Two more McCalls 7948 dresses

These are both the same, the first is made with fabric I bought a few years ago (I think it's a Kaffe Fassett-designed print?) I love the colours in it.

And the second is fabric which I think I bought last year, or possibly in 2019, with the intention of making it up in a 1930s / 1940s pattern, but it's quilting cotton (as is the blue chrysanths fabric) and I decided it probably wouldn't hang properly - not enough drape - so it's become this.

For both of these I modified the bodice which is now a mish-mash of sizes from 8 (armholes) to 14 (shoulders).  I also lowered the neckline and adjusted the seam allowances at the armholes and neck for bias binding rather than facing.  I may have done this for the blue and yellow striped version as well, I can't remember now!  Both of these dresses also have Bardon pockets and the skirt is 6" longer than the given pattern pieces.

Anna Allen Demeter - irises top & cobalt linen dress

I'd seen several Demeter dresses popping up on my Instagram feed and really liked the look of them.  I'd been meaning to make some looser fitting dresses for ages - initially because I didn't enjoy wearing very fitted dresses in hot weather, but more recently to accommodate the lockdown baking increase in my waistline.  So in April I made these.

I started off making a short-sleeved top (view C) to see whether I would need to make any fit adjustments.  I've had this fabric for years, it came from Classic Textiles in Goldhawk Road I think, and had already cut out and marked up a Vogue 8666 dress but never got around to sewing it up.  I had a metre and a bit left, which was enough for this top.  It's a pretty good fit, but the bust darts needed moving - it doesn't really notice on this busy print, but definitely would on a plain fabric, so I'm glad I made this toile before cutting out a dress.

And this is the first of several linen dresses I've made from this pattern this year (and no doubt there will be more).  A lovely cobalt blue linen - this colour is available from several fabric shops.  I cut pattern view A, with the skirt length of view B.  I didn't give it a 3" hem though - I liked the unhemmed length, so just overlocked it and turned it up by 3/4".  I also adjusted the bodice front with the bust darts moved.

I'm very pleased with how it's turned out.  Linen is great in summer (cool) and winter (doesn't stick to your tights, so no need for a slip).  Love it!

Grey & yellow floral dress

This might be my last bit of sewing for the year, as I really need to get on with Christmas knitting.  I would have started sooner, but I cut one of my fingers last weekend - not badly, but enough to snag wool as I'm knitting whether or not I put a plaster on it - didn't affect sewing (or anything else) fortunately, but does mean I'm behind my own self imposed schedule...

Anyway... this dress.  I bought the fabric three years ago from Fabric Godmother and it's a viscose / linen mix, so has a lovely drape to it.  I think I was probably drawn to the faded-style colours, which is a departure for me as I'm usually drawn to either brighter, or more saturated colours, and it was another dress length which languished a bit while I hummed and ha-ed what to make with it.

I bought 2m, and, since it was 60" wide I was able to get a Betty bodice and New Look 6824 pleated skirt out of it, but it took every last inch of the length.  

There are some subtle blues and greens in there, along with the various shades of grey, so I have a few cardigans which will go with it, although I think this one looks best.

Paris in the rain dress

I bought the fabric for this dress when I visited Paris last month and the name comes from the fact that the day I went to visit Make My Lemonade on Canal St Martin (which is where I bought it), it was raining.  Quite a lot.

I knew I would be making a dress in this style, I just wasn't sure which bodice pattern I'd use - I decided on Butterick 5748.  This is the first time I have used this bodice with this skirt and I'll be doing so again I expect because they fit together perfectly at the waist, without any fiddling about with the pleats to get a match.

I bought 2.5 metres of fabric - which is lovely - and used all of it - there was enough for pockets and a certain amount of pattern matching which I'm very pleased about!

It was the perfect dress to wear to Hampton Court Flower Show last week - I finished it just in time on the Wednesday evening before visiting on the Thursday, and the weather was lovely - lots of warmth and sunshine.  This really is my favourite style of summer dress.

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!

Summer Sunflowers dress

This dress is the last of the Bettys for this year, with a New Look 6824 pleated skirt.  When I first made up this pattern I cut about 4" off the skirt pattern pieces, and for this dress I reattached them.  Whilst I still like knee-length dresses, quite a few of the ones I've made recently have been this mid-calf length - possibly influenced by the vintage patterns I have, most of which have very long skirts (although also usually with a generous hem allowance).

The fabric is quilting cotton which I bought from The Cotton Patch in Birmingham four years ago en-route to the SewBrum meet up that year.  Not really much else to say about this other than I added Emery pockets, it took 2.5m of fabric, and I'm really pleased with it!

#OAL2018 dresses x 3

This year, in the two-month time frame for the #OAL2018 challenge (June & July), I made three dresses, all from fabric which I'd had in my stash for a while.

The first dress was made with 2m of floral cotton which I bought in Fabricland.  This was my second iteration of modifying the SewOverIt Betty bodice, this time I moved the bust darts down by 1" (in addition to the changes made on the Daisy dress).

The skirt is from NewLook 6824 which, despite it Betty Draper wannabe styling and the dresses looking too big for the model, is actually a pattern I've used quite a bit (well the skirts anyway).

 
Dress no 2 is the same bodice / skirt combo as for my Daisy dress (SOI Betty / vintage Simplicity 3749), although this time in addition to previous bodice modifications I lowered the waist darts and moved the bust darts up a bit and I'm now done with the alterations.  Since I had enough fabric for pockets, I nabbed the pocket pieces from Christine Haynes' Emery pattern.

Finally, dress no 3 is a Simplicity 1801 maxi.

I modified the bodice of this - I took the shoulders in by half an inch at the armhole edge and tapered them at the back.  I didn't alter the front pieces, just increased the gathering into the yoke.  I redrew the v-neck to be 2" higher, however, once it was sewn up it was a bit gapey, so I increased the centre seam allowance by half an inch at the top, and tapered it down for 2".  It was a bit of a faff doing all this as I recall, but worth it - I love this fabric, which I bought on Goldhawk Road several years ago.

And those are the three dresses which I made for this year's outfit-a-long challenge and all of them got worn quite a bit this summer.  Slowly making inroads into my blogging backlog!

Teal Daisy dress

Well, summer has well and truly gone now and it's high time I caught up on here!

We actually had a proper, hot, summer this year which was wonderful.  As I write this it's grey and raining outside, but given that it's late November I guess that's to be expected.  Doesn't make it any easier to bear though.  I hate grey, damp, dark days.  Anyway, I don't want to dwell on that now - I have too many posts to catch up on to go off on a rant at the moment.

Firstly, some sewing - this dress I finished in early June.

I decided to use the bodice of SewOverIt Betty.  However, the first time I made this pattern (here) I found the bodice wasn't a great fit, and that, combined with the fact that I've decided that circle skirts aren't really great for my lifestyle, means that dress has now gone to the charity shop, which is a shame, becaused I loved the fabric.

So for this one the alterations I made were to lower the armholes by half an inch and redraw the shoulder straps to bring them further in to the centre back, also by half an inch.  It now fits much better, but is still not quite right.

The skirt is from a vintage pattern, Simplicity 3749 - I had to adjust the centre back and side front skirt pleats to fit the bodice waistline, but this is not a difficult change to make.

I used all of the 2.2m I had of this fabric which I bought in Barry's in Birmingham during the 2015 SewBrum meet up and I'm really pleased with how it turned out - I love this colour.

Tulips in Paris

This is the first of my me-made May pledge dresses which I made a couple of weekends ago.  I've had this fabric in my stash for a while and I wanted to get it made up and get some wear out of it before tulips are out of season for another year!

It's a mash up of the bodice from Butterick 5748 and the straight skirt from New Look 6824 and is the same bodice/skirt combo I used for the St Ives dress I made last summer.  The fabric was 58" wide and I only had 1.6m of it, I think it was an end of roll remnant, but that was enough fortunately.

The dress gets its name because I made it to take to Paris and the song 'Tulips in Amsterdam' kept going through my head as I was making it.

Heleniums dress

I picked up the pattern I used for this, Simplicity 2886, from the #Sewbrum pattern swap a couple of years ago.  I think the pattern envelope really doesn't do the dress justice, but the line drawings help and having seen a few versions pop up on my instagram feed I knew it would be worth the effort of making since I like the style of it.

Unfortunately, hot on the heels of Mortmain, this was another dress where the bodice didn't fit - although in this case it was too big.  I cut a size 12 and once I'd made it up had to do some unpicking and take the side seams in.

It was really quite disheartening to have two dresses in quick succession that needed this degree of intervention, however I really like this pattern and I think I probably will make it again, I'll just cut the bodice a size smaller.  And tbh I'd rather faff about like this than cut and sew endless toiles.  I'd do that for a special occasion dress using expensive fabric, but for an everyday cotton dress life's just too busy.

And that's me all caught up with my sewing output so far this year, just the knitting to catch up with now!

Me Made May 2017 week 4 summary

Gosh, this month is flying by and finally, the weather has warmed up!  This has definitely influenced my choice of dresses - the summery prints are now in circulation.

Monday's outfit was an Emery dress with rtw cardigan.

On Tuesday I wore my Get Cutie bird print dress with an rtw cardigan.

Wednesday saw flamingos making an appearance with my Flamingolex dress and an rtw cardigan from Audrey Star's Boutique.  I love this dress - the style and the fabric, and I have enough fabric left over to make a skirt - I should get on and do that, I'd much rather wear it than let it languish in my leftovers box!

On Thursday I wore my Carmen Miranda dress and an rtw cardigan.

On Friday I wore my Beachhuts Cambie and an rtw cardigan.

Saturday saw the first wearing of my lemon print dress - I bought this in Sainsbury's a few years ago now and love it.  I paired it with a me-made tie front cardigan from pre-blogging days (I didn't use a pattern, so no link).

And to round off the week today I'm wearing my orange floral Simplicity 1801 maxi with an rtw cardigan.

Thinking ahead, a couple of weeks ago OAL 2017 was announced.  This is a challenge to create a complete outfit with a knitted and a sewn garment, and is hosted by Lauren Taylor and Andi Satterlund.  In 2014 I watched from the sidelines, in 2015 I made these, last year I didn't get around to joining in but this year I definitely will. The challenge runs for the whole of June and July and I've got two possible combinations lined up - I'm not sure that I'll get both cardigans knitted, but two dresses should definitely be possible.  I've got the cardigan pattern for one combo and the dress pattern for the other finalised, so still need to decide on the other two in order to get a complete outfit!

Me Made May 2017 week 3 summary

Well, we've had another week of dreary weather.  Although there has been some sunshine there hasn't really been much warmth and several days were really rather grey and either damp or downright wet.  Urgh!

So, I started the week off with an Anna dress and rtw cardigan.

Then I had a few days away with work, so Tuesday to Thursday's outfits were chosen with suitability for travelling and survival in a suitcase in mind.  On Tuesday I wore an rtw skirt and t-shirt with my Primroses for Spring cardigan.  I'm not sure how much longer this skirt is going to last, I've had it a few years now, love the colour and have worn it a lot, so once it finally does get to go for recycling I'll be looking out for some corduroy in this colour to make another one, although the style may be different.

On Wednesday it was another rtw skirt and t-shirt and my blue Palm Leaf cardigan.  This is another skirt which I've had for years and really like.

On Thursday I wore an rtw dress which has so many colours in it that I'm spoilt for choice when it comes to pairing it with a cardigan - but I chose this orange Emelie cardigan which I made in pre-blogging days and which is a bit big really now - I'm not sure though whether I can be bothered to unravel it all and reknit it, maybe... because I do love the colour.  Just not yet.

On Friday I wore an rtw t-shirt, a skirt which I've just bought from Lindy Bop, having seen Kate Davies wearing it in a pattern photo - I absolutely love it, and the yellow of my Bette cardigan is a perfect match.  I love the jumper in the Kate Davies photo as well, I hope to make it this winter...

On Saturday I had a day at home catching up on the washing, ironing and general housework and wore an rtw t-shirt, skirt and my Cherry Blossom cardigan.

And today, yay, the sun is shining and the forecast is saying that we are in for a sunny, dry and warmer week.  At last!  So I've ditched the tights and as a small celebratory gesture, I'm wearing a dress covered in sunflowers.

I haven't sewn a stitch yet this month (apart from the curtains mentioned in last week's round up post), but I have done some knitting and have finished a cardigan, which I'll write about during the week.  The second cardigan I have on the needles is also coming along nicely, I'll get the body finished today which will just leave the sleeves to get done before the end of the month.  So at least I'll fulfil the knitting part of my pledge if not the sewing one!

Me Made May 2017 week 1 summary

I've finally finished my clothes cull and have donated several bags of clothes and shoes to charity so now I  have a bit of storage capacity for new makes.  That being said, I haven't actually finished anything yet this month, but I do have tomorrow off work, so there maybe something finished soon!

I spent some time last weekend sorting out and photographing outfits which led to the realisation that I need to knit up the cardigan quantities of green yarn which I have stashed, and I could also do with a pink t-shirt!  Photographing things in advance saves the hassle of doing daily photos, which I find makes for an easier life.

So, without further ado, here is my round up of the first week for this year's Me Made May challenge.

Monday was a bank holiday and therefore was freezing cold!  I wore my Monochrome Breton jumper with some black leggings (although the photo shows a skirt - I can't put trousers on Myrtle unfortunately).

On Tuesday I wore a dress which I made during MMM 2016, and an rtw cardigan.  I have these in several colours and they will probably feature a few times this month.  They're very useful with summer dresses and are from Woolovers, although they don't seem to have them on their website now.

Simplicity 2444

Wednesday's outfit was another dress which I made for MMM2016 and an rtw cardigan.

Christine Haynes Emery

On Thursday I wore a lime green By Hand London Elisalex dress and rtw cropped cardigan from Fever - again, not on their website now.

By Hand London Elisalex

On Friday I wore my green birds dress with an rtw cardigan

McCalls 5764 - vintage from 1961

Saturday's choice was my tape measures dress and rtw cardigan from H&M.  A woman came up to me in the petrol station as I was going to pay and told me she loved my dress - it's lovely to get a compliment like that, I was smiling all the way home!

Vogue 8789

And today I'm wearing my red roses dress and an rtw cardigan by Banned.

Butterick 5748

I hope to spend a large part of tomorrow sewing because I haven't taken the cover off my machine yet this month!  Actually this year...  There has been progress on the knitting front though, so that's good.

Me Made May 2016 - dress no 1

Well... long time no see!  I can't believe it's nearly the end of May - this year seems to be flying by.

Inspired by Me Made May (the brainchild of Zoe Edwards), and the latest series of the Great British Sewing Bee, I've dusted off my sewing machine and started making dresses again.  I hadn't really lost my sewing mojo, it's more that the knitting mojo had been in overdrive since, hmm... September last year probably.  That and the fact that we haven't really had much warm weather yet this year (and it's nearly June for heaven's sake).  Also, knitting is much more portable and I've done a fair bit of travelling so far this year and it's much easier to pack a bag of knitting than sewing.

When I looked back through my sewing notebook I realised that I hadn't sewn a single garment since August last year.  I have done a fair bit of mending and alterations in that time though, mostly for other people, and also knitted three jumpers and seven cardigans for myself and three baby / toddler items.  It's not as if I haven't been making things, they've just been from sticks and string rather than fabric.  So I have a fair few blog posts to write - I'll catch up soon I hope.

Enough with the waffle, here is my first dress of the year.  When Roisin posted about her Rural Juror dress I knew I had to track down the fabric and make a dress from it for myself - I think it's an absolutely gorgeous print.  I'm sure I've seen other versions online too, but I can't remember where now.  I bought the fabric some time last year and have only this month got around to making it up.  Because it's a border print I cut the bodice slightly larger at the side seams to allow for the total lack of widthways stretch.  And as I had enough fabric to add sleeves, I did.

Version 1, with sleeves

However... I got as far as tacking the bodice lining in to place to take the photo above before I tried it on.  I've made two Emery dresses with sleeves which fit fine, so I wasn't concerned to try it on before this - I thought increasing the side seam allowance on the bodice would be enough to allow for ease of movement.  But it wasn't.  I could hardly move my arms in it at all because it had no give.  So I unpicked the armhole seam and took the sleeves out.  When it came to sewing the bodice and lining back together at the armholes I figured I'd do the turning it inside out on itself thing.  But that didn't work because I'd already attached the skirt and there was no way I was going to unpick that.  So instead the armholes are topstitched and I now have a dress which I can wave comfortably in.  Or remove things from high shelves.  Or anything else that requires arm movement.

Final version - sleeveless

I didn't have enough fabric to pattern match the back, but since I can't see it I'm not worried about it.

The back view

Now that it's finished I'm happy with it, but I do wish there hadn't been as much unpicking involved!

The Bobby dress

I don't always give my sewing projects names - or the knitting ones for that matter - but this dress gets one.  Last August my grandson was born and sunflowers featured heavily in the flowers which my daughter and I received at the time.  I'd already seen and liked a dress made up in this fabric on Roisin's blog and so decided that I was going to have a dress covered in sunflowers too.  I'm not sure I agree with her about the '90s fashion vibe, but then, I was busy with small children in the '90s and probably completely unaware of what was going on fashion-wise.  In fact, now I think about it, I have no idea what was going on with fashion in the '90s; the only thing I would have concerned myself with when buying clothes was "is it machine washable?"  In fact, this still holds largely true now, although I've actually bought very few clothes since I started sewing again.  The only things I will consider buying that need dry cleaning are coats, and handwashing, well, only things I've knitted.  Everything else goes in the machine, even if the care label says it shouldn't and nothing has been rendered unwearable as a result.

Anyway, I digress, back to the sewing.  Once I'd decided I was going to buy this fabric it took a bit of hunting around on the interwebz to find it, but Ebay came up trumps.  I'd seen it in the flesh at Minerva (I was in the area at the time) so knew I liked it, but they didn't have enough, so Ebay it was.  And then it sat in my stash for the best part of a year because really, I'm not going wear sunflowers at any time other than high summer.  As my grandson's first birthday approached I decided I should really get my act together and make it up.  It's a Butterick 5748 bodice with an Emery skirt and came together very quickly once I'd got it cut out.  I cut the bodice out flat rather than on the fold so that I could get a flower in the centre of it

The Bobby dress

And since we've had a bit of an Indian summer this year I've worn it a few times in September too, but it's put away for the winter now.  Now I must go because I have a big pile of winter clothes which have come out of hibernation and need ironing...

Orange floral maxi dress

I cut this dress out in August last year and then it got put to one side for the best part of a year... Rachel's recent instagram photo hop gave me the impetus to get it finished.  The pattern I've used is Simplicity 1801 view C and it would have been a quick and easy make if I'd made it as per the pattern!

However... this fabric is quite thin and I decided that rather than make the dress with just a neckline facing I would fully line it.  Which meant not following the instructions for the bodice construction - there was a fair bit of unpicking involved to get it sewn together just enough for turning it right sides out, and then adding the midriff pieces.  Getting the pockets to go through the lining (rather than between the dress and lining) was also a bit of a faff, but it was worth it once it was done.

Pocket inserted between outer fabric and lining

I wasn't sure which size to cut, so I quickly sewed up the bodice lining and tried it on and it looked OK, but now the dress is finished it has more ease than I prefer and if I make it again I'll cut it a size smaller.  I also think the neckline is a bit low, so I'll cut out another bodice front and cut the neckline higher (not sure whether I have enough leftover fabric to do this, if not then I'll fiddle about with neckline to make it more sweetheart shaped I think).  I did wonder about just hitching the bodice up at the front yoke seam, but then the midriff section won't sit in the right place, so that idea's out.  This won't be happening any time soon though because realistically I doubt I'll wear it again until next Spring / Summer and I'd rather be knitting and sewing things that I can wear now.

The finished dress

I probably will make another of these because I really like the style, but it will be made with the modifications above and also with thicker fabric so that it won't need a lining.  Should be a quick make then, in fact I'm almost talking myself into cutting one out now, but no, it can wait until next year.

Vintage pattern pledge dress no 1

Earlier this year I signed up to A Stitching Odyssey's vintage pattern pledge and finally I've made the first dress towards it - one down, three more to go!  And I've already got one of those cut out.

I bought the fabric in Fabricland last year and this was a quick and easy make - there will be more of these in the future I expect.

Simplicity 5510 from 1964

The pattern is Simplicity 5510 from 1964 and I made a few modifications - I graded the waistline out a bit and also didn't use the skirt pieces.  There were three - one for the centre front and two back pieces  which came round past the side to about where the bodice darts were.  Since I wanted seams at the side I cut two widths of fabric - one for the front and the other folded in half and cut down the fold for the two back pieces.  I also put inseam pockets in and used an invisible zip.

The bodice neckline is faced, so there was no lining to sew in which speeded things up a bit.  I cut the skirt to the length of the pattern pieces, which is longer than my usual just-below-the-knee length preference.  I'm still getting used to this longer length, but I think it will work well with boots in the winter.

And here it is.

Simplicity 5510 Vintage Pattern Pledge dress no 1

And now I'm all caught up with blogging about this year's finished projects.  Hooray!  And since I have the day off work today, there just might be another dress to post about over the weekend...