Bridie: The Delphine Skirt

This is a project I finished quiet a while ago and have only just gotten round to blogging about it. I think I need to start sewing project and blogging filing system! What I really need is Laura to come round and organise me like when we were back at uni. Unfortunately I don't think that's going to happen! 

One of the early Sew It Yourself Meet Ups mini challenges was to make an A line skirt, I thought this would be easy enough for those new to sewing and the more advanced sewers could go crazy with any little extra they liked. 

I decided to use to use Tilly Walnes book Love At First Stitch. I had gotten a copy for my birthday and was looking for any excuse to use it! The front cover just screamed "PERFECT" (in my head I'm singing this) for this mini challenge! 

    

I found the most beautiful Houndstooth fabric in a lovely mustard yellow almost gold with a slight sheen. It was from Fabric Corner, I believe it was a vintage piece so a limit supply and may have sold out but might be worth getting in touch with them if you're interested in it or something similar. They are really lovely and will go out of their way to help you, I'm so lucky they're on my door step. They are also moving to a much bigger shop very soon which means more fabric (she dances with excitement!). I think my bank balance maybe in trouble! That and my waistline as there will be a cafe along side to! Fabric and cake is a dangerous combo! 

Love At First Stitch is a lovely is a lovely book to work it has clear step by step instructions with amazing pictures alongside . I also really liked the add on techniques, which is great for beginners who want to start out simple and the more advanced can add all the extra finishing touches they like! My only slight issue was that next time I might make a size smaller as the measurements add quiet a lot of ease for me this is however great when you're tummy is a little rounder then usual (we all have those days) and it hides it so well!

I decided to add belt loops and inserted pockets into the side seams, I wanted to push myself for the challenge. Secretly I wanted to win (sadly I didn't).

The fabric was a delight to work with! It did everything I wanted it to, I was a little worried it might be a little thick for the belt loops but it really wasn't!

I hadn't done it on purpose but I'm pretty impressed with my pattern matching! I do love a happy accident!

For the pocket lining I used a beautiful cotton lawn again from Fabric Corner, it looked like it could of been Liberty but half the price! Which is never a bad thing!

Oh I forgot that I also made a belt out of the pocket lining material which had a very cute bow on it. It is also in Love At First Stitch and really finished off the outfit! Sadly I completely forgot to photograph it, sorry!

I absolutely love this skirt it goes with so many things which I didn't really expect as I don't usually wear yellow. But it goes with things I'd buried in my draws because I had no idea what to wear it with (pre challenge days). I've worn it so much I'm even contemplating making a copy to give this one a rest!

Hope you've enjoyed this post! 

Hot tip White Tree Fabrics stock Tilly and the Buttons patterns and you can use our code

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for 20%off and free P&P

Happy Sewing x

Bridie: It's a Sewing Mashup

So it's been a while since I've taken the time to sit down and blog about my makes which I apologies for, my only excuse is that finding enough time to sew is hard enough with a small child let alone blog about it , plus there have been lots of exciting things going on. For those who follow our Facebook page you'll already know but if you don't I've started teaching a few sewing classes at Rock Paper Scissors which has taken a lot of my free time to plan my lessons, but now that they are going well I have more time to sort through the many back dated blog posts I have planned (I've still been sewing honest!). 

This is a project I did a few months ago, I set it as a mini challenge for the SIY Meet Up, I called it a charity shop mash up, but basically we had £5 to buy two items of clothing which we would take apart, cut into and pretty much destroy in order to mash them up to created a completely new outfit. 

These were the two items I picked, a very ugly pleated skirt which was a size 20 (that's quiet a lot of fabric to play with) and a pretty sheer blouse that was massive on me!  

 I started by pinning down the pleats (so many pleats) this took quiet a while and a few pricked fingers but it needed doing as I wanted to keep the pleats in my dress.

I then cut just above pins, I'd already worked out the length I wanted it to be and didn't want to touch the hemline, I wouldn't have a clue how to re hem it if I'd cut into it from the bottom.

For the blouse section of my dress I took it in at the sides and gathered it around the waist line.

I then pinned the skirt to the blouse after taking off any excess fabric from the skirt. I had lined up the buttons on the skirt and the blouse so that I could get into it like you would a shirt dress.   

 I sewed them together and tidied up any edges (seriously wish I'd had a over locker for this part sadly I do no) and that's it. I teamed it up with a big gold belt which I think goes really well with it, plus has the added bounce of hiding any little mistakes. 

This mini challenge was a lot of fun and shows that you don't have to spend a fortune on fabric. It could be an old bed sheet, curtains or a huge ugly shirt you found at a charity shop, if you love the fabric that's all that matters and no one will know where you got if from when you've finished! They'll just be impressed you made it yourself!

   

Happy Sewing x

PS sorry for the grainy pics I think these were taken on my old phone.

Laura: Burda Jacket

Hi everyone I've not posted anything in such a long time now. I have been making plenty its the writing part I find difficult, So this is the first of hopefully a lot of posts of what i've been busy making.

This is my version of the Burda Jacket pattern.(Bridie made one from the same pattern late last year) I chose to make the boxy jacket out of the two, which turns out boxy doesn't suit me so I ended up making it fitted by putting darts and more seams in.

I made the bottom one. (photo stolen from Bridie sorry)

The pattern was nice to work with very simple instructions, I'd say one for a beginner. I altered the pattern quite a bit actually, I made the sleeves puffed and 3/4 added bust darts and seams in the front and back to reduced the bulk to it and make it fitted. I made the collar all in one and missed out the collar stand (my attempt at making it casual)

So the first photo I took was of the jacket bodice made up. The fabric I used was white cotton with a faint white swirl pattern, which you can only see when close up.

The collar top stitched on without the stand. (looks a bit dirty in this picture but I assure you its not)

I then top stitched the patch pockets on, i'm loving top stitching recently. I then set to work on the sleeves which I altered so that they were slighty puffed & now 3/4 length

Setting the sleeve in is pretty fiddly 

And finally the hem, which I ended up machine stitching because my hand stitching is just awful.

so here it is the finished jacket it looks so much better on...

See I told you looks better on, Styled with a pair of dark skinny jeans, black vest top and leopard print heels and done.

This photo just shows how long ago I made this for 3 reasons;

1, I  have a tan because it was summer then

2, I have a fringe which has now grown out which I am now tempted to put back in.

3, I no longer have that phone in fact I upgraded it in September

I promise I won't be this lazy in writing up posts in the future.

If you fancy making this jacket Or the one Bridie made the pattern is from

http://thepatternpages.com

Thank you for reading 

xx

Bridie: White Tree Fabrics Pretty Pajamas Part 1

So these have been a long time in the making, I decided my first project as part of the White Tree Blogging Group would be to make some Pajamas as I'd never made anything like this before! Needless to say life has gotten in the way of me making them until recently. That is the only downside to the challenge, when your jeans get holes in them and you need to make a new outfit, that comes before pretty pajamas that I defiantly shouldn't go outside the house in!

     The pattern I picked was Vogue 7837 I loved design and the amount of options available to make. The pattern gives you a few fabric suggestions but decided to go with Crepe Back Satin after receiving some samples from White Tree and liking the quality and feel of them. I was in two minds between the royal blue and navy or the peach and white. In the end I went for the Peach and White, I thought the blues would was me out. I also had some cream vintage lace trim that would work really well with the Peach!  

I decided to make shorts and cropped top first I'm not sure why I just thought they looked really pretty and a far cry from the flannel pajamas or huge T shirt I'm used to!   

I read through the instructions a couple of times and found them easy to follow, I'm dyslexic so always appreciate clear diagrams! I also liked the fact that the lay plans use up all the material with little wastage.

So here we go, I'd not used Crepe Back Satin before so wasn't too sure how it would handle but I didn't have any issues cutting it out. This might be because I pinned the pattern pieces to the wrong side (its not silky so didn't slip when cutting) of the fabric.

I decided to use a french seam on the side seams and shoulder seams this isn't in the instructions but I don't have an overlocker and wanted a neat finish plus I do love a french seam! They look really professional but are really super easy once you know how!

Then came the binding, now I won't lie bias binding in Crepe Back Satin is a slippery sucker that does not want to do as it's told, but be patient it's worth it I promise. You'll need a lot of pins to! 

Then came the finishing touch of the lovely vintage lace trim lace which was a lot easier to apply then I thought it would be! You pin it to the right side of the fabric, sew it in place then cut away the excess fabric underneath. I am glad i picked a lace trim with a straight edge though it did make life simpler! 

Top done and I have to say I was pretty pleased with it!

Then came the bottoms, which have no binding so were so much quicker to make! Like the top I french seamed the side seams but couldn't use a french seam in the crouch seam ( I wish you could use french seams every every where but sadly you can't ) so used my pinking sheers instead.

The waist band was simple enough to! That is until it came to threading my elastic through, I had made the waistband a little narrow so it took some serious, pulling and wiggling along with a lot of perseverance to get the elastic through but I got there in the end!  

The final finishing touch was the lace trim, I had run out of the lace trim from the top but found some that was a pretty much spot on colour match, just a little narrower but I think that works well on the shorts!

So these are my pretty pajamas all finished and I'm really happy with them! I would usually post a pic of me modeling them but I'm not that brave this time! I will say they look lovely on! 

I'm going to be making another set soon with the longer pajama bottoms in white so I can mix and match so keep an eye out for those.

Hope you enjoyed my post and here's a little something for you.

20% off and free P&P when you order from

www.whitetreefabrics.com

Just enter the code 

SIY challenge

Happy sewing folks x 

Bridie: The Eva Dress

First things first I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year! I'm sorry for the considerable lack of blogging going on over the Christmas period but what with all the preparations and endless to do list that go hand in hand with this time of year, blogging seemed to get shoved off the bottom. So you may find the next few weeks you might get sick of me as I work through all the projects I've made and not yet blogged about.

Right so I made this dress back in November, again apologies for the lateness, for the second SIY Meet Up. I'd been wanting to use the tartan fabric below for ages now but wasn't sure what to make it into and as it's a vintage piece I inherited I've been a bit precious with it. It's a gorgeous mix of burnt orange, red and greys in what I believe to be brushed cotton. Perfect for autumn! 

    So for the Meet Up I decided to be brave, I already had a pattern in mind that I thought would look amazing made out of this fabric. It was the Eliza M Vintage  pattern that came free with Issue 6 of Love Sewing Magazine. I do love a freebie!

I thought pattern and fabric were a perfect match until I looked at the pattern more closely and saw that the pattern was for jersey fabric. My heart sank for a bit and then my stubbornness kicked in and I thought what the hell, I had altered patterns before and know how to make my own from blocks so had a fair idea how to make it work in non stretch fabric. I took my measurements again to compare them to the pattern sizes and decided to make it a size bigger then I normally would. This would make up for the lack of stretch and I could always take it in again where needed.     

So I went for it. 

The instructions are clear and easy to follow, with a section on preparation which would of been very helpful if I'd have been good and been using jersey!  The construction of the is pretty simple the only slightly complicated bit is the zip (of course it was the zip I've been sewing for over 10 year and I still have to look them up in my massive readers digest sewing book) and split. 

When it came to the fit there actually wasn't too much I needed to. I was expecting to have to alter the darts or side seams but thankfully all I had to do was take it in at the back as the back neckline gaped quiet a lot.   

I'm so glad I didn't chicken out because I loved the finished dress. I finished the dress off with burnt orange bias binding around the hem which I really like and seems to take less time then hemming, so that's always a plus!

I teamed the finished dress with thick grey tights (it is winter after all) and my cute brown ankle boots with a big slouchy cardigan. Which I thought looked great and gave it more of a casual look. The only thing about this dress its not one I can wear while crawling around after my little boy. It could possible do with letting it out half a cm. That or I should do some sit ups but I can tell you know I can't see that happening.   

I would defiantly recommend this pattern it looks great in non stretch fabric, I would suggest making it in a cheaper fabric if you do though so you can play with the fit  and not stress about it! Again I should probably take my own advice. Next time I make this pattern I'm going to be good and use a stretch fabric, I'll let you know the out come when I do.

Happy Sewing x

Bridie: A Dress For All Occasions

So at the end of October I had a few nice events scheduled in my diary (which is none existent and is really me trying to remember what day it is in my head). Not only was it Halloween but we had decided to celebrate our anniversary on the same night. This is what happens when you have children you have to combine all your celebrations into the nights you can get a babysitter. Also the next day was the first Sew It Yourself Meet Up I had organised. So the challenge was to create a dress that would fit into all three occasions. Luckily the theme for the Halloween gathering we were going to was scary dolls so my plan was to go as a porcelain doll. Which I find terrifying! So I just had to make a pretty dress which meant I didn't have to wear a scary costume for my meal out.

I already had the pattern in mind, it was a cute Simple Sew pattern I got free with issue 4 of Love Sewing Magazine which I get so excited about every month. They have great free gifts, patterns and very clear instructions!           

This pattern requires fabric which is 55-60 inches wide which I struggled to find in a fabric I liked. In the end I feel in love with this beautiful bird and cage fabric which is 100% cotton, but wasn't wide enough so I decided to add a panel around the bottom. I found some ivory fabric which has a subtle leaf design which picks out the leaves around the bird cages. Both are from my local fabric stall The Fabric Corner  which has a great selection and very helpful, friendly staff! I love chatting about sewing projects with them! 

I really enjoyed working with this pattern it was so easy to trace as it isn't printed on tissue paper which makes life so much easier!

The instructions are also very easy to understand and follow, with great working drawings! A great pattern for beginners as well as more advanced sewers!

Once I had cut out my fabric pieces and added interfacing to the facings I sewed in the darts. Then pressed them inwards. After this I attached the front to the back pieces at the shoulders. 

I then zig zag stitch around the edge of the facings. I had initially tried out the over lock stitch for this and started off thinking woo no more need to use my pinking shears on every thing. This was until Fred (my sewing machine) started to get very grumpy and as she's an old lady I thought it best not to push her to much! 

I then sewed round the arm holes and neckline and clipped into the curves then pulled the back pieces through the shoulders to the front. I gave it a really good press after this.

So far so good!

I then added the skirt pieces to the bodice. I had already attached the panel of ivory fabric to the bottom of skirt panels. It was easy to alter the pattern, I simply shorted the skirt pieces so that they would fit onto the bird and cage fabric and the piece I had cut off was now the pattern piece for the bottom panel. I didn't have to worry about adding a seam allowance as  I had decided I was going to use bias binding instead of hemming it.   

I really love the contrast in bold patterns to the more subtle one.

To finish off I sewed up the sides of the dress.

Then added a concealed zip, I'm so proud of the way this one turned out as I've mentioned before me and zips have not had a good relationship in the past. This one turned out almost perfectly.

To finish off I added a royal blue bias binding which I think really brings out the blue of the birds. I also found some shoes in exactly the same colour. I do love it when an outfit comes together.

I love the way this dress fits and I felt so confident in it. 

The back neckline is so flattering!

It was perfect for all the special occasions I had planned and I'd happily wear it just going to the shops I love it so much. I am defiantly going to be making it again!  

Happy sewing! x