The Bennett dress.

Even though the weather has taken a turn for the worse here, I thought I would share one of my recent makes, the Bennett dress from Marilla Walker. It is classified as an Advanced Beginner level pattern which I would say is about right.  It is a shift style with princess detail in the bodice (or a front panel), waist ties (optional) and two different hem options.

I chose to make Option A which has the shaped shirt style hem, waist ties and front panel.  Having loved the double gauze that I made my dungarees in from Merchant and Mills, I thought I would try another one for the Bennett dress, but this one was all together different. It is double sided, one indigo blue and the other a small grid check which is great, but it is very fine, almost see-through, quite an open weave and frays considerably.  It is described as double gauze laundered linen, so I guess that's what it is, definitely ideal for very warm weather like we had a couple of weeks ago.

Realistically (because of the fabric) I'm not sure how much wear I'll actually get out of it.

Pattern wise, it's a great style.  The instructions are great, probably the trickiest part for me was turning the belt ties the right way round.  That was a bit of a nightmare as the fabric would have gone into a hole very easily.

There is definitely plenty of scope for fabric combinations.  With it having the front panel, it is crying out for colour blocking, you could go simple minimalistic monochrome, chambray/denim and liberty or a broderie anglaise panel would be lovely.  I think it would even be a useful dress for the winter (maybe in a fine corduroy) with a fine long sleeved top underneath.

I made a straight size 5 with no alterations and I think it's pretty close to a perfect fit for me.

So, I think I probably have enough summer dresses now, I'll have to get back to some basics like T-shirts and jersey bottoms.  Back soon to show my new culottes, which are also very lightweight, hope the good weather returns SOON!

Trying a little 'vintage'

So I have really gotten out of the way of posting on the blog.  I think the handiness of Instagram spoils us in a way.  During May I have made a number of items, so I thought I'd better get onto it.

I have wanted to get into making more shapely dresses for a while now and in particular shirt dresses and like most sewists I have a number of sewing patterns I've gathered over the last couple of years.  I decided to start with this one and it is the Sewoverit Vintage shirt dress.  I wouldn't be into vintage style exactly, but I liked the ones that were popping up on blogs.

So it is a classic style shirt dress with two pleats on the front and back bodices for shapeliness and pleats also on the skirt.  The collar is also shapely and rounded which is very flattering.

The pattern recommends light to woven fabrics and for mine I chose the lovely new Atelier Brunette rayon fabric called Blossom Coral from Misformake.  I love these fabrics, they are beautiful to work with and wear.  This particular one is more muted than I normally would wear, but it's lovely for summer.

As you can see I chose the sleeveless version which was great for the balmy 20 degree day we had in May. (Hope that wasn't our summer) The armhole is finished with self bias binding. There is an option for a sleeved dress which would be nice for the cooler months.

The instructions are done very nicely, very helpful little diagrams and arrowed labels of exactly where to stitch.  The part I found tricky was attaching the collar to the bodice - it just did not want to fit at first, so I just left it for a while.  Also, got a few wee tips from Seamsoddlouise - thank you.

So when I went back to it, by some jiggery pokery and a lot of pins I got it, it's all that 'easing' business and thankfully it sits rather well.

On me the length just hit my knee and I', 5'5" just to give an idea and I made the size 14.  Overall I really like the style and I would say come the autumn there will be a long sleeved version.

Merchant and Mills Union Dress

So, I have finally gotten around to making the merchantandmills union dress.  It appealed to me since it was released, in that it seemed an easy-to-wear dress with pockets that could be worn in a number of different ways.  Every time I took the pattern out of the envelope, I was never sure which size to make.  Sometimes when I have sewn M & M patterns they have turned out way to big for me and there were so many steps to this one, I'd have been gutted if it hadn't have fit.

Had I used the measurements on the envelope I would have been making an 18!! In the end I went with the actual pattern measurements on the instructions and made a size 14, which is my normal dress size and the fit is great.

Three-colour buttons.

I'm not going to lie, for this dress to look fairly plain and simple, there is a lot of making to it, but I think it's definitely worth it. There are darts for shaping, the making and attaching of the mandarin collar, front and back facings, making the front placket, lots of top-stitching, front pockets, in-seam pockets, sleeve insert, side-splits and button-holes.... PHEW!!

That's quite a lot, I think, but none of the individual parts were really too tricky.  It's all explained well and I just took my time.  The trickiest bit for me was attaching the collar, especially at the front, simply because it's quite a narrow collar piece so you don't have a lot of room to work with it.

I shortened the sleeve to elbow length, as we are meant to be in spring and coming into summer, I toyed with having to taper the sides, but in the end I didn't.  They are straight enough to just shorten.

The side in-seam pockets feel like they are a bit too low for me, don't know whether that's my proportions or not?  I made it from a medium weight linen fabric from Merchant and Mills, which was purchased last summer, it's pretty crisp at the moment, but I think it will soften and crinkle well over time.  It's a french navy shade of blue and was really great to sew with.  (I don't think they have this particular linen at the moment, but lots of other beautiful ones)

So, in the end I'm very pleased with the final result and I think I will get a lot of wear out of it.

Wore it today, but was very glad to have my Haremere jacket to put on over it ... it's still pretty nippy here in the Antrim hills.

Moving forward in my dungarees.

It feels like an age since I've written a blog post, it's not actually that long, but a lot has happened in the last couple of months.  The main thing was that my lovely dad passed away on the 28th February after a 5 year battle with prostate cancer.  He had been in hospital for 10 months (apart from one day in July when he got home and fell and broke both his arms that night) and although I had got him moved to a nursing home near me after Christmas, he quickly deteriorated.  Since my mum passed away in 2007, we were even closer.  I miss him every day, our wee chats about this, that and the other, but it's better for him  - no more pain.

My brother and I have had the arduous task of clearing the family home (for 46 years), so that has been difficult both physically and emotionally.  It's amazing how much stuff can be crammed into a semi-detached house!  Even though I have been trying to de-clutter and down-size in our own house this past couple of years, this has made me realise even more how unimportant 'stuff' is.  Yes you need a certain amount to live and have a nice home, but simplifying, for me, is definitely the way to go from now on!  Having said that I have kept some things, but only things I know we will use day-to-day.  Crystal, teasets, Royal Doulton ladies, silver - sorry they have gone and the awful thing is nobody else seems to want them either.

Anyway, aside from all this I am gradually getting both time and my sew-mojo back and I started with a nice and easy make, the tillyandthebuttons agnes top.  As per usual with Tilly's patterns the instructions are great and the top is a quite shapely.

I made the version with the plain elbow length sleeve and the ruching at the neck line.  It was the first time I'd done ruching and it's really quite easy, but adds a bit of shape.  The fabric is a beautifully smooth and soft jersey from faberwood.com, which I see is sold out, but I also have the other blue one which is similar in weight etc.

I also got around to making the Marilla Walker Roberts Collection dungarees, having made the dungadress.  I found it slightly big, so went down a size in the dungarees and it's a much better fit.

The trouser front has a pleat either side which gives a little more shape.

  The fabric is a medium weight double gauze from Merchant and Mills, which I can't see any more on the shop (yes, it was definitely worth buying more of).  It has a herringbone tweed-like appearance on one side and paler blue chambray on the other and is lovely and soft to wear.

 My teenage boys did give me a rather quizzical look when I appeared in them - they wanted to know if I was going out to work in the polytunnel! Cheek!  They're way too good for that, haha.

Must admit if someone approaching the big 50 should really be wearing dungarees, but I quite like them and am now thinking of the jumpsuit.  Too much, nah.

I used the same Atelier Brunette fabric as the one for my Pussybow blouse, which goes pretty well and was going well with the evil that is SNAP FASTENERS when I realised that the last one wasn't quite right.  Of course, I had none left and had to wait a week for some new packs to arrive.  Oh well.
Have to say I don't really trust fasteners, in general, think I'll carry some safety pins around just incase!

Now that Easter is over and we are into April, I will have to assess my wardrobe and make a plan for some lighter makes.  Also, the garden and seed-sowing is beckoning, my dad was a very keen gardener so I shall be planting with him in mind this year, lots of colour!  I was very lucky to have him as my dad, will miss him.

Roberts Collection Dungadress

So, I have had this pattern since it was released by Marilla Walker and it is the dungaree dress (or dungadress) which is part of the Roberts collection.  I meant to have it made sooner, but there you go.  The collection has 4 other options including a jumpsuit, dungarees, a longer length dress and a short sleeved woven tee and at £8.40 I think that is excellent value.

So, this is C1 which is the shorter length dress, I made size 5 - it is meant to be a biggish style and it is, I maybe could go down a size.  The instructions are great in general, maybe a couple more diagrams might be useful especially for a beginner, but I found them pretty good.

The details are the slim shoulder straps, front pockets and a side popper fastening on the left side, probably not completely necessary but a nice little feature all the same.

It has a nicely shaped all-in-one piece at the back, as you can see the skirt is quite oversized so bear that in mind when choosing a size to make.

I have avoided pop fasteners since my first experience a few years ago when I first started sewing which wasn't all together a success.  You can very easily ruin a garment with one false move!  I was nearly going to do buttonholes, but knew now was the time to TAKE THE POP FASTENER ON!

So I did what any person with common sense would do - I bought an extra packet and PRACTICED, after first spending about 2 hours googling and looking at youtube videos, I know it's pretty sad.  Anyway turns out they're not too bad after all, it's just really matching up which part goes with which and then deciding which way up they need to be on the garment and the pliers are definitely worth investing in.  I'm going to have fasteners on everything now, haha!

Hey presto, I used the 15mm Sport and Camping ones for the straps as I thought they would be stronger for the denim.

The ones on the side are navy from the 'Color' pack, they are slightly smaller at 13mm.

The fabric I used was a dark navy denim with a lighter spot on it which I got from Guthrie and Ghani a while ago, which doesn't seem to be there now, but when I was looking for denim for something else I saw it on Sherwood fabrics, here.  The lining for the bib is the lovely Atelier Brunette Halo viscose fabric and the two fabrics sewed together very nicely, always nice for a garment to look good on the inside too.  So it is a pretty casual type of dress, I think a linen one would be lovely in the summer, of course corduroy  would be great, possibly even a patterned one using any of the lovely liberty fabrics from Sewbox could be nice.  I like it and highly recommend the pattern and now am even considering making the dungaree version or is that a step to far?!   We'll see.

Mabel and Bronte.

So this week there have been a couple more jersey makes in an effort to keep cosy in these chilly February conditions.  The first is a Colette patterns mabel skirt, I downloaded this pattern when it was released, but am only getting down to making it now.  I made version 3 which is a pencil skirt with a kick pleat on the back.  The fabric I used is this ponte roma jersey from dragonflyfabrics - it's a viscose/poly mix with 5% elastane, lovely to work with and beautifully soft and smooth.  The skirt came together very quickly and easily, it has turned out slightly big in the waist, but a belt seems to work fine at nipping it in. 

The other item was another Bronte knit top by Jennifer Lauren, this is the second time I've made this, the first was a more summery short-sleeved version here, it's a great style with a lapped shoulder and neckline detail, this time made up in this leopard-type-print fabric (can't remember where it was purchased).  Colour wise it's a little out of my comfort zone of late.  I used to wear 'browns' quite a bit, but haven't in quite a while, so decided to give them another try, just for a change.  I think the tones work ok, nice to try something different now and again.

Thought I'd show a back view of the kick pleat (excuse the ridge line of my top)

It's a very easy to wear outfit, the skirt could be made up in lots of different fabrics and lengths, it's a great staple, it's the sort of skirt that I think will be very useful from spring into summer.  The
other versions are lovely too, in a shorter length (mid thigh) and version 2 has the detail of a faux placket at center front with buttons.

Cosy Jasper dress

So, the first make of 2016 is a super cosy merino knit dress.  The pattern is the Paprika patterns Jasper sweaterdress which calls for a fabric with little to no stretch and with a bit of body, such as fleece or sweatshirt.  The fabric I used is from newzealandmerinoandfabrics.com and is a thicker, sweatshirt weight, although it probably has more stretch than is ideal for this pattern.  I think if you are making the hoodie, it's more important to have a fabric that will hold itself up.

I obviously chose View B which has a roll collar with a button epaulet to hold it in place, ideal for this time of the year.  You also have either a sweater or a dress option and I chose to make the dress this time, but I definitely fancy the sweatshirt at some stage.

It has a great shape overall due to the princess seams and the single welt pockets are set into the side seams.  There are two overlapping size sets to this pattern, depending on bust measurements and cup size, all of this covered in the pattern instructions.

There are also great online 'how to' tutorials for a number of the processes, including making the hood and the single welt pockets, all very clear and thorough.  Overall it's a great pattern and I think you get quite a lot from it.  It's a very cosy dress and has been getting quite a bit of wear.  If you like warm, knit dresses, then this is a great one.  Paprika patterns also has the Zircon sweaterdress which has a funky geometric inset, probably will give that a try too.  So, not a bad start to the year.