The Sew It Yourself Challenge

Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Heather: May Sewing Roundup

Roll up, roll up! It's another sewing extravaganza! Somehow, despite an exceptionally busy month month both at work and play, I've managed to make a whopping 14, yes FOURTEEN, new garments. Grab your candyfloss, folks... we're ready to start the show...

We start the month with the Sew Over It Vintage Shirt Dress. If I'm being entirely truthful I actually made the majority of it in April but it wasn't quite ready in time for last month's blog. I chose the Liberty Cotton Lawn from (ever fruitful) Fabric Corner in Lincoln and knew exactly what I was going to make with it. I've made this dress once before, with limited success after making some dubious alterations to the pattern. This time round I decided to make the dress as a straight size 8 without any alterations, and I'm really pleased with it.

After a couple of wears, I would definitely shorten the front bodice across the collarbone as it's a bit gapey; and I have subsequently added two extra buttons at the bottom of the skirt after a slightly unfortunate gust-of-wind-and-first-day-in-nude-tights incident last week.

I'm going to make another one of these for the #sewtogetherforsummer challenge, though I need to get my skates on!

I picked up this next fabric, a lovely stripe and floral cotton, from Fabric Corner last summer, fully intending to make it into a pretty summer dress. Then, I wanted to make it into a night shirt. Then a few weeks ago I found some fantastic orange sweat-shirting (once again at Fabric Corner) and the decision was made... summer PJs! Over the course of two evenings, armed with a well fitting pair of Jack Wills PJ bottoms and my trouser block, the Tilly and the Buttons Fifi Pyjamas cami top, and a Burda raglan sleeve jumper pattern, I made these gorgeous summer PJs. I love wearing these and the fit is absolutely perfect for lounging!

The next make of the month was a really unusual choice for me; Vogue 1395, a slouchy wrap dress. I spotted the pattern on a reselling group on facebook for the bargain price of £2 and I was sufficiently intrigued to give it a go. I had picked up some fab printed polyester for my Birthday back in March and it seemed ideal for this make.

As is so often the case with Vogue patterns, this was definitely not what I would call easy! There is a sweet back gather detail, not pictured, which requires significant dexterity (not to be attempted after a couple of wines, it turns out) and an awful lot of precision top stitching. The pattern also has a full lining, I can only assume because it's intended for more sheer fabrics. I wanted this dress to be cool for those warmer days we had in the middle of the month so I omitted the lining pieces and instead cut a very creative facing piece out of the absolute scraps of fabric I had left over. I was really proud of myself for getting this whole garment (include made up facings) out of 1.5m, seeing as the pattern requires 2.5m!

I'm happy with the finished dress though I'll be honest and say I'm not sure how much I'll wear it. Next time I would shorten the back by at least an inch and probably lengthen the skirt by an inch too.

Next up is a bit of a failed project. The lovely Simona from Sewing Adventures in the Attick sent me this lovely abstract poly from her destash, and upon first glance I knew wanted to make it up into McCalls 7094, the free blouse pattern from last month's Love Sewing magazine.

As nice a pattern as this is (and once again kudos to Love Sewing for the multi-sized patterns) I just don't think I'm a baggy blouse kinda gal. The neckline detail was really complicated and definitely not a beginner make. And although I'm really pleased with that part of the blouse, and the fit across the shoulders in size XS is exceptional... everywhere else it's just vast. Huge. Enormous. You get the idea. In a drapier fabric I think it could have worked really well but, sadly, after just one wear this has been relegated to the remake pile.

Throughout the month I've been taking part in MeMadeMay (#MMMAY17) and whilst I haven't kept up with the pics on Instagram, I have successfully worn at least one hand made item every day throughout May. The idea behind the challenge is to help identify some of the gaps in your wardrobe, but I found it had the exact opposite effect. Having worked in retail for nearly 7 years my wardrobe is absolutely full to bursting with gorgeous, hardly worn high street clothes... which I don't wear! I really love wearing my handmade wardrobe and will turn to one of my own items over a ready-to-wear garment any day. So I had a clear out! A proper, bin-bags-and-stuff-on-ebay clear out. And it feels great! I now have just a handful of RTW garments in my wardrobe and I'm looking forward to filling that space with more handmade items.

One gap I did identify, however, was in my work wardrobe. Last summer I made quite a few lovely floral dresses, but I didn't feel I had many items that were smart enough for work. Resorting to my favourite Butterick 6166 I made this birdy print jersey dress in about 90 minutes on the overlocker...

... and then did some remnant busting by making these two simple t-shirts from a Burda pleated roll neck pattern which is another tried and tested favourite.

I also made this elephant print blouse for my work wardrobe, mashing up the Simple Sew Pussy Bow Blouse with a front button channel and some self-drafted sleeves. A very quick win!

(We're more than half way folks, I promise!)

You'll remember previous blogs that I've made a few items for my sister-in-law, who is always appreciative of a wardrobe top-up! She spotted the Sew Over It Ella Blouse pattern when it was released last month and I made it up for her in this floral viscose as a surprise gift for her holidays.

Apparently it's a great fit and she really likes it- every sewists favourite sentence.

I've been coveting the Butterick range of vintage style dresses by Gretchen Hirsch for several months now and finally bought the pattern in a half price sale last month. It was with dismay that I realised the pattern required 4 metres of fabric and, despite having a pretty healthy stash, I didn't have enough of anything that I could use to make this! Luckily there's a fabric shop just around the corner...

This Palm Tree print viscose was the perfect pick for this dress, and the pattern itself is quite an easy make. Unfortunately everything that could go wrong with this make, did. Having secured my 4 metres of oh-so-perfect fabric, I discovered that there was a very slight, but unavoidable, hole right in the middle of the design. Each skirt panel takes about a metre and a half of fabric, and with the amount of gathering you really wouldn't know it was there, but there was no working round it sadly. Next, I snipped through my stitching when clipping the neckline and the whole thing unravelled quicker than a ball of wool at the paws of a kitten. And then, just as I had finished and pressed the dress, and snipped off the last few stitches ready to get dressed for a night out... the zipper broke. Straight down the middle and no saving it. (As I had made the dress fit really rather well, I can assure you it was a pretty stressful experience getting out of it with no one else in the house too!) Furious, and without time to resolve the issue, I resorted to one of last year's sundresses and popped a new zip in the next morning as well as a hook and eye at the waist to support the weight of the skirts. Lesson learned.

In the same stack of viscose temptation as the previous make, I also picked up this lightweight black viscose with an abstract check pattern which I made up into another tried-and-tested pattern, Butterick 6016. Perfect for a warm but grey day in the office!

And last but not least, hot off the machine this evening is this totally adorable Sew Over It Tulip Skirt in some red floral border print.

And I think it's probably the nicest and best fitting skirt I've ever made, not to mention a super quick sew at just an hour after all the pieces were cut out.

Finally, next month's Dressmaking Blogger Challenge will be... "Garden Party"!

As always it's a just-for-fun challenge and you can share your makes using #dressmakingbloggerchallenge on Instagram or by joining the Dressmaking Bogging Network on Facebook.

Thanks for reading. Happy Sewing everyone!!!

Monday, 1 May 2017

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!

Sunday, 2 April 2017

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

Until next time, happy sewing!

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Heather: February Sewing Roundup

Sitting down to start writing this blog I thought I would struggle to find much to share- I haven't managed a single blog post this month- but the sewing has been ticking along quite nicely even if it hasn't felt like I'm getting a lot done, and I've ended up with a pretty full roundup!

The month started with a bit of a mad dash to finish my make for the Secret Valentine Exchange organised by lovely instagrammers Ute and Sanae.

Into its fourth year, the international exchange invites crafters of all kinds create a beautiful item and ship it off to another creative soul to share a bit of love during the Valentine's season. I was paired with a lady in Canada who liked grey and yellow, and with very little other info to work with I decided to make a tote bag (who doesn't love a bag?!) in a remnant of Snoopy-print fabric from Fabric Corner!

It seems the gift was well received, which is really lovely- it's pretty scary to send something half way across the world not knowing if it's what someone will want. I received a parcel of gorgeous flamingo-themed gifts from Ginny '@ginpins' which couldn't have been more appropriate given my love for those leggy birds.

Look out for sign ups in January next year if you'd like to take part!

Valentine's Day was also broadly the theme for this month's Dressmaking Blogger Challenge, where we asked the blogging community to share an item which they had made for someone else, or something that they had made for themselves with love.

Back at the end of January I came across a forgotten piece of autumnal print viscose which I had purchased back at the 2016 Knitting, Stitching and Hobbycrafts show in Manchester. I bought it specifically because I knew it would be perfect for my Mum, and then promptly forgot about it amid the making-flurry of last year's challenge!

So I decided to finally make good on my intentions and make a blouse for Mum to wear to Grandma's Birthday Party (I won't tell you how old; she wouldn't thank me for putting her age on the Internet!). I picked out a tried and trusted Burda pattern that I also used for her Birthday gift last year and whipped this up in an evening.

(My Mum enjoys neither standing still, nor having her photo taken... but she did really like her blouse!)

February also saw my first ever trip to Abakhan! (I know, how have I lasted this long?!). We don't have a store here in Lincoln so when I arranged to meet an old friend half way between our homes we settled on Manchester and I made my maiden voyage to the fabric mecca. I really had no idea what to expect, so was pretty thrilled to come away with a metre of printed sweater knit, 1.5m of border print viscose and 1.5m of indigo denim for the grand total of £15. £15!!!!

Not hanging about, I made the viscose into my favourite Burda Patti dress, and the sweater knit into a jumper which... I'm not sure is totally me. I spent ages trying to make sure the pattern placement was right but in the end I think it overwhelms it a bit. But actually it looks really fab with my Cleo pinafore and is super cosy, so even if it gets destashed at the end of the season I will have been warm up to that point.

It was at this point in the month that I decided my sewing room was getting a bit out of hand. I spent an evening tidying up and sorting out my fabrics, and even managed a mini destash (some of it may have been restashed...). I picked out quite a few pieces of fabric that I'd completely forgotten about and made a rather bold commitment to use up 6 pieces of fabric, or destash them at the end of the month...

So on the plus side the Patti dress (top right) got made that very evening.

The bottom two fabrics have become a gorgeous Sew Over It vintage shirt dress and there's a jacket in the making too.

The rest of them... well perhaps we'll have a rollover into next month...!

My next make was the unexpectedly lovely McCalls 7381 which came free with this month's Love Sewing magazine. I'm not going into much detail as I intend to write a full blog about this one, but here's a pic of my rather hacked version in a piece of jersey from the stash which has been waiting quite some time for its perfect pattern partner!

And finally, what's the end of a month without a party? I decided to join in with the Moneta Party (another full blog on the way about my hacks for this pattern) using some stripe zigzag sweater knit from SewEssential. It's basically my new favourite dress!

So those are my highlights from February. There were a few more makes which haven't made the cut this time but perhaps will feature next month!

All that's left is for me to introduce the theme for the March Dressmaking Blogger Challenge which is... Springtime !

We want to see lots of cheerful brightly coloured garments. Perhaps you'll pick a spring flower for the theme of your garment, or maybe just something bright and cheerful. As always, the challenge is just for fun and you can tag your posts with #dressmakingbloggerchallenge to share them with us online.

Happy Sewing everyone, see you next month.

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

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.