Summer Haus Patterns Spero Skirt

It's been a while hasn't it? At the end of each year, things tend to go quiet on my blog because I'm busy making Christmas presents. Now we're into a new year, I'm happy to report that I'm back to making things for myself, starting with the Spero skirt from Summer Haus patterns.

The Spero skirt is designed for knit fabrics, and is a simple high-rise, pull-on skirt. It has a relaxed silhouette and an elastic waistband, and falls to midi length. It has a slit at the centre back, which means that there's plenty of room for movement so you're not restricted when walking.

The pattern covers waist measurements from 23 to 58" and hips from 32 to 67".

Proceeds from the pattern go to supporting causes that are important to the designer. As I'm writing this post, they're going to Community Aid Network MN.

Spero is a fairly simple pattern, with just two pattern pieces – one for the front (cut on the fold), and one for the back (cut as two pieces). The waistband is formed by folding over the top of the skirt.

As a result, it's no surprise that the skirt sews up quickly and effortlessly. The instructions are very good; clear and easy to follow, with just the right level of detail and helpful diagrams.

The sizing is good. The pattern recommends that you choose a size based on your hip measurement, which I did. My hips are 42" so I made a size 10 – my waist is 32.5", so between an 8 and a 10, but it's easy to adjust the waist a bit by cutting the elastic to your preferred length. Personally, I think the skirt has the perfect amount of ease to make it comfy and relaxed for everyday wear, without being baggy or shapeless.

The skirt is drafted for a height of 5'5" (side note: I love that this information is stated clearly in the instructions, often it's the kind of thing you have to hunt down on a designer's website). I'm closer to 5'9" so I lengthened my skirt by 2". 

There is a lengthen/shorten line on the pattern (another plus point; they're often not included), but it's in the lower half of the skirt below the slit. I thought that I'd probably want the extra length above the slit so I drew in my own lengthen line in the top half of the skirt, and I'm glad I did that. The slit (and the skirt as a whole) falls at pretty much the perfect length for me now.

The fabric that I used is a French terry that I snapped up in the Threadquarters closing down sale. This fabric is now out of out of stock, but there are some other beauties still available at the moment if you're after a bargain.

My Spero skirt is so comfy to wear, and I love the colour. All in all, it was a really enjoyable project and I could definitely see myself making another Spero or two in the future!

Itch to Stitch Clemente Top

Sometimes a pattern and fabric appear at the same time and demand to be combined together. That's just what happened a couple of weeks ago when Itch to Stitch launched the Clemente top, and a couple of days later Hey Sew Sister released a particularly lovely yarn-dyed cotton gingham that seemed perfect for the pattern.

The Clemente top is a relaxed fit top for woven fabrics. It features front and back yokes with soft gathers, a bias bound neckline, button and loop closure at the centre back neck, and the choice of short, three-quarter or long sleeves with elasticated hems.

The pattern has A, B, C, D and DD cup sizes, and covers bust measurements from 30⅛" to 63" and hips from 33⅛" to 62".

The pattern instructions have a good level of detail and are very easy to follow, with clear diagrams illustrating the steps too. I've made a few Itch to Stitch patterns and they always have great instructions.

Clemente is a fairly simple pattern and comes together relatively quickly, but the yoke offers a bit of interest – particularly if you use a gingham/plaid or striped fabric and play with the pattern placement on the yoke. 

As you can see, I cut my yoke on the bias. The pattern recommends using stay tape around the neck and yoke seam if you do this to prevent the yoke stretching. I followed that recommendation and it seems to have worked nicely.

I made a size 10 and used the B cup pattern piece as recommended for my measurements, and I think the fit is good. It's relaxed as intended, but not overly loose or baggy. 

The only adjustment I made was to lengthen the pattern by an inch (standard for me). When I tried on my toile, which I hadn't hemmed, it felt like just the right length so I added the extra inch so I'd be able to hem the top and keep the length that I wanted.

The only other very slight change I made was to use ½" elastic in the sleeve hems instead of the ⅜" called for in the pattern, which was just because that was what I had in my stash.

As I mentioned above, the fabric that I used for my Clemente is a yarn-dyed cotton gingham from Hey Sew Sister. It's a lovely quality fabric, and was a pleasure to sew. I think this fabric is perfect for a Clemente – it has just enough structure and stability to make the sewing process a breeze, but it's also light enough to suit the relaxed shape. 

I took the time to match the back yoke pieces, and I'm glad I did that – it's always satisfying when pattern matching works out!

I'm pleased that the Clemente and this lovely gingham appeared together and "forced" me to combine them. It was an enjoyable project to sew, and my finished top feels lovely to wear. I quite fancy making a Clemente with an embroidered yoke, so I may well be using this pattern again.

McCall's 8553 zip front dress

This year two zip front dresses have been taking the sewing world by storm. After watching from the sidelines and seeing lots of lovely versions of both patterns pop up on my Instagram feed, I finally decided that I needed to jump on the bandwagon and sew one of my own. Here's my take on McCall's 8553...

The McCall's 8553 is a zip front dress, with a wide pointed collar, front bodice patch pockets, gathered long or short sleeves, and a gathered skirt in two different lengths with in-seam pockets in the front section. 

I made view B – the longer skirt (more on that below) and short sleeves, and I omitted the patch pockets.

The pattern is drafted for bust sizes from 30.5 to 46" and hips from 32.5 to 48". 

The reason that I chose M8553 for my zip front dress is that the zip opening and front neckline are finished with a facing, meaning that the neckline looks neat if you have the zip slightly open. 

In contrast, I read a review of the Fabric Godmother Aspen dress (the other popular pattern) that said there's no facing so you can see the zip tape on the inside of the dress when the zip is open. In the Aspen's favour, it does go up to a 57.25" bust and 56.75" hip, so it is more size inclusive.

I enjoyed sewing my M8553. You need to be quite accurate when sewing the collar and zip, but other than that it's not a particularly difficult pattern to sew. I found the instructions easy to follow and didn't have any problems during the sewing process.

As is often the case with Big 4 sewing patterns, this pattern is split into two size ranges (6-14 and 16-24). This always gives me a bit of a dilemma because my measurements put right between a 16 and an 18, but I know that there's often a lot of ease built into these patterns so it would be handy to have smaller sizes too. For me, it seems easier to reduce size than add extra width so I got the bigger size range. 

I ended up making a straight size 16, but having made a toile I decided to use a ⅞" seam allowance on the side seams instead of ⅝" to take it in a bit. I also lengthened the bodice by 1.5" (a standard adjustment for me).

One thing to note is that the skirt pieces for views B and C are LONG! I could tell the skirt would be longer than I wanted when cutting out, but I wasn't quite sure how much I'd want to shorten it so I cut out the full length pieces. When I added the skirt to the bodice, the dress ended up ankle length on me, and I'm taller than average (about 5'9"). I ended up cutting 7" off the skirt and using a 2" hem instead of the ⅝" called for in the instructions. You could definitely save a bit of fabric if you know you don't want the skirt to be quite so long.

If I make this pattern again, I'd possibly use a different skirt. The front skirt on this pattern is cut in three pieces, with the pockets between the side front and centre front panels. I think I'd prefer a more "normal" skirt with one front piece and the pockets in the side seams.

The fabric I used is a cotton twill that I bought from Jenny Stitches. It's not currently in stock in this colourway, but it is available in red, royal, yellow, emerald and cerise. Its a great quality fabric, really good value for money and a perfect weight for this pattern. The zipper tape and slider that I used were also from Jenny Stitches.

I feel like the plain fabric of this dress doesn't come across brilliantly in photos, but it's lovely in real life and it's a great dress to wear. I'm already considering a long-sleeved needlecord M8553 for the autumn/winter – let's see if I find time to make one!

Sew Hello St Mawes Top

A couple of weeks ago I made myself another Waves & Wild Kinjarling dress (you can see that on my Instagram profile, and there's a blog post about my original version of the pattern here) and after cutting it out, I realised I had enough fabric left over to make a top. I had a look through my collection of patterns that I haven't used yet, and chose to make the Sew Hello St Mawes top.

The St Mawes top is a cropped or long-length top with a scalloped or straight hem. The top can be made sleeveless, with straight short sleeves or with three-quarter length balloon sleeves. The sleeveless version has an all-in-one neck and armhole facing, while the neckline of the sleeved versions is finished with binding. The pattern also uses a hem facing in both the scalloped and straight versions.

The pattern caters for bust sizes from 31.5" to 59.5", and hip measurements from 34.75" to 62.5".

I enjoyed sewing my St Mawes top. It's quite a satisfying project to work on and the pattern seemed to be well drafted – everything came together with no trouble at all. I like the all-in-one neck/armhole facing (which is sewn using the burrito method). It gives a nice clean finish and means that there's no chance of the facing flipping to the outside as you're wearing the top.

The scalloped hem is a fun feature, and was nice and simple to sew with the facing. My top tip would be to mark the seam allowance at the top points between the scallops to make sure all of your pivot points are in the right place and are even.

The instructions are generally fine, although if I'm honest I don't think they're the best I've used. There were a couple of points that I think I might have found confusing if I hadn't already been fairly familiar with the processes. For example, the instructions refer to the facing as both a facing and a lining, and I think that the steps for the burrito method could have been a bit clearer. The diagrams are good though, and definitely help to clarify the steps.

I made a size 14, which is what is recommended for my measurements. I think the sizing is quite generous. I ended up sewing the side seams with a larger seam allowance at the underarm, tapering out to meet the intended 1 cm seam allowance at the hem. My top is fairly loose, but I quite like that in this sleeveless version and it was nice to wear on a hot day this weekend.

I made the long version, and that's a nice length on me – although I wouldn't say it's particularly long. The cropped version would have been very cropped on me, but I am 3" taller than the pattern is designed for.

One point I would mention is that when I made a toile I could only just get the top over my head. In my "proper" version, I used a 1.5 cm seam allowance around the neckline instead of 1 cm and that has helped. I do have an abnormally large head (all those hats that claim "one size fits all" are lying!) so it may not be an issue for most people, but it would be worth checking.

The fabric that I used is a lightweight cotton poplin that I bought a few months ago from a shop that has since closed. I did see it for sale in a few online shops at the time though, so it may still be around somewhere if you need some apples in your life!

All in all, I think my St Mawes top turned out quite nicely. I particularly like the scalloped hem, and it'll be a nice breezy top to wear on summer days. Plus, I always enjoy getting a bonus extra project out of a piece of fabric!

Simplicity 8384 dress

I enjoy hunting out bargains in charity shops, and always keep an eye out for sewing patterns. A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a box of patterns and treated myself to a couple of them, one of which was Simplicity 8384. I particularly liked the look of view A, which is what I've sewn here. 

Simplicity 8384 is a shirt dress or top with various length options. All the views have a collarless rounded neckline, and buttons at the centre front of the bodice. There are sleeveless, short sleeve and three-quarter sleeve options. The dress has a handkerchief hem for the knee and mid-calf lengths, and a straight hem for the ankle length and peplum top versions. The back of the waistline is cinched in slightly with elastic.

The pattern covers bust measurements from 30.5" to 46".

I enjoyed sewing my dress. The neckline/collar band in particular turns out really nicely and was very satisfying to sew. 

The instructions in Big 4 sewing patterns often get a bad reputation, but I usually find them clear and easy to follow. They maybe don't hold your hand as much as indie patterns and they're generally a lot more concise, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I had no problems while I was making my dress.

That said, I did take a slightly different approach to inserting the elastic in the back of the waistline. The instructions call for you to sew the edges of the seam allowances together to make a channel and insert the elastic into that. I thought that might be irritating to wear because the seam allowance could move about. Instead, I pressed the seam allowance up and made my channel by stitching the seam allowance to the back bodice to anchor it in place. It worked nicely, and isn't irritating at all (although, to be fair, I don't have any evidence that the version from the pattern would have been irritating either!).

Another thing that Big 4 patterns are renowned for is having lots of ease, and that's very much true for this pattern. It's definitely always best to look at the finished garment measurements (on the pattern paper) – I think in this case the pattern includes 5" of ease. 

That would have given me a dress that was looser than I wanted, so I went down a couple of sizes. I made a straight size 14, whereas my measurements would put me between a 16 and an 18.

I lengthened the bodice by an inch, which is normal for me (I'm 5'9"), and actually shortened the skirt by 3". Those skirt pieces are long! It's intended to be ankle length, but it would have been on the floor if I hadn't shortened it, and I'm a bit taller than average. 

It's also worth mentioning that if you have a non-directional print/plain fabric without nap, you can definitely get view A out of less fabric than the pattern suggests. It calls for 3.4 metres for size 14, but I managed to cut my dress out of just over 2.5 metres. 

Talking about fabric, this is a cotton poplin that I bought from Minerva but I can't seem to find it on their website now – sorry!

My finished Simplicity 8384 feels lovely to wear – the elastic in the back waist cinches it in nicely to give it some shape, but it's still really comfortable. It's a bit different from my other dresses, which is nice. I'm glad that I found the pattern in that charity shop box!