Some very unseasonal sewing...

I bought the Merchant and Mills Workbook after visiting the Merchant and Mills stall at The Knit and Stitch show and falling in love with the simplicity of the Bantam top. I bought a metre of their tea rose wool which is beautifully drapey but also very sheer! Because it had such a loose weave the fabric was very difficult to work with and near on impossible to unpick.

The Bantam is a racer back vest with a dipped hem. You make your own bias binding, which was very tricky with such a loose weave. Merchant and Mills patterns are known for being generous on their sizing and I had to take the top in a lot at the bust but I definitely took it in slightly too much, which I feel has detracted from its drape.

I always use bias binding for any curved hems but sadly I didn't have enough fabric left to make any using the tea rose wool and I was concerned that shop bought binding would stop the drape of the top. I found it really difficult to do the curved hem neatly without bias binding and the result looks untidy. Any tips for curved hems without binding?

All in all, I like top but my struggles with the fabric have made it sloppy around the edges. I will definitely be making it again though and learning from my mistakes.

A little bit of sofa chic?

This was one of my UFOs I blogged about just after Christmas. I have been steadily trying to work my way through them!

I think that one of the reasons I took so long to finish it was because I have reservations about the fabric. It kind of reminds me of a sofa I had as a child...

Whilst I love the style of the skirt the fabric still hasn't necessarily grown on me...I'm just so undecided about this one!

I made the skirt using the Sew Over It Betty dress pattern and drafted a waist band to go with it. The skirt took just over a metre and a half of fabric which I bought from a local market. It's quite drapey yet is also of a medium weight which works nicely as a wintery full circle skirt.

Full circle skirts have to be my ultimate favourite style. I love how the fabric moves...

Perhaps if I wear it a few times the fabric will grow on me.

Happy sewing!

Unselfish sewing: Simplicity 1544

At Christmas time I decided to brave unselfish sewing. I love making clothes but they always have their quirks; a sleeve slightly too short or a button hole too tight. I wasn't sure if it was possible to love these 'quirks' if you hadn't spent hours slaving over it!

I decided to make a shirt for my boyfriend. After lots of consideration I used Simplicity 1544. I debated with using Colette Negroni but I wasn't too sure about the collar. Does anyone have any experience of Negroni? I made the shirt using brushed cotton which I bought from Ebay. After beginning cutting out I probably would have chosen a plain fabric rather than checks for my first shirt as it was hard to match these up. Although I have to say I am pretty proud of how well it matches up across the front.

There were lots of new skills to master when making this shirt which made it a really enjoyable project. It also gave me plenty of opportunities to practise the dreaded top stitching! I'm pretty proud of the straight seems which are top stitched but the curved ones are a bit more wobbly so it's definitely a skill I need to continue to practise!

The fit of the shirt is nice and runs true to size for the most part. The cuffs however seem to be huge! I should have compared them to one he already wears to check but I didn't think of this. If I made it again I would definitely reduce these by a couple of centimetres.

The shirt was very well received which has made me feel much more confident in making clothes for other people. How do you feel about sewing for others?

Cape crusader!

I blogged last week about The Emery dress I made for my brothers wedding. As this was a winter wedding and was going to be rather chilly I decided that I wanted to make a cape to wear on top.

I made it in wool fabric which I bought from the man outside Sainbury's. It is an old Hugo Boss wool and is a wool/poly/merino mix. The merino makes it feel really luxurious to touch and gives it a nice drape. I lined it in a light weight cotton which was also from the same place.

The pattern is from Lisa Confort's book Sew Over It Vintage. Her book doesn't contain any patterns but instead walks you through pattern self drafting. I absolutely love self drafting, any items I have made using it have always fit beautifully and I'm yet to have a failure (touch wood!) using this method. I would recommend a dress makers ruler though to make sure that any curves you create are accurate.

I'm really pleased with the combination of fabrics. The lining picks up the brown from the cape whilst the blue background seems to lift it.

Lisa completes her cape with leather buckles. I decided that I wanted a softer look so I made a bow which attaches to the other side using a popper.

The cape has plenty of volume which makes it beautifully easy to wear and gives it a floaty feel.

Whilst the cape is beautiful and kept me warm for a special occasion I definitely need to wait for the weather to warm up a bit before it becomes a well worn item. Roll on Spring!

An Emery...made just in time...

My brother recently decided to get married (with a few weeks notice) so I quickly began dreaming up dresses to make. I wanted to make a tulle dress similar to the one Carrie wore in the final episode in Sex and the City. Alas it just wasn't meant to be. I'll blog that failure when I've worked up the courage.

After messing around trying to make the 'Carrie dress' I had five days to make a dress and cape. That doesn't sound too bad until you factor in that three of these were taken up with Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day. This meant that the dress I settled upon needed to be a pattern I had and fabric from the stash. I settled on Christine Haynes's Emery dress and some gorgeous silk my mum bought my from Dubai.

All in all I'm actually rather glad that the previous dress failed. I felt so comfortable in this dress and in the end it felt more 'me'. The pattern was easy to make and I have to say that hands down her instructions are the most comprehension that I have ever sewn with. I sewed a size 2 grading to a size 3 on the hips. I didn't need to make any alterations to the pattern and I like the fit.

The silk worked beautifully with the pattern and provided a nice shape for the skirt.

The skirt has pockets which I always love having in skirts and dresses. The bodice is also fully lined which made the dress feel just that bit more special. I lined it using some Liberty Tana Lawn I had in my stash. I think that the muddy print worked perfectly with the silk.

The dress comes with two options; either a collar or a bow. I decided to go for the bow, which I'm pleased about. I used interfacing on the box to give it more body but it hasn't meshed well with the silk and you can see some bubbling. I definitely need to research which interfacings should be used with which fabrics. Any tips?

Is it a quilt? Is it a bag? No it's a UFO...

With the end of 2015 drawing close I've been reflecting on this year. Last Christmas I received Tilly and the Buttons sewing book for Christmas and began my journey into dress making. Since then I have learnt a lot, failed a lot but also created some clothes which I adore. I also received a tapestry kit to make a beautiful Felicity Hall clutch bag. I have been completing tapestries for a while now and have some lovely cushions so this is by no means my first yet a year later here it is...

It's not that I don't enjoy completing it. If anything I become slightly obsessive about it when I start. However, something else will then take my attention and it will lay untouched for weeks or months.

New Years Resolution Number 1: Finish the clutch bag.

I'd like to say that this was my only UFO. Sadly, there are many more. I completed a quilt for my bed a few years ago. It was actually what got me into sewing and why I bought my first machine. I loved it and completed it in the summer holidays (I have six weeks off due to being a teacher). I decided to make a smaller quilt which would be nice to have on the sofa on cold evenings. I spent hours cutting, piecing it altogether and teaching myself how to free motion quilt. All that is left to do is to sew on the bias binding...yet it has laid in a cupboard untouched for a year. It's not that I don't love it but some how I just can't motivate myself to finish it.

New Years Resolution Number 2: Finish the quilt.

Sadly clothes don't escape becoming UFOs. many of my UFOs are items which I discover to be failures on the way...poorly fitting or bad fabric decisions. But then there are the others...such as this full circle skirt. I like the skirt and the only reason it remains unfinished was that the zip went in poorly and ripped. I needed to buy a new zip. However, in this time gap my mind has wandered onto something else...something new which seems more exciting.

New Years Resolution Number 3: Finish the successful items of clothes.

All of my UFOs have a key theme...I become distracted by something new...a new patterns, piece of fabric or even craft itself. I may need to have a new rule; no new items until the last one is finished. But then again, maybe that's too many resolutions for one year. How do you combat ending up with piles of UFOs?

Present sewing

With Christmas looming, sewing for myself has taken a back seat. The past three weeks have been a mixture of delight and panic at the amount of sewing I needed to do. Phew though, as of about an hour ago I made my way to the end. This was mainly thanks to the fact that work tends to slow down heavily in the last week before Christmas holidays so I have been able to sew in the evenings which is usually impossible. My first Christmas make this year was a pair of tote bags. I made them with a meter each of Liberty Lawn which I bought in the Abakhan Liberty sale over Black Friday.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out and with the new shopping bag policy I think that they're a pretty useful gift. I'd like one myself but it seems so indulgent to use a meter of Liberty lawn for a bag for myself.

The pattern came from the rather lovely book 'The Liberty Book of Home Sewing' which gives very clear instructions on making the bag. It also gives ideas for how to take your product further. For the bags it shows you how to make a small bag carrier so you could clip it into your handbag. The book doesn't come with patterns but gives easy to follow instructions on how to make your own.

The bags have a small amount of top stitching. Something which I'm not very confident doing and which could definitely be better on the bags as you can see! I tend to wobble off line as soon as there's a curve!

The bags are joined by the handle and strengthened by sewing triangles. Whilst this isn't the prettiest finish (I considered many others) I came to the conclusion that it was the most practical. Here's hoping that the recipients like them as much as I do! How is your Christmas sewing coming along?