Monday 18 July 2016

Daisy Dress, from Simply sewing mag

I made this beautiful dress for our Christmas present to go see Phantom of the Opera (amazing by the way!)
It was a perfectly timed free pattern from the Simply Sewing magazine.



I used some vintage cotton fabric my grandmother had in her stash. It still had the label on it saying the cost of £2.80!! The total outfit cost me about £3 as I only had to buy the zips and the thread, my kind of outfit!

I traced out the size I needed and cut it all out and put it all together in just a few hours and it has so few pieces. Perfect for me as I hate the tracing out stage!



I really struggled in putting the facing around the neck area though. I sewed it all on then I couldn't turn it back the right way out. I had to unpick the shoulders and re sew them afterwards which left them a little frayed but now I know what to do next time.

I love the part circle skirt of this dress as its a perfect shape for me. And is really flattering. The fold on the neckline adds a beautiful touch and the dress would look even better in a plain fabric I think.

Beautiful dress which is perfect for work, Simply Sewing mag even included my version on their website!

Monday 11 July 2016

Camp blanket, BADGES!!



When I went to visit my hubby family recently his little cousin told me about her Brownie pack holiday coming up. I decided she couldn't possibly let her go without her own camp blanket like mine! Well ok maybe not like mine as I have a few years up on the badge collecting but its a good start!
I bought 1 metre of fleece fabric from Peterborough market. I then squared it off and rounded the edges. Then I used floral bias binding all the way around the edge. I cut a straight slit in the middle for her head and binded those edges too. The edges of fleece don't need binding as it won't fray but it looks beautiful for a little girly girl.

 I cut out her name with my die cutter and appliqued this onto the back. It was a bit wonk but very Alice and wonderland!

I then zigzaged the badges I bought for her along the bottom ready for her to start collecting her own.

Monday 4 July 2016

Childrens Shirt, with left over superhero fabric

I can't bear to waste fabric... its probably not the best way to make a garment but I made this kiddys shirts out of scraps.

I used a free pattern I found on pintrest you can find the pattern here. I chose this one with the cute contrast in colours.

This is the first time I have done a collar and a yolk on a shirt so it was a definite learning curve for me.
I made sure whilst I was doing the contrasting colours on the back that I pinned really regularly so that the fabric couldn't move whilst I was sewing it.
The collar was easy to make but inserting it was a bit confusing. I think the instructions on the pattern tutorial are really good so check them out, but once I had worked out it needed sewing on the inside of the shirt sides.

It definitely wasn't perfect but the little boy it was for loved his superheroes shirt so it didn't matter !

Girls party dress, more scrap busting!


This is another free pattern from The Cottage Mama. You get the pattern when you sign up to her newsletter, and all the details are here.

I used the alternative bodice construction which has really good instructions the pattern download.

I used leftover fabric from my walkaway dress and the floral from the quilt I made. Luckily the two pinks matched perfectly.
The bit I struggled with for this dress was getting even gathers on the skirt. I tried I few times putting a long stitch and pulling the thread but each time the thread snapped.

In the end I used a method I found on pintrest. I cut a length of dental floss the width of the dress top. I then did a wide zig zag over the top of the floss. I tied one end of the floss to the skirt and pulled it through. It was so much easier this way!! One to remember indeed.

The end result is beautiful and perfectly twirly for the little girl to wear!