All posts filed under: Dresses

The Mary Quant Style Dress

Published by

Wonky pockets! No one noticed them when I posted a Reel on my insta. I think they were distracted by my groovy moves! If you’re not an insta fan and not sure what a Reel is I’ve attached a link to the bottom of this post. This dress incorporates a couple of challenges: The #frugalfrock21 organised by Sam at Frugalisma, and Ruan at the Yorkshire Sew Girl and #so50patternmixing organised by @sewover50 The idea behind frugal frocks is to make a dress using a free pattern and to use fabric from your stash to create Frugal Frock! As soon as I saw Alice & Co pattern for the Mary Quant style dress I was sold! HERE’s the link if you fancy downloading this free pattern. The dress is designed for a woven fabric, but my initial thought was to use this pattern to make a dress for golf, so I sized down and made it up in lycra. Most patterns given finished garment measurements which is really useful if you are changing from a woven …

What I’ve been making during my absence

Published by

Vogue 8903 Mc Calls 7542 Burda 6626 Vogue 1449 Vogue 1411 Sexy Lounge Pants! Vogue 8888 Yasmin Yoke skirt by Maria Denmark Vogue 8888 A Huge Granny Square More Crocheting Cushions! Curtains! Teaching Henry to Crochet A Beanbag for my DSLR Fleece drawstring bags Infinity Scarf Stitchin Santa Crocheted things for my bathroom Lastly an alteration I didn’t think I’d been up to much, but now it’s all here on my blog I’ve actually been more productive than I thought!! Cheerio for now Thimbers x

Another Day At The Races M6612

Published by

Before I ramble on and tell you about yet another McCalls 6612 I just need to say this flurry of blog posts isn’t due to me being in the middle of a sewing frenzy.  It’s me playing catch up from what I’ve made over the summer and due to one thing and another (the main thing being cricket) I’ve not done much blogging. A few weeks ago I had a last minute invite to a day at the races.  Last minute, as in the day before. It was ladies day so some sort of head gear was in order, along with a frock, shoes and bag. My first thought when I was thinking about what to make  (a ‘normal’ person would think “what to wear”) was this fabric I bought at Lucky Fashions at this years #SewDownDewsbury and how well it would go with this handbag…. It’s a rich cream coloured scuba with a gold leaf pattern and was a steal at £5 per yard! I quickly cut out McCalls 6612 and basted it together. …

The Little Red Dress – McCalls 6612

Published by

Back in June 2013 I bought a dress pattern which changed my life.  It was the Mcalls 6612 dress and tunic.  I made it up in a size 14 without even thinking I needed to measure myself.  Luckily due to the very stretchy nature of the fabric it fit. I’d not used this pattern again, until earlier in the summer, and I’ve since made 5 very different garments.  I measure a 16 chest and 12 hips but generally sew with a smaller seam allowance and keep my fingers crossed that it will fit.  So far so good! The first M6612 was a little red dress made with a cotton jersey from John Lewis.  I was going to add short sleeves but after sewing up the side seams whilst in auto pilot I decided not to bother as I nearly always sew sleeves in in the flat and couldn’t be bothered easing the sleeves in.  To jazz things up I added a striped trim to the neck and arm openings and absolutely love how it transformed …

On The Ball! Simplicity 1613

Published by

Being on the ball is not usually my forté but since my trip to the recent SewUpNorth meet up I’ve actually used 2 pieces of fabric I acquired at the swap and used a pattern that came free with the current issue of the Dressmaker magazine. I’m not a regular of the Dressmaker magazine as I subscribe to Love Sewing and Sew Direct.  I think the hubby would raise an eyebrow at more sewing publications dropping on the mat, but I still have a peek at the others when I’m out shopping. This pattern caught my eye immediately and I was drawn into buying the mag’ and I knew just which fabric would be a perfect match. This John Kaldor ITY knit which was kindly donated to the swap from RuthRuth at Ruth Creates. The pattern was a super simple make, I whizzed it up in a couple of hours (after cutting out) despite having to unpick the off the shoulder part – I’m not sure what it’s name is.  The shoulder band maybe? I’m …

#memademay17 – Halfway there

Published by

I pledged to wear me made every day and post on IG and so far so good!  It’s been tough at times as I discover more clothes that are too big for me, but on the plus side some of my older makes have been dug out of the archives. 1 – My first Molly Top from Sew Over It has had lots of wear since I made it back in October, and is still in regular rotation. 2 – Me Made May sprung me into action the night before a game of golf when I didn’t know what I could wear that was me made.  I up cycled an unloved golf top that belonged to my hubby. 3 – Day 3 and I managed a whole outfit!  A fairly recently make, my Cynthia Rowley Skirt (simplicity 1783) and a top using a Simple Sew pattern from last year (sorry I can’t remember which one!) 4 – My first and only Fehr Trade VNA top.  I really need more of these for my new action packed …

The Cold Shoulder – Lekala 5669

Published by

I was browsing through the Lekala website a couple of weeks ago and stumbled across this little on-trend beauty!  Lekala 5669….. I just fell for it straight away – the cold shoulder detail was bang on trend but subtle enough for a someone approaching middle age to wear – not that I feel it. So it was downloaded and stuck it together before you could say boo to a goose.  Then came the hard bit. I have quite a few jersey’s in my stash.  32 to be exact if I check my Cora App!!!  And true to form I fancied making a muslin of this pattern.  Mainly because it looks a bit confusing how it’s put together, not because of the fit – when I’m sewing with jersey and using Lekala I generally find the fit to be spot on. So I had a rummage through the app on my phone and decided upon this very stretchy see through mesh fabric. I had bought 5 panels, each being 1.2m, for less than £6 inc P&P …

The Dress of Many Colours – Just Call Me Joseph

Published by

  When I started browsing the likes of Harrods, Harvey Nics and other designer stores looking for inspiration for my Designin December make, little did I thing than I’d end up upcycling 29 of my husbands ties! I came across this skirt in Harvey Nics selling for a whopping £850!!  It obviously wasn’t made from ties, but the diagonal striped and pleated  fabric gave that appearance.   Unfortunately my husband’s tie collection is quite a bit more conservative than the colours in the skirt, but after a little persuasion he parted with around half of his tie collection. I butted the ties against each other and auditioned a few stitches to see which would sew the ties together the best: Number 22 in the photo below was the stitch of choice: First off I sewed the ties together in groups of 5, and the first ones that were sewn together I trimmed the top off – big mistake! If you plan on sewing ties together don’t chop anything off until you’re ready for fitting, or …

STOP Everything for Cleo!

Published by

I couldn’t help myself.  I know I was supposed to be getting on with making blocks, especially stretchy ones, but I just needed a Cleo so badly after seeing them popping all over IG and the blogasphere! And I had these shoes which I recently purchased, and had nothing to wear with them!  And a Cleo or 2 with opaque tights would be just perfect! So I whipped it up in an evening (I’d already traced off my size). The only measurements you need to take into consideration are your hips and waist.  I’m a tilly size 5 on the hips (I like Tilly’s sizes – they make you measure.  As they are sized 1 to 8 you can’t just go with your ‘normal’ size and be lazy. I would be a size 6 waist, but looking at the finished garment size I knew there should be enough ease in the size 5 for it to fit my waist. And it did.  Perfect!  No muslin!!  Not even One!  Which is a miracle as I think …

The BIG Vintage Sewalong – Vogue 9082 & Sonja Dress Hack

Published by

What do you do when you’re too excited to sit still and watch TV, not that I’m good at sitting still anyway?!  Well, for me I’m going to drink Rose wine and tell you about a frock I finished a couple or 3 weeks ago. Why am I excited?!  It’s Sewbrum tomorrow! EEEK!!  I’ve wanted to go to Sewbrum for the last 2 years but the dates just didn’t agree with me.  But this year it’s fallen on my weekend off so I’ve bought my train ticket, and I’m good to go! My first Vogue 9082 which I’ve worn 3 times already and had loads of compliments when wearing was only supposed to be a practice for my niece’s wedding.  It was no way a muslin,  I’d already made 3 of them so I knew it was going to fit when I finally cut into the stunning chosen fabric. It was to wear to Ripon races back in June. So the plan was to make another in different fabric. I bought this stretch cotton sateen when I …