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...

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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

Polka dot Mimi Blouse

At long last, I have finished my Mimi blouse! I started this in the summer but had put it to one side as was finding it a bit tricky.

Now I've finally finished it, I'm so pleased with the finished result. Although sewing this has made me realize I have nothing in my wardrobe that it really goes with!

The Mimi Blouse is taken from Tilly Walnes' excellent book Love at First Stitch that I wrote about here.  I'd previously made the Delphine skirt (my first skirt) and wanted to tackle the Mimi blouse next. Maybe I was being a bit over ambitious, anyway it's certainly added some new skills to my sewing repertoire.

Mimi Blouse taken from Love at First Stitch

I love Tilly's style and think that  the book is an excellent resource for anyone beginning dressmaking, as is Tilly's blog.

The Mimi blouse uses quite a lot of different sewing skills, and I wouldn't recommend tackling this as your first make from the book. I made the blouse in a size 4 (Tilly's patterns range from size 1-8) based on my measurements. The blouse does include a lot of ease (7 inches) so if you like a more fitted style you may want to go down a size or tinker with it.

The material I chose was a cheap poly-cotton mix that I got on the market at St Albans. It's got a nice drape to it but I did find it very difficult to gather. I've gathered skirts and sleeves before and never encountered any trouble. When I tackled the gathered sleeve heads, the gathers just dropped out no matter how times I pulled them up. In the end I gave up and decided to try and ease the sleeves in. I managed this with only a few puckers.  Maybe the difficulty I had gathering the sleeves was something to do with the fabric? Any advice?

The Mimi blouse has a chelsea collar which is a cute detail.  However, the chelsea collar is much trickier than a Peter Pan collar as it's hard to get the points to match perfectly and they took a lot of coaxing out with a pin.

Things I like about the blouse:

It's cute and has a vintage feel.
The polka dots!
The little pleats on the sleeve edges.
My button holes. All neatly done and evenly spaced. They came out slightly larger than I had planned so I just scaled up the buttons to 15mm rather than the 12mm recommended in the pattern.
My self covered buttons. I used my new gadget and it's great!

Things I don't like about the blouse:

Nothing! I'm really pleased with this bit of sewing. It was time consuming and I nearly gave up at one point but I'm glad I persevered.

I'm not sure I would want to make this blouse again but I definitely learnt a lot making it. I also like how Tilly makes suggestions in her book on how to make the blouse your own such as adding details like piping.

A couple of tips:
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Tilly doesn't mention how to trim down the hem at the front facings to make it less bulky. I followed a method described in the Complete Book of Sewing that I've mentioned before, which really is like my sewing bible.

The Complete Book of Sewing by DK

I  trimmed the hem allowance on the  facing to 5/8 inch wide , then the next part of the hem allowance to 1 inch wide stopping about 1/2 inch away from the point where the facing reaches when folded in. This made the hem much less bulky.

I would also move the button holes slightly as the spacing as per the pattern seems to leave a rather large gap at the top.

All in all, the Mimi Blouse is a great pattern. It's as Tilly says - "super cute". It's maybe a bit smart for every day wear, for me anyway. I think I need to start thinking about what I would want to wear on a daily basis rather than making something just because I find it irresistible!

The weather has turned colder the last few days and I'm thinking practical winter dresses or skirts in corduroy or heavier material, and I'm going to be tackling some knit fabric. What have you got planned to sew for the autumn/winter? I'd love to know.

Also apologies for all the cheesy photographs, I've just treated myself to a tripod and have been experimenting with the self timer!

My first ever skirt!

I made my first ever skirt!

My finished skirt

I used the Delphine pattern from Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes of Tilly and the Buttons fame. I used a medium weight blue denim from John Lewis and I also bought a 8 inch invisible zip. This is the first time I've used a zip let alone put one in a skirt!

I found the instructions clear and easy to follow although on a couple of occasions I did wish the pictures were a little larger! It's a simple pattern for a super cute A line skirt and perfect for a beginner like me. The skirt has a waistband and an invisible zip. There are also ideas for adapting the skirt such as adding belt loops or decorating with buttons. 

The zip was actually easier to insert than I thought it would be although it's certainly not perfect. It took me ages to work out how to attach my invisible zipper foot to my machine though! 

Not invisible but not bad for my first attempt!

I made a size 5 (Tilly's patterns go from size 1 to 8 rather than using standard sizes) based on my measurements.  The finished skirt came out about an inch and a half bigger than the finished garment measurement listed in the book so it's a little  on the loose side. If I made this pattern again (and I think I will!), I'd go down a size as I think this skirt looks best more fitted at the waist. 

This week's sewing!

Finally managed to get a bit more sewing done this week! This is what I've been up this week:

New look 6212

Managed the front plackets, neckband and the collar. My tip is to definitely tack the placket before stitching close to placket seam on outside, catching in the pressed edge of the facing on the inside  otherwise you could end up unpicking where you didn't manage to catch it the first time! The same applies to the neckband. I hate unpicking things, so do think it's sometimes worth taking a bit more time tacking things first, especially when you are still learning like I am!

New Look 6212 - now with collar and front plackets!

New Look 6212 - the collar!

Just applying bias binding to the armholes and the buttonholes left!  May use mum's machine to do the buttonholes as she has an automatic buttonhole foot where as mine is the four step buttonhole, and I find I constantly have to refer to the manual when making a buttonhole. Have found this pattern a bit challenging at times but pleased with the overall result - it's certainly not perfect but not bad. Will she wear it? We will see. 

Delphine Skirt

Pieces all cut out and ready to go!

This time I took Tilly's advice and washed the material first. I suppose this makes sense as if your material is going to shrink then better to do so before you make the garment up. I'm using a medium weight denim material from John Lewis.

This will be the first time I will use an invisible zip. Hopefully with Tilly's advice I'll manage it!

Delphine - front piece

Dephine - back pieces

Delphine - back waistband and facing pieces

Delphine - front waistband and facing pieces

New Look 6262

I also bought this pattern that I mentioned in my post on my sewing summer want list. Going to make view C I think but still not decided 100 percent. Which would you make?   

New Look 6212

What do you think of the material I have chosen? From the stall in St Albans' market (again!)




My daughter is away for the week so I hope to get lots of sewing done and maybe even a bit of tidying up, but sewing is much more fun! 

My summer sewing want list

Having recently had a clear out, my wardrobe is looking pretty sparse to say the least! There is nothing worse than a wardrobe full of things you don't wear, either because they no longer fit, are worn out or out of fashion. Having done this, I then thought it would be a good idea to evaluate the clothes I already have and think about the things that are missing from my wardrobe. Turns out most of them I could make myself, so this is my summer sewing want list:

1. Pretty summer dress

Mortmain dress

I love this dress from Gather. 

2. Simple shift dress 

Shift dress

 New Look 6095. Looks pretty easy! 

3. A line skirt

Ginger Skirt

This skirt by Collette Patterns is super cute. You can buy it here.

4. Pretty gathered skirt

New Look 6872

Great with wedges and a strappy top. 

5. Mimi blouse

Mimi Blouse from Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes

Love at First Stitch

I'm itching to get started on this one! 

6. Forties style tea-dress 

New Look 6069

Lovely retro look. Or how about maybe this one. 

 New Look 6183

Maybe I should make both!

7. Wide leg trousers

New Look 6873

Are trousers too scary to have a go at? 

8. And finally another pretty summer dress!

New Look 6262

What's on your summer sewing want list? I'd love to know.

Love at First Stitch

Just got my copy of this amazing book by Tilly Walnes of Tilly and the Buttons fame! I can't wait to get stitching on some of these. I think my first make will be the lovely Delphine skirt - I've been too scared to to tackle a zip but I think with the help of this book I should be able to manage it. I've got some lovely denim fabric that I bought in John Lewis with the intention of making a skirt, so watch this space!

Delphine Skirt from Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes

You can see all the gorgeous patterns available in this book here.