Refashion Skirt

Certain ones of these posts are from quite a while back, I have such a backlog of projects that I can't quite remember the ins and outs of the pieces I'm talking about :-S But the sun is shining these days so I'm getting pictures taken, which was my main issue before.

It's not like the darkness in the photos really puts me off, I'm definitely not the worlds best photographer so a little bit of light is probably not going to make a huge difference to what my skills can manage. It's just that when it's light I feel like I can achieve things, I can be bothered to get changed, and sweep the garden, and maybe even change shoes. I never can be bothered to put on make-up, but I never really wear make-up so that would be kind of weird. Though I did for my last make and enjoyed it, I guess it depends on the day.

So anyway, here is my next project! This was a refashion project, I bought the skirt in a shop in Stockbridge. It was full length and I typically didn't take a picture of it before I started. But here's a pic of the finished project!

Just to confuse you, I took these before I changed my hair. The waistband was a little small, but it used elastic so I knew I could make it bigger. I unpicked the waistband, evened it out into a rectangle rather than a triangle... not my sort of thing. I added a full lining of white muslin to give the skirt body as it is a very soft drapey fabric (not sure what it is but it's lovely).

I kept the original pleats in the skirt, and shortened the length considerably. It is now a perfect sunny day skirt for work with a shirt (like in this pic) or at the weekend with sandals. It turned out once I made all this that the waistband was a bit too big, son of a gun!! So I just stitched the back together pinching out 2cm either side at the back waistband. At some point ill replace the elastic and then it will probably fit fine. 

That's it! Signing out

Zig Zag Cami Dress

Next stop on the list of challenges, a shirt dress! I love wearing shirt dresses, I wear them all the time and so I thought I'd give a collar a go. Plus I promised Mr T a shirt (i must be mad) so I thought I could make myself a collar on a dress without anyone scrutinising, bit of a practise.

I used the Pauline Alice Cami shirt dress. I found the pattern pretty easy to use, but I think the fit needs a little bit of work. Look at the pattern matching across the front.. what? Feeling like a winner. Also I dyed my hair again, bit of a last minute decision, went to boots and figured I needed a change. I did the double dye by tying the bottom of the hair in pig tails and dyed up to where the pony tail started. It's not the most even dye but I like it.

So yeah, the fit. I think it may be time for a full bust adjustment... dun dun duuuh. This dress stretches across the front, and there's some gaping at the side of the bust. So yeah, next time I'll give an FBA a go.

Other issues are around the shoulder/ arm area. There is a little bit of bunching at the top of the shoulder. This is only my second time setting in a sleeve though so I think I just need a little practise. However, the shoulder line should be on the edge of the shoulder and is actually a little high, so I think the pattern needs extending out a cm or so.. plus even though I measured my arm against the pattern piece it is a little tight on the arm.

So a few changes to be made to the pattern but otherwise pretty happy.

Here's the back! I put loads of pleats into the top, I like the look of these smaller pleats, and I used the whole width of the fabric for as much extra skirt as possible. Plus pockets of course, I like the inseam pockets on the pattern, they are just the right size, and have used them again in my most recent make.

The collar went really well (even if I do say so myself), though I found the instructions on the pattern a bit difficult to follow as a first timer. I went to the website and looked at the sewalong for some guidance but again... didn't really get it. I therefore looked at the archer sewalong for a bit of help (figured two -alongs are better than one) and it was so much easier to follow. I'd definitely recommend it. 

So I love this dress! I love the fabric, and the brightness and the fact that if you get too close to it you get a headache ha ha. If you're making your own clothes, whats to stop you making something you really love, especially if it's super bright. Therefore I submit this as my Oonapalooza make for July. Read more about Oonapalooza and the wonderful woman who inspired it here.

And in her honour, here's a gif of me dancing around... with much more of an attempt at modelly face, in honour of Oona.

Dino Kelly

Dinosaur fabric! Skirts! Hoorah! This is my first rendition of the Kelly skirt, and it definitely won't be my last. I took a lot of time over this skirt, and added in a couple of extra details to make it more faancy.

The waistband has stretched out a little unfortunately (it's a light blue/ grey teeny cord). I think I might add a little elastic, to the back of the skirt. The main fabric of the skirt is unpholstery/ canvas Cath Kidston fabric. It was pretty thick, and it makes the skirt a-line stick out really well. I did flat-felled seams on the sides, to make the seams lie flat.

I made piping for the pocket, and covered my own buttons. I love this fabric, the colours are amazing! 

And it has super deep pockets!

Not much more to saw about this skirt pattern, the instructions are easy to follow, and I'll definitely be making more

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).

Mad Men Dress

Ah only fools post about challenges they've nearly finished... or some such sewing based idiom. I did finish my dress in time (promise) but a series of unfortunate technological events contrived against me and the pics weren't ready in time for the challenge showcase! Boo! Ah well ya win some ya lose some. What I won was an awesome By Hand London Anna, proud of how it came out in comparison to my inspiration... and although I missed the challenge here are some Peggy inspired pics.

Hard at work on my latest advertising piece

You can see there's a little bit of bagginess at the back still. I did struggle with the sizing on this dress, it came out far too big on the first go so I kept having to adjust. Ill have to go down a size or two for the next one I think. I also wanted to shorten the skirt pieces, but didn't do it in the pattern stage so made myself some little pleats. I love how they came out as I like a little extra material round the midriff. Anyway, back to work...

Hmm.. what rhymes with Coca-Cola..?

Here are some pics on Betty so you can see some of the details. 

Can you see my picture on the wall? It's the legend that is Captain Picard "Make It Sew", Data and Geordie have sewing machines... it's the best

And if you're interested, oooh look at the pretty insides. I used pre-made bias binding to bind the seams, and hair canvas around the edge to give it a nice standing out skirt. 

Mad Men Dress Challenge... I'm in!

I'm taking part in a sewing challenge, and I'm actually on track for finishing! Can you believe it? I can't ha ha.


The Mad Men Challenge is something I have looked at over the past couple of years and have slathered over all the beautiful dresses that everyone makes. Set up a few years ago by Julia Bobbin the challenge has grown in popularity ever since.


With the end of Mad Men drawing near, I didn't want to miss out on making something inspired by these fabulous ladies.



Julia has posted a lot of amazing inspiration in the past, and some lovely round-ups of those taking part. I started here looking at what people had made, what options there were and then (as is usually the way) found myself on pinterest pinning to my hearts content. You can see my inspiration board here, as you can see I wanted something in the vein of a work dress, as this is where I feel I'm lacking the most in the wardrobe (as discussed in my previous post).

I finally settled on this collared beauty from Modcloth:

My dress therefore won't be a direct Mad Men copy, but Mad Men inspired, as, well, this was my favourite so what ya gonna do?

My version is based on the By Hand London Anna dress, as I felt the lines were very similar. This will be my first make by these amazing independent pattern makers. I am at the moment doing some finishing touches, and will hopefully have some pics to show you by the weekend. 

In the meantime, hope you're enjoying this amazing weather! 

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