Simplicity sundress mark two

Way back in 2013 I made myself a strappy sundress using Simplicity 2176. During its short life it was a great success, it was made with lovely fabric and had a cool vintage vibe. Sadly it came a cropper in the washing machine when the blue dye from the main dress seeped into the white bodice band, leaving it an unsightly shade of dishwater grey. I know, I know, I probably could have saved it by unpicking the bodice band and adding a new one, but as we all know I'm totally lazy and that was never going to happen. The dress was donated to charity and I was left one sundress short in my summer wardrobe. This year, I finally got round to sewing a replacement.

I did a bit of tinkering with the bodice for this second version. The fit on the bust on my original dress was always quite tight, which made the waistline ride up as a consequence. This time I added a one inch full bust adjustment (FBA) and lengthened the bodice by 5/8". I also added a little extra to the side seams as I find very tight waists unbearable in hot weather. Overall I think the fit on the bodice is much better - it's not actually that noticeable but I feel the benefit!

Original on left, new version on right

The skirt is from New Look 6557, the same one I used for my Fireworks dress. I love this shape of skirt (a quarter circle) in the hot weather as it's cool and airy without being too big. The only other change I made was to substitute the lapped zip for an invisible one and attach the inside bodice band to the zip by machine for a neat finish. 

The duck egg blue fabric is a lovely lightweight floral lawn that I leapt on when Freya was de-stashing at a recent meet up. There was 2m to play with, which was just enough for this dress, thanks Freya! The colour is slightly brighter in real life, more like the photo below.

Spot the felt tip marks that still need to be washed out!

Because the fabric is very light I underlined the bodice sections and cut a separate skirt lining with white silk cotton. I probably should have added a full lining to the bodice instead of underlining it as this would have concealed the notched princess seams. I also added strips of interfacing either side of the invisible zip for extra support and stay tape across the top of the bodice to prevent it stretching.

Without really intending to I seem to have put quite a lot of effort into making this dress! The irony is that there hasn't been a truly hot day in London since I finished it, so it hasn't actually been worn yet. It does look good with a cardigan though! x

New Look 6446 - Ticking Sundress

Ever since ruining my Simplicity sundress in the wash last year (the blue from the main fabric ran into the white band and turned it grey, doh), a strappy sundress-shaped vacancy has remained open in my wardrobe. So when I spotted New Look 6446* on Instagram recently I snapped it up.

The main focus of the pattern is undoubtedly the jumpsuit/culottes and I've seen some fabulously inspiring versions (here and here). It's quite a bold look to pull off though, so I thought I'd test the water with the dress option (B) first. The bodice has a nice shape to it with a high square neckline and wide straps - a little like the BHL Flora in fact. I also like the slanted front pockets.

Suggested fabrics are chambray, linen, chino or lightweight denim - anything with a bit of structure that isn't too drapey. I used a quilting cotton in ticking stripes from my stash, which fitted the bill perfectly. To line the bodice I used my favourite silk cotton.

The dress came together easily and the pattern was an absolute delight to sew. I liked the combined pocket/facing piece and the instructions to attach the lining to the invisible zip by machine, both designed to make life easier! The straps are left deliberately long at the back so you can adjust them to fit. It took me a bit of pinning to get them at just the right height but they now sit perfectly and are wide enough to cover bra straps. I took a scant ¾" off the bottom hem but otherwise sewed it straight out of the envelope.

Based on previous experience of New Look patterns I went down a size from my measurements and cut a size 12. The fit isn't too bad at all - the bodice is a reasonably tight fit, but I think a looser fit would look a bit frumpy on me. The only slight problem with the dress is that the combination of striped fabric and front bib can look a bit apron-like from certain angles! Otherwise it's light and breezy for summer and will be perfect for wearing on holiday.

Adding a belt helps alleviate the apron effect!

This is a great pattern - easy to construct but still retaining some interesting details to get your teeth into. The skirt version I sewed was a quick, satisfying make, but if you're a bit edgier than me then the jumpsuit version looks pretty straight forward too. Trouser construction involves pleats to the front, darts to the back and a simple wide leg. Hmmm, it's quite tempting…! Which version would you choose?!  x

* If you like the look of New Look 6446, Weaver Dee are offering a 10% discount. Just use code JANE10, yay! 

Progress on the Made Up vintage blouse

The Made Up initiative seems to be going from strength to strength. The good news is that at the time of writing, the total has just skipped past the £2,000 mark, which is almost double the initial target! Hoorah! The slightly less good news (for me, anyway) is that we've also skipped past the halfway point to the deadline. Hmmm, I think a bit of a progress report is needed….

Considering I have to fit my sewing in between fairy cake making and regular trips to the swimming baths (shudder), I don't think I'm doing too badly. Everything will rev into gear soon when the boys go back to school, but in the meantime, there's plenty of prep work to be getting on with. 

The one major change I've had to make to my plans is that my 1930's blouse will now be sleeveless. This is partly down to me stubbornly insisting to myself that one metre was enough fabric and partly because of the fabric itself. It was only after washing and ironing the fabric (more on that in a minute) that I realised there was a sizeable chunk missing from one corner - a 7" x 5" rectangle to be precise. It took me ages to work out what this was, then I remembered - a couple of hours before I'd actually purchased the fabric I'd asked for a sample, and the hole was the sample I'd been given. I wouldn't have minded if I'd been given a bit more to play with, but my fabric still only just measured a metre in total. In fairness, this may not have been intentional, but all the same, it was bloody annoying and meant I had to omit the sleeves. 

Whinging aside, the pattern pieces have been cut from the fabric, so the fun's about to begin! I got to use my razor sharp serrated edge scissors for the first time and they were fab, they made the cutting so much easier, thanks Alex for the recommendation! I had to make a couple of tiny adjustments to the yoke and to the front and back bodice pieces to allow for lack of sleeves. I used this tutorial, the same one I used to convert my Granville to a sleeveless version, and it worked fine. I also decreased the back width slightly, which is an adjustment I made on my other versions. 

As I didn't want to take any chances with silk crepe de chine i.e ruin it in the wash before I'd even taken the scissors to it, I did a bit of research on how to launder silk. This involved asking my regular laundering guru - my mum, Lily. Lily's advice was to gently wash the fabric in lukewarm water with a very mild soap, no rubbing or squeezing, just swirl it around. Then rinse it well, smooth it out and lay it between a towel to dry flat. This is more or less the same advice given on the Til the Sun Goes Down website, so I knew it was sound. It washed beautifully, but it was a bugger to get the creases out of. I pressed the fabric whilst it was still damp, but they were still pretty stubborn. It's definitely NOT going to be an easy care garment!

I've now underlined the front, back and yoke pieces with white silk cotton to brighten the colour and make the silk less transparent. Even with the underlining, the fabric has still retained its silky hand and slight sheen, which is encouraging. My next step is to interface the under collar and front button band with silk organza to add a bit of crispness. I'm using silk thread to underline and to sew the actual blouse, along with a sharp needle and Entomology pins. If you're interested, my silk thread came from here, which offers a much wider choice of colours than Gutermann silk thread. I also have some vintage silk thread in exactly the right colour (see photo above), but sadly, not enough. Aren't the old thread bobbins so much more attractive than the modern ones?! 

I've given myself until the end of this week to finish all the underlining and interfacing. Then all I have to do is sew the blouse together, which should be straight forward (nervous laugh). How are you getting on with your Made Up pledges? Started? Finished? Still thinking about it?!  x

Blue rose shirt dress

My big news for today is that my blue rose shirt dress is finished. Hoorah! A few stumbling blocks were flung across my path during the making of it, including half term holidays and a serious buttonhole foot malfunction. But now it's finally completed, I'm glad I made it at my own pace and didn't try to rush the making of this lovely dress.

This is the second time I've used McCall's 4769 (the first being my Jubilee dress), so I knew I didn't need to make any further adjustments to the pattern. In fact I didn't have to make any the first time round, just shortening the skirt using the petite lines on the pattern. 

For fabric I used my all time favourite Liberty print - Carline - which is a fab blue rose print on a cream background. It was a tight squeeze cutting out all the pattern pieces as I only had two metres, but omitting the pockets and sleeve bands seemed to just about swing it. It's fully underlined with silk cotton (apart from the sleeves), which makes a massive difference both in opacity and feel. The blue of the roses really pops with the white underlining and the dress now has a luxurious weightiness to it that I love.

Inside...

..and outside

My first version of this dress only has six buttons and buttonholes, and with hindsight, I think a couple of extra ones wouldn't have gone amiss. So this time round I made eight buttonholes, which gives the dress that extra bit of security! 

And finally, I managed to use the last scraps of my Watch this Lace trimming on the hem. It's a perfect colour match too - don't you just love it when that happens?!

For those of you who were interested in a tutorial on attaching the collar and facings, I think I have enough photos and will put something together over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here I am prancing around in my new dress...

I love how it looks with a waspie belt

Can my cheeks possibly look any more hamster like?

Yes, they can!

I just love shirt dresses - they're so easy to wear and manage to effortlessly travel that difficult path between casual and dressed up. I know I'm going to love wearing this dress over the summer. x

Kicking off summer with blue roses

With my usual uncanny sense of timing, I've decided to make a start on summer dresses just as temperatures plummet and the heating's switched back on! After last year's wash out summer, I've learnt to ignore the weather and just sew what makes me happy. The dresses I made last year were worn non stop during the few sunny days we had, so they're right at the top of my summer sewing list this year. 

First on the list is a second version of the Jubilee dress I made last year.

Jubilee Dress

It's McCall's 4769 and if you avert your eyes from the hideous cover artwork, it's actually a great pattern. And because I've tested the fit already, I can just steam straight in with some much loved and much pawed over Liberty fabric. 

Liberty Carline fabric

My inspiration was the shirt dress from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing - ssoo beautiful. 

Gertie's shirt dress - gorgeous isn't it?

I chose blue roses rather than red as I've got a bit of a thing for blue roses - they're so unusual and old fashioned! And as we all know, Liberty lawn costs a fortune so I'm determined to take my time with this dress rather than risk any hideous and costly mistakes.

With this is mind, I've underlined the bodice and skirt sections with white silk cotton. 

I made sure I bought the real stuff from the Goldhawk Road and not the rubbish silk cotton imposter I ended up using on my Sew for Victory dress. 

It's difficult to photograph, but you can just see the sheen of the silk cotton in this photo

I did contemplate underlining by hand with silk thread for a more accurate finish but my dislike of hand sewing won through and I underlined by machine instead. I'm really pleased with the result - the white underlining really makes the fabric glow. I also used a decent interfacing from English Couture (sorry, I can't remember which one I bought) on my collar and facing pieces - something I think is definitely worth investing in.

I'm all set now, I just need to decide on buttons. I'm thinking plain cream - anything else might be a bit too much amongst all those roses. Any thoughts? x

Beignet in Black

I made my first Colette Patterns Beignet skirt over a year ago, and despite my best intentions a second version just never managed to make it onto my sewing table.  The shape is supremely flattering, it fits like a dream and it seems to go with any top, so why the digging in of heels?  I think it's because this is such a time consuming make... it's constructed in panels, it's fully lined, with facings, twelve buttons and button holes and six REALLY fiddly little belt loops.  Compared to the Ginger skirt, I'd say the Beignet takes about four times longer to make.  But it's definitely worth it in the end, I don't actually own a black skirt so this little madam will slot into my wardrobe perfectly.  It's really difficult to photograph a black skirt - nothing shows up!  These are the best of the lot...

Worn with its near relative - the Violet blouse

Not sure if a black and white version makes it better or worse?

I used gabardine for the main skirt and covered buttons, and silk cotton for the lining.  Gabardine is great to sew with and the perfect weight for this skirt.  One thing I love about my original Beignet is the contrast polka dot facings and pockets.  Why fiddle with something when it's already perfect, I asked myself?  So this one is also polka dot faced and pocketed. In my defence, I managed to stash bust the last of the fabric from my Violet blouse at the same time, which is good.

Contrast facing....

....and pockets, yay

I picked up the silk cotton lining on my visit to the Goldhawk Road with Suzie, Alana and Gail last week.  Yet another good thing about meeting up with fellow sewists is that they can lure you towards previously dismissed fabrics.  After my last encounter with silk lining, I was steering well clear of anything with silk in the title.  But Alana assured me that it sewed up like a dream so I went for it.  She was absolutely right, it really behaves itself and at £4 a metre (from Classic Textiles, on the left as you go in the door if you're interested) it's a lovely, affordable alternative to standard lining.

The pattern is so clever - I particularly like the way the lining and facing keep everything neat and out of sight.  Sewing the two opposite curves of the lining and facing together is a true test of sanity though - my only advice would be to do exactly what the pattern says.  You may think you know better (as I did) but in the end the steps in the pattern do make it easier.  And finally, I wrestled with my overlocker and managed to overlock all the seams.

Overlocked seams - aren't they gorgeous?

Much quicker and much more professional looking than usual.  Hoorah!  Have a great weekend. x