Victory V

I've not had much time for sewing of late but I have yet again returned to the ol' self-drafted stretch jersey dress pattern. (I'll do something else soon I promise!)

I used 'ponte de roma' jersey in navy blue - ponte is a great fabric as its lovely and soft and stretchy, but thicker and sturdier that regular t-shirt jersey. Its a bit more forgiving on the body, not as clingy.

So this time I went for a simple knee length dress, nice for coming spring weather, with sleeves just above the elbow. The entire dress (except for the hem) was done on the overlocker.




The main alteration I made here was to add cuff/bands to the sleeves and also create a bound v-neck.

This is the first time I've had a go at this technique and I'm rather pleased about how simple it turned out to be.

As its jersey and stretchy fabric anyway, the strips for the cuffs and neck binding are just straight strips of fabric (the stretch going across the length) ironed in half.

I wanted to share this great tutorial on HOW TO MAKE A BOUND V NECK. Its another great tutorial from the sewing community on Burdastyle. Incidentally I learnt how to sew completely from that website, its fantastic.


I think it turned out fairly well for a first go - you can see I overshot the stitching at the V but no matter. The same technique was used for the cuffs. The next time I try this I may try doing the band in a contrasting colour - I was thinking and black/white stripe dress with bright accents at the neck and sleeves.

I would highly recommend giving this v-neck method a try, a great bit of ammo for the sewing armoury!

New Year - making the Shift

So fortunately my first main sewing project turned out ok! It usually takes me 2 disasters per wearable outfit so this was a nice surprise.



Its a self drafted pattern - a classic shift dress. I cannot recommend Winifred Aldrich - Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear enough. It's my sewing bible. The instructions are clear and precise, easy to follow and doesn't require mountains of special equipment. I draft my patterns on baking paper! A ruler, calculator and french curve suffice to draw the pattern out.

What I SHOULD have done is make the pattern, then make a muslin for a perfect fit, disassemble and create a fresh pattern from the muslin. But I'm lazy and didn't.

The basic fit without adjustment was fine however I tweaked the bust and waist darts a little to make the fit more accurate.

I've wanted a blue dress for ages then after a clear out of the stash realised I had enough to make a basic dress! Its not lined but it does have an invisible zip, overlocked seams and a neck facing to keep it neat and tidy. I figures a slip underneath would keep tights from sticking, or it would be just fine and light for warmer weather as it is. Plus again, I was being lazy and wanted a finished dress.

The fabric is crepe and has a very slight stretch with is handy for bending and sitting! 

I have used this pattern last year to make a shorter space print 'cosmic shift' (get it!? - geek joke).


Hopefully this can be a good staple pattern for a few more colours - coral for spring perhaps? :-)

Easy-Peasy Zip-Free Cushion Cover Tutorial

Hello again :)

Having taken the Christmas decs down today and given the living room a clear out I figured we could spruce it up further with some new sofa cushions. These are so quick and easy to make you could have a whole stack of them to change your mind about print every week! I used some robot print from Plush Addict.

This is a real beginners project as it just involves squares and sewing straight lines, the closure doesn't need a zip either but looks neat, sleek and tidy...

You will need:
  • Fabric
  • Cushion inside
  • Thread

I'm using a cushion filler that is 40cm x 40cm, you can get these in Wilkos and various places, about £1.50. This one came with the sofa those so I'm just re-using!

Step 1
Cut out a square of fabric for the front of your cushion. As the cushion is 40x40cm, the square of fabric is 43x43cm (that's because 40cm cushion, with 1.5cm seam allowance on either side = 43cm)


 Step 2
Now cut out the pieces for the back of the cushion, the back consists of 2 rectangles. You want a piece of fabric and 3/4 the length of the front. Actually you need 2 of these. Mine are 43cm across, 30cm down. (These rectangles get placed over each other and create an envelope style flap where the cushion filling can be inserted and removed).
1 front square, 2 back rectangles
Step 3
Hem one long edge on each of the back rectangles. As you will be able to see these turn a edge down about 1.5cm and sew it down to form a nice neat edge.

Step 4
Now we can assemble the cushion cover for sewing. The fabric should be placed together RIGHT SIDES FACING. The easiest way to do this is have your front piece on the table with the print the right way up and looking at you. Take one of the rectangles and line it up with the top edge of the front fabric, with the neat hemmed edge resting in the middle of the front piece print. (You should be looking at the back side of the rectangle, hard to show in the pics as I used black. If its print, the print should be right side facing inwards).
Line up back rectangle with hemmed edge in centre
Step 5
Place the second rectangle on the bottom. This will now overlap with the top piece forming a flap.
 


Bottom rectangle now placed over the top
Step 6
Pin all the way around the edge! No gaps needed just go for it :-)
Step 7
Sew all around! I went for the over locker so it created a neat finish straight away. You can use an ordinary machine, sew your edges 1.5cm in. If you don't want to neaten the raw edges don't worry about it, no-one will see them!
Step 8You now have your sewn up cushion cover! Cut the loose threads from the end and turn it inside out (the right way round!)


Step 9
Stuff it with your cushion filler! Voilà, one fab new sofa cushion....!




Comments welcome below and on Facebook, Twitter or Bloglovin too xxx

Fox Satchel

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone had a good break and rest over the holidays. I thought I would now share one of the items I handmade as a gift this Christmas for my sister...now that she has unwrapped it its ok to post!

She actually picked out this fantastic fox print fabric a few months ago and after hunting high and low I managed to find some through a seller on Etsy called FreshFabrics. Considering it came from Australia it was very reasonably priced and arrived in only a few days!

I drafted the pattern myself, its basically just a set of rectangles. This one needed to be big enough to fit some lever arch binders in so went for a full size satchel.

I first started by cutting out all the pieces, outer fabric, lining fabric and interfacing for strength.



Then it was just a case of assembling the whole thing. I attached the flap piece to the back piece and from there sewed up the rest of the outer pieces to form the 'boxy' shape of the satchel and just repeated the whole process with lining, effectively having 2 identical items. For the lining I added a phone pocket and zip compartment as well for detail.

Lining of the satchel
Once both inner and outer were complete, I turned one inside out in order to attach it to the other. Sew all around the edges leaving a portion open for turning out et voila.



I then hand stitched the gap that remained from turning inside out and went on to put the details. I found some fantastic leather buckles from Bag Clasps UK who sell all kinds of great bag making tools and equipment. I attached these to the front of the bag for the closures and also added D rings to each side of the bag to make a place for the leather strap to attach.  .



D rings

Leather buckles added





For the finishing touch I found a great seller on Ebay who makes made to measure leather bag straps. I don't have a photo with the strap attached but it was fantastic quality in matt black leather.

I hope my sis likes it and gets some use from it! :-)