'Spring picnic' gingham skirt

Another skirt completed, ready for the good weather to arrive! The orange gingham reminds me of a cheerful picnic blanket, hence the name for this completed project.

I finally took the opportunity to insert an invisible zip with my new invisible zipper foot that I got for Christmas - I know they did a lapped zip on the sewing bee, but as I'm not being assessed by May and Patrick I was pleased to be able to insert whatever type of zip I wanted!

I was also rather delighted to have an excuse to break out the orange wedge heels - as you can imagine, orange wedges don't match many outfits, so it's great to have something else to wear them with! Although I'm still not 100% sure about whether the style of the skirt really flatters me, I'm really pleased with the matching, and also with the length of this new skirt. It's nice to have something so bright and cheerful to wear now the spring is arriving.

All in all, the first project from the new Sewing Bee book has gone really well.  This was a simple but effective project, and I liked the guidance the book gave on pattern matching and inserting the pleats. On the strength of this, I can really recommend the book.

Pattern matching: Box pleat skirt (GBSB)

Like all of us sewing addicts out there, I absolutely love the Great British Sewing Bee - it was watching the Sewing Bee last year that really made me realise that I could make clothes and how easy it was to actually get the most out of my sewing machine.  I happened to be in Tesco the other evening, and thought I would just take a quick trip to their books section to see if they had the latest sewing bee book in stock.  I really liked last years book, but there was quite a lot of hassle involved in printing off the pattern pieces, cutting them out, sticking them all together etc - let's be honest, I basically lost the will part way through!

This year, though, the book comes with printed pattern pieces that you just have to trace over. Even the simple element of having the pattern pre-printed is a massive bonus, and encouraged me to buy it, even though I still have patterns to make from last years book...!

The first project on pattern week was a box pleat skirt. Typically, I'm not all that into pleated skirts, but they looked so cute, I was really tempted, and decided that when I went looking for skirt patterns, that would be what I would be on the look-out for. When I saw that it was in the book, I just couldn't resist.

I've learned my lesson about pattern sizing - don't just look at the sizes and say 'Oh, I'm usually at 10, so I'll be a 10 in this'. That is definitely the way to end up with a garment which only a skinny teenager or a doll could wear! So, I did a measure - and then, a few hours later, once I came out of my fit of depression - I cut out significantly larger size. In mitigation, the other issue is that this skirt is clearly a high waisted skirt on the model. Again, I know my own shape, and I just don't like high waisted skirts - the curse of being a wee shorty! So I bit the bullet, and decided I would have it lower on the waist and make it in the larger size.

As you'll see, I actually made the effort to do things proper sewing bee style, and even pinned my pattern pieces to the fabric!

This pattern was really so easy to make up, but my idea was that I would really make the effort, like those on the show, to properly pattern match. Thus far in my sewing life, I've usually used floral or plain fabrics, which have needed limited matching, but I found this amazing orange gingham in Calico for £2.50 for 2m, and couldn't resist. It was the perfect fabric for pattern matching - a really obvious pattern, and not expensive enough to be devastated if it all goes horribly wrong...!

Throughout, the key thing was really to pattern match in as many places as possible.  So, I matched the lines of the pattern in my pleats, here.

I also matched it on the side seams, to ensure that the lines flowed round the skirt.  The final area to match was the waistband. This was probably the most challenging area.  Due to the size of the pleats and the pattern, the waistband wasn't going to match all the way round. However, I (somehow) managed to make the front band match perfectly, so that the matching only went off on the back of the skirt. I'm going to consider that a result...no-one will see the back anyway, I hope!

Getting the lines in the right place was one thing, and I was pretty chuffed with myself, until I noticed...

In case you haven't worked it out...I had somehow managed to switch colours, so that although the lines were matching, the colours were off! Oops! I was glad I noticed that before I actually started sewing - I'd really have been annoyed if I'd made that mistake, after so much pattern matching effort.

All sewn up...and I think that is definitely a pattern matching success!

My first dress

In case you're wondering...yes, I was on the beach. In March. With a sleeveless dress on. And high heels.

I can assure you that I whipped the cardigan back on pretty quickly (and the furry boots), even before the pictures had finished - although the sun did show its face a few times, it wasn't the warmest day. It really was the perfect excuse to get the new dress on while we were away for the weekend! Apologies for the somewhat creased effect in the pictures - I wore the dress out first, so it had a few hours of wear before I got some photos taken. That did mean that it had proved it could go out and about without falling to pieces though, which is definitely a good thing!

This is a closer up view (with cardi!) - do you like the neckline?

Let's be honest, it's a bit of a warmer weather dress - a bit more sunshine would definitely have done it more justice - but I just couldn't wait to wear it!  Thanks for joining my first-dress journey!

Finished: New Look 6184

Good news - the dress is finished at last!  It has been slow progress at times - life sadly getting in the way of sewing - but I've made it!

The final bits that I needed to do were the zip insertion and the hemming.  The zip is a lapped zip, and I was very aware that this one needed to be good, as it runs the whole way down the back of the dress and so it would be glaringly obvious if something goes wrong!  I took the time to baste it in - and I'm glad I did, as I discovered that one side of the dress had somehow crept up and was slightly longer than the other, so I had to do some adjustment at the waist to get it to match again.  A good save, I think!

I think the lapping was a success - the stitching was nice and even, and the zip almost disappears into the back from a distance, which is what I was hoping for.

I also inserted a little hook and eye, to pull everything together at the neckline.

Finally, I needed to hem this skirt to just finish everything off.  As the skirt is very straight, this was pretty straight forward - much easier than hemming a more pronounced curve.  It's great to get the garment all finished off nicely!

I've not taken any photos of me in it yet.  We're away at the weekend, so I'll see if I can get the hubby persuaded to do a little photoshoot for me!

Notes for next time:

This is definitely a dress I'll make again.  The shape is really flattering, and I really like the neckline - it's effective and not at all revealing, without being old fashioned.

I do need to do some thinking about the back for my next attempt - although this dress fits perfectly at the front, there's a bit of gapping in the back of the bodice.  It fits the lovely Matilda perfectly on the back, but unfortunately I'm not quite as long and sleek as her!  The gap isn't too noticeable but it's something that I'm aware of, and it would be nice to get the fit perfect.

Thanks for joining me on my journey through making my first dress - hopefully the first of many!

My sewing space

As some of you might remember, one of my new years resolutions was to create a sewing room in our smaller spare bedroom. It had been a bit of a dumping ground for bits and pieces, but the idea of a sewing room really gave me some motivation to do a clear out.

So without further ado, may I present...my sewing room!

Pete and I went to Ikea one evening to find a desk. There was nothing there that jumped out at us that was the right size - we needed something that was big enough for sewing on and had some storage, but wouldn't absolutely overpower the room. After quite a lot of wandering - and a bit of debate / argument (!) we discovered that it was possible to effectively build your own. As it turned out, this was really the best solution for the space that we had, and so we got a table top, two legs, and then a little cupboard.  The cupboard has two shelves, and has space for me to put my sewing machine if I need to put it away for whatever reason!

I also happened to have this cute little stool - it was left with a dressing table in our bedroom when we bought the house, and although the dressing table has now gone to the tip, I had the idea that the stool might come in handy one day. It slots nicely under the table when it's not needed, giving us some extra space in the room, so it's perfect for the room!

I have my dress form - who I've decided to call Matilda - it seems to suit her! And the rather massive box with the green lid is full of fabric and wool. I might clear some more space on my shelves for fabric, as it's nice to be able to see it - but at the moment it's good to have this box for storage.

I also have my iron and ironing board close at hand - there's not really enough space in the room to have them up all the time, as we have a single bed in the room too for visitors. I usually just put it up in the landing when I need it.

It's not much, but I'm absolutely loving have some dedicated space for my sewing - it's very inspiring, so hopefully I'll have lots more projects to share with you soon!

Work in progress: New Look 6184 (4)

After a busy few weeks, it's been nice to get back to some sewing this evening. I've made good progress with my dress - let's be honest, it's always a lot quicker doing straight seams and a few darts - but it's nice to see it coming along quickly! I'm a bit impatient so it's sometimes good to have that instant gratification of having moved things along.

I was ready to pick up the skirt of the dress, and after cutting it out with the new rotary cutter (whoop!) I got my chalk marks made and got to the sewing. Four darts needed to be included in the front and back sections, as for the top part. This helps give the waist the fitting required.

As the skirt is quite narrow, it needs a 'vent' in the back - I've always called it a split, but the pattern says vent, so I'm not going to confuse myself! The pattern suggests actually basting the vent closed while you're working - to give it a crisper look when you have it finished. Although I'm not too conscientious on the basting, I did do it in this case - it wasn't any extra effort and it never hurts to actually do what the pattern tells you...!!

Here's the back of the skirt - with the vent and the back seam sewn.

I then sewed the front to the back, and that was it! As it's now coming together, it seemed like the ideal time to fit it to my lovely model (still unnamed - I dread to think what I'll be like when it comes to naming children...).  The skirt was reassuringly fitted, yet enough room to twist around in, so it looks like my gung-ho attitude hasn't resulted in any disasters yet!

At the moment, it's just a two piece...but hopefully next time I'll have progressed to sewing the top to the bottom and then adding the zip!