Sewing a Dress....simplicity 2444

 Hello Lovelies,
I have a little ta-dah to share with you today.... happy :0)

But lets start at the beginning shall we.

Back in April the lovely JANE posted about a gorgeous skirt she had made....at the end of her post she shared her latest pattern purchase...........

 I did a little googling and discovered lots of lovely versions of this dress out in blogland. 

THIS lady has made lots of versions....all lovely.

How gorgeous is THIS version

and how classy is THIS version

I had to order it too....hope you don't mind Jane.

 I planned to make mine from some stash fabric and when I shared my thoughts in THIS post I got a very helpful comment from a lovely, regular commenter on my blog.............

Love the dress pattern. I always take my measurements again whenever I make a new dress. I also include my underarm measurement and check that against the pattern itself, as well as making a copy of the bodice to my measurements in calico. It saves a lot of grief. I discovered that my underarm measurement is a size smaller than my bust. Very important so it isn't baggy or too tight across the decolletage. 

Thank you SO MUCH Robyn.....your advice was much appreciated ♥♥♥

Yes, of course I should make a calico of the bodice

I cut out a size 12 bodice in some stash fabric............

Marking the darts with Taylor tacks and sewing as instructed............

it turned out huge.

I ended up taking an inch or so out of the centre front and back.........and also making the armholes smaller......

I'm a complete novice when it comes to pattern adjustment but I'm leaning that Ease is included in patterns....for this bodice the ease is 3inches.........which seams huge for a fitted garment.........

There is even a nice definition of ease printed on the pattern :0)

Making that Calico was invaluable. It enabled me to cut out the actual fabric with relative confidence. I even attempted a "small bust adjustment" by reducing the size of my darts, so that the bodice fitted snugly across the bust without being too tight on the waist.

My actual fabric for this version was still just thrifted stash stuff, but of course I didn't want to end up with nothing to show for hours of sewing.

 I made the bodice to my altered pattern and because my fabric had a checked pattern I even broke the rules and ignored the grain line to get vertical and horizontal lines on my skirt........

An air erasable pen was handy to mark the pleats..........

This was actually an easier pattern to assemble than I had thought.
I loved the way you attached the front and back bodice parts to their respective skirt panels BEFORE sewing the side seams.....

Next I added a flat zip ( the only type I know how to do). I like to sew the opening closed with a long machine stitch before sewing in the zip and then unpick the basting stitches...........

Here the basing stitches are still in situ

The fabric I was using was a thin polyester cotton and I decided it would be best to line the bodice part at least.
I searched my stash and found this old lining that I had cut out of a skirt as it made it too tight.....it was lovely thin cotton....perfect...........

I cut out the lining bodice in exactly the same way as the dress bodice. 

 The pattern called for fabric facings lined with interfacing , but I just used the pattern pieces to cut out iron on interfacing.............

Which I fused to my bodice neckline before sewing it together...........

A brilliant You Tube video found HERE explained how to join my lining to my bodice ( I would NEVER have figured this out for myself )

Then it was just a case of hand sewing the bottom of the lining to the skirt. And attaching the back edges to the zipper tape..............

I'm so pleased with how this lining worked out.

And here is the finished dress

TA-DAH...........

 I'm very happy with my finished dress

The lining means there are no exposed seams in the bodice. It's so neat and  comfortable to wear.........

 Here is the hem with it's hand sewn finish..........

I think I did quite well with this too.............

And here it is on...........

 Look........IT FITS ♥♥♥

 The arm hole are just the right size. The bust is not too big and the waist is not too tight.....Yipee.

Here's the back view.............

I really am thrilled with this dress. It was a joy to make and I love the finished garment.

I would like to change a couple of things about it. I shortened the hem by a couple of inches and now I wish that I didn't....dang. 

The pockets in the skirt are a bonus but I do feel they accentuate my pear shaped figure.

And the zip looks very amateurish............

 Next time I will try a concealed zip

But overall I'm more than happy with my first attempt at this pattern. I can see why it's so popular.

Don't look at the zip.......look at the lurverly arm holes :0)

I think it looks pretty good for a dress made out of a pre-loved duvet cover...............

The only other things I bought to make this dress ( if you don't count the pattern....which can be used again....and came from Amazon...there's a link in my side bar) is a zip and some thread.

Thrifty sewing makes me happy, but I may splurge on some new fabric especially for my next version of this dress.

Jacquie x

P.S. just in case you were wondering.......my pink polka dot hangers are from Wilkos :0)

Sewing Some More

Hello Lovelies,

once again I have found myself doing some dressmaking this week. This wasn't a project I had been planning at all, it just sort of happened..........as many of my creative projects do.

At have a pair of P.J. trousers that are super comfy............or should I say I HAD a pair, as at the weekend this happened...........

I was very sad as they were favourites. I've worn them so much the fabric had become very thin and then torn.

I found these blog pictures of them when I first got them back in April 2011........

I like to wear cotton trousers and a t.shirt in bed when it's chilly

They came from a charity shop and loved the combination of  floral and stripy fabric. That patch pocket is so sweet don't you think.Nobody really needs a pocket in their P.J. trousers , but I really it.

Here they are hanging out to dry that same month.........

The soft cotton fabric and the wide elastic made them super comfy.

On Monday I had an idea how I could recreate my favourite jammies.

On Tuesday I watched the Great British Sewing Bee  with interest.......they too were copying favourite their garments.........I loved it and greatly admired their creations.

My make is much simpler, and I planned to dismantle my worn out trousers, to use them directly as a pattern.

On Wednesday morning I started. The unpicking seemed to take ages.........all the seams were over-locked and seamed separately.....

My plans always change and evolve as they go, and once  I reached this stage I made two decisions.......firstly to leave the side seam intact as it was straight and I didn't see the point in cutting out four leg pieces, when two would do.
Secondly I decided to create a paper pattern as I thought it would be easier to cut around accurately.........

Here it is........it's one complete leg, so I just needed to cut two of these and a waistband..........

Next I headed off to the airing cupboard to find my fabric. This candy stripe sheet was originally my Nanna's.
 I love it, but I don't use it and thought I would take the plunge and turn it into something I will.........

I measured the original seam allowance, and sewed the same narrow seams.......

 I don't have an over-locker, so I tried to replicate it's stitching with a second row of straight stitch and a zig-zag............

I was keen to have a mix of stripes and flowers in my recreated version, so I searched my stash for something suitable.

This is a thrifted duvet cover that  I picked up ages ago because I liked the mix of fabrics...........

Those ditsy lilac flowers looked just right for the waistband

And here is the 2" elastic I bought from the market on Wednesday afternoon...........

Along with some seeds...........Thank you for your great suggestions to my query in THIS post lovelies.

It's a very different experience, sewing like this instead of following pattern instructions. There are so many decisions to make, about the order of things and how to tackle each stage.

The waistband was troubling me from the start, but in the end it came together fine.

this is the inside.

And here are my finished pyjama trousers.........

Ta-Dah..........

Oh, I'm really thrilled with them. I love the fact that they fit exactly like my old, worn out pair. I love too, that they are made from recycled and sentimental fabrics. And I'm so happy  that I managed to make them without a bought pattern.

The only things I did buy were that wide elastic and this cute crochet trim............

It was part of a very inexpensive haul I found in "The Works", of all places...........

This is the waistband up close. To avoid the elastic twisting in it's fabric sleeve I anchored it to the fabric every couple of inches.........I didn't fancy trying the stitching that the original garment had.......

It's that cross stitch in the centre.

Here is the back...........

Yes, you knew there would be a pocket didn't you lovelies.

It was my favourite part of the originals so I couldn't leave it out :0).............

It's made from a different part of that duvet cover and includes this fake ric-rac that seemed perfect for this pocket.

I wasn't going to model these, but what the heck.........don't laugh.....

I'm looking forward to many comfy nights sleep in these recreated favourites and I hope you enjoyed this rather long post about how they came to be :0)
Jacquie x

Characterful Places

Hello Lovelies , 

as the weather warms up it's nice to have the odd weekday adventure with Mum.

It may take a while to get there, but it's always lovely to arrive somewhere different and be greeted with pretty old buildings..............

I loved the pan tiled roofs and little attic windows..........

We wander along and I make a mental note to stop at the pretty florist on the way back for some Daffodils......

It's always lovely to see traditional shops looking smart and well used..........

The pedestrianised streets are full of individual shops.......

Shall we walk through the pretty covered arcade........

Ahhhhhhhh, isn't it sweet :0)

At the end of it is this amazingly characterful building. You can read a bit about it HERE

It  looks out over the traditional market place, with its cobbled streets and interesting stalls......

On one side is the town hall which contains a small but interesting ( free) museum. It's on the second floor and I have to admit I was keen to visit mainly to see of there was a good view of the market place from up there.

And there was........

So much character...It's a shame the windows were dirty and the sky was cloudy....but it still looked lovely to me.

Inside the museum I found this amazing collection of dressing up clothes in the children's corner. All these outfits were beautifully handmade. The helpful attendant told us they were made by a volunteer........

This dress was my most favourite.......very Pride and Prejudice........The pretty details were perfect......

Made me wish I was young enough to have a fun dressing up game again.

There is another covered arcade in the same building , where we stopped for a little break......

The Lincolnshire Plum Bread was yummy  

and it was such a beautiful, calm and light filled space to sit and relax for a while.........

Back outside I spotted these wonderful vintage style dresses......a dressing up place for grown up girls ...

Tricky to photograph with all the reflections, but aren't they gorgeous

I didn't buy any of the practical stuff I normally get whenever we go to our usual market town, I was having too much fun exploring.....but I did get some sewing supplies from a nice market stall , for my latest  project :0)

 Oh, and from a charity shop in the first arcade I bought a sweet Devon Blueware jug....it will look nice on my dresser when I arrange it with Summery things...... 

It's a bit chipped and has a crack too, but I loved it's jolly spots so much I couldn't leave it behind.

 Newark-on-Trent is a great place to visit if you love a bit of period charm and character.  

It even has a lovely CASTLE with gardens and a riverside setting.........I'd love to go back and have a look around that one day too.

Jacquie x