The perfect denim skirt (probably)

Who doesn't love a denim skirt? I've made plenty over the years (here, here, here and here) and I'm still not bored of them. When I was at the Knitting & Stitching Show recently I fell for some lovely bright blue seventies style denim from Guthrie & Ghani and immediately knew I wanted to make another one with it. The question was, what style of denim skirt to make?

My current favourite pairing: plain jumper, big necklace and clogs

If you type 'denim skirt' into Pinterest, 99% of the resulting pins are either A-line button up styles, denim minis or a combination of the two. I already own a RTW denim mini which I hardly ever wear, and it seemed a bit pointless to make another one just for the sake of it. I wanted to use my denim to make a skirt that would be worn a lot, so I scrutinised my handmade wardrobe for inspiration. The two skirts that I wear the most are my barkcloth skirt made from a vintage pattern and my chambray Simplicity 2451. Both of them have just the right amount of ease to be comfortable, but are still a great shape. Having made the one seam skirt twice already, I decided to give the Simplicity pattern another go.

Casual with a striped T-shirt

Simplicity 2451 is quite an old pattern and tragically now appears to be out of print (oh no!) - I must get into the habit of sewing patterns when they're current rather than years later. If you can get your hands on a copy though I'd highly recommend it - it's relatively simple and very satisfying to sew. As per last time, I cut a size 12 of view C, with no changes and the fit is just right. The denim has a slight stretch, which always helps. Because I was using a thicker fabric this time, I used a precious fat quarter of vintage feedsack for the inside waist facing and the pocket linings.

I love the contrast and the fact that the blue in the feedsack design is almost an exact colour match for the denim. 

Paired with a pretty vintage blouse 

I'm so glad I went with a pattern that suits my style. Yes, it's not the most hip pattern on the block but as you can see from the photos it works for me and my wardrobe! In fact, I can't think of any of my tops that this skirt wouldn't work with - I have tons of styling ideas. I may have to try that out as an experiment: one skirt, styled seven different ways!  x

Upcycled office chair

Let's talk office chairs today shall we?! Office chairs aren't the most stylish pieces of home furniture, but for a lot of people they're a necessary evil if you work from home. We desperately needed a second chair for the loft but didn't have big bucks to throw at a stylish vintage one. So when my husband saw a boring looking but perfectly good chair ready to be thrown out at work, he nabbed it.

With its regulation bright blue nylon upholstery it wasn't the sexiest office chair on the block, but it was really comfortable and I knew that if I could spruce it up with some new fabric it would fit in perfectly. There are quite a lot of online tutorials or videos showing you how to re-cover office chairs, so it was actually a pretty straight forward project. This is how I did mine...

First of all, you'll need to separate the back rest and seat cushion from the frame of the chair. There are lots of different sorts of office chairs, but generally the two cushioned sections are simply screwed onto the frame. Remove the screws and detach the cushions. The cushions will each have a plastic backing which also need to be removed. Some plastic backings simply pop off, but ours needed prising off with a screwdriver!

Back rest with plastic backing removed

The cushion cover was held in place with elastic so all I had to do was attach my fabric around the elasticated edge. I think we struck lucky as most office chairs have the fabric attached to the cushion with staples. Now for the fun bit!

Place your cushion face down on the wrong side of your chosen fabric, add about a two inch margin all round and roughly cut around the outline. If in doubt leave a wider margin - you don't want to find your fabric is too short!

Fold the fabric firmly around the cushion and pin into position, starting at the top middle, then the bottom, leaving the corners until last.

For the corners you'll need to pleat the fabric at the back to ease it round the curves. Keep pulling the fabric taut and checking that the right side of the cushion is smooth.

Tack your fabric to the existing cushion (or you can staple at this stage, this seems to be what most tutorials advise).

Fold the raw edges of the fabric under the elasticated cushion edge and tack in place through both layers.

If, at this stage you realise that some bits of your fabric aren't quite long enough to fold round the edge (as in my case!) don't despair! The plastic backing will cover them up.

Replace the plastic backing. Now do exactly the same for the seat cushion and re-attach both cushions to the chair frame.

You now have a gorgeous new office chair! I recommend sitting on it and whizzing round the room in triumph.

The fabric I used was a lovely retro print barkcloth from Maud's Fabric Finds, which was the perfect weight for this project. I bought half a metre and there was more than enough to cover both cushion pads. I even have some scraps left over to make a few purses and make-up bags. Yay! Once the cushion backings were prised off, each cushion took me about an hour to complete. So it turned out to be a relatively cheap AND quick project. Definitely cheaper than buying a fancy new chair anyway! x

Spot the difference!

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 

Anya Shoulder Bag

After a short sewing break over Christmas I decided to ease myself back into sewing by making a bag. I don't make bags very often, probably because I've made so many reversible shoppers to sell at craft fairs it's almost put me off for life! The type of bag I needed was a shoulder bag suitable for family walks or trips to the park, but with a bit more style than a basic tote or calico bag (of which I have many!)

The Anya Shoulder Bag from So, Zo... seemed to fit the bill perfectly - it has a stylish rounded shape and I particularly like the pleat detail.

So on New Year's Day I spent a pleasant couple of hours hunting through my stash looking for suitable fabrics. I wanted a solid colour for the main bag to minimise outfit clashes and decided on a classic go-with-everything denim. The fabric recommendation is for a sturdy, medium-heavy weight woven fabric with no stretch content, so I used a remnant of dark indigo denim left over from my McCalls 6696 shirt dress. The pattern advises you to interface the outer bag fabric, but I chose not to as my denim was so robust.

The good thing about denim is that it complements absolutely any fabric, so I was able to really go for it when it came to choosing a lining. I used a goy-jus mustard barkcloth that I bought from Misformake in the summer (now sold out sadly).

It's printed with little houses and the overall feel of the fabric is very mid-century - I love it! I only had half a metre, which isn't really enough for garment making, but plenty big enough for a spectacular bag lining! Because it's barkcloth, it's also a reasonable weight, making the whole bag pretty sturdy. 

This pattern was a delight to work with. The PDF is super speedy to tile together (only four A4 pages). and the instructions include colour photos and very comprehensive explanations for each step. Making this bag was such a stress-free experience: all the pieces fit together perfectly so you can't really go wrong. And I still got to flex my sewing muscles by inserting a lining, top stitching and making pleats, just on a very small, simple scale!

My version of the Anya bag doesn't include the button tab as I don't particularly like them. At some point I'll make myself sew on a large popper to keep the top closed for added security. I also shortened the straps by four inches as the bag sat too far down my body as originally drafted. I'm really happy with the finished bag and I know I'll be using it a lot this year.

The Anya bag doesn't require much fabric (just under a metre for the outer bag and about half a metre for the lining) and can easily be completed in an afternoon. I can see myself making lots more of them in the future as gifts! All in all, a very satisfying first project for the New Year! x

My sewing in 2015

Helloo! I hope you've all had a wonderful few days and that Father Christmas aced it with the presents this year. I'm still in recovery from the annual turkey overdose, so decided to take the opportunity to look back at the past year on the blog before the next onslaught of pies….

On the dressmaking front, my boiled wool coat was probably my most successful garment of 2015. 

There are a few things I'd do differently if I was given my time again, but overall it's been a huge success and has had a LOT of wears. Other garments that have been worn to death this year include my Barkcloth Skirt, 

Granville Shirt, 

Walkley Top (a surprise hit). 

and my Little Black Dress

In fact everything I've made this year has been worn, proving that I'm finally getting better at diagnosing which wardrobe gaps actually need to be filled!

I had the pleasure of seeing two of my favourite gents guest starring on my blog this year. My pal Joe and his beautiful Liberty print ties proved to be a big hit (here and here). 

He's still optimistic about sewing his own seven-fold-tie, so look out for a re-appearance next year. My son Louis also popped up, proving he's a chip off the old block by sewing his own waistcoat. He's a genius I tell you!

On the blog front, I was very, VERY proud and delighted that my blog was nominated for Best Sewing Blog in the Sew Magazine British Sewing Awards 2015. I still can't quite believe that one, thank you again to everybody who took the time to vote for me! I also wrote two new tutorials which were published in Love Sewing Magazine - one for a Chequerboard Baby Blanket 

and one for a Tooth Fairy Cushion

The project that took the longest time and energy this year was without doubt making a memory quilt for my Aunty. I was a bit wrung out after it was finished to be honest, but I'm so glad I did it as I know it brings her a lot of comfort.

2015 was also the year I joined the 21st century and opened an Instagram account - I'm @janemarland if you're interested! I surprised myself by how quickly I got used to it (much quicker than Twitter, which I still struggle with to be honest). 

Apparently these were my nine most popular Instagram pictures this year

Instagram won't replace blogging for me because I still love reading sewing blogs and writing my own, but it's a satisfying quick fix in the meantime. I've also discovered lots of new sewing bloggers to follow which can only be a good thing.

All in all it's been a fab year, probably my best dressmaking year to date. So thank you to everybody who has followed along, commented on the blog and offered advice and feedback, it's all very much appreciated. Here's to another happy sewing year in 2016! x

Barkcloth skirt

Behold my barkcloth skirt! I wanted to make a relatively simple garment to show off the lovely retro fabric design as much as possible, so decided on a vintage pattern from the 1950's. The pattern is Simplicity 3983 which has just the one seam going up the back, so no worrying about pattern matching side seams. As you can see, I didn't make much of an effort to match the shaped pockets and front waistband either. I don't care though, it looks fine!

Having already made this skirt once before, I only made one pattern change, which was to shorten the length by an inch (I'd already taken a gigantic eight inches off the original pattern). I also made a few changes to the construction. I replaced the centred zip with an invisible one and added a faced waistband instead of a Petersham ribbon facing, which is how I finished the waistband on my first version. I also positioned the zip so that it runs through the waistband (like you find on the Delphine and Ginger skirt patterns). I know some people like a waistband starting above the zip, but I personally prefer them integrated. It's not authentically vintage but I like how it looks.

I added a white silk-cotton lining using this method, and used some scraps of cotton lawn for the pockets.

The barkcloth fabric is Ripple in Navy from The Village Haberdashery, part of the Time Warp collection by Jessica Jones. Here's what I would advise if you're thinking of working with barkcloth:

- The feel of barkcloth is quite rough against the skin, so if you're planning on using it for garment making, I'd advise underlining with a very light fabric or adding a separate lining.

- Barkcloth has quite a loose weave and is liable to stretch slightly when cut on the bias. This happened with my curved front pocket facings, but it actually turned out in my favour as they now allow a bit more room to get my hands in!  Just be careful to staystitch any curved edges and try not to over stretch when pressing.

- The fabric frays and unravels quite noticeably, so I ended up overlocking all raw edges quite early on in the proceedings.

Apart from that it didn't behave any differently from a linen or cotton. I used a regular needle in my machine and it sewed together beautifully. Even though I knew the fabric was brand spanking new, I still felt like I was working with a piece of 1950's barkcloth, it just looks vintage!

I'm delighted with the finished skirt - it's contemporary but the fabric gives it a vintage edge, which is my favourite combination! I've paired it with a jumper for these pictures because it's still cold and I'm a wuss, but I can totally see it working with this, this, this and even this!!

And because I used a vintage pattern, I'm counting this as my first contribution to this year's Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge. I only pledged to sew up one pattern, but it's not this one, so consider this a bit of a Brucie Bonus!  x

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

All about bark cloth

If you've got a soft spot for vintage fabrics then you've probably come across barkcloth at some point. I often see it at vintage fairs and on vintage fabric websites, but have never used it or indeed owned any. So when I saw that Annie from The Village Haberdashery was stocking a new collection of organic cotton barkcloth I really wanted to get my hands on some. The collection is called Time Warp by Jessica Jones and is made up of  four mid-century-inspired retro prints. I love the patterns she's chosen for the designs, I think they look very Orla Kiely-esque and the colours are great. 

Sunburst in blue

Loop in pink

Quadrant in pink

This is the one I've fallen for:

Ripple in navy

Annie has very generously gifted me a metre of barkcloth to review, which I'm ever so slightly excited about! Before I start working with it, I thought I'd do a bit of research, so if you're interested in a potted history of barkcloth, read on! 

What is barkcloth?

Barkcloth in its original, primitive form was made from the inner bark of trees found in the South Pacific and surrounding areas. The bark was soaked, then beaten into a paperlike fabric which was then dyed, printed or painted.

Source

The barkcloth we're familiar with today is a cotton fabric made from densely woven fibres. It’s the texture of the cloth, rather than the fibre of the fabric itself which gives it its distinctive appearance. Barkcloth doesn’t appear to have a wale (rib) or distinct weave effect, which results in a rough, textured appearance reminiscent of tree bark.

From SportSuburban on Flickr

An early incarnation of the fabric we now know as barkcloth was produced in France in the 1920’s using cotton mixed with rayon. This woven cloth with a rough, nubby texture was known as Cretonne. By the late 1930's barkcloth was being manufactured in America and was especially popular in Hawaii. GIs and sailors stationed there during the Second World War often sent barkcloth home after seeing it used in home furnishings and shirts. Common designs were florals, botanical prints, tropical prints (especially hibiscus flowers and other native plants) as well as geometric and abstract 'atomic era' prints. 

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From barkclothhawaii.com

From barkclothhawaii.com

The dense weave and durability of barkcloth made it a popular choice for curtains, cushions and upholstered home furnishings from the late 1940s to the 1960s.

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Cushion by Carol Seatory

Cushion by Carol Seatory

The vibrant, bright designs and durable texture and weight also make it a perfect choice for accessories. 

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Barkcloth is less commonly used for garment making, but some of those awesome prints are just crying out to be made into clothes. I love this beautiful barkcloth dress…

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…and this skirt worn by Emma at The Fiercest Lilliputian is the perfect showcase for an amazing print.

I fully intend to use my bark cloth for clothes making - a skirt to be exact. The fabric actually has quite a nice drape to it, it's just the textured appearance which makes it look stiffer than it is. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Have you ever made a garment from barkcloth? Or do you have an amazing vintage piece in your stash? Please tell! x