Heather: April Makes

A pinch and a punch...! It's the first of the month so time for my April sewing roundup. 

The month started with a bit of 'selfless sewing' for my lovely sister-in-law, Jenny, who visited on the first weekend of the month. I've made a few items for her before and had promised to make something new for her to take on her holidays later in the year. We had a good look through the stash and found a piece of blue floral jersey that I had purchased at last year's NEC sewing show and then promptly forgotten about! She picked the Simple Sew Lena Wrap Dress and we left the boys to cook dinner whilst we set about making her dress. I've made a wrap dress for Jen before but it was a bit revealing over the bust so,  following various advice from other sewers online, I decided to do a full bust adjustment which I've never done before. This actually turned out to be a complete waste of time because this pattern is massive! I was working to the finished garment measurements but still ended up taking nearly 4 inches out of the bust and waist. Thanks to the trusty overlocker this was finished in less than 4 hours, and I think she liked it, as she told me she wore it twice the following week!

My next make is one that I am going to unashamedly describe as my 'masterpiece'. I am so, so thrilled with it. 

This stunning 'Art Nouveau' print viscose was just £4.99/m at the NEC Sewing Show. "£4.99 per metre for this beauty? I would have bought the roll" I hear you cry. I hear you, because I was yelling it to myself when I realised I had only purchased 1.5m, and that the absolutely-perfect-for-the-job Threaders pattern I had got free with a magazine needed 2.5m. 

Never one to be defeated by a piece of fabric, I set about making a wearable toile, made a few adjustments to the bodice length and shortened the sleeves by about 6 inches. I also drafted a front facing piece as I didn't want to line the dress. Once I was happy with the fit I used the muslin pieces as templates to make sure the pattern placement was perfect. I knew I wouldn't be able to match it up perfectly, but good pattern placement is just as important.  It took me a whole evening to cut everything out perfectly but it was totally worth it. I removed the seam down the centre back but still had to cut the skirt as two pieces because there simply wasn't enough fabric.I wore the finished dress to my Mum and Dad's Birthday Party at the beginning of the month and got some fab pics in their garden. 

My third make of the month was a new blouse from the pattern I self drafted last year. The fabric is a floral cotton with an almost cheesecloth texture from Fabric Corner. As the fabric is summery I decided to shorten the sleeves a little and add a peter pan collar using this fab tutorial from House of Pinheiro. It looks fab with my Cleo Dungaree Dress, which is starting to grow on me!

It was my Birthday in March and this piece of floral viscose from Fabric Corner was a very gratefully received gift, as I had been eyeing it up for quite a while! I also received a copy of the Simple Sew Lucille dress and seeing as I have a few events coming up in May I decided to have a go at something that would be suitable for a smart lunch. I had to make quite a few adjustments to the pattern to get a good fit. I shortened the bodice length at the centre back to prevent the zip from curling under; I shortened the bust pieces at the point of crossover so that I don't have any scary "eyeful' moments; I moved the front skirt pleats because they were marked in a very odd place on the pattern, and despite following the finished garment measurements on the packet I ended up letting out the side seams on the skirt as much as possible because I couldn't actually sit down (or eat any pork pies which, frankly, is more important to me.) 

Annoyingly, once I had then totally finished everything, tried it on 5 times during the making process and then hung it in the wardrobe for a week, I tried it on again and discovered that I need to pull the shoulders up by an inch to stop it gaping at the back. I'm not sure whether I missed this or whether the fabric has stretched being on the hanger, but hopefully this will get altered before the event. 

My final make for the month was actually a remake. I made this yellow tunic dress last year from the Simple Sew Colour Block Dress pattern, and whilst I'd worn it a few times last summer, I was never totally thrilled with the fit and finish. When the yellow jersey appeared at Fabric Corner once again, I decided to make some changes. 

I had a flash of inspiration that I could turn it into my new favourite, the Moneta Dress, so I decided to unpick the sleeves and side seams and cut out the bodice and sleeves from the tunic. I used the excess fabric from the tunic to make the pockets and cut a new skirt from the extra fabric I had purchased. 

A much more 'me' dress!

So finally I just want to introduce this month's #dressmakingbloggerchallenge

May for me means Maypoles and spring dresses, so this month's theme is Stripes! 

Happy Sewing everyone, see you next month!

Heather: March Makes

Once again I've surprised myself with just how much sewing I managed to squeeze in this month! We even managed a little holiday, and a trip to the NEC Sewing for Pleasure show, so the stash has had a pretty healthy top up, and I'll share my fabric haul with you later on.

 

If you can cast your mind back as far as the first of March (it feels like a really long month!) you'll remember we had a bit of a cold snap, which meant that this fantastic fleece backed sweatshirting, from Fabric Corner at Lincoln's Craftea Sewing Bee shop, quickly became my third Sew Over It Heather Dress. This is pretty much the cosiest thing I've ever owned, and whilst I had a wide-eyed moment at the £16.50/m price tag, I'd say this little jumper has been worth every penny. 

My next make for the month was a little treat for my Birthday. Mr A had promised a surprise of some sort for which I would need to "dress up", so I set about making good use of some aztec print sparkle jersey which I purchased with my gift-voucher winnings from Adam Ross Fabrics back in December. I had seen the cold shoulder look on the high street and though I'm not normally a slave to fashion, I quite fancied recreating the look in my own style. Rather than cutting away at the shoulder and making a very one season dress, I decided to use a pattern with a raglan sleeve seam, which I could then split open to create the look (and close up again when it goes out of fashion in six months time). McCalls 6460 totally does the job for this, but I wanted a bit more detail across the front to stop it looking like an oversized sparkly t-shirt. I have made Butterick 6166 several times and really like the swag detail across the front, so I pinched this pattern piece and added it to my design! 

I really love this dress, although I was a bit over cautious with the sizing after the last time I made it (poor tiny dress relegated to the remake pile) and I could afford to lose at least 2 sizes across the back on this version. But it was really fun to wear on a rare night out and totally appropriate for the Birthday surprise... a performance from Cirque du Soleil!

After a fab Birthday weekend we took a little City Break over to Copenhagen and I came across The Last Stitch's blog about her favourite stores in the city. Lo and behold, one of the shops was only a few minutes walk from where we were staying and we happened to walk past it (total coincidence...) on our way to a few touristy sites. Skipper and Stoffer is one of the oldest fabric shops in Copenhagen, having operated from the premises for more than 300 years. The shop keeper was delighted to show us his treasure trove of ex-designer fabrics, mostly Italian imports labelled with such brands as "Bottega Veneta" and "Paul Smith". The prices were (significantly) higher than I would normally pay, but I totally fell in love with a piece of surface printed slub silk that somehow followed me out of the shop...

It's destined for something really stunning, but I'm not sure what yet!

On returning from my travels it was straight back to NEC Birmingham for the annual Sewing for Pleasure show. This is one of my favourite shows because a lot of the craft and hobby activity (cross stitch etc) is separated out into the Hobbycraft section, unlike at the Knitting & Stitching shows, so there's more room for gorgeous fabric. It's also great to see some of the designer work on display, although admittedly we didn't stop for long as we were on a bit of a fabric shopping mission. The stash got a good top up from favourite stalls The Shuttle, Montreux Fabrics, Rosenberg and Lilli fabrics.

 

I managed to squeeze in one last wintery make before the Spring really sprung in this gorgeous tweed from Fabric Corner. This is a Colette Patterns Selene Skirt. It has fabulous green satin lining!

I spent a bit of time this month destashing a few fabrics. There were a fair few pieces in my stash that I just didn't know what to do with, or that i had bought for an occasion that has passed and have no idea when I'll next get the opportunity to use it. I'll be honest, there were a couple of bits that made me wonder why I had bought them in the first place! In the enthusiasm of destashing I also picked out a couple of pieces from my handmade wardrobe that I haven't worn for a while, or had fit issues, and did some remaking. You can read my blog about transforming my blue dress here. 

My final make for the month was so much fun. A very dear friend gave me a gift voucher for my Birthday, which I put to good use on a trio of fabrics from, you guessed it, Fabric Corner!

I spent a sunny Saturday afternoon making up this fabulous pineapple-print dress from New Look 6070, a Project Runway pattern (thank you Netflix for the recent upload!) which is also my Spring make for the Dressmaking Blogger Challenge. 

The April challenge over on the Dressmaking Blogging Network is "April Showers".

It's definitely the weather for a spring jacket here in the UK, so we want to see your coats, jackets, waterproofs or anything that helps to bust the spring weather! 

As usual it's a just for fun challenge. Share your pics using #dressmakingbloggerchallenge

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Until next time, happy sewing!

Heather: January Sewing Roundup

January has been a busy month busting the winter blues at the sewing machine! The recent cold snap has motivated me to fill some gaps in my wardrobe, and I've also been trying to be a bit more adventurous with the patterns I choose, rather than just sticking with the same classic styles. 

 

Here are some of my favourite makes this month:

Winter Woollies

Made from some gorgeous sparkly crochet knit gifted by Mum at Christmas, I made this up into a matching hat, scarf and jumper, and even made a nude coloured jersey cami to go underneath. The pattern is a Burda jumper which is almost identical to the popular Linden sweatshirt that everyone seemed to be making over Christmas! 

 

 

Cosy Nightshirt

Over on the Dressmaking Blogger Network we've set a little "just for fun" challenge for January which was to make something cosy. 

 

I decided to make a cosy night shirt and you can read the full blog post here.

 

Cleo

The first of my "not my normal style" makes this month was my Tilly and the Buttons Cleo pinafore, which came about as a result of trying to find something to make with a piece of old corduroy. 

 

The keen eyed amongst you will see that this is not a corduroy dress, and you can read the full Cleo story here.

Nancy Dress

Nancy is the latest offering from Sew Over It and one that I really wouldn't have picked any other day of the week. Perhaps it was just the novelty of making something so totally different that appealed to me! 

 

Read all about Nancy here.

Sewing Scuba

My final make to share with you this month is a fab floral spring dress made from stretchy scuba from SewEssential. This was a bit of a tricky make and you can read all about how I tackled the challenge here.

 

Next month's challenge

Now is as good a time as any to let you know about the February Dressmaking Blogger Challenge which is...

"Sewn with Love"

 

We want to see your gifts for others, or something for yourself that's a real treat. 

Share your makes online using #dressmakingbloggerchallenge 

Happy Sewing everyone! See you next month. If you're getting withdrawal symptoms you can find me online at 

Dresstoration Blog

Instagram

Dressmaking Blogger Network

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Links

Fabric Corner and Craftea Sewing Bee Shop

Tilly and the Buttons Cleo Dress

Sew Over It Nancy Dress

Sew Essential

Heather: Bank Holiday Botanical Button Back Blouse

We've been enjoying a spot of sunshine here in Lincoln (between the thunderstorms) so when I picked up a metre of this beautiful botanical print linen/viscose mix fabric from the Craftea Sewing Bee Shop last week I decided to top up my summer wardrobe, with the added challenge to make myself to make something other than a dress, for a change!

Seeing as I don't often make anything other than dresses, I was lacking a suitable pattern in my stash so I dug out the pattern from my custom fit blouse, made back in February, and decided to adapt it for a summer version. I removed the sleeves and narrowed the shoulders by an inch, widened the neckline and split the back panel down the centre, adding a button channel to make things interesting!

The print on this fabric is huge- the detail you can see above is a good handspan wide- and it also runs in two different directions. This would be ideal for a shift dress where the whole pattern can be shown off, but in the interests of sticking to my plans I set about making the most of the detail for my blouse.  

Pattern match through the button channel on the back.

I started by cutting two panels for the back, paying extra attention to the pattern match over the button channel. I carefully placed the front pieces to have a centre front detail and cut two side panels to complement the design.

Aren't these the prettiest facings?

As my previous pattern had sleeves and a collar, I didn't have any existing facings for my new blouse, so I drafted some from the fabric scraps. The inside of this blouse is as pretty as the outside!

Here's a pic of the back of the blouse. Despite measuring thrice, I somehow miscalculated on the button channel at the back and, in order to ensure the pattern still matched, I had to use a very narrow button channel through the back. After wearing the blouse for a day the linen had started to lose its firmness, so I had a bit of a rethink later on, stitching up the centre back, adding "fake" button detail down the new seam and inserting a side zip instead. No one will ever know...

Me with Mum's prize Dahlias.

Despite a few tweaks required after the first wear, I'm absolutely thrilled with the result of this top, and I should be able to wear it with jeans on those stormy days too. I'll definitely be making a few more tops in future.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend! 

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The fabric used in this post was kindly provided by Fabric Corner Lincoln, based at The Craftea Sewing Bee Shop, 22-24 Melville Street Lincoln, and at Lincoln's Historic Central Market.