Moving House

Yeah it's another Laurel dress...but you don't need much fabric so I could make a whole dress from some Cath Kidston cotton duck and then call it a marvellous bargain. This counts as a September make but it's nice for autumn now too as the fabric is thicker and so feels nice with tights. Which is just as well as it's getting chillier....now for some wintry makes!

On The Buses

It's been a while.

My seamstress adventures have been curtailed by moving houses and cities- and not least by currently being without a sewing machine. I feel a bit bereft.

Just as well I made myself this cheery skirt one weekend then....thanks to a half-metre of Cath Kidston cotton duck. I think it's furnishing fabric but it sews up lovely. It lends itself to a simple elastic-waisted skirt as it hangs nicely....and it makes me feel happy, which is the main thing.

Bring Me Sunshine Dress

John Lewis have a whole range of products for their 150th anniversary, including the use of some special prints, and the anniversary fabric has been lovely. I got some on sale as well (and I still need to photograph the result) but fell in love with this summery floral cotton and decided to treat myself to a metre. As I wanted to keep costs down and not use any more than the 1m, a Laurel was my fail-safe option, with little cap sleeves, and lemon ribbon-bias rim for the neckline.

Since I made this dress, it has been a chilly and wet August (yay British summer!), so every chance I got to put it on I have- but finally photographed it after putting it on this morning. I know I have lots of Laurels and Laurel-related items, but I'm not too sorry :( There are some more different patterns coming up though...

A Feeling Genki Kimono

I enjoy making my own clothes so that I wear or style things exactly how I want, but it's also handy to copy something I've seen-and-liked in a shop. Cue trying on a lovely floaty kimono in *Popular British High-Street Shop*,  thinking it was so pretty and then double-taking at the near-£50 price-tag. I thought surely I can make that!

Pinterest throws up so many kimono tutorials- I used my own variation of this one. Then last week I found this market bargain fabric- Liberty cotton jersey! Dreamy in pattern and ease-of-sewing. I wish I had bought all of it.

£6 and cotton- vs a poly-mix £49.99? Winning!

Lady Mary | Deer & Doe 'Airelle'

My first Deer & Doe pattern sewed up- and I enjoyed making this Airelle top. The instructions are clear but quite brief (which I think perhaps earns it the 'intermediate' ranking on the packet), and I found this a quick and simple make. This would have been much better photographed on, but the fit is really nice- comfortable and loose but cinched in with darts front and back.
There are some lovely little details- the gathered cuffs on the sleeve (which the pattern tells you to interface but I didn't as I thought it would be too bulky and I don't miss it) ...

...and the lovely front gathers on the yoke...

A special note for my Downton Abbey fabric (yes, really!) in Lady Mary, hurrah! Yes I am going to make myself a label using the selvedge.... 

        

I really want to make some more Deer & Doe clothes now. The thick pattern paper is a little bit unwieldy, so it will need tracing for future makes, but once I have done that, I will be making lots of Airelles!

Garden Party Dress | and not giving up

There are 2 patch pockets, they are just well-camoflaged....!

Zip neatness :)

This is a new-old dress. So I actually made this dress a while ago, from an old Simplicity pattern and this floral print cotton, which reminded me of Liberty print but was cheap as chips. The original pattern is a 60's shift dress with an interfaced neckline detail and optional 3/4 sleeves, which I've not described terribly well but is a nice-fitting pattern I have used before.

I had made the sleeved version, tried it on again earlier this summer and thought what in the name of.... I looked like I was wrapped in a nanna's tablecoth and it was as frumpy as all out- I actually stuck it in my fabric box. However, I went back to it and realised my neckline and my zip were pretty nice and it would be a shame to undo all that effort, so over a period of time, I unpicked the sleeves, finished the sleeveless armholes off and took the hem up. I used the sleeves to make some little patch pockets, which are actually almost invisible on the photo but I so like them. I have worn it alot in the recent hot weather so it's made me realise I don't always have to start from scratch to make something 'new' to wear....

Capturing The Castle Dress | Gather Patterns 'Mortmain'

A return to this ol' blog. I have been rather slack at photographing my efforts but this is my new dress, finished yesterday and worn today, hence the creases {as I am as impatient as they come}. 

It is a Gather 'Mortmain' and it was nice to try a new designer and pattern. I was rather swayed by the name {I love 'I Capture The Castle'}, but luckily I also like the dress!

I love this Anna Maria Horner fabric:

The pattern is pretty straightforward and simple and I quite like the hardier pattern paper they use. The exposed zip also makes it a bit different I think- but I don't see why you couldn't substitute.

I didn't make a toile- and I really need to start doing this. I think I will get onto that, to get the fit better as I had to take the skirt in and the bodice gaps quite a bit. I could probably move the darts to improve that- it's a nice summer dress so you would want it looser, but a better fit might be better.

I'll also own up to the fact that the pattern on the waistband is upside down. I was so determined to get the dress out of just under 2 metres (as that's how much of this I had!), that the waistband and facings were cut with some artfulness let's say- then I had no fabric at all left when I realised! But I'm going to maintain from here on that it's a contrasting waistband ;)

The Gather website is here....