blue

Blue flowers? Must be acidic soil…

~ Rhiannon ~ 1 Comment

01-IMG_9759Sometimes you just get a bee in your bonnet, or at least you do if you’re as stubborn as me… 

In this case I decided that I wanted to get my wearable toile of the Colette Crepe ready in time to wear on a weekend trip to my parents. Even though I hadn’t cut out all of the pieces on the Friday evening and didn’t finish work and dinner until gone 8…

Yet amazingly, remarkably, I actually managed to do it (and ok, staying up until 1am probably helped).

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What is it?

A wrap dress with a rounded neckline and back wrap

Is it blue?

The flowers are!

What’s the fabric and where’s it from?

The fabric is a cheapy viscose I picked up in Barry’s fabrics purposely for making a toile with.

What’s the pattern?

The Colette Crepe pattern.

08-IMG_9774(Not the best photo but my usual photographer was a bit …delicate)

What was good about making this?

The speed! I admit I cute a couple of corners, but given this was a toile I didn’t mind too much, and the result was a four hour sew.

What was bad about making this?

The viscose was pretty horrendous to work with. At the time of sewing I’d hoped it was because it was cheap (more on that in a future post…).

The fit wasn’t ideal, it feels far too big around the bodice despite being pulled pretty darned tight. However I cut a straight six so figured I could make alterations on the actual version.

Would you make it again?

This was a wearable toile for a version I wanted to wear to a wedding so in theory yes.

But….

….to be continued….

Shh! Secret cats!

~ Rhiannon ~ 1 Comment

IMG_9216This may look like a polka dot dress, but it harbours a secret. A rather feline secret.

And why’s that?

Because some of the polka dots are secretly cats!

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What is it?

A sweetheart neck, princess seam bodice with a gathered skirt

Is it blue?

I think it definitely counts as on the spectrum. Plus a couple of the polka dots (and secret cats) are blue too

What’s the fabric and where’s it from?

The fabric is a lovely cotton called Happy Pop that I bought when we were in Japan last year.

What’s the pattern?

The By Hand London Kim dress

What was good about making this?

Aside from the secret cats? I made a couple of alterations to this after having made the underground dress, and it’s all the better for it. I could probably still take another centimetre off the straps, but otherwise it’s fitting and looking much better.

I also found the fabric was wonderfully easy to pattern match as the different cats made it easy to know where to lay out the pieces.

Honourable mention should go to the insertion of the invisible zip in this dress, which I expected to be a nightmare but which was near perfect (to my standards!) as you can see above.

What was bad about making this?

Pretty much nothing. It worked really well, I think I just want to take that one additional centimetre off…

Would you make it again?

Quite probably, I love the sit of the neckline on this dress and I have some lovely cotton I bought on ebay that is waiting for something like this….

x

Space dress! Again!

~ Rhiannon ~ 1 Comment

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It’s one of life’s great questions: why have one space dress when you can have two?

As a result of internet ordering and some rather economically cutting when I made the first space dress (thank you a pattern that didn’t need matching!) I had quite a bit more fabric left than I expected. Enough, in fact, to make another Mortmain. It would have been rude not to!

What is it?

A shift dress with a pleated skirt. I altered the neckline to make it a sweetheart neckline rather than the standard round neck.

Is it blue?

As blue as space.

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Playing Sound of Music in our local park…

What’s the fabric and where’s it from?

The constellation fabric from Fabworks Mill, as before.

What’s the pattern?

It started out as the trusty Mortmain by Gather Patterns, before I cut and altered the neck to give it a sweetheart.

What was good about making this?

It was good fun to try my hand at some (very light) pattern drafting by altering the neckline. I also discovered a total cheat’s approach for finishing the neckline when you can’t / don’t want to deal with altering a facing piece. I simply overlocked it at 5/8″, turned the overlocked edge to the inside and stitched in place. Piece of cake.

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What was bad about making this?

The nervousness about whether the alteration would work was the main one. That and the fabric creases a bit more than I’d like, so pressing the pleats in place was a bit of a pain.

Would you make it again?

Probably not with the sweetheart (although maybe I will) but I will probably make the Mortmain again, not only because it’s my go to cotton dress, but also because there’s some super special fabric in my stash that, although now used, at this point in time was waiting to be sewn…

x

Another awesome Astoria

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There’s something incredibly snuggly about sweatshirt material. I think it’s probably something to do with the way that it looks like it’s been constructed from hundreds of teddy bears to give it the ultimate comf factor. When you get that comfiness and put it into something that can be worn for work as a cover up for smart dresses without looking slobby, well then you’re on to a winner!

I’ve had this for about two months now [let’s not look at my making to blogging time lag in too much detail….] and I can confirm that it is fab and gets worn with pretty much everything. In fact, I’m wearing it right now as I type this (and I have the picture to prove it!).

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What is it?

A cropped sweater

Is it blue?

You betcha!

What’s the fabric and where’s it from?

A super comfy sweatshirt jersey from Guthrie & Ghani. I had my eye on it for ages and then found a metre in the remnants bin; just enough for an Astoria. It’s like it was meant to be!

What’s the pattern?

The Seamwork Astoria

What was good about making this?

It continues to be a super swift make, which is a definite bonus

What was bad about making this?

I’m not entirely sure I had the fabric rotated the right way… Which isn’t exactly a bad thing per se, it’s more just that I found myself getting confused!

Would you make it again?

It does make a great throw over for dresses due to the crop of the sweater… I think if I could find a comfy grey I probably would (I truly love a grey jumper) but otherwise as much as I love it I might be exhausting the number of Astoria’s I can get away with!

x

Tiny elephants top

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One of the very first patterns that I found when I started sewing was the Colette Sorbetto. It’s a free to download top and I thought “well that’ll come in handy”.

Two years later, I was looking for something quick and easy to sew up for a weekend during Me Made May. Turns out, the Sorbetto was very handy!

What is it?

A simple sleeveless top with exposed bias binding

Is it blue?

Yup

What’s the fabric and where’s it from?

The fabric is the remnants of the super lovely elephant fabric that the boy bought me back when I started sewing and some bias binding I had that by complete fluke was exactly the right shade of blue.

What’s the pattern?

The Sorbetto, but hacked to remove the central pleat. I found a tutorial for this on the Colette blog which was really straightforward

What was good about making this?

It was so quick and easy to sew and a great way to use up a bit of fabric that I really didn’t want to get rid of.

What was bad about making this?

Ummm…… honestly? Pretty much nothing.

Would you make it again?

Yup, I’ve got a couple of leftovers that would make great tops and, as if they knew, Colette have just run a week of different hacks on the pattern. They’ve got a knit one, a dress one (although I probably will keep the neckline on the original) and a modernised one. I’m going to end up with one for every day of the week at this rate!

x

Space dress!

~ Rhiannon ~ 2 Comments

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When I made the floral Anna dress, it was a toile for some rather special fabric; this fabric. Space fabric.

Everyone loves space, because it’s amazing, and this dress makes it even more amazing.

What is it?

A fricking SPACE DRESS

Is it blue?

Not just any blue, space blue

What’s the fabric and where is it from?

The fabric is a lightweight cotton that I got from Fabworks Mill (although it’s sadly now out of stock). I was pretty excited to get the fabric, but that got even more exciting when I discovered from Elle that the fabric was originally from Paul Smith! And then I googled how much a Paul Smith shirt cost, which was pretty terrifying. Fabric find of the year!

What’s the pattern?

The By Hand London Anna dress in the midi length version

What was good about making this?

Getting to sew with space fabric. Also, making something for a special occasion always makes it seem more exciting.

What was bad about making this?

As before, the sheer volume of seams that need overlocking with a six panel skirt is just boring.

Would you make it again?

Honestly? Probably not. I might consider making the maxi length dress, but after a couple of wears of this and the other Anna dress, I’m not sure if I like the bodice fit enough to make it again. I do still like it lots though!

x

Aztec geometric print dress

~ Rhiannon ~ 2 Comments

IMG_5852It’s no secret that I have a love affair with a particular jersey dress pattern and this is the next in a long and continuing line of dress.

What is it?

A sleeveless jersey shift dress with a gathered skirt

Is it blue?

Yes, in a teal / turquoise kind of way

What’s the fabric and where is it from?

The fabric is a fabulous ponte that originally came from Girl Charlee fabrics, although I was gifted it by the lovely Caroline at SewBrum

What’s the pattern?

Colette’s Moneta dress, this time the sleeveless version. I also altered the skirt as the pattern pieces wouldn’t fit on the fabric I had.

What was good about making this?

I got the dress out of a metre of fabric! A bit of clever folding and the aforementioned skirt adaption fixed meant I could stretch fabric as I’d never stretched it before (but not literally!). It also has a really bold print which meant pattern matching was a piece of cake.

What was bad about making this?

I don’t really like the gathering method used in the pattern instructions, so thought I’d try something different. Which didn’t then work. So I had to use the usually method after all. On the plus side thought, following a conversation with Elle at Laura Loves Pugs I discovered that if you make more markings on the elastic than required it’s about 60 times easier and makes for far neater gathers. Hurrah!

Would you make it again?

Just try and stop me!

x

Chambray shirt dress

~ Rhiannon ~ 3 Comments

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Remember the quest to find the shirt dress of shirt dresses? Well it continues with a new contender. This dress has already had a lot of wear since it was finished at the end of April, and has become a firm wardrobe favourite for being both comfy and casual and fancy and formal, meaning it’s great for work, lazy Sundays and impromptu nights out. Winner indeed.

What is it?

A shirt dress with a pleated skirt

Is it blue?

Yes!

What’s the fabric and where is it from?

The fabric is chambray and it came from a shop on the Goldhawk road

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What’s the pattern?

The infamous McCalls 6696 in view B

What was good about making this?

For the most part the instructions were really clear and straightforward; possibly more so than I expected from one of the big 4. Additionally, by using the best poppers ever rather than buttons, I managed to avoid hours of buttonhole misery and got it from “bit of fabric” to “ready to wear” in about fifteen minutes (not a joke, I was determined I wanted to wear it out to dinner that evening).

What was bad about making this?

There are a lot of pieces and a lot of steps, so there were times when I got a bid bored of this. I also found that the back has a bit more fabric than I’d like. Also, it needs 140cm fabric to fit the skirt pieces which means that it took a while for me to find a fabric that I both liked and wanted to make this dress in.

Would you make it again?

I think so, although I’d sort out the back bodice. It’s had a lot of compliments already and is so easy to throw on it would be silly not to have a second (or third, or fourth…). I think I’ll probably go for something patterned next time though, just because

x

Navy mid length skirt

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One of the sewing resolutions that I set myself for this year was to try and build some more me-made plain coloured staples into my wardrobe as a balance for the super fun but not always practical patterned dresses I love. This was one such adventure, into the land of practical workwear (pictured above with my Mimi blouse hack)

What is it?

A just-below-knee-length flared skirt

Is it blue?

Yup!

What’s the fabric and where is it from?

A navy blue crepe bought from a stall in Leicester market – I think run by someone called Stuart?

What’s the pattern?

The Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt in variation A

What was good about making this?

The pockets were a new skill for me, and really straightforward once I got my head around the instructions.

What was bad about making this?

I didn’t really like it once it was finished; there’s just something about the way the fabric joins in almost – but not quite – a reverse pleat in the centre that I cant get on board with. I’ve warmed to it a bit in the two months in between, but it definitely doesn’t get worn as much as some of the other skirts I’ve made (although whether that’s true after Me Made May remains to be seen!)

Would you make it again?

I’m not sure. I might make one of the shorter versions, but I think I probably prefer a gathered skirt to this one.

x

Tiny foxes shirt

~ Rhiannon ~ 1 Comment

Tiny foxes shirt

What is it?
A t-shirt with a peter pan collar covered in tiny foxes

Is it blue?
Yes. Well sort of. It might be a blue green? I think it’s blue though.

What’s the fabric?
Kokka Company “Little Foxes” double gauze

What’s the pattern?
Grainline Studio’s Scout Tee, adapted by me to add a faux peter pan collar

Where’s the fabric from?
Tomato in Nippori Textile Town, Tokyo

What was good about making this?
It was very quick to put together, including drafting the fake collar. Instructions were clear and simple

What was bad about making this?
The bias neckline was fiddly, especially with the addition of the collar. I also misjudged how long the collar pieces needed to be so they don’t meet in the middle as a proper Peter Pan collar should.

Would you make it again?
Yes. Both with and without the collar. Although I’ll redraft those pieces first if I do!