Tulips in June

Hey Guys,

Getting pictures of this dress has been a pain in the bum! I made it to wear to the House of Pinheiro hen party (but didn't get any pictures), then I wore it to see some Burlesque, and got some pretty poor pictures on the street. Finally I intended to wear it to the Rockabilly Rave this weekend, and seen as my hair finally submitted I had a couple of minutes to take a few snaps!

Speaking of hair, this was my first attempt at a foam roller wet set (I attempted a pin curl set once before), which I decided to attempt at 12am the night before. Clever. My hair scared the crap out of me when I took out the rollers, but I got somewhere in the end! To be honest, I was glad it ended up being dry enough to work with. 

The bodice is the Betty bodice from Sew Over it. I made a small adjustment this time, and took a wedge out of the centre front, which has helped a lot. I used the all-in-one facing again, which I love, but I didn't find their method of sewing the shoulders very easy last time so I used the method of pulling the back through the shoulder to turn it the right way out.

For the skirt I replicated the pleating of my favourite pink vintage dress. It took almost the full width of the fabric front and back. I just really like how it sits, and how the fullness feels, without being as difficult to wrangle as a circle skirt. As soon as I put it on I was delighted! It felt so comfortable and I was twirling around the living room. ironically the belt from that dress is a perfect match. It's about a 7mm knife pleat, which unfortunately hasn't worked at all with the next fabric I tried it with, which has way too much body.

The fabric is of course from the Hemmingway collection. I, of course, bought it in my John Lewis Post-Christmas binge. You know, to differentiate from my New York binge, my Paris binge, my Cloth House binge.....

I also have it in the yellow & white and pink & green colourways, which is nice! What to do with those? I need to make a few nice simple Summer dresses (you know, for when the weather gets warm, if that ever happens).

I must add, that this fabric was amazing to sew with. It never creased during the sewing of it, at all - and I definitely wasn't being careful!. I can't fault it!

One thing you have to keep an eye on, however, is the concentration of flowers. They are pretty random, but they do have more concentrated areas. The first time I pleated the skirt, they ended up being even more densely populated right beneath the waist seam. It looked ridiculous and I had to trim off the top inch or so and re-attach to the bodice. Careful now!

I pinked all the seams, but beware! Take care with pinking shears, as they can be as dangerous to your garments as an overlocker is. I managed to catch the back bodice in my shears and with one fell 'snip' I had two baby holes. Fantastic.

It was sort of a 'well that was bound to happen' moment. I tried to back it, and satin stitch it initially, but it was too much for the fabric and was art of destroying the holes even further. So I found the exact section on a scrap piece of fabric, cut a bigger hole and patched it from behind, stitching along all the black lines I could.

I also applied fray check and to be honest it's hardly noticeable. The darkness in the picture above was before the fray-check had dried. It's just our little secret now. Now I treat pinking shears with the respect they deserve!

So what's been your worst dressmaking error?

Ever cut a hole in an almost finished dress?

Emmie x

The Tropical that Pushed Through - Annalotte (BHL Pattern Smash)

Hey Guys, 

Back again! And clearly a detour from my 'Demure' year, eh? Well seen as this was started back at the end of last May, so maybe we can give this a free pass??

Pity I ain't going to Viva this year, because this would be perfecT for the Vintage Tropicallyness that Rockabilly can be. The dress is an Anna bodice (with an altered neckline), merged with a Charlotte skirt - my first!

The alteration to the bodice (if some of you have eidetic memories) is the same as the one I did for my sparkly pink sequin dress last June. In fact, this bodice was Muslin #2. Muslin #1 was wider on the shoulder, and kept slipping off. So clearly, that had to be fixed. I may have also adjusted the scoop to be a tad lower.

You may also remember this fabric. It's the piece that never ends. I've made a skirt for my sister and myself already. Granted I bought a 5m length on Goldhawk road (about a million years ago now). I'm coming to the end now, there ain't much left!

And when I sewed it up - HOT DAMN - it fit perfectly.

I decided there and then, that the Muslin must live. I have always loved Roisin's various iterations of the Annalotte frankenpattern so I muslined myself up a Charlotte skirt too. I was a bit worried that it might have been a bit tummy hugging, but actually it was fine.

I did go to the effort of trying to adjust the skirt darts to line up with the bodice ones. I just about got the in the front (luckily there was some decent stretch to get me through the difficult times!) but Dear God I don't know what happened in the back. I thought I had the pieces the right way around, but I can't think of any other explanation!

Thankfully the darts are basically invisible in this print. And this fabric is also awesome for understitching. It was like a perfect example of stitches hugging the facing to the inside. I handpicked a lapped lemon metal zipper in (I know, more lemon zippers). I love handpicking, it's definitely my favourite method now. It may take a little longer but I end up with a much better result. 

Does anyone else love hair flowers? I need to wear more hair flowers. And I wish I could carry my parasol around more often. It makes you feel AWEsome :) Ahhhh Vegas... good times. I also bought these black wedges for the holiday but couldn't decide that they were comfy enough for long periods of time before we left. I held onto them though. Hee hee...

Has anyone noticed the pile of fabric peeking into the frame? That's my special fabric.

My special specials.

The only thing about the dress that I did consider (but not that hard, because I forgot) was the need for a back vent. But I can separate the back seam pretty handy down the line. It'll only take me 5 minutes.

As you can see. Not so much in the climbing over or into things department. I am usually awesome at that. We are having a 'keep the car till it dies' sort of situation. So most days if I'm driving I get out of the passenger side of the car. I swear, I'm out in 2 seconds flat. 

It it does make me feel super wiggly though. I didn't line it either, so it's a no tights zone. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to line. Plus this stretch cotton is pretty substantial.

I think I'm definitely going to make another Charlotte skirt before long. My favourite all time version is Fiona's green wool beauty. Believe me, it's even better in person. And we all know how much I love a pegged skirt. This is the full length by the way, I think with about a 2cm turn up. I stitched the hemline first of all to help me turn it up nice and even and I pressed it in place with some Steam-a-Seam I got for a bargain (if you haven't encountered it, it's like a mini Wundaweb). I haven't sewn it in yet, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out a length before committing.

So there we have it. A seasonally inappropriate dress! 

It isn't quite Jungle January in the animal print sense, but I'm still in a Jungle ;)

LYLT,

Emmie x

Since when is Yellow, Mellow?

Hey Guys!

I swear we are going to finish up on the holiday wardrobe sometime in the next month! Nah, I think it's only one more after this, but I want to make a change to it before I'm happy to take pictures in it!

This is another simple circle skirt, but it taught me a few things!

Firsty, it really shows the length difference that comes from different width fabric (if you are going to cut the skirt as a full circle!). In truth, this skirt is my minimum length for skirts - and really in some ways I feel like its very short on me. Strange how you get used to a certain length! 

Secondly, it taught me about fabric choice! This one feels even stiffer than the black one. I didn't actually end up wearing it while we were away (probably because I bought more clothes that I was more excited by!). 

You may remember this fabric from the skirt I made my sister a year ago (only because it's a pretty memorable yellow!), and it's going to come up again here shortly, in what has become more than a muslin! 

The future one is almost what I had imagined making out of this fabric for the trip, but ran out of time so I'm glad it's coming to fruition.

Thirdly, I learnt that some fabrics definitely should be prewashed. I was strapped for time, but I it could definitely use being softened up, and perhaps a few runs through the machine would help. Never looks as bad in my pictures I've found!

Not many people do, but I really love yellow!

Going from picture to picture, I'm not sure if the hem is completely sqwonky or if it's just the folds being stiff as hell. Levelling a hem is a nightmarish task though. 

That is why the last holiday item may take more than a week to get up here. It needs revising majorly, and not even in the way you'd expect.

Fourthly, I learned that you should probably interface a stretch cotton waistband. Look at me cutting corners all over the bloody shop. The waistband was cut curved (in a good way!). 

I can't remember if it was intentional or an accident but I used it to my advantage. However, because the fabric was stiff I decided not to interface it. Plus I find it such a mind numbing job. However, I ended up having to move the button on the waistband because of the stretch, and the buttonhole is gaping open because of the stretch.

To be honest, all of the issues are button related, and the main part of the waistband is A-OK.

The last thing I think I've learnt, is that I'm not 100% sure if I like circle skirts as much as I thought I did when I didn't have any. It's just a lot of fabric - not to buy, just to manage getting around the place. I keep getting tangled in my bags and things when I'm moving around, it's a nightmare trying to straighten myself out sitting down on the train, or even at the dinner table.

And they always come up way shorter at the back sitting down than you think they are, and I bloody hate the backs of my legs sticking to chairs.

So I think, I'm going to be looking for a flared alternative. Maybe a half circle. Maybe go back to my old Simplicity pattern. Maybe a Sewaholic Hollyburn type gored effect (just not sure how I feel about a deam up the centre front). I guess we shall find out.

So there's your lot.

When I finish up on the next dress, I swear there's enough left for another skirt. 

It's the fabric that keeps on giving.

Little secret? This hair was left over from the NYLON meetup the previous day.

I was so tired when I got home, I just got into bed with my fringe still up!

Hairspray for the win!

Emmie x

Boppin' in Blue...

Hey Guys,

I wasn't sure that I was even going to blog this skirt, as it's just a simple circle skirt, but I really like this set of photos so - meh - you're getting it!

I made this to go in the Vegas line up, but once I put it on for these photo's I couldn't take it off!

I wore it to a Barbeque that day, but I was so cold I stood to close to the fire and it got super smokey!

Turns out it doesn't dry too quick, and therefore it didn't get in the case! On top of that, it is actually quite heavy, so for weight limit reasoning it was a pretty good call.

The fabric was bought from Rolls and Rems in Lewisham, on a meetup with the Spoolettes. I went with the intention of buying heavy fabrics for weighty circle skirts and I found a whole bunch. All different fabrics, and different colours. I think they were all cottons or cotton blends. Apparently they don't see sense in stocking a range of colours in the same fabric. 

Because, you know, that wouldn't be sensible.

This particular one was a lovely shade of blue, and has a really interesting textured pattern in the weave.

Oddly enough that I love this so much, I own hardly any blue clothes!

I did a lapped zipper (see, told you I was obsessed - once you go Lapped, you never go back).

I added a button closure with a lovely pink button to both contrast and compliment *ooOOoo*

I bought a bag of mixed buttons (you got to mix them yourself) and by golly I'm going back for more. They were awesome buttons, and I have used so many in my recent projects. Total score, as the bag was a fixed,  and quite cheap, price. I assume it goes without saying that I absolutely stuffed it.

I've been cutting my recent circle skirts as a complete circle, and them trimming closely down one edge to create the side seam. This method is really quick and easy, but you are limited with the length of skirt you can get out of the fabric. If my sums are right, even with a 64" wide fabric, you could only get about 28" (which would change of course depending on the circumference of your waist). So what I am going to have to do is buy a bit of extra fabric length and cut 2 longer half-circles side by side. 

An extra seam, but a longer skirt.

And I loves me a midi.

Now lets turn up the twirls!

And there we go! I felt very 'Grease' like at the Barbeque. And I got a pic of me enjoying the sun in my daytime styling of a RTW striped denim jacket and some white plimsols :)

Oh, and some berry cider, of course.

LYLT,

Emmie xx

Vegas Baby!

Hey Guys!

If you hadn't heard already, I'm taking a trip to America this April, which I am MASSIVELY EXCITED about. The whole trip has been planned around going to Las Vegas for the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Convention, which I can't wait for :)

Although within all of that excitement is a modicum of STRESS, because I need to make a holiday wardrobe. Who's bright idea was that? My main focus is Vegas, as Viva las Vegas (hereafter VLV) is a massive event, and all of the Rockabilly and Vintage ladies bring their A-Game. And they look amazing in regular day-to-day life, so imagine the level of amazingness.

I will be spending the next 11 weeks or so, sewing up a frenzy. I need a minimum of 4 day outfits and 4 evening outfits. The day outfits could be cobbled together from things I already have, so the major focus is the evening outfits.

I have considered how stressed I get, so I am also going to have a look round some vintage shops in London next weekend. Take the pressure off a bit. I'm willing to spend a reasonable amount, but only for something I love.

So, in a bid to fit the bill of both Vintage and Rockabilly, I decided to start off my wardrobe with a Vintage style, Leopard print dress :) I know I said I was focusing on evening, but I think this is more of a day dress.

This dress is my newest Minerva Crafts make, and is their Animal Print Stretch cotton, which can be found here. I had originally intended this to be a circle skirt, but the cotton turned out to be a lot lighter than expected so I felt that it wouldn't hold up as a circle skirt - so I decided on a dress with a circle skirt. 

I hadn't ordered enough fabric for a full circle skirt to be on the dress, but I got the guts of one!

I used the BHL Anna bodice, and I used this Simplicity skirt pattern as a basis for the skirt, but I got as much width out of the fabric I had as I could. 

I really love how the dress turned out - I did a back neck adjustment on the pattern of 3/8" as per Sonja's tutorial, and it's definitely better, but I could possibly do with tweaking out a tiny bit more. I also shortened the bust pleat by 1", as I noticed that they had been coming up over my bewbs. Clearly, this shouldn't be the case! I also ended up taking more out of the waist, I think because the cotton has stretch it had more give.

Anywho, I love it! May all the rest of the wardrobe some together as clean and easy. This really is my easy TNT pattern now. My first one!