Another Know Me ME2016

I had intended to make two more of these before putting the pattern away, but time ran away with me and the next one is on the spring sewing schedule now. 

This version is made from Broderie Anglaise which I bought in Coupons Merveilles in Paris earlier in the year.  It was a 3m coupon, but after washing and drying it measured 2.85m, so again I made a gathered skirt with inseam pockets, not the version in the pattern.  I also lined the skirt and bodice and lowered the neckline - I used plain red cotton voile for the lining.  The sleeves are slightly shorter than given in the pattern, to lend that fabric to the skirt length.

I'm very happy with how it's turned out.  I don't have much red in my wardrobe, so this is a welcome addition.

Two more Demeters

This is the second of the three unpublished posts and, as the title suggests is for two Anna Allen Demeter dresses - the first is in Butternut linen from my trip to Merchant & Mills 

and the second is some striped linen I bought in a sale a few years ago.

Nothing more to say about these really, this is a great pattern for hot summer days as is, and in the autumn/winter with a long sleeved top, cardigan and tights.  Like the Felicia pattern, it's a quick sew because it doesn't have any fastenings.

More Felicias

I thought I would get ahead a bit and start writing an end-of-year summary post, but found three draft posts which I wrote back in August so, with a bit of updating, here's the first.

The first dress here is sewn with a turquoise linen which I bought from Bloomsbury Square (although they call this colourway Cornflower Blue) a few years ago.  At 260 gsm it's a heavier weight than I've used for other dresses, but it does hang, and swish, beautifully and I would definitely use it again.

The next is a long-sleeved version made from some cotton gingham which I bought from Minerva several years ago now.  The sleeved version of this pattern is available as a separate expansion pack - it's not just sleeve pieces, the bodice is cut differently too.  I bought this when it was first released and this is the first time I've used it!  It was easy to make - the sleeves fit very nicely into the armholes, I did have to shorten them though.

All the others are linen which I bought from a trip to Rye in the summer which obviously had to include visiting Merchant & Mills.  I spent quite a while in there narrowing down what I wanted to buy and this is what came home with me.

Of these linens all have now been turned into dresses except for the blue and white check which I will sew up in the spring, and the brown and white check on the top of the pile which was a remnant and will become either a top or skirt, once I've decided which!

So, here are the four Felicias which I've made from this recent purchase

French Clay - a lovely beigy putty-ish colour, with a slight pink tinge to it

Boston Fall - gorgeous, but although when I prewashed it with the other linen purchases there was no problem, the first time I put it in the machine with a mixed cotton / synthetic load, all the pale synthetic fabrics picked up loose dye from it and went a rather fetching (not) shade of sludgy yellow.  The clothes made from linen and 100% cotton were fine.  So now I'm only washing it with non-synthetic things.

Cinnamon Dust - a gorgeous colour and perfectly matched with my Ember cardigan.

And finally a long-sleeved version in Sophia Plum - a lovely aubergine colour with an ochre yellow grid pattern, which is a slightly lighter weight than the plain colours.

I've put the turquoise dress away now for next summer, and passed on the pink gingham one, but all the others are going to get plenty of wear over the autumn and winter.

Four more dresses on repeat

Here are four dresses which I've made last month and this - they are all repeats of patterns I've made before.

In order of me making them the first is an Anna Allen Demeter, made with some viscose / linen mix fabric which I bought from Fabric Godmother at the Stitch Festival in London earlier this year.  Nothing much to say about it really, it's quick and easy to sew and wear, although I've put it away for the autumn because it doesn't scream summer to me.  (Unless we were having a serious heatwave in which case I think the terracotta / ochre colours in it would work fine.)

The next finish was another linen Mattea which I've also put away for autumn wear.

Then came a third version of Willow made from two metres of Tana Lawn from stash.  I recut the front and back necklines and front armholes, but it still isn't an ideal fit.  It's better than the first two I made, but I think I need to compare the bodice pieces with other patterns that fit better and recut again.  Not a job for now, I'd rather be sewing other things, but maybe next year.

And finally a Tessuti Felicia - I first made this pattern four years ago.  This is made from seersucker gingham which I bought recently from Abakhan intending to make an ME2016 with it.  However, I then bought a cardigan which is a perfect colour match and would definitely not go over the ME2016's sleeves, so I decided to make it up in this pattern instead (and now have nearly a metre of left over fabric).

I'd already cut out the bodice pieces before I decided to try on the yellow one I'd made back in 2020 when I weighed more than I do now (lockdown baking 😉) and made the decision to cut the bodice a size smaller.  However, the neckline and shoulders had to stay a size M because the size S cutting lines weren't inside the size M ones.  Changing the armholes, side seams and bust darts was straightforward though. 

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and will be making some more Felicias, although I think I'll probably bind the neckline and armholes rather than face them.

Two Liberty Tana Lawn Know Me ME2016 dresses

I finally succumbed to buying this pattern after seeing so many versions on Instagram of it that I liked - there was a bit of a palaver with the purchase though.  I bought it from Sew Direct earlier in the year and when I took the pattern tissue out of the envelope to lay on the fabric ready to cut out I noticed several of the pieces had bits of printing missing - both grainlines and cutting lines.  I have never had this happen with any pattern I have ever bought over decades of pattern buying.  So I emailed Sew Direct to ask for a replacement and had to wait a while for one to arrive from the USA, because it turned out that all their UK stock had the same problem.

Both are made from 3m lengths of Tana Lawn which I had in my stash.  This wasn't enough fabric to make the skirt supplied with the pattern, so they have two full widths of fabric gathered, and inseam pockets.

The first dress I made was a straight size 14 and it's a bit on the roomy side, although the pattern is so busy that it doesn't really notice.  As well as changing the skirt, I cuffed the sleeves rather than use elastic - I find that elasticated short sleeves don't stay put when I move my arms and that bugs me, so I used the sleeve cuff band from my copy of Fibremood Judy pattern instead and I'm happy with how the sleeves look and feel. 

For the second version I cut a size 12 and didn't bother to line the bodice.  I also cut the neckline a bit lower - partly because I bound it with bias binding so it didn't need a 5/8" seam allowance, but also to actually make it a bit lower - about an inch or so I think.

I love these dresses, partly because the fabric is so gorgeous to sew with and to wear, but also because I love the style.

Venturing in to big puffy sleeves with Judy

Having seen lots of lovely versions of this pattern on Instagram I decided to take the plunge and buy it.  It was a quick and easy sew - I made size S and altered the back of the dress to have the bodice cut in one piece rather than two with button fastening - I didn't want buttons down my back and they weren't necessary for getting the dress on and off, it goes over my head just fine.

The first one took the 2.9m the pattern states is needed for this size - I did move the pieces around a bit to get the colours I wanted where I wanted them.  The fabric is a lovely Lady McElroy lawn which I had in my stash.

The second one is also from stash - 2.65m of yellow chambray.  I cut an XXL skirt to use up the full width of the fabric and cut down on waste, so there was very little fabric left over.

These are lovely dresses for wafting around in on hot days - there just haven't been nearly enough of them this summer unfortunately!

Two green Bardon dresses

This is a quick and easy pattern and it's a great dress for warm days.  The first one I made using some olive green double gauze which I bought in Coupons Merveilles in Montmartre when I visited Paris back in April.  The colour really doesn't show up well in the photo.  It's similar to the double gauze version in this post, although this time I evened out the length of the tiers a bit.

For the second, shorter version I used a triple gauze throw from Ikea (not sure how long the link will work for, it says it's a limited edition).  I can't remember now what I'd actually gone to Ikea to buy, but it wasn't this - I saw it, liked the colour and thought 'I could get a dress out of that', and it ended up in the trolley...  It frayed a lot while I was sewing it, there were dozens of little bits of green thread all over me / the dress / the floor, but I'm hoping that since all the raw edges are either finished with bias binding or overlocked, it won't be shedding any more!  

With hindsight I should have cut the skirt tiers a bit longer to use up all the fabric, instead of now having 30cm of the full width of the fabric left over.  Hey ho 🙂

Tessuti Mattea dress & top

I bought this pattern at the Stitch Festival in London earlier this year and last month I made the top version, to see how the sizing worked.

I cut a size 1 and the fit was fine.  I used some leftover fabric from a Vogue repro vintage dress (V-8728) that I made back in 2013 and it came together pretty quickly.  I followed the pattern instructions as written for this one.

Fast forward a few weeks and I've just finished the dress.  This time I made a few changes - I took out the centre back seam and cut the back bodice in one piece; I didn't use stitch & tear interfacing on the neckline and armholes, I staystitched them instead; I also bound the armholes on the inside rather than the outside and I made pocket bags, not the 'attached to the front bodice' version in the pattern.  I used some linen which I've had in my stash for a while and it took 1.9m.  It would probably have needed more if I'd cut bias binding for the armholes from it, but I used commercial binding instead.

I traced a size 2 skirt, (can't really remember why now... but might have been because it fitted better on the dot and cross paper that I used for tracing).  I haven't top stitched the neckline - I'll see how it wears without it, should be OK because the facing is understitched and also tacked in place on the shoulder seams.  I'm going to make more of these, and if they're in linen I shan't bother to interface the neckline facing - even with using very thin interfacing it feels quite bulky.  The fabric I used for the top was a lot thinner so the interfacing was fine with that.  Now, what shall I make next?

Cinnamon Daisy Willow dresses

 I came across this pattern on Instagram a few weeks ago, I think it just came up in my 'explore' tab, I don't think anyone I follow has made one...  Anyway, I thought it was a very pretty design and decided I'd like to make it.

I made the first version last month and it was a toile really, to see how the sizing and fitting worked.  I used some gingham which I'd had left over from making this dress, cut a size H and it took 2.2m.  It was a straightforward sew and the only thing I changed was to cut the back bodice in one piece.

Fast forward a few weeks and I've finished version no. 2.

For this one I've lowered the centre front neckline by 2" and graded it to the shoulders - the neckline on the brown gingham version was a bit too high for my liking.  I sized down - this is a size G - and it's a better fit, although I think I still need to do some adjustments to the front armholes.  The fabric is a cotton lawn which I bought from Ditto in Brighton several years ago.  I used all of the 2 metres that I had, although if it had been 60" wide rather than 55", it would have needed 1.7m.  Something to keep in mind for future versions.

Still here... a quick catch-up on the last two years

 Well... long time no see.  Two and a bit years since I've written anything here.  Both the knitting and the sewing have slowed down a lot partly because, despite regular wardrobe culls, I've really got enough clothes, and partly because I've been doing other things with my time (and money).

However, last weekend I went to the Stitch Festival at the Business Design Centre in London hoping to kickstart my sewing mojo (it has, I have plans...).  It was a very enjoyable visit, not crowded which was a blessing, even pre-Covid I was not a fan of crowded enclosed spaces.  I bought three lengths of fabric for dresses (left to right Dolores cotton lawn from Fabric Godmother, Saffron Flower Sienna viscose/linen also from Fabric Godmother and Cebolla Garden Liberty Tana lawn, an Althea McNish design, from Sewbox).

a dress pattern from Tessuti

I've made their Felicia and Lisa dresses so am hoping this will be as straightforward.  I also bought some bias binding to go with the Sienna fabric - I'm pretty certain this will become another Anna Allen Demeter dress - and a circular knitting needle which I think I'll probably need for my current knitting project when it gets to the stage of joining the sleeves to the body of the cardigan.

Looking back, since I last wrote I have knitted a couple of things - a cardigan which I started in February 2021 and didn't finish until January 2023

based on this pattern.

I knitted the body in one piece up to the armholes and after using one skein of the yarn, despite having the right tension, it looked much too big so I unravelled it and started again - one of the reasons for the delay in finishing, I was fed up with it.  I also did plain top down sleeves, by the time it got to them I just wanted it finished and couldn't be bothered to knit patterned sleeves, seam them and sew them in.

I've also knitted a jumper which didn't take so long!  I started in August last year and finished in November.  I wanted an easy knit from stash and this was it.  I've knitted four versions of this design (here, here, here and here) over the years and they wash and wear very well.  I've worn this a few times recently - it's definitely a jumper for spring because of the colours - and it's been really miserable weatherwise.

I'm currently knitting a cardigan on 2.5mm needles, so I don't imagine that will be ready until next spring.

On the sewing front I made four dresses in 2022 - two Bardons (the teal one is linen from Merchant & Mills, the yellow check one is cotton from Minerva),

one Demeter (linen from Merchant & Mills)

and a mash up of Simplicity 2886 and 1801 with Liberty Tana lawn.

I also altered two which I love but wasn't wearing because I now prefer a longer length (original versions here and here).  Fortunately I had some leftover fabric for both of them.

There was no sewing at all last year and I find I'm missing it, so with a couple of bank holidays coming up in May, I should be able to make some time to sew.  Probably not this weekend though as the garden is in desperate need of a tidy up!