Simplicity made complicated

I hope you're all having a wonderful long weekend wherever you are. In an almost unheard of run of good weather in Scotland there was blazing sunshine on two consecutive days! It was truly glorious on Saturday and Sunday and I made sure to spend as much time outside as possible. On Friday evening however, I was inside cutting out yet another dress pattern and today on Monday it was windy and rainy, hence perfect sewing weather. I know I'll be going back to work tomorrow feeling relaxed and refreshed and with a new addition to my wardrobe.

On a recent thrift store trawl with my fellow bissum Marion I happened upon an original 1974 Simplicity Pattern (number 6764) for a really simple and cute dress, I think it cost the princely sum of 50p. I say simple, and it mostly was, except for the fact that it would require me to climb my own personal sewing Everest: putting in sleeves *pause for dramatic gasp*. I would be lying if I didn't say there was a fair number of curse words being used at the point of easing the sleeves in (by the way, the use of the word 'easing' in connection with sewing sleeves is completely inappropriate and lulls the unsuspecting sewer into a false sense of relaxation and confidence). After a fair amount of unpicking and re-sewing the sleeves were eventually attached at I can proudly tick that off my first-time list.
 


I also decided to get clever by adding a peter pan collar to the dress and patch pockets. The air positively turned blue when I was attempting to attach the collar but as always, I got there in the end and I'm reasonably satisfied with the result. I drafted the collar pattern by using the two pattern pieces for the front and back neck facing and that way it fitted perfectly. It also meant I could skip attaching the neck facing.

My Cath Kidston collar

I drafted my own pattern for the pockets and used a decorative box stitch to attach them. I also varied the pattern by cutting the front piece on the fold rather than in two separate parts to avoid the join. After cutting the pattern out I realised it was far too long and lopped a good couple of inches off the bottom. You need to be a little careful if you're doing this on a dress with flare like mine was. Cutting straight across the bottom is a no-no. You need to keep a slight upward curve at the side seams.

My patch pocket

The thing I really liked about this pattern was the shaping. It has two bust darts at the front and at the back it has shoulder darts, along with two more in the middle of the back, either side of the zip. The main fabric is a super soft cotton in a sweet candy pink colour and came from an old bed sheet. The contrast fabric is from a piece of sacred and much-loved Cath Kidston fabric which my favourite Aunt Isabel bought for my birthday a couple of years ago. I'm such a tightwad when it comes to using it that thus far it's only been cut into for the smallest projects, like this collar. The pink in it perfectly matches the main fabric though so it was a good choice. I finished the collar with an old grey/blue button.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed making this dress and would definitely attempt it again. I'd make the body slightly smaller next time though and make the pockets bigger. I'd also be tempted to place the zip at the side rather than down the back.

Happy crafting fellow bissums!
xx

A shifty little number

I recently treated myself to a new book, not just any book, a book which promised so much and built up high hopes in me that my sewing prowess would be dramatically increased upon reading aforementioned wonder book.

This book was BurdaStyle Sewing Vintage Modern by Nora Abousteit and Jamie Lau. If you've not taken the time to look at the Burda website yet you absolutely must! It full of amazing patterns (including some free ones) to download, with images posted by sewers of their creations, and all sorts of hints and tips.

I decided to purchase the hardcopy book because I much prefer being able to hold a pattern and instructions in my hand rather than go squint-eyed trying to read from a screen constantly. This book also had a high proportion of projects which I would actually like to make which certainly cannot be said for every craft book on the market.

The beauty of this concept is that there are five 'base' patterns - three dresses, one pair of trousers and a man's shirt and then there are umpteen variations which can be applied to the base patterns to configure nineteen different items in total.

I decided to have a crack at the simplest pattern first, the Jamie shift dress. The most fiddly part was tracing the pattern off the master sheet onto pattern paper. From there it was just a matter of cutting out the four pieces and getting stitching. Couldn't be simpler!

The darker dress was my first attempt and I varied the pattern by attaching an exposed zipper instead of an invisible one. The facing was done in plain black cotton.

My second dress was in a lighter floral with red facing and a doily which was added for total satisfaction of my granny instincts. I decided to skip a zipper on this one altogether. Both fabrics were salvaged from vintage duvet covers.

Next time I'd definitely make these smaller. Don't skip the step recommended in the book about taking your measurements properly (like I did). I'd also like to make a version with a peter pan collar, a pocket and sleeves, although maybe not all three on the same dress.

If you wear dresses a lot like I do, this is most definitely a pattern you will use many times over. The A-line cut flatters absolutely any figure and once you have your pattern traced, you can whip one up in a maximum of  three hours I think (allowing for tea breaks and unpicking of mistakes).

I'm looking forward to cracking on with some of the other projects in the book and will keep you posted on progress. Let me know if you make anything yourself!

Dressmaking adventures

I followed the pattern for the middle dress

Well after what can only be described as the most shameful of lapses in blogging, I'm back in the room! I had a legitimate reason for five weeks of tardiness when my wonderful parents were visiting from Australia, but I have absolutely no explanation for the rest of the time. I do apologise most sincerely.

While I was slacking off I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Great British Sewing Bee. Most bloggers who have even a passing interest in sewing all became obsessed overnight with this program and wrote about it at length. I don't blame them. I'm not one for reality TV usually but this was both entertaining, educational and totally gripping. If you don't live in the UK and struggle to access the BBC you have my condolences but no doubt there's a national variation in the works in most places.

Anyway, whilst watching I felt a twinge of guilt come over me. We've all been there and it's a horrible feeling when you remember a long-forgotten project started many moons ago and then left to languish in the 'to do' pile. Mine was a 1966 Simplicity dress (pattern number 6840) which I started in 2011 (eeep) when my Mum was last over for a visit.
I hauled it out and was pleasantly surprised to see it was very near completion. I thought you might like to see the end result.

The pattern was purchased in a thrift shop if memory serves me rightly and the fabric came from an obliging bed sheet. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the result overall and only struggled with easing the skirt onto the bodice and hopefully my teeny tiny resulting pleat is not noticeable.

The front of the bodice

The back of the bodice