Colette Sew Along: Pastille Prep

So I have been a good girl and although I am way way way behind I have spent today tracing and cutting and preparing my muslin!

I am off to bed now but will finish marking up my fabric tomorrow and hopefully start sewing the muslin tomorrow night!

Has the weekend gone already?

Well I had quite a productive weekend. I re-padded Deirdre but despite have the same measurements clothes fit her differently from me but at least its close enough.

Her before and after shots, she now has a defined bust and waist. I have taken some off the hips too.

I also made my Colette Meringue skirt smaller and repositioned the zip.

Please excuse the over exposure. As you can see the zip is now nicely positioned and runs smoothly into the seam and on the whole is about a size smaller all over.

And on a rare occasion here is me wearing it!

I am one of these people that hates having my photo taken and certainly dislike looking at them afterwards!















And there it is the weekend has gone already!

Colette: Meringue Finished

Well I have finally finished the Meringue skirt (behind schedule I know but I am getting there) and I have to say despite adjusting the muslin and the pattern it has still turned out a tad too big. I made a slight balls up on the zip and need to practice the scallops but once I have taken it in more at the waist it will be wearable :)

I have posted my pics here, comments and tips are more than welcome.

Here we have the finished garment, not to bad to be honest for someone of my level.

I had huge issues with the scallops so I followed a tutorial on perfect scallops by Pattern Scissors Cloth adding interface to make the material easier to work with and voila.









I double topstitched the scallops too.













As you can see I made a complete mess of this, the zip was place too low, the seam did not quite meet with the zip and I accidently managed to put the seam ripper through the material when unstitching the zip the first time round!

Despite precise marking, checking and pinning of the darts one of them runs off slightly to the side but this is not too much of a problem and doesn't notice too much.

The back darts came out fine!

Once I have reduced the waist in size I will post a picture of me actually wearing the skirt.

Now onto the next project and I'd best knuckle down and get it done :)

Colette Sew Along: Hosted by Rhinestones and Telephones

A link for anyone who is interested in following or taking part in the sew along.

Rhinestones and Telephones: Introducing: Sew Colette

Over and Out or Cut and Hem???

Firstly I would like to say I promise I am working on my Meringue skirt :)

However my new toy has arrived:

I will be honest and say as a beginner I am reluctant to purchase an overlocker (and am shocked at the price of them) so I had a look at some alternatives. There are a few 'cheap' portable overlockers but they didn't come to highly recommended but my Mum managed to find this on eBay.

I thought I would give it a go as I have material that is fraying quicker than I can make the skirt!

She was a little tricky to get on the first time and god help me when I loose my threads...very little room underneath when fully raised.

This is the finished result of my practice. Not bad for an attachment costing less than £20. I know they are not perfect but at least I can finish my seams with the knowledge they wont be unravelling beneath me!

I tried a few different tensions to see what was best this is the back view I think (got them a bit mixed up as you do)!







Right back off to finish my skirt :) xx

Colette: Meringue

Well I made up a muslin for the meringue skirt and will have to make a few adjustments :( Its way to long for my 5'3 frame and possible a bit to A line compared to the picture in the book. Back to the drawing board. I am happy with the waist which is a first for me! All that needs to be altered is the length and take out some of the volume on the thighs possibly?

I will adapt the pattern tomorrow, rip some seams and have another go. Quite looking forward to wearing the finished skirt already!

Meet Deirdre!!!

I would like to introduce you to Deirdre

Deirdre is my mum's old dress form (I wouldn't like to say how old she actually is through fear of getting a clip round the ear next time my mum visits). I have padded her out as close to my measurements as I can (although I think I need to even her up a bit!) and have made her a new cover out of some stretch jersey I picked up today.

Meringue

Well I decided to make a muslin for this project as being only my second clothing item. I was really good today and copied my pattern, cut the fabric but I have to be up super early to take my daughter to the cinema so I will have to put it all together tomorrow :( I am hoping there will not be too many adjustments to be made!

All done nice and neatly.

Ready to go when I get back from the cinema.

Colette Sewing Handbook

Being a beginner I have jumped in at the deep end somewhat but I have to confess I have had my eye on this book for a while now which comes very highly recommended. I am just so glad I managed to get a copy of it today from Waterstones.

I am halfway through reading and cannot wait to go to the fabric store tomorrow to pick up some new fabric!

For those who wish to look into Sarai's book a bit more check out her website.

My First Finished Dress :)

Ok so it has taken me a while but I have been working on a practice run for my dress using the pattern from Simplicity 2406 and I must say it has been a challenge, with lots of unstitching and re-stitching. I am finding the patterns a little hard to follow and I know that I have jumped in the deep end considering this is only the third item I have ever sewn But here it is.

Please excuse my daughters wonderful wall drawing in the background. :)

This does look so much nicer on as my dress form is very old and has a deformed butt as you can see in the picture below!!

                                                      This is the back note you can see the dodgy buttock :)                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                       

I even managed the in seam pockets too :)