McCalls M7575, Grey Stripe Shirt

McCalls M7575, the classic, the original, the blueprint for all office work shirts! 

This stripey fabric was calling out to me from the stash bins in Abakhan. The barcode stripes reminded me of the mandarin collar M7575 I made a few years back, so as unoriginal as it might be, I decided to make another. 

This fabric was well behaved and hangs the way I wanted it too.  I cut out my pieces on a single layer so that I could ensure the stripes on each side mirrored each other. 

I love the thin blue stripe in this fabric! 

I opted again for the mandarin collar as I only have one in my wardrobe and always think it makes a nice change. 

The collar can be done up or left open and looks cool either way 😎 

Paranoid about getting thread runs in my fabric around the button holes, I used fray stop glue on them to keep them nice and secure. 

I really like the fit of this shirt (I think that's clear by now). The only thing I'm not 100% on is the buttons. I think they are perhaps a little too large and dominate the front placket, however I think the purlescent blue sheen brings an extra pop of subtle colour to the grey tones in the shirt. 

Embarrassingly this shirt has been sat in my wardrobe unworn for ages! I think because there's no crazy dogs or bouncey flounces I forget it exists! Here's to barcode shirt's big Spring! 🌷

x

Location: Arundel Street, Sheffield

Currently listening to: Trouble, Sharon Van Etten

New Look 6843, Mini skirt hack

With my perfect fit mini-skirt pattern now in existence, I've gone a bit mad for this pattern. 

Boys won't understand, but there's something about a miniskirt that screams autumn to me ("Aren't you cold?"). Tights and boots and a wool blend mini - who's with me? 

Rooting through the wool blends in Abakhan Manchester I dug up this wool blend with seasonal browny flicks in it. The lining fabric was some I had in my stash which luckily matched the fawn tones in the wool. I found a zipper to match this colour too which really bought the whole thing together. 

In love with the fit of this pattern and understanding its versatility, I picked up some more mini skirt-suitable fabrics that day too, and set to a kind of conveyour system for cutting them all out at home, which I knew future me would be grateful for (who else hates sitting down to sew only to find, oh shit need to cut my interfacing😑). 

Having made this skirt a few times now, all three mini skirts came together really quickly. I think this one was my fave of the three, as the fabric hang is just perfect and the colours match so many things in my wardrobe. 

I love the construction of this skirt - the omission of a waistband, using the fabric for a facing inside instead just makes the whole thing more chic. 

The double darts in the backside allow for fantastic shaping. The almost A-line cut allows for lovely free movement (helpful for hiking up all the hills in Sheffield!), but doesn't poke out at a comical angle like ready to wear a-line skirts seem to on me. 

I knew I needed to add 1.5cm for the hem to the bottom of my skirt and lining pattern pieces as I had only been able to turn up a very tiny bit on my last black and white one (slight miscalculation there on my part maybe!!). This fabric hemmed really nicely. I finished with a blind hem by hand so that the stitching wouldn't be visible on the right side of the garment, again another chic little feature that adds to this skirt's simple elegance. 

I'm super pleased with this mini skirt - it looks so balanced when I wear it, the darts on this really do create the perfect fit. It's great for work, autumn and winter walks with woolly long socks, looks good with boots or flats, the brown flecks in the fabric make for a perfect pairing with gold jewellery and a neutral beret. It really is my perfect skirt! 

x
Location: Wentworth House
Currently listening to: New Town Velocity, Johnny Marr

So, Zo... Strappy Vest Top II

SO, we've established I'm a big fan of this strappy vest top pattern from Zoe's blog, I'm sure it now comes as no surprise that I want to make loooads more with whatever fabric I have lying around. 

This was my second vest top, which I made 2 years ago! (Another lifetime, literally...) I feel like I've been waiting that long for some proper summer weather, though the vest has now had multiple outings and is a firm travel-fave, fitting into suitcases, lending itself to layering and pairing up with literally any bottom half with ease. 

Favourite things about this make:

* FIT - It's a simple one to get right, being only two pattern pieces, but it still feels like such a win cause it just fits SO WELL. The pattern is adaptable to pretty much any stretch fabric, whether you want a loungey team-with-jogging-bottoms-on-a-Sunday vest, or a glammy I-made-this-from-shiny-fabric-for-Friday-nights vest, I think pretty much anything is possible here. Crop it, lengthen it... make a vest dress! The pattern is so versatile 

* This one also gives you the chance to build your skills and make your own binding. The instructions suggest using a fold over elastic for the trim and straps, which was a skill to learn in itself, but after ordering some orange FOE online and it arriving SO luminous that it could light up Blackpool at Christmas, I decided to cut a strip of my fabric and fold it into binding. Once you've got the piece cut and folded it pretty much behaves like elastic, but it's totally unique! 

* Wardrobe staple. This vest can be teamed with pretty much anything. I'm a cardy kinda girl, and I can certify this vest pairs up perfectly with a cardy 

Least favourite things:

*The fabric was SO stretchy and SO light that it dragged a bit on the overlocker, particulary in the seam allowance, does anyone know - does this mean I could do with changing the blade on my machine? Luckily I don't think you can tell at all from the outside 

* The fabric is so stretchy I worry those straps will stretch out over time, but they are really easy to dettach/reattach should that be the case 

* The thinness of the fabric was a concern when using the twin needle to hem the bottom, as sometimes fabrics with less integrity can bunch up and cause the thread to make a bit of a tunnel between the rows, To combat this I stitched the hem with some pattern paper on top then peeled it away (careful not to pull the stitches out of shape!). This made the rows more even and prevented any potential tunnelling. 

Big thanks again to Zoe for the kick-ass parttern. I want to see you all raiding your stretch off-cuts to make your own So Zo vests ready for summer 🌴🌺🌞

x
Location: Meadowhall Road
Currently Listening to: 25th Floor, Patti Smith

* Final downside........ I had to re thread my overlocker to white to finish the make!! 

Simple Sew Patterns, Serena Dress

We finally got some sun! We've been waiting over 365 days for this and it's finally here! Cue a mad scrabble to the summer patterns! 

I wanted to make something light and floaty and this pattern and fabric combo definitely hit the spot. The pattern is the Simple Sew Serena dress, however I've modified it in a few places - most notably the length 😜 

The fabric is this super duper lush silk crepe de chine from Minerva 😍😍😍 Obviously I was first drawn to it's safari style print, then browsing the Minerva site I got super excited about its evident drapey qualities. I wasn't disappointed when this arrived. 

The silk crepe de chine was quick to dry, easy to iron and press, reluctant to fray unless you really ragged it around, easy to cut without it going wavy and easy to maniplulate. Literally an absolute dream to handle! The only thing I struggled with with this fabric was fusing interfacing - the interfacing seemed very reluctant to stick to the fabric, and if I applied more heat the fabric did seem prone to shrinking a little - just something to keep in mind! 

Lets just go back to the print design, I love the simplicity of the line and the two tone black and faun kind of colour. I can feel a bit exposed in lighter colours, but this off white compliments my skin tone a little more and creates the safari vibe! Leaf prints are very on-trend right now, and who doesn't love a tiger 😍🐯 

On to the pattern adjustments - I had made this pattern 2x before, but I found both dresses are looking a bit worn and have a slight fit issues that I wanted to address this time round. 

Firstly, I committed a second dart to the bodice from the arm scye. Ive snook this on as an after thought in the past so knew it needed to be there from the start this time. With this in mind, I thought I would need to add a little length onto the bottom of the side of the bodice to make up for the fabric the dart took up. I then added this length onto the side panel and back piece to keep it even (I later found I'd over compensated somewhere as the bodice and side panel met at a bit of an angle that I needed to amend when I tried it on...). 

I noticed a bit of gaping at the under arms on the side panels of my last attempt, so I squeezed out a 1-2cm triangle at the top of the panel pattern piece before I recut. This just meant I needed to slightly true the curve at the underarm when I cut the piece. 

The back of the dress is made up of a shirred panel. I highly recommend drawing the lines on to follow first! In the past I have used the foot-width as a guide, but it all gets a bit crazy and wavy after you've added 4 lines of shirring, so it's best to follow a guide. The pattern has the shirring at 1.5cm intervals - I would probably change this to 1cm in the future to give it a bit more spring. 

I used the folded over top edge of the backpanel to insert a piece of flat elastic. This wasnt included in the pattern, but either my shirring elastic was getting a little old (anyone know the lifecycle of shirring elastic??), or I could have done with some more lines, as the panel wasn't quite as 'grabby' as I would have ideally liked. To combat this, I did make the panel 10cm shorter before attaching into the side back seeam. The elastic worked well though, and I think I would include this next time just to add a bit more stability to the back. 

To further increase stability, I interfaced the straps and the front and side of the bodice. The fabric is really light and a bit see through and I didnt want the piece I'd used as lining to show through. 

I slightly altered the bust darts - The still start and end at the same place, but instead of looking like pyramids, they look like houses with rooves! I'm sure there's a name for this?? Essentailly the lines change angle half way up before they meet (creating the 'roof'!). 

The adjustments I made made for a much better fit this time around! If I make Serena again, I would move the front straps inwards a little as they do sit a little bit wide on me, but I'm really really happy with the fit, particularly the bust darts. 

I was terrified that the overlocker would mash up the fabric with it being so fine, but overlocker and fabric were both very well behaved. I finished the dress with a lovely little narrow hem that keeps it light and airy, washed off my water soluable pen marks from the back panel then I was out in the sun 😎 

x
Location: Loxley
Currently listening to: Hot In The City, Billy Idol