vogue very easy jacket - Project Sewn

I think this jacket sums up my style as a seamstress and also what I wanted to get out of sewing when I started, over a year ago now!!!





































It is cashmere wool blend coating from fabworks. Lush. and I think it was £12 per meter. I lined it with superior lining from truro fabrics. Lush 2. So it cost about £60 to make. And I feel so expensive when I wear it, I think people are looking at me and saying where did she get that amazing coat, max mara?! That is what I wanted to get out of sewing. I know I spend more on sewing than I ever did on clothes before ..... but I am excited to wear my wardrobe and I wouldn't have got that without spending thousands on the high street.







































The other thing that this coat is is perfectly inperfect. which is definitely my sewing style. The liberty bias binding, yep, like a millionaire, is uneven widths because I was learning to put it on as I put it on.

The lining, though better than my last attempt, is still not right, I should have left the shoulders unsewn and used the lining to face the seams. I am still learning at this!

And I am too lazy to add buttons.

I want to make many more versions of this and I think next winter I will make the version of this with a hood, in red wool, and maybe the collarless version in a posh fake fur...I love a bit of fake fur. I love that as I was sewing I was creating new ideas in my head.

 

The shape is soooo perfect, skinny dress, massive coat. Love it, loved sewing it!

The hat is for my auntie. The trilby shape is my favourite, on me anyway. I like a beret on other people! Hats are where I started sewing, I took an Easter class a couple of years ago.

 

 

 

Vogue very easy ahem jacket

Very Easy. Jacket. HA HA!!!



I was frightened by the coat concept.
I followed the instructions properly. Properly.
They were mad and resulted in this:

 

this:

I also did some very weird things all by myself without the MAD instructions - see seam binding.

Anyway end result is LOVE. I love it! Also I ticked myself off and will make this again with my own idea on lining insertion (I will look at you tube to get my own idea). and with some nice neat binding at the front. maybe some liberty print binding. Mmmmmm. and I will interface the front facing, because the collar sinks down a bit at the front.






The fabric is Jacks fabrics on Leeds Market. Worth a visit for some nice wool at low prices. This isn't wool, it is acrylic but looks more expensive than its £3.50 per meter. in my opinion.











I like it best photographed from the outside, from where it looks as if I know what I am doing....check me out!!! swingy swirly! I can get all sorts under this baby...chickens maybe.

Explosion Galaxy Dress!

This is my galaxy print dress! It is from Burda 01/13 dress number 102. I added a belt because I like that I do.

 I am wearing this a lot, with my leather jacket.

It matches my new hat too....bonus! I go to a millinery class at Leeds college of art, which I LOVE.
This is one of my makes, orchid coloured wool felt with some trimmings of the trapeze dress to decorate.

The fabric is from Stone Fabrics...I think they still have it....

http://stonefabrics.co.uk/shop/4219/

it is polyester, and doesn't pretend not to be, but without sleeves it isn't going to be too sweaty.

The pattern calls for lining not facings, which works better for me, no interfaced faces popping out! The pattern is just 3 pieces and very easy to put together. no zip in the ponte. excellent news.

If I make it in a woven I will add a vent to help me walk, this only works without because it is stretchy. I quite often find with Burda magazine that they avoid a walking vent. not sure if it is only me that finds it a bit restrictive!

 

The dress without the belt is nice too, it looks better in the pictures than it feels in real life. I like a belt to give me a waist.

trapeeze dress

This is the replacement for the same dress made a while ago. made a while ago of silk and wool. washed a while ago at 40 and shrunk beyond recognition. I want to believe Aiders when he says he was trying to help, I don't want to believe the real truth that he was doing it to avoid a 'half load'. I didn't get chance to take pictures of the dress and I together, but here she is pre shrink on Jordan the model...

I picked out the non shrunk lining of the shrunk dress. It is superior lining from Truro Fabrics, at £10 a meter I wasn't wasting that! I paired it with this £7 per meter wool and linen mix from Jacks Fabrics on Leeds Market.

It was my first go with checks. I like it, I like myself for taking the time.  I am not sure it is right but I like it! I did it by pinning loads of pins down the selvedge and weighting the fabric down well before cutting anything out. Then I made sure the shoulders of front and back pattern pieces were placed on the same stripe both horizontally and vertically. I think I did it quite well if I say so myself.

I made a belt out of some strips of the material cut on the bias at 90%, and sewn together.

I hung her on Jordan for 48 hours to let the skirt drop at the sides, because it is so flared there is a lot of bias, then I could hem it evenly.

The shape is good for me, easy to fit and good to belt. I don't like it without the belt, which I think is the intended way of wearing. I like the idea of wearing the trapeze shape but it just makes me feel huge. I think it must be being tall, I think not having a defined waist makes me appear closer than I am.

This is going to be worn a lot, maybe to work too. Warm and pretty.

The trapeze dress is from merchant and mills. It was £20 to buy but I will be getting my monies worth, it is sooooo easy to make, it will work in wool, silk, linen and I want to try it with liberty tana lawn for summer.

 

 

Newlook 6070 dress

The lace version was my new year eve dress....The fit is pretty good isn't it? I lengthened the top and the skirt by 2" each and that is it. Fitted dress with no fitting. I recommend!
The fabric is a jersey with lace bonded to it, so no stretch by nice and smooth. It is from Fabworks in Dewsbury.
I pinked the seams with my Merchant Mills pinking scissors. First time for a pinked seam. Easy! and soooo quick.
The quickness however made me rush, rush for no reason other than being over excited for making stuff. The result of the rushing was this:


Mmmmmm first zip for some time. it would be the last if I thought that this was the best I could do. I should have ripped it out and done it better. Shoulda. Sometimes though I don't think it is a bad thing to leave yourself reminders around the place, this dress will always remind me that I like hand picked lapped zippers better than horribly topstitched ones like this. I will never do a horrid one again. till next time.

Anyway you can barely see the horror when worn, I don't know many other seamstresses to pick fault with me.

I made another one this week in a cheap ponte type thick jersey, no zip. Goes on over my head, I used a zig zag stitch on the waist and a piece of elastic to help it shrink back. It is too big really on the waist, possibly because of the stretch...next time I will maybe shave a inch from the waist to fit it with less ease. I think despite it looking a bit big that I will wear it a lot, it is comfy enough for working in and looks smartish too.

I didn't interface the waist of either dress, I didn't cut out the waist lining piece either. I didn't see the need, in retrospect interfacing the waist would have reduced the stretch so made it fit smaller on the waist, it would have also emphasised the waist band more which might look nice. I will maybe use some silk organza in the next one. I feel like making it in a wool suiting type for work.

 

 

 

Burda Tunic Dress 124 11/13

This is a simple Tunic style dress from Burda. I buy the magazine each month. Not sure why but I don't tend to actually do anything with it, I just leave them all over the house. I like it when someone picks one up for a browse and makes 2 pages before realising that it isn't quite Tatler.

Anyway I have been thinking about buying the Laurel pattern, but why when here is something similar for free. (it was free if I found it under the sofa, right?).
The pattern is super easy, most difficult thing is tracing the bits onto oven paper.

It is rather shapeless. not sure why I am surprised by that because it looks shapeless in the picture and the line drawing. never the less I am surprised as ever that shapeless doesn't look good on me (maybe I am too broad in the shoulders for it?)..... I always like the concept more than the execution on these shift dresses. Actually in the latest copy of Burda there is another shift which I want to trace....I just like the simplicity of the shape, and mild self torture.

The benefit of a shapeless dress is that you can eat as much food as you like and still not feel the groan of a seam. Which is what I did on Christmas day in this very dress.

The fabric is a stretch denim with gold lame running through it. I think it is lovely and I will buy more when I go back to fabworks in Dewsbury if indeed they have any left. I should have really used its stretch to make something more form fitting. In fact this tunic could maybe have benefited from a fabric with less drape to help hold that square shape.

The seams are just finished with a zig zag - still no overlocker in my Christmas stocking, worse luck. They are still quite tatty, I would have preferred to use seam binding I think but I didn't have any and wanted the dress NOW.

 

The neckline is nice, I left off the hook because I like how low it is, you need a bit of a flash when no one can see your waist.

I enjoyed making it and the facing made sense even with Burda instructions.

The chickens are a recent addition to the garden. They love me. They maybe also like the bread I give them for a treat....The one I am cuddling is called Red, she likes worms and pecking at the drain.
They have a very dry coop, hence the crap pictures, taken out of the rain, in poor light!