Cotton + Chalk Zoe Dress Sewing Pattern Review

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post about my fabric stash and the fact that I'm trying to shrink it a bit, and the project I have to share with you today is the first step in that process. This is my Cotton + Chalk Zoe dress.

The Zoe dress was originally included with an old issue of Simply Sewing magazine, but I picked up my copy in a charity shop a month or two ago. It's an easy-to-wear pullover trapeze style dress with side-seam pockets. Not so long ago, I wouldn't have been drawn to this pattern, but I really enjoy wearing the Closet Case Patterns Ebony dress that I made at the end of last year so I thought I'd give this silhouette another try.

This pattern is really simple to sew - there are no darts or fastenings, just front pieces, back pieces, back straps, facings and pockets. Happily for me, that meant that I was able to sew it up at the end of last week just in time to take it away for a long weekend in Cornwall, where these photos were taken.

The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Although it has to be said that with a pattern this simple it would be hard to make the instructions complicated!

In terms of sizing, the pattern recommends a M for my bust measurement (38") and L for my waist and hips. I knew there wouldn't actually be any need to size up in the waist and hips with all the volume in this dress. I checked the finished bust measurement for the M (42") and decided that it would be bigger than I wanted so I actually ended up making a size S and just used a fractionally smaller seam allowance at the underarms (about 1.2cm instead of 1.5cm) to give a little bit more room around the bust. The finished dress fits nicely around the shoulders and bust, and as you can see there's definitely also plenty of space for my waist and hips.

I made the shorter version of the dress (view A), but lengthened it by 10cm. I would say that the illustration on the pattern envelope is a bit misleading about the length of the shorter version as it makes it look knee length, whereas the photos from Simply Sewing clearly show that it's significantly shorter than that.

The fabric I used here is some Robert Kaufman chambray. It's been sitting in my stash for almost 3 years, which I was able to work out because I won it in a giveaway from Simply Sewing with the jersey that I used to make my first Gable top back in 2016. While it's lovely fabric, I always think that black isn't the best colour on me so it took me a while to decide what to make. Recently I realised (not sure why it took me so long!) that if I used it to make a pinafore, wearing a t-shirt under it would mean that the black wouldn't be directly next to my face so would make it easier to wear. In these photos, I've paired it with my cowl neck Freya top.

If you like the look of this dress, the pattern may not be the easiest to come by being as it's from a magazine released over a year ago, but as I type there are a few listed on ebay so it's definitely not impossible to find.

All in all, I'm very happy to have used this fabric at last. The finished dress isn't the most practical thing I've ever made (in case anyone's wondering, it really isn't the best thing to wear on a breezy beach!). However, it's (unsurprisingly) very comfy and the neutral colour will mean that I can combine it with lots of tops, so hopefully it should get a decent amount of wear. Now I just need to make some plans for some more fabrics in my stash!

A little knitting round-up

After realising in the middle of writing my post about my coat last week that I hadn't yet blogged my Land of Sweets cowl, it quickly occurred to me that there were a few other knitting projects that I hadn't shared here too, so I thought I'd do a little round-up of them for you. Let's start with my cowl being as it's what inspired this post in the first place.

The Land of Sweets cowl is a pattern by Helen Stewart that's designed to use the mini skeins from a yarn advent calendar. Instead of doing that, I used 10 mini skeins from a variety of UK indie dyers (they're listed on my Ravelry project page) that I collected together gradually over the course of a year or so. As I had 10 colours, I used each one twice and omitted four of the sections in the pattern so I have 20 stripes instead of the intended 24.

It was a really fun pattern to knit, and became slightly addictive as I was always wanting to get to the next colour change. If you're thinking about knitting this pattern and wondering about how much yarn you'll need, it's worth mentioning that having used each of my mini skeins twice I still had about half of each one left so my Mum is currently in the middle of knitting another cowl for herself using my leftovers.

Going back in time a bit further, last autumn I knitted a Sockhead Slouch Hat for my sister for her birthday. The Sockhead hat is a free pattern by Kelly McClure. It's super simple so was nice and relaxing to knit. The yarn that I used for this one was from Lamington Lass. It's on her Soft Sock base in the Swirling Flock Splash colourway, and I loved it so much that I was "forced" to buy another skein so I'd have some to knit for myself (more on that later!).

I really liked the feel of the hat and decided I'd like one for myself. I don't wear hats that are too slouchy though, so I made mine significantly shorter - I knitted 3 inches of rib, then 5 inches of stocking stitch before starting the decreases. It worked out really nicely and it's a very useful hat - warm enough to keep me cosy, but small enough to be easy to shove in my bag when it's not needed.

The yarn that I used is from What Mustard Made - it's her Bert the Yarn colourway. It's super fun with all the colourful speckles, and the good news for me is that this hat used less than half of the skein so I think I've got enough left for some socks if I combine it with a contrast colour for the heels/toes/cuffs.

Speaking of socks, last year I decided that it would be a good idea to knit socks as Christmas presents for my Dad, siblings and siblings-in-law. I'm not a quick knitter, so thankfully I had the foresight to get started early! I cast on the first pair in August so I effectively had to knit a pair of socks per month to meet my deadline - definitely do-able! In the end I actually managed to finish them well ahead of schedule, which is rare for me as I'm often making Christmas presents right up until the last minute.

I used different patterns for all of them (because knitting the same pattern five times in a row would have been a bit tedious!). Working clockwise from the top left, the patterns for the four above are Vanilla Latte, Atlantic Current, Riverbend and Rockpool. The final ones, which are in the foreground of the first sock photo, were Staggered Path socks.

Once I'd finished knitting all of those socks, I was definitely ready to make something for myself again! As I mentioned earlier, I'd ordered myself a skein of the yarn from Lamington Lass that I used to knit my sister's hat and I decided to combine that with a semi-solid skein from Woolly Mama Yarns to make the Right Around The Corner shawl by Lisa Hannes.

This pattern is beautifully simple but effective, and it was the perfect pattern for me to have to knit on whilst still being sociable when I was with family over the Christmas period. The two yarns that I used also work perfectly together, which is a happy coincidence being as they came from different dyers!

I think that's about all I have to share for today! I really enjoyed knitting all of these projects. In fact I've been really enjoying knitting in general recently. I've got a cardigan almost complete and another shawl and two pairs of socks on the needles, so hopefully I'll have some more finished projects to share with you soon. Have you been knitting anything recently?

McCalls 7848 Coat Sewing Pattern Review

The project I have to share with you today has been finished for a few weeks already but, thanks to unseasonably warm temperatures in the middle of February meaning that I didn't need to wear a wool coat, it took a while to get photos of it. This is my version of McCalls 7848 - another project to cross of my Make Nine list!

McCalls 7848 is a pattern for a fitted lined coat with front zipper closure, side seam pockets and neckline, sleeve and length variations. I basically made view D (which is a collarless, maxi-length coat) but using the skirt length from view C (which is just fractionally below knee-length on me).

A collarless coat winter coat might seem like an odd choice in some ways, but I'm currently in the middle of a bit of an obsession with knitting shawls, and I thought that a collarless coat would be a good way to show them off. I'm wearing it in most of these photos with my Land of Sweets cowl, which I've just realised I've never blogged - I should probably do something about that!

As coats go, the construction of this one is fairly simple and the pattern doesn't call for any kind of tailoring. In terms of the sewing itself, if you're happy making a lined dress then there's nothing that should be particularly challenging as long as you're comfortable working with whatever fabrics you've chosen to use.

As with most commercial patterns, the instructions are fairly succinct but they are clear and there wasn't anything that I found confusing.

My outer fabric is a micro dot reversible wool and acrylic blend from Textile Express. It's a gorgeous colour and a lovely fabric, especially for the price, but I wonder whether this particular pattern might have benefitted from a fabric with slightly less body and more drape than this has. In particular, setting in the sleeves (something which I'm usually fine with) definitely wasn't easy and, despite my best efforts, the sleeve cap still isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be.

My lining is a navy teal viscose lining from Fabworks. You definitely couldn't accuse this fabric of not having enough drape! I don't think I could have picked two more different fabrics really - the wool blend stays where it's put and when I was sewing two layers together they stuck to each other almost like felt (which made it very easy to get all of the seams to match up nicely!), whereas the lining wanted to slip and slide all over the place. I managed to tame it enough to do a decent job of sewing it though!

In terms of sizing, I had the problem that my bust measurement is a 16 for this pattern, while my waist and hips are an 18 which is in the larger sized pattern. I went with my bust measurement and got the smaller size range, knowing that commercial patterns are often more generous in their sizing. I made a toile of the 16 and it fitted fairly well, but I thought it was a bit snug around the waist for a coat that I'd want to wear over cosy winter clothes. I simply reduced the seam allowance around the waist a touch and that gave me enough extra room for winter layers. I also made my standard adjustment of lengthening the bodice, although I had to lengthen it more than usual (4cm instead of 2.5cm). In case it helps to know for reference, my measurements are B 38", W 32" H 42", and I'm about 5'9".

I wasn't completely convinced about the coat when I'd first finished it. I think a large part of that was because the lining had dropped a fair bit when I left it to hang, and evening it up and hemming it was a little stressful so that had tarnished my feelings about it a bit!

Having worn it a few times though, my McCalls 7848 is definitely growing on me! That "bulky" feeling that I mentioned above is slowly fading and I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the photos for this blog post - the coat looks better on camera than it does in my head! I love the colour, it's nice and cosy and is doing a good job of keeping out the gale force winds that we've been battered with recently. So overall, I think we can call it a success, don't you?