Back to Work...

So I'm about to get back in the game and teach a few sewing classes! I must admit that I'm a little bit nervous, having been out of the game for nearly six months, but I know that they'll be heaps of fun. If you or anyone you know might be interested in attending a class, please read on...

At The Village Haberdashery, North London:

The Renfrew Top class 

Saturday, 8th March, 10:00am - 1:30pm, £90

(image source: Sewaholic Patterns)

The Sewaholic Renfrew pattern has become a firm favourite with the online sewing community. And with good reason, it is basically the perfect women's basic tee! In this class you'll learn how to sew with knit fabrics whilst making your own semi-fitted v-neck, scoop-neck or cowl-neck t-shirt. The fabric and pattern are included in the course fee. The Village Haberdashery have some fabulous organic jerseys by Monaluna for you to choose from, check out their ranges Raaga knits and Woodland knits (pictured below). You'll leave class with a great new top and the confidence to tackle any knit pattern you've been coveting!

(image source: The Village Haberdashery)

Sew Your Own Knickers class: SOLD OUT! Sorry peops...

At Sew Over It, South London:

Introduction to Commercial Sewing Patterns class
Tuesday 1st April, 6.30pm - 8.30pm, £40

This session will designed to demystify and explain how to use commercial sewing patterns. This is a discussion and demonstration based class, not a practical 'doing' one. This class is perfect for someone who has already taken a beginners sewing class or generally feels ok using a sewing machine, and now wants to amp their skills to become a confident dress-maker.

Topics covered will include:

• What to do if your measurements span two or more sizes on the pattern 
• What to do if you are taller or shorter than the pattern has been designed for 
• What the differences between vintage and modern patterns are How to select appropriate fabric for your pattern 
• What all the symbols on the pattern mean and what to do about them 
• Plus lots more. 

Dolores's Christmas Dress

Here's some makery for you. I started this cute little dress for my little lady whilst I was still pregnant, a time that feels sooo far away now but was actually only just over 4 months ago, and picked it up again to complete and give to her for Christmas. This garment is for a baby of about 1 years old so there's still ages before it will see action. My main issue with it is that I want to wear it myself! 

Pattern:

I'm not sure if it's Burda magazine or me, but for ages now I haven't liked any of the women's patterns in it. However the above edition (9/2013) had some baby's wear patterns that I definitely felt belonged in my pattern-arsenal. I imagine I'll come back to some of these patterns again and again, tracing a bigger size each time. If you want to get hold of this dress pattern you can find it on the Burdastyle website here (along with the other baby patterns from the magazine edition). 

Fabric and Notions:

Like the majority of my makes these days, this dress is comprised of 100% stash stuff. The navy fabric is some poly/cotton bought in Shepards Bush market years ago that just won't seem to disappear despite having made several things from it now. The contrast polka dot fabric that I used for the yokes and pockets came from my last 'proper' job. The heart braid was bought from a tiny shop in the Gothic quarter in Barcelona that sold only braid (!). I really love how these randomly sourced elements look perfect together. 

Construction:

This was a relatively simple garment to whip together, although I overlocked all the raw edges inside to give it a clean finish. The only problem I encountered was my own laziness and reluctance to figure out the old school manual method of making button holes on my new (to me) sewing machine, so I cheated and stitched poppers down the back instead! To be honest, with seven sets of tiny poppers to stitch on, it probably would have taken the same amount of time to just sit down and work out how to use the machine, but at least popper stitching can be done on the sofa whilst enjoying a small vino. 

Conclusion:

Sewing baby/children's clothes is frikkin' awesome! Who knows if it'll fit (if you're making it as far in advance as this one) but when it takes as little time and fabric as this project, you're unlikely to mind so much if it doesn't work out. Plus there's not so many fit issues to consider so the likelihood of it not working out is reduced as well. So, who's up for the challenge of grading this pattern up to an adult-lady size?! I've still got some of that damn navy poly/cotton left...

1940s Tea Dress Pattern Giveaway!!!

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, THANKS EVERYONE WHO ENTERED**

To celebrate their first sewalong for their new sewing pattern range, 'Sew Over It' is offering readers of this blog the opportunity to score themselves a 1940s Tea Dress sewing pattern (pictured above). This dress style is a gorgeous, updated version of a vintage look that I guarantee looks amazing in both printed and solid fabrics. In fact, this pattern is close to my heart as it is one of the classes that I have taught at 'Sew Over It's' bricks and mortar shop/sewing school in South London, plus I helped develop the instructions for this pattern. Check out Lisa's delightful peaches and cream silk version pictured below, plus you can see my black version of this pattern here.

How to Enter:

There are three copies of this pattern up for grabs. This giveaway/competition is open internationally and with no cost to yourselves. All you have to do is help 'Sew Over It' decide which of their in-the-flesh classes they should release as a sewing pattern next. So head over to the classes page of their website and decide which garment you'd most like to be made available as a pattern and leave a comment in the comment box of this post. Along with your answer, please leave a way for me to contact you if you are successful (i.e. if I can't find your email address within two clicks of my mouse, leave your email address in the body of the comment). Email addresses will not be used for anything other than contacting you if you win this giveaway.

Make sure you have commented by midnight GMT on Wednesday 12th February to enter. The following day I will use a random number generator to select three winners for the three copies of the 1940s Tea Dress sewing pattern and contact them to get their postal addresses to forward on to Sew Over It so they can send out the prize.

Good luck lovelies!

Toddler Leggings Vs Napping

No, this project not going to set the sewing world alight with it's complexity, but the fact that I have managed to make something, let alone something that is actually wearable, means that I win. My baby girl blessed me with a succession of tiny windows of opportunity (opportunities that perhaps I should have spent napping or trying to excavate the lounge under all the nappy sacks) to make her cousin Anya (18 months old) a couple of pairs of leggings for Christmas. 

Pattern:

'And then came Ottobre magazine, and lo, it was good...' My mum bought me a subscription of the children's version of Ottobre for my birthday last year and I flip out with excitement each time one appears on my door step. Well technically it's not my door step, we share it with another flat and the pub below (yes I live above a pub). I digress...

This pattern is a super simple toddler leggings pattern that consists of two pieces, a front and a back. I omitted the knee patch piece, but I have some ace ideas for making knee patched versions in the future. To be honest I haven't really got my head round baby and toddler sizing yet. These magazines use height guides rather than age suggestions, plus I haven't figured out if Ottobre patterns generally come up big/small etc. They then confuse things further by telling you age and heights of the models wearing the style. It nearly melted my sleep-deprived mind. But after some texting with my sister-in-law and further deliberation, I chose to make the smallest size (92cms) but add about 4cms to the leg length just in case. In the end they did come out a bit long, but they looked pretty cool with turn ups and it means that they should have a longer lifespan. 

The pattern is a great basic, but I feel that the illustrations are a little misleading. Even taking into account the extra 4cms I added to the leg length, I think the final garments (as seen at pictured at the top of this post) came out quite different in proportion to the stubby, baby wear-esque illustration in the magazine (pictured above). 

Fabric:

Anya is quite a girly girl so I chose some fabric from my stash that reflected that. The fabric on the left is some Liberty jersey that I've had knocking about for about as long as Anya is old. The fabric on the right I've had for longer, I acquired it at a sewing meet up/swap in Brighton a couple of years back, I think it used to belong to Tilly. Both are very sturdy jerseys with a good recovery, just what you need for a toddler, I'd imagine.

Details:

These garments are obviously pretty plain and functional items, so I added these little labels (also acquired from a sewing meet up/swap) to make them a little more special. I also think it's handy to clearly indicate in some way which is the front and back on an ambiguous garment style like this, particularly as getting babies and children dressed can be like trying to wrestle an octopus!  

Conclusion:

I think these came out really well and I was pleased to see got quite a few wearings by Anya whilst we were in town visit Pat's family. I'll definitely be making a whole stack of them for Dolores when she is big enough in a variety of solids and prints. I'll probably be doing that instead of napping. 

If you sew for babies/toddlers/children, do you have a favourite 'workhorse' pattern that you come back to again and again?

Goodbye 2013: Plus Sewlution Success!

January 2014 is already into double figures but I don't want to wave goodbye to 2013 without a little look back:

(image source: Me-Made-May'13 flickr group)

Me-Made-May '13

2013 saw the most well-subscribed, exciting and vibrant me-made/self-stitched challenge yet. So many people signed up for Me-Made-May '13 by pledging to wear their self-made creations more often, and the flickr group reflected that with over 6000 outfit images posted there! You can hear (yes hear) me chatting about the challenge here. I'm so excited about 2014's Me-Made-May!

(image source: Miss P)

The Refashioners

I also had the pleasure of taking part in The Refashioners challenge. Organised by the ever-awesome Miss P, the purpose of this challenge was to bring the concept of refashioning to a wider sewing audience by asking a whole mixed bunch of talented soles to transform randomly assigned second-hand items into reworked wondrousness. Have a look here at what the unassuming collection above became if you didn't already...

My Sewlution

Along with a large slice of the online sewing community, I took up the challenge set by Karen from Did You Make That? at the tail end of 2012 to identify our own sewing aims for the forthcoming year. My personal sewlution was to make 12 garments in 12 months. But not just any old makes, I specified that these garments had to be successful in the areas of comfort, fit and in reflecting my sense of style. These items had to become regularly worn items, not just items that get dragged out for Me-Made-May!

Regular readers of this blog will of course be aware that I spent the majority of 2013 pregnant. Before I started to show I racked up some nice makes all of which fit my criteria (or would have done if I'd had a chance to wear them for longer had I not started changing shape)

1) leopard print Mathilde blouse (pictured above),
2) 40's Tea dress,
3) Mustard Marinière trousers,
4) Lady-like Pussy Bow blouse,

But from April-ish onwards my pregnancy began to dominate most of my sewing activities and effected the sewlution challenge. Because the maternity garments would naturally have a limited lifespan, I wasn't so worried about accurately reflecting my sense of style and felt freer to use fabric and try styles that weren't entirely 'me'. They included:

5) Africa Wax fabric Washi dress
6) Grey Tova dress
7) Peter Pan collar batwing tops (counted as one because the pattern is the same)
8) Vintage fabric handbag (no, not technically a garment but these are my rules and it sure as hell sees a lot of use)
9) Black and blue maternity treggings (once again, counted as one because the pattern is more or less the same)
10) Stripey long sleeved T-shirt
11) Nautical jersey dress and black batwing jersey dress
12) Modcloth-inspired maternity top 

PLUS there was the spotty maternity T-shirt remake and the fancy-sleeved grey T-shirt (pictured above) if you don't think the bag should count in the list! So you see: sewlution success! How did you get on with your sewlution if you took up the challenge last year?

Sailor Slacks and Offset Warehouse Free Thread Code

(Image Source)

First up: you may or may not have heard of the Offset Warehouse, but if you are interested in making some more socially and environmentally sustainable fabric purchases, they are your dudes (/dudettes). I'll be coming back to this topic and this company in the New Year, but in the meantime I am able to offer you a check out code that will entitle you to a free organic cotton thread when you spend over £30. Valid until 31st Jan 2014, the code is: SoZoLovesEco

So, currently I am trying to crawl commando-soldier style out of the heaven/hell of the three months since the baby-tornado landed squarely on my life. And as I metaphorically pick myself up and dust myself off, I've discovered that, lo and behold, I have a body! It's a bit of a mess, and different from the pre-preggers times with its larger, leaky boobs and its looser, slightly crinkly belly skin. But it's familiar none the less. My post-birth wardrobe now consists of three pairs of pre-pregnancy leggings/jeggings and on top I'm wearing layers of vests, jersey tops and cardigans, the combo I've found to be the easiest for 'gaining access' to breast feed without freezing. And whilst I'm pinned to the sofa feeding Dolores or being used as her bed, my thoughts often wander to my long-lost bezzie: sewing.

I'm getting a little fed up of my limited selection of clothing and am longing to add a little stylistic variety for getting out and about in. Sewing woven dresses or tops is pointless as my bust has grown and I don't want to waste precious time and fabric when I don't know what I'll be 'left with' when I stop breast feeding and deflate. I have more than enough jersey tops to keep me going even with a couple of vom-incidents (her not me, usually) each day, so there's no need to make any of those either. I can't begin to imagine ever having enough time again to spend on a large project like a coat or jacket so that leaves bottoms to consider sewing next. I wear skirts so infrequently (particularly in Winter/Spring) plus I already have some awesome ones, so I'm planning trousers. Will you help me?

(Image Source)

Over a year later, I am still lamenting the death of my black and denim pairs of sailor trousers. Plus the wide legged style would be a really different silhouette to my current be-jegginged one, so that's what we are looking at here people. So let's talk pattern-options, I'd appreciate your opinions...

Firstly, there's the old 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' option of using the same pattern (Burda 8488, pictured above) that I used for my previous two pairs of sailor trousers. Using this would make sense because A) I already own the pattern, B) am confident of the construction process, and C) know the fit issues. But it's a bit boring using the same pattern, isn't it?!

Then there's this Sailor Style Pants pattern that is available for download on the Burdastyle website, but I think I may also own the copy of the Burda mag that originally featured this pattern. I like the variation in style where the front pleats are trapped down by the buttons. I think this would look great in a fabric that has quite a bit of drape, so possibly not the most appropriate garment for a shitty Winter like the one we are currently looking down the barrel at. 

Whilst we are mining the wealth of patterns on Burdastyle, check out these bad boys pictured above. I'm not too sure about the waistband element as those tend to give me trapped wind (TMI?! Another result of having given birth is that I no longer have any shame!) but they are mighty handsome strides, let's make no mistake! Obvs I wouldn't bother with the back pocket coz I'm a lazy-arse. 

And then there's the Hot Patterns Riviera Hello, Sailor! Pants pattern. I like the leg shape of these but my current sewing machine does not have a one-step button hole function so I'm kind of baulking at the prospects of all those buttons! If I did go for this one I'd omit the tie-back feature. 

My final offering for your perusal is the Kwik Sew 3854 pictured above. Technically a shorts pattern, I'm sure these could be elongated with little bother. A somewhat subtler version which also has an added benefit in that I already own this pattern having bought it just before I became pregnant and therefore has yet to be used.

So there we have it peops, what are your thoughts? Which should I use to form the basis of my next sewing project? Has anyone used any of these and feel it could be recommended or should be avoided? Or do you know of any other sailor trousers/pants/shorts patterns that you think I should use? Thanks in advance! 

Labour in Labour

I was wondering earlier today if I am merely naive, or actually slightly touched by madness. The reason being that, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to organise the biggest craft market that I've created to date at EXACTLY the point when I become a mother of a tiny baby for the first time. I had already booked the usual venue for not one but two weekends of festive contemporary crafty goodness before I became pregnant but instead of either cancelling the dates or passing the organisation over to someone else, I decided to go ahead with organising them myself. I thought that I'd be easily able to check my emails here and update the blog there during my final weeks of pregnancy and whilst wrangling a tiny infant. Pat has a photo of me answering Craftaganza emails during the 17 hours of labour that I spent at home before my contractions were close together enough to be allowed to head to the hospital (33 hours from breaking waters to baby, in case you were wondering!).

With over 110 sellers over the two weekends it's been a real challenge, and in hindsight I would not have taken it on, but I am proud of myself for having achieved this and goodness knows we could use the money at the moment. But I guess my actions do show the extent that self-employed people and those who work from home have trouble stepping away from their work. There's probably a more in-depth point to make from all this but I'm too tired to extract it at the moment.

So if you happen to be in the Brighton area, or at least South-East England and looking for something to check out this weekend and/or the following, you'll find some incredible designer-makers selling their wares at the Fabrica Gallery in Central Brighton. You'll be able to scoop up some phenom unique Christmas presents and with different sellers each weekend there's no reason not to visit twice! And there'll be mulled wine. Unless I drink it all.