Notions Of Fabric

This is a dress which, while I don't regret making at all, I do wish I had done slightly differently. It was a real adventure though... I was coming up to Christmas, thinking about what to wear to both mine and the Husband's work parties (I get to go to his, but he doesn't get to go to mine!). His is always easy - it's black tie, and I only see the people once a year, so I have a few very fancy dresses that are RTW which I rotate through. In all honesty, I don't have much interest in sewing a dress for a black tie party, given I only have one a year - but that may change in the future, I guess. When it comes to my party, as a teacher it is a much more chilled affair. I do need an outfit, of course, but it doesn't need to be black tie. So, I made the super decision on a Saturday to sew a new dress! The party was on the following Friday, which was also the last week of school before the holiday. So on top on prepping for the end of the term, and my Christma...

I know people say this every year, but how is it the end of 2019 already? It has been a big one for us in many ways. We had to leave the UK for a few months to get new visas at the beginning of the year, I lost a job, I got a new (better) one, we have travelled, I have seen much theatre, and as usual I've bought more fabric than I've sewn! Of course, this is a common problem among sewists and I will do a post in a week or so with my intentions for the year 2020 but for now this is a wrapping up post! In terms of sewing, I did a lot in the beginning of the year. It helped to pass the time while I was back at home for 2 months, unemployed and with my family at work every day. And that period of time was a real eye-opener for me! I made three projects which were challenging me in different ways - piping and pattern matching, trousers, and many buttonholes! After that, and the successes which I had with those, I realised that I need to challenge myself more in my sewing. So then ...

Here today I have a dress from the vaults. I was inspired to make this dress following a rewatch of the TV show  Dollhouse   It was cancelled too soon, in my opinion. The premise of the show was that there are "actives", people with their personalities wiped so they can be imprinted with other personas in order to be assigned engagements with the rich and powerful. A great show, would recommend if you haven't seen it! Eliza Dushku played the lead, Echo, and she had a wide range of personalities and therefore costumes in the show. This costume was from one of the season 1 episodes (I can't remember which off the top of my head, unfortunately), and I was immediately caught by the horizontal centre darts and the flattering shape of the bodice. So I went looking for a pattern to be able to replicate it! The pattern I found was a vintage Simplicity crop top pattern ( 8130 ), which features a vertical centre seam, as well as side panels, and four horizontal darts on the fro...

Hello again, all! I'm still here, I promise, just working more and not having quite as much time for sewing. I have here for you a dress that was a long, long time coming... with one of my TnT patterns, Simplicity 2444. This fabric... I'm not really sure what it is. I got it from TMOS in Walthamstow in February of 2016 (so yeah, ages ago), and it's literally travelled around the world since then. We were in London in early February 2016 for a family wedding, and I took a free day while there to go out to Walthamstow and do some fabric shopping. It wasn't the busiest (it was a weekday) but I walked away with a few pieces of fabric I really loved, this one included. The design is stitched on rather than printed or embossed, and it has a slight stretch (although I sewed it up with a straight stitch), and it has a little bounce to it which gives the hem a lovely bit of shape to it when worn. I lined the bodice with ust simple white cotton This is my modi...

Hey everyone! So, it's been a month... My bad. I did warn you I was going back to work tomorrow... And work has been crazy, I've ended up with heaps of extra stuff to do, and unfortunately all of the crafty things have had to take a backseat for a little while. Hoping I can get things back to normal soon though! (Also slight apologies for the background today - we were experimenting with in-our-living-room photography with a sheet as a backdrop. Not so successful, but plenty good enough for the blog!) Today I have my latest dress to share with you - and I have to say, this time it looks exactly like what I saw in my head. That doesn't happen all too often in my experience. This lovely is a bit of a mashup. It wasn't intended to be, though. I started off with Kwik Sew 3682 , which has a lovely deep V on the bodice (View B). However, I had bought slightly too little fabric, and even if I hacked 4 inches off the skirt (which I often do with patterns, because they...

Hello lovely people! I hope that you are all well, and if you are an Aussie, that you are staying warm and dry. Today I have a totally seasonally-inappropriate dress to share with you. I mean, it is the middle of winter here, but for me, that still means dresses - just with many layers on top and underneath to keep me warm. This dress is also a small first for me - this is my first full muslin on a dress bodice! I know, I know, I should have started making muslins ages ago, but my habit is much more 'make-the-dress-then-take-it-in-at-the-zip' kind of girl. Way too much work making a muslin, or so I thought. Turns out, it's totally worth it. (Photos for this post taken by my brother, with guidance from my Mum) I didn't keep my notes as to all the changes I made (silly), but I did go down a size from before, and take out the back darts. The underarm seam is just slightly crooked, but not enough to really notice. I had originally planned to use the S2444 skirt pat...

Hello again. How are we all doing today? I loved the last dress I made, Simplicity 2444, so much that the very next thing I made was... another one! The fabric is really nice, actually. A family friend heard from my parents that I was sewing things, and mentioned that she had a HUGE amount of fabric she wanted to get rid of. I very happily went around to her place to take a look! She mostly did quilting, so many pieces weren't the right size for the job. But I picked up a few, and this one I wanted to use first. I looked it up based on the selvage, and it's actually a curtain fabric, 100% cotton, and quite sturdy. It gives the pleated skirt a really lovely shape.  I cut a 16 again, and pulled it in 2 inches before sewing it up. I (obviously) made the sleeveless version with pattern skirt this time. I learnt a big new skill for this one - bias binding! I used binding as a facing as well as on the inside of the dress - see, so nice! (Looks so nice...) ...

Another backlog post. Hi there everyone! Hope you are all having wonderful days/evenings. This dress, I was dying to make. I bought the fabric in Melbourne when I was there back in April. I was shamelessly inspired into buying the fabric having seen it on Roisin  and it getting stuck in my head. Actually, the pattern was also bought after having seen it on Roisin as well as many other bloggers. The fabric, as you can see is Acacia by Tula Pink; Raccoon in Blueberry. The pattern, Simplicity 2444. I waited until this pattern went on sale, but I'm so so glad I did. I have so many plans with this pattern. I love the V-shaped darts so much. The skirt is just a gathered rectangle (well, 3) - I ran out of fabric for the skirt (I got the end of the roll). The pattern features pockets, but is unlined, just faced. I think I will try and draft a lining for this as the facing doesn't want to behave half the time. I cut a 16, but ended up taking a 1.5 inch wedge out of the c...

Hi! This was a dress I virtually dreamed up. One of my favourite TV shows is the BBC's Doctor Who, and when the boyfriend and I got tickets to go to the Symphonic Spectacular earlier in the year, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to get an appropriate outfit. I didn't want to cosplay any of the female characters (all the one I look remotely like are not very exciting), and was thinking of wearing a dress. So I googled 'Doctor Who dress', and bam: (Dress from The Vintage Doctor  - still available!) Only problem was, it wsa a week until the concert, and the dress is a little out of my price range at $225. Cue thoughts of 'Oh, I could make that!' Enter Simplicity 1606 (View A), one of their 'Amazing Fit' dresses, some brown, maroon, and beige stripe cotton. I cut a 12, the D cups *the cups are sized seperately, which worked out well for me, as I sometimes go up a size just for my bust... It must have been a long pattern, as I hemmed it up 10...