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

A jacket for Jamie

I've had this black and white check fabric sitting around for a while now. I just couldn't make up my mind what to make with it...a dress? Skirt? Bag?
I decided to look through my sewing books for inspiration, and suddenly came across a lovely pattern for a reversible jacket for Jamie in Sewing for Boys!
I had seen it in there before when using the book for other things, but had never made it....I thought it would be perfect for the fabric!
I teamed it with a beige ripstop, patch pockets, and some chunky self cover buttons...and voila!
A lightweight, reversible jacket for Spring!
He seems to like it...haha! (apparently the sunglasses were NOT optional!)

Thanks for looking!

Lisa

I've been a busy girl!

Over the past couple of days, so I thought I should share with you what I've been making!

Firstly was a couple of bags (yeah, like you're shocked......lol!) - I think these have a very fresh and spring like feel to them!

Fabric used: Kate Spain Central Park North Meadow Aqua

Free Spirit Designer Beads Mist

Free Spirit Designer Solids Aqua

15mm Plain Ribbon Plum

Fabrics used:  Carolyn Gavin Spring Street Buzzing Gardens Multi

Carolyn Gavin Spring Street Tossed Flowers White

Free Spirit Designer Solids Lemon

15mm Plain Ribbon Blue

 All the above fabrics and ribbons were bought from Sew Me Happy - my favourite UK fabric shop! (And I'm not getting any payment or goods for this mention - I just love them!)

And then something that's NOT a bag - another dress! This one is for a friend's gorgeous little 2 month old girl - I hope she likes it! Its based on the Made By Rae Itty Bitty Dress  with a few variations of my own. You'll notice this is the same fabric as my camera bag and the other little girl's dress I made - I think it suits the style perfectly!

So that's it! 

Have a great weekend, and thanks for looking!

xxx

Girl's Dress (no, not a bag lol!)

I decided I wanted to make something I'd never made before. So I decided to make a little girl's dress (I don't have a little girl, and my 3 year old son definitely doesn't like 'girls stuff' as he calls it lol!)

So this is what I came up with - I was very pleased with how it turned out! I just used one of Jamie's shirts as a pattern base, and went from there!

You might recognise the fabric as being the same as that from my camera bag - it looks much better in a dress! 

Thanks for looking!

xxx

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 

I love my Postman.....

because he brings me pretty fabric from my favourite fount of fabricky (not even a word? lol!) goodness - Sew Me Happy! lol!

Fabrics are: 

Denyse Schmidt - Hope Vally Prairie Rose New Day

Free Spirit - Designer Beads Powder

Michael Miller - Ta Dots Ebony

Ribbon - Black with white spot Grosgrain

I ordered this little lot to make a bag for my friend...but when it arrived I wasn't keen on the fabric/ribbon combo! So after a quick think and an email or two to my friend...we came up with this combo instead from my stash! Phew!

Ribbon - East of India Grey Heart (also from Sew Me Happy)

Fabric - Miscellaneous from stash lol!

Much better, yes? 

The grey dots and black ribbon won't go to waste - I'll just use them on something else lol!

Thanks for looking

xxx 

Thomas the Tank Engine PJ Pants!

I made these for my little Thomas fiend today...PJ pants! Needless to say after I got them on him, I couldn't get them off again - and he's currently all tucked up in bed with them on - good job I prewashed the fabric, eh? lol!

I traced them from a pair of pants I already made him as I love the fit of them - you can see them here: 

summer pants

Please excuse the pictures - he was so excited with them I couldn't get him to stay still for five minutes! 

His attempt at a 'pose'...

and a rare still moment - no idea what he was looking at, but it seems it was fascinating lol!

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Stripe 'J' applique top - competition entry!

Tomorrow is the final deadline for the 'I am Momma Hear me Roar' 'Let's Hear it for the Boys' competition .

Typically for me, I only found out about it yesterday, but thought it might be fun to have a go at entering...so I did!

I used the last of the stripe jersey that I made my stripe tee with - I'll just make sure we don't wear them both on the same day lol!

I thought it looked a bit plain for him as it was, so I jazzed it up a bit with a red jersey 'j' applique (cut from an old tee that was too small for him) - he said 'Mummy, that's a 'J' for Jamie! Is it for me?' Bless him!

No pattern, as per....lol!

Posing shot....

There's a shadow on my feet, Mummy!

Look at those eyes....they let him get away with murder! (ok, I know this shot has nothing to do with the top, but....I'm his Mummy and I love him! lol!)

Thank you for looking, I can't wait to see the other entries - how exciting!

xxx

Thomas Skinny Tie

While cutting the fabric for Jamie's summer pj bottoms/lounge pants I had a long, thin scrap of fabric left over....so after looking at it for a while wondering what to make with it, I came up with this! He's a funny lad, he likes wearing ties, and loves Thomas, so I thought it would be perfect!

No pattern, as per....I just winged it - it fastens at the back with a popper so he can't hang himself on anything.

Just look at the face, full of mischief lol!

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

Man size sewing lol!

I made this today for the big man in my life...as opposed to the little one I usually sew for lol!

This is my first adult tshirt, so I was a little apprehensive - but I'm really pleased with how it turned out, as is Mr. B!

He's now going to wear it for his big meeting in London tomorrow with the music biz people as it's 'casual' wear...and that makes me very proud of my sewing!

Thanks for looking (and fingers crossed for Russ's meeting tomorrow please!)

xxx

Wrap Pants!

I saw this great tutorial online the other day...I'd never heard of these so I thought I'd give them a go as they looked great!

http://laupre.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/easy-breezy-wrap-pants-tutorial/

So here is the finished result! I really love them, they're so comfortable...but I think next time I'll use thinner fabric  (like a cotton or linen)  - much better for the summer (if it ever gets here!)

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Wrap Skirt for ME!!

Yes, I finally got round to sewing something new for me - a wrap skirt.

Plus, it was my first ever time using a 'proper' pattern!

I added the contrast waistband, trim, and buttons...they weren't on the pattern, but I thought they'd look cool, so I went for it.

The contrast fabric is the Amy Butler Soul Blossoms 'Disco Flower' that I bought last week.

at some point I might even get a photo of me wearing it.....lol!

Thanks for looking

xxx

Petticoat Skirt

Well it's taken me 3 days...

it was my first skirt...

my first ruffles...

but it's finally FINISHED!

this was my inspiration...
http://alisaburke.blogspot.com/2010/03/petticoat-tutorial.html

I'm so happy with it - it's totally not something I would usually wear, but I love it - I can see me making a few more in different colours!

and here's a close up so you can see the fabric...

thanks for looking!

xxx