Another Guest Blog

Do you remember the evening I spent with sewing with my sister (Vicky) cutting out fabric for a little dress for her daughter? Well she has finished the project and has kindly written a guest blog about it! The pattern she followed is Simplicity 1924. Over to Vicky...

 

Well the little dress is complete and I must admit I am rather pleased with it. It is absolutely not perfect, there are plenty of mistakes but even so I think the finished article looks great. I hope you agree?

 

 

In order to try to stop you making some of the same mistakes I did, I will give you a little overview:
1) The scalloped piping is a nightmare, it just doesn't flex well enough. After several attempts (I think at least 4), I ended up snipping all the seam allowances and handstitching the piping in place. This then kept it in position well enough to be able to machine stitch.


2) If you look closely you may notice the ties and shoulder straps are sewn on the wrong way round. My advice is to take care here, unfortunately for me I didn't notice this error until I had moved on too far to be able to unpick it.

3) I made an error with the lower piped bodice section in that I should have turned the raw edges inwards and made a nice seam with the raw bit hidden, instead I just folded the fabric over so it isn't as neat as it should be. Luckily it is hidden away behind the bodice section and I will have to hope it doesn't fray.

 

 

I really enjoyed making this dress and it was very quick to put together once the fabric had been cut and I had finally worked out the bodice piping. A lovely little project, I would definitely recommend having a go.

Vicky (thought Vejazzle)

Thanks for that Vicky, the finished dress is really beautiful. Love, love, love the horse riding photo! What are you making next?

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, Finish it Up Friday. Normal quilting will resume shortly!

Sewing with my Sister

I've been home from my wonderful Japan holiday for a week, but the post-holiday blues have meant I haven't done much crafting since my return! My lovely twin sister soon changed that this weekend when she suggested I help her make a dress for her daughter Emma (who else!). As Vicky was a bit busy on Saturday and I was already doing a spot of shopping she asked that I pick a pattern and some fabric. Oh the hardship!

I went to John Lewis in Sheffield as they have a good haberdashery section. With some excellent advice from the sales assistant (neither myself or Vicky have done any pattern reading since we did Textiles GCSE age 16), I chose a Simplicity pattern. We are doing the second dress (on the right in the picture below), it has a scalloped trim detail on the yolk and pretty ties at the back.

 

Next was the fabric. I had been looking for a floral design but I just couldn't find the perfect one. Then this print caught my eye - little birds! This lovely fabric is called Flock of Birds by David Walker for Westminster/Free Spirit. How cute?

 

 

Once home we soon got to work and two hours (and a glass of wine!) later we had cut out all the pieces. Here is Vicky hard at work, we're using Emma's play mat as the perfect workstation.

 

 

Unfortunately, we had to leave it there as I'd forgotten to buy some piping for the scalloped trim - oops. Unfortunately, that means Vicky is now going it alone as I'm back in York. Good luck Vicky, the dress is going to be wonderful.