Complete: New Look 6020(2)

Hey guys! Iteration 2 of my New Look 6020 project is now completed :-D read - has been complete for quite some time... haha

I tried a few alterations from the first version that i made and I showed a few quick pictures of this during MMMay week 2 (and week 3) and even then I wasn't convinced that I had made the right changes - now after a ton of wear, I seem to have confirmed that while the changes helped they were not the right ones.

After many an hour trawling through the internets I'm pretty sure I need to size down to a 12 and perform an FBA. This should reduce the excess I'm still feeling in my shoulders and neckline. Also what is with the extra space before the pic below...(what can I say my laptop is pish!)

A lot of the gaping and excess is around the shoulders and the neckline as I cut a 14 based upon the 38.5 inch finished bust measurement. My high bust is a little over 36 inches and that puts me into the size 12 range. Next time I think I'll try the FBA as I have tried a few times recently to OK effect... :-)

This isn't to say that I don't have a wearable dress! It fits so much better than my last attempt and I love the fabric - it was another Mandors purchase and was around £6 per m.

Close up of the fabric

One thing I have decided upon with this version is that I'm happy with the length - previously I had toyed with the idea of making the dress full length but I now know I'm happy with this length.

you can see the excess on the right neckline - it has a weird curve

All in all I think two more iterations and I might have a dress that I'm 100 % happy with...It turned out that with the lack of time I ended up with, I didn't use this pattern for the wedding but I cant wait to make this up again. I love love love the neckline and it's great to have a TNT princess seam bodice! As for that crepe...I have a plan, but need to wait for the cooler weather so sleeves will be functional!

Hope everyone has a great week - 'm off to another festival on friday - the gentleman of the road tour with mumford and sons and primal scream. I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of either bands however looking forward to the break. It's about a two and a half hour drive for us but the scenery is breathtaking! I think this dress may also make an appearance!

Jen xx

Completed: Granville too

Good Evening guys! I hope you are all well and hopefully the sun shone where you were today too :-) I'm really glad its our long weekend this weekend I have been feeling so rundown! It's glasgow fair weekend this weekend - its a fair that dates back to the 12th centuary, Wikipedia has more info if you're curious - however it is now pretty much a bank holiday for all intents and purposes. If the weather holds we're off to my grans on friday to pick blackcurrants :-D.

 I have a bit of an impromptu make to share with you all tonight - another sleeveless Granville shirt from sewaholic. I had decided that after the previous version that I would like to make up another few similar shirts. The problem is that I dont really like this one. The fabric is the right weight and looks really nice and all it's just a result of sewing when I haven't been feeling well for a couple of weeks and this is riddled with mistakes.

I think that overall I got a better fit with this second version than with the first - I sized down from a 10 to a 6 and performed an FBA. I still need to add about another cm to the FBA but I think the darts are sitting ok adn it fits well around the neck and shoulders. Whereas the front looks not to be pulling- that is because of mistake 1 - instead of making a double fold on the left front I only folded once. HMPF! I only noticed after the collar and stand had been attached and by this point there was no going back. I fixed up the raw edge with bias tape. Problem solved.

Another thing which I annoyed myself with was my lack of attantion paid to the back of the shirt. I have made enough sway back adjustments by now that I know I should do them every time. But I forgot. For next time I will make this alteration! Due to the fact there is no CB seamline the back piece will have to be cut on a single layer in future.

While I sized down by two sizes so the shirt wasnt as baggy as last time I kept the few extra mm that the length of the 10 gave me. I serged the bottom hemline and then folded over once managing to create some additional length. While it may not be necessary I kind of like having a few additional cm at the hemline. I managed to line up the bottom of the button band and facing on this shirt better than the last time too: the button holes even sewed up really nicely and I think the buttons are lined up relatively square too. UNTIL I HAD CUT THEM AND REALISED THEY WERE ON THE WRONG SIDE!!! Face palm all round. The result being that the buttons sit very obviously off centre.

So the shirt os OK. it is wearable and will probably live under a sleeveless jumper if it makes it to an office situation. I was considering donating it however if i'm not happy with the finish I can't imagine other people would buy it! Finally:

Got to love a good outtake pic! Apparently John thinks this looks like I am lusting after a runner in lycra running past the flat....ahem!

Have a great week folks!

Jenn

Completed: Sewaholic Cambie with a Pleated Skirt

Hello! It seems summer has now come and gone! Well almost. The sun seems to have returned to the clouds... At least I had a dress ready for the summer and conveniently as it turns out - it was the same day as my cousin's wedding!

Sewaholic Cambie Dress

The bodice pattern I used for this dress - as the title suggests is the Cambie by Sewaholic. This is a personal favourite bodice of mine however looking at the fit i think I need to make a few changes. I have already shortened the waistline by a cm or two and for this verison I made a sway back alteration too. Next time I think I will side down the bodice to an 8, perform an FBA, raise the neckline by a few cm and then grade back out to a 10 for the waist, I found that the neckline still gapes a little and I am determined to rectify this!

I think this photo proves we have lived together toooo long!!

In terms of pattern placement I only really agonised over the placement of the CF bodice. I wanted to have the flowers of the print on full display! Because of this I ran slightly over the 2 m of fabric I had and used some scraps from a previous project to use as the back lining and pocket pieces. The fabric was really light so definetely required lining - if only for modesty!

For the skirt I used my now favorite sewing technique - pleats! I substituted the gathered skirt for one width of fabric rectangle for the front and two half width for the sides - maintaining the pocket pieces of course. This brought a whole new meaning to advanced higher maths!!

each pleat was measured out to 4.8 cm

I did experience some overlap of the pleats because the fabric was 160 cm wide.... and I experienced a lot of heartache in ironing them pleats when I took the dress out of the case! This added like an hour to my getting ready time!

So thats about it for this dress. Sadly I ran out of time to make the red crepe dress which I had wanted to but I'm really happy with what resulted! And to finish on a high - who can resist an awesome photo in a beautiful car!

Hope everyone else enjoyed their summer (!)

Jenn xx

Completed: Gather Kits Mortmain

I will be honest - I did a happy dance when this pattern arrived through my letterbox as part of the pattern swap hosted by the monthly stitch - and not least because someone let the postman into the close!! I had been hankering after this pattern for the longest time and finally I could get to work. I had the perfect fabric sourced - a beautiful Amy Butler floral and a zip had been sent as a supplementary gift so I was all set to go on return from my holiday.

Then disaster struck and my plans were blown out of the water. As my grandmother has always been really enthusiastic about my sewing hobby I knew that I wanted to make a dress for the funeral and what better a plan than to make up the dress which has been the source of so much excitement for a woman who meant so much to me?

The fabric I purchased for this new vision of the dress was a dark blue with gold outlined flowers. I saw it and instantly knew that this would be the perfect fabric. It is a kind of hybrid between a lawn and a poplin. I cant decide which! It came in at around £6/m too so - bargain! I couldn't find a zip that I really wanted but I think my second choice works just fine. I had to stitch over the ends of the zipper as it was open ended.

For the bodice and as per my measurements (38:31.5) I made up the size 14. This size worked mostly well for me however for next time I have noted a few small changes.

• take around 1 inch of length out of the back - around 1/2 for a sway back and 1/2 for short back
• make a large bust adjustment of around 1 inch
• make the dress in a heavier fabric - I really want the pleats to stand out
• remember to add my standard pocket piece! (from the cambie)

For the skirt however I went a little off piste... As I was really limited for time I decided to make the pleats up and place them myself based on the width of fabric rather than the slightly narrower pattern pieces. I didn't want to copy off the skirt pieces and carefully copy over all the notches. So i aligned up the side seams and the centre back and front and then divided up the remaining fabric to give me the required number of pleats. I thought it worked well adn is an alteration that I think I will proceed with. I also cut the fabric to a custom length based on the length between my natural waist and knee. Unlike my kim however I remembered seam and hem allowances...

I really hope you like the dress I certainly do and it's one that I enjoy wearing for the sentimental reasons that I have noted. I have really enjoyed indie pattern month over at the monthly stitch and seeing everyones wonderful takes upon all the challenges however really disappointed that I havent been able to complete everything that I had planned. Also I realise that these pics are a bit awful however thats what a fortnight of stress and not sleeping does to you! after seing these I went and relaxed with a facemask and some tea for an hour!

Enjoy your weekend folks make sure to make the most of it!

Jenn xx

Completed: Sewing Dare!

Hello lovely people.

Thanks you so much for your kind words of support after my last post. Today I finally have the chance to share with you my sewing dare! Back in April I signed up for a dare over at craftingarainbow and was dared to make a maxi dress for the festival that I went to the other week. Well I made it! and it was finished before the original end-of-may deadline...but then life happened and I never got around to sticking it up on here :-(

Then the weather at the festival was so bad that I only managed to wear my dress for breakfast one morning :-( However I have what I think is a nice dress! On to the glorious details :-D

The fabric was this awesome yet slippery viscose purchased in Remnant Kings I bought around 4m because at the time of buying fabric I had no idea what form my maxi would take so went with more than I could need just in case. I pre-washed the fabric and think I even put it in the dryer because there was just so much of it and it was taking over the flat!

I eventually decided to go with the Anna bodice and the skirt was just a gathered rectangle. I really like the skirt for the Anna too but I was puched for time before the holiday and did not want the hassle of retracing the maxi length skirt. My only regrets on the skirt is that I didnt use more rectangles - the skirt is only WOF x1 so long steps are problematic. I think i'm going to go back and add a slit at the bottom to aide walking!

In terms of the bodice I made it up exactly as I did for my monthly stitch Anna - although as it was a slippier fabric didnt worry too much about getting the bodice too true to size as I wanted a looser dress for if we EVER get a summer here in Glasgow. I'm on the verge of buying some posters of a beach closing the curtains and ramping up the heating and pretending that I'm in spain! haha

The zip I chose was a lace zipper custom cut from mandors. I was really unsure of what zip would work best with this fabric, I initially bought an invisible zip however reckoned that it made the fabric a bit stiff and didn't flow as nicely as it should - I also considered a lapped zipper but then something in the back of my mind vetoed that idea. Retrospectively it should have been a lapped zip.

So I hope everyone is having a great weekend - John is off to Limavady in NI today so in his absence I have grand plans to tidy the flat! *Ahem*

Take care
Jenn xx

Some sad news and some holiday snaps

Hello world!

It has been a while.

It has been a little hard to work out where to start this post and in truth I binned the last two MMMay posts because I didn't have the heart to complete them and now its a bit past the event...

We were on holiday in Ireland the other week - from the 23rd May for a rock/blues festival in tribute to Rory Gallagher, the late blues guitarist. My grandmother sadly and somewhat unexpectedly died while we were away :-(. Unbeknown to me she had taken a turn for the worst the day before we went and my parents didn't want to ruin our holiday by letting us know. She finally passed on the morning that we returned. Her funeral was Monday and we gave her the warm send off that she deserved. To add to our shitty day someone broke into our car when we returned from a few drinks to commiserate. There wasn't even anything in the car worth stealing and he dropped the £2 cash we had there for our shopping trolleys. pfffffttttttt.

But for us the world keeps on turning and that means returning to the new norm. we did indeed have a great holiday and the festival was amazing. I stuck to my pledge and managed to wear at least one me made every day - however only managed to photo a few days. the set up of the festival was something which really appealed - small pub gigs throughout the town and a number of larger open air gigs in a giant marquee and a couple of pop up stages in the town. If you're interested the festival page can be found here.

so heres a few holiday snaps and the last few days of me made may.

I hope to have normal service resumed later this month. I have a few items made up that I'm excited to share.

Jenn

A Humongous Thank You!

Recently I have participated in The Monthly Stitch's Secret Santa Pattern Swap. Not only have I been surprised once, but now twice and I just want to say the biggest THANK YOU ever :-D

First of all on Monday after a most awful day I was surprised with my pattern being delivered. Now living in a tenement flat you play roulette with the entry system and occasionally you can wait two or three days longer for your mail. However the postman must have been let in as this was lying in wait when I got in :-D

This was a pattern that I have been angling after for the longest time! I have seen so many nice versions and couldn't wait to try it myself :-D.

I was in John Lewis the friday before mail day and picked up this gorgeous fabric in the sale with the thought of - 'well after I know how the swap turns out I can buy the Mortmain....' It is quite heavy however not upholstery weight so will hold the pleats well - I hope!

Slightly off white heavy cotton print fabric

Then again on Wednesday after my check-up appointment at the diabetic clinic I was surprised again!

I returned home to find a lovely gift and card from my swap partner

Two more new-to-me patterns plus a zip for the mortmain which perfectly matches my fabric!

Thank you swap partner these patterns are very much to my liking and can't wait to get stitching :-D

I hope you have a super weekend all: I'm off on holiday on Tuesday: we're going to Ireland and Northern Ireland for a week. Cannot wait! Included in this trip is a festival in Ballyshannon in tribute to the late guitarist Rory Gallagher, and a one night concert by a rock group The Bronx. We saw this band when they played in Glasgow under the guise of Mariachi el Bronx.I'm also hopeful to see the giants' causeway.

Take care and enjoy the long weekend!

JCS xx