A quick skirt and a quick post!

I’ll start by apologising for the dreadful photos in this very quick post!! It’s the summer holidays and I don’t have a lot of spare time!

This is my greatest dressmaking achievement of late – and it’s not even great.

It’s the Skater Skirt from issue 12 of Love Sewing magazine.

I like it, but I did lose interest when I realised that it’s too big. I made the smallest size, so if I want to make another I’ll have to grade the pattern down. That should be pretty simple seeing as the pieces are very basic shapes.

[FYI in the photo below, the mark on my top is from the camera!!]

The reason why I didn’t take it in before finishing is that it has pockets – yay! – and I couldn’t even be bothered to think about how to take the sides in with pockets there… So I just left it as it is and am calling it a muslin!

It’s dead comfy, so it is wearable and I will wear it – but only around the house!

I got the purple jersey from my local-ish fabric store. They have a very limited supply of dressmaking fabrics – they do stretch to a few plain jerseys and this was one of them. I’m happy with the quality of it and the colour’s nice; this photo shows it a little more accurately as the camera’s flash lightened it in the above pics!

I’m glad I didn’t use an expensive jersey with a pretty print!

Well that’s all I have to say about this very basic skirt… I do recommend the pattern – if it fits you! 🙂

I must make one of my daughters a skirt or something with the leftovers. One day!

Beth x

P.S. I’ve been dreadful at reading blogs recently so I’m so sorry if I have missed your posts… I’m trying to keep up but you know what it’s like… don’t take it personally! ❤

Isabella Tank x2 [Fab Free Pattern!]

Have you heard of Spit Up & Stilettos?

Well I heard about them only recently. They sell kids clothing patterns but used to sell women’s; since that didn’t work out they now provide these patterns for FREE. So of course I had to give at least one a go. I have started with this top as it’s what caught my eye first…. and I’ve made two (so far). They’ve got loads of other free patterns; I don’t know which to do next!

Image Source: http://www.spitupandstilettos.com

I’m already singing its praises so you can probably guess that I’m happy with the pattern!

Isabella Tank I

For the first one I used a polycotton scarf I picked up at a car boot sale for 50p. The print is not something I’d usually choose or wear but I really like it on this top!

I’ll start with the finished photo, then fill you in on the construction a bit! So here it is:

I managed to get the front piece (on the fold), and all facing pieces out of it. Check out the photos; this is where all my practice with jigsaw puzzles came in to effect!

Front piece (on the fold)

Front facing cut on the fold

Back facing, placed right to the edge

Back facing, placed right to the edge

I then used a plain navy blue cotton or polycotton (not sure – I don’t remember where it came from!) for the back, which matches nicely. I juuuuust about managed to squeeze the piece on!

The pattern’s very good and I had no problems with it. Amazing for a free pattern!

The only changes I made were to take in the side seams a little, and lessen the length of the back slit. You can see a photo of the gaping at the side seams a bit further down as I didn’t adjust the pattern because it’s just as easy to take that bit in every time, haha…. so I took a photo of it with the next version.

I added a cute red button, which I was very happy to find in my button tin as it matches nicely!

 

Isabella Tank II

Now on to version two. The photo’s not very clear but here it is…

Now that I’d got to grips with the pattern and the fit, I could experiment (a little!)

So this version is made of two fabrics – viscose, and a crochet/lacy man-made type of fabric.

The viscose actually started life as this:

A maxi skirt I picked up in Lidl purely to cut up. I cut all pattern pieces out of this, and then the front and back pieces out of the lacy fabric.

Then I sewed the front and back pieces together, just roughly, on all sides.

This is how big the top was at the sides (I just took it in that much down to the waist, where it was fine). Not a lot – it’s a very simple fit alteration! 🙂

Ta-dah! Now it’s spot on in terms of fit; it’s really comfy.

Well, this is my final post for The Monthly Stitch’s Indie Pattern Month. It’s been fun! (This week’s challenge is ‘One Pattern, Two takes’ if you didn’t know already.)

Now I feel like I’ve done a lot of dressmaking recently so I want to make some other bits and pieces for a bit of variety – I made some baby doll’s nappies yesterday and they are ADORABLE so I will share them soon! But I went on a bit of a fabric shopping spree earlier this week so I won’t desert the dressmaking for long….

Beth x

P.S. If you haven’t already seen, I made it to the finals of last week’s “New to Me” challenge on The Monthly Stitch (hooray!) so I now rely on reader votes to win a prize…. *hint hint* (I will love you forever!!) 😛 The link’s here… No pressure, I know there are loads of other amazing entries!!

I’ve joined the Sorbetto tribe!

I’ve seen these Sorbetto tops a lot in the sewing blog community. A free pattern, quick and easy to sew – I thought it’s about time I joined in.

I bought the pretty fabric when I went on a bit of an online shopping spree at Minerva Crafts. Isn’t it cute! I actually bought it with the intention of making a top, but at the time wasn’t aware of the Sorbetto. Then I came across the pattern and decided that would be the one!

I actually used some of the fabric a few weeks ago to make an easy-peasy A-line dress for my toddler, but luckily I still had plenty left for this project. So now little one and I have clothes in matching fabrics – cute as it is, I’m not sure we will wear them on the same day! You can barely see where I end and she begins!

The Sorbetto comes as a free PDF pattern so requires you to print, cut, match together, and stick the pieces of paper before you get started so it’s a bit of a faff but as it’s only two basic pieces and they lined up as they should it wasn’t as annoying as constructing that Brigitte dress pattern!

I’m really happy with how the top turned out. The only thing I would do differently should I make it again is give it more length. It’s not too short but it’s just a personal preference; I just prefer longer tops. The rest of the fit is great, though. Oh, I did alter the armholes slightly (I tried it on before the binding stage and found it quite restricting around the arms) by simply cutting curves inside the lower edges. I’m glad I did this because it made the top more comfortable, which means I will actually wear it.

As you can see, I made my own bias tape so that it blends in with the top. I got carried away and thought I would make more for future projects that may call for pretty binding – so I ended up making just over 3.6m!

So I had a little play with it before using it. Because making bias binding is not difficult (when you know how) but it is a pain when you just want to get on with sewing your garment. So making quite a length in one go (when you don’t even need to) is quite an achievement in my eyes… I may as well do something with it before cutting it up!

I learnt one new technique making this top – a different way of attaching binding. Or more specifically, not the whole process of attaching it, but the way you start and end to ensure a neat finish. If you have made the Sorbetto, you should know what I mean! I used to just overlap the ends – which can get fiddly – but their instructions are to join the ends of the tape and then stitch those few inches of tape down. The result is a nice neat finish, where you barely notice the join. Lovely 🙂

I’m now really happy to sew darts now. Everything gets easier with practice. These went in with no mistakes, and I’m really pleased with how smooth they are. There’s not a lot worse than pointy darts!
In fact now I think about it, my unpicker didn’t come out at all during the whole making of this top. That is a big achievement for me!! Wahoo!! 😀

 

So that’s it. A simple top, a simple sew, but a great amount of pleasure and pride in its creation!

Beth x