She Who Sews

So, I've been looking back at my blogposts, and have to say, there haven't been that many of them this year. And the reasons why? Well, we started extending our house back at the beginning of March. Anyone who has ever had building work done will know what a huge upheaval that is to a household. It took pretty much 6 months to complete to a state we could all start living happily again, and now we have the builders back in to correct a fairly fundamental issue. So my newly created sewing room has been off bounds again, sealed off (literally, with tape around the door) and me unable to do anything again. Another reason for the last month has been a fairly sad, and ongoing family situation. One that we hope won't last for too long for the sake of the family as a whole. But needless to say, it's been clouding my creativity somewhat.

I have failed on a pattern test, failed to keep up my side of several sewing ambassador commitments, and for that, I am truly sorry. Sometimes life throws you a curveball.... and it keeps on curving at the moment.

I can't wait to get back into sewing again, get back into life as it was pre-building work, pre-family illness. I think my sanity will return!

So I made myself a top just before my sewing room was sealed off. It's been a fair while since I made myself anything, and I hoped it would cheer me up somewhat. It hasn't worked 100% as expected as it's just made me aware of my own body image hang-ups.... bleurghhh.



This is the Maritiem top by the Eli Monster. I wanted to apply to test this pattern when the call was put out, but with all the things going on, I decided it best not to add to my stress levels. It's a fairly simple knit top, which is designed to be semi-fitted, with three quarter length sleeves.



The pattern comes in two teen sizes, then adult sizes A-H. I have found that I need to make top patterns based on my upper bust measurement rather than full bust, I obviously have a wide back, and not very big boobies! So going by my measurements I needed to make a pattern based on a size B chest, E waist, and D hips. Frankly, I couldn't be bothered to grade over all those sizes. I printed off size B and C, and used B shoulders, neck and armholes, then graded out to C from the armhole to bottom hem. I added an inch at the waistline as I know I have a slightly longer torso than normal. Yes, it would probably be a bit snug, but I prefer a slightly tighter cut to my t-shirts.



So the finished top doesn't fit me too badly at all! I think I know where Layla gets her larger back and shoulders from, as I seem to have the same fit issues as her, my shoulders seem too wide at the back, but perfect at the front. The width is fine for me, but I would perhaps have widened it slightly at the bottom hem for a touch looser fit over jeans.



And then the pictures. I am so shapeless, and my belly seems larger than my non-existent chest... It makes me sad to see the pictures. I know why I have very, very few mirrors in the house.



Anyway, enough of self-pity. The fabric is a pure viscose that I bought a couple of years ago thinking it was a woven, not knit. I would not go out of my way to buy viscose now, knowing the very intensive chemical manufacturing process. But as I had it already, it seemed silly to have it sit and go to waste. It's a lovely thin, bright printed, very stretchy fabric. I think I may have enough left over to make Layla a matching top. She would love that.

The Maritiem Top is on sale this week as part of the Spooky/Sweet blog tour, along with The Nieuw Dress, The Rivier Dress, The Süsse Skirt and The Sötnos Shirt. Here is the full line up:
Monday 15th October - Seams Normal
Tuesday 16th October - Threadistry, Marieke Falderieke
Thursday 18th October - She Who Sews (you're reading me!), A SiwSiw
Friday 19th October - Random Knack, Frullemieke, SoVeryJo

Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

Back at the start of the summer my sister came to visit us, looking decidedly unwell. It turns out, she was three months pregnant and suffering tremendously with sickness, the poor girl. But it was the greatest news, there would be a new baby in the family, and it meant my children would become cousins and I would be an Aunty!

Of course, my mind was buzzing with the potential for cute clothes and then a realisation that baby clothes, although cute, have to be functional and soft, and those two things mean poppers/snaps and knit fabrics. These are not my strong point.



So I went online fabric shopping, not knowing the gender of the baby meant that my pink cat or pink fox jersey would potentially not be suitable! It just so happens that around the same time as the happy announcement from my sister, Fabworks took a delivery of super soft organic cotton interlock jersey in some really super gender neutral prints. Perfect! I couldn't believe how soft and thick this jersey was when it arrived. Layla has already claimed some of the cat fabric for pyjamas for herself... now if only I could find the time for all these projects...



I could have gone crazy with the ordering, well, I did a little, but chose to limit myself to just 3 prints/colours. A green elephants marching print, with coordinating plain green. A badgers in cravats with coordinating mustard yellow stripes. And finally, a purple cats with coordinating plain purple. And the best of all, a super soft, super snuggly cotton sherpa. (I must admit to have been searching for a long time for cotton sherpa. I am aiming to cut down on manmade fibres, so have not bought any of the poly sherpa. I was lucky enough last year to get gifted some cotton sherpa to make Trailblazer vests, (read here) but ordering this in from America is ridiculously costly.) I personally would have dressed my baby (whatever the gender) in any of these prints, but after ordering them I had real doubts about my decision and started second guessing what my sister would or wouldn't like.



Then I needed to go baby pattern shopping too. I didn't sew for my own two children when they were babies. A mixture of exhaustion, zero time and not really having taken it up again at that time. Most of my patterns go down to age 18 months or two years, not suitable for a newborn babe! I asked around some of the pattern groups, and UK sewing groups for suggestions for beginner baby patterns, or patterns that were fool proof for someone with limited skills with knits. I was directed to Made by Jack's Mum (MBJM) by many people, so decided to bite the bullet and buy a baby bundle that would give me many different variations of clothing to make. My fallback was also Twig + Tale, many of their patterns are available in baby sizes too.

I printed out a few newborn patterns, and marvelled at their tiny size. Sewing for big kids is beginning to require a lot of paper for the patterns, and a lot of material for the clothes that are made. Sewing for a teeny baby was going to be a novelty. The whole romper pattern was smaller than the bodice for a dress for Layla! I have to admit, I then left everything for a good few weeks, maybe even months. For whatever reason, the thought of making a mess of these tiny clothes just put me off entirely. And snap crotches scared me :O



I eventually pulled my finger out, and got on with it. I cut out the badgers in the cravats first. A MBJM harem romper, a Twig & Tale hooded Pathfinder vest and Barefoot romper. The first pattern I made was the harem footed romper by MBJM, and it was the cutest thing ever. Quickly followed by the Pathfinder, lined in the snuggliest cotton sherpa. And then the Barefoot romper. This pattern is daunting, there are a gazillion options, but if you read the instructions carefully, every single step is laid out neatly to produce the romper you want.



Boosted by the success of this first batch of clothes, I then cut out the purple cat fabric. A pair of MBJM harem pants, envelope neck sleep shirt, and coordinating envelope neck long sleeved bodysuit in plain purple. This whole set is just too cute and made me get on with the last set.



The last set is in the marching elephants. As I'd made the other sets in newborn/preemie size, I figured this one should be in 0-3 months, then I'd covered all bases. I made up another pair of harem pants, this time with the faux pocket, a plain green envelope neck bodysuit, and to top the set off, a Pixie hat that I scaled down to 0-3 month size, lined in snuggly cotton sherpa.



Honestly, I don't know why I was worried to hand over these sets of clothes, everyone around me that I had shown them to fell in love with them. So as handover arrived, I nervously presented them to the parents to be, and was met with the same ahh's and instant love for them. Phew!



I can't wait (and nor can the parents to be) for the new arrival. I will gladly wait for pictures of it modelling my little clothes, and no doubt produce my own ahh's and how sweet's. For the time being, the doll I made my son has modelled a couple of the items, and I think he looks pretty damn cute in them ;)



Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

I've long had a soft spot for Eli Monster patterns, but I've never made any of the boys patterns that they sell. So this has now changed!



I was given a choice of patterns to sew up, mostly girls, with just one boy pattern, the Kamp Shirt. I figured my boy was long overdue another shirt, the one I made him earlier in the year has been outgrown.



He's super picky, and finding a fabric he likes is virtually impossible, so I tried a different tactic. His dad had cleaned out his wardrobe and had a pile of shirts that either didn't fit, or he wasn't going to wear again. So I gave my boy the choice of all the discarded shirts. He was very happy to pick a vibrant Hawaiian print (taking after his Dad in so many ways!!). Excuse his face!



As I was upcycling, I had to think about which elements of the grown up shirt I wanted to keep. I figured that the button plackets and hems were important, and placed my pattern pieces (minus placket and hem allowance) accordingly. Lining up the front piece it became clear that the pocket was in the way, so I unpicked it to re-position on the new shirt. I carefully cut the main front and back pieces first. Then I cut the existing sleeves from the shirt right at the seam line to give myself the maximum fabric possible. I lined up my pattern pieces on the big sleeves and cut them out maintaining their sleeve hem.



From the shirt fabric bits that were left, I cut one collar stand, one collar and one back yoke. I then needed to find a complimentary fabric to cut the other of each these pieces. I used some blue polycotton left over from the Alice in Wonderland outfit. It's nice and soft, and I know that is big deal for my son, to not have scratchy/itchy seams/clothes.



The shirt came together really easily and quickly (I like not having to make button plackets, button holes and hems!). The instructions were clearly illustrated with pictures, which always helps, especially for the burrito method of sewing the back yoke.



I blame tiredness for pinning my sleeves back to front, and then posting up pictures in the group saying the pattern was wrong! What I hadn't done was look at my pattern notches closely enough, and pinned the sleeves front to back and vice versa. I'm pleased to say that once I realised my mistake, the sleeves and notches lined up beautifully ;)



And now for the tricky bit. Summer seems to have left us, rather quickly. It's now a bit on the cold side, and taking photos was a chore. My boy was such a trooper though and managed to be chilly for a bit, so long as he could put back on his jacket straight afterwards!



You can get your Kamp shirt pattern from the Eli Monster website.

The fun part (shamelessly stolen from Seams Normal)

Between the 16th and 23rd of September all patterns used for this blog tour can be purchased with reduction. You only pay $7 for the following patterns* (no coupon code needed): The Speeltijd Shorts, The Kinderschürze Pinafore, The Picknick Dress, The Schatje Skirt and The Kamp Shirt..

And to finish I would like to give an overview of the other blog tour participants coming up in the following days.
15 September: Seams Normal
15 september: A random knack
16 september: Threadistry
17 september: Frullemieke and myself
18 september: Big Fly notions and Soveryjo
19 september: A siwsiw thing, Mother from girl and boy and Marieke Falderieke

Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

These new patterns couldn't have come at a better time for my daughter. All of a sudden she seems to be moving away from the many, many dresses I have made her and complaining she doesn't have any tops or shorts to wear.



So when I showed her the pictures of this summery top and shorts set, she surprised me with her enthusiasm for them! This is the Sunny Side top and Heat Wave shorts.



The top is a tube top style with a shaped pointed front bodice, and an elasticated straight back. The front ties around the neck creating a cute v-shaped teardrop shape, but also helps secure the top into the correct position. An option to tie the neck ties to the back bodice was also included in the pattern.



A big frill, or ruffle, encircles the top of the bodice, adding detail, but also hiding the elastic casing in the back. The 'skirt' portion is gently gathered into the small bodice to give an airy feel. This top can also be made into a loose and breezy dress. From a sewing point of view, this top is ace, it has fully enclosed or french seams throughout, so much so I think I need to put a label in it for my daughter as she can't tell which side out to put it on!



I bought this bright blue check fabric from Fabworks last year (I can no longer see it on their website, but they have very similar fabrics in stock), with the intention of making a shirt for my son. However, despite picking it from the website, he then declared when I'd ordered it, and it arrived, that he really didn't like it. It's sat, unloved and folded in my large fabric stash, along with two other checks I ordered at the same time, ever since. I felt in the interests of using up my stash and not buying more fabric that they ought to see some love. Thankfully, adding this top to the white shorts with pink spots has worked well for Layla, she doesn't object to the blue, so long as there is some pink in there somewhere!



The shorts have a simple elasticated waist, but are slim fitting, with a very cute faced scalloped edge. I made a straight age 6 for these, even though she doesn't measure a 6 on her teeny bottom or waist. Instead, I took a smaller length of waist elastic, so they are more cinched in than perhaps they should be.



The set just works! I sent the pictures to my mum and she exclaimed that she had a very similar set around the same age (sorry mum, but have to mention it's an early 60's style!), so vintage looks are definitely coming around again!



Since taking the final pictures for this set, she has worn it every day. I think this is definitely a measure of how comfy, and how much she liked it. As a little budding gymnast, she even proved that given a big lawn, she could cartwheel, handstand and do numerous back and front walkovers in this set, so I conclude it is 100% playproof.



You can buy the shorts and top set as a bundle, or the Sunny Side top and Heat Wave shorts separately, they are all on sale until Sunday 3rd June, midnight PDT.

Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.


*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

When Bernadette issued a testing call for this new dress, it was so lovely, that I agreed to test it out even before I showed it to my daughter. This could have been a totally fatal flaw, but as it turned out, even Miss Fussy Pants liked the design! This is the U-Turn dress.



I tested out several variations of the non-reversible, round neckline dress, from the very first version to making up a muslin of the final pattern. I won't bore you with all the muslin fit pics.... most are of a very grumpy unkempt looking child! The bodice can be made with either a round or square neckline, and can be adorned with ruffles (either single layer or lined) or not. Although I didn't try it out, the dress can be made fully reversible.

My first dress was made up in a mashed age 4 width with age 6 height. The waistband was originally darted to give it shape, but in the end, this caused far more problems than the darts fixed, so this was the first version change.



I chose the vintage length skirt, with lined ruffles on the bodice for my first dress, as per Little Miss Fussy Pant's directions. The dress has three skirt lengths to chose from, vintage, ruffled and basic. The vintage length skirt should hit 2/3 of the way to the knee.



This first version came out a bit too vintage length and would require shorts or bloomers underneath for most (not my girl, she doesn't care!), so that was another change to be marked down for the final version. My girl could happily twirl and spin all day long on the beach in dresses like this!



And on to the back, the back is the one bit of this pattern that I adore the most. The shape is just wonderful. The back gently curves down each side, and when crossed over creates a wonderful soft v-shape.



The dress wraps over at the back, secures on the waistband with snaps (or buttons if you prefer). Don't be worried about an 'open' back skirt, the wrap over is large enough that even the strongest gust of wind won't deem the dress inappropriate.



I used a plain yellow cotton poplin for my bodice and waistband, and paired it with the bright floral, Floating World - Hiroshige by Snow Leopard Designs. This is quilting cotton and has a good weight to it, I would only use this on the non-reversible dress version, it would be too heavy in the reversible option.



My second version uses the final pattern, so it has a lengthened bodice, a straight fully enclosed waistband, and for this version, I chose the skirt ruffle too (again on Little Miss Fussy Pant's request). This was an age 6 bodice and skirt, and age 4 width waistband. I wished I'd gone for the age 6 waist which was Bernadette's suggestion, but I thought I knew better... however, I will now be unpicking the waistband and fiddling around letting out the seam allowances to make it fit for more than a few weeks!



We were at the beach again! You'd think this was the same day, but no, it was about two weeks apart in some very unprecedented warm weather that graced our patch of Cornwall.



This version has more ease in the waistband and a longer length, fitting more gently into the natural waist, and the ruffle skirt giving a bit of growing room in the length. This ruffle length skirt and the basic skirt both fall just above the knee.



This final version gives an even more stunning shape to the back!



Since these pictures, I have unpicked my original dress and replaced the first darted waistband with the new updated version. I haven't yet got pictures as my daughter has clearly had some sort of growth spurt and now the waist is simply too tight in the size I made it!

The U-Turn dress will be on special release price until midnight (PDT) Sunday 20th May. Why not join the Duchess and Hare pattern group on Facebook to check out all the other versions?!

Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.


*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

When I saw the call go up for the Sahara top in the Bella Sunshine Designs group, I wanted to try it out. Knit/jersey/stretch fabrics are not my forte, but I know my kids like wearing them.



I have had some large scraps of cotton lycra left over from making myself some long sleeved t-shirts a year or so ago and I always planned to make some matching tops for Layla. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.



I printed off the pattern, and as is customary with BSD, I blended sizes for skinny Layla, so an age 5 chest, age 3 waist and age 6 height.



Then I cut the pattern without much thought. I got to the last piece to cut from my cat fabric and realised I didn't have enough to do the main back piece on the fold, I could have cried! So I ended up having a seam down my centre back. It's too bad I didn't check before cutting, because I could have hidden that seam in the back lining (which is marginally smaller than the main piece).



So, after my cutting disaster, I pieced my fabric together on my sewing machine. The pattern suggests you use a sewing machine rather than an overlocker to reduce seam bulk as this is a fully lined bodice. I did use the overlocker to finish the bodice/skirt seam though, because that was so much quicker than zig-zagging on the sewing machine!



The end result is a super cute cat top with a full circle peplum which Layla loves to twirl in! The pattern has a big combination of options available: sleeveless, short sleeves, 3/4 sleeves and long sleeves. Then it can be a top, tunic or dress length too! It goes from 6months to 12 years of age, so I think we'll get a lot of use out of it. You can get the pattern on the Bella Sunshine Designs webshop.

Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

It was World book day on 1st March. The kids in the UK celebrate by dressing up as their favourite book characters. And every year, the night before, I get asked to make wonderful and fantastic costumes. I never pull it off in an evening, I never have the material, nor the right patterns. So this year, I started early after a suggestion by a friend.

The Alice in Wonderland costume became reality!



The Spinny Mini dress, with it's cute puff sleeves, pointed collar and full skirt seemed the perfect base. I'd also already adjusted the pattern back to fit my daughter, so there was no messing around creating adjustments.



Then came the apron. In the pictures of the old Disney Alice in Wonderland film, Alice wears a white apron over her blue dress. It has a small rectangular apron, with almost a full bodice section with cap sleeves jutting out over the puff sleeves of her dress. It ties at the back waist with a big impressive bow. But in true cartoon style, there are no fastenings for the top of the dress, nor for the top of the apron.



The top front half of the apron looks almost exactly like the top half of the Pretty Pinnie pattern, with the cap sleeves and rounded neck. But I didn't want a full skirt. So the bottom half of the apron comes from the apron part of the Petit Four pattern. Unlike cartoon films, my pinafore needed to have some sort of strap on the back to keep it staying up! I used the cross straps from the A La Heart pattern, and sewed them in to the waist ties of the apron. You can find a full tutorial for the making of this apron on my guest blog for Duchess and Hare.



In the cartoon, Alice also appears to have a big petticoat and bloomers on. Her skirts are below knee length, and the bloomers have a cute ruffle at the bottom, also below the knee.



I hashed up a petticoat using a lengthened Give Peace a Chance skirt, with extra ruffles of fabric along the rectangular band, and an extra ruffle of dress net sewn on just under the waistband.



The bloomers were made using the Spinny Mini bloomers pattern, again, lengthened to below knee length. I sewed a strip of bias about 2" above the hemline and threaded elastic through this to create the ruffle at the end.



Of course, if you make an Alice outfit, you have to have a little tea-party!



Sadly, due to some very unusual, very cold snow we had, our World Book Day event was cancelled. She didn't get to wear her outfit. Here's hoping that she will sometime soon!



Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.


*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*