No Sew Scallop Skirt

The No Sew Scallop Skirt

Friends of mine got me the Martha Stewart Sewing Encyclopedia for my birthday and I  would highly recommend it. It has a great section at the front for self taught sewers like myself which explains a lot about various hand stitches, fabric types and the various tools of the trade. These pages can be seen in the amazon look inside which is handy!

It then goes on to explain how to make a variety of things such as tote bags, cushions, curtains and clothing. There's a disc at the back of the book which has patterns for some of the things in the book which you just print on to A4 paper and join together at the relevant markings. 

I had a length of fabric I'd bought from the rack in Mandors that hangs beside the til - great place for good offcuts! It was a metre long and I had no idea what to do with it. I bought it because I loved the pattern on it with the black and white picture print style combined with the red and green of the Italian flag, but I wasn't sure how I could wear it until I came across the no sew scalloped skirt. 

Now Martha Stewart recommends a suede style fabric which makes sense. It a good quality heavy fabric which will hold the shape of the skirt and won't fray round the edges you cut. My fabric was calico, which so does fray around the scallops but I think this adds to the character of the skirt and the roughness of the frayed edges suit the pattern on the fabric. It gives it a worn look which I like!

This is a really simple skirt to make as the words "no sew" in the title would have you believe. The most time consuming part was sticking together the A4 print outs for the pattern template and even that was easy to do. 

Quick and Easy Cowl neck Jersey Dress

Quick and Easy Cowl neck Jersey Dress

I had been in Mandors and bought a length of Jersey from their rack of offcuts and decided to try make myself something cheap and cheerful. Since I wanted it to be cheap and cheerful I wanted to see if I could get a free online pattern. I originally had it in my head that I wanted to make a long sleeve top with a cowl neck, but when searching for cowl neck patterns I came accross the Eva Dress on a website called your style rocks.

Butterick B5216 A & B

Butterick B5216 A & B

Fast Easy sewing with cotton.

Following on from the tricky silk party dress I decided to take a step back into the fast and easy pattern world and stick to a reliable cotton fabric.

I chose the Butterick B5216 pattern because I loved the variety of tops it offered. I also thought that with them being so simple it would be easy to adapt the straps to make them a bit different.

Mandors had a great stock of cotton liberty fabrics, so the only problem was not buying too many! I decided on four fabrics to make version B 3 times and one of version A. Instead of using fabric for the straps I bought some ribbons which matched my chosen fabrics, and some buttons just to add a wee bit more detail to them.

This definitely was a fast and easy pattern, especially since I wasn't doing the straps, so it was great for getting my confidence levels up and for making lots of wee summer tops quickly.

simplicity 2362 Maxi dresses

Simplicity 2362 

Liberty Fabric Maxi Dresses

I am a big fan of the maxi dress, however, I am a bit of a strange shape, a bit top heavy I guess. I found that when I tried them on in stores I had to go fora much bigger size than I do for any other clothes if I wanted to stop myself pouring out the top of them. This also resulted in them not fitting well below the bust and me feeling like I was wearing a bin bag. Obviously the only way for me to get a maxi dress  I was comfortable in was to make my own.

I selected the simplicity 2362 pattern as I liked the variety of tops you can have to the dress and really liked the idea of having pockets. I'm a big fan of pockets - they provide somewhere to put your hands when awkwardly standing for a holiday snap!

I decided to go for styles C and E, only I made E the same length as C. I cut the pattern a size up from what I usually use in preparation for the awkward maxi dress and for the first time used my dress making dummy for more than just taking photographs of what I've made. I took my measurements and adjusted my dummy to fit and get started.

My Butterick B5352 silk mistake!

B5352 Butterick Dress

Why you shouldn't ignore fabric recommendations.

I had a 21st birthday and a 30th birthday party to go to, both happening on the same night and since it had been a while since I'd made something I decided I wanted to make a nice party dress for the occasions. So I did my usual, chose a pattern and then went looking for a fabric. I wanted something light and floaty, it was April, springtime, so I also wanted something bright and cheerful.

I chose the B5352 Butterick pattern because I loved the way it flowed at the base. Now my next step - chosing the fabric is where I went wrong...

I naively ignored the recommendation for a stretch knit fabric and chose my fabric purely based on the fact that I loved it. I loved the idea of silk, it was to be a party dress after all, and it was so bright and cheery I just had to have it.