All posts tagged: Lekala

The Cold Shoulder – Lekala 5669

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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 …

Lekala 8000 – A Tale Of Two Frocks

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Well it’s one frock really, but due to it being far too tight and having giant ric-rac on the hem it was in need of attention before I could wear it publicly. Remember the Mexican party we went to? It was over the back holiday weekend in August which now seems ages ago.  I needed a Mexican outfit.  After much deliberation and with a hangover I began cutting out the Lekala #8000 – a free pattern that is made to measure my size (or yours)!  It was 4pm and we were going out at 7:30pm so I didn’t have time for fitting issues! I decided to use the raspberry stretch denim in my stash.  As you can see from the photo below it came very close to being another pair of culottes!  And it’s also what I used in my last post to make the personalised peg bag. The dress went together really easily.  I had it finished before 7pm but I did cut a few corners. I added a big red flower from my trip to …

Finishing A Cowl Neckline

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I recently made Lekala 4119.  If you’ve tried Lekala you’ll know the instructions generally expect you to have a fairly decent knowledge of garment construction or time to google.  Or both. These are the complete instructions of the top describes as “Blouse with Draping” INSTRUCTIONS:  1. Sew side and shoulder seams. Serge and press toward back.  2. Serge neckline, fold to wrong side and topstitch.  3. Serge armhole, fold to wrong side and topstitch.  4. Sew bottom part into ring. Fold in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and sew to hem, stretching a little bit. The seam is at the left side seam. Serge the seam. This is a great easy to wear top.  Cowls are in, but sleeveless ones narrow down their wearability. With this there’s no sleeves to set in so it’s a really quick make – if you know what you’re doing!  I like a clean finish on all my clothes – makes them last longer, they look more professional and less home made. I thought I’d share how I finish my tops …

Cowl Neck Casual Top – Lekala 4119

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Towards the end of Me Made May I felt I needed more casual tops in my wardrobe.  I found a pattern on Lekala that had mini raglan sleeves which would be quicker than setting in sleeves, and a bit more versatile than sleeveless. I made it first up in a fine jersey from Lucky Fashions at only £3 per metre.  I never realised before I came to cut it out that I wouldn’t fit both pieces across the width of the fabric.  As the front piece incorporates the sleeves and the cowl it was much wide than I anticipated.  Luckily I’d bought a generously cut 1.5 metres.  Wonder if thats why they call it lucky fashions!!? The fine jersey was a bit of a nightmare to sew.  It was ok through my machine but the overlocker really didn’t like it.  It was only intended to be a muslin so I wasn’t too bothered.  I left the arms and bottom unhemmed and bodged the neckline.  It’s wearable but not sure what it’ll look like after a …

Little (ish) Denim Dress aka Lekala 5963

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Ok, so it’s not that little, but it fits.  And it fits kinda well to say there’s not modifications to the pattern since printing it.  So I’m fairly pleased. Thanks for your help in deciding whether or not the Liberty bias trim should be hidden or on show.  Hidden won – mainly so I can wear my orange wedges (my favourites) and dress it up if needed. The trim was simple and I added it to all raw edges including the hem.  Here’s a few photos of how I did it in case you’re interested.  I used single folded bias binding (home made!).  Before pressing it was just less than 1 1/2 inches wide. I stitched it to the right side with a 3/8 inch seam allowance.  It needs to be less than what is left of the bias trim than will be turned to the inside. I pressed the bias tape on the hem but didn’t bother on any of the other edges and it made no difference.  It probably looks worse at the hem looks …

Lekala 5963 with a touch of Liberty

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Yesterday I really needed to sew! I’ve not made anything since the 30 draw string bags, and before that was the GBSB Drapey dress (unblogged as yet, due to being a failure!). It needed to be something that didn’t require a muslin.  My sewing soul was in need of some fairly instant gratification, so I decided to make up the Valentine dress in some stretch denim I’d bought (originally for the ginger jeans, but seen as my 2 pairs of jeans fit well, and despite printing out the pattern, buying the fabric and notions, the Gingers have been pushed down the list!).  I’d bought 2m of stretch denim online from Minerva.  It has polyester in  it which I think has made it ideal for this dress as it will crease less than if it was your 97% cotton 3% elastine type of denim. But oh no! I tried on the Valentine dress to check the fit and its a bit too big! (Oh yea for shrinking body!)  My measurents haven’t changed since Feb, but I have lost about …

Lazy Valentine Weekend – The Frock Part 3

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Hi!  Hope you’ve all had a lovely Valentine’s weekend.  I finished my frock on Friday, except for a little hand stitching, so that left Saturday for chilling.  Today has been a quiet day too, mostly because I’ve been nursing a hangover! The Frock….. I really enjoyed making this.  Probably due to making a muslin and knowing it would fit!  For the lining I chose something a bit fancy from my stash. I originally purchased this to line my Godzilla jacket but ended up using a zebra print for that instead. The lining was a nightmare to cut out, really slippery. Maybe if I’d have used a rotary cutter it would have been easier.  It was worth it in the end though. I intended to add 2 inches to the length of the dress but then forgot when I was cutting out.  In the photos of my muslin here in Part 2 the length is just right, but that was before hemming.  So I didn’t loose much length from the dress I decided to use some bias binding. …

Valentine Frock – Part 2

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For those of you who regularly read my blog, sorry for the confusion. I’ve not written Part 1 yet! (Part 1 will be about the 2 muslins I made prior to this one – pictures still required, post to follow.) On Valentine’s Night we’re going out with 4 other couples to a dinner dance at the golf club. Dinner dance might sound a bit 80’s ish, but there’ll be great food, a soul singer and a cheap bar! What more could we ask for! …….A new frock of course! After 2 separate muslin failures due to fitting issues I decided to give Lekala another try. I have used them before but not for ages. My fabric is has a large bold pattern so my dress needs to have fairly simple lines. I decided des to do away with the pockets. Maybe a year ago when I was a smoker I would have gone with the pockets for my ciggies, but 16 days it will be a year since I quit!! So, this was my 3rd …

Organising PDF Patterns

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I usually roll my PDF patterns up into a tube after using them but today I had a brain wave of a better way to store them. Strengthen one corner with lots of cellotape then make a hole with a hole puncher. Do this for each pattern piece. I then cut the straight end of a plastic ‘D’ ring and slipped each pattern piece onto it. I then put the ring onto a coat hanger. Now all I need to do is find somewhere to hang them up!

Halloween Costume

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I managed to finish Harrison’s scary clown suit in time for Halloween. It’s amazing how a costume can change someone so much.  I previously blogged on this here which shows the lekala pattern I downloaded.  When I came home from my night shift at 7am on the morning of Halloween Harrison was fast asleep. I was so excited I had to wake him to show him his costume. Here’s how it went: Mum: ‘trick or treat?’ H: ‘grunt’ Mum:  ‘trick or treat?’ H: ‘mmmm…..treat…..’ I laid his trick or treat bag at the side of his head…. H: ‘turn the lamp on…….’ (Sleepy voice) Lamp on, holding up his costume….. ‘WOW!   MUM, IT’S AMAZING!!!!!’ He was really really really pleased – I don’t think he was that excited when he got his xbox for Christmas!  We had a little photo shoot in the garden before he went out later that night: And one last one……this is my clinical supervisor trying the costume on at work (on the left)……it’s had quite a few comments on FB …