Helen's Closet Gilbert Top

I think there is something really classic about a white button up shirt. I made one a few years ago, however was chasing a replacement in my wardrobe.  I knew I didn't want a plain shirt, my previous shirt was a Cheyenne/Lucerne Mash up (both by Hey June) featuring the fabulous tie sleeves of the Lucerne. However, for some reason the Helen's Closet Gilbert Shirt wasn't top of my list when looking for replacements.

That was until I checked the fabric requirements.  I'd managed to score 1.4m of white cotton crepe as a remnant from The Fabric Store during a visit and hoped I'd be able to squeeze a sleeved top out of it. The Gilbert Top View A (short sleeves and tie front) has a maximum fabric requirement of 2.3m for 115cm wide fabric, as I had 150cm fabric I was able to play a bit of pattern tertis and get it out of what I had. Though there wasn't much room for error!

I'm really happy with the fit of this one - the only adjustment I made being a full bicep adjustment.  The sleeves still feel a little snug, I think I shouldn't have raised the sleeve cap as much as I did in the end. However it won't stop me wearing it.

 I think this is the perfect shirt which can either be dressed up or dressed down depending on the occasion.  I know I will get plenty of wear out of this in the future.

Sunday Stash #4 - Bra Making Kit

As I've mentioned before I've been wanting to sew my own lingerie. I've succeeded in making my own undies, but I have yet to conquer a bra.  One of the hardest things is trying to get all the items you need.  Until now.

I purchased this amazing bra making kit from Susan at Measure Twice, Cut Once.  Let me tell you the camera does not do this justice.  It is incredibly vibrant in person and will look amazing when I've finished it.

Susan also has other colours listed on her website from time to time (She had a grey one a while ago that was to die for!).  I can't wait to get stuck in and get this one finished!

I'm also linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash today.

Liesl & Co Gallery Tunic

I fell in love with the Gallery Tunic by Liesl and Co when looking for a loose blouse pattern.  It was exactly what I was looking for!

I used a white rayon with black hearts from Spotlight (to be featured in tomorrows Sunday Stash).  I do think rayon is the prefect fabric for a number of projects.  It is light enough while being heavy enough not to need lining, it is soft enough without being a nightmare to sew, not to mention it also has a lovely sheen and a slight stretch.

I cut a size 10 of the pattern which was a 1/2 inch bigger than my bust size and it fit well.  I do have an ever so slight issue with the sleeves being ever so slightly tight for my tuckshop lady arms, but I'll just sew them with a smaller seam allowance next time and that will solve the problem.



I also managed to trace part of the pattern incorrectly so I ended up the the pleat in the placket at the front being on the opposite side.  I did decide it wasn't worth messing around and re cutting pattern pieces though.

I had never sewn a collar before and I was pleasantly surprised with how simple and straightforward the process was.  I'll try another one again soon.



Now, I know I bought a tunic pattern, but I wasn't quite imagining it to be so long!  Tunics aren't really my thing, but the extra length does make it really easy to tuck in with the added bonus that you don't need to worry about it coming out when you move!

I hemmed the bottom edge of the tunic in my all time favourite bias binding, though it was now a little redundant when I was wearing it tucked in.  It still adds a little interest if I do ever want to wear it out.  You can nearly see it in the photo above.



 I whipped it up in an afternoon (I got home at 3 and was at dinner by 6.45 with plenty of time to lose my interfacing and get ready) to wear out to a dinner last night.  Thankfully the pattern was relatively simple, I  would agree that the 2/4 difficulty rating was just right.



Overall I really like this pattern and I plan on making more, I might even try the dress next time.


Also linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday!

My Latest Sewing Fails

I've been having one of those weeks.  It started off about this time last week when I had gone out of my way to do something for someone (on my birthday no less) and they then treated me rather appallingly.   Sadly I didn't think of the perfect come back until about 12 hours later.  Isn't that always the way?

Anyway my sewing hasn't been working out this week either.

It could be the skirt that is well made but appears to show that my waist size isn't the same as it was a few months ago.

 

Or the other skirt where when I tried to correct some of the flaws in the previous skirt that this one ended up looking worse.

Or it could be the shirt that worked really well on the muslin but not as well in practice.

 

Or the pyjama pants I want to make but can only find one piece of my two piece pattern.

 

 

Anyway, its only fabric and most of it can be fixed one way or another.  Tomorrow is another day and time for another stitch.

 

Emma

Ice Cream Pleated Playsuit

I love sewing little girl things, as I've said before I don't really have many to sew for. I saw one of my adopted nieces over Easter, and even through she HATES dresses and skirts I decided I had to sew something for her.

 

I discovered the Pleated Playsuit pattern by Elegance & Elephants and knew it was the prefect thing to make.  The best bit is that the pattern is free AND has sizes from 18 months all the way up to 9 years!  AND Long and short versions!  Talk about awesome!  I made the long version because that's what was requested :).

The pattern was simple and easy to follow.  My only thing would be that I would recommend printing two copies as the lining of the bodice is printed on the bodice piece. 

 

I made it out of a Ice Cream Lisette Poplin from Spotlight and the straps & lining are a DS Quilts print also from Spotlight. Both of which I'd been hoarding keeping, waiting for the perfect project.

The waist is sinched in with elastic to give it some definition but still be easy to get on and off.

 

The pleat in the front bodice adds a nice little bit of interest to the bodice, though if I make the pattern out of printed fabric again I might leave it out, I think the pleat might work best on something like stripes or plain fabric.

 

The toughest part for me was getting the cuffs on the legs, that's simply because I'm not ever really confident in my ability to gather evenly.  I do think I did a pretty good job though :)

Overall it was a super easy pattern to make and I highly recommend it to anyone, in fact I have another two already planned for some sisters!

I'm also linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday (even though it might be Saturday here now :) ).

Emma

How I store my dress making fabric using coat hangers

So I figured I'd continue on with my little series on how I store my fabric, you can see the post here about how I store my quilting fabric.  Today I'll be talking about how I store my dress making fabric.  As you know I recently moved and I'm working out my perfect system for my new sewing room.

I knew when it came to storing my dress making fabric I wanted it stored in a way I could see it all.  Now shoved in a box where I had to dig through to see if I had a certain fabric or find what I want.  Thankfully I have a large built in wardrobe and enough clothes to fit in the wardrobe in my bedroom!

My storage system in now devised of coat hangers!  Normal standard plastic coat hangers.  Well maybe not the totally normal ones, the ones that you can hang your pants over.  I found packs of 12 for $2.50 at my local target.

I simply folded the length of the fabric until it would fit over the coat hanger and then slipped the coat hanger in as I folded it in half!  It doesn't really need step by step instructions :)  If you have any questions leave a comment or shoot me and email and I'll get back to you.

 

Super simple and easy storage for your fabric plus you can see what you have!  Plus I love opening the cupboard and seeing all the clothes that I have yet to make!

Sewing for Service - Dress a Girl Around the World

As I've mentioned before I'm a Girl Guide.  A large part of being a guide is serving others.  At a camp for Olave Members (18-30 year olds) our service component for the weekend was Operation Dress A Girl. (International page here) But before I get too into what we did, let me tell you a little about who we did it for and why.

Operation Dress a Girl is a wonderful project which aims to give every girl in the world a dress.  The below is taken from the Dress a Girl Australia website.

"Dress a Girl Around the World" is about taking care of the world's future women and
envisioning a world " where every little Girl owned at least one dress because every little
girl deserves one".  It is a global campaign of the Hope-4-Women International which is
a US-based global organization that has been carrying hope around the world for more
than 37 years.  

 

As Girl Guides, we are the largest female youth movement in the world with over ten million members.  We work hard to promote gender equality and empower girls and women, teaching them that they can be whoever and whatever they want.  As we all know some people need a hand up.  Can you imagine if you had never owned a dress?  Or if they one you did was so worn through it was basically not worth wearing anymore? Giving girls a dress can give them confidence and courage that they never had before.  It can keep them in school which returns the benefits ten fold.  These are just a few of the reasons Operation Dress a Girl was chosen

 

We set a goal of making 50 dresses over the weekend.  As many people there had not sewn before I'm very pleased with how we went.  All 50 were cut, hemmed and had elastic threaded.  We had 10 completed by the end of the weekend with bias binding added as straps.  I bought a few home and set about finishing them and I thought I would share them today.

 

 

 

Operation Dress a Girl provided the pattern of a simple pillowcase dress is sizes from baby-7.  They were quite simple to construct and brilliant for using up those bits of 'why did I buy this?' fabric and bits from the clearance table.

 

 

 

 

They ask that the fabrics not be see-through.  Drills are perfect but we used anything thicker than Quilting Cotton.  As I saw it Lawn and Voiles were out of the running for this project.

  



 

So if you have some fabric you can spare and a little bit of free time please consider sewing a few dresses for Operation Dress a Girl.  It's a very worthwhile cause.

 

Have you ever sewn for a charity organisation or service project?

Handmade Tuesday #7 - Grace Knickers

No dodgy mirror selfie today :)  Instead there is actually no photo of me wearing my handmade creation today.  That's for one simple reason, what I made isn't really meant to be seen by the general population, at least not on my body anyway!

That's because I made some knickers!  I wanted to sew something a bit different and when I came across Ohhh Lulu the other week I knew what it was.  Sarah not only sells her creations through her Etsy store, she also sells patterns on Etsy and Craftsy!  I purchased her Grace Knickers pattern and found them fantastic for someone who has never sewn lingerie before.  To start with there were only 4 pattern pieces and 5 pieces of fabric to cut and I was able to whip up my first pair in no time at all (I didn't time it but I'd say somewhere between 1-2.5hrs from pulling fabric to wearable).

 

 

The Grace Knickers have a bias cut woven front and back and stretch sides.  In this pair I used a dot poplin from Spotlight and some stretch lace. They finish with a double needle around the legs and elastic on the waist.  I've cut out about another 5 pairs or so and just need to finish them off before I have enough handmade undies to last the week.

 

Have you ever made any lingerie before?

 

Emma

Some recent Fabric Scores

I like fabric shopping.  That's no lie.  I have enough quilting fabric to sink a battle ship but dressmaking fabric not so much.  In fact up until about 12 months ago I had no interest in sewing clothes.  They scared me.  They had curves and zips and scary terms like notches and you had to cut out patterns and actually use scissors to cut the fabric.  Being a quilter all those things scared me.  But somehow I got over it.  Something made me want to sew clothes.  And wearable ones at that. So that was what I did.

I started with a few simple things, a skirt or two, and then a top.  Then I found those indie pattern designers we all love Colette, April Rhodes, Sew Over It, By Hand London, and spent hours trawling through patterns finding ones I loved and wanted to make and buying the ones I could afford.  I'd also hit up Spotlights pattern sales when they were 3 for $10 and make the most of it.

Now I do profess to being a dedicated Spotlight shopper (I blame the nearly 5 years of working there.  I'm thinking of ideas for a post for my hints and tips for finding bargins at Spotlight. Let me know).  However I was down near Lincraft and thought I would go in and see what they had.  I was impressed.  Bargins garlore on their clearance table!  Some lycra type lining at $5/m and some navy ribbed knit down to $1.25.  Now I didn't take photos of these two partly because they are pretty boring, partly because they are in a box somewhere :).

The rest were a bit prettier.

There was this maroon knitted fabric with a metallic gold thread at $8/m.  I got 2m to turn into a knitwear jumper for those cooler Autumn days around the corner.  Just to decide on a pattern.  I'm leaning towards using the free Easy Tee pattern by It's Always Autumn.  It's a good pattern, pretty much my size plus its free!  Nothing to complain about there.

 

 

I also fell in love with this other fabric and plan on using the same pattern with it.  I'm just too scared to sew it because it is so open with the weave.  Any hints or tips would be appreciated.  It's really a black/brown colour and the sequins just make it in real life. 

 

 

 

 

I've also purchased this tribal like rayon from Spotlight with unknown plans at the moment, maybe a simple shift dress.

 

 

I also grabbed this pirouette dot tulle during the recent 30% off sale.  I have plans for a cocktail dress using this to make a Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) style skirt and a black satin bodice.

 

I also discovered Ohhh Lulu the other day and fell in love. Romantic, Feminine, Stylish.  I plan on making up a few of their patterns (funds permitting).

I grabbed this combination of stretch lace and cotton below for the Ohhh Lulu Grace Knickers and the lyrca (2 remanent pieces at $2/m) for the Abigail Swimsuit.  One day anyway :).

 

 

 

Anyway I hope to get some more sewing done over the weekend.  Or at least finish off some other things to show you.  Things should settle down after I actually move in after Easter and that should mean more sewing time :)

 

Until then,

 

Emma

Drape Drape 2 No. 4

I was reading some blogs a while ago and stumbled upon the Drape Drape books.  I fell in love.  Sadly being Japanese pattern books they are a bit small for my sizing (about a Australian 12-14 ).  Anyway I'm pretty happy with this first run though.

I went into Lincraft the other day and scored on their clearance table, though that is for another post.  This gray kind of see through knit caught my eye and I decided to make Drape Drape 2 Number 4.

 

 

As I said I'm pretty happy with it for a first try, I plan on modifying the pattern when I make it again.  It was very quick and easy to sew, in a few hours and then I wore it to a party that night.

 

 

There is more Drape Drape in my future for sure.  Maybe after I move anyway :)

 

Emma

Handmade Tuesday #5 - 1/2 Skirt 2.0

Wearing this old favourite again.  Same clothes, different view.  I also need to learn that I should check out weather forecasts for the day when I wear this.  I nearly flashed people today. twice. -_-