2016: The Hits And The Misses

2016 has been a good dressmaking year for me. I haven't been as prolific as in previous years, but that's because I've been a bit more considered in what I choose to sew. I've concentrated more on fit and fabric choice and this has definitely resulted in fewer failures and unworn garments! 

So without further ado, let's look at my favourite makes and a couple that didn't quite work...

THE HITS 

New Look 6217

The pattern that has without doubt, been the biggest hit of my sewing year has been New Look 6217. It may be a plain, unprepossessing little pattern, but it always seems to magically come up with the goods for me. The top and skirt both fit me straight from the envelope and are very easy to sew. My favourite of the five tops I've sewn is still the first one, made with black satin-backed crepe. It goes with everything and always looks classy. There's a round-up of all my other versions on my OWOP post here.

My NL6217 polka dot denim skirt should also get a mention as it was such a wardrobe staple over the summer. The fabric has a great stretch to it, so it's both comfortable to wear and a flattering fit.

Big Vintage Sewalong Dress

This Vogue reproduction pattern (V8875) has only been worn once as it's very dressy, but I still want to include it as I received so many compliments when I wore it! It's made from a gorgeous luxury crepe, so it hangs beautifully and has a very polished look. I also worked really hard to perfect the fit and feel really fabulous in it!

Vintage Shoulder Tie Top

Made using a Woman's Own vintage pattern, this has been a surprise hit as it's more of a boxier fit than I'm used to. The cute shoulder ties are a lovely vintage touch and I found myself reaching for it again and again over the summer. The lush Liberty fabric doesn't hurt either!

Ginghamalong Top

This was made to replace a much loved, very similar top and is a big improvement on the original. It's made using the Sewaholic Granville pattern, which is a great fit on me, and the 100% cotton gingham is a lovely quality. In fact I'm wearing it as I type this (underneath a jumper)! 

THE MISSES

There are only two, neither of which has been an outright disaster. 

Karen Drape Dress

Despite me falling for the draped style of this Maria Denmark pattern, it's still a bit too grown up and slinky for me, hence it's only been worn once. I do really like the side pleat detail though, so may well just shorten it into a top. Teamed with a plain skirt or jeans, I'm sure it would get worn a lot more frequently. This can be a nice easy job for the New Year!

Clara Bow Blouse

I've worn this pattern a couple of times but the fit has never been quite right. It's a nice pattern (original pattern review is here) but needs a bit of tweaking to get it to fit me properly: I'd need to do an FBA (Full Bust Adjustment) and lengthen it considerably. 

Only two minor fails then, which I consider pretty good going for a whole year of sewing!

What have been your biggest hits (and misses) of 2016? And which patterns have turned out to be unexpected gems?!

In other news, I'm working away on my red coat and may get it finished before Christmas. If I don't, it will make a good project to welcome in the New Year! Happy Monday! x

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