Sew Over It Georgie Dress - without a bodice lining

This is the Sew Over It Georgie Dress (which I keep wanting to call Georgia), and I do love a knit fabric pattern; they are so much quicker to make than wovens, and this was sewn in a few hours.  

I made a size 10 of Version 1 with the 3/4 circle skirt, and being me, I made some changes.  The sleeves and skirt were shorted, and I added pockets to the side seams, but the biggest change was to not add the bodice lining.

I did this for two reasons: 1 - my fabric is fairly thick, and I didn't want to add extra bulk, and 2 - I didn't have any suitable lining fabric.

So here is how I did it.  I basted the pleats on the right bodice front as on the instructions, and then joined both bodice fronts to the bodice back at the shoulders.  Then I got some 1/4" clear elastic and Wonder Clipped (cos that's a verb) it to the wrong side of the neckline of the bodice the whole way around.

The elastic isn't stretched, just as it is from the packet. 

Then I attached it with the overlocker using the setting for sewing knit fabric.  I didn't stretch it out as I sewed, just held it in place at the edge of the fabric.

 And this is what it looks like when it's done.

Next, I pressed the edge over from the right side by 1cm, which is the seam allowance and again Wonder Clipped it in place.

And then I sewed it in place from the right side using a twin needle.  This is what it looks like from the right side,

and this is what it looks like from the wrong side.

 

 

I layed the right hand side of the bodice over the left hand side, and then basted the overlap edges within the seam allowance.

And finally pinned and sewed the front and back side seams together. 

And that was it!  The rest was contructed as on the instructions, and I finished the hems by overlocking and twin needling them.

 

My fabric is from The Textile Centre ages ago, and I used about 1.5 metres.  I love this dress, and the only change that I'll make to the next one is to lengthen the bodice by about an inch, as this bodice is a little bit short.

Have a great weekend,

Lynne

Tilly And The Buttons Mathilde Blouse - Make Nine 2019 #9

There's nothing like leaving something to the last minute, and that's exactly what happened with this!  It's Tilly And The Buttons Mathilde Blouse, and it's my final make for Make Nine 2019. 

I didn't think I was going to finish 2019 Make Nine because I simply couldn't decide what to make with this fabric.  But then I was reading this post on the Tilly And The Buttons Blog on Christmas Eve, it mentioned the Mathilde Blouse, and inspiration struck.

I was nearly finished my Rosa dress, and this got started on 27th December, so no pressure...  I technically finished it on 29th December, but read on for the drama!

First though, here are the deets - the fabric is some green silk I got on ebay a few years ago, and I stablised it with spray starch.  Everything is French seamed, including the armholes, which I hadn't done before. 

The pleats were a bit tricky in the silk, but I took my time, and they turned out ok.

The buttons are some wooden buttons that my sister bought me.

By the way, my skirt is the Tilly And The Buttons Ness skirt.  I made it a few months ago using some denim from Oh Sew! and I absolutely love it and have been wearing it a lot.

I was very pleased with how my blouse turned out; all I had to do was wash out the spray starch, and that's when disaster struck! Normally I would use Dreft handwashing powder, but the last time it ran out I couldn't get it, and got Daz handwashing powder instead.  I put some powder in a basin with some hot water, put in my blouse, and when I took it out this happened.

This is on the right back,

 

this is on one sleeve,

and this on the front - you can see the stitching from one pleat on the left.  As you can see, some of the dye has bleached on various parts of my blouse.  There where other spots as well, but I didn't photograph them.

I think that maybe some of the powder hadn't dissolved properly, and to say I was furious didn't even skim the surface!  So the blouse got set aside for about a week while I decided what to do, and thank you to everybody on Instagram who suggested solutions, hand washing liquids and who offered sympathy.  

Here's what I ended up doing - my machine has loads of embroidery stitches, and after testing on some scraps, I settled on a leaf design.  To stablise it, I cut a piece of interfacing and hand-basted it to the back of the fabric with two layers of silk on top, which you can see in the photo below.

This is on the yoke at the front neckline

The bleached bits aren't obvious in this photo, but they absolutely were in real life!

I sewed the embroidery stitch from the right side.  This is how it looks from the wrong side.

 I then cut down the interfacing and silk patches with embroidery scissors.

And this is how it turned out.

This is the front left shoulder

Centre front

Upper right back

Button placket

This is the back of the left sleeve, but there is also one bit on the right sleeve

It took ages, but I like how it looks, and it's definately saved my blouse!  The Daz powder went in the bin and I got some handwash liquid.

Has anybody else ever had a disaster like this?

Lynne

Tilly And The Buttons Rosa Dress - Make Nine 2019 #8

This is number eight on my 2019 Make Nine, and I finished it on Boxing Day (number nine is also done, but there was drama - it's for another post).  Anyway, this is the Tilly And The Buttons Rosa Dress, which is a pattern I've have for a few years now but never made.

I ended up drafting the pattern myself because I knew I'd have too many fitting issues, but I've kept to the orginal pattern as much as possible.

 

 

I made two changes, the first to the back yoke which I cut straight instead of a V shape.

The second was to the sleeves.  I used my self-drafted three-quarter length sleeves with button cuffs, but instead of using a bias cut strip of fabric to face the placket, I used the placket facing from the Rosa pattern long sleeve and cuff.
  

 

I haven't seen this type of placket facing before and thought it was a great idea, so I drafted the pattern piece, and then followed the pattern instructions to sew it.

Another thing I love is the the button placket.  I'd normally cut a placket as one with the garment front, interface it and then press it under; but this placket is cut separately.  In one of the examples on the pattern, the placket and inside collar stand are cut from another fabric, and it looks lovely.

 

The pattern instructions were great for the faux flat-felled seams and also the top stitching, and I love how they turned out.  For the top stitching I used my 1/4" foot, and, as you can see in the photo below, it has a little guide on the right which I lined up with the seam.  I was then able to move the needle to the width I wanted, and used the guide to keep the stitching line straight.

And finally, I absolutely love this chambray fabric.  It's from lovely Becs at Oh Sew! and it's called Planets Chambray.  And I've just noticed that she lists the Rosa dress as pattern idea for it.  Great minds think alike!

Lynne