Frankenstein Pencil Dress!! Vogue V8789 and "Great British Sewing Bee" Pencil Skirt Patterns

This dress has been a long time coming dudes!

The dress is a Mash-Up of Vogue V8789 (view B) and the "Great British Sewing Bee" book's Pencil Skirt patterns

I decided I had wanted to try my hand at my first Full Bust Adjustment, as I do indeed have a full bust. Patternwise, my high bust is a 12 and my bust a 16 so I chose the V8789 pattern as the bodice had clean simple lines, and a horizontal and vertical dart, which is what I was most familiar with adjusting. I realised when I started that the bodice was supposed to have buttons and loops at the shoulders, with neck facings, but I fore-went that, and did a regular shoulder and full lining. 

I did the FBA as I had been shown in my classes (Thanks CL!). As in the class I ended up with the darts being quite large. I did about 1" of an adjustment (I suppose thats 2" in total), but when I looked back, we had only done 3/4" in class. I could've probably got away with 3/4" actually, but the extra doesn't do me any harm. 

I love a good deep breath. 

I did sew this bodice up, but once it was done, I was worried it was giving me square boob. I have a haphazard pic I took of it pinned to my dressform. 

So I decided to go back and put in a third dart, a french one, as that's what we chose to do in the class and it gave some nice shaping. I pulled out my shift dress pattern to lay in front of me so I could ensure I was doing it right. This pic is a before and after - (but they're laid out after and before!). For safety I decided to recut the bodice as I had loads of fabric.

I used a Houndstooth wool(ish) fabric I got in Walthamstow for about £1.50/m if I remember correctly. Thankfully it pressed fine and didn't melt or anything, although the thread I used sizzled when I put the iron on it first. Must have been pure polyester or something. Thankfully I was just the ends but they did melt to my iron and I had to scrape them off!

I did have some issues transferring the markings, so I pinned the fabric and pattern down on my corkboard, pulled the pattern off and used chalk pencils to draw the darts between the pins. 

I always like to make things difficult for myself. 

Note to self. Buy more plain fabrics.

I used a beautiful mauve poly-satin for the lining. I love the colour, and wish I'd bought more. It was £2.75/m on Goldhawk Rd. I went back, but they don't have this colour anymore. Sad Face.

I attached the lining to the skirt and bodice separately and then put the two halves together. 

I matched up at the side seams, and the bodice ended up a little big for the skirt front, and the the skirt was far too big for the bodice back. Wonderful.

For the front, I deepened the vertical darts slightly, for the back, I hacked off the extra. 

Houndstooth is good for this, I just followed the squares! 

I  topstitched around the armsholes and the back neck, but I left the front neckline free as I wanted it to look seamless. Unfortunately, somehow the neckline was sooooo high, it would've been choking me. It also would have looked completely ridiculous. I got my french curve and drew a haphazard new neckline on the inside and hacked off the excess. 

I thought it was going to be a disaster, but the sewing gods were looking down upon me, and somehow - SOMEHOW - it ended up perfectly even and even seems to flow along the houndstooths. God only knows how that happened, as I am not exaggerating the haphazardness.

I did an invisible zip, and got really anal about it, as I couldn't get close enough and it kept gaping. So I repeated my (pre-concealed zipper foot) trick of holding the zip coil open with the presser foot clamp, and going down stitch by stitch, aiming the right place, and moving the needle with the wheel.

That was fine and dandy on the side where the feed dogs moved it along. A little harder work on the side where the feed dogs wouldn't move it along, and I also had to move the fabric along by hand inbetween stitches. I swear it works really well overall!

I was worried about the dress being too snug, so I only did a 1cm seam allowance on the back.

I avoided sewing in the linings for a bit, as I couldn't face it. Its one of those things I hate the thought of until I start and then I find it really therapeutic. Also helps if you put it on the dressform and watch Criminal minds at the same time. By this point I'm not feeling too accurate and I kind of just wing it, and fold up bit by bit without measuring. I do make sure I don't pull too tight, and it's roomy, but still. Naughty.

I normally do a narrow hem, but I usually work with light cottons! I decided to try a bias bound hem, as I was worried about the "wool" being too bulky double-folded. Happily  it was beautifully neat. My best ever stitching and no one can see inside! I took pics for proof though. Thankfully most of the stitching is running through the black squares on the right side so it's almost invisible. 

Smack bang in that crease. 

To be honest. Up until finishing, I wasn't loving this dress. 

I was worried the bust apex was too low, I couldn't press out the darts how I wanted, I took ages to get through it, but once it was done - Hot Damn!! (in the words of Miss Demeanour)

I love it

I wore it to London yesterday to meet The Spoolettes and I was comfy all day. The waist is nice and fitted, but just enough room, the neck is comfy and the length is just right, and that was a complete fluke. 

Clearly I need to wear a bra with thinner straps though! lol

Not the best pics, I'm not exactly standing straight!!

But at least I'm looking really really happy. The Spoolettes will have that effect on you.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement to finish it! It was definitely worth it.

What next?

xx

International Craft Swap Goodies!!

Hi All :)

I just wanted to do a little spin-off of my sewing meetup post! A few months ago, I joined in House of Pinheiro's International Craft Swap.

I was matched with Lizzy of Sew Busy Lizzy, and was delighted and devastated at the same time! She is such a good sewer (ist?), and I felt like I wasn't up to scratch, but I decided that I would use this opportunity to increase my sewing skills. I didn't want to let myself down!

At this point I had only made a skirt and dress in my Thrifty Stitcher classes, and another skirt at home.  I felt a little behind in my sewing learning, as I had waited until I had amassed all the bits and pieces I needed to really do it properly before I really got into it. That, and I felt like I wanted to increase my background knowledge on all things sewing before I started. I guess I thought it would help prevent me from messing up so much, but I know that the best way to learn is by making the mistakes!

So I racked my brains as to what to make, I wanted it to be something she would like and would use. Something that didn't look too easy, but that I could make with good clean stitching.

Lizzy said she liked to bake, so I decided on one of the Vintage Vogue apron patterns that I got in my haul. It looked good, had impact, and  it looked simple enough for me to aim for.

I did the yellow one!

I worked on the apron for a few weeks as I didn't want to rush it and make a mess. I wanted to give it a nautical feel, as that was the 'Theme' of the craft swap, so I embroidered an anchor on the pocket. I considered doing both pockets, but I didn't want to run out of time at the end, so I decided that just the one would have enough impact. I had done some embroidery when I was younger, and delighted in buying a range of colours and some embroidery hoops.

I tried to use up my stash, as advised by Rachel, and luckily had some lovely navy fabric left over from the shift dress I had made before. I lined the pockets in a blue satin, and the inside of the apron ties. I thought it looked lovely, and also, I had run out of navy!

I made the shortest length and the smallest size, as I knew Lizzy had a very petite frame and I didn't want the apron to swamp her. I followed the pattern instructions exactly, and although there were some tricky bits to master, I was really happy with the outcome! I learned gathering, attaching interfacing and a facing and patch pockets. I'm sure there was more than that but that's just off the top of my head!

As my mini gift, I got her a Royal Blue nail polish to go with the apron. In case she wanted to paint her nails before she started baking. As you do...

This is the finished product!

I think she liked it!

And from Lizzy I got the most amazing knitted hat. It is seriously a work of art. Its sea green, with an exquisite cream shell/fan that comes around at the edge. Its very Art Deco, I saw it and thought '1920's', and  as someone who doesn't wear many hats (no exact reason - I just don't have many!), I am delighted to say that it fits perfectly and looks adorable!

The Fan is cream in natural light but my sitting room light has blown so am multi-lamping it! Will have to get an outdoor picture when the weather turns again!

I also got these amazing vintage buttons from the 1930's/40's that she picked up for me in Paris. Aren't they amazing? I've travelled so much of France with my family, (about 10/11 summers), but have yet to go to Paris. Bit ridiculous, no?

And they still fit in with the Nautical theme!

All in all a roaring success, I will be partaking again next year! I also look forward to seeing a picture of Lizzy in her apron with a bowl and whisk :)

Love Emmie xx

Enough Patterns For Life

Ok, after a short break I'm back!

Have been a very busy girl, between concerts and visiting friends, and my boyfriend stole my camera away for a while, so I want to do a short showreel of all of the sewing patterns that I acquired over the last few weeks!

So remember when I mentioned how I had a self control problem?

Well I've come to realise that I can be obsessive compulsive when it comes to acquiring things. I've begun to call it Obsessive Compulsive Gathering. I like to gather collections of things, such as vintage clothes (and vintage china!) and also for things I need to do, like crafting, so that would mean sewing equipment, etc. I feel like I need to have anything that I may require along the way. And it makes me happy when I gather the things I need/want.

So, following on from that, when I found that Vogue had a sale on patterns after Christmas, it got switched on. All patterns were $3.99, and they usually sold for about $15.99 (and about £15 on eBay) so I got a bit overexcited. I added all the ones that I loved, and seen as you could only ship 10 per order in sale time I chose my favourite 20. Yes 20. But them I realised that it was going to cost me just under $80 (~£53) for the 20 patterns, which was amazing, but that it was going to cost $110 to ship them, which was outrageous!

It would cost $40 to ship them in America, so I called on a wonderful uncle of mine :) And a few months later I finally got my hands on them! (Along with another 3 I bought for $1.88 in the Butterick sale, but I got those shipped to me).

So here they all are, there are some modern with a vintage styling, and a lot of vintage reproductions, which I have no hope of being good enough to make for a very long time yet! I also love how some of them make slightly different variations of the same item. I did have to buy the suit in both size options, as my top half and bottom half require different patterns sizes, but no matter!

Sorry the pictures are all higgldy piggldy, this thing is a pain!

Hope you like them! Which is your favourite??

Lots of Love,

Emma xx