White cliffs and a white dress
Hello again! This McCalls’s pattern #6696 has been said to be one of the best patterns there is for a nice shirtdress. I was planning to make it for the #sewtogetherforsummer challenge but life and summer plans got in my way and I finished it a couple of days too late. Anyway, I can join for all the people that praise this pattern. First, there are several different views, both with sleeves and without and two different sleeve lengths. There is a lovely pleated skirt that I love but also a narrow skirt for the people that don’t like that much volume. And finally there is even a shift to…
Penny for your thoughts
Sew over it published a new pattern about a week ago. It’s called Penny dress and it is another shirtdress and a gorgeous nod to the 1950s. What I really love is that this dress pattern turns into a blouse pattern with few simple modifications. What is even better, is that the women at Sew over it realised this and made a nice tutorial on how to do just that! As I was still pondering whether to make a dress or a blouse I found this piece of black and white polkadot cotton poplin in my stash. I hadn’t bought enough of it to make it into a dress but…
Vintage shirt dress by Sew Over It
Hi all! May I present the newest addition to my ever expanding dress collection: The vintage shirtdress by Sew Over It. The pattern for this dress is one of the two patterns I got a few days ago: I started working on this dress almost immediately since I happened to have a suitable viscose fabric ready. (Again a find from the factory remnants section…) I was between the sizes 8 and 10 and decided to cut the size 10 to be sure and add a bit to the hem to be able to adjust the length of the skirt (Note to self: The next time remember to add the extra…
Back button blouse and a trick for a neater understitching
This blouse 4655 from Lekala was published only a few weeks ago and I bought it almost immediately. The blouse has a fairly loose fit and a ruffled peplum. The shaping consists only of bust darts making it fairly quick to make. I also like the cuffs with the slits in them even if I ended up changing the design a bit when sewing it up. I have been saving some lovely cotton lawn by Atelier Brunette in my stash for a long time, but now decided that it was time for me to use it for this project. I usually get confused if I read Lekala’s instructions, but luckily…
Taking Lizzie to the seaside
The pattern of this fabric caught my attention immediately when I saw it online at Abakhan Fabrics Eesti. Since it was on sale I ordered the whole rest of the fabric which was just 130 cm. I was slightly disappointed to notice that the fabric had a small (ink?) stain on it, but luckily the stain was quite well hidden by the busy print. I thought for a while of sewing the fabric into a blouse (and cutting the pattern pieces around the stain) but finally got out my Sew Over It Lizzie skirt pattern where the stain is conveniently hidden behind one of the numerous pleats. I have made the…
Nostalgic polkadots
It seems that I have found another favourite pattern to use over and over again. I made this dress last summer and loved it, even if the fit wasn’t perfect. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this gorgeous lilac coloured polkadot viscose fabric when visiting Eurokangas in the neighbouring city that has slightly bigger selection than my local one. I have never worn this colour before, but I was pleasantly surprised that the colour suits my winter-pale complexion. Anyway, I got instant vintage feels and started thinking about sailor collars and flowing skirts with puffy sleeves, so I dug into my pile of sewing magazines and found the one…
Flounces and sunshine
The sun is shining today and makes me so happy. The grass is starting to grow and if the weather keeps like this the leaves are coming out in a couple of days. I am completely in the spring mood and I’m wearing my newest dress I made using Lekala pattern #4279. I mentioned getting this pattern free and was thinking of all kinds of romantic fabrics until I realised that the flounces need a more masculine fabric for the dress not to be overwhelmingly romantic. So I got this navy blue viscose from my stash that did not really appeal to me immediately. What I thought however was that when the…
Something classic out of Boundless Style
I bought this book by Kristiann Boos of Victory Patterns already when it came out 2015 but I haven’t really sewn anything out of it: I loved the idea of a pattern book where everything mixes and matches with everything else and you can pick and choose the skirt, the bodice and the sleeves according to your own preference. How often have I thought that “that dress would be perfect, if only the skirt was a bit wider” or “if it just had sleeves, I could wear it in the winter”. Anyway, as it turns out, picking and choosing is harder than it seems and finally after leafing through the…
Cézembre blouse
This blouse is something that I have completely forgotten to post here. It is by a French pattern designer Anne Kerdilè and can be found here. I have actually made this blouse twice. At first I made the smallest size but after finishing it I realised that it was just slightly too small at the shoulders. Luckily I had still enough fabric left, so I made a second blouse this time using a bigger size and now the fit is perfect. I like the unusual cut of the blouse. It is hard to see in the pictures, but the back piece is wider than usual and the seams joining the…
Granville shirt and a skirt
Granville shirt from Sewaholic is nowadays my go-to shirt pattern. Before this pattern, I wasn’t very comfortable sewing a shirt, but the instructions were so detailed that I now have the instructions printed out and I usually look at them even when sewing shirts from other patterns. I made this shirt from dark green poplin that has no stretch in it. I took the matching buttons from my old worn-out shirt that was on its way to the bin. Sewaholic patterns are designed for a pear shaped body and I had to make some changes to make this shirt fit me, but now I have a pattern that I can use…
