Chop Chop

Hellooo Everybody,

Sorry it's been quiet round these parts recently. I am up to my eyeballs in half finished dresses!!

I am sewing for Vegas right now - I'll give you the rundown of the current wardrobe at the moment - 

A tropical circle skirt - awaiting a buttonhole, button and hem

A sweetheart neckline top - awaiting strap attachment (already sewn up)

A pair of shorts - awaiting buttonhole and button

A floral heavy cotton sleeved Elisalex with a circle skirt - awaiting zip

A teal Duchess Satin Anna with a circle skirt - awaiting most parts. It's currently overlocked and darts and pleats are sewn.

A vintage pattern in Navy Bengaline (My latest Minerva Network make; It's almost done, but I am running late as I was ill recently - I'm sorry Vicki, I swear it's almost there!) I hope to have it finished by the weekend, my major hurdle was the buttonholes, but they are done now so awaiting bodice/skirt attachment, sleeve hem, skirt hem and side zip. I think I'll have to shorten the skirt too I think. Sounds like a lot, but it comes together so fast!

A pair of navy Bengaline shorts - cut out

A blue circle skirt - cut out

Sewing for this holiday may kill me but I'll be damned if I don't do my utmost!

I actually have more plans (mainly more circle skirts - which I think are achievable, and a couple of blouses that I'm not sure are)

I do have 4 weeks left, so if I just chip away every evening at something small (which I have been doing) then I think I'll manage it. I don't have weekend plans, and I have 1 days annual leave and a lieu day I can take if I need it.

It's so bizarre, I can spend so much time avoiding starting things mid-week, I used to feel that I needed an entire day alocated before I could focus. However, I have found that if I just pick it up when I'm sitting watching TV I can achieve marvelous things!

I was sitting in front of the TV the other night and I had a whole bodice pinned together before I knew it! Or handstitching a neckline, or cutting out a skirt, or drafting a pattern piece. I have to feed it to myself in bite-sized chunks!

OK so back to the reason I started this post!! I might have done something...

I'm not sure if you will twig instantly, but these are the sleeves of my Christmas dress.

Basically, I have never been happy with these sleeves. They were massive on me, and as much as I love those plackets, I'm not sure I can make them work without taking the whole thing apart. 

So I'm sort of at an impasse - take them apart and make them fit, or make the dress sleeveless?

I'm currently leaning towards sleeveless. (sniff, plackets, I'll miss showing you off...)

Further to this, I have been aware of people talking about making sleeved dress sleeveless recently (and vice-versa), and what to do about the extra ease in the armscye needed for sleeves.

For those who haven't noticed these little snippets or, who haven't the foggiest what I'm yapping on about - a sleeveless dress has a very fitted armhole, but a sleeved dress has more ease around the armhole so that you can move your arm around when it's in the sleeve. Otherwise you'd be walking around with your arms stuck to your sides all day :)

Well, in that vein, the blouse I have been considering making for the holiday is this one -

And what did I find on the pattern pieces, but different stitching lines for the sleeved and sleeveless versions!

Here's a closer look!

It might be difficult to see so I'll blow it up once more

The pattern shows all of the stitching lines at 5/8" inside the pattern, and the sleeveless version tapers more out of the armscye at both the shoulder and underarm. The normal line are the strong longer dash lines, and the alteration is the thin dashed line.

This pattern really helped me to see what changes you would need to make for a sleeved/sleeveless pattern to redraft it.

It is something I will take into other patterns with me - and with the red dress if I decide to leave off the sleeves forever. The whole thing is a little big really. Argh, I hate taking things apart!

Has anyone ever made this alteration before? Or seen anything on a vintage pattern that opened up your eyes??

LYLT,

Emmie xx

Simple Sixties Style...

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to share this Autumnal shift dress with you!

It's not a new make - in fact, it was one of my first! It was actually made back before I started my blog, but it's been languishing in the back of my closet all Summer! I made it in the sewing classes I took, and looking back at it now, I'm still impressed with the quality of the make - CL at The Thrifty Stitcher keep at close eye on us!

I got the fabric on Goldhawk Rd (of course). It has a lovely weight to it, but it's a lint magnet. Nightmare! It also gets a bit of a shine of you press it to much, so I have to be careful. I lined it with a blue satin, which means that I have no problems wearing it with tights in the winter! We used this McCall's pattern - which looks horrendous, judging by the styling! But its a decent basic block. We were given the pattern, and CL had FBA'ed the pattern on tissue paper before we got there to save time (we were taught how to do it ourselves too). She even transferred my tweaked pattern onto pattern card for me at the end!

Unfortunately, the sixties isn't completely my style, the only way that I really like it is with a cute blouse underneath. The blouse I'm wearing is Jasper Conran (It's actually my interview blouse! and I may need it again soon - eep!). I've been considering shortening the sleeves on a few shirts to get the same look. It can't be to hard, can it?

#

One of the main reasons I feel uncomfortable in it, is the lack of fitting when you look at a side view. 

But I'm not always wandering around taking side photos, so I can usually forget about it! It is the concept of a shift dress - a loose fit. I'm just used to a fitted waistband under the bust.

Although, to be honest, I did actually pick the most flattering shot of what I took!

 There were vertical darts under the bust on the pattern, but I have a feeling we left them out as we had three bust darts already. One small issue I do need to fix is that the lining has started to poke out at the front. I don't know how it has happened, it's almost as if it has grown overnight. I think I'll just turn it up an inch and it'll be fine. Also, just so you know, this is the absolute shortest that I would wear a skirt/dress nowadays. I love a midi length ideally.


Anywho, I'm up to my eye's in cake and batter for a 'Alcoholic Afternoon Tea' Hen party that I'm hosting at my flat tomorrow. You should see the sitting room, it's so empty! I had to move loads of the sewing stuff out for it to be safe for people to be in. Hopefully no one steps on any pins!!!

LYLT,

Emmie xx

The Oz Dress - Elisalex FBA complete!

Hi Guys!

I finally (FINALLY) finished my attempt at an Elisalex bodice with a full bust adjustment.

It's been a long time coming, as there were a few delays along the way, but I did post some progress pictures along the way on Instagram and Twitter.

I knew I definitely needed to adjust the bodice when I finished my last Elisalex.

 It fit, but it didn't fit the way it should! I definitely had the "Squished VonBoobies" look. I followed the FBA instructions written up by Elisalex (and by this point I actually understood them!), and did a 5/8" FBA, with another inch added to the bodice length (although next time I think I'll do 1.5"). I think I gave myself a tiny bit extra in the bust than my measurement just for comfort.

But with this comparison photo, even with the bodice just pinned together you can definitely see the improvement! Much more room, and the girls are much perkier, I'm sure you'll agree! The fabric is a blue Gingham (probably polycotton) I got at a market in Rye.

So what happened next was Delay 1. Which I think was pre-washing my lining. But that was easily fixed once I actually put it in the washing machine. Clever, eh?

Once I had the bodice lined I had to attach the gathered skirt FROM HELL.

I put the whole thing together, and then found loads of bits of the skirt that had caught up into the seam. 

Argh!

Then, upon rectifying each individual bit, I managed to catch other different bits. And upon fixing those I caught other bits. By the time I finished the skirt, with no bits caught up I was fit to go into the garden and set the whole thing alight.

And so Delay 2 happened. Wherein the half-finished dress sat on my dressform for weeks. I did at some point manage to cut out some lining to line the skirt, as I realised it was indecently see-through.

Then it sat there for another while, until I decided to bite the bullet and put the zip in. And I even took the time to hand-baste it first, although really it doesn't take that long at all!

And then yesterday I decided to knuckle down and get it finished before I died of old age.

And to be honest I actually love the stupid thing.

And I'm using my fancy new tripod that Mr.G bought me. It's super cool and I got to use my wireless remote! I used most of the width of the fabric for the skirt and I managed to somehow get the length I had wanted all along! The bodice length does actually look and feel good, but I think I only did a 1cm seam on the bodice/skirt as I knew I needed all the length I could get. Still might add a little more next time so I can do a full seam allowance.

Since taking this picture, I have realised how much lower my right shoulder is.

And this was me trying to not look so wonky! Although I feel stupid saying that with my wonky crossed legs.

I really can't believe how perfect the fit is. I'm definitely gonna be using these pieces as my Princess Seam Block now, and playing with neckline and back variations. But I doubt I will be doing another gathered skirt anytime soon.

I am, however, pretty happy with the skirt in general. It doesn't make me look AS big as I thought it might. I do look quite hip-py, although most of that is actually hip. My hips pop out almost straight after my waist.

The stitching on the hem wasn't my best, as I was more focused on (a) trying to get all the white stitching in the white line of boxes and (b) trying to keep the edge of the skirt a blue box. But at least I managed those two things!

I do however think my next couple of makes are not going to be fully lined, as I want a few nice quick makes! But it does look good. And it was definitely necessary for this fabric. I do however want to escape to the land of folded hems and bias bound hems for a bit. I'll avoid facing-land if I can.

The dress kind of makes me feel like a cross between Dorothy (Damn should've worn my red heels!) and a ballet dancer. And I secretly used to prance around when I was younger (until not that much younger), pretending I was one. So, for your pleasure, some ballet style posing :)

And that's it! I wore it to dinner last night, and it was lovely and comfortable, so I know it will get plenty of wear! Although it may have to wait until the weather is nicer...

I'll leave you with a final pic of me with my regular grumpy.resting.face

LYLT,

Emmie x