Over the summer, my friend and fabric dealer/enabler Mary and I have been meeting up in any bits of spare time to help each other draft and fit basic bodice blocks. (sometimes called slopers) We both struggle to get a perfect fit with standard patterns, both of us are blessed (or cursed!) in the bosom department, but have small backs, and narrow shoulders. Actually we both have remarkably similar measurements, unyet as we discovered both needed very different adjustments to our basic blocks, which only goes to show that standard sizes and styles work differently even on two women with the same main measurements, ie bust and waist.

I discovered I have a more rounded back than I realised, with small sloping shoulders and a sway back...then there is my dowagers hump! I can't say fitting the back was much fun for me. You may or may not have noticed that I almost never post back views on my blog, and that is because I think I look rather odd from the back, and I struggle to get a good fit with commercial patterns in the back bodice.

This photo shows my first fitted bodice block, before moving the shoulder dart.



This photo shows my first fitted bodice block after moving the shoulder dart to the side bust. Putting even this calico toile on felt amazing!



I was so pleased with how this toile felt that I had to try making a simple dress using it. I'd been planning to make a sleeveless dress to wear over a long sleeved sweater in the winter, and this seemed the perfect chance to give it a go. So using my newly drafted basic bodice block I cut out a simple sleeveless bodice and self drafted circle skirt. I added pockets in the side seams of the skirt, and cut bias binding from the same fabric to finish the armholes and neck. The resulting dress is simple, but I love it! Far from perfect, I think the front waist darts could come in a little more, and yes the neckline is a little high, but I know this is a dress I will wear lots this Autumn and Winter.

Best of all, is now I have a basic bodice block that fits, the options to make many different designs are huge. I can't wait to get started!

And look a back view!!



Next on the list is drafting a sleeve...

So, urmm, I never thought this would happen! I really didn't like Coco by Tilly and The Buttons, when it was first released, and honestly saw very very few versions I liked. My sewing buddy Jayne, has made a few and I've loved all of hers, but she has a much more toned figure than me, I really didn't want to even consider what Coco might look like on my curves!



This weekend though, I received some gorgeous Ponte de Roma from a friend, and found myself wondering about Coco, and if I could make it work for me. I tried to talk myself out of it, but it was no use, that vintage 60's vibe was calling me.



I ordered the PDF yesterday afternoon, and within two hours I had taped the pattern together, cut out the dress and finished it!
I decided to cut the back piece to fit my high bust measurements, and the front to fit my full bust measurements. I was going to grade up only at the bust, but I wanted a loose comfy semi fitted look over my tummy and hips.
I wanted a comfy dress I could throw on and still feel put together if I needed to go anywhere. I think I got that.



I skipped the patch pockets, but now wish I'd added inseam pockets, because I do love pockets on a dress.
I'm not at all used to wearing so much solid colour, but trim didn't appeal, so I went for a simple vintage brooch at the collar.(actually it is a scarf clip)



I think there are dresses in my wardrobe that flatter me more than this, but I do like it, and I will wear it. I adore the funnel neck even if Woody keeps making comments about Star Trek. I feel certain my grandmother would have worn a similar style, I'm even convinced I can remember her wearing something very similar in blue.

As a teenager I wore a lot of black, I used to have long conversations with my Dad about how black came in so many shades that I didn't need any other colours in my wardrobe! Back then I owned one red dress and every time I wore it my Dad would tell me how much nicer I looked not wearing black.

Those teenage days are long gone and now I find that other than t shirts and cardigans my wardrobe contains almost no black. So, a few weeks ago when I checked my email late at night to find a message from Sam, at Ministry of Craft saying I should wear all black for the Vintage By The Sea event the next morning , I had a mild panic, but compromised with a grey circle skirt, black t shirt and cardigan. Sam later said she knew I wouldn't own any black!



Today I was again working with  Ministry of Craft at a Macmillan event in Stockport, again the dress code was all black, so I ran up this skirt especially.

I was intrigued by a post I'd recently read over at Petit Main Sauvage about a part circle skirt given more fullness by adding in panels that pleated into the width of the skirt. Using that idea I tried something similar using the same polyester crepe I'd used on my librarian dress.
The result is a very full skirt, with a fabulous swishy drape.



The skirt is finished with some vintage blue buttons that matched my teal blue tights (I just couldn't quite do all black!)





I will almost certainly try something like this again, it's a fun way to make a quick skirt that is equally fun to wear.

Several weeks ago I was gifted a few pieces of vintage fabric from a friend clearing out her loft. I really liked the way two of the fabrics looked together and thought they might make a nice bodice and skirt for another Emery dress. The results on the hanger were pretty nice.....



... On me though, probably the most unflattering dress ever! I was taking a risk using the floral fabric on a skirt, especially since I didn't have enough fabric to ideally place the pattern. The dress looked horrible on me! I did still like the bodice though, despite it's polyester almost overall quality which meant it wouldn't press, and the darts just refuse to lay nice and flat. I was pleased with my collar trim using large ric rac.



So, I set about unpicking the skirt and planned to replace the skirt with a full circle skirt using some polyester crepe I had bought from Minerva.



The full circle skirt worked much better, but polyester crepe does not like being pressed either and hemming it was not easy at all. I eventually decided to use bias binding to hem the skirt. I used a bright red printed satin bias from stash. Basically because it was all I had enough of, and I thought it'd be quite fun to have a colourful hem on the inside that only peeked out when I walked.



There is a lot I like about this dress, but I'm afraid to say there is also a lot I don't like. I don't like way the darts sit on the bodice, and I'm not entirely happy with the general finish. I'm also not really sure it suits me, I feel like it should, but I mostly feel quite fat and frumpy, when my aim was more "retro librarian".



I will wear it again, it's a comfy everyday kind of dress, and has a lovely swish when I walk, despite all of it's flaws it is still better than anything I might buy on the high street, and polyester crepe doesn't need ironing, it'll drip dry in a flash!

There has been little time for sewing lately. There was the decorating, children going back to school and Ernest starting school, and then this weekend we deposited India at University! The day is one we'll never forget, I'm sure her first day at University would've been memorable enough, but about 10 miles away from Nottingham, our car started to do some very odd things, the dashboard was lighting up with various warnings, and we practically limped the last 5 miles to the campus car park!
Thank heavens for the RAC, who turned up quickly, but couldn't fix the car, so we had to come home in a tow truck with our poor car towed behind. A very bumpy ride home!
All the chaos meant we didn't get the time to thoroughly settle India into her new halls; instead it was a case of hastily unpacking as much as possible before the tow truck arrived.



India has begun to settle in to her new home, and make friends, it's very quiet here without her, but we are so proud of her and happy for her to be doing the course she really wanted to do, at her first choice of University. She is doing Primary Education at Nottingham Trent.

Yesterday, I finally had some time in my shed to sew! The weather has been lovely lately, but yesterday felt colder than it has in a long while, turning my thoughts to my Autumn wardrobe. I bought this lovely printed viscose a few months ago, with intentions to make a summer dress, but I think the colours transfer nicely into Autumn, with the mustard and grey mixed in with the brighter blues and pinks.



I decided to make a skirt, I wanted something full and floaty, but something a bit more than a full circle skirt. So I cut out three full circle skirt pieces and made a simple wrap skirt . The viscose is horrible to sew with, and the waist stretched out lots, which worked out ok really, because the skirt wraps around me once and a half, giving lots of fullness and floatyness.
The tie belt has no interfacing and is very long, so it wraps twice around my waist and ties in a lovely big floppy bow.
A very girly skirt. Today I'm wearing it with a t shirt and leggings, but I think it will work just as well with tights,boots and a sweater once the weather cools more.
A quick and mostly satisfying make to take me into Autumn.

It's been a hectic few weeks, and not showing much sign of slowing down any time soon. I've had very little time out in my shed doing what I love best, and yes I am starting to get rather jumpy!
I'd been promising to decorate the boys bedroom for longer than I care to admit, and when Sid asked me earlier in the summer if I was actually ever going to do it, I was suitably guilty enough to get my paint pots and brushes out.
One of the reasons I was putting it off was knowing how hard it was going to be to cover the very bright colours that were already on the walls. Eden helped me, and I'm so glad she did. The ceiling took 5 coats of paint and the walls took 3. Ernest even came and helped a little.
The whole room was finished on the tightest of budgets. We bought paint from a local discount warehouse, and used pots found in the cellar for accent colours. (I mixed two different shades together.) The curtains were made using fabric from stash (and have yet to be lined.), I scrubbed the shabby old carpet by hand, gave the orange pine bunk beds a couple of coats of egg shell, (also left over paint from the cellar), and then rubbed them down for a budget shabby chic effect, and re purposed an old sheet of chipboard by painting it with left over chalkboard paint and getting Woody to screw it to the wall.
I did buy some new bedding,but also got a lampshade from the charity shop for less than £2.
My favourite part of the room are the Fairy Tales For Hope prints above their book shelves.


You can see Angus is most impressed with the noticeboard!

I have managed to squeeze a little sewing into the spare few minutes here and there ; when your teenage daughter needs something to wear in a hurry for her friends 18th, but has no money, it's time to go stash diving and run something up in a hurry. What better pattern to use than Laurel by Colette? I'd heard great things about this pattern, but honestly never considered making it for myself, it's a style that would simply not suit my curves! I jumped at the chance though to stitch one up for India, and what a great pattern! Goes together fast and easy. India loves it!


I used a piece of green polka dot and stripe satin I'd bought last year in Abakhan, positioning the stripe at the waist. I finished the neckline and sleeves with bias cut from the same fabric.


I'm almost tempted to make myself one with sleeves, and perhaps more shaping at the waist. I particularly love this modifaction, avaiailable as a free download .

Maybe, I'll get time to try it out soon. I hope so.

When I piled my most recent fabric purchases on the counter at Abakhan, my friend Mary was surprised to see a piece of denim in there. I don't do denim. I own one pair of jeans and I hate them. On that particular shopping trip though I had promised myself I would buy more solids, but couldn't find anything I really liked so took a look at the denim. This piece of heavy weight dark denim was just the right size for an Anemone skirt, and so I bought it, and I love it!

 

 

The denim was pre washed as soon as I got home, and came out of the machine with deep heavy creases, most of which pressed out, but some remain. I don't mind that, it adds just enough character.
I lined the skirt with the same green cotton I used last week to make my latest Maudella 5213 dress, added belt loops made from the frayed selvedge, and top stitched the hem with mustard coloured thread, which looking at closely today I wished I'd used my walking foot. Despite using a denim needle my machine has clearly had trouble going over the extra thickness at each seam and the stitches are not as even as I would like. No one will notice, but it will bug me.



This skirt will take me right through the coming autumn and winter, in fact today I wore it with tights and heeled brogues, although if the summer sun makes another appearance in the next few weeks I could wear it just as easily with sandals and bare legs.

Anemone by Deer and Doe is now easily my most favourite skirt pattern, it takes small amounts of fabric, stitches together easily and quickly and is super flattering and versatile. I do LOVE this pattern. The only criticism I'd make is that I am in the largest size, and although I am curvy, I am on the smaller side of curvy sizes. It seems a shame that anyone larger than me doesn't fit into the size range, especially since I think this design looks great on a curvy figure.

I had my usual faff and bother getting photos of this skirt. I took my self timed ones using the tripod, but weirdly my face is all blurry in those, and so Woody took some while we were out walking at Styal Mill gardens this morning. I thought this one might amuse you, it's my usual "just take the bloody photo" face!!

I've been working on new patterns for my Etsy shop and so it's time to clear out some of the older stock. Most items are now marked down to half of their original price, and I've reduced the postage costs on every item!

So, if you need a little rainy day summer holiday activity you can do with your children, how about one of my Scrappy Bird Kits, now reduced to £2.25, and with easily enough fabric included for more than one bird, plus a template you can use over and over again to make as many birds as you like, or as an applique.



The Flossie's Pinafore Sewing Kits are reduced from £19.50 to £9.75. They each include enough fabric for one dress, thread and buttons, plus full pattern sheet and instructions. Sizes from 0 mths to 2 years. Pattern also available without the kit, reduced from £7.50 to only £5.00.


Take a look, there are scrap bags and larger pieces of my buddies fabric design printed by Spoonflower onto organic cotton interlock, all now reduced to half their original selling price.


Don't forget that I also have lots of free tutorials here on the blog too!

I am thrilled to be featured as "Blog of the month" in the September issue of Sew, home and style magazine. I had to resist running out and buying every copy I could lay my hands on, although I have encouraged everyone I know to rush out and buy it!
Hello to anyone reading here for the first time after buying the magzine , you are very welcome, say hi in the comments below, I love to hear from readers.
I was asked in the article which is my favourite sewing pattern, without hesitation I said the vintage Maudella 5213.
I first made this dress for last year's fall for cotton challenge, and loved it so much I've made three more since, the latest being this bright printed version.



I spotted this cotton on a recent shopping trip to Abakhan in Manchester and knew it'd make a great summer version of this pattern, but I think with tights and a cardy it'll take me through to Autumn too.

I am still in love with the three quarter length sleeves, they are practical, but also show off my tattoo nicely.



The squared off princess seams are still a challenge, but after making four versions, I think I am finally getting to grips with them.
I slightly changed this dress compared to the first three, putting a centre back seam in, and adding an invisible zip at the back instead of on the left side. I haven't decided yet if I prefer it or not.

Taking photos of the complete dress has been far from easy, I have seven children here at the moment, it's the summer holidays and everywhere seems to be in chaos, with teenagers sleeping on airbeds in my lounge. ( It didn't sound like much sleeping was happening at 2am this morning mind you!)
India offered to take some photos, Ernest insisted he needed to be in them too, despite still being in his too small pyjamas. The resulting photos make me laugh, he's having a great time, while I look mostly annoyed!

Some days I need to sew, I'm certain I've mentioned that here more than once before. I sew for lots of reasons, because I prefer the fit of clothes I make to that of ready to wear, because I like having a wardrobe of clothes that are not like anyone elses, because I like the challenge and the process of making, and often because it is like a meditation, it calms my spirit, and eases my soul. Those are the days I'm so very glad I was taught well, and can make up simple garments without thinking. Those are the days I most need to feel the satisfaction of blades cutting through fabric, and that comforting hum of the sewing machine.

Yesterday was one of those days. This time of year is full of ghosts, bittersweet memories and too much sadness. I don't run away from the sad, it needs to be sat with sometimes, and I can do that better if I just sew.

 

I'd been thinking of making the Colette Sorbetto for a while. I had a small piece of the gorgeous cotton lawn I used last summer for my Hawthorn dress and thought I could squeeze a simple blouse out of it, luckily there was enough to also add sleeves.

I cut out a size 12, did my usual full bust adjustment (FBA), and removed the centre pleat. (If I make another I think I will add the pleat back in and make a faux placket, or perhaps pin tucks instead of the pleat.

The lace collar was salvaged from a ready to wear blouse I've had for several years and was getting rather tatty. I used bias binding made from the blouse fabric to finish the neckline.

 

Having finished the blouse I realised I had nothing much to wear with it, so fishing some lightweight wool suiting out of my fabric stash and using the By Hand London circle skirt app
I whipped up a simple circle skirt with a wide waistband, and left it to hang overnight in my shed.

 

This morning I nipped out there in my slippers and nightie to hem the skirt so I could wear the whole outfit today.

 

I'm really pleased with both items. How great is it that sewing helps heal my mood and I get something lovely to wear too? I know I can't be alone feeling this way, I'd love to hear from others out there who use sewing as their safe place.

Of course a circle skirt demands a certain amount of twirling too!