Completed: Simplicity 2442

Finally, a finished garment made entirely in 2015! This is my take on Simplicity 2442.

Simplicity 2442 to match my shoes

We were invited by John's aunt to her 60th Birthday party in a fancy country club near Howwood, Renfrewshire. Whereas I have a few things I could have worn I reckoned that my skills were good enough now that I wanted to try and make something myself. Plus I wanted a dress to match my shoes :-)

I made this dress up in View B cutting out a size 12. Stupidly I didn't read the fabric requirements right and forgot about the lining. So instead of 2.2 m of fabric and .7 m of lining for the 45" width I only bought 3 m of 36" brocade from remnant kings. It was on sale so was about £5.20 a metre. it's similar to but not the same as this. There were a few panicked hours when I thought i may have to return to the shop to buy another half metre, but thankfully things worked out.

Making use of someone elses heating bill! We spent the afternoon in the hotel

Then there was the issue that the midriff section came in about 3 inches too narrow so extra fabric had to be added. I don't reckon that you can really notice though, and no one commented last night that there were strange seamlines on the back waist!

In terms of constrution, this dress took all week. I traced off all the pattern pieces Monday and Tuesday and eventually started sewing on Wednesday. I eventually finished up on Saturday afternoon around 2:30. We left shortly after 3!

I like the fact that simplicity patterns seem to have a narrower back than most other pattern companies so i didnt need any adjustments there. Had I had a little longer to make the dress I would have muslind first to check on any back length adjustment however as time was of the essence I didn't and I did. Fortunately when it was sitting where it should it added really nicely to the ruching on the midriff.

The instructions provided for this make were a little shoddy to say the least! So if you do make this dress beware leave extra 'comprehension' time! I'm not sure I followed all exactly as stated but the outside turned out ok! The instructions also leave it a little messy around the zip insertion so if I were to ever make this up again I would change that.

The Elliot Dress

Finally, after making up teh full dress it was apparent that it was VERY low cut! This is why I have a lace detailing in the front to give a little extra coverage. I quite like the lace and think it actually adds to the finished dress.

So hope everyone had a great weekend we got some sad news that one of John's school friends sadly passed away on Saturday night after a long battle with cancer. So in a small act of rememberance I named this dress in his memoryadn wil be donating a small sum to the people who helped in his final months.

Rest in Peace Calum Elliot 1988 - 2015

Jen x

Simplicity "1460"

So the whole point of keeping a blog is to document progress right? and part of progress is leaning from your mistakes right? well simplicity1460 was one such mistake.

This was going to be my first piece for my vintage pattern pledge - a pretty tunic in a 50's style which was suitable for both work and play.

I picked up this cotton lawn and the pattern from Minerva back in March/April and made it up almost straight away. That's how long this has been sitting. collar unfinished, unhemmed, no buttons and generally unloved.

I kind of gave up by this point and just attached the cuffs

 The problem with this tunic is partially I cut this before putting on weight but mostly that the shape around the shoulders was just - weird. It was like walking with my shoulders hunched forward and together.

The overlocked facing edges worked well enough...

 I even tried it on my slimmer friend and although it came together at the front the shoulders were still weird.

So the things I liked about the pattern:
I liked the darts, maybe seems strange but I think they worked well in giving shape to the front
I liked the potential - I can see that with the right tweaking and alterations that this could be a really pretty tunic
the peplum style - i have said before and ill say again this is a style that works for me and i love it!

I think i'll maybe try again with this at some point with more experience under my belt with shoulder/back altering. and as for the fabric, I see a woven tank style in its future - a sorbetto perhaps?

what does anyone else do with their 'not quite perfect' makes?

JCS

Vintage Pattern Pledge

A sewing pledge.

During 2014, I Jennifer Catherine Shaw of Jennifer's Sewing Space pledge to make at least 2 vintage patterns.

eeeep! I'm gonna make up some vintage patterns this year!

The two I have in mind are two simplicity patterns which I picked up at a steal the other week...

An awesome 1950's dress - I have grand plans for view B

And a  40's Dress. I saw some great liberty fabric which I'm gonna use for view A.

I picked these up with no real timescale planned. I'm still building up a collection of stuff so I thought 'why not?' and now I have found the challenge, they have gone right in at the top of my to do list...

Check out the button on the side for more info...


JCS