I didn’t quite make the 3pm deadline for the school run, finally finished it for 6pm. I did break off to do my motherly duties. Enough of domesticity, back to sewing! (Click here for Part 1) Here it is – excuse poor photos.

Poor light + bored 11 year old + iPhone camera = dodgy pix   Check out the stripes!!! I couldn’t believe it……as I was pinning and sewing it was like a little miracle happening in front of my eyes! The extra time spent cutting out was worth it after all!   The instructions for the Lakale patterns are very vague and I think a beginner would struggle. Don’t know about you but I like pictures to look at!  Here’s the instructions:  The company who make the patterns are Russian, and often the translation from Russian to English may be a little out.  From the beginning I made it up as I went along. I made facings for the front and neck edges. I attempted my first ever sewing with a twin needle. My machine started making strange noises and it wasn’t too neat so I opted for neat single topstitch rather than uneven twin needle stitching: I managed to hide the twin needle sewing behind the cross over of the top.  The pleats were a bit of a mystery – I stitched them and basted across: Here’s a close up of my matching stripes: Here’s some more dodgy photos taken by my 11 year old:     I’d really recommend using Lekala for PDF patterns – the fit is amazing, though if I made this again I’d make it a little longer.

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