Author Archives: Tracy
2017 sewing challenges
To be honest I don’t usually have the determination to stick to challenges which usually why I don’t officially take part. This year I think that I might need some inspiration and encouragement to complete my sewing.
As of today I want to try to complete #sewwhatyougot, it isn’t as if I’m going to be short on patterns or fabric :-
This is a challenge to Sew 8 outfits, use only fabric you already have in your stash, use only patterns you own now. do not repeat a pattern twice. I found this over at mermaidspurse.org.nz. one of these patterns will be the moneta dress, which will enable me to enter the #monetaparty though at the moment I can’t decide whether to do sleeves or no sleeves.
With my own personal challenge at the beginning of each month I am going to announce four projects to be completed in that month, one will be a UFO, one project can be carried over to the next month if the project gets carried over more than two months I going to dump it.
we have already had January, February is going to be:-
Moneta Dress in this fabric
I bought it at Olympia last year, one of the stall employees had a dress on made in this fabric, which I was happy to see, because I had spotted this first and couldn’t decide whether if would look good as a dress.
I am also going to try the sew over it vintage shirt dress
I want to finish this skirt
it needs a zip and for me to decide how I’m going to finish the hem.
I haven’t chosen the fourth project it might be Hey Junes – Lane Raglan or I might have a go at this pattern
more soon
Project 1 – Part 2 Finished
I have my first finished Dress of the year and my first Dress for Florida, yes unfortunately you can expect two weeks solid of posting about Florida again.
I am very pleased how this dress has turned out, the bodice fits perfectly, the white buttons add just enough interest to the front to stop it being too boring.
I used self made bias binding for the arm holes and skirt hem, as i had been a bit tight for length I didn’t want to use too much on the hem.
One of the arm holes doesn’t lay quite right under the arm, but I have already had the binding off once and it doesn’t look much better. I’m wondering if I cut it slightly wrong as I freehanded taking off 5/8 of an inch. If you look closely at the inspiration dress I think that the binding is on the outside.
Project 2 new bra doesn’t really warrant it’s own post, it has come together really nice it is still slightly too tight across the right cup but it looks a lot better.
Project 3, January
Here is project 3 for this month, once I had shrunk the pattern, it is actually a very quick make.
To shrink the pattern I traced it off on to x and dot paper, I used to use the burda tracing paper but I find it just a bit too flimsy for this type of thing. I shortenend it by 3/4 inch first then cut it into five strips, each strip I overlapped 1/8 inch and stuck it back together, I had been using pritt stick, but I managed to pick up write on able scotch tape before christmas so I used that, it is quite a lot easier. The next thing I did was a SBA of 1/2 inch.
I checked the measurements before laying it out and decided that I needed to put the two inches removed from the top back at the hip it’s a pity I didn’t realise this earlier as it would have meant I didn’t have to change the bottom half.
The fabric is a beautiful purple with a white ‘flower’ design, I layed the pattern pieces out and drew on the extra 1/4 inch to the outside seam cutting out immediately, the last thing I wanted to do was forget what I had decided.
I actually put the dress together as per the instructions which meant hand stitching all the hems, the main problem with that is the ‘skirt’ pieces need to be hemmed before they are attached to the shorts.
basically you put the top half together with the darts, facing and zip, for some reason at this point you don’t touch the sleeves, then you put the front shorts together and add the skirt overlay then repeat for the back, then finish making up the short and attach to the top half, once it is all cut out, even with the hand stitching it only takes about 3 hours to put together.
more soon…..
Project 1-part one, January
This is my inspiration photo
As I said in my previous post I started cutting out the top of another pattern before deciding this fabric was totally wrong
The first thing that I needed to do was to work out if I had enough fabric left over to make the skirt. I suspected, looking at the picture that was a 3/4 circle skirt, it didn’t look full enough to be a full circle, after spending 5 minutes looking for my skirt pattern, then looking at the instructions in the sewmanydresses book I decided that I couldn’t be bothered with creating a 3/4 circle pattern.
I folded my fabric in half and pinned it still, I took my water soluble pen attached it to a piece of string held it in one corner of the fabric and made two 1/4 circles on the folded fabric with the pen on the other end, then just cut 1/4 off each piece, which was handy because I used those bits for facings.
I decided that I could use the basic bodice from the sewmanydresses book, it did give instructions on how to make a button down bodice, unfortunately I didn’t have the fabric to use the all-in-one method so had to cut a separate button tab.
I had a couple of problems due to the fact I had already cut out the bodice pieces for the other outfit and so would have to use these to create the top of my dress. The main problem was that the fabric wasn’t quite wide enough, using a 3/8 inch seam allowance on the front I managed to move my under arm problem into the seem allowance.
I did add an extra bit to this fabric before cutting out, I straight stitched then zigzagged an extra bit, the last place you need a weak stress point is under the arm.
there was also a tiny problem with the back of the neck but I decided to just make the back neckline lower.
If you look closely at the next picture you can just see where I am going to cut the neckline to. There is a faint blue line on the left side of the photo.
I am quite pleased with it so far, I have decided on 22mm white buttons, which I need to get and I think I am going to try bias binding on the hem and armholes.
More soon…..
Projects for January
hi, i know this is a little late for my first proper post for January but here goes.
I have four projects I am working on at the moment:-
Corrected bra pattern I altered on the advice of Beverly Johnson, this was coming together very nicely, right up to the point I discovered that the sliders and rings were the wrong size, I have since received a new set of larger sliders and haven’t got around to using them
The next project it is a refashion of this dress
I I love the fabric, but even though this was the second time I made this dress, it was unwearable, too tight across the back and the arm hole was too low, not sure what was going on there. I have subsequently taken it apart and I hope to be able to make this dress out of the fabric.
I wanted to remake this dress/pant suit, but I wanted to make it closer to my size so I reduced the pattern to a 34 bust, after cutting out the pattern I realised that the fabric design was totally unsuitable for it, so I decided to use it for my other project which was to create a copy of this dress.
More on these soon
Biba Part three
This will be the last post on this I promise, I went back to the exhibition today and I took my proper camera I have taken some closeup shots of the clothes.
Biba seemed to like these bell sleeves with the long tight cuff, I would assume that the cuff would go some way to stop you dropping your sleeve in your soup.
This dress was also available in red, which I think I prefer, colourwise.
As you can see in these shots the shoulder and sleeves are very similar, gathers at the shoulder going into the Bell sleeve.
The yoke and gathers across the bustline give it a very soft look, I’m not sure that the sleeves really go.
This is a completely different look for sleeves we appear to be having a hi-lo moment, I’m not sure that they would stay out of dinner, it has a very nice soft draped neckline.
I love this wide drapey collar but not sure about the neckline it’s self
Look at the collar on this one the contrast white collar and dark blue is very striking.
I missed this little white collar the first time I looked at the dress, it wasn’t until I read the gold card attached to it that I saw it.
This has a funny right angled under arm bust dart, I know they were aimed at the mainly flat-chested but I’m not quite sure what this achieved.
I love this coat, with the princess seams on the back and the big collar, I’m pretty sure that it would be unwearable in the winter, the sleeves don’t look wide enough to wear it over anything bulky and I’m not sure you could get it over the bell sleeves of the the first two dresses I showed you.
Biba was definitely all about the sleeves
look at these buttons aren’t they great?
I love the look of these cuffs, a lot of the 50s patterns have the contrasting collar and cuff but I haven’t got the nerve try it yet, maybe I can use this for inspiration.
I promise this will be the last post on Biba – for the time being.
next up will be my plans for the new year……..
Biba – An Exhibition part 2
Here is the second part of the post about the Biba Exhibition, this might confuse people not from Southend but the second hale is housed in the original ‘old’ library which is the museum.
The part housed in the museum was housewares and makeup, Biba apparently had a finger in all pies, as far as I can work out they were eventually housed in a very large department store in London.
while I was looking at the dresses a lady was in there with me she was very nostalgic while looking at all the merchandise, and informed me that at home she probably had more at home than was included in the exhibition, she remembered fondly that the price of the bus fare was probably more than she and her friends bought in the shops, the makeup was very cheap.
you must admit the eyeshadow sets do look fabulous….
The also sold household from matches to dinner services all with the black and gold motif
there were these really great art deco signs
and here is the ending plaque
One of the ladies in the Museum said that she thought it was one of the best exhibitions that had been put on there and I think she was right, she also mentioned that it all came from one mans collection.
if you have any great memories of Biba I would love you to share them in the comments.
Biba an Exhibition
Hi, now I will confess I hadn’t heard of Biba, I think it is probably because of my age, I would have been 7 when it closed 1975. My local museum and the Beecroft gallery have been showing an exhibition since the middle of this year and it is going on until 14 January.
Biba was a Fashion brand that originally ran from 1964 – 1975 there has been a couple attempts to revive the brand since then which don’t appear to have been successfull the latest being House of Fraser
The Beecroft Gallery which is now housed in the old Library has a small display of clothes, this is going to be a very picture heavy post, the photos aren’t that good, they were taken on my phone with no flash so there is quite a lot of reflections going on.
There were a lot of boards up with little pieces of information on the the brand.
I’ll have the next half tomorrow….
Bra Making pt 2
Here is the long awaited update to Bra Making pt 1, it doesn’t take that long to finish once you get onto the elastic.
My kit came with two different widths of picot elastic luckily I picked the right one, the slightly wider one goes along the bottom band the other one along the outside of the straps.
Each bit of elastic has two rows of Zigzag stitching, the first row is to switch it to the front of the bra band then you flip it up on the back and do the other row, the first one is normal zigzag the second is the three stitch zigzag.
The elastic is only pulled tight across the bottom of each cup, and you cut the bridge fabric so that you can stitch that straight.
You do much the same thing for the top of the band and up the strap, the only bit that need pulling is the side of the cup.
The neckline trim doesn’t have to be elastic but the stuff in my kit was, and to be honest not my cup of tea once it was installed, it was a bit too big.
Once the bottom band has been completed, but before the strap elastic is fitted you check the band for size against the hook and eye band, trim off any excess on the band. You fit the hardware to the back strap then attach that to the back of the bra, and attach the bra strap to the the elastic back.
attach the hooks and eyes then you have a finished bra.
before you finish off the channelling for the underwires you try it on for fit.
The cup fit was pretty good, it was slightly tight along the top cup edge and the bottom band was also a bit tight, I was thinking of going up a band size but after asking the class instructor she suggested adding 1/2 to 1 inch to the back band piece and adding a wedge to the top edge of the upper cup.
So I’m going to try it and see how these alteration affect the fit.
If you are thinking of taking the Beverly Johnson class I would recommend it, I would also recommend getting her pattern and the kit that goes with it, I have enough fabric for about four bras, I will need to get extra elastic and findings. There are two reasons for saying this, if you take her other classes this is the bra pattern Beverly shows you how to alter and also I bought another kit from eBay and the main cup fabric is horrible and I think the the lace is unsuitable for bra making as it is slightly directional (one way) it is as if they have got a list of things needed for the process but have the necessary knowledge to select the right stuff. If I hadn’t bought the other kit I wouldn’t have known any better and probably not finished the bra.
I bought my official kit from b’ware they are Swedish website which accepts PayPal as well as credit cards the kit arrived very quickly.
Craftsy – Bra making part 1
Hi, you might remember this time last year I bought a craftsy class – Sewing Bras construction and fit, I also bought the kit that went with it, of course as usual by the time the kit arrived I had moved on to other things.
So fast forwarded to the black Friday sales this year where I bought the other two bra making classes and the knicker class as well.
Beverly Johnson, is a very good teacher she obviously knows her subject and comes across really well in the videos, the class starts off by giving you hints and tips on measuring and choosing your size, I went with the pinup girls classic bra Beverly Johnsons own pattern, usually I would wear a Balconette bra but I couldn’t find a pattern I liked and figured it might be better to start less complicated.
Beverly then went on to talk about the fabric and cutting out the peices, I had already traced them off the pattern, size wise I went for 32b, which is what I wear, what you are supposed to do is measure yourself in your most comfortable unpadded bra, but as I don’t buy unpadded bras I had to guesstimate
First you stitch the two halves of the cup together, and attach the straps after ironing (Beverly prefers a newl post for cup ironing) you top stitch the the seam allowances and trim.
Then you attach the back band to the front band
And the cups to the front band
Then the underwire channelling to the undercup seam allowance
The next thing we move onto will be the elastic. I will say I am not 100% convinced on cup size or shape, but I won’t know for definite until it is finished.
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 