New Look 6217 x 3

Things have been a bit quiet around my little blog recently, initially because I was busy making things for other people (which don't always make it to the blog), and then because life itself got busy. I've got a couple of projects finished and waiting to be photographed now though, so there should be some more regular updates coming up. Starting with three versions of the same pattern - New Look 6217.

I'll be the first to admit that I would have completely overlooked this pattern if it hadn't been for the version that Handmade Jane made. I've seen a few versions cropping up online since then, so I suspect I wasn't the only one who she inspired to buy this pattern.

Personally, I was only really interested in view B - a woven t-shirt/top with grown on short sleeves. It's very similar to an old RTW top of mine that I'd been debating copying, but I knew it would have taken me a while to get round to doing that so I thought I'd take the easy option and get the pattern. Especially when New Look patterns went on a 50% off sale so it was less than £3!

The first version I made was the one above, using a fun seaside print viscose from The Textile Centre on ebay - they don't seem to have it in stock any more but they have lots of other lovely viscose prints.

I made a size 14, and the only alteration I made was to cut the back on the fold instead of as 2 separate pieces. This does eliminate the keyhole opening at the back neckline but, while they look pretty, I often find them a bit annoying, so that's fine for me. I have no problems getting the top over my head without the neckline opening - and if I can do that, then I suspect most people will be able to because I have quite a big head!

The top is a quick project - particularly when you eliminate the back seam, which leaves you with just one front and one back piece. The neckline is simply finished with bias binding (for all the versions I've sewn so far, I've made my own binding from the offcuts of the fabric), and there are no darts or anything even, so it's a really simple but effective piece.

My second version was using a star print viscose from Regency Rags, which again now seems to be out of stock. I think this version is slightly less successful than my first one, and that's entirely due to the fabric. It was definitely sold as a viscose, but is much crisper and has less drape than other viscoses that I've used before. This top really benefits from a fabric with a good drape, and this second version just doesn't hang quite as nicely as the first. It's still perfectly wearable though, and indeed has already been worn a couple of times since I finished it a few weeks ago.

Having seen my versions of the top, my Mum decided that she'd like one of her own - particularly when we went to Sewn the other week and she spotted this gorgeous Cloud 9 double gauze.

(As a side note, if you're in or near Bristol, I'd definitely recommend paying Sewn a visit - they're relatively newly opened and have a growing range of beautiful dressmaking fabrics, and a good selection of indie & vintage patterns, and haberdashery. And Marie who runs it is lovely, which just makes fabric shopping even better!).

Mum tried one of my tops on, and luckily it fit her nicely so making a version for her was no trouble at all. I haven't worked with double gauze before - I think mainly because I'd never felt any in the flesh and couldn't imagine quite what it would be like from online descriptions - but this definitely won't be the last time I use it. It did fray a little, but other than that it was no problem to sew and it feels so soft. I'll admit that I was slightly reluctant to hand this over to my Mum!

So there we go - three versions so far, and I'm sure there'll be more to come in the future. I think New Look 6217 has already proved to be a worthwhile investment for me!

Scoop-neck Susie & Emery skirt

This post is all about two patterns that I've made before, but in slightly different forms to how you may be used to seeing them. The first is a relatively new kid on the block - the Sew Over It Susie blouse, while the second is my most-used pattern - the Christine Haynes Emery dress.

I really like my first Susie blouse, which I made a couple of months ago. At the time, I mentioned that there was a piece of fabric sitting in my stash that I had earmarked for another version, and here it is! I bought the fabric - a lovely hot air balloon print cotton - from Guthrie & Ghani at some point last year. I bought it with the intention of making the Colette Aster, but then changed my mind. Since then, it's almost become a number of other tops, but something always stopped me from cutting into the fabric. When my first Susie was a success, I decided the pattern was what this fabric had been waiting for, but with a couple of changes.

Firstly, I thought that with a fun print like this, it might be better to keep things simple and make a collarless version - obviously a very easy adjustment because you just don't make the collar!

After pondering things for a while though, I thought that a collarless version might look better with a scoop rather than a V neck. This was also fairly simple - I just placed the scoop neck from a tried and tested pattern (the one I used for these two dresses) over the front piece of the Susie blouse, and traced it over. I think it worked nicely!

The Susie blouse is a straightforward and relatively quick project anyway, but omitting the collar means that it becomes really speedy. Much though I like the original pattern and the first version I made, I think I like this scoop neck even more.

Now for the skirt! This isn't exactly what I was planning to sew when I ordered this fabric. It's a linen and viscose mix from Fabric Rehab, which I bought to make a summery circle skirt. Sadly, either the fabric isn't quite as wide as it says on the website, or it shrank a bit during washing. I didn't measure it before washing, but mine's now a good 5cm less than the measurement on the website, and that 5cm was the difference between just about being able to eek out a circle skirt, and not having quite enough material to make a skirt long enough for my liking.

I had a brief strop to myself about not being able to do what I wanted, then decided the fabric would be equally as nice for a gathered skirt. I used the waistband from the Veronika skirt, which I know fits nicely from the versions I've made, and instead of just gathering a rectangle of fabric, I used the skirt pieces (and pockets, obviously!) from the Emery dress. For those of you not familiar with the pattern, the Emery skirt has a slight A-line shape, which slightly reduces the bulk of the gathers at the waist and I think is more flattering on me.

I'd definitely rate the top and the skirt as individual successes, made even better by the fact that they go really nicely together.

These two pieces of fabric both obviously decided that they had different destinies from what I had originally planned for them. That's fine by me, my sewing plans are always fairly flexible anyway, and it's always worth changing things around a bit to get the right outcome - don't you think?

(Almost) Riley dress

It's no secret by now that I'm partial to treating myself to a sewing magazine every now and then, especially if there's a pretty pattern involved. So it was no surprise that when The Craft Network Sewing magazine was released with the Riley dress pattern, a copy came home with me fairly quickly and the dress was added to my summer sewing list.

The Riley dress has a fitted, lined bodice, separate waistband and gathered skirt. It comes with 2 bodice options - view A which is cross-over and sleeveless with a side zip, and view B with short sleeves, a square neckline and centre back zip. As you can probably see from the photo above, I chose view B!

The first thing that I should say is this isn't entirely a Riley dress. What the fabric requirements on the pattern envelope don't mention is that the skirt pieces are actually too wide to fit on 115cm/45" fabric unless you cut them on the crossgrain. 

I hadn't realised this before I bought my fabric (a strawberry print poplin, with contrast red poplin for the waistband, from a fabric shop in Barnstaple that I found when visiting my sister), and the print just wouldn't have looked quite right on the crossgrain. 

So instead of using the skirt pieces from the pattern, I swapped them for the skirt from the Emery dress (and, of course, I also added the pockets from the Emery). The skirts are very similar shapes, it just means I have slightly less volume in the skirt than the pattern intends.

The next point to make is that, unless I did something particularly bizarre, this pattern contains a LOT of ease in the waist. The only finished garment measurement provided is the length, so based on my measurements, I made a toile using a medium at the bust, grading out to a large at the waist. 

The bust fit well, but the waist was HUGE. I took in 2 cm at each side seam, which effectively turned it into a medium for the whole bodice. My toile seemed OK at that point, so I got on with cutting out the dress.

Sadly, once the actual dress was finished, there was still too much ease in the waist, which was surprising being as the waist measurements for the medium are 27.5-29 inches, and my waist is 31 inches on a good day, or 32 on a day when I've been eating more cake! 

I took the zip out again and took a wedge out of the centre back seam, removing 1cm on either side of the neckline, and blending out to take out 2.5 cm on either side of the waist, and back in to meet the original seam halfway down the skirt. So that means that I took a total of about 13cm/5 inches out of the original waist size based on my measurements, and there's still plenty of wearing ease. In hindsight, I probably should have just measured the waistband pieces and worked out the finished measurements from the start.

The actual making of the dress was pretty straightforward. I found the instructions clear and easy to follow. Having said that though, if I made this pattern again I'd probably ignore the instructions and go a bit off piste because I'm not 100% sold on the finish that it gives you. 

The main bodice and bodice lining are joined together at the neckline fairly early on, and then basted together round the remaining sides and treated as one piece from that point onwards. This does the job, but it means that the top of the centre back seam allowances end up being flush with the neckline, rather than being enclosed inside the lining as it would be if the lining were added after inserting the zip (which is what every other lined bodice I've ever made has done). 

I think the instructions may have you do it this way to ensure that the gathers at the waist (which provide the bust shaping) are even on the main fabric and the lining, but I think I'd rather gather them separately and spend time making sure they're even and have a nicer finish on the centre back.

As it is, I added to or ignored the instructions a couple of times anyway - I understitched the lining at the neckline , which isn't included in the instructions, and I didn't use the recommended topstitching on the waistband. I did give the topstitching a try, but I just thought it looked better without it. 

All in all, you can probably tell already that this isn't my favourite pattern. The waist sizing is definitely a bit off, the finish that the pattern produces isn't the neatest, and I don't think the pattern envelope tells you all the information that it should. That being said, I'm reasonably happy with the finished dress. I'm not sure that the waistband is that flattering on me, but the dress is comfy and the print is pretty so it'll still be worn I'm sure. Has anyone else tried this pattern? Is it just me that's slightly disappointed by it?!

My Me Made May

This year I decided to take part in Me Made May for the first time. My pledge was to wear at least one me-made item per day, which I thought would be fairly do-able, and I was right. So much so that I actually decided to up the challenge part way through the month to see if I could manage without repeating whole outfits - and (thanks in part to warm weather making occasional appearances, allowing more summery dresses to come out of hibernation) I did!

(If you want any pattern details, they're all on my Instagram feed)

I'm in two minds about whether I should be proud about that or not - in some ways I definitely am because it shows that I've made a lot of things that I actually wear, but in other ways maybe it shows that I have more clothes than I really need.

I am conscious of constant fabric shopping and excessive dress making not being much better on a general sustainability level than high street fast fashion, but I also know that sewing, and creating pretty dresses in particular, makes me happy and keeps me sane. I also love my wardrobe now more than I ever have done in the past, and I feel so much more confident (something that I often struggle with) when I'm wearing something that I've made. So while I probably don't technically need to sew anything new for a while, I think it's safe to say that won't stop me from cutting out a another dress later this week.

So, what have I learnt from this Me Made May?
- The pattern I wore the most was the Emery dress - not a surprise! It's my favourite and most-used pattern
- Emery was closely followed in the popularity stakes by the Veronika skirt. My denim one in particular is a staple in my wardrobe
- While I wear a lot of blue. Also not a surprise. And not a bad thing - blue suits me and I like it!
- While that's true, I do like adding more colours into the mix - particularly when the sun's shining

- There are some me-mades (mostly fairly early creations) languishing in the back of my wardrobe that I didn't want to wear this month. I should probably think about passing them on to a charity shop. I'm a hoarder by nature so that might be hard though!
- If there's a gap in my handmade wardrobe, then it's probably knit dresses. I'm generally comfy in my woven dresses/skirts, but there are some days that need secret pyjamas! Something to work on...
- My flat is a very boring background for photos. I'm looking forward to the day (which may not be too far off - fingers crossed!) when I don't have to live in a rented magnolia paradise.

My main conclusion is that I actually wear me-made most of the time anyway so this didn't feel like too much of a challenge, and I'm pleased with that. I still enjoyed celebrating my creations and seeing what everyone else was wearing though - I'll definitely join in again next year. Did you take part? How did you find it?

Sew Over It Doris Dress

I'm a sucker for shiny new things. Be it patterns, fabric, or books, I'm probably an online marketer's dream, not least because I spend all of my working life in front of a computer and, being as I'm self-employed, there's no need to worry about my boss finding out that I've been shopping instead of working! To give me credit, I have been trying, and largely succeeding, not to get drawn in to the excitement of a new release. But sometimes there's something that's just too pretty to resist, and for me the Sew Over It Doris dress pattern was one of those things.

I remember seeing and loving the photos of the Doris dress when Sew Over It first released it as a class, and hoped that at some point she'd find her way into their pattern collection. So when my wish was granted, Doris jumped straight into my shopping cart and hopped to the top of my sewing queue.

The Doris dress has a lovely scoop neck bodice, that's shaped with bust pleats and has little grown-on sleeves. The waist is semi-fitted and can be cinched in with attached ties (the option I chose), or a back belt. The skirt is panelled, and has a really pretty flared shape, which the wind is kindly demonstrating to you in the photo below.

The skirt comes in two lengths - above and below the knee. I chose the longer length, which ends at a perfect knee length on me (I'm about 5 ft 9), which I'm pleased with as below the knee often tends towards frumpy on me.

The pattern all came together smoothly (notches and pleats matched up perfectly etc.) and the instructions were clear and easy to follow. The pattern is rated as intermediate, but I think a confident beginner would be fine sewing Doris - as long as you're happy inserting a concealed zip I don't think there's anything else too complicated here.

One point to mention is that if you have a non-directional print then you probably won't need as much fabric as stated on the fabric requirements - I used about 2.6 metres of Liberty-width fabric.

In Sew Over It's sizes, I fall right between a 12 and a 14, with my bust being closer to a 12 and my waist being closer to a 14 (and my hips probably over a 14, but to be honest I never pay much attention to my hip measurement because I always make full skirts so I know there'll be plenty of hip space). I used the size 12 from the shoulder to the underarm, and gradually blended out from the underarm to a 14 at the waist. I also added 1.5 inches to the bodice length, which is fairly standard for me.

I'm happy with the fit - in some of the pictures it looks like I have excess fabric in the upper back, but I can't see that when I'm wearing it in real life so I'm inclined to blame weird posture whilst prancing around trying to look natural for photos!

The skirt shape and grown-on sleeves of the Doris dress really need some nice lightweight material, and while a drapey viscose would have been ideal, I love an opportunity to use some Liberty lawn. And I think it has just about enough drape for Doris so it's all good!

The Liberty aficionados among you will probably recognise that the print I used is Glenjade, and I got it from Katsfabrics on ebay (which, if you don't know, sells factory seconds so you can get Liberty a bit cheaper!). The buttons were a lucky find in my local knitting shop - and you may have noticed that I didn't bother with the buttonholes. The dress has a side zip meaning there's no need to have functioning buttons, so I just sewed them on through both layers of the bodice.

I think that Doris is a really pretty dress. I tried out a little experiment, and I think the back ties also look good tied at the front as in the photo above, although I think it might make the back look a bit weird! Overall, I think it's probably better with the ties at the back as intended, but I'll remember this option if the ties ever get in the way of a cardigan or anything.

I'm pleased that I let my willpower cave and bought the Doris dress straightaway - it's a gorgeous pattern and I definitely intend to wear this dress a lot this summer. Where do you stand on new releases? Do you rush to buy them straightaway, or do you hold off until you've seen other people test them out?