Alder Love

Grainline Studio Alder Top collar detail

I just can't get enough of the Grainline Studio Alder top. This is the third version I have made and I also have a v-neck version lined up. 

My first version was a test and I did View A. I did an FBA by following Jen's excellent instructions from the Grainline blog and I'm pleased to say it worked a charm. I cut a size 12 and added an inch which proved to be an excellent fit. However, I had a lot of issues with the collar and collar stand. This was my first time doing a proper collar and it took me a while, and a lot of unpicking, to get the hang of it. I also did not like the fit on the dress length version on me. It was too loose and a bit floaty. This is why I deemed version uno unworthy of any photos and I plan to reuse the fabric for purses, or maybe even a pillow! 

But now onto my two shirt length versions (both View A). The first version was made with some leftover linen that may seem familiar. And I used some cute blue dotty cotton bias binding from another dress for the armholes. I'm not completely happy with the length, as the fabric curls up after a few hours' wear, but it's still proving to be a bit of a summer wardrobe staple. 

A creased Alder

My second attempt at a shirt length version allowed me to continue my love affair with all things Cotton+Steel. This fabric is a cotton lawn and so lovely and light. It's called Sunrise Bone and I think that is sums up the colour very well. For this version I added an extra inch to the bottom to give it the extra length I wanted. This shirt is really great to throw on with a pair of jeans or other trousers. 

Grainline Studio Alder Shirt

I totally love this pattern, as well as all of the other Grainline Studio patterns (they are amazing - I want to make every single garment and all three bags!). There will be many more versions on this shirt I am sure! 

Bags for Friends

For my trip back home (leaving in four days - yay!) I decided I wanted to make some bags for my besties! These are gifts for my three favourite girlies to say Happy Birthday and I miss you all the time! Making these bags up has also allowed me to channel my love for Cotton+Steel, particularly their canvas range. 

Horsey Handbag

First up is this lovely horsey number. I bought these handles when I visited a Joanns in Lincoln City, Oregon at Christmas. I've been wanting to make this bag ever since then and I thought that this print from the mustang range for C+S was perfect. I love the tiny shiny bits and the pink and red together. 

I used the pattern that is shown in this pin as inspiration, but between me checking how much fabric I needed and going to check how to make it again, the link has completely stopped working. However the bag was a cinch to make, as the pattern is pretty straightforward and I would definitely make lots more of these. 

Seamwork Madrid Tote

My next bag to make was the Seamwork Madrid Tote from Colette Patterns. This pattern is from the first issue and I can't believe it's taken me so long to get round to making it. The stated completion time for this pattern is 2 hours and I think I managed to complete this in that time over two evenings. I think the longest part of making this bag was making the handles! The pattern recommends buying handles but I thought that these would be just as strong, and I left it a bit late to order some in time for my return to Blighty. 

I used the indigo tile print from C+S for this one, as well as some really hefty unbleached canvas that I picked up from Dressew. I didn't quite have enough of the indigo print left so used the plain canvas on the back. 

Back of Madrid tote

The bottom is sewn up with some pleather that I ordered from Etsy. I really didn't like it when it arrived but it's definitely grown on me since I started sewing with it. I used a magnetic clasp leftover from my cooper bag for the fastening. I'm definitely going to make me one of these! 

Seamwork Valencia Clutch

Last up is the Valencia clutch, also from Seamwork magazine. This one was even quicker to make than the Madrid.

Valencia Clutch with kitty cat lining

I decided to go completely pleather on the outside and used this adorable print from the Hatbox range for the lining. I love the colour and the cats! Again this bag was so easy; my only frustration was with the fabric rather than the pattern. It just won't stay flat and always looks creased, and I can hardly iron it now. 

I have really enjoyed exploring some more bag making techniques with these three bags. Making bags and purses is a wonderful break from dressmaking. No fit issues here and you can use such wonderful fabric without worrying about looking like you're wearing a quilt! 

Myrtles Mark 1 & 2

Two Myrtles

I think that these two dresses, my woven Myrtles from Colette Patterns, are probably the most favourite things of all of the things that I have made. A bold statement, I know! But, I just totally love how easy they are to make, how quickly they come together AND that I haven't had to make any adjustments to the pattern to make them fit. 

I made the grey version in Robert Kaufman cotton chambray way back in August just after the pattern was first released. I was immediately taken with the idea of the dress in woven, rather than knit, and picked up this fabric from Spool of Thread with my birthday money. 

I did a test version first, which was meant to be a wearable muslin. However, I had a bit of trouble understanding how to install the waistband to start, so there was lots of unpicking involved. And then I realised with horror that I had sewn the skirt in back to front so the seam was running down the middle at the front! Bummer. But I had a muslin that fitted and I was ready to cut into my lovely soft grey dot. 

Grey dot Myrtle

Like many other Myrtle makers on the web, in the end I sewed the channel for the elastic first and then threaded it through, rather than pinning it in and trying to sew round it whilst it was all bunched up. This just seemed a lot easier to me, much less stressful and therefore quicker in the long run. On this first version I also left off the pockets as I was going for instant gratification. 

My Myrtle featuring in a Viewbook!

This version made it into our Viewbook at work which is quite exciting (to me) as I'm wearing something I made and this will be seen all over the world! Look how much my hair has grown since this picture was taken at the beginning of October.

Recently I have been getting completely bogged down by fit adjustments and it has completely taken out a lot of the joy of sewing for me. Sad face. Part of the reason for this is that I just despise how long it takes me to make the changes, do the tests and then start again. But I know that it is better to spend more time fitting to have a more perfect garment then to just waste time and beautiful fabric on something that doesn't really fit. What's the point in that? So I am trying to take more time to make sure things fit and make more muslins. I am also spending more time mulling carefully about whether the garment will ever be able to fit me in the way that I want it to, before I spend ages making changes to a pattern. 

It was with the above in mind that I decided that I wanted to give my mind a rest and make another Myrtle with my gorgeous Hana rayon from the Cotton+Steel Frock collection last weekend. It is so soft and I love the colour. I was totally inspired by Jemjam's version from the Frock tour, and I also just wanted a quick win. 

Rayon Myrtle

This time round, I did include the pockets as I'm still a bit sad that I don't have them on the original version. However, I'm not sure they work with the thinner fabric as they add a bit of bulk at the waist where I don't really need it. I also used 1 cm wide elastic, rather than 1 inch, so the waist is narrower than my first version and that prescribed by the pattern. It's much better for the thinner belts that I have to wear with the dress. 

I can't decide which dress I like most - they are both quite different because of the different weight of the fabrics. I like that this makes them seem like different dresses and I think I will make more in the future, maybe even a knit version... 

A Bow Bag for Becky

Bow clutch bag

I made this lovely bow purse for my fabulous friend Becky as a belated Birthday present. Mailing stuff over to the UK is expensive so it’s nice to be able to make something that is extra special to send. 

For the main body of the bag and construction, I used Lisa Lam’s amazing Easy peasy purse instructions from U-Handbag. If anyone is new to clutch purse making, I highly recommend this kit - it is how I learnt everything I know about making purses with metal frames. The instructions are so clear. If you buy this kit with the fabric, all you need is the glue to put your first purse together!

For this purse, I cut out all of my fabric pieces and attached the facing to the shell of the purse. 

For the bow part, I cut two sets of rectangles using the same fabric (a lovely black chambray from Robert Kaufman), one at 5 inches by 10.5 inches and one at 3 inches by 1.5 inches. I then sewed them together to create two tubes, and turned them inside out. 

Rectangles cut and ready to sew

Sew the little one together to create a loop. Turn it inside out and then fix it to one of the shell pieces of the purse with a couple of hand stitches. 

Small loop sewn together at each end

Small loop fixed to the centre of one side of the purse

I then threaded the large tube through the tiny one by folding the fabric like a concertina and then poking it through. 

Concertina the fabric and poke it through the little loop (that is fixed to the purse)

Spread out to your liking and pin in the middle to hold in place.

I then spread it out and pinned it so that when sewing the shell of the purse together (right sides together) it didn't budge when sewing the sides together.

Finished outer shell with bow

I then followed the rest of the instructions according to the Easy Peasy kit and voila, a purse for Becky!  (The lining fabric is a double gauze from Sevenberry – it is sooo soft).

Sevenberry double gauze for the lining

Blurry sidey shot

Wardrobe Architect Update!

I really enjoyed doing the first month of challenges for the Wardrobe Architect and I really did learn a lot about what shapes I like and what I actually feel comfortable, and more importantly, confident wearing. I spent practically a whole afternoon browsing the internet for patterns and looking at the wonderful creations that others have come up with on Pinterest. I managed to narrow down my list to patterns that I think will actually suit me, as well as meeting my requirements so I’m all good to go now. Doing this exercise also made me realise how many patterns I already own, which is helpful as Andy and I have been trying to be frugal recently. 

I’m really looking forward to making lots of dresses, including Darling Ranges, Staple Dresses and the Papercut Patterns Sigma dress. My list of shirts includes the Colette Violet, Grainline Alder and Archer and some basic camis/tops such as the Colette Sorbetto and the Sew Over It Cami.  I am also going to try and be a bit more daring and attempt a pair of trousers, a pair of shorts AND the Victoria Blazer from By Hand London (I think). I also need to tie in my aim to sew with knits in, so Mabel and Moneta are both on my to do list. 

One of the main things that I learnt from this process was that I need to nail my fabric choices for the clothes that I make. From now I’m going to be using a lot more neutral and/or subtle fabrics for my dressmaking. I learnt the hard way when I spent ages trying to make a Grainline Alder with some pale flowery double gauze which quite frankly, makes it look like I’m just off to bed in the Victorian times. Not a good choice, as beautiful as the fabric is, but the silver lining of this cloud is that my FBA worked a dream and I’m ready to use some much nicer fabric to perfect this garment!

Lots to do, so little time. But at the moment all this sewing is keeping me from going insane from the monotony of my day job which I’m very glad about.

Paper Bag Skirt

Paper Bag Skirt & Colette Sorbetto

I just love love love this style of skirt, as it is super comfortable and now I love it even more as this pattern from Salme Patterns was so quick to whip up! I used to have a similar skirt from Topshop but it just didn’t fit around my waist (my biggest body part!) and my hips that nicely. Luckily it looked great on my friend Lydia – isn’t it great when your friends can make such good use of your awkwardly fitting clothes?!

I found out about Salme Patterns through Pinterest, and there are so many good patterns to try at a very reasonable price. The instructions are minimal, but OK if you kind of know what you’re doing like I do, most of the time. When I printed out the PDF pattern I was amazed that there weren’t many pieces but this is because the waistband and belt are just rectangle pieces so the dimensions are in the pattern for you to cut your own without a paper pattern. I thought that this was a good idea as it saves time on cutting, sticking and more cutting again with paper so this made me happy. I managed to whip this skirt up in just a couple of hours as it was quite straightforward, and the black twill that I was using (from Dressew) was so nice to use, especially when making the pleats. 

Paper Bag pleats

There are a couple of iffy parts to this pattern. The first is that there are no finished garment measurements with the pattern so I ummed and aahed for quite a while about which size to make (because my waist is quite out of proportion to my hips and legs). In the end I measured the pattern pieces and subtracted the darts/gathers to work out what the finished size would be so I could work out which size to cut. Seam allowances aren't included in the main pattern pieces so I also had to remember to include these when I was cutting out.

I've already worn this skirt quite a bit - it's perfect for work with a little top. This one is a Colette Patterns Sorbetto that I made before we left the UK with some Koi Voile for Cloud 9. I totally love this skirt now and think that I will make many more at some point.  I was having a bit of a disastrous sewing time when I decided to make it as I had completely mucked up the shoulders on a Laurel dress that I was making, and totally out of love with some fabric that I’d used to make a shirt, so this really helped me to feel better! 

Bunting

Bunting

I have actually been meaning to write this post for at least a year about the metres and metres of bunting that I made for Amy & Marty's wedding, partly because the pictures are just so beautiful! After making Tess, my brother Rob's girlfriend, a little purse for Christmas over two years ago, I was commissioned by her mum, Simmone, to make the bunting for Tess' sister, Amy, for her wedding to Marty in October 2013. Phew, lots of names.

Bunting & flowers

Bunting & flowers

Amy & Marty were getting married at the surf club in Lyall Bay, which is a suburb of Wellington in New Zealand, where Tess' family are all from. The venue was a big room, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the beautiful ocean, but Amy and Sim were after something to decorate the room and make it look more weddingy. And how beautiful does it look in all of these photos taken by their friend, Fran Gleisner? I love the wild flower arrangements and simple long tables and settings. 

Nearly 200 flags

Sim brought the fabric up to Leeds one afternoon, and with measurements of the venue at the ready, I set about using all of the fabric to make around 50m of bunting in four pieces.  We used two lovely Cath Kidston prints, and then two coordinating prints that went with the spotty fabric. We used a blue gingham for the back, so from one side the bunting is all the same, and then the patterns are alternated along each piece on the front side. Although we talked about this bunting for months, in the end I had to get a bit of a factory line going to get it all done in time for Rob & Tess' flights over to the wedding. I cut all of the fabric in one go, which took nearly a day in itself. Sewing the flags together was the easy part, and Andy became an excellent flag turner, as he turned every one, pushed out the point and then we ironed them all before sewing. I can't even remember how many flags there were in total, but it was somewhere in the region of 200! 

The beautiful couple, Amy & Marty

Bunting and fairy lights

I am so pleased with how the bunting turned out, and the pictures are brilliant. I especially like the one above with the fairy lights. It was so lovely to be a part of the wedding, even though I had never met Amy before. We were lucky to meet Amy & Marty, as well as some of Tess' other family when we stayed in NZ on our travels last year. It was such a cool little city and I'd love to go back one day.

Wellington Harbour at sunset