A Completed Coco

To prepare for my impending trip to London I decided that I would make up a new Tilly and the Buttons Coco.

The Coco dress pattern turned out so much better while using a heavier ponte knit than the really drapey ponte that i used the last time. I liked the fabric however it most certainly was the wrong choice - that being said I have had a lot of wear out of it!

This time though, instead of cutting the size 5 and  taking it in I cut out the 4 straight off. This size seems to fit exactly how I would like it to in terms of ease. I omitted the pockets and cuffs - this dress had more structure than the last so I didn't need to add interest in form of the cuffs.

Another change which I made during the construction of this dress was to include a seam on the Centre back. As the pattern stands, you cut both front and back on the fold. In this case in an effort to minimise the fabric used and to try and squeeze in a skirt from the scraps I cut the back piece on the straight grain not on the fold adding 5/8 inch to the seam allowance on each side. I think this worked well. Using 60 " wide fabric I managed to get the front and rear pieces next to each other on the same width of the fabric. I never redrew the pattern piece though with the seam allowance in so I'll add this in to my pattern now that I know it works so well and saves a ton of fabric.

In making up this dress I realised that in actual fact when making any subsequent versions that i will have to shorten the back length as the back kept wrinkling due to the fact the waist as I had sewn it wanted to sit higher than it hit on the garment. I couldn't tell from the last version that this would be an issue.

In terms of the fabric used for this project, I used a flocked ponte knit - it came in about £7 /m from Remnent Kings. I was told at the time 'do not machine wash or teh flocking will come off' I totally failed to take heed, washed it anyway and this was the result. Hence my coc was constructed using the wrong side of the fabric as the outside. However I care not. I got a nice dress out of it :-)

This is what happens when you don't listen to washing instructions

So all in all a succesful project. I'm 100 % confident that next time i'll have a coco that chanel would be proud of ;-)

Have a good weekend guys -  I'm off to a friends for pre christmas drinks :-D. What is anyone else up to?

JCS xx

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 :-)