Two bird print dresses

These two dresses are sharing a post as I made them in quick succession and they are both sewn using the same pattern combo - a Sew Over It Betty bodice, the skirt from vintage Simplicity 3749 and pockets from Simplicity 2444.  I've made this twice before (here and here) and it will be cropping up again during May I'm sure.

The first is this turquoise beauty.

I absolutely love this print (Michael Miller Wing Song), I already have two rtw dresses in it - a straight skirted one in this colourway and a flared skirted one in a pink colourway, which sadly I've never found as fabric, otherwise I'd buy that too!

And this is dress number 2 - I've had this fabric since 2014 and finally got it sewn up.

I had a couple of setbacks with this dress, the first being an ironing incident with the bodice which meant ditching it and cutting another one, and the second was having to put the zip in twice because of a thread tension issue - I've no idea what caused it so I didn't do anything differently and the second time it went in fine.

Now I'm going to get some fabric cut out in preparation for me-made May, and I also have a cardigan I was hoping to finish by the end of the month, although that will be pushing it now I think since I still have one and a half sleeves to knit.  By the end of next week should be doable though.

Me Made May 2019 - planning

Well, it's nearly May so time to get some plans written down for this year's Me Made May challenge.

This year I'm focusing on only knitting and sewing from stash, and for this year's challenge I'm aiming to sew six dresses.  They will all be sleeveless and using patterns that I've sewn before, so the challenge won't be the sewing itself, but making the time to sew.  I've got a lot going on in May, both workwise and with family and social stuff too.  On the plus side timewise there are two bank holiday weekends though, so fingers crossed I'll be able to get them all made.

I'll be doing a wardrobe cull to make room for these new additions - I don't have limitless space for clothes!

I haven't decided exactly which pattern / fabrics combos I'll use, but the patterns will be

Bodices - Simplicity 2444, Butterick 5748 and Sew Over It Betty, all of which I've modified to (a) fit me and / or (b) suit my preference for scooped back necklines with a centre back zip.

Skirts - pleated will come from New Look 6824, or either of two vintage patterns Simplicity 3749 and Butterick 2248.  Any straight skirts will use New Look 6824.

Fabrics from these below - as you can see there are more than six here, so they won't all get made during May, but photographing them has brought them to the top of the 'to make' pile!

I will also wear something me-made every day, and attempt to post daily photos on instagram...

Yellow roses dress

Now the weather has warmed up my sewing mojo has returned and I've got my machines out from hibernation to start dressmaking again.  We have had a fabulous warm Easter weekend this year and  I hope there is plenty more sunshine and warmth to come in the next few months.

So, this is my first dress of the year!

According to my Instagram feed I bought this fabric in Fabrics Galore in November 2014 and it's been sitting patiently waiting in my stash ever since.  Well no more, it's time to shine has come!

I presume from the selvedge that it was originally produced for John Lewis

My go-to pattern combo is a sleeveless bodice with either a pleated or straight skirt.  This year I intend to make definite inroads into the  printed cottons which I bought with these two styles of dress in mind, I pretty much live in them in the spring and summer, and they're my favourite style both to make and to wear.

Last year I passed on all the dresses I'd made with gathered and circle skirts.  This year I'll be reviewing my knee-length dresses as I prefer this longer length now.  I'm not sure I'll be parting with all my shorter dresses yet though...

So,this dress.  The bodice is a modified Sew Over It Betty which I've lined - I prefer lined bodices on the whole, and a New Look 6824 pleated skirt.  I've made this combo twice before here (shorter skirt length) and here.

Expect a couple more dresses to be along soon, I have this week off work and intend to spend quite a bit of it sewing!

Chevron & moss stitch top

Finally, I've got this finished!  This is the second of my Home Fires Knitting Project FOs,

although since I started knitting this I have found out via Instagram that this pattern wasn't published until 1946, so a bit historically inaccurate to have included it in a show set in 1939/40.  Although I suppose this could be a reprint / update of a pattern published in the 30s, that's perfectly possible.  Never mind, I like it anyway!  Here are the two versions featured in the show.

The colours used in the pattern are closest to those in the photo on the right - subsitute the pale pink with 'natural' and that's the pattern colourway.  I decided to use yellow / blue / green as this is a top for wearing in the spring.

I knew I wanted all the ribbing to be in navy and the moss stitch sections in yellow so I started merrily knitting the front and got to the end of the chevron section before deciding that I wanted to change the colour order - I knew that having two yellow sections close to each other would bug me.  Why I didn't think this through before I started knitting I don't know!

Rough and ready colour change using a feature on my phone

I decided to knit a sleeve to test out the new colour order and felt much happier with it.  I also modified the sleeves to have four full chevron striped sections before switching to the yellow, but knitted less ribbing, so the total number of rows is the same.

 

Cue unravelling the front back to the ribbing and reknitting.  I also lengthened the front to have four full chevron sections and then did 10 chevron rows in the yellow.

Apart from that I knitted the front as written.  I knew I would want to alter the neckline - I find most 1940s necklines too high for my taste (and comfort) - but decided to knit it anyway and then hold it against another top (I used this one) to see what changes I would need to make.  So there was more unravelling and reknitting.

 

 Then onto the back...

As written, the pattern looked like this

I knitted the moss stitch section in one piece and widened and lowered the neckline.  I'm all in favour of tops that I can just pull over my head, I don't knit for period authenticity and also I don't want a row of buttons down my back - a faff to do up and no doubt uncomfortable when sitting on any chair and leaning back.

Revised necklines - front on the left, back on the right

So... this took a while to knit because of (a) the reknitting (b) in order to get tension I used 2.75mm needles for the body (the pattern states 3.75mm) I also used smaller needles for the ribbing, and added a few stitches to the width of the ribbing (c) I don't find moss stitch quick to knit and (d) I am knitting a cardigan as well at the moment - usually I only have one garment on the go at a time, but right now I have two.

It also took a few days to sew together and weave in all the ends!

Anyway... it's all finished now and I'm very pleased with how it's turned out.  The pattern is available online here and here.

And now... I have a cardigan to finish and also a dress to sew which I cut out last weekend.  I'm off work now until the week after next so I hope to get both of those finished - although the cardigan may falter a bit if I start cutting out more dresses...