Flora and ice creams

Some fabrics just demand to be bought, don't they? This fabric did that to me! It's I scream, you scream from the Boardwalk Delight collection, and I picked it up from The Village Haberdashery. Clearly I needed an ice cream dress. Because an ice cream dress is a complete necessity, and not at all frivolous in any way. Obviously. The only question then was what particular dress it should become.

With a fun print like this an Emery dress is usually my default choice but, as it's also a really summery print, I wanted something sleeveless. I've made a sleeveless Emery before, but ultimately I fancied trying something new. I've seen many versions of the By Hand London Flora dress that I liked, particularly the tank version, so I decided to give it a go.

Or at least give the bodice a go anyway! While I love the delightfully full skirt that Flora is intended to have, this fabric just wasn't wide enough, so I reverted to type used the gathered skirt and pockets from the Emery.

I made a toile of the bodice in a size 12, adding my standard inch to the length, and the general shape was really good, but the fit from the bust down was just slightly too tight for my liking. To some extent, fit is a matter of personal preference, and my preference is definitely to have a nicely fitted bodice but still to have room to breath and enjoy the odd slice of cake. I'm sure I'm not the only one!

As I only needed a tiny bit of extra ease, I decided not to mess with the pattern pieces and instead to sew the side seams with a slightly smaller seam allowance. We're talking 1.3 cm instead of 1.5, but even that little adjustment made all the difference.

I really enjoyed sewing this dress. The instructions are nice and clear so the whole process was a breeze, and it all seemed to go pretty quickly. I know some people wouldn't enjoy the hand sewing of the lining down the zip and around the waistline, but thankfully for me I enjoy hand sewing so it's all good!

The only problem that I had was with the pockets, and that was all to do with the fabric. I originally used the outer fabric for them, but realised pretty soon after sewing them that you could see the ice creams on the pockets through the background colour on the skirt. So the pockets were promptly unpicked, and replaced with pockets cut from the same white cotton lawn as I used for the bodice lining. Problem solved!

One thing I'm particularly pleased about with this dress is the fact that I realised that if I cut things right then I'd be able to get an ice cream on each shoulder strap (the photo above is from mid-construction, so excuse the unfinished centre back seam and any stray threads). Small things like that amuse me. It's not very noticeable when I'm wearing the dress, but I know they're there.

All in all, I'm really happy with how this dress turned out! I know it won't be one of my most worn dresses, purely because I think the print requires really warm weather to be appreciated, but that doesn't mean that I like it any less. And it'll be one of my top wardrobe choices for sunny days. There are still a couple of other summery projects on my sewing list, so I'd better hurry up and get sewing so I can actually wear them! I'm not the only one still sewing for summer am I?

Easter Emery Dress

Hello hello! How are you all this evening? Suitably relaxed and chocolate-filled after a long Easter weekend I hope! I used the bank holiday on Friday to put the finishing touches to the latest in my long line of Emery dresses, which I'm here to share with you today.

I'll warn you now, this won't be a groundbreaking post - there's nothing new to say about sewing what is undoubtedly my most tried-and-tested pattern, but this is probably my favourite version to date so I wanted to share it anyway.

Apart from the fact that it fits me really nicely, and is exactly the kind of silhouette that I like, one of my favourite things about the Emery dress is that it's a perfect simple canvas for showing off gorgeous prints, which meant that it was the obvious choice for this beautiful floral number.

You know those times when you see a fabric and just HAVE to have it? This was one of those occasions! The print is Plockade from the Sommer collection by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller. I picked it up from The Village Haberdashery, who sadly don't seem to have this colourway in stock as I write this, but they do have lots of the rest of the collection available. I instantly loved this print, and knew it would make a really pretty dress so I treated myself to a couple of metres.

I did briefly consider trying a new pattern, but when such a lovely fabric was involved I thought it was better to go with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it principle" and stick with an Emery. I also decided that being as the print features daffodils, the dress needed to be finished while the daffodils were still in bloom, so it skipped to the top of my (admittedly fairly loosely defined) sewing list. You may notice that particularly brilliant fabrics have a habit of doing that with me - and I make no apologies for that!

As it's a good quality cotton, it's no surprise that this fabric was a pleasure to work with. It's got a really nice feel to it as well, with a better drape than lots of quilting cottons. That's not to say that it drapes brilliantly, but it has got a softer hand than other quilting cottons I've used. It works perfectly for a dress like the Emery and feels lovely to wear.

In case you haven't guessed already, I really love this dress. It combines my favourite pattern, a gorgeous print and lots of pretty colours so really it was always destined to be a winner, wasn't it? Have any great fabrics "forced" themselves into your shopping basket recently?

Jumping for joy in a new dress

I don't know about you, but there are few things that make me happier than wearing a pretty new dress on a lovely sunny day out. Just to prove it, here I am on just such a day, jumping for joy in my new dress.

Can we just appreciate the fact that a) this photo actually captures me jumping, b) it was the first and only jumping photo we took and c) I don't look demonic in it (there's something about having my photo taken while moving which makes me pull the weirdest faces - please tell me I'm not the only one?!).

This is the first dress I've made from the book Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time by Tanya Whelan, which my brother gave me (with a little prompting) for my birthday. The book gives you patterns for various bodices/necklines/skirts/sleeves that are all interchangeable and can be combined to make your own custom dress. I'll write a proper review at some point down the line once I've used it more, but my first impressions at least are definitely positive.

This is the basic bodice from the book, using the scoop neck variation, with a circle skirt and short sleeves. I did also add in pockets from the Emery dress - the one complaint I do have about the book so far is that I can't see any evidence of pockets. It's not a big issue because pockets are something that can easily be appropriated from another pattern, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to have somewhere to keep a tissue, am I?

I chose to cut the back on the fold and use a side zip, if nothing else to remove the headache of trying to get the pattern to match down the centre back.

I initially made a toile using the size 6 at the bust and 7 at the waist based on the size chart, but I ended up going up a size and using a 7 at the bust and 8 at the waist. I wonder if the measurements given, which I took to be body measurements, are actually finished garment measurements because the 6/7 are the sizes that match my measurements (and I'm not trying to flatter myself), but when I made up the toile I'd have barely been able to get the zip done up, let alone been able to breath once I was in the dress. The mix of sizes 7 and 8 (with my standard addition of length in the bodice) fits nicely though so it's all good.

The fabric I used is an organic poplin from The Village Haberdashery - they don't seem to have it in stock anymore, but they do have it in a different colourway if you're interested. It's a really good quality, crisp fabric, but it did behave slightly differently to normal poplins. I found that pins left very definite marks in the fabrics, as did basting stitches. They're not too noticeable, and I'm pretty sure they'll disappear with wear/washing, so it's not a criticism of the fabric - more an observation.

I'm really happy with how this dress turned out - so much so that I've already made a second with a gathered skirt instead of a circle. As an added bonus, this is another dress that goes really nicely with my recently blogged cardigan. And if that wasn't enough, I actually wasn't cold when we were taking these photos even though it was still February and it's only a cotton dress. Admittedly, I was in a sheltered spot, but it's definitely a sign that warmer weather is on it's way which has got to be a good thing, right?

New Look 6184

When New Look 6184 was the free pattern with Sew magazine a few months ago, I instantly earmarked it for my summer sewing plans. I mean, with a fitted bodice with a pretty pleated neckline, and a flared skirt (or pencil skirt if that's more your style), what's not to like?

It turns out that it was also nice and easy to sew, and came together quickly, so that makes it even more of a winner in my book!

The bodice is unlined and finished with a neck facing and bias tape around the armholes, and while I do prefer the finish of lined bodices in general, there's no denying that a facing is quicker and gives you a light and breezy dress for the summer.

I did initially have a bit of the problem with the facing not lying flat and trying to peep out along the front neckline - I was assured you didn't notice it at all when I had the dress on, but I could definitely see it and it was bothering me so I needed to sort it out! I tried catch stitching the bottom of the facing to the bodice, but that spoiled the effect of the pleats. I ripped that out and instead catch stitched down the facing in diagonal lines from the corners of the neckline, and that seems to have done the trick.

For this version of the bodice (there's also a higher necked version), the only shaping is provided by the pleats at the neckline, so I was slightly concerned about how I'd make any alterations if it didn't fit properly but thankfully for me it fits well pretty much straight out of the box. I made a size 16, and just needed to add an inch to the bodice length (standard for me) and an inch to the skirt (also not unusual for me!).

I also ended up taking an extra half a centimetre out of the side seams at the underarms during construction - I'm noticing that I often need to do that with sleeveless tops/dresses so maybe I should think about going down a size in the shoulders or something?

There's a bit more ease in the front of the bodice than I'm used to in patterns like the Emery, for example, but I think that's going to be inevitable when the pleating at the neckline is the only shaping. I like the fit anyway, so it's all good!

Can we take a moment to appreciate this invisible zip please?! I feel like I've finally cracked a way to insert them nicely that seems to work reliably for me. I've probably jinxed it now though and will have problems next time I try to use one!

The fabric for this dress was another bargain from The Village Haberdashery sale section, at a time when they had an extra discount running for the sale section, so I think it was only something like £4 a metre. Really it would have been silly not to have it at that price, right?! I actually already have another dress in a different colourway of the same print, but they look quite different, so that's OK I think.

I think that's about all I've got to say about this one! As you've probably guessed, I'm pretty happy with it, even more so because at about the same time as I finished it I found these pretty red shoes that go really nicely with it! What have you been sewing recently?