The Dressmakers Ball - the low down!

Have I mentioned I had a fantastic night at the Dressmakers Ball, I'm sure I haven't talked about it too much!

So let's start with my outfit, I desperately wanted to make my own version of Meryl Streeps Oscars outfit. I loved the class of trousers with a big fabulous skirt, which made a feminine and practical outfit!

So I set about a re-make.

I made my trousers and my top with lovely yellow scuba I fell upon on eBay and they happen to match my skirt flowers. My skirts scuba again was from Minerva, which when they arrived were a perfect match!

I've never made trousers! So I bought the Sew Over it London Ultimate Trousers. These trousers didn't say I could make it from scuba so I guessed and winged it! It worked out well but because of the ease they were a tad huge! So I took in the back darts in order to stop them falling down.

I made the Bardot Top using fabric godmothers tutorial that I discovered whilst doing my jeanius upcycling last year. It's essentially two rectangles carefully sewn together so they make a lovely folded over top. In the tutorial it says to add elastic which I haven't done as I used scuba and the stretch was enough in it.

My skirt is a 3/4 circle skirt which I finally worked out the maths on! If you are interested to make the waist radius = 1.3 * (waist measurement-2) then all of that divided by 2π. I cut a half circle and a quarter which meant it all fit on 2m of fabric. I then cut a sweeping curve out the front allowing people to see the trousers I'd so lovingly made underneath!

I went to my lovely sisters and she did my hair and make up for me, because she's wonderful but forgot to tell her my quick time frame so was late to pick up the Jenny from Jennystitched. We scooted off to Leicester at a rate of knots and met Megan from pigeonwishes at Jenny's hotel. After a quick turn around and get changed we jumped in the car to avoid the rain. But we got lost and couldn't find the venue so we abandoned the car and followed our phones to the venue!

At this point I was utterly starstruck. It was so amazing to meet all the fantastic Sewing community that I have come to know and love on Instagram. We had a lovely dinner then there was the catwalk of all of our outfits. I had to very careful not to spill my dinner down myself!! The dresses were absolutely incredible. I decided to enter in the beginner category as I've been sewing less than 3 years. The lady that won my category had only been Sewing since September and her dress was amazing! I was really pleased to get a special mention in this category too so the judges obviously loved my outfit.

 

Once we had catwalked the experienced category went next. These dresses were inspirational! Everyone fantastic and something to aspire to.

Then we had cake. Told you it was a good evening! It got even better when Gabby Young and other animals started playing and I had a perfectly swirly dress to dance with. Special mention to Gemma from agirlsewgeeky for fangirling with me whilst everyone danced!

We got lovely goodie bags too! What a night. It was so lovely to meet everyone and I can't wait for the next meet up.

Pattern hack of the Sew Crafty Shift dress

Well ladies and gentlemen please be upstanding for my first ever pattern hack! Introducing my Sew Crafty Online Shift Dress in exquisite Dashwood Distant dreams.

I said in a previous blog i'm not very au fait with how patterns are made, or when I should be making adjustments so I played it safe with this hack. I added a button panel all down the front as I saw a fabulous 90's revival dress on pintrest with the same idea (Link).

At first I made the size up from what I thought I needed so that I could have a baggy shape as I could imagine it being lovely and baggy with the buttons being a delicate detail. I ended up with a potatoe sack as I over estimated my sizes! As you can see by my face, it's not what I envisaged! I ended up taking some out the shoulders and some out the sides, making it back to the size I should have cut out in the first place! Lesson learned. In doing this though I've made a little cap sleeve almost which I love!

I also added a 2" panel on either side to use as my buttons basis. I layered that up with fabric to make it a little stiffer but I didn't want to use interfacing and may it too stiff so just doubled up on fabric. I then had the fun task of buttons all down the front. I put the 4cm apart as I guessed that seemed a good distance but actually that left me with A LOT of buttons to sew on. I used big buttons so they became the center piece and the colours match perfectly with this Dashwood Studio Distant Dreams. I love the peacocks and the colours as it is so very springy at the moment and perfect!

I may have finished my hem last night and be wearing it at work already! Typing this blog whilst scoffing my lunch, and I have had so many compliments as to how nice I look today. As usual I love it! My new favourite dress, perfect for Easter Sunday!

Jumping on the bandwagon - Tilly and the Buttons Cleo Dungadress

Ta Daaaaa.

I finished my new Dungadress, and I think I am in love! The Cleo by Tilly and the Buttons is fabulous. It is the first time I have used dungaree clips, and the first time I have done any top stitching so I am still working my way through all my firsts.

I ordered a meter and a half of Denim fabric from Sew Crafty Online which was more than plenty! I still have quite a bit left and was thinking of projects to stash bust with some hard wearing denim. I already had some top stitching thread, which to be perfectly honest I had ordered a good while ago by accident as I needed some normal thread the same colour for my Daisy Dress and didn't realise there were different types of thread! This is how far I have come in the last year of so, yet this project taught me I probably needed a top stitching needle but I managed ok.

The denim was easy to work with which I was surprised about and it wasn't too thick so I used a normal need rather than a denim one. The hardest part I found was turning the straps the right way, so I got out my giant knitting needles and it did make it easier.

I only did one line of top stitching mostly because I ran out of thread, but also I think it makes it a bit more unique. I didn't even have enough thread to do the hem but actually I love the frayed look! I have done a line of zip zag in an inconspicuous black just above the hem so it won't fray too far.

Here is a picture of the whole dungadress with added Murphy dog the cockerpoo! He loves it too.

The Moneta Party

I so very much enjoyed the Moneta party! Isn't it amazing how one pattern can look so fabulously different on different body types, shapes and different fabrics too! And the pattern hacks, wow! Some of them have truly inspired me to work out how to hack a pattern as they looked fabulous! I especially love the maxi versions, and the backless version and well erm everyone's versions!

I made my Moneta in one size down from the maximum which account to my measurements should have been my size. I think my problem was I went with my largest measurement which is my bum and that then left the rest of the dress a bit tent like and the skirt bottom is gathered and oversized anyway.

I have never gathered with elastic either, but I did cheat slightly and I used white 1/4" elastic instead of clear elastic but it seems to have worked perfectly for me.

This was also my first time using a twin needle, which was a lot less scary than I thought it would be and finished off the neckline, sleeves and hem.

Once I put the dress all together it looked really potato sack like, so I took it back to the drawing board. Whilst wearing it I could pinch in a few inches at my waist each side, so I took it off and ran my overlocked from the armpit seam to the point I could take it into on the waist, I then did another line up to the pocket seam. This then gave the dress a synced in waist but had enough room f
or my boobs and bum! Perfect for me!

My zigzag fabric is from my favourite fabric store Sew Crafty Online. This fabric is a super light microfiber type jersey, which washed and dried so quickly and lovely. No creases! Not that I iron if I can help it anyway!

All in all my new favourite pattern. I also may have a slight obsession with buying jersey now as it's not half as scary as I thought it was!

Winslow Culottes in crepe!

Two firsts for this project! First some kind of trousers, with a gusset and pockets and everything, also first type using a slippery material like crepe.

The beautiful Crepe was from Sew Crafty Online and the flow on it is lovely. There are so many beautiful colours on the fabric I had too many to choose from for my jacket! Please excuse hubby's stupid face! Doh!

I really enjoyed this pattern though as it has minimal pieces and I am beginning to love PDF patterns as I don't have to trace them out and they seem much easier to store than rolled up grease proof paper!

There are 4 pieces for the 'legs' and a waist band, two pockets and a zip. So a nice easy sew really. I've never really made trousers before that have looked suitable for wearing outside the house!

I struggled with the fabric really as I have never used crepe, it seemed to creep a bit whilst sewing as I think my tension was a bit too tight. After I had done a few seams I changed the tension and it seems to ease off a bit. I used my normal foot for this but I'm told a roller foot may have been a better option for me, so that's one to try next time!





I love these culottes as they were so comfy all day at the wedding, I could dance and move around not worrying about skirts exposure, and they still looked formal enough for the wedding.

I think I am going to make myself a long pair of these for the summer as the waist band hit me at a really nice 'high wasted' point perfect with baggy tops. Made in crepe they will lovely and floaty for the summer too. I think I may experiment in a thinker cotton too for some for work as the shape really suits the shape of my body.

I really do recommend trying out the Winslow culottes!