These are a few of my favourite things...

Hi there!

My sewing machine is currently on the blink, so rather than a new make, today I am going to share some of my favourite makes so far. First up is a white silky/ satin Colette Truffle dress (from the Colette sewing Handbook). The fabric was from my local amazing haberdashery, Grimsby Sewing and Knitting (if you're ever in the area, check them out), whilst the lining was picked up from a car boot sale. This dress was so much fun to make and the fabric was a dream to work with. The only real problem I encountered was the fact that it simply wouldn't hold a press. That made sewing the curved hem a huge pain. Lesson learnt for the By Hand London Kim dress, which will definitely be sewn up soon- choose a fabric that presses well or that curved hem will cause hours of stress. I absolutely love this dress and, although I feel like it looks a bit like a wedding dress, it looks fab with some heels and an up-do for a posh dinner.

Next up is the most worn item in my handmade wardrobe. It's also one of the very first things I made. It's a Colette Sorbetto made from a lovely poly mix I got from Ebay (those things in the polka dots are cats). It feels really silky on the skin and i've lost count of the numbers of people that have made unsolicited positive comments about it. It probably took about two hours to make and less than a tenner for the fabric, so this was a real investment piece.

 

 

Another early piece is this dress, made from black 100% cotton and a music note print quilting cotton, both were from Grimsby Sewing and Knitting. This is The Great British Sewing Bee's full skirted dress pattern. Again, i've got a lot of wear from this dress, as it's smart enough to wear for work and special enough to wear any time. I'd like to make this again in the full music notes print. I didn't really have the skills I have now, so the finish isn't great and it's looking a little tatty.

 

Here is the first lined dress I made, a Christine Haynes Emery. The pink arrow fabric is from Abakhan Chester and the lining and collar were from my stash (I have no idea where they came from originally). This is by no means perfect and my more recent Emery dresses have been much more successful, but I love the bright colour and incredibly vintage feel from it. It's the dress I wish I had when I was 19!

 



Next is a Blue Ginger Doll Mae blouse. I absolutely love this pattern. I think it has the most incredible classic vibe, with a delightful twist. I really love the button back and scalloped neckline and I can't wait to try this again in a luxurious silk. The fabric for this was from Boyes (i'm not sure if this exists outside of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) and was super cheap. I'm always dubious of the fit on anything requiring buttons as I have an awkward body shape. I'll be waiting until I understand pattern alterations and fit adjustments a bit better to try this again.

 

This knit dress is a Red Velvet by Cake Patterns. I fell in love with the fabric (I think it's Art Gallery) and absolutely had to have it. It's from a local haberdashery (we have a few here!) and was ridiculously expensive. I've seen it much cheaper online since, which annoys me. Does anyone else find certain real life fabric shops are much more expensive than internet equivalents? Anyway, I  felt this needed a pattern with a bit of structure and settled on the Red Velvet because i'd already made it so knew it fit. I can't get the hang of the scissor pleat though! I think I made a mistake tracing it out, or attached a waistband piece upside down.

 

Finally, because it's the time of the year for snuggly, comfy clothes, here is my version of the White Russian sweater by Capital Chic Patterns. I chose the long sleeved variation with the lion embroidery. The fabric was a fleece backed sweatshirt from Ebay and the thread was a metallic gold. I sewed the lion up using a slow speed on my sewing machine and it turned out pretty well (although i'm disappointed with the nose). The only alteration I made to the pattern was to omit the hem band because I ran out of fabric cropped jumpers are fashionable right now.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into some of my back collection!

Heather



Three Francoise Dresses

Hello!
I've been considering starting a blog for a while to keep track of my sewing makes and my progress towards a new, healthier me. The Tilly and the Buttons #SewingFrancoise competition seemed like a pretty good opportunity for this.
I've been sewing clothing since April 2014 and I still consider myself to be very much a beginner (everything I make is really a wearable muslin, rather than a perfect item) but i'm actually pretty proud of these makes.
First up is my 60s mod version.

 

This was my first attempt. It's made from a lovely white herringbone linen that I bought when I was on honeymoon in Sri Lanka recently. It worked out to about £3.50 a metre and the quality is phenomenal. It was probably a little bit too stiff for the patterns (I can't raise my arms above my head) but it was beautiful to work with. The vertical stripe and cuffs are both a lovely silky polka dot bias binding that I bought from a local haberdashery. I've also used this as a trim on the collar.

 

My second version is my favourite. It's whimsical, cute and (I think) pretty wearable!

 

The fabric is a quilting cotton designed by Tina Givens... and yes, those are elephant hot air balloons. It was quite expensive (about £13/metre) but was a gift from my husband. I'd earmarked it for a Colette Hawthorne but the fabric was too narrow for the skirt and I hadn't made the pattern before so didn't want to hack it. In retrospect i'm pretty pleased about that because I am completely in love with this dress. That said, when I first made it up I felt like it needed another feature to give it a bit of life, so I embellished the collar using some beads and the decorative stitches on my machine. The white for the collar was taken from my stash (I think it orignally came from a car boot).

 

Finally I wanted something that had more of an eveningwear tone.

I had some gorgeous red (possibly) cotton, Japanese style fabric which I bought on a trip to Bath in the summer for about £4/metre. You can't see it too well in the main photo, so here is a closer view.

 

This time, I chose not to include the collar and sleeves. However, I still wanted the 60s vibe so I included the tab. I considered self-fabric buttons but decided against this as the fabric was quite stiff and, frankly, an absolute nightmare to sew with. It improved significantly once I started to use a walking foot but it still had a bit of bounce and it meant the finish on this dress isn't as neat as my other versions. Instead I used two buttons from my stash. These were gifted to me from a perfect stranger as part of the Perfect Strangers Project. If you ever read this, perfect stranger, thanks!

Hopefully you have enjoyed looking at my versions. I'd love to hear your thoughts on which you prefer!

Heather

 

P.S Thanks to my wonderful friend Katie for taking the photos!