All These Things What I Have Done

It’s been an age since I’ve done any sewing. During winter I tend to get more into knitting (not that that is really an excuse this year.) However, the Great British Sewing Bee came around and so I felt the need to sew once more.

I bought some fantastic fabric from eBay for only £11.90 for 2m. It’s a heavy jersey with a beautiful pattern. I was heading out to Spain on holiday and wanted to try making my own summer maxi dress. And here is the result!

I tested out one strapless look but then got real and realised I’d never be able to make that work so quickly gave up on that idea. I only took one process photo in the end, and that was just so I could remember where the arm holes should start. It was a simple pattern I made - traced around a t-shirt and then extended it the length of the fabric. I just use a belt to cinch in the waist so very minimal fitting required.

A month or so ago, Cloth House in Soho were doing an amazing sale on jersey, everything was £1 per metre. I went along with my friend and confusedly bought 12 metres. I had no projects in mind, but all the fabric was wonderful and I had to own it.

This top is the first project from that jersey haul! It’s made from a lovely black lace jersey that is so incredibly soft and made of clouds. I only bought 2m which was an oversight on my part.

The pattern is the #onehourtop pattern, which can be found from Fancy Tiger Crafts. I don’t know that it took me an hour, but definitely under 2. That’s an achievement for my first jersey project I think.

The top itself is more wearable than I thought. I expected the lace to be super see through, making it more of a light weight jumper, but it’s actually pretty opaque when up against the skin, I think it could be worn on its own on days when I’m feeling bold. I’ve shown a photo of it over a dress so you can see the length. And in the last photo you can see me holding out my arm in front of a light source, so you can see the pretty lace pattern.

Overall working with jersey is super, and this pattern was very easy. I was debating what I’d make with all that jersey, and have been considering dresses and skirts. But I might just make myself a huge batch of t-shirts at this rate. 

The infamous Walkaway dress! I made one! Despite it looking like utter horror on the real life model on the Butterick website it looks just lovely in actual real life. The lovely ladies at Jardine’s Fabrics in Clacton helped me choose the fabric and it was the perfect choice. Lovely and shiny and really nice and heavy, swooshes real good when walking. 

This is the first item of clothing that I’ve ever made for myself that could be worn outside the house. I wore it today and I LOVE IT.

A scarf? FOR ME? Yes I made myself a scarf. It is an absolute beast but is fantastically snuggly and keeps me very warm. 

So I had this dress, that sort of was the shape of this dress and I didn't like the shape of it any more. So instead of charity shopping it I decided to alter it with MY SEWING MACHINE.

I tried to remove the elastic round the waist, but the material remembers everything that has happened to it and so there were lots of little holes left, so the middle had to go.

I chopped that out, then attached the lovely, pre-hemmed bottom of the dress to the top half and it became a t-shirt! Magic! I wore it for an evening and the thing frayed like mad. So then I used my fancy overcasting foot and zigzagged the heck out of everything. 

I put a zip in something and it worked! I made this little...purse... thing, which has interfacing in it to give it some structure. It was a genuinely confusing process putting all the layers together and working out how and when to turn it inside out. I used this tutorial.

I made something I can actually wear! Not something I could wear outside, or in front of people, but something I can wear. 

These are the first things I made after getting my sewing machine, not all of them required sewing machines.

The pin cushion jar was inspired by something I saw at John Lewis for a big price. I bought a jar for 50p from tiger and pushed out the lid out. An old stuffed toy I had made was dismantled for the stuffing. I think it came out rather well, very useful for sewing.

The wrist pin cushion was made from old PJs. The material is thin but works well. And the elastic waist band was perfect for the wrist strap. It looks ugly as all heck.