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.

Sew Over It Coco Jacket (Work-in-Progress)

I attended a three part evening workshop at Sew Over It in Clapham to make the Coco Jacket. I initially selected a black and white dogtooth fabric but felt like it would be too similar to the Prince of Wales checked wool fabric I used for my SOI Francine jacket and instead selected a blue wool-mix material with a black lining.

Overall, I really enjoyed the course but didn't quite have enough free-time between classes to complete the homework required for the last workshop (which ultimately meant I have a part-finished jacket) which I hope to finish in early January 2017! It was also great to meet some new sewing buddies, Steph, Susan and Sue. Kate who taught the course was totally lovely and I would be great to attend another class ran be her.

Enjoy some photos of the construction. I improved my skills with a number of techniques including:

• Traced the whole pattern including marking grainlines, notches, darts and hem lengths
• Drafting new sleeves (I added an extra 4cm to the length)
• Sewing two-part sleeves
• Inserting neck facing
• Clipping curved seams to improve the finish
• Using a tailors ham / sleeve ham to iron the seams
• Using a clapper to fix seams into position
• Iron on facings

My original choice of fabric which I then rejected for the blue wool-mix fabric

I still have to finish the jacket which shouldn't take too long (but I am really enjoying some sofa time with loved ones right now). Jobs left to do are:

• Hand baste the right sleeve into position
• Machine stitch left and right sleeve into position
• Hand stitch the lining onto the bottom of the jacket
• Machine stitch the sleeve lining onto outer fabric
• Hand stitch the sleeve lining around the sleeve arm sythe

1960's Coat Completed

Yeah, I've made my first ever coat!
Ok, so it has only taken me since the start of November 2014 to complete this beauty and was beginning to wonder if it wouldn't be ready until November 2015.
To re-capp, this is the 1960's coat from Sew Over It. I attended the workshops at the Clapham store and was taught by the lovely Julie Johnston who breaks down the coat construction into manageable steps. There is quite a bit of homework between classes but it is worth it in the end.

Pattern: Sew Over It 1960's coat
Fabric: Cashmere and wool blend from a shop on Goldhawk Road (£Expensive p/m)

What new things did I learn / do?

• Fusible facings on wool
• Clipped collars and shoulders to improve internal structure
• Internal shoulder pads
• Fully lined garment

Back to the 1980's - shoulder pad time!

Fushia pink lining

Tulip skirts sew completed!

Yahoooo, I completed my 'Sew Over It' Tulip skirts this weekend. I attended the second workshop session on the 4th June and this weekend was the first chance I have had to finish them!
As I mentioned in my first 'Sew Over It' post I decided to cut out and sew two skirts at the same time - which I pretty much managed to do over the two evening sewing sessions. All I needed to do was to hem both the blue and green skirts and atttach the blue skirt to the lining and hand sew the lining to the zip.

Here are the finished garments:

Enjoying the John Lewis rooftop garden in my newly completed Tulip Skirt

Checking out the lovely fabrics at Liberty's Haberdashery department  

The fit of the skirts are good - although I will need to get used to the fullness on the hip area. I was very happy with the concealed zip on both of the skirts and used some contrasting stash fabrics for the waistband linings.

What do you think?

UFO busting - Colette Ginger skirt

The first UFO (un-finished object) I have busted today is the cerise Ginger Colette skirt that I almost finished as part of a two-part sewing workshop at Ray Stitch in Islington back in June!  I would have got it finished during the workshop time if I hadn't tried to be clever and pimp the pattern to include pockets and extend the length of the pattern by about 4 cms.

The (ex) pockets in the side seam of the Colette Ginger skirt

I also decided to line the skirt, which again added to the construction time.... Enough excuses back to the finishing of the skirt. Well, after trying the skirt on with the addition of the side-seam pockets I realised that it badly affected the fall of the skirt and gave me extra 'hips'!!
Sooooo, after all that additional work I decided to sew up the regular side seams and cut out the pockets. I ironed a rolled hem on the skirt and lining and quickly sewed them up and here is the finished article!

Finished Colette Ginger skirt with lining!