Straight Stitch Designs Madrona Skirt

I was lucky enough to be part of the Straight Stitch designs testing team for the Madona skirt. The first time I saw Kimberly post this on her Instagram I was instantly drawn to the girly floaty front petal shape of the skirt and how lovely and unusual it was, THEN I saw she wanted pattern testers so I jumped at the chance!

I used this beautiful Vicose Rayon from Sew Me Sunshine with lovely dandelions on. I was torn between this and a plain mustard one as I thought the lovely frill may be better suited for a plain fabric but I did an office poll as we voted dandelions, and I can bu
y plain clothes not as easy to buy pretty fabric skirts!

The viscose has a lovely drape to and even so walking around is floats around and will be perfect for a spring dress or skirt. I don’t think I’ve ever sewn viscose rayon before but it’s very like cotton lawn to sew so nice and easy and not slippery like you would think a viscose is.

The skirt is super easy! It’s two pieces with a French seam joining the back then a waistband! I have decided my favourite method of creating gathers now is to sew elastic on so I did that again to create the even gathers around the waist. I just large zip zag a piece of ¼” elastic all around the top, stretching it as it sews, then when I let go of the stretch it gathers the fabric beautifully!

I made the waistband a little wider than the pattern because I found the most amazing button that matches perfectly. It was brilliant timing as I was making this skirt at our Sewing day at The Cambridge fabric company. When I popped upstairs to the shop for the elastic which I forgot to bring, I saw these ceramic buttons in a little basket on the till. It matches so perfectly it’s almost spooky!

In my excitement of matching buttons, I put my button hole the wrong way up! I put it portrait when it should be landscape but I have remedied this by moving the buttons along to where they sit nicest of my waist.

I can’t wait for the warmer weather to wear this without tights and some lovely summer tops (think ALL the Ogden Cami’s!)

Big thanks to my photographer Lisa for taking these at lunchtime on our day job, anyone else struggling with daylight to get nice photos this time of year?!

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!

Pattern testing for Studio TKB - The Fallon top!

This is the first time I have ever done a pattern test, and I LOVE IT!

I was a little disheartened at first as to be perfectly honest I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to fit and there were people talking about arm scythe, like what even is that?! but i survived in the end.

This Fallon top has a lovely front side seam which makes it very flattering and lovely and floaty. You can change the sleeve lengths very easily and I think my next one will be 3/4 sleeves for evening cooler nights.

I think it's easily dressed up or down with jeans or a skirt, here I am in my works trousers so very boring but I think the top brings out the best in it!

My first tester I made out of very cheap jersey which had very little drape really, I son learnt from this as it looked really odd and was very tight and restricting, as you can see (excuse the slippers!). So I thought hard about what fabric to use for my proper one.

I made the next one in exactly the same size (size H) with no alternations. I could probably do with a little extra wiggle room in my chubby arms but I thought it would be good to test the pattern to it's full. The new fabric is a very lightweight jersey, I got from Peterborough market about a year ago, at £1pm!! I've been 'saving' it for the right project and here we are!

I did the 'false bow' neck line the Tina put in the back on the instructions as I wanted to try something different and I wasn't confident on my abilities for a neat neckline I thought I could hide it with a tie! I think it also works really well with the relaxed style of the top and finishes it off lovely.

For those of you who have the new LIDL singer overlocker, I did nearly all this on my overlocker! Just the hemms and the neckline on my normal machine, It was so quick and easy and lots of straight lines so it's a great start!

I loved it so much I've worn it to work today and had a few people asking if I make to order, and I think my Mum will like it too as it has a long back to keep her lower back warm but it still nice and floaty.

                                                                    Here's to Fallon!!

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!