A little update and a tutorial (easy hacks for a FREE T-shirt pattern)

It’s been a while, my dear readers. I’ve been sewing (colour-blocked Sapporo jacket anyone?), but not quite blogging about them just yet. Truth be told, I’ve been struggling health wise since Aug, where my eyes are swollen and red all day long due to a suspected allergy to an unknown allergen. Sigh. It’s uncomfortable to say the least, and not very photogenic at all! Initially I thought that it would pass within a few days, then a couple of weeks, and now over 2 months have passed… you know how it is! On the plus side, I am seeing specialists and trying all sorts of things to put this frustrating chapter behind me.

That’s enough doom and gloom for now! We are all otherwise doing fine during these crazy times, and consider ourselves very lucky to be staying safe, and enjoying quality family time together.

This brings me to my next point – I have a little tutorial to share with you today, which features cute photos of Freya. She is over on the Flamingo Fabrics blog today, modelling some easy hacks that you can make to their FREE kids T-shirt pattern. Yep, you read that right – there is a FREE (via newsletter sign-up) T-shirt pattern in town! It’s lovely (though to be fair, any T-shirt pattern with a seam cover detail gets my vote), and I’ve shared a few ways and ideas of jazzing it up.

Enjoy and stay well!

Navy swallow shell top with narrow hem

I had a tiny piece (60cm x 112cm) of swallow print polyester fabric in my stash, picked up for £2.40 from the John Lewis remnant bin. I've been meaning to make this into a little shell top, and with my recent "diversion" to knit fabrics, I fancied a quick woven project in familiar territory. As someone who really enjoys learning new tips and skills, however, I took this opportunity to try out a new technique - using a narrow hem foot. 

I used New Look 6483, which I have used once previously for the Crazy about Coral top. Unfortunately the shoulders on that top was a little narrow in the end, resulting in a unsightly permanent line across the shoulder, and with the spirit outlined here, also resulted in it ending up in a charity shop. That doesn't stop the pattern from being a good one, though, and this time I made view E in the graded down 2 again. 

I shortened the pattern by quite a bit, to allow for the narrow hem as opposed to the 5/8 hem as called for by the pattern. the other thing I tweaked was to remove the centre back seam, the back button closure, and the side slits. I wanted a simple shell top, with minimal break in the fabric pattern.     

I explored to find the right balance of tension and stitch length for the delicate fabric with my new machine (which I'm yet to introduce to you, or give it a name, but it is a complete delight to work with and we are getting on very well indeed). And the result? Not a pucker in sight! 

As I had very limited fabric, I finished off the neckline and armholes with a Liberty lawn bias binding using this method, and omitted the facing. You probably know by now that this is my go-to method, but I just want to say again that it's wonderfully useful for delicate fabrics like this one. 

Here's this little number inside out. You know, I'm so tempted to wear it this way - I love the subtlety of the blue on this side, and of course the Liberty bias tape. 

Now the narrow hem foot. It took a little practice, but I'm liking the lovely wavy hem. I found this post really helpful when figuring out how to use this little gadget, but honestly if I can figure it out, so can anybody :)

I'm happy to add the narrow hem foot to my family of very useful and much treasured machine attachments. I've always been amazed by how these little attachments work wonders and how much of a difference it makes -- you may remember my first encounter with the overcasting foot (much used until I got my overlocker), my excitement over the gathering foot and the button sewing foot, and my recent discovery over the walking foot. If I had to pick a favourite, at this point in time I would say it's got to be the walking foot - it has transformed my sewing completely and lowered my blood pressure significantly (who knew that "top-layer creepage" was so easy to avoid!), and I constantly find myself reaching for it. The real question is, why did I choose to torture myself for so long before buying one? 

How about you? Do you have a favourite sewing foot for your machine that you wish you bought years ago? Or a recent discovery of a new gadget? 

Floral Elisalex - wedding guest dress

Since my attempt at Sew Dolly Clackett, I have been meaning to make a "proper" version of the Elisalex, with its signature tulip skirt. 

I had the fabric all-along - a beautiful heavy cotton sateen from the home furnishing department of John Lewis. Not only it would make lovely curtains and blinds, I could see a floral Elisalex emerge before my eyes. Wouldn't it make the perfect wedding guest dress? It's lucky then I still have 2 weddings to go to this year. 

And here it is, just as I envisaged. 

I pulled out all the stops with this one. I fully lined it with a lighter weight cotton lawn in a similar colour palette, with a cloth allowance built in (don't know what it is? Sherry explained it in detail here), finished and pressed the seams as I went along, and handpicked my zipper (after umming and arring about an exposed zipper). As much as I'd like to think that I pay great attention to detail for all of my projects, this one got just that little bit more attention. 

This is the dress inside-out:

Isn't it a beautiful delicate pattern?Here's the lovely low back, and the handpicked zipper: 

I must admit, I wasn't sure about the shape of this dress, and in particular, how the tulip skirt might look on my petite frame. But after seeing all those great versions on the blogsphere, I decided to give it a go. I knew, though, that the tulip skirt will need to fall just above my knees to even give me a chance of pulling it off. So after measuring the pattern, I hacked 10.5 inches off the length from the bottom of the skirt front and back pieces. I did contemplate shortening it from the hip area, but decided that the tulip would be even more profound, more likely to drawn my legs in it. I think it worked well. If anything, it probably could've done with shortening even more. 

The other alterations I made was to remove some back gaping issues, which were identified in the toile previously, and an SBA. 

Have you seen the photos on the By Hand London website for this pattern? They are all fabulous, and more importantly the skirts all fall way above the knee. I know that I'm only 5'3'', but I could only imagine that Elisalex is a super tall lady with extremely long limbs in person. 

Now a few notes on the construction, and instructions. When I made this pattern (the bodice anyway) last time, I did not read the instructions, as I wasn't lining the bodice, or using the skirt, so it was really just a straightforward princess seamed bodice. But this time I paid more attention to the instructions. 

For a beginner/intermediate pattern, I think the instructions could do with more details and tips. I don't mean this to be a criticism, as I do think it's a well drafted pattern, but for people who might be sewing a princess seam or lining a bodice for the first time, here are a few things that I would expect especially from an Indie pattern, as they would no doubt help beginners develop their sewing techniques:

1) For a smoother finish of the princess seams, staystitching and clipping on the side front seams would help achieve a more professional finish. I use this article here on threads. 

2) There could be more blurb on how to finish the seams which will be hidden under the lining. Here's what I did:

Can you see it? For both the fashion fabric and lining, I sewed a parallel line close to the seam in the seam allowance, before trimming the excess and pressing the seams towards the side. 

3) After joining lining to bodice at the neckline and armholes, I think there's a crucial step missing -- grading, and understitching as far as you can. I referred back to my last (and only) fully lined dress before, my modest raspberry dress, and I looked at the instructions again (McCalls 5921) closely. Grading and understitching in my opinion is the key to make the lining or facing lie flat inside the dress, without riding up to be on shown on the outside. Here's another in-progress photo before I pulled the lining out of each shoulders. 

Can you see that I've trimmed the lining at the armhole, and have graded, clipped and understitched the neckline? 

4) Comparing to the detailed instructions on McCalls 5921, I was disappointed to find that for step 8, this pattern stated "this is a little fiddly and unfortunately impossible to clarify with a drawing so please read carefully", when I could clearly see a drawing done for the McCalls pattern. 

Other than the above, I do think that the pattern is well drafted, and overall the instructions are ok, albeit a little basic. It's lightheartedly written, with little tips for a couple of steps, and I liked that there's space for the notes to be made at the back of the instructions booklet. Although I don't think I am very much a By Hand London type of girl, I can see how this style could be appealing to a lot of people.  

I realise that I may have started off a bit negative about the instructions here (I'd like to think it's more constructive, as opposed to negative), so credit when it's due -- I would say that the somewhat basic instructions were made up by the detailed sew-along for this pattern. Although obviously I missed that by about a year and a half, a quick glance shows that it provided more details and pictures on the construction, as well as a platform for Q&As which is great. 

Anyhow, ignoring all that geeky talk, I am very happy with how this dress turned out - it's exactly as I envisaged when I purchased the pattern and fabric. I don't feel silly in the tulip skirt, and I would be very proud to wear this to the upcoming weddings! 

Small bust adjustment - part 3

After the recent Sew Dolly Clackett dress, it's time for the 3rd instalment of the SBA tutorials series. This part will deal with a SBA on a princess seamed top or dress. This is probably the easiest adjustment compared to Part 1 and Part 2, so enjoy the simplicity!

First thing first, I know that some find princess seams a pain to sew. Having sewn quite a lot of princess seams (my wedding dress had such construction), I have found that the a smooth finish can be achieved by following this tutorial. 

Now this little tip is out of the way, let's get started with the tutorial. 

I say that princess seams are super easy to adjust, because all you need to do is to "shave off" some of the excess curve. Normally I take the piece with the outside curve, i.e. the side front (I'm using the By Hand London Elisalex pattern here), and simply smooth out the curve around the bust area. 

I'm demonstrating this here using the pink highlighter:

A close up:

I use the French curve for this, but this can also be achieved free hand. 

The next step is to cut off the excess following the pink line, and then you are good to go!  

Note that I often find that the pattern piece with the outside curve (side front in this case) is prone to stretching, and end up being longer than the inside curve piece (centre front in this case), so "smoothing out" the curve actually helps with this problem. 

I should add the usual caveat now that as with the other 2 parts, this is simply what I do to adjust for a smaller than B cup bust, rather than the "right" way. It works for me, and I hope it does work for you too :)

As always, any questions please ask, and I'll do my best to answer. 

Burda Jamie Shift Dress in leafy blue

Hello, I hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend. Today I have a simple summer dress to share with you, and it's my first make from the Burdastyle Vintage Modern book, which, shamefully, I have had since Christmas 2012. Don't get me wrong, I really do like the book, as well as the patterns that came with it, it's just I've never quite had the patience with tracing from overlapping lines and adding seam allowances with the patterns in the Burda Style magazine, and the same goes with the book. 

But finally, after looking through my stash for a 1960s simple shift dress with only diagonal darts with no luck, I suddenly remembered the Jamie dress, with its neat lines and square ish neckline. And as it's a straightforward construction, I decided to roll my sleeves up, and get on with it. Guess what? It wasn't all that bad, and it was worth the effort. 

Some of you might remember my Experiment Dress a while ago, and how the whole 60s look and I didn't see eye to eye (though I will have you known that I wore that dress on a recent trip to Dubai, and it worked quite well), so I took extra care this time to make the loose fitting style work for me this time, without having to add a thousand darts to define the waist and completely change the look.  

I first graded the size down to a 30, for a less baggy fit overall, and chopped the length by 3cm, as I think shift dresses look more fun, and less grandma like on me when they sit well above the knee. Then after about 20 minutes of tracing and adding seam allowances, I was ready to go. 

I used a lovely summery viscose (how I love the material) in a leafy blue print for its drape qualities. And overall I think it worked well. Unlike my last attempt with the 60s look, I am definitely getting the vibe from this little number. Although the fit is a loose one, after I took in 0.5cm on each side seam, I don't feel like I'm wearing a big potato sack, so that's something! 

Speaking of the fabric, I did have a tale to tell. I bought 2 metres at a market in Reading off a roll for a cheerful £1.50 per metre, but the condition for the purchase was that I must buy a "matching" fabric of the same quantity. WHAT?! It was confusing to know what "matching" meant, until I saw just the perfect fabric for it -  a viscose in exactly the lighter shade of blue, the colour of those leaves! So I ended up buying 2 metres of that as well. Whilst I am completely over the moon with getting 2 lovely pieces of viscose, 4 metres in total, for a mere £6, to this date I am still perplexed about why I had to buy both. But I have to ask, has anyone else had the same experience before?!  

But you probably see where I'm going with this... As I have the perfect "matching" (or contrasting) fabric in my stash, I have been fighting hard against the urge to make a belt to go with it. The "let's just embrace the 60s vibe" side of me is currently winning, so I haven't bothered with a belt as yet. But what do you think? Should I make one as an optional accessory? 

This dress also have another great quality - although it has a zipper at the centre back, I'm able to get in and out of it without bothering with the zipper. It may not seem like a significant benefit to you, but as my plan is to use this pattern again with some lovely Indian silk charmeuse that I bought in Dubai (for about £3.50 per metre - are you jealous?), the fewer seams the better. But let me caveat this before you try it at home -- it will all depend on how flexible your arms are! Whilst it might just about work for me, it may be a struggle for someone else so do make sure you measure it all out before taking my words for it that this can work as a pullover dress. 

That's all I have to say about this dress. It's simple, easy to sew and wear. I've got an upcoming work trip to Houston (followed by a 2 night stop in NYC -- the garment district, here I come!!) very soon, and I'm sure this will be in the suitcase with me ;)

As usually, I am always pleased to hear from you, so any views please share! And more importantly, if you have had a similar experience as me above, I NEED to know! 

Ready for spring jacket

Hello all! Hope you are having a nice weekend. 

I've finally completed my first jacket! I was initially going to make this ready for autumn, but then autumn came and went, so now it's ready in time for spring! 

I used the New Look 6035 pattern, view A. You might remember Lauren's version last year from the Sewing Bee! I used this pattern as the jacket is unlined -- I thought I'd ease my way into the wonderful world of jackets! 

I'm happy to report back that it wasn't that hard to make! I don't know what I was expecting, but as it turned out, the construction of this jacket wasn't all that different from a princess lined top. The lapel was a bit of a challenge, but nothing out of the ordinary. If I were to make this pattern again, though, I would look to make the lapel a bit more narrow, but it doesn't bother me too much the way it is. 

I don't actually know what the fabric is...I want to say it's somewhere between a twill, viscose and a poly blend. It has a very soft hand, and is comfortable to wear. I really liked the dark red/wine colour and how soft it is, so had to have it!  

Very weirdly, the only alteration that I had to make was to let the bottom half of the sleeves out a bit. Now I had no idea that I had disproportionately massive forearms, but New Look has shown me just how blissfully unaware I was... The rest of the jacket fitted fine, if not a little on the loose side for my liking (you might have noticed that the button is a little off centre to pull the jacket in), but I ended up letting out each sleeve by just under 2cm in the forearm area!! Without the alteration I could just about get my (massive) forearms through the sleeves, but bending my elbow was a chore. I certainly wouldn't be doing what the lady is doing on the envelope! After the alterations I could just about roll up the sleeves. 

Overall, though, I was pretty pleased with how it's turned out. It's certainly wearable, and I have not been put off making more jackets in the future. Now we just need spring to arrive, as I'm ready for it! 

How about you? Are you ready for spring yet? 

Mccall's 2401 - blurry version

Mccall's... here I come! 

Yep, it's my first Mccall's pattern. First impression - fantastic! Once the fitting issue is resolved, I loved how the dress turned out and just how simple it is. I'm already making a second, and less blurry, version of this.  

And yes, I AM wearing my wedding shoes (and again yes, I did wear pink shoes to my wedding!)- they go with the dress rather well, no?

I love this fabric. It's bright, yet blurry and almost make you feel out of focus. It's a cotton with Spandex from my local favourite, Fabricland, at £5 a metre. It's really easy to sew - this was actually my first time sewing with fabric with a bit of stretch, so I used my stretch needle (not sure if it's necessary though?) It was really comfortable to wear too. I enjoyed the whole experience so much that I have already purchased another couple of metres of stretch cotton! It is supposed to be in a beautiful turquoise (I bought it online) and I can't wait to have it. 

Now the pattern - Mccall's claimed that it was easy, and it really was. 2 main pattern pieces for the dress (front and back), the facings and sleeves, and you are done! The whole thing took me half a day from day to finish, which was a record for me, especially for a dress that involves more than just lots of shirring. 

I adore the simple yet classic design - it really helps show off fabrics like this, doesn't it? I would say that you could wear it to all sorts of occasions... but perhaps not with my choice of fabric. For example, the dress code for our dress down Friday is " nothing too disco", so I think this safely rules my blurry dress out. It's definitely too "disco".  

As I mentioned before, there were some fitting issues. This pattern runs from a size 6, which based on its measurements, would fit me fine. However, the envelope suggests that the finished garment has a chest measurement of 34 inches. It may not sound so huge but why would anyone who has a 30.5 measurement want to have that much ease? What does Mccall's think that we are going to do when wearing a shift dress like this? 

So anyway, I made a few adjustments to the size 6 pattern to make it fit me:

• I made a small bust adjustment and managed to remove the side dart (it's a bit depressing really!) and taken the bodice part of the dress in in width by 1cm or so; 
• I made a petite adjustment; 
• I widened all darts by 1cm on each side so taken the dress in at the waist by 8cm in total;
• I widened the seam allowances by 0.5cm on both sides thereby reducing the overall width by 2cm;
• I made a wide seam for the zipper; and
• I shortened the dress by another 5cm (and still made a extra wide hem). 

They may sound rather drastic, but bearing in mind that I was working with a stretch cotton, I really didn't want that much ease at all. So for the second version of the dress that I'm working on, I'm using a not-stretchy-at-all polyester crepe so I'm going to not shrink the dress by as much. but enough about that - you'll soon find out! 

Fresh as a daisy

Dear readers, before we start the double bill this weekend, do you like the new look of my blog? It's coming up to a year now since the birth of this baby, so I thought it was time to give it a simpler and fresher look. 

Anyhow, I was too excited to have finished my second version of Simplicity 2444, and just couldn't wait to share it with you. 

I think I will gladly add this to my mini-moon wardrobe, and I just hope that the weather will be nice and hot in Paris!

I just love how summery it looks - the fabric was a polyester that I bought from my Prague trip. Now I don't usually go for manmade materials other than viscose, but I fell in love with this daisy print and gladly paid about £10 a metre for it. 

What's more, this dress gave me a chance to wear those yellow shoes that I've had for a while ;)

I made a few adjustments to the pattern based on my wearable toile: 

• I cut a size 4 this time, and graded to a 6 at the waistline (as the waist was tight enough last time!)
• I made a small bust adjustment ("SBA"), having finally come to terms with the fact that I do, in fact, need to do this for most patterns... I think usually commercial patterns "cater for" a B cup, with a number of exceptions (eg Colette patterns have a C cup). I followed the very helpful tutorial here, which oddly meant that I ended up with a bodice pattern with only one set of darts rather than 2! But it did fit me much better. 
• I omitted the centre front seam of the skirt, and cut it on fold instead. To ensure that the side seams still align, I took the seam allowances off at the sides and it worked fine. 
• I took 15cm off the skirt length this time, and was happy with the length. 
• I did the neckline facing, but unfortunately the fabric was rather sheer so it showed through! It bothered me no end so I unpicked it all... and finished the neckline with a self-fabric bias tape instead. 

          This is what it looked like with the facing... ewww 

              I used the tutorial here to finish the neckline. Here're a couple of in-progress photos:

 
And that's it, my second version of the great Simplicity 2444. I love this pattern, especially now I have managed to get it to fit. I can't wait to make it again! 

Pretty please with a cherry on top

My (dare I say, first) version of Simplicity 2444 is here! 

I made this as a wearable toile to try and get the best fit for this pattern, as I envisage using it to make a lot more dresses in the future. 


This is my second Project Runway pattern - as with 2282, I loved the versatility of this pattern and how creative it encourages you to be. I made the simple version with no frills (by which I mean sleeves or waist ties), and was happy with the result after all the alterations... 


I made it with contrasting fabric - the bodice with some medium weight white cotton with cherries (you may need to zoom in to see them) and the skirt is just red cotton. Can I reiterate how much I LOVE sewing with cotton? It's so well-behaved - easy to measure, to cut, to pin and to stitch... I could go on for days. 


Having read the pattern reviews about the sizing (that it runs a little bit small), I cut a 6 (usually I would cut a 4 with Simplicity) and I think it was the right decision. The skirt was the right size, but I had to make a small bust adjustment ("SBA") on the bodice. 


Instead of doing it on the pattern pieces, I played around with the already cut bodice pieces. Bearing in mind that this was supposed to be a toile, I felt brave enough to alter it. To reduce the excess horizontal ease, I lengthened two of the bodice darts to form princess seams that finished at the armholes. Then I had to deal with excess length in the centre of the bodice - the contrasting fabrics really aren't very forgiving! I took in the waist seams a number of times until the waistline was level. Phew. 


This was also the first time I made pockets :) I'm not sure whether I'll include them in my next version of this pattern but it was nice to be able to tick pockets off my "to-sew list". I'm feeling proud about the pockets...

My other thoughts on the pattern? I agree with a number of reviews that the centre front seam on the skirt is not necessary - actually the waist was just right with a size 6 (whereas usually I would cut a 4 on simplicity) and  for some reason the waist seam on the skirt turned out shorter than the bodice waist. I ended up enlarging the darts on the bodice to make the side seams line up so cutting the skirt front piece on the fold without adjusting for the seam allow may work out better. 


I did like the bodice darts - there are supposed to be 2 sets which is quite unusual, but of course I turned a set into seams for the SBA. I also liked the fullness - I don't usually wear very full skirts this was quite comfortable to wear, especially when I can put my hands in the pockets :)


Would I make this again? Of course! I think my wearable toile has taught me a couple of things about this pattern, and I'm envisaging my next version to have sleeves, with a SBA already done to the pattern (properly!) and without the centre front seam on the skirt. I think it would make a lovely summer dress. 


Finally, I would like to leave you with one thought -- I'm so determined! Just look at my stride... 

P.S. I was told to "walk elegantly" when that photo was taken. 

and P.P.S. All those pics were taken at our wedding reception venue - how lovely?!

To-do list for the weekend

Now that I have given the assembly of the dress more thought, I have jotted down what I would like to achieve this weekend.

To-do

·         Reposition the zipper so the corselette fits perfectly.

·         Test whether the bottom of the corselette should be left open.

·         Sew organza selvage onto the right side of the corselette top bias edge.

·         Decide if top layer of netting should be attached to foundation or skirt lining.

·         Implement – under structure should then be completed!

·         Decide length of lining – to consider extending the train at the side seams and to lengthen the current pattern (check if it’s been shortened) by up to 10cm (to allow for heels).

·         Decide on depth of back opening – to consider using a zip at the bottom so the opening is large enough for me to get into the dress...

·         Adjust pattern accordingly

·         Cut lining – place centre back on selvage

·         Attach garment sections of lining

·         Test fit on dress form with the understructure

·         If it’s a good fit, overcast the seams

·         Press open the seams and catchstitch

So by Sunday night I should have the understructure done (with temporary closure until much nearer the time) and the lining as well... these are ambitious plans but let's see how I get on...