FO: Colette Crepe Dress

This week i finished my Crepe Dress from Colette Patterns, just in time to wear to the Christening of my soon-to-be Godson on Sunday! This is the second pattern i have made from Colette, the first being the Sorbetto Top, of which i made several versions. The instructions for both patterns were very clear and the garments came together very easily. One of the best things about this dress was the lack of closures...the easy wrap style is effective and simple to make. It's a winner :)

 

Spot our cat's tail in the background...!



I am really pleased with my fabric choice, although i'm not exactly sure what type of fabric it is...i thought it was cotton, but when i was cutting out i noticed that it had a bit of a stretch in it. At first i thought i had done something very wrong and was cutting on the bias, but nope! I suspect it is some kind of cotton blend...probably obvious thinking about it, but this is the first time i have come across this issue so i was a bit surprised!

Can you tell it's a wrap dress?

Colette patterns have very generous measurements...i cut an American size 10, and i think that i may have been able to get away with an 8 as there is still a lot of ease around the bodice. However, the tie waistband overcomes any small fitting issues....that's one of the things i love about this dress. Another is the pockets!!

I do love a good pocket :) This was also my first time sewing facings, which i was prepared to find tricky, but the instructions were very clear to follow and i had no problems. I really like how they have turned out too, they make the finishing really neat.

 

 

Before i forget, a big thank you must go to my boyfriend for his first outing as the official KraftyKat photographer...so much easier than navigating the timer function on my camera!!

 

In other news, this morning i managed to rescue my Minoru Jacket pattern from the Post Office, where it was being held hostage (as so often happens!). You may remember that i was lucky enough to win this pattern in a giveway held by VickikateMakes. When i opened the package i was delighted to find that my patterns was signed to me by Tasia , the Sewaholic herself! What a lovely surprise, thank you Vicki!

 

Now that my Crepe dress is finished i really must concentrate on sewing my way through my Christmas gift list...so much to do, so little time!!!

K xx

 

Ribbed Scarf and other odds and sods

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for your comments on what to do with leftover fabric. It's always interesting to hear other people's thoughts :) Today I am excited to show a finished project after a bit of slow going recently...a ribbed scarf which i have made as a birthday present for my boyfriend. It is the first thing i have made for him (the less said about the UFO that is his iPad case the better...) so i hope he likes it!

The pattern is basically a double rib stitch (knit two, purl two). I added stripes in a different colour which was my first attempt at knitting with two different colours...it was a bit fiddly at first but i think it turned out pretty well in the end and i love the contrast of the colours. I am particularly pleased with the edges...

In my knitting class we were taught to knit the last stitch every time even if it is on a purl row...i think this gives a really nice finish, and also makes things a lot easier if you are sewing bit together.

In other news, and to prove that i have been doing some sewing recently, here is my Crepe Dress muslin! Not modelled i'm afraid, but still evidence it exists :) Shocking lighting i know but it can't be helped...it's just so dark and dingy at the moment!

I am pleased to say that it is a very good fit, so aside from altering the length i think i'm ready to start with my fashion fabric, here's a reminder of my intended fabric and contrast lining.

One final thing to share with you before i head off to the Lake District for a long weekend is some amazing fabric i picked up last weekend from my favorite fabric stall at Leicester Market. I have no idea what i am going to do with it yet but how cute is this???

I snapped up 2 whole metres as i knew it was unlikely to be around for long. I'm sure i can come up with some ideas for some little people i know...and also perhaps some not-so-little people!!!

K xx





What do you do with your leftovers?

Leftover fabric that is.

I'll be the first to admit that I am a compulsive over-buyer of fabric. I just can't help it. When i was just starting out, before i fully appreciated the amount of fabric required to make a garment, I had the awful experience of finding out I didn't have enough of my beautiful, carefully chosen fabric. The next weekend I hurried back to the market to pick up another metre...only to find there was none left. This has happened to me twice since, and the result is that I now buy far more fabric than I could ever need....just in case. Far far more. The pattern says 2 metres? Let's round it up to 4 just to make sure! The situation is made worse by the fact that I habitually shorten shirts on patterns (despite being tall!), meaning I use even less fabric.

The consequence of this is that I now have quite a few lengths of fabric in my stash which I now identify with a certain garment, for example 'crescent skirt fabric', 'New Look dress fabric' etc. It wouldn't be so bad if they were plain fabrics, but i have a tendency towards prints, which makes them instantly recognisable.

Personally, I am of the view that one can never have too much fabric. I am hopeful that I will find a use for every piece of fabric in my stash eventually, whether it be garments or smaller items such as bags. However, I am a little bit hesitant to use fabric that has already been used for one garment for another. Each fabric was carefully chosen to use for a particular pattern, and it would feel slightly wrong to now use it for something else. Also, there is a risk that my wardrobe would become very matchy-matchy! Perhaps I'm thinking about it too much, but I'm not sure it would feel right.

My question to you is, what do you do with the fabric remaining after making a garment? And let's be clear, I'm not talking about scraps here, I'm talking about metres. I would be interested to hear your thoughts! Once option which occurred to me was a fabric swap, so if anyone would be interested in getting involved and swapping some of their leftover fabric with mine, just let me know by commenting below and I'll dig through my stash and see what i have to offer.

In other news, i have finished my Crepe muslin! I am pleased to report it is a good fit (the joys of a wrap dress!), so hopefully I'll be able to get on with the real deal very soon. Pictures coming soon if you're lucky ;)

K xx

I won I won! Woop-de-do!

Hello Everyone!

I am VERY excited. Today i received a lovely email from Vicki from VickikateMakes to tell me that i was the lucky winner of her latest giveaway. The prize? None other than the new pattern from Tasia the Sewaholic...the Minoru Jacket!

I am super excited to have won my very first giveaway, and even more excited (if that were possible) because of how FANTASTIC the prize is (lots of capitals today. I told you i was excited.) Those of you who are regular readers of my blog will know of my slight obsession with Sewaholic Patterns. So far i have made a Crescent Skirt and a Lonsdale Dress, and am planning at least one Pendrell Blouse and another Crescent Skirt. So yeah, i like Sewaholic patterns.

I have actually been eyeing up the Minoru Jacket pattern since it was announced a week or so ago. It is a lightweight jacket which can be made with or without a hood, and is ideal for cycling - perfect as i have recently started cycling to work. Here it is modelled by Tasia herself...

So big thanks to Vicki for hosting this great giveaway! Why not pop over to VickikateMakes and check out her funky possible fabric choices for her Minoru jacket...and while you're there, take a peek at the super cute bags and purses available in her Etsy Shop!

K xx 

"Improve Your Dressmaking"

Hello Everyone,

Happy weekend...and happy Bonfire Night for those in the UK! As i write this i am listening to lots and lots of fireworks being set off outside...the poor cat is not very happy :(

This week we had a couple of friends stay for a few nights while they were having work done on their house. As a thank you, i received this gem of a book, entitled "Improve Your Dressmaking".

I must admit that I had not heard of Ann Ladbury before, but a little bit of googling has taught me that she was very well known in the 60s for a number of television programmes which were dressmaking "how tos". Imagine that, TV sewing courses! Fabulous! I even found this article which refers to her as the "Delia of dresses". So there we go!

Back to the book. The edition i have was published in 1978 and the best bit about it, in my opinion, are the fantastic line drawings which appear throughout. Aren't these just great??

 As well as the illustrations, there are step by step instructions on a whole host of techniques, some of which look incredibly complicated, but all of it will no doubt come in useful! You can't really see it in the photo, but here is an example...

 In other news, here is what we did in this week's knitting class...

You may not be able to tell, but trust me when i say it is supposed to be the neckline of a jumper! This was the most complicated bit of knitting i have ever done as it involved putting some stitches onto a stitch holder whilst we shaped the neck and then picking the stitches back up again from the "ladder" between stitches. It sounds complicated and it was, but i am very pleased with the result so far!

I have also made a start cutting out for some Christmas presents and have high hopes that i may begin a muslin for my Colette Pattern's Crepe Dress. Hopefully more on this coming soon!

K xx