Wow-That Dress Sure is Yellow!

Sometimes I draft a pattern, take ages over it, and never make it again.  That ends now! 

If this seems familiar it's because I've made it before

http://missjsews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/1950s-cherry-dress-ms-js-flat-pattern.html

It's a solid pattern that fits me well so I did it over again in yellow cotton fabric and shortened the hem to just under knee length.

 I drafted an all in one facing which I rarely ever do and in this version of the dress I used a ribbon hem. Hand sewing this took the longest time- just look at the width of that hem!

Underlining this in cotton made it a heavy weight, but I like that as it feels lovely -  really nice quality.


The back has a lapped zip. I'm learning to love these more and more. I think the next frock I make will have a side zip with a zip guard.  There's loads of Craftsy classses that show these features.

I feel lovely when I wear this,  the dress has a lovely solid feel to it.  The colour shows even brighter due to the underlining and it's a bold look.

Considering that I never wear yellow it's a statement piece!

Ikea gets me domesticated!

What the hell was I thinking when I bought this material? It's called Gunilla and is from Ikea.

I knew that when I discovered Ikea sold material there would be a problem....

It came at time when I had to buy stuff for the house, hate buying housy stuff, I would wander over to the material section where I felt happier.

Now normal people would know and recognise that Ikea is a furniture store so the fabric would be geared towards curtains and upholstery.  I don't let that stop me, my motto is "if it's pretty, get it if you can afford it and worry about what to do with it later!"

Buyers remorse kicked in when I realised I had this hella stiff cotton fabric on my hands with birds, branches and its bright orange to boot!

Frantic internet searches threw up folks who had used it to make all matter of garments, however, I'm not going out on road in this as a skirt or as bag.  That's. just. not. happening.

Days, weeks, months, years pass... and then it hits me.
Make an apron fool!

I fancied a twee "girly" type of apron to go with the kitsh design of the fabric.  I used my ruffle foot to make the frill at the bottom, love that foot, but it'snot designed to handle fabric this thick. 

I love my two huge pockets.  Now what to cook!?

They said "jacket", I said "pyjama top".

Hello!

It's been ages since I posted anything, and I know that's the first no no of blogging, but I'm sure that anyone who has visited my little corner of the Internet will forgive me. It's not like people have been waiting in their droves with bated breath!

Now I wanna say that I've been setting up my own business, climbing Everest and curing illnessess, but alas, I've just got caught up in real life and work.

I have, for the first time in ages, used a commericial pattern. Quite a departure from drafting my own and fumbling though how to construct.  It was quite refreshing being told what to to!

The pattern I used was the Islander Sewing Systems Jacket Express, a jean jacket pattern.
I'm not feeling this as a jacket for me straight out the packet as it's too boxy, too long and the collar is too rouned, but I can adapt these on the pattern later.

For this effort, I  thought "pyjama jacket" as I've got a lovely piece of paisly cotton in my stash.  I chose to leave the pattern alone and see how it comes out.

I used the Craftsy class that features this pattern.  (am I the only person who never used these before?) 
I've been to some awful classes at prestigious fashion Universities in London that really ought to do better, so I've sought refuge in the Internet.


Great class, easy to follow, and as the class advocates, mainly sewed without pins.Perfectly drafted pattern as all pieces fit perfectly and are clearly labelled. The instructions even come in a little book with very good diagrams.

It's all stuff I've done before, except the "burrito" method, which took a bit of thinking about, but the pattern is solid, I can just make a few changes and I'm sure I can get a nice cropped jacket out of it.... We'll see!

I saw my lovely Cherry material on the Great British Sewing Bee - Series 3 Episode 1 !

I'm a bit late on watching the Great British Sewing Bee, I forgot that the new series was starting and still have no clue what night it's on so I'm catching up on BBC Iplayer.

I say catching up, still haven't finished episode 2, but I have seen episode 1 and there was my beloved cotton cherry fabric in the hands of Alex in the pattern matching challenge.

Alex- Great British Sewing Bee - BBC website

I say my cherry fabric, it's not like I designed it, I bought it in the shop like anyone else, but this fabric caught my eye as soon as I saw it and I kinda knew what I'd do with it  - I made a Summer Frock, so when I saw they were doing the same thing on Great British Sewing Bee - well I became extra interested.

 See http://missjsews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/1950s-cherry-dress-ms-js-flat-pattern.html  for my adventures with cherries.

It's always so funny to see someone else make a garment out of the same material you used and how their vision of what it will become is different from yours.

The challenge was pattern matching, can you imagine pattern matching under a time restriction? This is Alex's creation.

Believe me, - pattern matching and I are.not.friends. I like my plain fabrics me. Call it lazy, unadventurous, cowardly. I'll take all of those, but sometimes you meet a fabric where you have to make an exception.

How do you pattern match a lapped zip?  I dunno.

Let's call this flashback Monday, this is the frock I made.

Would this pass a Great British Sewing Bee challenge?  Hell no! I sew too slow and let's not even talk about the pattern placement, but I feel great when I see it in the wardrobe, feel glamorous when I wear it and most of all, it's my pattern, drafted by me on my dining table.

Always learning and striving to do better......



When was the last time you saw your fabric made up by someone else and what did you think?
 
Also -  Does anyone know why this series is only 6 episodes???

Goodbye Hawes and Curtis!? I know, it's not half as glamorous as saying Goodbye to Valentino but it it is what it is!

For those who don't know, Hawes and Curtis are a retailer in the UK specialising in  shirts and accessories.  I own about 11 of their shirts and one pair of their cufflinks, so safe to say I got a lot of their stuff that  I'm happy with.


However, after purchasing this red blouse for approx £25, I started to have buyers regret.

Why did I just buy a polyester blouse for that amount of money when I nowadays I don't even buy polyester for my fabric stash, even during the times I can't afford more than £3 a yard material?  So the challenge was on. 

Now, once upon a time, I used to buy polyester. I had a bit of blue polyester left over from a frock that had gone horribly wrong and I've had in the scraps for the last decade. I'm a fan of pussy bow blouses, so I found a use for those polyester scraps.

 

I was in a lazy mood, so I actually used an old 90's New Look shirt pattern as a basis.  I've never made a pussy bow blouse before or used a commercial pattern for many years so there was scope for a disaster here.  So on I pressed without doing any kind of toile!

 I just drafted a long piece of fabric long enough to go around my neck, down past the chest and tapered at the ends. I changed the cuff elongating it so I could have a least four buttons. I recycled buttons from my Mum's long discarded blouse from the late eighties.


I think it turned out OK.  I feel good wearing it and considering the buttons were free, the material was a couple of pounds a yard, and I didn't use much thread, I'd call this a bargain.

Can I make more of my own shirts and blouses and wave goodbye to the retail shirtmakers?.......