Love Sewing Magazine/Simple Sew, Lottie Skirt and Modified Blouse

It's no secret that I've been obsessed with Love Sewing Magazine's free Lottie blouse pattern, but a couple of weeks back I decided to complete the look by having a go at the Lottie Skirt.

The fabric I chose was the last little bit on the bolt in the shop, so knew I couldn't cock it up. It is quite thin, so perhaps the skirt could have done with a lining, but I always hate linings on shop bought garments and have been known to take them out, so thought that I wouldn't ruin what could be a potentially good skirt by throwing one in. Poor excuse I know.

So the first problem I had was the size ten I cut being too big. I foolishly rushed into thinking I knew what I was doing and cut some bits off, which worked great for the front, but left the back without room for my bum! Definitely no sitting down for me. Luckily, as I didn't want the skirt to be the same length as the pattern, I had just enough fabric to cut a second back, which I actually didn't cut smaller at all. Instead I took quite a bit more in in the darts than the pattern suggested and this seemed to do the trick.

I was happy to find that the waistband was just a straight piece folded over, so didn't have to faff around finding the middle and matching curves up etc. I have read on a few different reviews that the sizes on the pattern for the waistband are actually too short, so anyone having a go I would suggest cutting it extra long as I did, and fitting it to suit the skirt when necessary. Stupidly, I thought as the pattern didn't say anything about using interfacing I would be able to get away without interfacing the waistband. That is really the only thing I regret! It folds over a little if I sit down but could be much worse.
I'm pretty happy with the length and the split up the back is rather neat... Even if I have split the stitching since stepping over my dog. Ooops! Easily solved though.

So once the skirt was finished, I realised I would need a black blouse to go with it. I bought some fabric and knocked one up pretty quickly, but soon discovered that the fabric was much too thick and had too much body to make an effective blouse. You live and learn.
So the next weekend I picked up some more blouse-suited black fabric with better drape, which looks pretty officey. The basic shape was easy as it seems to be drilled in my brain now, but I decided I wanted to try something a bit different and add a collar to this one. I was eager to make the collar from the same fabric as my skirt so I could be the coolest girl at work.

Bearing in mind I have never done a collar or really looked at any instructions on how to besides receiving a few words of advice from Shauni at Magnificent Thread, it came out okay.
I did the collar in two pieces instead of one, thinking this would probably be a bit more forgiving if the shape wasn't quite right. Turns out it meant one side was going to lie flat at the back and the other would poke up a bit. I put in a couple of stitches though and it seems to be ok now. The inside of the blouse will clearly show anyone who looks how not to attach a collar, but for as long as I have it on, that can be a secret between you and me. Next time I will actually follow a pattern and do it properly.

I fastened up the keyhole at the neck with a pretty button and loop.

Overall dead happy with the two garments, especially wearing them both together. I definitely want to practice collars so that I can just add them to everything!

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Currently listening to Can't Speak French, Girls Aloud

Love Sewing Magazine/Simple Sew Lottie Blouse III

My third Lottie Blouse from Issue 2 of Love Sewing Magazine!

This is my favourite of the three! The fabric I chose has a slightly shinier quality and a bit more body than my viscose blouses. This is the closest thing I could find to a geometric pattern. Are they shells?

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Currently listening to Tak Shindo, Mwanza Market Place

Love Sewing Magazine/Simple Sew Lottie Blouse II

Lottie Blouse number 2! Failing again at my hunt to find some geometric fabric I settled for some bold floral viscose from the market in town.

I got the first half of the making done in an afternoon. What took the time was faffing about with the neck tie! Whichever way I did it I could NOT get it to line up properly and lie flat. In the end (after unpicking about 10 times!) I attached around the neckline using slip stitch first then did some funky folding over of the tie ends to try and make them lie flat! Not particularly professional, but I don't think you can tell unless you know!

I love working with viscose, despite it's fray-some qualities. I incorporated french seams again so hopefully don't have to worry about troublesome threads!

I'm working on number three as we speak then I promise it's time for another pattern!

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Love Sewing Magazine/Simple Sew, Spotty Lottie Blouse

I've seen some fantastic Lottie Blouses online after the pattern came free with issue 2 of Love Sewing magazine. Not wanting to miss out on the action I ordered a back issue for Christmas so that I could get cracking with my own.
After getting a new job in October I have been eager to make something I can wear to work. I'm really pleased with how my Lottie turned out!

I was looking for a chiffon type fabric, preferably black with some kind of geometric patterning on. My local fabric shops didn't seem too stocked on geometric chiffons! The closest we could get was a few bold florals but nothing was really floating my boat. In the end I settled on some black and white polkadot viscose at £3.99 p/m. Bargain!

The pattern is made up of front, back, sleeves, neck tie and a strip if bias binding for the dipped bit in the neck. The neck tie was meant to be longer but I couldn't fit a longer one on my fabric! Which is odd because the pattern states use 60" fabric and the neck tie is cut on the fold... But the pattern piece was 34" long! So clearly would not fit. As viscose is so dreadfully susceptible to fraying I opted for french seams. I was worried that this might make the blouse a little too small but looking at the measurements I was a borderline 8/10 any way so I risked it.

The hardest part of making was the neckline. The fabric was very difficult to cut straight as it is so stretchy! I attempted to sew on my binding around the lower part of the neck but it really wasn't catching the fabric properly! I decided to cut another strip, this time extending the width to 4.5cm. In hindsight this was probably a little bit too thick, I would maybe go for 4cm next time. I looks good from the front but not so much on the back. At least all 5 layers of fabric are stitched together right the way round!

I thought I might struggle a little with inserting the sleeves, but since getting a dressmakers dummy for Christmas I can see sleeves are going to be much easier! I wasn't looking for anything too poofy so I made sure they were gathered in gently.

Like many other bloggers I have seen who have made a Lottie, I attached the neck tie differently to how it suggested in the pattern. Much like the band on the Love Sewing magazine kimono I made I turned in a cm around each length then stitched the fold along one side to the right side of the neck. I then folded over the band and encased all raw edges. I did a slip stitch by hand (eek!) to catch the inside of the neck tie so no stitches were showing. I did this right the way around the neck but did topstitching along the bow part of the band, after sewing the diagonal ends right sides together then turning back out.

Then ta-dah! I turned up the hems and had my blouse! Test ran it to work today and it looked great tucked into my office skirt. Think it's my most wearable make so far!

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Panel Pants II

I've finally got round to photographing another pair of panel pants I made a few weeks ago!

Initially I wanted to overlay the black lacey fabric on top of the red velvet that I previously used on the front of my pants only this time use it as a back panel. I got everything cut out and was ready to sew together but I could NOT get the two layers of back, the gusset and the front layer to match up when sewing the main gusset seam! I attempted a few times but gave up before ruining all my pieces. I had stretched my front and gusset pieces out a little too much though, so I cut the bottom off and inserted a new middle/front piece which seemed to work.

My favourite thing about this pair was using the lace as the side panels. I used french seams to attach the side panels, they look neat but it made the elastic a bit lumpy when I attached it to the top. I finished them off with a little bow (pinched from a pair of Primark pants!). Yay

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Secrets of Sewing Lingerie Boudoir Blushes Camisole and Shorts

This is my second make from the fabulous Secrets of Sewing Lingerie book!

I chose to have a go at this one as it seemed fairly simple in comparison to some of the other project, but also a good way to combine some of my new skills! The vest is made from two pieces cut on the fold and the front piece has one straight dart for each boob. The book suggests using a silk satin fabric to make the set from, but I decided to go for a crepe-back satin at £7.99 p/m. I found this fabric was less likely to fray quite so badly, but also had less drape than a silk fabric would have. If I have another go at this pattern in the future I think I might try a silk fabric in red. I was tricked into buying pink fabric after I saw how good the one in the book looked, then realised I don't really wear pink! Doh!

After sewing in the darts the next step was french seams along the side seams. I was quite proud of how neat they came out! My attention to accuracy at college is definitely paying off. When pressing the fabric I found it could withstand a lot more heat than silk could have, so that's another point in the crepe's favour!

The lace trim hides a sneaky reverse hem which I'd never tried before. I chose to use a zigzag stitch along the lace to make sure the hem was secure. I still need to practice joining the lace where it meets (I think I did it different each time!), but I don't think you would notice if I hadn't said anything!

It took me a few attempts before I got the hang of just where to stitch when doing the shell stitch around the top of the back. I ended up going round and marking every 3cm so that they didn't come out wonky! I quite like the effect though- another sneaky way of doing a hem without anyone stitches showing!

To make the straps for this garment I was required to make two long pieces of rouleau. Not done this before! It's fairly easy in theory but I did find that the width of my straps was a bit wobbly which wasn't ideal once they were folded and sewn into place. I will be extra careful next time. The attaching of the straps was fairly simple- my hand stitching is not great but shhhh!

The shorts were also made from two pieces of fabric and sewn together with french seams. The top features an encased elastic waistband. For the first time I did a row of stitching along the top and the bottom of the casing before inserting the elastic and found it looks 100x more professional! Will have to be careful in future if I do this not to make the case too narrow for the elastic though.
The shorts also feature a cute little petal gusset where the french seams meet between the legs. I followed the instructions in the book which told me to attach this before adding the lace around the leg holes. This backfired and I had to take the gusset off again later so that the stitching around the reverse hem of the legs didn't go over the gusset. Ooops!

The final adornment was the double box bow that was added to the front of the waistband. I could have hidden my join in the stitching behind this but I'd joined my stitches at the back! I am really happy with the way my bow turned out, though a little disappointed you can't see it when I have the camisole on!

My main regret is not making the set in red with black lace instead. But there's always next time!

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Secrets of Sewing Lingerie Babycakes Bra

After having a go at a few pairs of knickers I have really got the lingerie-making bug! I picked up Katherine Sheers and Laura Stanford's Secrets Of Sewing Lingerie book so I could have a go at a few different patterns.

The book covers all kinds of different makes and all the sections are really well explained and illustrated. The only thing putting me off getting started was collecting all the different materials needed. The lady in the fabric shop looked rather blankly at me when I said I wanted a swan-hook. Luckily for me I had a few old bras at hand so recycled hoops and sliders off the straps.

I was relived to find that the Babycakes Bra only required to pieces cutting out- the rest relied on careful alignment of lace and elastic! After having practiced darts over the past couple of months I felt quite confident with the cup darts. I was pleased to find they were a perfect fit!
The pattern suggested using rigid tulle, but it seemed a little difficult to get hold of round here. Instead I used a stretchier lacy tulle-type fabric. I'm not sure if I would need to make the next cup size up if I were to use a rigid fabric next time.

Another material I struggled to get hold of was 'strap'. The pattern suggests buying 2 meters of the stuff, but the strap I found in local haberdasheries was definitely no good for lingerie. There is a real lack of fancy elastic around here too. In the end I ended up buying a pair of ready-made detachable straps (boo) and butchering some old ones so they had hoops instead of detachable hooks. They were surprisingly easy to sew though which was a relief!

The centreback of the pattern features this snazzy gated swan-hook type fastening. This was really the only thing on my bra I wasn't really happy with. Firstly the strap I used was clearly different on the front and back so the folding of it looks really obvious. Secondly it was really difficult to get the angles of each triangle to match. it was important they were the same length and met in the middle. The positioning and the angling of the join to the back of the bra was also really important. I thought I'd done an okay job until I tried it on and found the end of the wings that join the strap both buckle up in the middle. I thought putting the final strip of strap over the top of the join as a kind of boning would help hold it down, but it just seems to have accentuated it! I am thinking about maybe finding some actual boning and seeing if that will help it keep the right shape.

I am really looking forward to having a go at some more of the things from the book. There is a satin shorts and cami set with my name all over it!

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Currently listening to: Calexico, Trigger (Revisited)

Love Sewing Magazine Wiggle Dress

Issue 6 of Love Sewing Magazine includes the fabulous Eva Dress pattern by Eliza M. The pattern is designed for stretchy knit fabrics which I finally have the confidence to tackle after making a few pairs of knickers. The use of stretchy fabric allows the dress to fit curves, making it look vintage and wiggly!

This dress was actually the first time since school that I have used interfacing fabric! I was slightly put off back in the day when the fabric school provided us with didn't seem to take kindly to ironing (!) and didn't iron on to the dress fabric! Since starting sewing again this year I have been a bit scared to pick it up and have a go again because there seems to be so many different types and I haven't wanted to ruin my garments.
Obviously this dress needed a neck and arm facing so I couldn't really avoid it this time. I found that just half a metre was 60p in Hillsborough fine fabrics which was a pleasant surprise. After ironing it on to my fabric I next zig-zagged the edges of my facing. I learnt the hard way that is was better to have the interfacing facing me while sewing otherwise the presser foot on the machine stretched the knit fabric and it lost it's shape.
Once sewn into the dress around the neck and arm holes I worried that the neck facing pulled the outside fabric and stopped it laying flat (the facing now being non-stretchy as the interfacing is not stretchy). I wondered if maybe not attaching the iron on interfacing to the facing in the first place could have avoided this? I also read there was such thing as stretchy iron-on interfacing fabric so maybe that would be a possibility next time.

When tacking in the zip it became very clear that the back of the dress was going to be much too big. There was gaping at the neck and bagginess around my bum! I lined up the zip so that it took in more fabric and trimmed off the excess at the end. The neckline sat much better but there was still too much fabric around my waist and bum. I decided to have a go at altering darts for the first time as I knew I wouldn't be happy with the fit otherwise.
I wasn't too sure what I was doing so it was a bit of trail and error. I set my machine to long stitches and changed the colour to white so I could tack in some potential new darts and try them before I committed. I made the darts longer (making the widest angle of the dart slightly lower than it was before and larger so more fabric was taken in). My first attempt didn't quite take enough in, so I tried a second one and was amazed at how much better the back of my dress fitted! I duplicated this dart on the other side of the dress making it equal and took out my tacking.

My three dart attempts and the excess fabric around the zip

I was so happy with these darts I am thinking about maybe altering the ones on the back of my Megan Dress as the lower back is a little baggy! I find it really hard to see what the back of my garments look like while making so am contemplating getting a mannequin for Christmas :)

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Panel Pants

After falling in love with So Zo's Pants pattern I made another pair of lacy knickers!
This time I slightly altered the pattern so that the front panel used a different fabric. I added an extra cm to the fabric at this join for seam allowance.

I used a velvety fabric with a smooth back (I'm sure it has a proper name?) That was £3.99 p/m from the fabric shop in Hillsborough (blimey it was busy in there today!) along with the same stretchy tshirt fabric and stretchy lace I used for my last pair. While I was there I also picked up some slightly more dainty elastic and some more lace for trimmings.

Next I want to have a shot at making a high-waisted pair, again with a panel. I am uncertain though as to whether I would need to taper the panel for shaping? Might ask my tutor next time I'm at college.

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So Zo's free Knicker pattern

The amazing Zoe Edwards has uploaded a fab free pants pattern to her blog for anyone wanting to have a go at making their own knickers!
This is the first pattern I have printed off from the computer, but it was very simple to stick the sheets together! I was a bit nervous about using stretch fabric as I've had a bit of bad luck with it in the past! I invested in some ball-point needles and also some stretch needles (not really knowing the difference!?) and didn't seem to have a problem this time!

The pattern is made up of three pieces, front, back and gusset. I also used some lace that I found on the market for going round the the leg holes instead of using elastic. The elastic I used on the waist was a little too bulky, but it worked fine once I had got the hand of sewing it on (I made a test pair first!).

I used flat elastic instead of Fold over elastic as I couldn't find such a thing here in Sheffield! I was looking for lingerie elastic with little bobbles on but that seemed difficult to source on my trip out. I sewed it to the front of the pants then folded it over to the back, sticking again with a wide zig-zag stitch.


I chose stretchy lace fabric for the back for some sexiness!

The pattern was really fun to follow, and Zoe's instructions are beautifully written and photographed! Can't go wrong!

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