Dressmaking

My current dressmaking kick continues with the Aubépine dress by Deer and Doe in a gorgeous purple/blue pinstripe shot cotton with black silk lining. I really wanted this dress to be as well-made as possible, so I actually made a muslin of the bodice. Unbelievable, I know, but (as I may have mentioned before) the ladies are a little on the large side and occasionally need more space than is routinely provided. Luckily in this case the darts were sufficient. I wasn't looking forward to doing my first ever full bust adjustment on a bodice with three horizontal pleats. I would have been more than a little out of my depth.The pattern is marked as intermediate, which I think is fair [Read more...]

A sneaky afternoon off work.Rocking it old-school with the hand cranked Jones (fnarr fnarr!). A finished Pavlova skirt and a little light twirling. That's better.

We're baaaaaaaaaack! What is it about camping holidays that makes them seem simultaneously too long and too short? It's very odd. Anyway, the weather was fab (thank goodness), the chickens were laying (and taunting the tethered puppy with their just-out-of-reachness), and the kids had a marvellous time. I could have done with a bit more in the way of isolation - I had a phone signal the whole time - but never mind.I was very glad to get home to the big pile of fabric I had cut up for dressmaking just before we went away. First up was an Ashland Dress (pattern bought almost a year ago) in Koi. I chose this pattern because it comes in different cup sizes, and I often have a problem [Read more...]

Even since I saw the first pictures from Quilt Market, I knew that I wanted to make a shirred sundress from the Nordika Whimsicol panel. I love this new line by Jeni Baker - the mix of graphic and floral prints is fab, and the colours are among my absolute favourites.So yesterday I hot-footed it down to Annie's shop, and picked up a metre and a half of fabric and a couple of spools of elastic thread. Two hours later, and thanks to this fantastic tutorial, I had a lovely summery dress. I took about 8 inches off the width of the fabric because of my, shall we say, diminutive size, which meant that I had matching fabric to use for straps. Win. And because I am lazy I didn't [Read more...]

If you follow me on Instagram (over here, if you're interested) you might have seen the slightly scary photos of my shiny-lycra-clad bum the other day. Just to give a bit of context, in case you think that's my usual attire, I was sewing the Bombshell swimsuit, from Closet Case Files. I've always been frustrated when trying to buy a swimsuit because (since I am not exactly blessed in the height department) the torso always comes out way too long, resulting in a saggy crotch. And let me assure you, that is not a good look for anyone. Eeeek. I duly chopped three inches off the bodice length and it came out exactly right. I think this is a fabulous design for those of us who may be [Read more...]

The other day I popped into The Village Haberdashery to buy some binding clips. The ones that cost a couple of quid. And yet somehow I came out having spent a good deal more than that on all sorts of things including some of this gorgeous print from Center City by Jay McCarroll. Since making my washi dress last summer I have been itching to have a go at the tunic version, and given that the weather is completely freezing just about perfect now for little sleeveless tops it seemed just the right time to make it. That's my story, and I am sticking to it.Let's just pretend I don't look really uncomfortable, ok?After the boob related issues I encountered last time I decided to go a size bigger. [Read more...]

On the last day of the school holidays (for 2/3 of the kids, anyway) I locked the children in a cupboard and made myself a dress. It's the Washi Dress, which turned out to be the most wonderfully written and easy to follow pattern. Brilliant enough to overcome the often irritating "print everything out and tape it all together" issue that you get with PDFs.Thanks to my lovely husband for his photography skillsI made a muslin for the bodice as suggested and decided to go for the small. In retrospect I could have probably done with a medium on the top (I have rather large bosoms), but the shirring in the back makes it quite forgiving, and there's nothing a good boob hoik (see below) won't [Read more...]