Experiments in Jersey No 1: Ultimate Wrap Dress

After seven months of neglecting my blog, I'm back! Apologies to anyone who has come looking for updates - I started a new job in October and it has taken me months to adjust to all the travelling. Plus, I've decided I'm a fair weather sewer, only seem to get inspired once the sun has come out! I've sewn once since the last blog post - some Christmas bunting for a colleague's Secret Santa gift - and didn't manage to get a photo done.

Anyway, back to the purpose of today's blog post... The Great British Sewing Bee completely inspired me to try sewing with jersey / stretch fabric... It looked tricky but totally do-able. After scouting around on my favourite fabric website, Spoonflower, I placed an order... In the meantime, waiting the month or so for the fabric to arrive I ordered some cheap fabric from Minerva, to test out just how tricky this new fabric might be...

I went for Sew Over It's Ultimate Wrap Dress, mostly because I wanted to support their shop, I've never been but it's local enough, and I do want to get there!

So what do you think?? It's certainly a little lower and higher cut than I'd normally go for! Perhaps one for once the legs have adjusted to seeing any daylight! 

It was incredibly easy to make the dress - no faffing, it was done in just a few hours, using a ballpoint needle... Without an overlocker at hand I'm afraid I left the edges raw so we'll have to see how long it lasts, but I don't especially care - it's not my favourite, nor the most wearable of dresses!

There's one bugbear I have with it too - there's a lot of rippling, on a couple of the hemmed edges. Any more experienced sewers, I'd love your opinions, what went wrong? 

I can guarantee the next post won't take so long to get put up - have already made the next project using the Spoonflower jersey I mentioned :) 

The Jersey dress: Simplicity 1651

Summer: The season of weddings, and parties. A time for celebrating with friends and loved ones, and looking good while doing it! At the start of the summer I found the most beautiful dress at Warehouse and decided to do a copy, for some of the events of the coming year.

The original dress was duck egg blue, medium weight crepe with an interesting cut out at the back. I loved the classic simplicity, and the shape of the skirt, so elegant.

Despite my intention to copy this, my version is pretty different in the end! Made using a light weight crepe, and lined, both fabrics bought from Abakhan's in Mostyn. The pattern, Simplicity 1651, has a a sweetheart neckline, which I just love. The only thing similar to the original is that there's a cut out at the back and a fairly similar skirt! Nonetheless, I'm really happy with it, and learnt lots about lining a dress. It was a real challenge, especially when putting the zip in!

I used two types of bias binding to finish hems on the skirt, each bias matching the tone but not precisely the colour of the lining or crepe - I wanted to have a small contrast for some detail. I think you might be able to see that in this photo. What you can't see is the stiffness of the bias, and how it added to the flutes of the skirt. 

What do you think? A good dress for wedding season? These photos were taken at a lovely couple's wedding in Jersey, it was so beautiful there, and a really special day. I'm pretty sure I'll be using this pattern again in the future!

The 'try again' dress

Back way in February I received a gift of some lovely Joel Dewberry fabric from the John Lewis sale, and it was all lined up for making a perfect 1950s 'housedress'. But then it turned out (mid cutting!) that I had far, far too little - note to self: planning is a good idea...

After a few months of gathering dust I finally got some inspiration from one of the patterns that came free with Sew Magazine, Project Runway 2588. Lots of people have made this one up, with some really exceptional results.

It turned out to be very straightforward (though that's not prevented some significant making faults - damn you zipper!). I misjudged the bodice size too, so it's got a little tendency to gape at the sides - though with some adjustments to the seam allowance I no longer look like the hunchback of Notre Dame...

I just love the neckline of this dress, it feels so elegant, and classy - I think I'll be making this one over and over again. The length should be considerably shorter according to the instructions, but this fabric is a bit sedate for that I think!

I'm planning to wear this to a charity karaoke event this Friday, but I can't decide if it's more work or play dress. Like the Joanie dress as I get more used to it (and trust my judgement a bit more) I'll wear it more often.What do you guys think? Any thoughts on fabrics you'd use to make it up?

The Joanie dress

I've finally done it! After weeks of delaying because I felt intimidated I've tackled and completed the Joanie dress (New Look 6000). I was so sure it'd be difficult, and I was really unsure about what fabric to chose, due to the fitted and curvy style, very different to my other dresses so far. 

There's lots of inspiration out there, it's a really popular dress to make up, as you can see over on Burda Style. People tend to call it the 'Joanie' dress thanks to the 1950/60s Mad Men style worked by the beautiful Christina Hendricks. 

Once I'd got round to building up the courage and bought my fabric (a navy jersey knit from Fabrics Galore) making the dress was remarkably simple!

It's pretty fitted, and I'm delighted with the lined sleeves - never thought it could be so easy! I started just a few weeks ago and since then the fabric choice has become obviously wrong one. Taking these photos at 9am I was already pretty warm!

The pleat details worked out mostly ok, though they're not perfect...

And the button was a hard choice but was eventually picked up at Liberty's - their very last one in this size.

It was a cool day up in Liverpool so I decided to wear it for a good friend's wedding, what do you think? It's with nude shoes, a cream knit jacket from Zara and lots of red lipstick...

I have absolutely no idea where to wear it more normally - it's not really my normal style for work. How would you wear it, and what do you think of the finished version?

The Ted Faker dress / TPD / Lisette 2209

So, finally another dress... This one is the dress of many names! I made this using Lisette 2209, which I got free with Sew Magazine. It's a really easy pattern, which would be perfect for anyone's first project.

 

I fell in love with this Wookey Hole Liberty Tana Lawn fabric, picked up from Shaukat. It was created by merging a painting and photography of the caves in Somerset. I loved the pattern and remembered having driven past recently, it seemed perfect! I combined it with a lightweight poplin

So... here's the finished product! 

What do you think? My Mum thinks it looks like a Ted Baker design, hence 'Ted Faker'. TPD stands for The Purple Dress :)

And wearability? Well that's the next post!