Planning my pastel gingham dress of dreams!

As soon as Sammy uploaded these new gingham cottons to the shop I was all over them like a rash! I’ve always loved gingham and these pastel colours are so happy, summery and pretty and I want to make all my dresses out of them!

My first instinct was to make a Tilly and the Buttons Seren dress with tie straps and patch pockets using a mixture of these two pastel beauties…and to be honest that’s probably exactly what I will do…but I also started searching Instagram and Pinterest for more inspiration and came across some amazing dresses that would also work brilliantly. So here is my run down of the best gingham styles to replicate this summer…

The dress on the left with it’s square neckline and slit detail sleeves reminded me of the By Hand London Jenna dress. This pattern could easily be hacked to omit the back zip and instead create a full placket at the front and lengthen the skirt.

The middle picture with its shirt style top and tierred skirt could be replicated with the McCall’s M7351 by adding a frill to the front bodice and using four tiers of fabric to create the skirt.

The simple sundress on the far right is a classic way to use gingham and looks so pretty paired with a beaded bag and some strappy sandals. You could get this look using the Avid Seamstress Sundress pattern

I absoloutely love the combination of a few different ginghams to create a fun modern look and will probably make myself a (another) Sew Liberated Hinterland dress or a By Hand London Hannah dress out of gingham for the winter but perhaps in a darker colour.

Whatever style I go for though, I know I’ll have a fun dress, perfect for picnics and sunny days out as gingham never goes out of style!

…and I’ll definitely be making myself a matching bag to go with it too!

Do you love gingham or does it give you school summer dress vibes? 

What would you make?

I’ll keep you posted with my make…better get to it before the summer is gone!

Debbie x

DIY rope necklace with Rico Macrame rope!

We’ve been having fun playing with the new Rico Cotton macrame Cords which come in six beautiful colours, we used peach for this tutorial.
We made a Macrame wall hanging using one of the new in metal macrame rings (read the tutorial here) and here is our second DIY for you, a fabulous knotted statement necklace…
To get started:

 

Measure out 3 metres of rope and fold in half then in half again.

Starting with the centre of the rope, fold over to make a loop, then make a pretzel shape. After this take the tail of the rope on the right hand side of the pretzel and loop under the left hand side as shown

Next, thread the cord over and under the pretzel as shown and carefully tighten, making sure it’s centred.

This will be the shape we will be repeating throughout this turorial.

Repeat the process and make another knot on the right hand side of your first one…

Then flip the necklcae over and repeat the knot again!

You can now add a clasp or piece of ribbon for tying it around your neck!
 
 
We hope you enjoy this tutorial and tag us if you give it a go #sccrafty
 
You can purchase the macrame cord to give this a go here!

How to make a Macrame wall hanging

Macrame is back and we are LOVING it! 

This textile craft based on knotting strings in patterns can be used to make bags, wall hangings, jewellery and plant hangers.

We’ve just had some beautiful Macrame cords and metal hoops delivered, you can find them in the New In section of the shop. So give this cheap and easy craft a go!

Below is a little tutorial to get you started…

Step 1.

I started with one 25m ball of cord and a 20cm hoop in brass. I love the cmbination of this peach cord witht he brass ring 🙂

Firstly cut 9  x 1m strands of cord

Step 2.

Take your first piece of cord, find the middle of the rope. attach to hoop with a larks head knot

Step 3.

Make sure the rope is underneath the hoop and attach with a double half hitch knot.

Step 4.

Then attached a rope either side 

Step 5.

Taking the inner strand wither side create a square knot

Step 6.

Start your knot approx 1.5″ down from the top of the hoop.

Step 7.

Attach the ends to the side of your hoop as in Step 3

Step 8.

Taking the outer strands and create a reverse square knot then attach the ends to the hoop as before

Step 9.

Repeat all steps adding the remaining rope and reversing the square knot each time until you have used all 9 cord stands.  Then trim the ends to form a point.

Et voila!

Debbie’s handmade wardrobe series – March update

How is everyone doing? What a strange month it has been! I never ever thought we would be in this situation. The upside is I’ve had more time for sewing and it really is helping to give my days purpose…think my make 9 will be more like a make 30 at this rate! 

I feel very lucky to have a hobby which gives me so much joy and distracts me from reality for a few hours a day and it’s making me want to try some new crafts while we have this time in self isolation. On my list is knitting, crochet and Macrame! Sammy has just uploaded some gorgeous macrame cord to the shop so once I’ve decided what colours I want I’m going to buy some and give it a go. There are loads of instructional videos on You Tube and also one on the blog here.

Anyway, I thought I’d give you an update on where I am with my handmade wardrobe so far…

I’m making myself a summer dress with the McCall’s M7950 (view C) With this lovely plaid cotton

I’ve made the bodice and have started on the patch pockets. I’m a little worried that the straps are too long so I might need to adjust them and shorten them, but it’s a fully lined bodice so I’m not quite ready to unpick it all just yet! I’m sort of whishing I’d made view D now which are simple tie straps which you can adjust yourself…next time!

I’m hoping this dress will look good with a t-shirt or long sleeve top underneath so I can get some wear out of it in the colder months too!

I’ve also made a True Bias Shelby dress which I’m really really pleased with. It’s a princess seam playsuit/dress. I made View C which is the playsuit version and it’s going to be super handy in the summer at saving my modesty when I’m riding my bike!

I love a polka dot so this Georgette fabric would work beautifully.

I couldn’t help but give it a real 90’s twist and add these adorable daisy buttons! At only £2 for a set of 5, you can’t go wrong! I wore this last night on ‘Date night’ (in the house with my husband and a bottle of red wine!) and I felt so comfy but also like I’d made an effort so I would highly recommend this pattern and i’ll be making a few more!

I also made the Fennel Fanny pack with the Flower Market Fabric from A Beautiful Mess

I’ll go into more detail in my dedicated post about this but I found it a really fiddly make and made a few mistakes with this one! It hasn’t put me off making more though, I think maybe I rushed it a little so next time I’ll take it slower, sometimes you just have days where everything goes wrong!! I love the result though, it’s the cutest little bum bag and wll be great on dog walks to store a few treats and poo bags! Who else has made this project?

That’s it for now! What are you sewing at the moment? Are you finding time to sew? 

Stay safe everyone and sending lots of love to you all. I love this fabulous sewing community and it’s really keeping me going at the moment.

The dogs are enjoyng the sunshine which is a bonus too!

Debbie x

New fabrics have arrived!

New in this week – Gorgeous Rico Double gauze fabrics with gold flecks!

Double gauze is very simply, two layers of fine gauze that are woven together at regular intervals with little stab stitches which are undetectable from the right side of the fabric. 

There is a huge trend for hippy style floaty gauzy dresses this spring/ summer. These new double gauze fabrics will be perfect to get the look!

Some sewing pattern suggestions would be:

The Wilder Gown (Friday Pattern Co.)

McCalls M8087

Butterick B6559

New Look 6498

The double gauze is £6.75 per half metre and we have a thread matching service you an take advantage of to make sure you get the perfect match!

More new fabrics to come!

Helen’s Closet Pona Jacket

Rudy's Pona Jacket

You know when a new pattern comes out, from a designer you LOVE and you are desperate to try it?

This is the tale of the Pona jacket by Helens closet…

I bought the pattern right away without a thought in the world as to what fabric I would make it out of! I had thought maybe a denim one at first or a bright coloured solid one but off I went on a hunt for my fabric.

I came across this Suedette from Samantha Claridge Studio and immediately knew that THIS was going to be my Pona jacket. The suedette making it perfect for a spring jacket which is when I tend to wear jackets more as ever other time I’m in cardis and coats!

 

I cut out a straight 18 in the jacket as there is a lot of ease in the pattern and I didn’t want it to look overly big. My measurements could have fit into a size 16 of the finished garment measurements but I thought I wouldn’t risk it and made a straight 18. I did however before cutting the sleeves make sure it wasn’t going to be too tight as there is nothing worse that tight arms on a jacket.

I decided on the short version because I thought it would look quite rock chick and cut at just below my waist to look great with jeans, and dresses!
I cut out the pieces on holiday with a little help from my Murphy dog as usual, terrible pattern weight! I wished I’d brought my cutting mat a rotary cutter though because the fabric is quite ‘sticky’ in that it sticks to itself a lot so cutting it with scissors was quite a task.

Suedette is a mean sew, I mention earlier about it sticking to itself it’s quite like sewing with brushed cotton, but I had to be thankful I wasn’t contending with stretch as well!

I used black interfacing as well with this project, I’m usually of the camp ‘ach no one will see the insides’ but I thought I wanted the jacket to last and last so I did everything properly this time.
I love the gold sparkle on this fabric and even when I was sewing in low lights in the evening it still had the spectacular feel to it. Also the benefit of suedette is you don’t need to worry about finishing a lot of the edges either because it’s not going to fray. I also use the wrong side of the fabric to make contrasting cuffs and pocket tops, which I think gives it a cool look.

I have some spare pieces of fabric I salvaged from my pattern tetris and I think I am going to make a clutch bag to match. This fabric would be an amazing bag as it has a hard wearing feel to it. It does however have quite a bit of drape so it was also make a great mini skirt or something like that. It’s not my style and I’d never wear it but now I’m dreaming of making a matching wiggle skirt and making a very 80’s feel suit!

I love how the jacket turned out, and can see myself throwing this over the top of loads of outfits for a bit of warmth and some extra style!

Lucy’s DIY Ukulele Case

@lucyhannahmakes ...a Ukulele case!

For a while I’ve wanted to get my niece a Ukulele for Christmas. She loves music and when she visits me, she’ll spend most of the time playing on the piano or guitar with my husband, so a musical gift seemed like a no-brainer. But…she’s 2! And I’m sure you know 2 year olds can be a little rough, so I loved the idea of making some sort of padded case to protect the Uke a little bit. I wasn’t completely sure how you go about making a case like that but when I saw this gorgeous Ruby Star Record Fabric I knew I had to try!

I’d seen a few rough guides of how to make guitar cases on Pinterest but everyone seemed to pretty much make it up as they were going along, depending on the instrument they were making a case for. But basically you needed to draw around the instrument as guide. As well as the main fabric, I wanted to line the case so I chose the lovely patterned peachy Figo Treehouse fabric  which is a lovely contrast. I figured a long zip would be the easiest way to get the ukulele in and out of the case, so I used this peach 56cm zip to match the fabric.

I started by drawing around the Ukulele and added on a few centimetres all the way around so there was a little wiggle room as well as about 1cm seam allowance. To make the case padded I used this iron on fusible fleece . It was a really quick and easy way to pad the case out, and to make it easier getting all the layers through the sewing machine when putting the case together I cut the wading fabric slightly smaller than the main fabric.

This project took a bit more maths than I was first expecting. As well as measuring the depth of the ukulele, I also needed to measure all the way around to get the length for the side panel. I took off the length of the zip from the measurement for the main side piece, then cut two other pieces the length of the zip and half as deep as the ukulele to attach to either side of the zip.

I decided to just pad the main fabric rather than the lining too so it wasn’t too bulky. To add a bit of detail I thought it would be nice to do a bit of quilting on the padded pieces. I jumped straight in to quilting using the edge of the machine foot as a guide to keep my stitch lines straight. Using the machine foot as a guide meant the quilted lines were quite close together so it took a fair chunk of time to finish (next time I quilt something I’ll use something bigger as a guide!). But I think the narrow diagonal lines of stitching work really nice with the small print of the fabric.

I sewed all the pieces together, remembering to leave the zip open a little so I could turn the case back the right way. Then attached the lining by hand along the edge of the zip. I decided to make a handle out of the lining fabric to give a nice bit of contrast to the outside of the case, and hand sewed that on.

 

I’m really pleased with the result. I absolutely love the record fabric. And the fusible fleece is definitely my new favourite way to quilt as the wadding stays in the right place while you stitch. I probably should have added on even more wiggle room as it is quite snug when zipping the Ukulele in the case, but it does fit. My husband has decided he’d now like a case for his own ukulele as well as 3 of his guitars, so I’m sure I’ll be a pro at making them soon! Haha! 😂🙈

Crafty stocking fillers!

Stuck for gift ideas for your crafty friends or kids? Look no further… From stationery to accessories, craft kits and tools of the trade, we’ve got you covered… we even sell gift vouchers!

Here are some of our faves currently in stock…and of course we have plenty of fabric too!

Top row:

Create! Craft kit Lightening banner £6.25

Elastic trim wrapped around a dolly peg £1.50- £1.95

Rico tropical Washi tape set £13.50

Macaron tape measure £2.75

 

Second Row:

Verigated Embroidery thread pack £9.50

Rico cross stitch pendants £3.60 – £7.80

Create! Craft kit arrow banner £6.25

Jilly Jilly pincushion earrings £5.15

 
Third Row: 

Mitten knitting kit £9

Easy Grip Crochet hooks £2.50 – £19.50

Stork emboirdery scissors £9

Rico tropical spring stickers £3.90

 
Fourth Row: 

Clover Pom Pom Makers £6-£7

Tape measure charms brooch £10 

Gutermann Neon thread pack £10.95

Samantha Claridger Studio Gift Vouchers!

We hope this has given you a few ideas!

Want to give these gifts in an actual Christmas Stocking? We have a fun tutorial coming soon…keep your eyes peeled

What’s on the High Street

Party dress inspiration...

Party season is upon us and the high street is full of luxurious textures and colours with velvets and sparkle back once again!
We’ve picked a few of our favourite party wear trends and paired them with fabrics we have in stock so you can have the perfect me-made frock!
From left to right:

 

Jazz up a simple dress pattern with this lurex jersey! This would be fabulous in the Burda 6829

Lace calls for a simple shape to highlight the beautiful fabric, the New Look – NL6540 shift dress is spot on!

This Plisse style cocktail pleat jersey would look equaly fabulous as a midi skirt or long culottes! try the Simplicity 1069 

Leopard print taffeta jacquard  and the Tilly and the buttons Etta are a match made in heaven!

We’d love to see what you make! Tag your Xmas party makes with our fabrics on Instgram #scblog
 
Dont forget…
All our patterns are currently £2 in the Sale! (exc. the Colette patterns which are £3…bargain!) Shop here

Cosy up…

Hot Fix sweater!

So I’ve made a lot of coats recently but what cold days, when the sun is shining, really need is a nice chunky sweater with a cosy neckline. something that can be thrown on over anything from ‘dashing to the gym’ gear to ‘school run’ jeans.  
I have also been seeing a fair bit of hot fix vinyl popping up on Instagram and then watching a bit on YouTube recently and really fancied having a play myself…… so the idea for the Hot Fix Sweater came about.  

I put together my shopping list: lovely snuggly fleecy back Jersey in this beautiful dusty pink, teamed with some sporty stretch mesh and Hot Fix Vinyl in black flock and rose gold glitter, obvs used Samantha Claridge’s fantastic thread match service too. Extra bits needed came from my workshop, black zip, black eyelets, black cord and cord stops all reclaimed or accumulated from charity shop finds and old pieces of clothing.   

My starting point for this make was a tried and tested raglan sweatshirt pattern, (McCall’s M6992 cut in a size 14). I now have 4 tops from this pattern, all with sleeve hack variations.   

I wanted four separate bands along the arms plus cuffs. Originally I envisaged having the black mesh as a single layer but with the difference in fabric weight I though it better to layer the mesh over the jersey sections I had cut out. The couple of centimetres lost by cutting and re-joining the sections was easily made up by cutting a slightly deeper cuff section.  

The thin neck band I replaced with a deep band about 14cm deep, leaving the right front arm seam open to about 2/3 of the way down to accommodate the zip I wanted to insert. I attached the neckband simply by cutting it slightly longer than needed then trimming to size once it was on.  

The hemline on the original pattern runs straight round but I quite fancied the idea of a stepped hem so I needed a facing for both front and back hems and these needed to go on before the side seams were sewn. I drafted a little sample to check the turning and how the top stitching and internal finish would turn out before extending the hemline at the back of the sweater to be 10cm lower than the front.  

One more thing to note about the construction of this sweater is that I actually went old school and did the whole thing on my sewing machine, zig zag 1.5/1.5 for the seams, overcasting 2.5/5.0 to neaten the edges, top stitching length 4.  

The reason for this is that my trusty overlocker has for some reason stopped slicing and started chewing anything thicker than a light cotton. ‘Change the blade’ I hear you cry…. Yup, I’ll do that just as soon as I can undo the screw that holds the blade on, it appears to have been welded into place circa 1745 when this overlocker was made!!! Then to find a replacement…. Hey ho, that’s a job for another day…… 

Anyhoo! I digress, back to this lovely sweater. So we have had a chat about what I did and the changes I made to the pattern, now let’s look at the how. 

I started by cutting out all the sweater pieces in the pink jersey, sleeves were cut out in full to be sectioned up later, neck band was cut out longer than needed to be sized up later. Originally I cut out the cuffs according to the pattern but when I decided to re-join the sectioned sleeves instead of inserting the mesh panels I cut a second set a little longer.  

 

I sectioned the sleeves by cutting through both sleeves at the same time (this ensured they were matched symmetrically), sectioning them into four by making three cuts. Working down from the neckline I made one slightly arced cut at roughly where the shoulder would be, another cut straight across about 14cm further down and the third cut was 14cm up from the cuff. I cut a sports mesh shape to match the 14cm sections, and overlayed them before re-joining the seams. I only used about a 0.5cm seam allowance when re-joining them so only lost 3cm from the sleeve length over all and added this back to the cuff to give the same final sleeve length. I top stitched each join to make sure the joins would lay nice and flat and were not too bouncy.  

Next I had a play with the hot fix vinyl. I knew I wanted to use the markings on my sewing machine as a loose reference so created arrows in black flock and lengthening ‘stitches’ in rose gold glitter.  

I worked out that it would be easiest to apply the hot fix vinyl while all pieces were still flat so that was the next job. Glittery stitches went on to the front and back of one sleeve running up from the cuff. An arrow was positioned on the opposite sleeve pointing out from the neckline toward the shoulder and two arrows were positioned pointing inward on the front waistline (I later added a gold glitter section to the end of the waist arrows once the side seams were sewn) 

Once all the vinyl details were in place the sleeves were held in place with clips then sewn together. For this kind of bouncy fabric I find clips a little better to hold the layers together. 

Before the side seams were sewn I went back to my hem sample and attached the front and back hem facings.

Then the side seams running right from cuff to hem were brought together.  

I attached the neck band around the neckline, the zip was next inserted into the front sleeve seam and topstitched into place. Before folding in the top of the neck line (by a nice chunky 4cm) I hammered in an eyelet at each side of the zip top, I popped a small square of jersey attached with fabric glue to stabilise and thicken the area behind where the eyelets were going in. This worked well and they are still in place. I finally top stitched the neck band and folded in and topstitched the hem facings before giving them all a good press. 

I am so chuffed with the overall look of this sweater and can see it being worn constantly this winter, I’ll also be thinking about more projects with hot fix vinyl as now I’ve seen how easy it is I’d love to flex my wings a bit with more complex shapes, lettering and layering……