True Bias Emerson pants.

 I knew as soon as Emerson crop pant/shorts pattern came on my radar that I'd love it.  I've always loved the wide-leg style, like a palazzo style, but these are cropped 3/4 length, hitting about mid-calf, which is, of course, very en trend at the moment.  Well, you've got to try, haven't you?

As they have an elasticized back (so no zip insertion) but a flat front waistband which sits just below the natural waist they are both comfortable and flattering at the same time.  Also, they have nice pleat details at the front which gives a bit of shape.

 They also have in-seam pockets, well you've got to have those, don't you.  I made my Emerson's in a blue chambray lyocell fabric which is light-medium weight but with a great drape which I think works really well with this pattern.

I made a straight size 14 with no adjustments and they are spot-on, I'm really pleased with the fit, which makes me think I might try more True Bias patterns.

I love the length they fall at too.  I'm 5'5" and they fall mid-calf I would say.  I love them and have in mind a navy pair for autumn in a suiting fabric which I think will work with boots too.  I think they even work fine with flat shoes too, so overall a great all rounder.  Who knows I might even make a shorts version, but probably not this summer.  It's feeling very autumnal all of a sudden, where did that summer go to?

The Gypsy blouse by The Maker's Atelier

So, thought I'd share one of my most-worn items so far this summer.  It's the Gypsy dress and blouse sewing pattern from The Makers Atelier.  It's the second pattern I have made from their collection, the first being the holiday shirt and top which turned out rather large on me, but I have since made in a smaller size.

In general the styles are a bit over-sized as I made the Medium (12/14) in the Gypsy top and it feels slightly big, but I think it's part of the style of it. 

Seamwork Moji Trousers and Makers Atelier Gypsy Top.

I made it in the stripey Cotton and Steel double gauze which is cerise pink, mint green and taupe, I've had it a while so thought I'd better use it.  Double gauze is perfect for the summer and in this case I have tended to wear the top as a cover-up over a vest top or lightweight t-shirt, a handy top for a balmy evening!

It was a very quick straightforward make, it's a raglan style sleeve, so no set-in.  You can elasticate the sleeves and waist hem, but I did mine with a plain hem, so very fast indeed.

The drawstring is fed around the neckline through bias binding - I used a fancy one from Guthrie-ghani.co.uk with a lace edge which looks rather nice.

The patterns are a little bit on the expensive side at £22.50.  They come in a substantial cardboard packaging with a cord closure, the instructions are printed on a folded sheet of paper and the pattern itself is printed on a top quality weight paper.  However, there are quite a few other 'Indie' pattern companies who produce similar if not higher quality patterns for a lot less.

I think their strength may lie in the fact that they are, in general, quite simple styles and as such could be made to look quite different by using different fabrics, so you could get multiple uses from their patterns without it being blatantly obvious. So, cost per use might make it worth it, it has definitely been a go-to, so I'd say I'll probably be making it again, so possibly justified.

A meeting of Maya and Emily

So, we have returned from our holiday and I thought it was about time that I shared some of my summer makes.  Thankfully, the weather was very kind to us this year and we very much enjoyed our tour of Cornwall, the lovely Rye and the New Forest.

As the weather was so warm and sunny, I actual got to wear light-weight summery clothes... Yeah!! 

The first item is a Liberty version of the Maya dress and top sewing-pattern by Marilla Walker.  I've been meaning to give it a go for ages, but somehow didn't get around to it.  The pattern is a kimono/cap sleeved dress or top with a fairly loose style and a patch pocket. As with all of Marilla's patterns she gives several options including cropped top, tunic and dress length, with or without a button down front.  Also options for the type of hem, ie.shaped or straight

It's a great pattern for showcasing a bold or colourful pattern and I love the colours in this Liberty cotton lawn, blues, greens, pinks, all very jewel like.

The instructions are very straightforward to follow and overall it's a fairly simple make with just two main pieces and neck facing.  The side seams are French seamed so it's nice that all raw edges are enclosed.  It's a great basic style top to have in your wardrobe, would also be nice in plain colours.  I intend to make a dress version of it too at some stage, so overall I really like the pattern.

I am wearing the top with the Itch-to-stitch Emily culottes - I really wanted to make a pair of culottes this summer and I have a few different patterns, but went for this one in the end.  It took me three goes to get the sizing right, but was worth it in the end. They kept turning out way too large, I think I ended up with a straight 12.  These are in a brown linen fabric which was lovely and cool on holidays and they got a good bit of wear.  The pattern is a pdf download and also is excellent as the instructions are incredibly detailed and with a ton of options, including a few different pockets, lined or unlined, pleated or non-pleated, a tie front, and different lengths.

I went for the non-pleated, tie front, knee-length version which is fine, but you really need to wear a tucked-in top with them, otherwise a little bump appears.  I would leave the ties off and do a pocketed version the next time and now that I've got the sizing right there will definitely be more, they're just so comfortable to wear - I highly recommend!

 One of my holiday highlights was paying a visit to Rye and in particular to Merchant and Mills and I got to touch and feel all their lovely selection of fabrics.  It was their dress shirt pattern that started me off on my sewing venture 4 years ago, never having sewn any garments before, so it was very special to go there, I loved every moment!

An added bonus was that the town of Rye is very pretty with lots of lovely shops, cafes and restaurants.  My boys enjoyed going into the tower of the church to see around.  I think they were pleasantly surprised with the town, it had a good atmosphere with plenty of people about.

My Rye lunch, coronation chicken salad, sustenance after the shopping ... and these were the purchases.  I honestly went intending to buy some Harris Tweed for a Haremere jacket, but none of the designs really were me, a bit too muted, but I will keep an eye out.

The Strand and The Rugby

Linens and stripes from Merchant and Mills

I will be back soon with some other summery makes, although I'm started to think of autumn!

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.