Stitching shows, meet-ups and a Competition!

Hey there, I recently met with sewists and bloggers Charlotte (English Girl at Home), Rach (Rach Against the Sewing Machine) and Victoria (Thimble End) at the CHSI Stitch 2016 trade show. We'd been invited to a bloggers breakfast by ICHF who organise the event. There was so much to see at this trade show, so I've included some photo's I took on the day to get you in the mood for the up-coming sewing shows happening at the NEC and ExCel. There was also a demonstration by DMC of some of their forthcoming products. Thanks to both ICHF and DMC because breakfast was really good and I had such fun playing around with the new products ( which you can read more about in the photo's section below). 

It is so great to meet up with other sewists and chat about all things sewing, especially when you've been nattering on Instagram for a while! I've been to a few meet-ups in recent months and always meet such lovely people. If you're based in the Midlands (I'm more Leicester based than B'ham) then there are several more meets going on in March for any if you are interested. 

Charlotte has a regular Midlands Sewcialists meet-up once a month now, the next meet-up is 30th March. 

Rach is organising a meet-up at the Sewing For Pleasure, Fashion & Embroidery and Hobbycrafts show at the NEC on the 19th March. I'm gutted that I can't make it to that one. I went to the show last year, I purchased lots of lovely fabric and had a great time hanging out with my mum and sister! 

Competition Time!

If you are interested in attending this show or one of the up-coming shows at the ExCel or the NEC then you should enter my competition!! I'm hosting a ticket give-away in conjunction with ICHF Events who are offering FIVE of my readers a pair of tickets each for one of the following shows:

• Sewing For Pleasure, Fashion & Embroidery and Hobbycrafts, NEC, Birmingham 17^th – 20^th March 2016
• Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts, ExCeL, London 7^th – 9^th April 2016
• Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts, NEC, Birmingham 1^st – 3^rd July 2016

The five lucky winners will each get to pick which show they want to go to! 

How to enter:

• Leave a comment below, along with your email address. 

And you can have an extra entry if you:

• Follow me on Instagram and repost this picture using the hashtag #sewnintheatticcomp

Entries must be made by midnight on Monday 7th March.
I will pick the 5 winners at random and notify them the following day.
ICHF will fulfil the prize directly with the five winners.
Please note that the prize does not include travel or other related expenses.

Good luck to all who enter and I will leave you with some photos I took from the Stitch 2016 show to get you in the mood:

DMC 'Custom by me!' range allows you to transform, customise and upcycle your clothes and accessories instantly using a 'rinse away Magic sheet' . 

The self adhesive sheets, with pre-printed patterns can be repositioned before you stitch the design. Here I'm having ago at the customisable tote bag.

At the stitches show I tries the letter sample and this is me rinsing off the 'Magic sheet' to reveal the design!

I think these would be great for those wanting to try a new craft, children and those who are into customising.

DMC who have been around for 270 years(!), had a really cute stand. 

Creatures in boxes, I think these are the 'amigurumi' patterns - I bet my kids would love it if I made some for them! 

If only I could crochet!

Bloggers Hannah and Rosie from The New Craft House had some great looking sewing kits

Beautiful samples from Clothkits who also have sewing kits

Dashwood Studio's exhibit was absolutely beautiful. I definitely want to make a mini quilt now!

Look at those adorable baby booties! 

More from Dashwood

Papercut Coppelia Cardy

Hi there, I'm playing catch up with my blog again! This was made in October last year, so I'm way behind. Decorating the living room, Christmas and illness have played a part, as well as bad light and pure laziness from me in the photo department! Blogging mojo has returned and this cardy is first up.

Pattern
Coppelia by Papercut is a ballet style wrap top. With raglan sleeves there are two variations to make - either a cropped cardy with wrap-around ties, or a full length top which is joined at the side seams. I have now made both variations. But I will start with the wrap-around cropped version first. The pattern instructions were simple yet clear.

Fabric

I bought this blue bamboo jersey from The Sewing Cafe, Hinckley. I bought it to match a circle skirt I was making (which did not work out - but that's another story!). It was a little expensive, I can't remember exactly how much, but it is lovely to touch, so soft! I do feel like a bit of a fool for using this fabric for my first attempt at a pattern. I really should have bought something cheaper to try it on as it's not perfect, but never mind. I'm getting wear out of it, so that's what counts!

Alterations

I didn't make any adjustments to the pattern - I just cut a medium size all over. I had read about other blogger's issues with the generous amount of ease along the seam of the front raglan and the underarm & indeed I did encounter a similar issue and just overlocked it out as I went. See these posts from Lauren of Lladybird who has made this top quite a few times and Diary of a Chain Stitcher's Fiona's post was super helpful too.

Construction 

The pattern was fairly straight forward to construct. However, my fabric was an issue in the construction process. It's like sewing a trampoline - so flippin' bouncy! The overlocker was useful, but I really wish I had sewed this using a walking foot. Alas, I didn't have one at the time, but have since upgraded my machine and a walking foot was included as a free accessory. It would have been particularly useful when topstitching the wrap tie to the bodice. I wanted so desperately to give up on this top at that point, because I was literally having to stop every few stitches to re-adjust the fabric so that it didn't creep out of line. But I persisted and it was then I declared I wanted a new machine for Christmas! Perhaps a slightly cheaper option might have been to use some stay tape, but I have only just thought of that (haha, best not tell my husband who purchased the new machine!)!

As I said above I removed excess ease out of the sleeve-underarm-side seam area as I went, and also at the raglan seam.  

I did also mess up a bit on my first attempt at sewing the neckband to the bodice. My second attempt I pulled the neckband a bit tighter as I sewed (again - this is recommended by quite a few other sewists) and worked nicely. There are a few small gathers, but when the top is worn it's less noticeable and the neckband sits flat against my neck.

Love
I do love the style of the top. And it goes really nicely with a dress/ fuller skirt. 

Changes

I'd alter the flat pattern to take some ease out of the lower back.
Amend the pattern to take out some of the ease along the side seams and sleeves.
The sleeves are a bit long, perhaps shorten by an inch. 

I'm pleased with this top despite it not being totally perfect, so I will make it again as a wrap top. It's quite a versatile piece to have in my wardrobe and I've worn it quite a lot over this Moneta (the third I've made) dress. 

Colette Moneta Dresses

Hello guys, today I'm bringing you some double Moneta action in the form of blue Moneta and blue zigzag Moneta (I might start naming the clothes I make - the names are not as inventive as Roisin AKA Dolly Clackett's makes, granted, but it's better to have names for them right?) Do you name your makes? 

Blue Zigzag Moneta

I sewed up my first Colette Moneta dress (pictured below) so long ago I can hardly remember making it. I think it was in January?! Anyway, it was a test one in this lightweight blue jersey (I can't remember where I bought it from or for how much, but it was either Hinckley or Leicester market). I cut out a medium size and graded to large at the waist. It mostly fit, gaping a bit around the shoulders and at the bodice side seams. I 'fixed' this somewhat by turning the dress inside out, putting it on and pinning out the excess around the shoulders and sides. I then sewed the adjustments straight away. It was fiddly, but at least the dress gets a bit more wear now!

Blue Moneta

The gathering with the see-through elastic took me a few attempts to get right. Even then it's a bit more gathered in some places than in others. The twin needle also created a bit of tunnelling, as you can see from the picture. I've had a suggestion from Anne from BelleMegan and Vintage Belle about how to deal with this; by changing the bobbin tension. I never even knew that you could adjust bobbin tension (these's no mention of it in my machine handbook and I'd not come across it before in my searches for a fix to the problem; but then I googled 'bobbin tension' and realised that there is a lot of information about it and it's just a tiny screw on the bobbin case itself that holds the key to this magic here! I've not yet tried it out, but will give it a go on my next knit project. Thank you for the tip Anne. 

I wanted to make the second version of this dress quite quickly after the first. This time without sleeves and with some flat pattern adjustments to improve the fit.

I followed Devon from Miss Make's tutorial on how to fix armhole gape. I think that the adjustment worked well. I could take a little more off the side seams maybe on my next version.

I forgot to amend the pattern piece with a forward shoulder adjustment...it was only after making the dress and trying it on that I realised - doh! Never mind, the next one will be better.

It took some time for me to cut this dress out, as I did try to pattern match where I could, but it was hard for me to work out where the collar would sit exactly in relation to the bodice pieces, so that's a little off. It doesn't bother me though. The bodice into the skirt is matched quite well in the centre & I like how the zigzag runs the length of the dress.

One thing I dislike about this particular dress is that I lined it with the same main fabric (it says lightweight on the pattern). I'd not got a suitable lining fabric in my stash & didn't want to wait two whole days for the shop to open! It's far too thick! The blue zigzag fabric, a ponte, was from my local shop in Hinckley - The Sewing Cafe. I have a few knit items in the planning for Autumn, which it most definitely feels like now (these photo's were taken in the middle of August, it wasn't especially warm, but it was a lovely sunny day). 

I do really like this dress and it's been worn a lot during the springtime usually with a thin cardigan. I have some fabric picked out for another sleeveless version. And I have bought some fabric to line it with this time too! It will also be collarless - I get annoyed by the collar at the back. With the lower neckline it just becomes very bulky under a cardi (although, again that might be the choice of lining fabric...!). I may also lower the neckline on the front bodice as I think that this will be a bit more flattering on me.

If you haven't tried this pattern yet and are thinking about sewing a knit, I thoroughly recommend it. The instructions, as you'd expect from Colette, are clear and there is a sewalong to help too. There are plenty of inspirational Moneta's out there too. I particularly like Naomi's. You can find her dresses on her IG feed this one she has swapped out the gathered skirt for a circle skirt instead - lovely. 

Happy sewing x

Maria Denmark Stripy Kirsten Kimono Tee

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Hola people! It feels like it has been a busy month, but really I have been on holiday, which was lovely and then catching up with housework, washing and the like, ill children too. I started making a full circle skirt (if I was naming clothes it would be called One of the Seven Circle's of Hell skirt). I still love the fabric, but I'm not enjoying the process of levelling the hem! We're also planning a major redecoration our living room, including a new fireplace, new lighting, re-plastering... so lots to think about there. If you follow me on pinterest you can see some of our ideas on there. 

My prize of 2m of fabric from Sew Over It arrived too. I had to change the fabric I picked orignally as they didn't have enough left and couldn't source any more. Instead I picked this lovely Chambray. I have no idea what to make, but just really love the fabric! 

Little Petals Chambray from Sewoverit.com

Here's today's offering a Kirsten Kimono Tee. I love this top so much! I've had lots of wear out of it. It's so comfy, very casual and pairs very nicely with jeans. I've also worn it to my pilates class a few times.

Having an overlocker meant that this was a quick sew for me. I made it in a couple of short sittings at the end of May. It's the second garment I made on my overlocker. Which I bought from The Sewing Cafe in Hinckley (Leicestershire), along with the fabric for this top. The fabric is a stripy grey and white jersey. I love the feel of it, it's very soft and obviously, like all other fabric I've bought recently, it has got a good drape!  

So to the pattern. It's by Maria Denmark and is free when you sign up to her newsletter, which I did! I took advantage of a 10% discount and bought the Edith blouse/dress, which I have had my eye on for a while, but still have not yet made (perhaps the Chambray fabric?). The pdf pattern for the tee was quick to print and stick together. I remembered to add seam allowances to my tracing. I used the medium size. I have plans to make a pyjama top with this pattern and maybe copy some of my existing pyjama bottoms to make a cute set.  

Sewing the front and back was straight forward. And I managed to get all matchy matchy with the stripes. The neckband was the first I have ever attempted and I have to say I did mess up a little and had to unpick some of the overlocked edge (how annoying!) and realign the raw edges of the neckband and front. But it worked out fine really, it looks a little stretched if you're looking hard at it, but a successful first attempt at a neckband I think!

Then came the hemming on my standard sewing machine using a twin needle. This was a huge pain. Skipped stitches and tunnelling!! I managed to correct the skipped stitches by re-threading with Gutermann instead of Ikea thread (which in my defence I bought to make curtains with and bought WAY to much, so was just trying to use it up). I wouldn't have thought it mattered that much, but it does. You can visually see the difference between the types of thread (or you would be able to if these photo's weren't taken on my phone). 

Thread - top left photo the Gutermann thread is above the Ikea

The Ikea is very wispy with a lot of lint, the Gutermann isn't! It looks thicker and is stronger when I pull it. The skipped stitching stopped once I switched threads. Then I fiddled round with the tension on my machine to try to get it to produce flat twin rows of stitching, but alas my machine just couldn't handle it! It can cope with twin stitching, but I fear it will be only ever manage it in thicker fabrics (it did so with my second Moneta in a ponte, yet to be blogged). 

In the end I decided to try out using fusible interfacing on the hem to see it this would help to stabilise this thin and very stretchy fabric. It worked enough to get the hemming completed and it's wearable too. Colette have a helpful tutorial on this. Next time I use this fabric (and I might just have enough to get a Moneta dress out of it), I will try overlocking the raw edge too. 

If anyone has any other tips for sewing with a twin needle, they would be much appreciated;-)

Grainline Studio Tiny Pocket Tank top for Made Up

Hi there, last week was a bit of a strange for me, but in a good way. My kids went back to playgroup last Tuesday, so I've had a bit more time in the mornings to get some jobs done and some sewing! But the boy's were extremely tired on that Tuesday evening after playgroup and swimming lessons. It took longer than normal for me and my husband to put them to bed and I was feeling really tired. I cheered up A LOT when I realised that I had won the Sew Over It Show Off competition for August!!! Thank you Lisa and Team! I was very shocked, but obviously delighted:) I'd made the 1940's Tea Dress a while ago and finally remembered to blog about it on Monday. When I posted about it on Instagram I tagged it with #SOIshowoff.

#SOIshowoff competition - photo from sewoverit.com

I won 2m of fabric, so I have been browsing their website for ideas and trying to narrow down the selection. I have decided upon this crepe fabric called Adelaide. I've not given much thought to what pattern to make with it yet, as I'm preoccupied with packing for our holiday. Suggestions for a pattern are most welcome.

Image from Sewoverit.com

Karen from Did you make that? began her Made Up initiative at the beginning of August. I joined many sewists in making a pledge and donating to the National Literacy Trust.  Karen writes: 

"Did you know that one person in six in the UK lives with poor literacy? Some children never have a parent read to or with them. Many households can’t afford books. Literacy can be a game of luck, and it’s a game with high stakes. It can make or break lives. With the help of my fellow creatives, I’d like to sway the odds.  

I’ve set us a simple goal – to raise £1,000 in a month-long fundraiser, hosted at a Justgiving page."

Image from didyoumakethat.com

I have always loved to read. My parents love to read too, and I think naturally their enthusiasm was passed on to me and my siblings. My husband and I both love reading to our son's. We have read, as part of their bedtime routine, since they were tiny and I read to them in the daytime too. Their favourite books include 'Superworm' by Julia Donaldson and the 'Alfie' series by Shirley Hughes. One of my favourite's growing up was 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dahl and although they are perhaps a bit young still (three and a half), I have just read it to them! They were excited to listen to a story which lasted more than one sitting and had chapters in it! 

I have donated and pledged to make a top. I purposely didn't stipulate which top I would make, because I hadn't decided at the time of pledging. Though I had an idea it might be a tank or cami top as these have been on my 'to make' list for such a long time. The Tiny Pocket Tank by Grainline Studio was the pattern I settled on, after much researching on pinterest!

Tiny Pocket Tank

I made it in a size 10. There are a couple of things to amend on the fit of this top, but I had finished the top before I realised some of the issues! And, I'm writing this the day before I go on holiday and 3 days before the deadline for Made Up, so alterations will have to wait! That's also why I'm not modelling it. That, and the lack of time to set up the tripod.

I really do love the style of the tank top, so I will definitely sort the fit issues out and remake. 

The top gapes a little around the back neckline. It also has a lot of ease, so I think I should have sized down to an 8 and done a FBA. I had to take in the side seams a little to help with the ease issue. I imagine if I size down I wont have to do this again though. The neckline is quite low, so I will raise this by a couple of centimetres. 

The pattern itself is lovely. I love the clean lines of this style. And the instructions are clear and detailed. Extra information is added via a tutorial on the Grainline website. It is all very easy to follow. And there is additional tutorials on the website; I really liked Jen's tutorial for adding a bias facing to the neckline.

The fabric is from Sew Over It. It's a lovely drapey rayon/cotton blend called Starfish. I bought it a few weeks ago, along with a cotton chevron print fabric which I also plan to use with this pattern. 

I am very pleased to be able to support such a worth while cause and have something to show for it too. Have you finished your Made Up pledge?

Sew Over It - 1940s Tea Dress

I completely forgot to post this one! This was my Spring for Cotton make, as mentioned here way back in April. I wrote some of this post before my laptop died and have only just remembered it....

I had been thinking about a 1940s style dress for a while and when Spring for Cotton came along it was the nudge I needed to buy a pattern. I couldn't find an original vintage pattern that I liked in time for the challenge, and having never sewn sewn from one before I decided to purchase the Sew Over It vintage style 1940s Tea Dress. I'm glad to say I did, because the style is just what I was after.

The fabric came from Stitch Fabrics, it's called Sea Shell Lawn. My sister bought tickets for a girly day at the Sewing for Pleasure & Fashion Embroidery & Stitch Show at the NEC in Birmingham in March. I got it then along with a few other lengths of fabrics. The fabric was really lovely to work with. Nice and crisp when it needs to be, but soft and not easily creased too.

I was a bit of a late comer to Spring for Cotton and although I initially didn't think I would actually finish on time, I surprised myself by being able to complete the dress (minus the hem and buttons on the front) with enough time to take a photo and post it to the Spring for Cotton flickr page on the last day of the challenge. Yay! I'm feeling really bad about not managing to post this now:-s

The alterations I made to the flat pattern didn't really take too much time once I'd made the first muslin of the bodice. I only made two bodice muslins and there were enough panels in the bodice to make any final fit alterations if there were any.

I made the first muslin cutting a size 12 at the bust and hips and grading to a 14 at the waist. After the first muslin I made the following adjustments:

• Hollow chest adjustment (a tuck of about 2cm along the neckline). But I think I would only do a 1cm tuck on the next dress as it pulls a little. 
• Lowered the centre front bust panel by 4cm. And took the same out of the lower bodice panels.
• Added an extra 2.5cm to the length at the shoulder (adjusting the facing with the above alterations.
• Moved the bust gathers more to the centre front, otherwise I had gathers where I didn't need them and it all looked very strange,
• Took 1.5cm out of the width of the front bodice from the middle of the shoulder down to the waist, not at the centre front (as the shoulder was a bit out too - yes, perhaps a 10 would have been better - I think I may go back to compare my altered pattern pieces to the size 10!).
• Altered the sleeve pattern to be a cap sleeve using the first half of Heather B's tutorial here.

After making the whole dress up I also made the following alterations:

• Took in the dress by 4cm at the centre back (as I was inserting the zip), grading out to the middle of the back bodice (which should remain a 12 on me) and taking more in at the skirt hem (9cm in total!). Perhaps I should have graded from a size 10 out to a 12 at the waist
• Hemmed the sleeves and skirt with black bias binding.

I enjoyed making the dress and felt confident in the adjustments I'd made. The instruction booklet was clear. I used the Sewalong pages too, which were helpful when I needed a bit more information. I knew how to put in the invisible zip and did it on the first go. Although I wish now that I had run down the zip one more time to get a bit closer and to get the zip a bit more invisible!

:-( Invisible zip, not so invisible

Hazard of taking your own blog photo's - trying to get yourself in the shot!!

I struggled a bit with the facing - especially the point on the 'V'. I think I aligned the centre front at just the edge of the fabric, and not with the seam line oops, I wont do that again! It was rather fiddly and had me cursing for a while. But it looks fine in these photo's.

The one thing I am really annoyed about is my decision to not pattern match the fabric. Because the fabric is busy, I thought I could get away with not matching it. With hindsight I see I should have definitely matched on the centre front of the bust panels. It just looks like I badly matched it rather than actually not bothering!

Tusk! no pattern matching going on here.

The idea with Spring for Cotton is to use 100% cotton fabric and to try to use 100% cotton, or vintage notions. Well, I managed with the fabric, but not so well with the zip and buttons. Although, maybe in the 'make do and mend' style of the 1940s I did reuse buttons from a ready to wear item which came with three spare buttons (very generous!), which I always collect in case I might need.

I love the idea of 1940s style, vintage and dresses. I'm not 100% confident about wearing this one. I do really like the dress on me. Maybe it's just not within my comfort zone and I will need to wear fitted dresses more often for me to feel comfortable in them...

I think I was twirling round, I wasn't falling over, honest!