My Handmade Wardrobe Cosy Jersey dress

You may have seen a few sneak peeks of this Cosy Jersey dress, but here is the low down on my Cosy Jersey dress from My Handmade Wardrobe. A new pattern company which launched at the end of January and I got to go to the launch party wearing my lovely dress!

My handmade wardrobe have launched a pattern range specifically with beginners level instructions. They explain every step in great detail which helps especially if it's your first time Sewing stretch fabric or you are unsure which needle to use etc. 

Best this about this dress besides it's comfort is the size of the pockets! I can get a full magazine AND a bottle of prosecco in! No more clutch bags for me! 

I made mine from scuba with a pleather looking side one side and plain scuba the other. I decided to use the right and wrong sides as a contrast between the panels which I think worked really well. The pattern has two length options as a jumper or a dress and also various sleeve options so you can pick and choose which you want to do.

The sleeves confused me when I was putting it all together and it wasn't till I tried it on did I realise that I had already done the sleeves as part of the side panels! Sneaky! All that was left to attach was the sleeve band which I contrasted the colours again. 

I made the size XL which actually is miles too big on me but with a belt the shape with the pockets sticking out makes a lovely hourglass shape. I could probably go down 2 sizes when I make the next one so it's worth checking the sizing as you go along, especially if you are making it with fabric with plenty of stretch in it.

The launch party was a lovely evening with other sewing types! I always love meeting sewing people in really life as everyone is so friendly and happy to geek out about fabric just as much as you are! The Crafty Sew and Sew shop is a lovely venue too, though I was a bit cold which gave the pockets another use to cuddle my arms in and warm up! This dress is multipurpose!

The Morgan Jeans by Closet Case Patterns

I put these jeans on my make nine mostly out of fear, and I thought if I put them on my make nine it might push me out my comfort zone. What was I so scared about?!

I decided on the Morgan's jeans as I had heard so much about the Ginger jeans but didn't think my Booty would look particularly flattering in skinny jeans but the Morgan Jeans Boyfriend fit jeans appealed to me!

The denim I'm using is from Sew Crafty Online and it have an ever so slight stretch in it and the colour is just beautiful! The Morgan's pattern doesn't call for stretch denim but I thought I'd take a risk and since I was cutting the top end of the pattern I thought the stretch may help with the ease so I wasn't uncomfortable. And boy was I right!

The pockets on these really confused me for a little while but in the end I read the Ginger jeans sew along and it all clicked into place. I have attached the coin pocket to the wrong side of the pocket fabric which was then causing it to the wrong way around. Making jeans pockets was quite possibly the most rewarding sewing I have done in a while! All of a sudden it works and looks just like that RTW pair you have in your wardrobe! I had an issue with attaching the fly but that was just me being lazy and not using enough pins which I soon rectified. Check out my Instagram stories archive and you will see what I mean.

Deciding where to put my back pockets was a bit of a trauma, I basted the jeans together to see where I should put them but because I was home alone it's near on impossible to look at your own arse and pin a pocket on straight! So I gave up and copied a pair of RTW jeans I have by laying them flat and drawing points of the top two corners and using that for my Morgan's pockets. This worked really well as you can see.. (excuse my giant bum in your face but POCKETS!)

I used this gorgeous daisy print for inside my jeans and continued with my Rainbow overlocking thread. I'm drawn to anything with Daisy prints on as my first name in Guiding was Daisy (like Brown owl in Brownies) so it always has a place in my heart. The waistband and pockets and the rainbow overlocking make me want to show everyone the inside of my jeans too! Like you don't get that in RTW jeans do you!

I still have a slight fit problems with the waist over my bum, but I think I have worked out how to fix that in my next pair by reading through Closet Case's fit instructions which are really comprehensive if you too are wondering how to make them better. I don't mind though as all my RTW jeans have this issue so I nearly always have a belt on with them.

I have rolled up my hem because a. I love my some rainbow overlocking on show, and b. I really love the 'wrong' side colours in this fabric so thought this would be a lovely contrast. Also I didn't use topstitching thread just plain cream and I think this works perfectly against the turquoise jeans it didn't need heavy topstitching taking away from the awesome colours!

I have even attached the rivets and buttons! I used a hammer for the button fly, which was not scary at all and actually quiet therapeutic I think I might make everything a button fly from now on. I used the vario pliers to attach the rivets. I put one either side of the pockets along the side seam by the bar tacks which really gives you that professional finish! I may add some onto the belt hoops but I want to wear them a while before I decide about that.

If you want to see how I got on progress wise I've saved all my pictures on my Instagram archive so go check it out!