Skip to main content

Posts

Ness skirt

When lockdown 1.0 started I bought a load of fabric from different retailers. And I also bought a Ness kit from Wild Orchard Fabrics . The kit came with everything needed to make a Tilly and the Buttons Ness skirt, including:  Denim fabric Extra fabric for pocket bags Interfacing Denim-style button Rivets Zip for fly Thread for top-stitching Elastic Pattern from Tilly and the Buttons Plus a cute canvas bag to store the project The complete kit Over lockdown 1.0 I made a few creative projects. But the realities of working from home meant I had to channel my spare time into converting my sewing space into a work space, with the complication of making two tables: one to act as my desk and one for my sewing machines.  But, working from home is also the ideal time to wear a denim skirt. So I’m glad I’ve managed to tick this off my list at last. There’s two views to the Ness, one is below the knee with a front split and the other is a mini-skirt version. Both have a back yoke and side pocke
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

Bettine dress

The next SewHayleyJane box came with this beautiful feeling cotton sateen fabric , complete with a border at both selvedges. So that gives me a challenge to make something that uses the border, but means cutting at right angles to the grain.  I chose the Bettine pattern by Tilly and the Buttons. Three main reasons: I can make use of both borders: at the bottom of the dress, and on the sleeve cuffs; I was confident the dress hem was straight enough to accommodate the border; and finally the dress has pockets! It's the second TATB pattern in a row, but this one was a PDF from the website, which meant I didn't have to trace it!   The main trick  was cutting out at right angles to the normal grain line. I tried to be careful to ensure the border at the dress hem and on the cuffs/tabs were all in line.  The skirt and bodice of the dress are cut separately. I did not go to the effort of pattern matching the pieces, which actually is a bit of a shame. I got a bit scared off by the fa
Post a Comment
Read more

Safiya Jumpsuit

I'm a bit late to the jumpsuit party. I'm sure they've been cropping up more frequently, in fashion and in patterns, for at least a year. But the first ones I saw had the shape of boiler suits in a lighter fabric. I actually quite like that shape, but I wasn't ready to dive straight into that! My most recent SewHayleyJane box came with viscose crepe based on an Italian wallpaper pattern. Although to me it looks like Delft fireplace tiles ! And I had received the latest Tilly and the Buttons book from my Mum for Christmas, so it was about time I did something from that. In the book there's a hack to make the Safiya trousers into a playsuit, and a hack to pop pockets in. So I sorta half-hacked the playsuit - after all I wanted the long legs of a jumpsuit. Side note: is that the difference - just long v short legs? Either way, I wanted the long leg style. I quite like the idea of the mock-wrap bodice. Doing the half-hack version did mean a bit of jumping around in th
Post a Comment
Read more

Shelby dress

Ever since I saw Liz’s ’ 90s ditsy grunge ’ tea dress in the Great British Sewing Bee, I'd been planning to do something similar. I used to live in black dresses of that ilk when I was a teenager.  But I also don't want to buy new fabric now - I have plenty! So instead of a black dress, I've done a summery dress with cotton lawn fabric from a Sew Hayley Jane box.  The Fold Line suggested the True Bias Shelby as the pattern that Liz had been using. So I grabbed a PDF of that, and got to sticking/cutting. I'm using View A, which is the mini-dress. I am also interested in the full-length romper (View D).  Sizing and adjustments:  I normally manage to cover 3 different sizes with my bust/waist/hip measurements: but my waist and hips fell on the same size in this pattern, with my bust just one size smaller. Bonus! And with the princess seams going up to the bust I decided to just do a single size, and adjust the princess seam if needed. On the model the skirt seems a litt
Post a Comment
Read more

Start at the top

I had a small bit of the lovely Cherry picking fabric left from the blouse I made. I was hoping to make a simple top, something a bit less complicated than buttons and zips. And obviously without using too much fabric! I found the  Start at the top pattern, which looked like it would work. There are some issues with the pattern though. Part of the sleeve does not line up with the rest of the sleeve (and I'm sure it's not me, since the guiding lines are spot on) and the notch marks are misplaced on this piece. I made a guess at how they should be placed... From there cutting was easy enough. But once I came to start pinning the pieces together I discovered a second problem with the pattern. The instructions mentioned sewing the sides together until reaching the dot. I couldn't fathom what was meant by dot. Turns out reading through the entire pattern revealed that there's supposed to be a small slit at each side. So I eyeballed a decent length for this, I think 10cm wor
Post a Comment
Read more