Modified Simplicity 1620 Top (view B)

We're over halfway through Me Made May and it's going well so far. I've been wearing the me-made kiddie friendly garments through the week and have been hitting my target of two a week, with additional appearances from ready to wear (RTW) items which I've adjusted or altered in some way to fit me better. I haven't been great at documenting it on instagram, as I said I would. But I will either play catch up at some point, or I will post a round up at the end of the month (having said that it's half term next week, so it'll probably be in June sometime!). Me Made May is something which I haven't participated in before and it has highlighted to me how few items I have made and liked; the practicality of the items I've made and just how much I rely on an outfit beginning with jeans and ending in a top of some kind that will go with my converse (aka mum uniform)! This leads me to think I might have to produce a few more tops, but also that I may have to try my hand at jeans?!! The skirts that I've sewn or altered are really nice to wear, but I do need more tops to go with them. So I think my sewing focus may have to be on some practical tops in the coming months. Hope you are enjoying Me Made May?

Maybe I will do a bit of stash busting and make another one of these...

Modified Simplicity 1620

This top started life as Simplicity 1620, view B (pictured below) and was a bit of a failure! Firstly, I picked a size too small - the actual fit of the top was fine on me, but it could have done with being a bit bigger for this style. Secondly, I didn't realise I needed a hollow chest adjustment, so the neckline was awful. It gaped open and I had no real way of fixing it. At first I pinched out the excess on either side of the centre front and stitched the fabric down at the neckline to emulate the tucks along the bust of the garment, but it didn't look good! And I didn't like wearing the top at all.

Image from Simplicity.com

I was on the verge of binning it, but then I had an idea to cut a new neckline to see if I could cut out the bad bit...I also chopped of the kimono arms to make a tank style. The top works SO much better than it did before and I wear it quite a lot now! Yay!

Tuck details on the front

The fabrics; a navy blue cotton lawn, and a very drapey, rather expensive polyester, both from John Lewis last autumn (I can't find them on the website, so maybe they have sold out online?). I really struggle to find floral prints that I really really like. This one I do, but it's a polyester so I feel a bit meh about it. And that's probably the only negative about this top for me. But look, I did manage to make bias binding out of it (although much spray starch was used!)!

The other mistake I made was not taking a photo of the top before I hacked in to it! But this is what I did... I stood with the original top on in front of a mirror and using a piece of tailors chalk, marked where I wanted the new seams to be on the front of the top.  I removed the top and folded the top in half along the centre front line and lay a folded piece of fabric under it, matching the centre front (this would be the facing). I spent a bit of time lining it up so that when I cut in to it with my rotary cutter I would cut the facing at the same time as the new neckline (allowing a seam allowance of 1cm too). I did the same with the back of the top but took a bit of a guess on where the neckline and armhole would fall. It all worked out. And if it hadn't, well the top was heading for the bin anyway!

I then sewed the facing and top together and finished the seams of the armholes with some home made bias tape. I clipped the seam allowance of the facing and neckline and understitched the facing. However, as the gaping was still a little noticeable, I used a twin needle to topstitch round the neckline too. It still doesn't lie flat, but the top is much more wearable than it was before. 

What a horrible photo. But that was the best of a bed bunch!

I guess that when we make something that doesn't work out, it frees us up to be a bit more experimental and it makes us into better problem solvers/ better sewists, I've worn this top lots since making these adjustments, so I'm very pleased I didn't bin it! This makes me wonder if you have ever used a mistake to go all carefree and experimental? Did it work out?

Dahlia

Colette Patterns - Dahlia dress

Hello! It's Easter and I'm looking forward to eating lots of chocolate and relaxing with my family. I already know there won't be any sewing time as we're away visiting family most of the time - it's ok though, I've come to terms with it!. Today I bring you Dahlia...It's taken me a long, long time to make. But today I finally took the photos of the finished dress (some of them outside in the sun!) and this is what I have to say...

Boots are from Red or Dead btw

When Colette Patterns announced the Dahlia dress I immediately loved it. I hesitated buying it though, because it looked a bit more advanced than the beginner I am. In the end I caved - it does say beginner on the packet after all!

I was so excited when the pattern arriving and being able to follow with the Dahlia Sewalong too. But it'd kind of slipped my mind that we were about to redecorate our bedroom and we'd be going away for a week (this is before Christmas!) and I'd got some Christmas sewing to do, so I wouldn't have much spare time for selfish sewing!  I made a muslin - first a size 12, then re-cutting my second at a 10. This size seemed ok, fitting nicely around the bust and waist. The shoulders and neckline on the other-hand were a bit of a gaping disaster! I know that I'm not alone with this problem, but at the time there weren't that many reviews around. I hadn't anticipated so many problems with the fit, and being a bit of a perfectionist and a beginner meant that sorting this took a bit longer than I thought it would.

I wanted to get the fit right on the paper pattern, rather than tweaking the fit on the final dress. So to cut a long story short, I made five muslins, with various alterations - some worked, others didn't. Those that worked were:

• A dart in the back bodice, an inch wide from the neckline tapering to nothing (also redrawing the original back bodice waist darts so they follow the grain). This suggestion was made by Devon Iott, host of the Dahlia Sewalong. This prompted me to check out her Miss Make blog post about the Dahlia pattern. It does have some useful pointers, so check it out if you plan to make this pattern.
• Redrawing the pattern pieces for the sleeve and front bodice to incorporate a reduced neckline (also suggested by Devon on her blog). 
• Redrawing the sleeve pattern piece to accommodate my square shoulders (which also helped to reduce the gaping for me). I did this by adding width across the sleeve at the apex of the shoulder (if that's even the right term!) - cutting and spreading the pattern, filling with tissue and taping back together.
• I took in the sleeves too, as the muslin sleeves were huge.  

I also referred to the Palmer/Pletsch book Fit for Real People book quite a bit. I cobbled together my square shoulder adjustment for raglan sleeves by using a combination of methods for other sleeves (including other types of raglan sleeves where there is a neck dart, and where the sleeve pattern piece is in two pieces) as the suggestion in the book was that there wouldn't be a need for this type of adjustment with this sleeve (but maybe they had a stretchy knit fabric in mind???).

I have to say that at many points during the muslin fitting stage of this process I wanted to give up! I'm pleased I didn't, as I think the neckline fits really well now and I do really like my new dress.

The first muslin - neck line gaping.

Excuse the cheesy grin, I think the sun is a bit bright! 

The fabric is a lovely drapey rayon from John Lewis. I couldn't find it again when I went in the Leicester store recently, but I did see it on the Sewoverit website. I'm a bit of a blue addict. Most of my ready to wear dresses are blue and I've noticed this trend with fabric buying...going to have to watch myself and try to buy other colours!

I loved making the dress up. The fabric was great to work with. Not as hard to work with as I had first imagined being a crepe.  The neckline and sleeves are finished with bias binding. It's not so easy to make bias binding with this fabric, although it all looks fine after being sewn together. I just find the process (making and then using) a bit fiddly! More practice required I think.

Sleeve detail

Neckline detail

The actual making of the dress was fairly straight forward and I thought the Sewalong instructions, combined with the booklet were detailed enough for a beginner. the invisible zip was the only technique I really needed more help with than the booklet offered, but the sewalong was very detailed. It's great that the indie companies offer sewalongs. I do think I probably would have looked up more techniques on the interweb had this not have been offered.

Can you see the zip?! I thought I did pretty well, almost got everything matching at the seems.

I am particularly proud of the invisible zip - not bad for a beginner and I only had to unpick it once when I lost concentration and sewed slightly into the zip!!

My hand sewing is also improving. I've always known how to do it from being taught at a young age - I just haven't had much practise! This article on the Coletterie blog has particularly clear instructions and information about different hemming techniques.

Hand sewn hem

More cheesy grins with the sun in my eyes.

Unfortunately I may have been patient at the fitting stage prior to cutting my fabric, however I should have given more time to the fitting during the sew up of my chosen fabric. I should have tried the dress on more often during the making, basting it together...but I didn't and it was actually a little too big for me. I ended up unpicking the bias binding on the neckline (which I'd hand sewn), gathering up the back bodice a little along the neck and re-sewing. I also confess that I took in the right-hand side seam by half an inch. I was going to take it in on the other side too, but I couldn't bare to unpick my lovely invisible zip! It's probably a cardinal sin in the sewing world - but I don't think it's noticeable, do you?! 

Have you ever done this?

Hope you have lots of eating chocolate planned over the Easter weekend! And lots of sewing too (not jealous, honest!) xx