Maritime Shorts

Oooh look! Lovely new blue shorts! They're the Maritime Shorts by Grainline Studio and I love them to bits, but they weren't an easy sew…

This was mostly down to a silly error I made regarding the instructions (sigh). The area I struggled with most was the zip fly, a few of the steps seemed to be incorrect and some of the diagrams were downright confusing. After eventually working out how it all went together, I decided to email Grainline to point out the errors I'd encountered. It was only when I was looking up Grainline's email address that I discovered an old email from them which included (you guessed it) updated PDF instructions for the fly steps. Nooooooo! When I looked at the new instructions (with gritted teeth I might add), every single point that I'd struggled with was explained more clearly and/or a different diagram used. Grrr I'm so annoyed at myself for not updating my PDF file when I first received it. I still don't think the new fly instructions are absolutely foolproof, but they're a vast improvement on the earlier version.

If you have no prior experience of sewing a zip fly then I'd recommend using the step-by-step tutorial on the Grainline blog alongside the written instructions. It definitely helped me figure out what to do when I was floundering!

Apart from the zip fly, construction of the shorts is relatively straight forward. Just take note that the very first step on the curved side pockets involves sewing convex and concave curves together - once you've figured that bit out, you're laughing.

I like how the rear patch pockets have a nice, clean finish to them once they're topstitched into position. By the way, the top folded edge is actually supposed to be on the inside of the pocket but I prefer it this way round.

For the front pocket lining I used a soft blue cotton, which gives a cute little burst of floral to the insides.

The fit is amazingly good. I was tempted to size up 'just in case', but I knew my fabric had a lot of stretch, so I cut the size that corresponded to my actual measurements - size 6. I fully expected to have to tweak the centre back waistband as I'd read a few reviews mentioning excess room in that area, but they don't gape at all.

I love the fit - they sit snugly just below my natural waistline and are really comfortable. There isn't any digging in at the waist and the width of the thigh is just right. This makes me happy as I've tried on lots of shorter length RTW shorts recently and not one pair did me any favours. To get a comfortable fit at the waist, they're always either too big round the hips or wide in the leg (think Don Estelle).

The fabric is a medium weight stretch cotton sateen from Fabric Godmother with a slight sheen to it. It's perfect for shorts as it's easy to cut out and sew and very robust. If you like the look of this particular pattern and fabric combo then Fabric Godmother also sells a Maritime Shorts Kit which includes the pattern, fabric and notions and works out slightly cheaper than buying everything separately.

As shorts go they're a bit shorter than I'd usually wear out, but for holidays and hot days they're absolutely perfect. This pair are going straight into my suitcase, ready for my holiday in a couple of weeks time! I'm pretty sure I'll make another pair next year too, just as soon as I've put the horror of the zip fly behind me! x


Fabric for the shorts was given to me free of charge by Fabric Godmother for review. All views my own.

Little (almost) black party dress

It's party time!! Which is all the excuse I need to make a new dress. This year, I wanted to make my own version of a little black dress (or in my case, a little navy dress as black doesn't really suit me). Something classic and elegant, with sleeves and a bow on the front. I've been swooning over these two dresses on Pinterest for weeks, so I decided to see if I could combine the two similar styles into one dress.

Fitted navy party dress

Red party dress with bow

For fabric, I chose a beautiful stretch cotton sateen, which was kindly gifted to me by The Fabric Godmother. The slight stretch makes it super flattering (important if you plan to stuff your face with pies as I do this Christmas) and it has that subtle touch of shininess essential for party wear.

As I only had a week or so to make the dress, I thought it safer to go with a pattern that already fitted me well - the Colette Patterns Peony. When I initially made this dress here, I made a lot of changes to the back bodice, getting the fit pretty much spot on on my second version. My measurements are still the same, so I thought it would be a simple case of sewing the amended pattern up for a perfect fit. Wrong! What I failed to take into account was the stretchiness of the fabric. It actually has a lot more stretch than I realised, and when I sewed the dress up it was just way too big. I had to take the bodice side seams in by an inch each side, which sorted out the front, but still left the back flapping about. In a bit of an unorthodox move, I joined the back neck darts and the back waist darts together to make two giant darts/tucks down each side of the bodice.

Neck darts and waist darts joined together 

It sounds horrific but as you can see from the photo above, it looks absolutely fine - they actually look like princess seams and help give the back bodice a nice fitted look.

Other changes I made were to completely re-draft the neckline to become a round neck as the original bateau neckline was just too uncomfortable for me. I used the neckline from the Sewaholic Alma pattern as a guideline and then drew new facings to match the revised shape.  I also chopped six inches off the long sleeves and made them tighter as they looked far too baggy and shapeless for such a fitted bodice.  So quite a few last minute changes, but worth it in the end as I love the fit now.

To incorporate the bow detail, I decided to make a removable Tilly-style bow belt rather than just add one to the front. Tilly's tutorial is simple to follow and I'm really pleased with the resulting belt. It does involve the sewing on of two sets of hooks and eyes though, and you all know how I feel about those little buggers. My solution? I simply sewed on a set of bra fastenings, so much less fiddly and as they already come with different size options, you can still adjust to fit!

That's it for now, I'm all set to party. So if you'll excuse me, I have a date with an ambassador and a towering pyramid of chocolates…! x

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