Linen SOI Shift Dress

After the success of my previous Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress I decided to use some fabric I bought for my birthday in November from Sew Over It (it looks like its sold out now - sorry folks!).
It is a beautiful autumnal floral printed linen which has a lovely weight and drape to it. I paired it with a shocking pink silk lining that has been in my stash since my textile student days in the 1990's!

I sewed the outer shell and lining of the dress using the sewing machine but most of the final finish was completed by hand.

Here are some close up shots of the dress in construction including a nifty way to finish a dress or top without the need to make a fiddly rouleau loop. The black loop is an elastic hair-band cut in half and I added a square of felt to reinforce where the button is sewn into position.

The 'rouleau' loop just needs to be fixed into position between the seams. I hand-stitched through the knot to make sure it was very secure - if you are a fan of machine stitching I would slow down the speed to make sure it manages to go over the lump of the knot.

I chose to hand embroider the neckline with some embroidery floss from my stash. (I selected the 4th from the right). As I decided to line the dress from the start I eliminated the facings of the original pattern and sewed the lining to the neckline and hand-stitched it to the arm sythe. Aside from the aesthetic appeal of hand-embroidery the main reason I embroidered the neckline was to stop the lining from showing and to fix the outer-shell and lining from shifting and moving around.

I am really happy with the final dress and enjoyed spending the time of the hand-finishes including a hand-stitched hem on the outer dress and lining.

I love the shocking pink silk lining which feels very luxurious!

Pattern: Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress on 50% off sale (2nd version) = £3.50

Fabric: 1.5 metres of printed  linen mix from Sew Over It = £17.00

Lining: 1 metre of silk lining from stash = free

Gutterman Thread: Black and pink from stash = free

Embroidery Thread: Dusky pink 03350 = free

Hairband: From stash = free

Button: From stash = free

Total: £20.50

Check out lots of other cool crafty blogs at #handmademonday organised by Julia of Sum of their Stories.

Stash-Busting 60's SOI Shift Dress

A couple of years ago I picked up this amazing 1960's / early 1970's maxi length skirt from a charity shop. It was a bargain at a mere £2.99! I was drawn to the gorgeous print with a combination of my favourite colours in it.

It has sat in my stash for quite some time patiently waiting for inspiration to strike. I knew I didn't want to wear it as a maxi skirt so took some time unpicking the seams. It had been lovingly hand-made by a skilled person many years ago. Check out the careful construction details; hand-basted waistband, hand-stitched hooks and eyes, finished seams:

After unpicking the skirt I had three pretty decent sized pieces of fabric. It was then I knew I wanted to make the Sew Over It shift dress that I bought from the Fashion and Textiles Museum shop sale for £7.

Here are some shots of the final dress. I lengthened the dress by about 6cm and did a slight grading between sizes from the bust to the hips.

There isn't a zip at the back which makes this a great beginners pattern. I sewed a hook and eye fastening, which after wearing for a day opened up a few times so I will most likely change to a button and loop when I get a chance.

I decided to line the dress with some stash fabric (leftover from my Sew Over It 1960's coat lining) so I could wear the dress more easily with tights. To do this I cut out the front and back pattern pieces, sewed the darts and left the opening at the back as per the outer shell. The dress pattern includes a front and back neck facing and as I had already sewed these to the dress before I decided to line the dress I just improvised the attachment of the lining by placing the neckline facing over the top of the lining and hand-stitching it to the facing. I am pretty happy with this method.

I hand-finished the back opening so the lining and facing were carefully stitched into position. I am really happy with the final dress. The 3/4 length sleeves are lovely and the overall fit is pretty good for me. I can see a few more of these in my wardrobe this year.

One thing I am currently working on with the small piece of remaining fabric is two lined patch pockets for the front of the dress. I will post about it when I have finished them.

Pattern: Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress on 50% off sale = £7

Fabric: 2 metres of 1960's cotton recycled from vintage skirt = £2.99

Lining: 1.5 metres of lining from Goldhawk Road from stash = free

Gutterman Thread: Red from stash = free

Hook and eye: from inherited grandma's stash = free

Total: £10

Have a lovely weekend everybody!

Check out lots of other cool blogs at #handmademonday organised by Julia of Sum of their Stories.

Marvellous Mabel

Last June I attended a fabric swap arranged by Kristy from Scientific Sewing where I swapped three bags of fabric and patterns for only three pieces of fabric in an attempt to destash.

This is what I selected. A 2.5 metre piece of mustard knit fabric for practise / wearable toiles, 3/4 metre of a navy speckled sweatshirt jersey and 2 metres of red spotty cotton. I have since given away the red cotton, the mustard jersey is currently a work in progress with a 1960's / 1970's pattern just leaving the small piece of navy jersey.

I initially had in mind a Linden sweatshirt using the navy for the sleeves due to the limited amount. I had a stroke of inspiration after reading Zoe from So Zo's blog about quick re-fashions. I decided to make a pencil skirt using Colette's simple Mabel pattern.

Cue the pattern Jenga below to get the pieces to fit!

The Colette Mabel pattern instructions are very well written with clear set-by-step guides throughout. I used the overlocker at work to finish the seams and it came together really quickly.

Not bad for a quick make with a small piece of fabric from the stash!

I can see myself making another Mabel skirt as it was so comfy to wear. I have some Girl Charlee UK black sweatshirt fabric left over from SewBrum 2015 raffle winnings so it looks like it could be a great wardrobe staple.

Pattern: Colette Mabel bought on discount sale = £9

Fabric: 1 metre of navy sweatshirt jersey from fabric swap = free

Gutterman Thread: Navy from stash

Total: £9

This post is linked to #handmademonday organised by Julia of Sum of their Stories.

Stash Busting Works in Progress

This morning I spent an hour working on a couple of ongoing projects. After reading Jenny's review about Tilly's Cleo dungaree dress I decided to draft and cut out a lining for my burgundy needlecord version too. I had some cerise pink lining fabric in my stash leftover from a Colette Ginger skirt I made years ago.

To make a lining I drafted the front and back sections using the main pattern pieces and removing the facing section. You can see the orange drafting lines including a 1.5 cm seam allowance.

The other thing to consider is removing the seam allowance along the centre front or back line depending whether you are making the mini or midi version of the dress.

The next thing I cut out was a Merchant & Mills Camber Set top using the last of the John Lewis 'Splodge' print viscose which I made a Liesl & Co Everyday Skirt out of here.

And finally I cut out all the pieces of this vintage pattern that I bought for £1 from Past Caring in Islington. I thought I could make it out of this lovely viscose from my stash which I bought at Guthrie & Ghanie. Annoyingly there isn't quite enough fabric! As this pattern definitely needs a fabric with drape I may need to *buy* something new to continue with this project. Oopps!

Now I just need to find the right fabric for this cool dress. Any ideas sewing friends?

Stash-Busting Patchwork Cushions

I was inspired to make my friend Charlotte a present for her flat when I saw her colourful bookcase. I also spotted this rather awesome mural on Carnaby Street which reminded me of patchwork. The two ideas merged into a fun stash-busting and selfless sewing project in the form of quilted patchwork cushions!

I had some charm packs of patchwork squares left over from when I made my friends Nik and Cheryl a purple and green baby quilt  and luckily the colours remaining were natural, orange, olive, coral and yellow which worked out perfectly.

I arranged the patchwork squares until I was happy with the composition then quickly sewed them together. It was at this point I realised I wanted to add an extra level of texture in the form of quilting. With good stash-busting karma I was very happy to have just enough quilting wadding left for the two cushions!

On one cushion I quilted a series of L shaped lines creating a cross effect on the front of the cushion whereas on the second I free-quilted parallel lines.

I am pretty happy with both cushions and I hope that my friend enjoys her present. I really enjoyed the time spent making these gifts and I think they will be very comfy additions to Charlotte's sofa!

By Hand London Charlie Dress

A couple of months back Simply Sewing offered a free pattern for a lovely summer dress. I was immediately smitten with the slightly 70's vibe and a close resemblance to one of my favourite green Top Shop dresses circa the early noughties.

I was even happier when I realised the 'Charlie Dress' was a new release from the awesome girls at By Hand London.

Favourite Top Shop RTW from the 2000's

The free pattern came as a two-part piece (bodice pattern and instruction in issue 12 and then instruction for the skirt section and final finish with issue 13).

I decided the Charlie Dress should be made from a patterned gem from the 50% off Liberty Sale purchase in January called Curly Whirly. I started construction of the princess seamed bodice with great enthusiasm and even traced the pattern. I know, get me!

Unfortunately, as sometimes these things go, I didn't get a chance to sew the whole bodice together in one session and it sat in the UFO pile for a quite a while. The next time I had the inclination or energy to continue I realised my notches were not that easy to see and ended up sewing the individual bodice sections together wrong about 4 times.

I finally sewed the bodice together and measured out the quarter circle skirt using the By Hand London circle skirt calculator on their website. I finished the hem with some blue bias-binding I had in my stash.

The bodice had to be adjusted quite a bit to fit me and I am not 100% happy with the princess seam curves - more work needed here if I make another one. I will also probably move the straps further apart to be more in line with a regular bra strap position. I think I will also add some cute patch pockets too as in-seam pockets are not possible due to the quarter circle skirt construction.

Over all I am pretty happy with the dress. I am yet to see whether it will get much wear as the weather is still not quite warm enough for a cotton summer dress.
I will keep you posted if the sun comes out!

Pattern: By Hand London Charlie Dress = Free in Simply Sewing magazine over two volumes = £10

Fabric: Two metres of Liberty Tana Lawn 50% off online sale = £22.00

Gutterman Thread: Blue from stash

Total = £32.00