Top Five Sewing Misses 2015

2015 had a few misses. However I learnt some valuable sewing lessons along the way. 

Simplicity 6655

First up, my first attempt at sewing a vintage pattern.  I chose this cute pattern, and was so excited about making this. Unfortunately I made a mistake with the sizing as it turned out huge on me, and even though I attempt to fix it, it ended up in the bin and never made it to the blog. Lesson learnt here, make muslin before cutting into precious fabric. 

Sorbetto 

This is a free pattern from Colette patterns.  I was pleased with the sewing I did on this top, but it just didn't fit that well as the armholes gaped and it was too loose around the back. I realised that I should have used my high bust measurement and adjusted the pattern accordingly by doing a full bust adjustment.  Sadly this top has never been worn. Lesson learnt, check if I need to do a full bust adjustment, see my Washi dress.

Bettine 

Bettine - Tilly and the Buttons

I fell in love with this pattern from Tilly and the Buttons after seeing numerous cute versions all over the blogosphere.  I even chose a chambray similar to the version modeled on the pattern cover. Unfortunately the skirt's extreme tulip shape looked awful on me, and again the dress never made it to the blog. This one ended up going to the charity shop.  Lesson learnt  - just because you see loads of cute versions of a dress doesn't mean that it will suit you! 

Lilou dress

I so wanted to love this dress.  This is the most complicated make from Tilly's book, Love at First Stitch.  I learnt how to line a bodice when making this dress.  Unfortunately I did not have enough fabric to make the pleated version, so decided to make the gathered skirt version by drafting my own dirndl skirt from a rectangle of fabric.  I did make a muslin of the bodice, but somehow the bodice seemed a bit too lose fitting on the finished version and I hated the skirt.  Sadly I never wore this dress and this has also gone to the charity shop. Lesson learnt, don't cut corners! If I had used this material for a skirt as originally planned, I might have liked it a lot more. 

Laurel dress

Another dress that didn't make it to my blog.  The fabric I chose was a lovely plaid. Sadly my pattern matching skills weren't up to it and the dress is still not finished.  However, I might try to finish it off as the fit is good.  Lesson learnt - stick to fabrics that don't need pattern matching!

If you like reading about my top five misses, check out the other posts in this blog series over at  Crafting a Rainbow.

 

A Lilou Dress

In my last post, I mentioned that I was trying to lose some weight before making myself anything new! I've lost another pound this week, so that makes five pounds in total so far! I've been trying to finish a few things off instead...

s

Anyway I finally got round to finishing off this dress that I started ages ago this week.  The dress is the Lilou Dress from Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes.  The dress features a scoop neckline and the bodice is fully lined. There are also options for making a scalloped neckline version and normally features a pleated skirt.

This is the hardest project in the book. This is the first time I've attempted a lined bodice and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

The material was a cotton that I had originally planned to make a skirt from. As I only had a metre and a half of fabric, I did not have enough material for the pleated skirt.  I decided to make the version using the Clemence skirt pattern from Love at First Stitch, which is a simple gathered skirt that you draft  yourself.

Unfortunately the really gathered skirt isn't that flattering on my hips at the moment although it looks lovely on my dummy! If I was to make this pattern again I would make sure that I had enough material to make the pleated skirt or use a less gathered skirt such as the skirt from my  New Look 6262.

For the bodice, I cut a size 5 based on my measurements and the fit is pretty good. I did not need to make a FBA this time. I made a muslin of the bodice first and moved the darts down by an inch, something I seem to have to do on most patterns.The bodice is lined with a cotton voile that I had in my stash which is lovely and lightweight.  The instructions were very clear and I think I would like to use this method again as it finishes the dress beautifully inside.   Unfortunately I think I should also have shorted the straps by a small amount as they do tend to slip off my shoulders.  I didn't notice this at the muslin stage.



The bodice is hand-stitched using tiny invisible stitches to the skirt. It took me a bit of time to work out how to do the slip-stitch but it definitely is worth doing.

The invisible zip is pretty good too although it does gape out a bit at the top of the back neckline. I don't know if maybe the fabric stretched out even though I stay stitched the neckline?

I didn't want to shorten the dress by turning a double hem so I used white bias binding to finish the hem and I think this is a really neat way of hemming a dress.

I'm pretty pleased with this dress, and as the weather has improved it might even get worn this week!

Have you made the Lilou dress? Did you have to make any adjustments to it?

Catherine x