The Map Top as seen on GBSB

Hey hey,

There's been a short break in scheduling recently, due to epic work times. Last week we had a lot of work-related visitors, and above all the organisation, we also took them out for dinners two nights in a row so by the end of last week I was pretty wiped out.

Thank you so much for all of your lovely comments regarding my PGP. It is much better now, I just have to remember not to overdo it and ya know... make a shelf or anything. Which I may have done on Sunday... 'cause I'm a fool. Totally worth it for happy flowers in the yard though. With regards the PGP, I would highly recommend getting to a physio as soon as possible, it has really helped me.

So in sewing news! I've been promising for ages a blog post about the top that I wore for the first episode of GBSB. I actually got these pictures in Whitby when me and Mr T went over at Easter but again... life is hectic blah blah boring boring. Pretty pictures!

I actually made this top the night before my GBSB audition, I wanted something exciting to wear for it, and to try and prove to myself I could sew something quickly. I was still sewing well into the wee hours so I don't think the speedy sewing thing really paid off, but otherwise this was a total success!

The top is made from the Sorbetto free pattern from Colette patterns. This is a simple tank top shape, with bias bound hems and an outward facing pleat design down the front. However, as you can see on my version I messed with this pleat a little. I like to have lots of room around my hip/ belly area, so instead of stitching down the entire pleat I inverted it, and left the lower half unstitched and pleated. This has become very useful during the expanding belly bump phase as I still have room for me!

So how did I actually do this? Basically I pinned the two sides together according to the design lines, up to where I thought the pleat should finish. However, I folded the excess material to the inside rather than on the outside. 

I then tried it on (trying not to jab myself in the boob with a pin), and adjusted the pleat so that it finished just under my bust. 

I then stitched to this line, making sure to double back over my stitches so that they wouldn't come undone at the bottom of the pleat. Et voila! One open pleated Sorbetto, the rest of the construction is very simple, just adding the bias binding to edges. 

It' a great top for comfy weekend wear, and I will be taking it away to Croatia next week for my holidays! I'm so excited, I'm going to lie down, fall asleep, bake myself and Spud in the sun (and occasional rain) read masses of books and plan things I probably won't ever have time to do. It's gonna be flipping brill. Have a great week guys X

Christmas Party Pastille Dress

Crikey, this post has been a long while in the making!

I received the Colette sewing handbook last Christmas from my Grandma. It was an absolutely brilliant pressie as I learnt a lot reading through the pages, but the colour palette in the book, along with some of the rather fitted/ floaty sleeve-ness of the patterns made it a little difficult for me to visualise myself in any of them.

When I was thinking of making a dress for my works' Christmas party I thought it would be a good excuse to give these patterns a try, and the pastille on the front cover caught my eye. I liked the subtle sweetheart neckline (not the bow... too twee for me) and the sleeves which aren't a separate piece, something I hadn't done before. I knew such a fitted straight skirt would not be a good look on me, though I did swap out the skirt for a straight one in for my stars in their eyes dress. However, looking closely at the picture I could see that the skirt was a separate piece from the natural waist, so it would be an easy job attaching a skirt I liked.

I used the digital rose print fabric I picked up at the Birmingham blogger meet-up, and fully lined the bodice.


I decided to make a muslin of the bodice for safety, and found that something strange happened when I calculated the sizes. I had to cut out a size 6-8  shoulder/ bust but a 14 waist? I think I did a calculation wrong as when I tried this on it was all kinds of wrong, I then cut an 8 waist (in fact I trimmed it to a 12, then a 10 and then an 8!)

Even after I had done this the triangle darts did not work on my body (lucky this was a muslin!) I then pinned the darts closer to my body to fit as I wanted, and I ended up with a close fitting bodice, and half moon darts. Has anyone else ever ended up with rounded darts? Is this a thing?

I used the muslin as my lining, and made the following dress. I finally got round to taking pics of it last weekend! That's a whole 8 months ha ha ha.

I put on a bit of weight after Christmas , and the wedding, and holidays... so this dress became a little bit tight. You can still see in the back it could probably do with a teeny bit more ease, but I've lost most of this weight now so I'm not worrying about it.

I took these pics with my shiny new Pentax Q10, which is somewhere between an SLR and a standard digital. Having no knowledge of how to use the SLR (and no real inclination to learn) was infuriating, so Mr. T got my this for my birthday, it feels a lot more manageable. There are still a lot of settings, but I'm not feeling overfaced any more which is good.

I've taken another whole bunch of pics, so expect some more regular viewing for the next few weeks.

Victory Juniper Trousers

Hello! Wow that was quite a long blogging break I had, wasn't it? Apologies, life got a bit mental around these parts, and other things had to take priority.

But I'm back in business, and the first thing I have to show you is my first pair of trousers! Those of you who know me can confirm, I haven't worn trousers since my first year of university (a surprisingly long time ago now). After eating too much dominoes and ben & jerrys ice cream, I put on some weight and the trousers I had looked like they were going to pop. Sure I could have bought new trousers, but this was the year the skinny jean arrived, and I've basically stayed away from trousers ever since. I don't suit skinny jeans, this may not come as a shock, but I feel like shops haven't worked out that they don't suit everyone so I'm putting it out there on the internet so maybe they'll notice... skinny jeans suit 1% of the countries females..!

So anyway, rant over. Ive decided to challenge myself more! How will I know if I can achieve a fly zip/ rain coat/ hot air balloon unless I try? So this is challenge number one, a pair of Colette Juniper's with a fly front zipper.

Look how grumpy I look! Ha ha, must have had the sun in my eyes, but this was a good picture of the trousers so whatever.

They're so gloriously wide! Like a pair of quiksilver jeans I had as a teenager. I brought them in at the knee a little to give an indication that there really are legs under there. But otherwise I stuck to the pattern, which I found pretty straight forward. I know that some in the blogosphere have had problems with Colette patterns but I seem to be of the size/ shape they are making the patterns for so these trousers fit really well. 

I am also wearing a Colette Sorbetto. I inverted the pleat on this and then let it kick out at the bottom, very comfy weekend wear all round.

I made these for sew for victory, hence the dig for victory theme of the shoot! The top has little spitfires on it, I got it from a swap at last years Birmingham meet up, which the lovely almond rock donated. See what she made with this material here. I did make these in time of the deadline! So proud...but didn't post in time. Ah well, deadlines were never my strong suit. 

Hope you've enjoyed some of the sunshine, (in between the massive downpours).

Stars in their eyes interview dress

One of my goals for this year is to develop a 'work wardrobe', staple dresses and skirt/ shirt combinations that I can throw on in the morning and feel smart. I want to able to show my unique style, whilst feeling like a boss (not for sensitive eyes).

This dress is the first step on that road! I love this dress, I feel smart and stylish, I can wear dramatic tights of all colours and shapes, and I got to stretch my embroidery skills on something other than home projects which was cool. I might try and do some more of this, maybe some flowers like the one from this cushion on the bottom edge of a similar dress? I feel the need for a bit of a spring make.

The dress is a combination of the pastille bodice, and New Look 6128 (shocker of a skirt choice). I made a christmas party dress last year (yet to blog about) and I love the neckline for a night out, but for work it's a bit on the low side. I altered the neckline of the bodice by lying out the pattern piece on some medical paper, drawing out my adjusted pastille bodice and free-handing a scooped look with my french curve.

I then cut out my lining in black linen-look cotton from Minerva, which I bought to make another New Look 6128 (never blogged... hmm sensing a theme), which I made last year for something light to wear in the summer months. I've got loads left and have been using it to muslin dress bodices, and then using this muslin as a lining for the actual bodice.

I am very proud of the finish of this dress, it is fully lined, with black bias edging on sleeves and the bottom of the skirt. It really picks out the black of the embroidery.

I went for a non-static generic lining for this project. I like the way it swishes when I walk, and I know my tights aren't going to get stuck on it. Probably should have ironed the lining for this pic but you get the idea.















In order to do the embroidery, I completed the bodice, attaching the lining to the neckline, and under-stitching. I then tacked on some silk organza to stabilise the fabric, and to give a white surface to draw on. I then free-hand drew on the design I was after with a water soluble pen, and stitched with black polyester thread the outline of the stars so that it would show through on the right side of the dress.

I then filled in these stars with a combination of backstitch, french knots and brick stitch.

In order to create the design, I pinned some images of stars on my pinterest board, to give me an idea of what I was looking for. Originally I was planning on creating a pdf which I could use as a template, but once I reached that point, I found it easier to draw the stars on by eye. It was easy once I knew what I was looking for. I thought about doing free-hand machine embroidery for the stars but after some practice realised I liked the control of the hand-stitching.

I even got to match my pockets to the star-theme, with some stitched together very last scraps of my planet fabric.

And now, for making it through all the techie bits... me and an umbrella!... and yes, I chopped off all my hair! :-D

I made my man a tie!

Hey folks, I done made my man a tie :-)

You proud? Selfless sewing, not even for a birthday. Feel like I deserve extra props for that one. This came about when I bought myself the last of the roll of a red, blue and white check to make a skirt (now completed... love it!... I owe you a blog post on that one). I had seen the 'gentleman's tie' pattern on coletterie, and mentioned in passing to Mr T that I might make him a tie (if he was lucky... and I ever remembered etc etc) This must have stayed with him though because when he saw my skirt fabric he said... that would make a nice tiiiee (the lots of vowels indicate excitement and intrigue). Now I know for a fact it would be another lifetime until I found some more fabric he would want a tie from. He denies it constantly but he's pretty fussy when it comes to his clothes. So (completely selflessly) I decided to sacrifice some fabric in the name of a tie.

Mr man likes his ties pretty thin so I traced one of his favourite ties onto the main lining (the long thin pattern piece). There wasn't a lot of difference in size so I just folded over the excess inside the tie to give it some bulk. I cut it on the bias as well to show all the colours and the check to its best.

I added in some floral underneath too, I did make it myself after all, had to sneak some floral in there somewhere. Confession: I first cut out this lining in a very manly black and white, but I cut it wrong side up (three times... doh!) So I resorted to the florals. All I can say is that fate (read subconscious) intervened.

Have you basked in the glory of some selfless sewing recently?