Saturday 26 July 2014

Tilly and the Buttons Lilou dress

Meet my Lilou.... or rather the Philatelist Dress! (I've given a name to a dress :-O it feels weird however apt)
Lilou dress at culzean castle!

Based on my measurements I cut a size 5 - forgetting to check the 'finished garment sizes' and ended up with a dress so big that I could have fitted a friend inside too :-(. So after 3 hours a bit of hand sewing and a full tub of pins I had a dress which fitted!

you cant expect to go down the west coast and not get attacked by wind!


The fabric is a lightweight cotton picked up in mandors (as usual) for only £6.99/m. I only picked up 2m of it as it was originally going to be something else...so had to change the skirt from the pleated version suggested to the clemence gathered version from near the beginning of the book. this dress therefore is a marriage of clemence and lilou. a match made in heaven methinks :p

so as a result of all the pinning and adding extra bust darts, the back and front waist differ in height by about an inch. this is a 'feature' of the dress that definitely bothered me - until i woe it out! I received a compliment from my ultimate critic, my mother and when I asked her "but what about teh wonky waist" she said "well if you didnt tell me I wouldn't have known". BOOM. the dress is a win! I think this will become my travel to the states dress when I go in September.
well someone looks awkward...

I love the stamps on the detail and even placed the fabric so I would have queen Vic slap bang in the centre front - i didn't really mind about not matching the pattern at the sides though because its rather busy and so interesting it doesn't (in my mind) make a difference.
rather awfully taken picture ahem...

I think my favourite stamp print is this Hannover one... although it did take a while to realise that it was Hannover NH not Hannover DE :-( oops!

I'm definately going to make this up again - this time though i will line the skirt too so i don't need to wear a slip. :-) - oh and make a muslin so i don't end up with a wonky waist (or maybe just try the size 4....)! I think i'll also try the pleated skirt variant too.

Has anyone else made up Tilly's Lilou?
even my vogue coat made an appearance!

 So I went to the table tennis today for the commonwealth games - it was really great actually - we didnt arrive in time to get a seat to see the scotland ladies so we went around and saw the indian vs NZ ladies and the malaysian vs northern ireland ladies and it was amazing! we also saw the trinidad and tobago men in the second session - its reminded me how much i enjoyed it back in school! It's so fun to watch too. We're going to the boxing tomorrow too can't wait! The whole town is buzzing its such a great experience :-D

outtakes!! haha i look horrified!
Take Care guys is anyone else watching the games?

JCS :-)

Thursday 17 July 2014

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

Tuesday 8 July 2014

A Completed Bronte

So this wasn't in the sewing plan however when this pattern was released I couldn't resist! Meet [Charlotte] Bronte!

Apologies for the distance shots - I was trying to keep the sunburn out of view!

 Made up in an Alexander Henry jersey knit, this is the softest fabric i have ever had the pleasure of putting next to my skin!

this was a metre long remnant I have had in my stash for about 6 months and was just waiting to be made into this top. There were vague musings that I would draft a tank top but I thought the fabric deserved something a little better...

This top included a lot of firsts for me:
1st time sewing a knit
1st binding
1st time using twin needle and proper stretch stitch

and all in I think it turned out pretty damn well! I also think this was a good fabric/pattern to try working with knits on because it was dark - any snags of the thread have been hidden! and the small issue I had with attaching the binding at the end is cleverly hidden by the overlap :p

These pics were taken after wearing the top to work all day and apart from a little drooping of the front neckline it kept its shape pretty well.

Clearly the other half never got the memo to tidy the house...
 I cut a straight size 14 with no alterations - and the fit was perfect! I could have cu a 12 but would have resulted in a tighter fit which I'm not so keen on in knits. I also made absolutely no attempt to match the pattern... haha I don't even think its possible with this pattern

I don't quite know whats going on with the hem on the right hand side there...

another first for this make - it was the first make on my machine since it was repaired! and its running like a dream! :-)

So i'm not sure when i'll make this up again but it certainly fills a hole in the wardrobe. I really like the style and think it could work well made up in a more plain knit.

Has anyone else made up the Bronte top?

Take care guys

JCS :-)

Thursday 3 July 2014

The Sewing Situation

I'm beginning to think that it never really clicked that my poor wee machine was away being fixed... certainly not if you go go by the pile of WIP's and the shrouding of (Dirty) Diana....


Yet more WIPS!
Its interesting how things were left in various states of progress... theres still another stuffed into a plastic bag to help ease the pile (it's a knit so I figured that it didn't matter so much)

WIP Pile of Doom!
So this is the mystical starry black cloak that broke my machine. It's only 4 layers so I didn't think that it would be a problem? Maybe when I resume i'll use a leather needle coz it's so thick? Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Its just a regular weight dress cotton. :-(. On the plus side my machine has been returned, the downside is that they returned it to the wrong address and it is currently the other side of the country at my parents. Hopefully I will get it back on Saturday.


Yeh I count eight, thats right EIGHT WIP's. (although the pattern on the table doesn't reeeeeally count coz im only at muslin making stage. Is anyone else's WIP pile as unruly as this???

Applique Owls taking shape :-)
Improvising with pattern weights
I'm off to London for the day tomorrow me and the other half are away to see Black Sabbath at Hyde park. I'm hoping to take in Gold hawk road while we're down there too - does anyone have any reccomendations for where to start? Does anyone else have plans for this weekend?

Have a good one!

JCS