A full spectrum of pantaloons for the fairies in the school play, made from 2m of silk dupion each, about 70cm of 1" elastic for the waistband, and 50cm of 6mm elastic for the leg bands. I used bobinfill as thread and a size 9 needle so the silk didn't pucker. The material frayed a lot so I used french seams. The bands and hems were hand stitched. And here is the sexy pattern should you wish to recreate these babies!
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It's another Famous Frocks dress, this time a little disco number in honour of Diana Ross. I opted to go for the slightly more modern version. The variation has cuffed sleeves. I also lengthened the dress by 4", added some beautiful gold tape around the edges to make it a bit more glamourous, and made the keyhole a lot smaller (between top two notches). This dress was very easy and quick to make. It took 2m of black stretch cotton jersey and 6m of gold and black tape. The pattern comes in four parts but I cut out the back as one piece, removing the seam allowance. If I hadn't put in the keyhole I'd have done the same with the front as seams on a tight fitting dress look clunky. You can cut them on the fold. I sewed the side seams as princess seams to keep them neat using a stretch stitch. For the hemlines at the skirt, neckline and sleeves, I folded the fabric over once and used a stretch zigzag stitch. This could have been made neater by folding it over twice: I was worried that would make it roll over but the gold tape was strong enough to stop that. One of the bad things about the Famous Frocks book is that the inside of the dress looks very messy. They recommended sewing both halves of the sleeve on at once. Instead, I sewed one end of the cuff to the sleeve and then under stitched the other end of the cuff to the sewing line so you can't see the seam or the gathering. So with the final piece, I'm all ready to party this festive season! Although I am developing a blister from hand stitching 12m of tape- next time I'll use the sewing machine!
What to do when you have left over fabric from a black dress and a blue dress but make a black and blue dress? It's back to Famous Frocks for another retake on a classic, this time from a Charlie's Angels star... Famous Frocks fabric estimations are as little high: I used about a meter of each of the blue and black stretch jersey cotton to make this wrap around dress. The whole dress was sewn using poly cotton thread, ball point needles and stretch stitch. I was slightly worried that it would look like as court jester outfit but I think the two tones is quite fun! There are a few problems with the pattern but the main one is the interfacing: even using very light fusible interfacing makes the edges very heavy. I'd recommend only using interfacing for the collar. The seams are also quite messy if you don't have an Interlocker so I would recommend princess seams. I top stitched with a twin needle, one blue and one black thread. I used proper stretch needles but the machine still skipped some stitches. I think this was because the interfacing was so thick. The dress has a fake pocket with covered buttons and fake ties on the 3/4 length sleeves also sewn on with covered buttons. The book suggests using Grosgrain ribbon for the wrap around tie but I used some of the black stretch fabric to match the rest of the dress. I also added about 2" to the skirt to make it longer. Overall, I'm pleased with the result. A dress perfect for casual days out and fun for the office.
I've delved into Famous Frocks again to try out some stretch fabric dresses. The first is this Rita Hayworth inspired one. It used 1.5x1.5m blue cotton jersey stretch from Tia Knight Fabrics on eBay, 50m royal blue Gutterman thread and 30cm of 6mm clear elastic. This was the first time trying out stretch stitch on the new machine. The pattern suggested using zig zag stitches but that gave bad seams so I used a straight stretch stitch all the way through. It was a relatively easy pattern, requiring only straight stitch, ruffling and top stitching. Also an exciting first outing for the twin needle. The ruffling is a little uneven at the top because the sewing machine kept dropping stitches. I unpicked it twice but it was starting to lose structural integrity so I just had to make do with uneven scrunching. Ruffling was achieved by sewing a wide stitch and gathering it then sewing clear elastic over the top. Next time it definitely needs sequins! Or velvet. Notes for next time: stretch cotton jersey does have a right and a wrong side. Ruffle higher up the front to eliminate the odd gap.
A few weeks ago a very generous friend gave me an amazing book called Famous Frocks which has patterns of fashion icon dresses. This is the first one I've tried. It's a swinging sixties design with circle pockets. Rather than go for the traditional four contrasting colours I used blue and black herringbone twill with a black velvet bodice. This took 1.5 x 1.5m of blue herringbone twill, an off-cut of about 1x1.5m black velvet, 1.5x1.5m black lining and four coverable buttons 29mm. This was also my first project on the new sewing machine, which very excitingly has an automatic buttenholer so I have four beautiful, even buttons although it did have a little trouble with the thickness of the wool. The pattern came with optional circle pockets which I thought were suitably groovy and added. I had a lot of trouble with rotating them and in the first attempt ended up with two left hand pockets! Luckily the new sewing machine is very accurate with its stitching and so you can't tell where it's been unpicked! I top stitched the edge of the pockets with a lovely satin stitch to make them stand out more (thanks again new sewing machine). The book doesn't line any of its dresses so I cut a lining pattern out and attached it before adding the placket. I've joined the seams of the dress and lining together but left them free at the bottom so the dress swishes a bit. Overall, I'm really pleased with the dress. The top is as little tighter than expected although the book did say it had made the top a little more fitted. This could also be because of the thick velvet but I might try the next size up next time as I had to sew the seams as small as possible! I think the herringbone is really smart and an authentic material pattern. While the velvet is gorgeous, it does add a slightly nineties child's party feel to the dress!
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