Of a magazine, a pattern, and a dress. . .

A few weeks ago I saw a new magazine that was being launched called Love Sewing, and it looked good so I decided to give it a try - it's fantastic! Lots of projects, new fabric lines, interviews, helpful articles, free gifts and patterns...what's not to love? I'm now subscribed so I don't miss an issue! 

The free pattern in this issue was a downloadable one from Simple Sew Patterns - the Brigitte dress.

I thought it was really pretty, and fairly simple which is good as I don't often make things for myself!

They suggest in the magazine to use cotton or jersey, so I decided on cotton as I already had a couple of metres of this gorgeous Makower beach huts fabric from Ditto Fabrics and thought it would make a pretty summer dress.

Printing out and assembling the pattern was pretty straightforward - after measuring myself and checking the sizes on the pattern I made a size 16 (I wear a 12-14 in 'shop bought' clothing) so make sure you check your sizes...however this is quite the norm for sewing patterns!

I also decided to make the sleeves shorter, and to add a lining as the cotton I chose was a little see through!

I'd never made a lined dress before, so I chose a thin cotton (from an old bed sheet!), cut all the pieces as I did for the actual dress, and tacked the pieces together like for like - from then on I treated each piece of matching tacked lining and dress fabric as one piece, and then sewed it all together. It worked really well doing it that way!

This is a 'halfway stage' picture...

The step-by-step instructions were really clear and simple to follow...even for the invisible zip, which I'd never done before! Mine didn't turn out QUITE as invisible as I would have liked, but that was down to my sewing skills and not the instructions lol! 

Overall, I was very impressed - I will definitely be getting more patterns from them! Actually, Issue 2 of Love Sewing arrived on my doormat yesterday (3 days before it's available in the shops - the benefits of subscribing!) and it has a paper pattern for this beautiful top and skirt from Simple Sew Patterns as a free gift, so I will be blogging those makes shortly! I love the vintage styling of them and can't wait to get sewing! 

So anyway - here's a pic of the *almost* finished dress...I hadn't hemmed it here lol!

And one of me wearing it (over jeans, it was chilly lol!) - excuse the photo, I had to rope in the Mr. to take it!

 I've worn it a few times since and had lots of nice comments - people even asking me where I bought it! Nothing better for a sewer than to hear that!

Well, I say nothing better...

I opened the above Issue 2 of Love Sewing yesterday, and what should I see but MY DRESS! In the magazine! I was over the moon!

Although next time I take a picture of something I make and post in on Facebook, I'll make sure to not have my ratty old ironing board in the background ha ha! Oops! 

In the next couple of days I will be sharing some thoughts on my new sewing machine with you too, now it's had a good road test!

Thanks for looking

Lisa

xxx

Reversible Bucket Bag - The Bag Making Bible

Looking through my fabric stash the other day, I came up with these 3 fabrics that I thought were perfect together. 

So, then I had to decide what to make with them lol!

A while back, I bought The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam, so I thought I'd have a go at something from there...I chose the Reversible Bucket bag.

It's a lovely pattern, and deceptively easy to put together - I can see me making many more!

Here it is....the fabrics are

Outer: Denyse Schmidt - Hope Valley Prairie Rose New Day

Inner(Reverse): An old quilt cover!

Binding: Some random heavier weight fabric!

Hope you like it! 

Thanks for looking!

Lisa

xxx

Of camera bags and hoodies.....

This week, I FINALLY finished the camera bag I've been working on for MONTHS. Literally.

The first draft can be seen here...and this one is a LONG way from that! There's been drawings, and calculations, and yes, I'll admit it - some swearing lol!

But it's finally done. It's by no means perfect, being only the second thing I've ever sewn with oilcloth (steep learning curve isn't the half of it lol!), but I love it, and as it's for me, that's all that matters. I was so close to giving up on it and throwing it in the bin a few times, and I'm so glad I didn't! I finally have a bag I can get ALL my stuff in - my lenses, macro tubes, filters, manual (ha ha!) and of course my camera!

So here it is. Blood, Sweat and Tears.....but I did it.

I've also made my first girly Imke this week....not quite as exciting as the camera bag, but I love it and I'm really pleased with how it came together. It's made from fleece, with an applique that I upcycled from a girls RTW tshirt, and binding made from an old adult tshirt of mine that matched the colour perfectly!

I also added a long custom 'curly' hood with a pom pom.

Please excuse the 'model'......poor boy ha ha!

 So there you have it. Not much sewing, I grant you, but I'm happy!

Thanks for looking

Lisa

xxx

Cath Kidston again......

I know, I know.....but I finally got some time to make up the bag kit that came with my 'Sew!' book! 

I'm not too keen on the unlined look, so I changed it up a little and added a lining - and not blowing my own trumpet at all, but I think it looks rather good! I think the red gingham works pretty well, don't you?

It does help that it's already all cut and marked out for you - all you have to do is sew it up.

Riley Blake Summer Halter Top

So those of you who are regular visitors here (I thank you!) will remember my post about winning a Riley Blake charm pack and full yard from One Hundred Years Ago and Plum Patchwork...

well, here's what I made with it!

A halter neck tie top with a patch front panel..it has elastic at the top, across the back, and round the bottom, and is very comfy!

I'm so pleased with it, I want to make another - and if I do, rest assured I'll also write a tutorial for it too!

I'm also entering this in the Made by Rae Spring Top sew-a-long, so look for me there!

Front

Back

Patch panel detail 

Thanks for looking! 

New Camera Bag

I decided I needed a new camera bag....everything keeps falling out of my old Canon one lol! 

So I grabbed some fabric, had a look round the internet for some inspiration and ideas...and set off (I do like to make things up as I go along - I'm a 'bodger')

So here it is - I kinda wish I'd used different fabric - this was supposed to be a mock up of the real thing but I went a little overboard and it's now a full-blown bag, with padded foam lining, padded inserts, flower details, the lot! So I guess it will have to do until I can make myself another one in fabric I do like!

The bag...

The pockets...

The inside, with padded inserts (ok, so I cheated and stole the ones from my Canon bag, too....)

and here it is with my camera, lenses, and my full handbag in as well to show size - I wanted a bag I could take everything out in, instead of carting around two bags as I usually do!

I might add some more pockets to the inside if I do make another one - somewhere to put my filter cases would be handy!

Thanks for looking - I'm hoping once I get this perfected I can get a pattern made for you, but I'm still working on sorting the Romance bag pattern lol! 

xxx 

As it feels like Spring....

I thought I'd share with you this bag I made yesterday...

I designed and drafted the pattern, and made it up myself!

it's called the 'Romance' Bag, and the pattern will be available soon.

This was my first time trying to make this style of fabric flower - I think it turned out ok!

Fabrics used are:

Tanya Whelan - Delilah Roses on Red

Michael Miller - Dumb Dots Fuschia

Riley Blake - Be Merry Polka Dot on Cream

Ribbon - no idea - an odd piece from my stash lol!

and also....see that vase of tulips in the first picture?

That's what Russ surprised me with yesterday morning when he came home from work - what a sweetie he is!

Of course I had to take some pictures - they're too beautiful not to!

Thanks for looking!

xxx

New threads!

I ordered myself some new Coats cotton threads the other day from Sew Me Happy...

I took them out today to start bobbin winding and they looked so pretty I had to take a picture!

Look at these.....

Can't wait to get sewing with them!

Thanks for looking

xxx

Peacock Wrap top - and a new technique for me!

This week I made myself another top....well, you can never have too many, right? lol!

This was a wrap top, made from the Sew Magazine Dec 09 free pattern AW1006 Carrie. 

I love it!

Please excuse my little man getting in on the act - he does love to be in front of the camera lol! He is wearing all Mummy-made today (well, except his socks!), so I'll let him off.

On to the new technique....bias binding. All the binding on the top above was hand made by me - I'd never even used bias binding before, let alone made it, so it was all totally new to me! I think it turned out pretty well, considering!

Shame about the slightly wonky stitching, but hey, you can't have everything, right? 

  There is a great 'make your own' bias binding tutorial here!!

Thanks for looking!

xxx

We're a creative pair...lol!

As some of you may know, my Mr. B writes 'film score style' music in his spare time.

Last night, for a bit of fun, he came up with this tune...and it inspired me (along with this lovely fabric my friend Nick gave me!) to create this straight-neck 3/4 Sleeve Tee this morning!

Here's the tune...if you listen I'm sure you'll see where I'm coming from!

http://snd.sc/icvI92

and here's my tshirt.

(As per - please excuse the awful photo! lol!)

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Making a dress without a pattern tutorial.

This is my first tutorial for clothing....so bear with me lol! I'm going to show you how to make a dress like this, using a tshirt as a guide!

This will work for any size dress, as long as you have the right fabric - it needs to have some stretch to it, so a knit jersey type fabric would work best!! So from kiddies sizes up to adults, anyone should be able to do this! (Let's face it, if it came out of my head, it can't be too hard, right? Rofl!)

It can be long, or short...have a waist or an empire line...long or short sleeves...or no sleeves at all!

Firstly, grab a fitted(ish) tshirt that you have already that you love. Not for the pattern or design. For the fit, because we're going to be drawing around bits of it to make your dress.
Here's mine...excuse the creases, it's been screwed up on the table overnight!

Next, put it on. Mark with a pin or chalk where the waist will be (I'm making mine empire line, so it's just under my lumpy bits lol - you can do it at the waist if you like!).

Take your shirt off, fold it in half lengthways. Make sure you can see the mark you made on it...and please, put another shirt on. It's cold out!

 Then folding your fabric in half , place your shirt so the centre fold is against the fold of your fabric. With me so far? Good. This is actually taking longer to type than it does to actually do this lol!

With your chosen tool, draw around the outline of your tshirt, making sure to draw the arm holes and not the arms! Only draw down to the mark on your tshirt though, not all the way down!

Next, cut it out, leaving your preferred seam allowance all the way round (I use roughly 1cm - I'm not one for exact measurements if I can help it lol!). Then do exactly the same all over again, remembering to leave one neckline high and one lower for front and back.

Now comes the science bit....lol!

Open out one of the top pieces, and measure the width of the bottom seam, and include the seam allowance.

Get a pen and paper as you'll want to write these numbers down!
Divide this number by 3. (Roughly...not to the 5th decimal point or anything!). This will be the width of the top of your skirt pieces.

Then for the bottom measurement, take the first number (the width of your bottom seam of the body) and use that. For a shorter skirt, if you don't want it so full, then just double the skirt panel top measurement. Simple!
You'll need to measure and cut 6 of these panels, once you've decided on your skirt length. The easiest way is to fold your fabric lengthways, measure half the top measurement, half the bottom, them join them up and cut (leaving a seam allowance). See, I told you this was easy!

Next, sleeves. Mine are very long, (I like them like that!) but you can do them any length you like! Go wild! 

With your fabric folded down the length of the arm, trace the arm hole section from one of the top pieces of your dress onto the fabric, and then make your sleeve any shape/length you wish. I traced the arm of the long sleeve tshirt I used at the start of the process, just making it a little longer and flared at the bottom as the sleeves are too short for my liking (and I like a flared sleeve!)

Make 2 of these. Unless you're an octopus, then make 8.
For some reason, I completely forgot to take photos of this part - sorry!

OK, that's it! Now we just need to sew it together!

Sew 3 of the skirt panels together.

 then sew them to one of the top pieces.

Do the same with the other top piece and the other 3 skirt panels.

Sew the 2 pieces together up the side seams, and shoulders.

(As I'm not always fantastic with my measuring and cutting, I always leave the bottom hem til last so I can put it on and then measure the length....and in case the pieces don't exactly meet up at the bottom. It does happen.)

You should now have something that resembles a half finished dress!

You have?

FANTASTIC!!!

Now, on to the sleeves!

Sew up the seam on the underside of the arm, and then hem the cuff.  

With your dress inside out, and your sleeve right way out, slide the sleeve inside the dress with the armhole ends together.  You might need to pin this in around the arm hole to make sure it's even and in the right place - I often wing it lol! Shhhh! 

Then sew round it, and repeat for the other side.

Can you feel it? The end is in sight now....

There are so many ways you can deal with the neckline...I like to just fold mine and sew it round because I'm lazy (and I like the look it gives!) but you can add binding, tape, lace...even plait some leftover fabric and edge with that!

And then hem the skirt! It's really that simple! (See, I told you you could do it! Aren't you proud of yourself?)

Please, if you make this, stop by and show me your creations, I'd love to see them!

Thanks for reading!

xxx