Scuba Doo

Recently I paid an impromptu visit to Walthamstow Market to meet a small posse of lovely sewing pals. I've only been to Walthamstow once before (it takes a lot to lure me east) and although I bought some weird and wonderful notions that time - red interfacing, polka dot elastic and lace trim - I didn't pick up any memorable fabric. On this recent trip, most of the fabric shopping had been done by the time I got there, but everyone was happy enough to make a return trip to TMOS (The Man Outside Sainsbury's) to humour me. 

Ah The Man Outside Sainsbury's - what a charmer! I swear he was flirting with me, and if I wasn't already married, I'd probably have asked him out... Before I knew it I'd bought two metres of peculiar looking fabric from my new boyfriend.

It's a flesh coloured scuba (or neoprene?) with a layer of black lace attached. The flesh coloured fabric is a bit sinister looking on its own (think industrial strength support knickers) but is transformed by the lovely, delicate lace layer. In the photo below you can see the two layers attached in more detail - there's quite a sizeable selvedge area at each side.

It wasn't just the charms of TMOS that lured me down this path, there is actually some method to my madness! Ever since I saw Karen's beautiful red lace dress I've been wanting to make a version of my own. I have the pattern picked out - Simplicity 1249 - and I've even purchased a Craftsy course to learn all I can about working with lace. But then this scuba upstart made an appearance and all my careful plans went out of the window. Making a lace dress would typically involve underlining the lace pieces, sewing a separate lining or both. Using my new fabric to make a lace dress would involve sewing the pieces together - and that's it. 

I still fully intend to make a properly constructed lace dress and learn the appropriate skills, but I'm also lazy! What I'm going to do is make a dress from the rogue scuba fabric as an experiment - if it all goes horribly wrong then I'll hardly have wasted any money (£4 a metre to be precise). It could look form fitting and classy and a lot more expensive than it actually is. Then again, it could end up looking like something a lady of the night might wear... I just need to dive in!

My next step is to research tips for sewing with scuba knit. So if you've sewn with this fabric before and have any wisdom to share I'd be very grateful. Thank you friends!

SaveSave

Autumn sewing list: semi-posh tops and cocktail dresses

The weather in the UK is pretty chilly at the moment and it definitely feels like autumn is on its way. All the lightweight tops and sundresses will be packed away in the not too distant future, which means a new season of sewing can begin. I don't have any concrete plans for autumnal sewing, but there are a few gaps in my wardrobe that I'm keen to fill. One of them is for semi-posh going out clothes. I don't need many as I'm not constantly out on the lash, but it would be good to have a nice choice for the few occasions I do get to escape!

Top of my list are evening tops that can be worn with slim trousers (or a pencil skirt) and heels. A current favourite in this category is my Sew Over It Anita Tie Top, which is dressy, comfortable and absolutely perfect for glamming up a pair of skinny jeans. 

I can see at least one more version in the making, perhaps using another Liberty print as it worked so well last time. I've also just bought Sew Over It's Anderson Blouse pattern. 

I'm optimistically hoping that sewing it will magically transform me into its classy and sexy namesake - Gillian Anderson. Highly unlikely, but I'll give it a whirl. I think rayon would be perfect for this kind of drapey top and I've seen several lovely ones recently….

I think this navy viscose print is so elegant. It also comes in a red or black colourway. 

I love the colours in this bright floral rayon challis print.

Or maybe I should go for a big, blousey floral print instead? Like this Joel Dewberry rayon challis.

On the cocktail dress front, I'd still like to use the skirt and bodice blocks I made on last year's pattern cutting weekend to make myself a little black dress. I don't actually own such a thing, and although black isn't the greatest colour on me, I think I need one in my life. I have in mind a princess seamed dress with slight cap sleeves that I'm planning to make with Prada crepe-backed satin. The fabric is self lined which means I can really concentrate on getting the fit right.

I'd also like to make the lace cocktail dress which has been dancing around in my brain ever since I first clapped eyes on Karen's red lace dress. Sadly, the lace dress class that she took isn't held at a time that suits me, so I'll be teaching myself as I go along. This could turn out well or it could be a total disaster, there's only one way of finding out isn't there?!

I'll probably use a combination of my bodice and skirt blocks and this Amazing Fit pattern which I picked up in a Weaver Dee sale last month. 

I really like the style lines of View B, with the lace overlay shown in View C (but not the long, flouncy bit). I'm also going to treat myself to a Craftsy online course - The Essential Guide to Sewing with Lace, which just received a good review by Fabrikate. I think it could be the ideal stepping stone between attending a course in person and trying to work things out for myself!

Of course, I'll need to keep warm alongside swanning around in drapey tops and cocktail dresses, so I'll still be sewing myself a few basics. But that's another blog post! Have a good week. x

Fashion with Fabric book review

Just as the Great British Sewing Bee seems to have evolved as a TV series (more challenging tasks, contestants working with a variety of different fabrics and techniques etc), so too does the accompanying book. I reviewed the book for the first series here and was mostly positive about it, my main criticism being the lack of patterns included. I was recently asked to review the book for the current series - Fashion with Fabric - and wow, what a difference a couple of years makes!

The focus this time is on the fabrics used, which makes for a surprisingly interesting read. The book is split into four main chapters based on the most widely used and popular fabrics: cotton, wool and other animal fabrics, stretch fabrics and luxury fabrics. The reader is encouraged to use the book as a starting off point, then experiment with their own ideas, which I think is a great approach to take. Lots of projects also have 'hack' suggestions, some of which are improvements on the original pattern in my opinion! Each chapter also contains advice and tips on working with these different fabrics, which I found really useful.

Unlike other pattern books (and I include the first GBSB book here), there is a comprehensive section of the book dedicated to adjusting patterns for an accurate fit. As well as standard bust, waist and hip measurements, the reader is told to take a high bust measurement to determine whether a full or small bust adjustment is required. It then shows you how to do one. This is such an important fitting step for a lot of women, yet it's only ever skirted around in a lot of books. There's also advice on moving darts, broad or narrow back adjustments and a page of useful tips on fitting trousers and fiddling about with crotch depths and lengths. The author - Claire-Louise Hardie - has years of experience as a theatrical and costume designer and runs her own sewing school. She's also the sewing producer for the show and this working knowledge absolutely shines through in the book.

There are 30 projects in the book, including a few from the series to date (Capri trousers, Walkaway dress, men's kilt and curtain skirt), and a couple of men's and children's patterns. For those who want to get their teeth into more challenging projects, there's a corset dress (with bustier hack), a leather jacket and the afore mentioned kilt. The patterns come in a separate pack, which in my case anyway, will actually encourage me to use them. Patterns that live in the back of books tend to get easily forgotten in my world, but if they're in a separate pack, they can live with my patterns! The patterns are full sized but need tracing off as there are several on each sheet. This isn't the headache it sounds as they're all clearly marked and colour coded - nothing like a Burda magazine!  The women's patterns come in seven different sizes ranging from size 8 (32 ½" bust, 25 ½"waist, 36" hip) to size 20 (45 ½" bust, 38 ½" waist, 49 ½" hip)

Of the patterns themselves, there are several that I'll probably try out at some point...

… the sleeveless shell top ...

… the silk woven tee ...

… and the sleeveless collared blouse.

I also like the look of the Capri trousers, despite the hideous example the poor model has to wear in the book…

There are some patterns that I can admire from afar but will probably never try: the men's kilt is one - although I'm tempted to make it for the sole reason of getting Jon to model it! The drapey knit dress is another as it's so far removed from my personal style. I can admire it on others who CAN rock that style though, I'm thinking specifically of Karen's version from Did you Make That? Simply stunning.

I've been keeping one final pattern up my sleeve  - the lace pencil skirt - as it's one I've already made!

I kept coming back to it in the book and in the end just decided to give it a try with some leftover fabric from my lace top. For the underskirt I used a sea-green lining fabric previously used to line the sleeves of my boiled wool coat, so all in all, a good stash busting exercise! The skirt is a simple, elegant shape with no front darts, an invisible zip and a facing. I only ever intended it to be a practice run to test out the pattern, but I think the finished version is totally wearable. I also made it before this week's episode of the GBSB and let me tell you, I could NEVER have finished it in 3 hours or however long they were given. Hats off to the semi finalists!

Using the finished measurements as a guide, I made a size 10 with no adjustments, and the fit is spot on. The two skirt layers are made up separately, but attached around the zip as a single layer. They're then treated as two separate fabrics below the zip. It's a brilliant technique which I'll definitely use again. I also used hairline seams for the first time, where the seam is stitched, narrowly zigzagged and then trimmed. A hairline seam is a good choice for sheer fabrics and it worked well for my lace overskirt, creating a very light finish.

I'm amazed by the number of excellent tips and techniques I've picked up from reading this book - I learnt two new ones just from making a simple skirt! I'll keep you updated with anything else I make from it, but so far, it's shaping up to be one of my favourite sewing books to date.

'Fashion for Fabric' was given to me free of charge for review by Quadrille Publishing. All views my own.

Fear Fabric Challenge: Lace

What's the scariest thing you can think of? For me it's clowns, dolls coming to life and ventriloquists dummies.... I also can't stand anything round my neck, or thinking I can't breath…. or one particular scene in The Woman in Black (the old BBC version, not the Daniel Radcliffe film). If you've seen it, you'll know exactly which bit I'm talking about - TERRIFYING.  I'm a bit of a wuss generally and news of this must have made its way across the ocean, as I was asked to be a participant in this year's Fear Fabric Challenge, hosted by Beth at 110 Creations.  WOOOOOOOOO!!

For the challenge I had to choose a scary fabric and conquer my fear of it by sewing something fabulous. Now there isn't actually a fabric that scares the bejesus out of me in the same way as a talking doll or The Woman in Black would, but there are a few I've managed to avoid like the plague. One of them is silk, which I'm still giving a wide berth, the other one is lace. Ah lace, lace, lacey, lacey, lace, so pretty, but with such a dreadful reputation, all those holes! It was only after seeing this Joseph dress worn by my lovely friend Rose that I was truly inspired to give lace a go myself.  Doesn't she look BEE-OOT-IFUL?

I thought a whole dress would be a bit much to tackle on my first attempt, but liked the idea of a smart top that could be worn with fitted trousers. A bit like the Luxurious Lace Top from Boden. For fabric I used some All Over Flower Lace in navy from White Tree Fabrics. I recently joined their blogging team as an occasional guest blogger, so the lace, satin lining fabric and bias binding for finishing was kindly sent to me free of charge - thank you White Tree Fabrics! There was an almost overwhelmingly large selection of lace to choose from, so I ordered a few samples first. I'd highly recommend doing this as the samples are generously cut and you can drape them over your arm to see what they look like as sleeves.  I didn't want to go with a very expensive lace, just in case I totally bodged it, and although the lace I used was fine, with hindsight I should have taken the risk and gone for a higher quality fabric. I think it would have given the top more of a fancy finish.

The pattern I used was the Colette Laurel. What appealed to me about the pattern was the lack of zips or buttons - the top version can just be pulled over your head. Shaping is created with bust darts and back contour darts, which I was hoping would be enough. I actually made a muslin beforehand (gasp!) and cut a size 8 with a ½" FBA (full bust adjustment). Although it fitted well across the bust, it was still a little boxy for my liking, so I added contour darts to the front, checking I could still get it over my head before sewing them! I also took in the side seams a smidgen too. The only other change to the pattern was to extend the length of the sleeves from elbow length to wrist length (about six inches).

Lace is very 'on trend' (as Gok would say), which was handy as there were plenty of examples in the shops for me to inspect at close quarters. I was initially thinking of underlining the lace, but my secret lurking revealed that the majority were made with a full lining. So a full lining it was. I used a solid navy satin lining, which was actually far more of a pain in the arse to work with than the lace. It was slippery to cut out and frayed like nobody's business as soon as you even looked in its general direction. I used the shiniest side against the skin so that the top could slide on and off easily, with the duller side against the lace to give less of a bling effect. By comparison, the lace was as good as gold: it washed and dried like a dream, didn't fray and behaved itself perfectly when I was cutting it out.  Nothing scary about this fabric at all.

Working with it is time consuming though - it's almost impossible to mark lace pattern pieces in the usual way, so I used tailors tacks to mark out all the darts and notches (thank you Louise at Thread Carefully for showing me the light on that one!) Marking up the pattern pieces took ages, but it was good discipline. As the bodice is fully lined, most seams are hidden from view, for the ones that are on view (such as the sleeve seams), I used French seams. I also used this brilliant tutorial - inserting un-lined sleeves in a lined bodice - to achieve a lovely clean finish around the sleeves and armholes.

I didn't actually refer to the instructions much as I fully lined my top, which meant a lot of them were redundant (along with the bias binding). There's a lot more you can do with this pattern though: as well as the top, there are three dress options included in the pattern itself and the option to download an E-Booklet with a further nine variations.

So what's the verdict? Well, my verdict on working with lace is a pleasant surprise. Yes, it's time consuming to work with, but the fact that it's relatively easy to prepare and sew more than makes up for this. I'm still not convinced the shape of the Laurel pattern is that flattering for my shape - I made this before taking my pattern cutting course, so if I made it again, I would tweak it accordingly. I also think my decision to fully line it has made it a bit bulkier than I'd prefer. It's perfect for wearing with jeans and heels to the pub though, and in that respect, it's a super useful addition to my wardrobe. I would like to work with lace again, but I think next time I'll choose a different colour.

If you haven't quite had your fill of scary fabrics (and let's face it, this one was pretty tame!), you can check out the rest of the Fear Fabric Challenges:

Andrea from Four Square Walls
Nakisha from Sew Crafty Chemist
Shannon from Shanni Loves
Beth from 110 Creations

What's the scariest fabric you've ever worked with? x

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