skirt! This skirt is ridiculously easy to make, cheap as chips and, depending on how much drink you manage to knock back, allows you instant access to your inner rock chic...

I bought my silver faux leather from Fabric Godmother (also available in black or gold) or Girl Charlee have a good range in stock, including red, navy and some lovely metallics. It's softer than I was expecting, with a decent drape and a reasonable amount of stretch. At £10 a metre it's good value too - after cutting out my skirt I still have quite a bit left over that I plan to make into purses and make-up bags for presents. 

Any pin holes, needle marks or unpicking will be clearly visible on faux leather, so my main piece of advice is to choose a pattern that fits well to avoid any unpicking mishaps. I chose the lace pencil skirt from the GBSB Fashion with Fabric book, which I've made before and is a good fit on me.  This time round I added a split to the back seam - a pencil skirt without a split is fine if you're posing for blog photos at home, not so good for getting in and out of a taxi! I also cut the skirt pieces two inches longer than my first version as I wasn't planning on hemming it.

Construction was seriously quick: two darts to the back, two side seams, invisible zip and back seam. Done! I rebelliously used pins (positioning them within the seam allowance to avoid puncture marks) and a leather needle. Faux leather doesn't fray, so my seams were pressed open and left unfinished. I used fabric glue on the back seam to secure it open and give the split a neat finish. I also used it on the top edge of the skirt, which is simply pressed under and glued into place. I secured the seam to the zip at the back opening with a few hand stitches for extra security.

I wore this skirt out for dinner with friends a few nights ago and felt fabulous in it. Being silver and faux leather, it's quite a statement in itself, so I made sure the rest of my outfit was a bit more toned down. A fitted black cardigan, high boots and a sparkly bracelet was all it took and I felt glammed up but not over dressed. Definitely £10 well spent! x

It's Cocktail Hour!

Today I'm sharing the dress I made as part of the Vogue Patterns Cocktail Hour Sewalong.

The sewalong was launched in March by McCall's to raise money for The Eve Appeal - a charity that funds research into gynaecological cancers. 26 sewing bloggers have been taking part in the blog tour since then, sewing up their choice of 20 specially selected Vogue evening wear patterns. Money raised from the sale of each pattern will go to the Eve Appeal, so anybody who buys one will be directly supporting the charity. You can check out what everybody else has been making by using the hashtag #sipandsew on Instagram and Twitter.

When it came to choosing my pattern, I was looking for a simple design that wouldn't require much brain power to sew. Vogue 1536 seemed to fit the bill perfectly - an elegant princess-seamed cocktail dress by American designers Tom and Linda Platt.

The pattern also comes with a strange Mel and Kim-style cropped bolero jacket, which you'll be pleased to hear I disregarded. I was only ever interested in the dress.

She's spoiling for a fight...

With such a simple design I knew that fabric choice would be key and spent a looong time making my mind up. I finally decided on an Italian wool crepe from Til the Sun goes Down for the main dress and a shantung satin from ClothSpot for the lining.

The navy colourway I used is no longer in stock unfortunately, but here's the link to another blue. The lining fabric is also sold out - sorry! The crepe by itself is quite lightweight but takes on a completely different feel with the lining added. The shantung satin adds structure and weight to the dress and it feels very luxurious to wear - exactly what you want from a cocktail dress. The wool crepe is expensive (£32 a metre) but reasonably wide, and with a bit of clever pattern placement I was able to get away with using just one metre for my dress. You'll be relieved to hear that I did actually make a muslin before cutting into such posh fabric!

I'd read in a few reviews that the dress ran large, so cut a size 12 which was one size smaller than my measurements. I used the petite shortening lines at the waist only (you can also shorten for petite sizes at the hips) as the finished length is already quite short. The only other adjustment I made was a 5/8" tuck across the back piece as the V back gaped slightly on the muslin.

There wasn't anything untoward about the pattern and the construction was relatively straight forward. The only thing that leapt out at me was the lack of instruction to stay stitch the V front and back necklines. Yes, it's an obvious step, but I really think it should have been included - these areas are both cut on the bias and the last thing you want is a stretched out neckline. I also ditched the instructions when it came to adding the lining as there was far too much hand sewing for my liking. I attached the entire lining by machine, apart from the area around the back split which I hand stitched. I also hand stitched the dress hem.

For such a simple dress I did have to spend an enormous amount of time with a steam iron and a clapper pressing the curved princess seams flat. Luckily for me, the wool crepe was a dream to manipulate and I'm really happy with how well the seams pressed. I think they're worth the extra effort.

I have to say, this is a gorgeous dress: simple, classy and a great fit. It isn't super fitted, but the subtle shaping of the princess seams really shows off your curves, which I like. It's very me and I'm glad I kept it simple when it came to choosing the pattern. Cheers!

Two seconds after this photo was taken I spilt the entire cocktail down my arm...

The pattern and a fabric allowance were kindly provided by McCall's. All views my own. 

Tie Belt Dress

Hellooo!  I'm back and what better place to start than with a new, red dress...

I first decided to make this dress after spying a stunning red tie-belt number in a department store. Lovely as it was, the price tag was over £200 and I convinced myself I could make my own version. Coincidentally Laura from Sew Different had recently contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing a pattern, and by great good fortune the Tie Belt Dress was very close to the shape and style I was after. Although I did struggle with some aspects of the pattern and instructions, the end result is just what I was hoping for.

Original inspiration dress

My version

The dress is a softly fitting A-line shape, with darts to the back, a waist tie belt for definition and a high/low hem. There are no finished measurements given, so I chose the size closest to my actual measurements - a UK size 12 - which fits me reasonably well. The instructions are quite basic, but that wasn't a problem for me as as the dress is a very simple shape. 

There were one or two parts that did have me scratching my head though. Firstly, the grain line arrows are shown going in two different directions. I checked this with Laura and apparently this is to indicate the weft and the warp, but I still found them confusing. Secondly the cutting layouts show the pattern pieces cut on an unfolded, single layer of fabric, even though all pieces are cut on the fold - bizarre!

Once I'd clarified what was what, I made a few style changes:

- Levelled off the hemline (I'm not a fan of dramatic high/low hems)
- Tapered in the side seams to reduce the A-line shape
- Shortened the dress by 2.5cms

I decided to sew the sleeves as drafted before making a decision on length. As it turned out, they were too long on my short arms with the trim attached. Rather than shorten them, I simply turned the trim to the inside to act as a facing and top stitched it down, easy!

Construction was very straight forward - the only thing I'd say is to keep an eye on the position of the black dots for attaching the tie belt. The dot positions are for guidance only and may need moving up or down to align with your waist (I needed to move mine up). The instructions also have you attach the tie belt quite early in the proceedings, but I'd recommend waiting until the whole dress is constructed before pinning them into place. That way you get a more accurate idea of your natural waistline.

For fabric I went against the recommendations (light denim, needlecord, heavy cotton etc) and chose a luxury crepe from Sew Over It with a nice drape. I think the original shape of the dress in a weightier fabric would have looked too sack-like on me. The drapier fabric worked well and was close to the fabric from the original inspiration dress. At £14 a metre it worked out much cheaper to make my own version too! 

I can always find room in my wardrobe for a red dress, and although this one is a little different to my usual style, it's growing on me. I just need to get used to the dropped shoulders and oversized silhouette. It's a really easy dress to wear and I can see myself wearing it with tights and boots once the weather turns fully autumnal. Have a good day! x

A copy of the Tie Belt Dress pattern was given to me free of charge for review. All opinions my own.

Simplicity sundress mark two

Way back in 2013 I made myself a strappy sundress using Simplicity 2176. During its short life it was a great success, it was made with lovely fabric and had a cool vintage vibe. Sadly it came a cropper in the washing machine when the blue dye from the main dress seeped into the white bodice band, leaving it an unsightly shade of dishwater grey. I know, I know, I probably could have saved it by unpicking the bodice band and adding a new one, but as we all know I'm totally lazy and that was never going to happen. The dress was donated to charity and I was left one sundress short in my summer wardrobe. This year, I finally got round to sewing a replacement.

I did a bit of tinkering with the bodice for this second version. The fit on the bust on my original dress was always quite tight, which made the waistline ride up as a consequence. This time I added a one inch full bust adjustment (FBA) and lengthened the bodice by 5/8". I also added a little extra to the side seams as I find very tight waists unbearable in hot weather. Overall I think the fit on the bodice is much better - it's not actually that noticeable but I feel the benefit!

Original on left, new version on right

The skirt is from New Look 6557, the same one I used for my Fireworks dress. I love this shape of skirt (a quarter circle) in the hot weather as it's cool and airy without being too big. The only other change I made was to substitute the lapped zip for an invisible one and attach the inside bodice band to the zip by machine for a neat finish. 

The duck egg blue fabric is a lovely lightweight floral lawn that I leapt on when Freya was de-stashing at a recent meet up. There was 2m to play with, which was just enough for this dress, thanks Freya! The colour is slightly brighter in real life, more like the photo below.

Spot the felt tip marks that still need to be washed out!

Because the fabric is very light I underlined the bodice sections and cut a separate skirt lining with white silk cotton. I probably should have added a full lining to the bodice instead of underlining it as this would have concealed the notched princess seams. I also added strips of interfacing either side of the invisible zip for extra support and stay tape across the top of the bodice to prevent it stretching.

Without really intending to I seem to have put quite a lot of effort into making this dress! The irony is that there hasn't been a truly hot day in London since I finished it, so it hasn't actually been worn yet. It does look good with a cardigan though! x

New Look Fireworks Dress

I've had a picture of this dress in my head for ages, ever since seeing Rosa's beautiful floral dress last summer. I really liked the wrap front bodice and the way the dress looked so casually chic. The wrap bodice was from New Look 6123 which is now out of print, but I was lucky enough to track a copy down on eBay. I also had the perfect fabric in mind - a firework print Liberty Tana lawn.

The pattern has two different skirt options, both of which were a bit too formal for the kind of easy, summer dress I had in mind, so I substituted the skirt from another New Look pattern (6557) instead. The skirt is a half circle which I slimmed down by reducing the curve by 8cms and chopping 14cms off the midi length. The result is more of a quarter circle, not too full but still with a decent amount of swish. New Look patterns are generally a pretty good match for my body shape, but I still needed to make a few changes to get the fit I wanted.

My dress is View A with a quarter circle skirt

This particular pattern is cut quite generously at the bust (possibly because of the wrap style) but has very little ease at the waist. I ended up cutting a 12 at the bust and shoulders, grading to a 14 at the waist and lengthened the bodice by 1.5cm. I also took a 2cm triangular shaped wedge from the centre back pieces as the back neckline noticeably gaped on my muslin. Next time I'll raise the height of the front neckline as it's currently a bit plunging!

Construction wise, this was a reasonably straight forward pattern to sew up, though not necessarily a quick one. The bodice has really pretty pleats and gathers on one side, which took me a couple of goes and quite a bit of unpicking to get exactly how I wanted. The skirt waistline also ended up a little larger than the bodice waistline so I added two tiny tucks, which are barely noticeable amidst all the fireworks. The cap sleeves are self faced, the same as the sleeves on my Etta dress, in this case they're finished with an overlocker rather than bias binding. Not as neat looking on the inside, but sooo much quicker!

I contacted Rosa before starting work on the dress as I was worried about the bias cut front edges stretching out of shape. Her advice was to staystitch as per the instructions and use a strong interfacing. I used Washable Supersoft from English Couture - a medium weight interfacing with a soft finish - and it didn't do too bad a job. It doesn't sit as flat as I'd like, so I think it must still have stretched a tiny bit during construction. I also reinforced the centre back edges with strips of interfacing to prevent the fabric puckering when I inserted the invisible zip. With hindsight, I wish I'd lined the skirt section as it's a bit transparent by itself, easily sorted by wearing a slip though.

The Liberty lawn I used is very lightweight and floaty, but I still think it's a good match for this pattern. The colours in the print are a really lovely combination and I like the fact that it doesn't look like a typical Liberty design. The fireworks look like some kind of exotic flowers, reminiscent of 1930s and possibly 1970s prints. This will be such a nice dress for summer - casual enough to wear at home with flip flops and easily glammed up when required. I'm so pleased with it.

As I mentioned earlier, New Look 6123 is now out of print, but if you like the look of a wrap front dress, I've managed to find a few other patterns for wovens that look promising. These are: Sew Over It Eve dress, Vogue 9251, Vogue 8784, McCall's 6959 and Butterick 5898. Or if you have any other pattern recommendations, please share them in the comments. x

Tilly and the Buttons Etta Dress

This is the new Etta Dress pattern from Tilly and the Buttons: a drop dead gorgeous wiggle dress, super fitted and super slinky. I was one of the pattern testers, which doesn't automatically guarantee I'm going to like a pattern, but in this case it was exactly my style and I totally fell for it!  Etta is shaped with darts to the waist, bust and shoulders, with a choice of sleeves (capped or three-quarter length) and back necklines (high or V-backed). There's also an optional collar or faux pockets. In an ideal world I'd have chosen the collared version but didn't have enough fabric, so mine is a simple V-backed style with cap sleeves.

As soon as I saw the brief I knew exactly which fabric I was going to use: a barkcloth-style cotton from Fabrics Galore that I snapped up at the Knitting & Stitching Show last year. Fiona from Diary of a Chain Stitcher also bought some and made her stunning Big Vintage Sewalong dress from it. The fabric has an unusual springy texture and a slight stretch, making it perfect for this very fitted pattern. Stitches do completely disappear into the fabric though, which is great if you want to hide a line of stitching, but not so good if you want to show off design details. The darts don't really show up on any of my photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they're there! If you look closely you can just about make out the back shoulder darts in the picture below. 

The cap sleeves are self lined and finished with bias binding. I must admit this was a bit of a fiddly technique, but worth it I think for the lovely neat finish on the inside. 

Luckily, my fabric wasn't a directional print so I was able to squeeze the bodice, skirt and sleeve pieces out of 1.5 metres. The facings and bias binding were made from dotted chambray left over from this top. 

There have been a few changes made to the pattern since the testing process so I won't go into great detail about the construction. However, to give you a rough idea of size, my dress is a size 4 at the bust and a size 3 at the waist and hips, with the skirt length shortened by two inches. The skirt is designed to hit the bottom of the knee.

This is the perfect pattern to use for a special occasion dress. It's very flattering and you'll look effortlessly elegant and chic sipping a martini. If you have a wedding to attend this summer, or just need a new cocktail dress, you're sorted! x

The Etta pattern was given to me free of charge for pattern testing. All views my own. 

Maxi dress to Agnes top refashion

Refashion. Now there's a word you don't see very often on this blog. Sadly, I'm not one of those people who can take a voluminous grandma dress and instantly transform it into a trench coat... or a jumpsuit...or a pair of shoes... When the Great British Sewing Bee was on TV, I'd still be pondering what to make for the refashion challenge days later, whilst the poor contestants generally had about ninety minutes. Let's just say I'm not a natural.

Very occasionally though, a garment will fall into my hands that's crying out to be turned into something else. This happened recently when I was sorting out my wardrobe and came across this maxi dress. All I could think about was how much better it would look as a T shirt!

It's a perfectly nice dress, but I haven't worn a maxi since I was a child in the seventies (most people seemed to be in possession of one for parties), they're just not a style I feel comfortable wearing. My friend gave it to me a couple of years ago (I think she'd bought two by mistake on eBay) and despite good intentions, it's never been worn. The fabric is a stretchy chevron jersey with a nice drape and because it's full length, there's plenty of it, so I decided to see if I could turn it into a simple fitted T shirt that would get worn. The pattern I used was the Agnes top by Tilly and the Buttons.

First off I removed the weirdly short empire line bodice, which gave me enough uninterrupted fabric from the long skirt section to play with. There was just enough to cut out a front, back, short sleeves and neckband. I kept the original hem and made sure the downward point of the chevron was directly on the fold when I was cutting it out, so it was centred. I also spent a bit of time trying to incorporate the ruched neckline, but the effect was completely lost amongst the chevrons, so I removed it.

I wanted this version to be a tighter fit than my first version, so cut a size 4 all over, grading out to a size 5 at the bust. I think the fit is just right and I now have a go-to T shirt pattern that I can use again and again, yay!

I'm delighted with the finished top, it's exactly how I envisaged it, and so wearable too! It works really well with jeans and I can also see myself pairing it with skirts (see above!) and shorts in the summer. I could have taken the dress to the charity shop and somebody would probably have snapped it up, but I'm glad I didn't. I'd have missed out on making this cute little top if I had!  x

The perfect denim skirt (probably)

Who doesn't love a denim skirt? I've made plenty over the years (here, here, here and here) and I'm still not bored of them. When I was at the Knitting & Stitching Show recently I fell for some lovely bright blue seventies style denim from Guthrie & Ghani and immediately knew I wanted to make another one with it. The question was, what style of denim skirt to make?

My current favourite pairing: plain jumper, big necklace and clogs

If you type 'denim skirt' into Pinterest, 99% of the resulting pins are either A-line button up styles, denim minis or a combination of the two. I already own a RTW denim mini which I hardly ever wear, and it seemed a bit pointless to make another one just for the sake of it. I wanted to use my denim to make a skirt that would be worn a lot, so I scrutinised my handmade wardrobe for inspiration. The two skirts that I wear the most are my barkcloth skirt made from a vintage pattern and my chambray Simplicity 2451. Both of them have just the right amount of ease to be comfortable, but are still a great shape. Having made the one seam skirt twice already, I decided to give the Simplicity pattern another go.

Casual with a striped T-shirt

Simplicity 2451 is quite an old pattern and tragically now appears to be out of print (oh no!) - I must get into the habit of sewing patterns when they're current rather than years later. If you can get your hands on a copy though I'd highly recommend it - it's relatively simple and very satisfying to sew. As per last time, I cut a size 12 of view C, with no changes and the fit is just right. The denim has a slight stretch, which always helps. Because I was using a thicker fabric this time, I used a precious fat quarter of vintage feedsack for the inside waist facing and the pocket linings.

I love the contrast and the fact that the blue in the feedsack design is almost an exact colour match for the denim. 

Paired with a pretty vintage blouse 

I'm so glad I went with a pattern that suits my style. Yes, it's not the most hip pattern on the block but as you can see from the photos it works for me and my wardrobe! In fact, I can't think of any of my tops that this skirt wouldn't work with - I have tons of styling ideas. I may have to try that out as an experiment: one skirt, styled seven different ways!  x

Finished: Red Coat (McCall's 7058)

Get the flags out, I've finally finished my red coat! I first blogged about making a red coat back in November, having been gathering supplies to make one for a few weeks before that. As is often the case, it wasn't the main sewing of the coat that took so long, it was the final fiddly jobs (plus a break for Christmas.) It's been a frosty week in the UK so the timing couldn't be better for a warm, winter coat!

I didn't want to spam you with tons of photos and text, so for those of you who are interested there's a more in-depth post to follow, with links to all the tutorials and resources I used. I've also kept a record of how much the various materials cost me for this project, which I'll be including too. In the meantime, here's my coat in all its finished glory!

The pattern I used is McCall's 7058: a classic, princess seamed design with several different length and style options. I sewed a combination of versions B and C. Size-wise I cut a straight size 14, but shortened all the main body pieces (including sleeves) on the Petite lines throughout. This equated to two inches in total removed from each piece: one inch at bodice height and one inch at skirt height. Adjusting the pattern to the petite size also meant the pockets were in the correct position for my T-Rex arms!

Note: The fabric appears much redder than it actually is in these indoor photos because of the dreadful winter light.

I didn't make any further adjustments and the fit was more or less spot on. It's a tiny bit snug when fully buttoned up, as I didn't really allow for extra winter layers (duh), but I'm still really pleased with the fit. It has a lovely, nipped in silhouette.

The pattern instructions were clear and easy to follow and the main body of the coat came together very quickly. I only deviated from them at a couple of points: I chose not to include the back vents and I fully bagged the lining by machine rather than hand stitching the sleeve and coat hems. I'll include details of the lining tutorials I used in my next post. The lining pieces are separate and properly drafted with pleats to the centre back and hem. This makes a big difference when it comes to getting it on and off!

The main coat fabric is an Italian wool twill from Fabric Godmother (now sold out unfortunately). It was quite expensive (£26 per metre), but as it was reasonably wide and my pattern pieces were all shortened, I was able to cut out the whole coat from just two metres, yay! The quality of the wool is absolutely beautiful and I don't regret shelling out at all - it was worth every penny. I lined the coat in a contrast dusky blue lining fabric from Ditto Fabrics, (also sold out I'm afraid). All the main coat pieces apart from the under collar and sleeves were underlined with flannel for extra warmth.

I've only worn my coat a couple of times but I can already see it becoming a staple in my winter wardrobe. Despite the frumpy looking pattern, it feels really stylish to wear, it fits well and it's lovely and warm. It's also very me - I feel like I've owned it for years! I'm so pleased I went the extra mile when I was making it, I love it! x