Sewmystyle kimono and Carolyn pyjamas

So this month I went from thinking that I wouldn't join in the Sewmystyle challenge to getting completely carried away and making an entire matching set.

 

(By the way I never thought I'd be appearing in public in my pyjamas!)  It started because I had 5 metres of this lovely Liberty fabric in my stash.  Now before the mathematical among you think that equates to £110 of fabric, this was one of my bargains bought at Standfast and Barrat in Lancaster on their last day of offering Liberty seconds and it cost only £14.98 for the lot!  I know,  I could kick myself for not buying more.

I did cheat a bit this month, because I couldn't justify buying the Suki Kimono pattern, when I already had this one, which is very similar and from the Great British Sewing Bee from Fashion With Fabric.  The pattern is straightforward, though I think I could have gone down a size.  I bought a bit of Tana Lawn for the belt and facing, it was more yellow than I wanted and I had forgotten how see-through Tana Lawn can be.  I French seamed all the seams, but came to a problem at the under arms.  All looked beautiful on the inside, but then when I turned it right-side out at the curved underarm seam it wouldn't lie properly and I have had to cut through at points, which now looks a mess.  I suppose there just isn't any way you can French seam a curve like this, lesson for the future.  Do any of you have any suggestions?

I've had the Carolyn pyjamas in my pattern stash, and as I had enough fabric left I carried on.  I cut a size 10 for the top and an 8 for the bottoms.  The top is a good fit and didn't need any changes.  I put on extra 1" in the rise on the bottoms as I don't like anything on my lower waist.  I do have a small waist and find that any lower waistlines seem to try and move up to the smaller part (that probably sounds nonsense but hopefully you will get the gist.  The front is still too low and I would like another 1" there  I didn't bother with the faux-fly. Also these look the right size, in terms of comfort I wish I'd gone for the next size up.  I have to say this fabric is lovely to wear as pyjamas.

This is a great pattern, though quite a lot of work in it.  What I really like is that you can make the insides so neat.  You won't be surprised I French seamed everything.  I'm getting pretty good at setting in sleeves with French seams.

I has just enough fabric left to make my first  ogden cami.  I had to make the back facing from some different fabric, but that's quite useful for spotting the back.  There has been tons written about the cami.  I'm not sure whether it's really for me.  I'm not keen on showing my brastraps and in the lawn it is a bit baggy.  However, it is lovely for hot nights and I might try one more in a drapey fabric.  The only change I made was to reduce the strap length by around 5/8".

If I had more fabric I would also have made the shorts!

Great British Sewing Bee Colour Blocked Dress

I may be a week later than the vintage episode of the show, but here is my colour-blocked dress from the Great British Sewing Bee book From Stitch to Style.

Our College show this year was Made in Dagenham (and a great show it was).  I had wanted to have a go at this pattern and it seemed like it would be a nice homage to make it to wear to watch the show which is set in the late 60s.  So I cut it out last weekend and wore it on Thursday night.

I really enjoyed making it and wearing it!  Someone spotted it and was impressed that I "run it up so quickly". 

I love these colours together and it looks just like I wanted.  I cut a size 14 bust, grading to a 12 in the waist and hips.  It may be because the fabric is slightly stretchy but it turned out quite large and I had to take 5/8" extra in at the side seams, a size 12 would have been a better fit.  I also narrowed the shoulders by 5/8" and raised the waist line by just under 1" (my usual adjustments).  The shape is a little boxy. Also I think there is a problem with the pattern, my bottom black band was about 4" too short (pattern piece 8), fortunately I had enough to cut it again.

 

 

The back is absolutely plain and maybe it would be nicer colour blocked as well.   Generally I love the fabric.  It's a stretchy cotton from Minerva Crafts at £7.99 a metre and available in 20 colours!  I used all the same fabrics, however, the white does seem to be a little lighter (that might just be the colour) and you can see above is a little transparent.

 

I didn't like the way the pattern fitted the facing so that the side seam joined seamed the facing and dress which I thought wouldn't give a nicely finished underarm.  I used the method in this SewOverIt Vlog.  Overall this was reasonably successful, I got a lovely finish around the arms, however on one side of the neck I got a funny pull (see below).  I think this was due to overstitching too near.  I would give it another try though.

 

 

Definitely one of my better zip insertions!  Now for the rooky mistake.  I caught the white fabric in the overlocker as you can see below.  I didn't have enough white fabric to recut, so I had to unpick all the seams and cut a wider black panel and reduce the white panel so that the cut is in the seam allowance.  You can never get complacent.  Overall though I love it.

This weekend we had a great time in London.  Even though I lived there for 8 years, we really enjoyed having a tourist weekend.  We rode on the BigBus and had a river cruise.

 

We went to a fabulous production of Madame Butterfly at the Coliseum, only my second live opera (and I fell asleep in the first one).  We loved it. 

 

 

.. and on Sunday we went to Hampton Court.  Gemma and myself are fascinated by the Tudors.  My maiden name is Parr and we have a family tree traced back to Catherine Parr's brother, so I particularly love anything from the Henry VIII period.  We thought Hampton Court really had the feeling of history, loved it!  It was particularly gratifying at a difficult time in the UK to experience our wonderful history, culture and capital city, which I hope will remain part of the EU.

 

 

 

 

GBSB Drapey Knit Dress and a mustard Oslo

I think this is a bit of a marmite dress, you love it or hate it .... on the whole I love it!  Not my usual style at all, and my hemlines seem to be going up as I get older.  This is The Great British Sewing Bee Fashion with Fabric Drapey Knit Dress

 

 I had been intrigued by lots of versions, and particularly liked Karen's version which she made in a finer knit fabric than the suggested double knit/ponte. I had seen the rather crazy fabric at Fabric Godmother, with no idea what to make from it, but loved the colours and the 60s feel, and having seen Karen's thinner version thought it might be worth a go.  In fact I think overall the thinner jersey is better.  There is a an overlap (which ends up being 4 layers including the facing) and I think that this just wouldn't lie right if you were using a ponte roma.

I love the sleeves with all their bagginess which then goes into a slim cuff.

The construction is quite strange and rather fantastic.  The one piece back showcases a large pattern.

I cut a size medium and didn't make any adjustments except to leave out the pockets which I felt might spoil the line.

Whilst I was in the mood for knits I made another Seamwork Oslo.  It's not as snuggly as my last one (which I made last Christmas), but this was fairly cheap mustard boucle knit which I bought at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show.



 

The colour is great and I've worn it several times already.

 

With no lining, it does only take a few hours to make.

Strangely the stretch on this was vertical and I should have cut it that way, so the cuffs are a little tight, but still wearable.

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas.  I had a lovely time with Dan and Gemma who made a lovely Christmas lunch.

Just to prove I have worn the cardigan (though here with my Coco)!

And of course, lots of stokes with the lovely Monty!

Wishing you all a wonderful 2016, now if I can just get rid of this cold!

Butterick 5982, a bit of Great British Sewing Bee Inspiration for Spring for Cotton challenge

#springforcotton

 



With the sun shining beautifully last week, I felt the need to make a summery dress and at the last minute I also wanted to enter Lucille's Spring for Cotton challenge.  Ever since the first episode of The Great British Sewing Bee series 3 I had been lusting after Lorna's poppy dress (couldn't get a better picture than this).

I tracked down the fabric on Ebay (just entered poppy fabric in the search).

 

 

I chose Butterick 5982 version C (centre), which has a bit of a vintage 50's influence.  It's taken me two years to finally understand that most patterns are made for a B cup (I have to ask why, is this the commonest cup size?).  So I am looking now for patterns which come in different cup sizes, and this pattern comes in A-D sizes.   This made fitting the bust much easier without the hassle of a full-bust adjustment.

 

 

I love the skirt, it's full but not too bulky which is a more flattering style.

I've photographed it on the inside so that you can get a better view.  There is a flat panel at the centre front and the back, then two pleats followed by fairly heavy gathering round the front to the back pleats.

 

 

I have to say though, there is a bit of a Marilyn effect in the wind!

 

 
I like it with or without a belt (and pearls of course!)

The pattern called for a bodice lining, but I felt for summer this wouldn't really enhance the style or wearability, so I drafted a facing.  I had 2.11 metres of fabric and there wasn't enough for a self-facing so I used some black cotton.  Also not enough fabric for any attempt at pattern matching or placing.

The 'v' worked reasonably well and I top-stitched around the neck rather than understitching.

I cut a size 14 and the fit is pretty good, but needed small adjustments:

Added 3" to the length
Shortened the bodice by 1"
Increased the seam allowance on the zip by 1" at the waist
Moved the shoulder seams lower  by 5/8" and then lowered the arm scythe by 1/2"

The sleeves feel a little tight and I would put a bit more fabric in them and lower the arm scythe by 5/8" next time and I think there will be a next time.  I think this is a very versatile vintage-style dress which I hope to perfect.    The Spring for Cotton challenge finishes on April 30th so I was against the clock!  I cut out the pattern and dress on Friday night, did about 2 hours on Saturday and finished on Sunday, so for me a really quick make!

Butterick 4790; the Great British Sewing Bee Walk-away dress

Along with large amounts of the nation I bought Butterick 4790 after the Great British Sewing Bee.  I'm not absolutely sure why, as it isn't a dress that I think I will have much opportunity to wear, and I have to confess I think I just  got caught up in the programme.  Anyway I had some cheap cotton in my stash from ebay so it hasn't cost too much. 

 

It's a very difficult pattern to adapt.   I cut a size 14.   I raised the waist by 1" with difficulty as it interfered with the bodice fastening, and I still think the waist could be a touch higher.   Presumably drafted for a B cup I tried to give a little more room for the bust, but it is still pretty stretched there, plus the darts are a little too close together for me.  On the other hand the back looks a little baggy.

The skirt is massive.  I made a stupid mistake cutting out and only cut out one half of the skirt, I only realised this when I was watching the programme again!  I then had to scrimp around to fit another half in, which I actually had to cut in two quarters and then make 3 seams in total in the skirt.  The skirt does have quite a lot of weight in it which does pull down quite a bit.

 

This isn't a pattern that is easy to make a really good job of.  The loops are just stitched on to hold the buttons, and to me it looks a bit messy.  The most expensive part of the make was the 4 cards of bias-binding I needed.  I hated the satin bias binding.  It frayed and stretched so easily and I found making nice edges difficult.

The front bit is like an apron (in case you are wondering why my dressform wears a bra - its in an attempt to make the shape a little more like me).  You can see the bust is a bit stretched here.

So in summary I think this is a so-so dress and not a pattern I would repeat.  Could you make it in 3 hours, well I think if you weren't too fussy.  I chose to slip-stitch all the bias-binding on, so it took me quite a bit longer.

 This was just one of the garments I sewed in the Easter holidays along with the Sureau dress, a liberty blouse, a skirt and a pair of trousers!  Busy, busy.  I also had a lovely day out with a sewing friend.  We went to Carl Stuart's taylors in Ossett, Yorkshire so he could a bespoke suit made.  Watching a professional taylor of 50 years take the measurements was amazing and then we were lucky enough to look round their factory, really interesting.  The staff working there were amazing, so fast, and I watched the women doing the final pressing for ages.  I could learn a lot from her.

 

 

Then we went to Saltaire in Bradford  to have lunch.  Saltaire used to be one of the largest wool producers in the country and it's a fascinating place.

We've also enjoyed some lovely walks including Monty the puppy.

A first swimming lesson   (Dan looks wrapped up for winter here!)

Still so cute!

 

I've been back at work for a week now, and because we have a major review in two weeks things are very busy and a bit stressed, so my sewing time is even more appreciated.  I'm half-way through a skirt and almost finished another Dior inspired jacket.  What are you sewing?