One Week, One Pattern 2016

The past week has seen me wearing different variations of New Look 6217 each day as part of OWOP (One Week, One Pattern) 2016. The challenge was run this year by Hannah at Cinderellis Sews and I had a lot of fun mixing and matching garments made from my current favourite pattern.

I cheated slightly as I've made both tops and skirts from the pattern, so it wasn't actually much of a stretch. But considering the pattern also includes trousers and a kimono jacket I think I was actually quite restrained! What I like about the top and skirt patterns is the fit: they have a fair amount of wearing ease but still skim the body to show off your curves. I already had three versions of the top and two of the skirt, but just managed to squeeze out another last minute top to give myself a bit more choice. Here's what I wore:

Day 1 - Red Swiss Dot NL6217 top and Gap jeans. I was visiting the Undressed exhibition at the V & A museum with Scruffy Badger. 

Day 2 - Denim NL6217 skirt and 1960's Shoulder Tie top (without shoulder ties!) I was at the allotment pretending to help, so this combo was actually really comfortable, although a white top probably wasn't the wisest choice for picking raspberries...

Day 3 - Liberty print NL6217 top and denim Arielle skirt. I hadn't tried this combo before now and was surprised how much I liked it.

Day 4 - Denim NL6217 skirt and Gingham Granville shirt. The Ginghamalong went live today so I wore my new gingham shirt with my New Look denim skirt. It's a bit of a polka dot/gingham clash but I think they look good together! This photo was taken outside my local boozer, complete with splendid old tiles.

Day 5 - Ivory Crepe NL6217 top and Liberty Carline Delphine skirt. This is a new, unblogged version of the top made from a 80cm remnant of prestige crepe from the Fabric Godmother sale. The drape is perfect for this pattern and I loved wearing it on its first outing. Being off white, it's also useful for pairing with garments that are difficult to match things to (like this skirt!) 

Day 6 - Black crepe NL6217 top and Bamboo skirt. Suitably smart attire for visiting the Buckingham Palace state rooms with my mother-in-law!

Day 7 - Black Crepe NL6217 top and Sew Over It Ultimate Trousers. Here I am meeting the lovely Mark from Girl Charlee UK at the Handmade Fair in Hampton Court (more on my visit in the next blog post).

A few reflections on the challenge:

• I'm sooooo pleased I chose this pattern, everything I've made from it feels like such a natural part of my everyday wardrobe. 
• The top is a simple shape and easy to make, but I think fabric choice and colour are key to wearing them often. The fact that I had three solid, neutral colours tops meant they could be paired with anything. Plus the lovely quality of the fabrics made them feel just a bit more special than a T shirt or cotton top in the same colours.
• I love the slim silhouette of the skirt and the quirky little side split - I'll definitely be making more of them.
• I'm still not very adventurous with accessories!

Thank you to Hannah for hosting the challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody else has been wearing for the past week! Have a great weekend. x

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Gingham Granville Shirt

Behold a new gingham shirt - my last minute entry into the Did You Make That? Ginghamalong. It's simple, classic and very wearable and I don't need a crystal ball to predict that this will be a much loved item in my wardrobe for its entire life. I made just the one gigantic error during construction (see below for the full blood and guts horror story), which I'm hoping will fade from my memory over time... Other than that, everything went to plan!

The gingham I used was 100% yarn dyed cotton which I snapped up for the bargain price of £6.50 a metre from this eBay seller. The seller advises a cool hand wash, which I promptly ignored (the only fabric that's ever hand washed in this house is silk) and it washed beautifully in the washing machine at 30 degrees. It presses well and is lovely to work with - a really nice quality cotton.

Because of school holidays I knew I wouldn't have long to make this shirt, so I used a pattern that's already been adjusted to fit me well - the Sewaholic Granville shirt (previous versions here and here). The thought of trying to pattern match the gingham didn't exactly fill me with joy, but I did want the checks on both sides of the bodice and the button bands to line up horizontally, so that's where I concentrated my efforts. It worked! I used a combination of Tasia's tutorial and just simply lining up all the underarm seams as shown here. The gingham on the collar seems to line up with the bodice gingham too, but I can't really take any credit for that one, pure fluke!

To further save time (and also because my buttonhole foot is still playing up), I used snaps on the front button band instead of buttons. If you have a pair of Prym pliers, snaps are super quick to apply, but I still find positioning them a little nerve wracking. They're almost impossible to remove without damaging the fabric, so if you get the position wrong you've well and truly pissed on your chips. The relief when they were all in (and the right way round!) was pretty huge. I do like the look of snaps on this shirt, they give it a cool, ready-to-wear feel.

Anyway, about that gigantic error… As per last time, I used this tutorial from Four Square Walls to attach the collar and under collar as I prefer the construction order Andrea uses to the pattern instructions. All was going swimmingly until I realised there was a massive amount of ease in the collar. Now I know there should be some ease in that area to allow the collar to be turned back easily, but this was ridiculous. I eventually resorted to easing the collar in with gathering stitches like a sleeve, but I wasn't happy and was gutted that my planned classy shirt was going to make me look like Harry Hill. Luckily, I had a sewing epiphany... in my sleep! I literally woke bolt upright one night after sub consciously working out what the problem was. Yes, your friendly neighbourhood sewing moron had only gone and attached the collar to the shirt upside down. Ahem. God I felt stupid, but at least I actually worked out what was wrong before wearing it out in public! I promptly cut out another set of collars/ under collars and attached them the right way round. It took about an hour to sew the collar and this time everything matched up perfectly, making me realise just how well drafted Sewaholic patterns actually are.

After all the eleventh hour drama, I couldn't be more pleased with my new gingham shirt. Yes, I know it's a sleeveless shirt and we're heading into autumn, but I can guarantee it will get plenty of outings underneath cardigans and jackets. In fact I think I'd like to wear it forever.

Thanks to Karen for hosting such a fun sew along. Let's face it, she was never going to have do much arm twisting to get me to join in, but I'm glad I did nevertheless. My gingham Granville is officially my new favourite thing! x

   

Thoughts on Gingham

Hoorah for gingham! It's so fresh, so crisp, so perfectly ordered, it's definitely one of my favourite fabric patterns. I've always loved it, so when Karen announced she was running a Ginghamalong at Did You Make That? I was onto it like a shot.

The big question is, what kind of gingham masterpiece shall I attempt to make? I have a gingham board on Pinterest which is chock-a-block with inspiration. I've also sewn a lot with it over the years, making tops and blouses (here, here and here), dresses (here, here and here) and skirts (here and here). But the gingham item I've worn most by a million miles is my 1950's sleeveless blouse, now sadly deceased. 

I loved that top and it had a good life - I literally wore it until it fell to bits! There's just something about navy gingham that seems to work for me. 

With my gingham twin Scruffy Badger

I've been making a concerted effort recently to only sew things I know I'll actually wear, so a classic navy gingham shirt seems to be the way forward. It's not the most exciting choice in the world but it's certainly chic.

Image from Pinterest

Image from Pinterest

Image from Pinterest

I love the fit on the Sewaholic Granville Shirt, so that's the pattern I'll be using. I'll probably keep the sleeves short or even go sleeveless as I find long sleeved shirts are a massive pain under fitted cardigans. I've ordered my fabric (½' yarn dyed cotton) and can't wait to get started!

That's what I'm up to gingham-wise, how about you? Are you taking part in the Ginghamalong? And, more importantly, what are you making?!! x

The pattern that keeps on giving...

Hmmm, what pattern could I possibly be referring to? Why New Look 6217 of course! I've made two versions of the top (here and here) and I'm now going to bore you to death about the skirt. The decision to make the skirt happened slightly by accident… my friend Emma wanted me to help her make a very simple pencil skirt and asked if I knew of a suitable pattern. I immediately thought of the New Look pattern - just two pattern pieces, no waistband and an easy side split, perfect for a beginner.

I took Emma's measurements and decided to make a quick muslin before we were let loose on her precious fabric. There's quite a bit of ease in this pattern, so I went down one size from her actual measurements and made up a size 12, which also happens to be my size... I tried it on to check it wasn't wildly off and discovered it was a perfect fit on me. This was too good a sign to ignore, hence the decision to make one myself!

I used a piece of lovely stretch cotton yellow gingham from my stash. I bought the fabric as a vintage remnant so it was only 85cm long, but it's quite wide (150cms), so was easily large enough for a small, knee length skirt. I made no adjustments to the pattern at all, not even to the length, so the skirt you see is a size 12 straight out of the envelope. As expected it was quick and easy to make: just two darts to the back, an invisible zip in the side seam and twill tape to finish the waistband. 

The twill tape is suggested in the pattern for both the skirt and trousers waistbands, and I think it's actually a better option than bias tape. Unlike bias tape, there's no stretch to it, so it should help prevent the waistband stretching out over time.

The skirt turned out slightly looser than the muslin due to the stretch content of the cotton, the drag lines on the photos are just from me sticking my leg out! As the skirt is supposed to sit an inch below your natural waist this doesn't affect the fit, in fact it improves it in my opinion! There are no front darts, just back ones, so it's fitted but not skin tight. And the side split lends a air of dignity when getting in and out of the car! 

I can see a few more of these skirts in my future sewing plans. Keep your eyes peeled for my friend Emma's version, which I'll put on the blog as soon as it's finished. If you like the look of my skirt you'll love hers - it's made from budgie fabric! Have a good weekend. x

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Spring/summer sewing plans

Spring finally appears to have sprung - hoorah! I can walk round in a cardigan instead of a coat, sunglasses are required and socks have almost (but not quite) been discarded. Time to sew some summer clothes! So, in no particular order, here's what I'm planning:

A sundress, using this fabric... 

Vintage barkcloth

...and this pattern - New Look 6457 - although I'm undecided about the bodice shape, probably A or E.

A shirt dress, using this fabric, which is the same viscose print I used for my Pussy Bow Blouse, just in the black colourway. I bought the fabric a while ago from Fabric Godmother so it's not longer in stock, but there are lots of other gorgeous viscose prints in stock here.

I really like the idea of a shirt dress with princess seams and the new Butterick 6333 looks like a good match.

I'm also keen to use the two vintage chambrays I picked up at the Handmade Fair last year (they're under the yellow gingham in this picture). 

The green one would look good as a top (perhaps the Clara Bow blouse?) and the pink one a simple summer skirt, probably Simplicity 2451.  The yellow gingham will be turned into one of the vintage tops from this pattern. Currently I'm leaning towards the tie front top on the left, any preferences?

Realistically, this is all I'll have time to sew this summer, so I'm planning to take my time and really enjoy the process. Can't wait! What's on your summer sewing list? x 

Girl Charlee ginghams

I'm sure you're aware by now that Girl Charlee recently set up a UK branch and have been spreading the word about their awesome knit fabrics throughout the land. They contacted me a while back to see if I'd like to try out something from their range and I was more than happy to oblige! 

They have a really interesting selection to choose from, including some lovely ponte de roma knits and cotton jerseys. I finally settled on two of their cotton jersey gingham prints in Paloma Grey and Classic Blue. I chose gingham as it's midway between a solid colour and a busy pattern, plus it's a nice change from stripes. My original inspiration was this picture of a simple Diane Von Furstenberg top from my Gingham Pinterest board, not the matching shorts though!

I decided to pair the fabric with the Tilly and the Buttons Agnes top, which Tilly very kindly gifted me when it was first released. 

The fabric is a nice quality cotton T-shirt fabric from the Modern Air Collection. It has 25% stretch and good recovery and the cotton content gives it a bit of stability so it doesn't misbehave and curl up all over the place. It's also quite wide (142cm), so I only needed a metre to make the top.

I chose the plain neckline and arm options - I thought the ruched neckline would get a bit lost amidst all that gingham and ruched arms are just not really my style. Based on reviewer feedback on the tight fit of this pattern, I cut a size 5 all over, which is one size larger than I'd usually sew for a TATB pattern. This was deliberate - the Agnes top is designed to be very close fitting but I didn't want mine to turn out absolutely skin tight and look like a leotard! The fit wasn't bad, but I needed to make a few tweaks to the hips and shoulders, next time I'll grade down to a size 4 in both those areas. Once I'd cut the fabric out, it only took me one episode of Desert Island Discs to sew it up on the overlocker. I then changed to my regular sewing machine and finished the neckband, sleeves and hem with a double needle. I took 2cms off the length of the full length sleeves (T-Rex arms) and that was it!

But let's back peddle a bit, at the beginning of this post I mentioned that I'd received two gingham prints -  grey and royal blue - so what did I do with the grey? Well I actually had the same intention for the grey gingham, which was to make an Agnes top. At the eleventh hour though, I rashly decided to abandon my original plan and make an Agnes dress instead (with 1.5m I had just enough fabric). I used this tutorial from Tilly's blog to make it, but used the half circle skirt from the Lady Skater dress instead of the gathered rectangle from the tutorial.

The colour of the grey gingham is lighter than this in real life

Alas, once I'd sewn it up, I realised it was very much a summer dress - I think this was because of the colour. I chose the grey because it looked like charcoal grey on the website, whereas in reality it has a much lighter tone, more like a dove grey. And when seen as a whole dress (rather than a top), it was just far too light and summery to wear in autumn. So I've decided to save it for next summer instead - I haven't finished the hem and the arms yet, so I may well end up making it short sleeved. For what it's worth, the Classic Blue gingham is exactly the colour as it appears on the website - a bright, royal blue.

So I did get two garments out of my fabric in the end: one to wear now and one to save for next summer. I really like the top - it's already proving useful in this in-between weather. It's a close fit, but still comfortable and the cotton jersey feels lovely to wear. I've worn it a few times already - with jeans (see above) and with a cardigan and red denim skirt.

If you'd like to try out some Girl Charlee fabric of your own then you're in luck as they're very generously offering one winner two metres of their choice of fabric!  Hoorah! To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling me which Girl Charlee fabric you'd choose if you're the winner. The full range can be found in their online shop here. The giveaway is open worldwide and closes at midnight GMT on Sunday 4th October. The winner will be chosen at random. Please make sure you leave your email address if it's not linked to your Blogger profile so I can contact you if you're the winner.

Fabric was given to me free of charge for review. All views my own.

Simplicity 4238 strikes again

This is the fifth version of my favourite vintage pattern (Simplicity 4238) from 1953. It was my chosen pattern for the One Week, One Pattern (OWOP) challenge last year and I'm still not bored of it! There isn't much to add to the construction of this blouse that hasn't been said before as I've got it down to a fine art now! It's a classic, notched collar style with a great 1950's shape, which is down to the cleverly positioned darts and tucks (12 in all). The only pattern change I made was to lower the bust darts by about an inch. 

Let's talk about the fabric instead. I bought this goy-jus double gauze from dangerous-on-the-purse Etsy shop Miss Matatabi last year. Tragically, it's now sold out so I can't give you the link, but what I can tell you is that it's a mid-green polka dot double gauze with a secret lurking on the inside….a gingham reverse side yee-ha! 

Double gauze is a very soft fabric to work with and because of this, the blouse has a more casual feel than some of the others I've made. It probably wasn't the most sensible choice for this pattern as I think a bit of crispness is needed around the collar area. It turned out fine though and it's very wearable so I'm happy. 

Happy!

I didn't use interfacing as double gauze already consists of two layers. This wasn't a problem with the collar, but it was a problem with the buttonhole area. My buttonhole foot was playing up badly (surprise, surprise), so I had the horror of unpicking three half finished buttonholes. Luckily the button band is double thickness and the buttonholes were quite small as I used twitchy buttons, but it still took its toll on the fabric. Therefore my only advice for working with double gauze would be to interface any areas that need a bit of support. Oh yes, and use a fine needle too.

I used self fabric binding on the armholes which is a nice contrast to the internal gingham. In fact I love all the contrasts on the inside! The lightness of the double gauze makes this a fab little addition to my summer wardrobe. I think it will also be good to take on holiday - I can see it pairing up well with my sailor shorts! 

Yet again I seem to have accidentally added another finished item to this year's Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge. I promise I'll get round to sewing up my actual pledged pattern one of these days. Happy Friday. x

And now for something completely different….

…yes, this post has NOTHING whatsoever to do with One Week, One Pattern! And lots to do with my new sewing table. Ooooh!

As I've written about before, I'm lucky enough to have a separate room in which to sew. It's our loft room so it also has to double up as a guest bedroom and, more recently, it's had to triple up as a home office. Previously I  used the large computer desk for my sewing and had my sewing machine living by the side of it. I hauled it onto the desk when I needed it and it went back to its spot at the end of the day. I had to go through the same rigmarole with my overlocker too. A tidy solution, but a bit tiresome. Recently my husband has been doing more work at home and needed to colonise the desk more frequently - the time had come for me to sort out my own dedicated sewing table.

The shelves above the main desk were staying exactly the same i.e. filled with all my sewing crap fabric/patterns/notions, so all I needed was a new table. I trawled my way through local junk shops looking for something to announce itself to me, but nothing did. Until I spotted this gem on eBay. 

An original 1950's melamine table with a gingham top! I loved it on first sight - it's like a table version of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I can now have my sewing machine AND my overlocker out on display at the same time, which saves a massive amount of time. Even though I still have the shelves above the main desk, I did need something to put all my day to day stuff and ongoing projects in, so I went for the sewing bloggers' favourite - the Raskog trolley from Ikea.

My new sewing area is in a nook under the roof and doesn't get as much light as my previous desk. An angle poise lamp, trained straight onto my sewing machine was a good solution. I now also have a real life pin board for the first time in my sewing life. This won't stop my Pinterest addiction, but it is handy for pinning inspiration and ideas and having them right in front of my eyes. 

Unlikely pin-up: Mr Philip Larkin

My favourite piece of art by David Hockney

The pin board is a cheap one from Argos that I covered in blue gingham to match the table. Actually, that's a lie, I didn't do anything. I just stood around like a lemon while my husband stretched the fabric over the pin board like a canvas and nailed it into submission. Thanks Jon! 

I love my new sewing space, it's so perfectly me. And after a long summer off with the kids, I can finally get some sewing done! x

Sew Dolly Clackett

First off, the winner of the Elephant in my Handbag FQ giveaway is Diane from Vintage Zest. Yay! Please email me your address Diane and I'll make sure your prize is sent out to you. Thank you to everybody who entered and to Stephanie for such a generous giveaway.

Now you may just have noticed that the sewing blog world is abuzz with all things Dolly Clackett. Sewing superstar and creator of beautiful dresses Dolly Clackett (aka Roisin) is getting married next month, and to help the celebrations along, Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones is hosting a fun challenge - Sew Dolly Clackett. The challenge is to sew a Roisin-style dress, which Roisin herself gets to judge. Big fat hoorah!

As usual, I'm very late to the party - the deadline is tomorrow - and the Flickr group page is filling up thick and fast (Jenny from Sewing Pies has actually made 12, yes 12 dresses!!) Much as I'd like to pay homage to Roisin by sewing an Eiffel Tower, Sexy Cowgirl, Comic Strip or Lobster dress (delete as applicable), I thought I'd go with another favourite of hers and tread the gingham route.

Not very original I'm afraid, but my Betty dress is probably as close to a Dolly Clackett dress as I'm going to get. That girl has a keen eye for a fitted bodice and a circle skirt and this delivers on both counts. Oh, and did I mention it's gingham?! Roisin has made no secret of her love for gingham in the past, wowing us with these beauties.

And…wait for it... the Oh Jane dress, named in my honour!!!!!

I first met Roisin a couple of years ago and instantly felt like I'd known her forever. We started talking ten to the dozen and every time we meet, we just carry on where we left off. It's like she's my cousin or something (and let me tell you, my cousins are a big deal to me.) I'm so, so thrilled she's getting wed to the lovely Nic. And in case you're worried, I've had the pleasure of meeting Nic and he passes the sewing blogger test on many levels. Most noticeably, he clearly adores Roisin, he knows his old films and he's mightily skilled at keeping a lady's glass filled with Prosecco. Three excellent reasons to marry him I say! I leave you with a photo of the two of us, taken on a very sunny, very happy day last year. I can't be certain, but something tells me we'd had a little too much to drink!

Have a wonderful, wonderful day my darling Roisin. xx