Sunshine Rosie Dress

Today’s dress is another Cotton and Chalk Rosie Dress. This will be the third time I have made this dress and I don’t want to bore anyone but I also want to show off the sunshiny loveliness of this dress. It’s a super flattering pattern as it has a V-neck and a middle panel, which adds shape.

This and the last one I made are a far cry from my first one and I feel it really showcases how far I have come in terms of the fit of my garments. My first did not fit at all, it was badly made and I didn’t know how to change it. Fast forward 18 months and I’m able to change the fit of my garments so much more to fit me.

I decided to leave this one sleeveless, both due to fabric restrictions and the fact that I have to accept that I needed some sleeveless dresses in the warm weather for my holidays! I used this lovely yellow block print cotton from Sew Me Sunshine and because of the wide skirt, two metres was just enough to make it.

I did not make my own binding because I did not have enough fabric so I used some plain yellow in my stash. I love binding my necklines so I love a pattern which actually plans for it even more! I also used it to finish the arm holes.

I used clear elastic to gather the skirt, which is my favourite way to get lovely, even gathers, I have written a tutorial for this over on Sew Me Sunshine and I use bias binding to finish the hem to give neat finish.

I don’t make much in yellow but it’s beautiful and bright and I absolutely love it. Sorry for the holiday pictures but I thought it might brighten autumn up a bit as I definitely wouldn’t be wearing this now! 😔

By the way, my amazing necklace in a Jazzy Lapin design for Sewalicious. It’s amazing!

September 22, 2018 5

2 year Bloggiversary and Giveaway!

Hi everyone,

It is so hard to believe it has been 2 years since I started my blog. I feel like I’ve abandoned it slightly recently and I hate that because I know when I read blogs and they suddenly tail off, it makes me sad. Fear not… It’s only temporary as I have been moving and trying to keep up with my masters at the same time. I am more in love with making my own clothes than ever and my machine has been unpacked so keep on watching this space.

Anyway, last year’s anniversary blog post went so well that I decided to do another one. I wanted to use it to make a popular pattern that I have not yet made and I chose the TATB Bettine.

As a firm fan of Sew Me Sunshine, I wanted to use their fabric to celebrate and the gorgeous Harriet said she would sponsor my giveaway- amazing! Anyway, I chose this gorgeous Jungle tropics cotton lawn and got started. I quite literally had to get my machine out of it’s box and dust it down.

I’ve been a bit skeptical about the Bettine as I wasn’t sure it would suit my figure. I thought it might not be flattering for a bigger bust but it is just so popular that I was ready to give it a go. I cut the size 8 and added about an inch to the front bodice for ease. As it’s an all in one piece with no darts it’s tricky to do a proper FBA but I just added it to the centre and did the same for the skirt but graded down. Anyway, the all in one bodice made it pretty easy to sew up so it’s pretty good. True to celebratory form, I added all the extras, making the cuffs and little tabs.

The bottoms half is a little different to construct because of the big pockets but as usual Tilly has it covered and they came together wonderfully, with neat finishes all round. Then all there is to do is sew the middle seam and add the elastic. There’s no tricky fastenings and it sewed it up in about an hour an a half. I thought it would be pretty fabric hungry too but it uses less than 2 metres and less still if you leave out or contrast the pockets. I kind of feel that I should have chosen something slightly more challenging for my bloggiversary but I love it.

When I put it on, I still wasn’t convinced about the shape and resorted to be trusty belt but then I went with it and oh my actual goodness, nothing could be comfier and I actually felt pretty nice in it. I wore it to a family gathering and it was perfect for the occasion. I will definitely be making more so any hack suggestions would be appreciated.

I styled it with my brogues and another seamstress Pin. I have them in every colour and the lovely Joy of Pink Coat Club is giving one away to celebrate!

Anyway, no celebration would be complete without a good giveaway so… To be in with the chance to winning 2 metres of Cotton lawn from Sew Me Sunshine, AND a pin of your choice from Pink Coat Club make sure you follow me on here and comment below. For an additional entry, head over to instagram and make sure you’re following me and Sew Me Sunshine and Pink Coat Club and comment over there too. I am so so grateful for these lovely ladies for sponsoring my giveaway.

T&Cs:You will be able to chose 2 metres of Cotton Lawn from Sew Me Sunshine, which will be sent directly from them. You will be able to chose 1 pin from Pink Coat Club, which will be sent directly from them. No private accounts or accounts solely used for giveaways will be entered.

The giveaway entries end Thursday 30th August 2018 at midnight British time. And it will be drawn and announced in my post on Friday 31st August. Good luck everyone!

August 24, 2018 27

Sew Me Sunshine Dalbury Doris

Hi everyone,

For my most recent make, I was definitely thinking spring. I love organising what I am going to wear and when the season has already changed in your head, what could be better than making clothes which suit it.

I chose this beautiful Dalbury Cotton Lawn for my make and wanted to make a floaty feminine dress to suit it. With this is mind, I chose the Sew Over It Doris Dress as it has a real feminine feel with skirt panels which add fullness at the skirt.

For more details on my dress please visit Sew Me Sunshine where the beautiful Ella has also written an amazing post.
I’m really happy with this super pretty dress. The fabric is a summery, floaty dream and I can’t wait for the sun to come out to wear it more!

This review in more detail was originally written for the Sew Me Sunshine blog, where Harriet at SMS gifted me this beautiful Cotton Lawn fabric to write about a sewing project and includes my own opinions about the pattern and fabric combination I chose.

April 22, 2018 0

Sewing Freya

I know, I know, everyone’s making it but it’s another Tilly and The Buttons Freya (in fact it’s another two!) but until you try this pattern you will not realise how amazing it is to make and wear.

It has a soft mock roll neck, a roll neck or a cowl neck and comes with two lengths, multiple sleeve lengths and an optional frill at the chest, which I think really mixes it up but this will not be happening in my life as I have no need to more fullness across my chest!

I pre-ordered the book and I was so excited that I got to work straight away and had a dress version of the Freya sewn up before the book was even officially released! Obviously, the book is called Stretch so you can use jersey or ponte. I went straight for a red jersey I had in my stash which had been patiently waiting all along for a project like this.

I chose the mock roll neck and made the dress version. The instructions, as always, are super easy to follow and the construction is really quick, I can see this becoming an easy wardrobe staple, especially as roll necks are so great for layering.

I didn’t want to miss out of the chance to ruffle it up so I cut two 3 inch strips the length of the fabric, stitched them in to a loop and gathered like mad! I then attached this to the bottom of the dress to make a bit of a feature. I’m in love with it!

After this success I decided I needed another in my life. I ordered some amazing rainbow stripe jersey from Sew Me Sunshine and got to work on another – again with a mock roll but this time in a top version. This one did not come together as easily because I chose stripes, I needed to make sure that they matched up (well as much as I could anyway). I don’t sew with stripes much but it was nice to take extra care to get it right and I’m really pleased with it. I feel a little bit like a wannabe as Tilly herself has made one very similar but I don’t care because I LOVE IT SO MUCH! It’s the perfect, bright, pick-me-up t-shirt. It also goes with ALL of my Pink Coat Club pins!

One more thing, I have had problems with the fit of TATB patterns before but this fits an absolute dream, I haven’t had to take out for my chest and I feel that it isn’t too tight. The vote for my April challenge seems to be the Joni Dress too so you’ll soon see another Stretch make on the blog hopefully!

April 11, 2018 8

Pencil Pencil Skirt

Hi everyone,

I love that making your own clothes means that you can play with prints and essentially create whatever you want to wear so when I bought this super cute pencil fabric from Sew Me Sunshine and I was looking through my fabric options in my Stash Buster Fabric Post I decided on a pencil skirt. Why not have a pencil skirt made of pencils?!

I had some success last year with Simplicity 8342 as part of the Simplicity turns 90 challenge. It’s a vintage style pencil skirt with a ruffle. I really like the overlapped zip detail and the neat finish. It has two darts at the front and four at the back, with a tulip style shape so I really like the shaping it gives you. I decided to go with this but to omit the ruffle this time.

I took the size down this time as I have been losing a little weight and it always goes from my hips first so my last skirt is starting to be a bit roomy. The construction of the skirt is a real pleasure and it comes together quite quickly. My lapped zip worked out really well and I’m happy with how neat it has turned out. The lines of the pencil even line up, even though they are not the same pencils!!

To finish the hem in leiu of the ruffles, I overlocked the hem and then turned it up (my new favourtie and most reliable way to hem a curve). Then I crossed the edges at the back, pinned them in place and ensured the stitching line met in the middle.

I absolutely love this skirt, I don’t want to be vain but it makes me really really feminine and curvy. I’m a little bit happy dance in it!

February 2, 2018 17

Sewing Cleo

Hi everyone,

I’m massively late on the bandwagon with this one… But I’ve made a Cleo! The pattern, by Tilly and the Buttons, (incase you didn’t know) has been made by pretty much everyone, in every shape, size and hack going but I was convinced it wasn’t for me. I didn’t think the shape would suit me.

Then, the black Friday sales rolled round and I could resist. I saw so many sales on pattern kits from some of the bigger companies and thought, I’m going to see how much it would cost me. Here goes :

Cleo pattern: 25% off in the sale: £7.13.

1 metre Needlecord: 20% off in the sale by Sewmesunshine.co.uk: £8.80

Prym clips: also 20% off by Sewmesunshine.co.uk: £3.28

Total: £19.20 – a bargain when many of the bundles come in at £40!

This Needlecord is from Sewmesunshine.co.uk, she always has great offers on Instagram, with themed weekend specials too. Harriet who runs it is full on amazing!!

Even though they have a pink Needlecord too, it had to be the navy, I knew I would get more wear out of it. An unusually sensible decision for me! I got my Prym clips from her too.

Anyway, I wanted something a little bright so I dug out a small piece of Liberty Strawberry Thief that I had ready for the facings and got started.

I bought a metre of the Needlecord and you get the pattern out of a metre easily, which I love! I buy my interfacing by the metre and the odd shape facings really seem to eat in to it, not life changing but something I’ve noticed!

Everyone says it’s easy to do and it really is. As with all Tilly Patterns, even though I’ve had sizing issues with some, they’re so easy to follow and come up good everything. There isn’t many seams or many hems, you don’t have to insert anything and the facings are easy to use. I think when I make another one, I could have it done on an hour. I can totally see why people have several. I can see it being a win for some of the thicker upholstery type fabrics I have.

This needlecord was a pleasure to see and it means I could practice a bit of top stitching without worrying; I think it’s come up quite neat. ☺

I’m so glad I have my overlocker too because it makes the insides look so neat!

I thought I might use buttons for the straps but I’m glad I went with the clips, as they look really professional.

I’m so glad I changed my mind and went with all the lovely ladies who have made this! I think it’s such a reliable wardrobe staple and I’m actually surprised to find it’s not horrendous on my shape like I thought it would be. What do you think?

I’m thinking a green cord one next with another splash of colour in the facing! I love sewing plans!!

December 22, 2017 8

Sunshine Bloggers Ice-cream Shirt Dress

Hi everyone,

I am so excited about my first blog post for the Sunshine Bloggers Team! When I was asked to be part of it, other than being RIDICULOUSLY excited, I was all ice creams in my head because I knew I HAD to use the amazing Rico ice cream fabric for my make. It’s fantastic, I love the print and the fabric was an absolute dream to work with. My absolute dream outfit!!

Go and check it out over on Sew Me Sunshine’s Website where there is also 15% off novelty fabrics, including the ice-cream this weekend!!

November 17, 2017 6

Tag: Sew me sunshine

Sunshine Rosie Dress

2 year Bloggiversary and Giveaway!

Sew Me Sunshine Dalbury Doris

Sewing Freya

Pencil Pencil Skirt

Sewing Cleo

Sunshine Bloggers Ice-cream Shirt Dress

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