This super cute, bright, and fun leopard print double gauze is super soft and snuggly…perfect for kidswear (as well as us grown-ups!)
We made some of the kid’s Heyday dungarees to test it and it was lovely to work with! It still presses well despite its ‘bounciness and the colours are so vibrant. The orange is much brighter in real life.
The bright pink colourway would make lovely pajamas or loungewear!
We also have plain coral and grey double gauze in stock and in the sale if leopard print isn’t your thing. This fabric is cosy in the winter and cool in the summer so it’s a great all-rounder! Check out our other post on Double Gauze for more inspiration!
We had some gorgeous cotton poplins delivered a few months ago and I was itching to get going with a sample to show how gorgeous they are…this has surpassed my hopes! The drape is fantastic for a poplin…no crispiness, and the colours are so vibrant!
I wanted to make a shirt dress with a slight nod to the seventies, with a big pointy collar and mini skirt so I used the Tilly and the Buttons Lyra shirt dress pattern to create this look.
I added a bit of length to the collar points and also sandwiched some cotton lace trim between the two collar pieces before stitching them together. I’m loving using trims like this at the moment! There are loads of lovely trims in stock perfect for adding to collars…just sayin’!
It’s going to be an Autumn/ Winter staple layered up with cardi’s, jumpers and tights! Take a look at the fabulous range of florals in stock -they won’t disappoint!
I loved making faux fur bags back in the ’90s and I’m not mad that the trend is back if I’m honest! They are a fun accessory and are also warm and cosy to hold…comfort is my jam these days!
First, start by cutting out two panels of cream fur measuring 10″ x 13″ and then one of black also 10″ x 13″.
Stitch them all together with the right sides facing so that the black panel is in between the two cream panels.
Next, fold this long piece in half and stitch down each side. Create a boxed corner measuring 4″ across. Pin and stitch in place and trim away the point.
Next Cut a lining piece measuring 13″ x 29″. Fold this in half and stitch down each side but remember to leave a gap of about 20cm in one of the sides…I forgot to do this then had to unpick it, gah! (Do as I say not as I do!!)
Box the corners in the same way as you did for the main bag piece.
Next, Cut two lengths of contrast fur measuring 7″ x 30″ but you can make these longer/ shorter depending on your needs! Stitch down the length with right sides together and turn through. Pin these to the bag front and back equidistant from the bag edges.. Tack in place.
Now we are going to place the main bag inside the lining with the right sides facing (wrong side of the lining facing out towards you. and pin all around the top. Stitch in place, pull the tote through the gap you left in the lining (see why that’s so key now!), and Voila!
A trendy, cosy tote perfect for this season! This would make a great Christmas pressie and is super easy to customise with some internal pockets or playing with the size and proportion!
What do you think? Is this trend for you or just too wild?!
To start this post, I should say that I love viscose, I love to wear it, I love the way it moves and drapes and I love that it often comes in great colours and prints. So I was really excited when Sammy got all these viscose fabrics in. I picked this super pastel rainbow fabric to work with and raided my pattern stash for a suitable pattern.
Now one thing I should say is that I do not always love sewing with viscose as it can be a slippery sucker! This one is less slippery than some and did not slide around when I was cutting it out but did shift when sewing, extensive pinning was needed and a walking foot might have helped. However, I’m a lazy sewist and extra steps are not my bag. I did not use a walking foot or reinforce the zipper or really make any allowances for the fabric at all and despite this I think the dress turned out well, which should indicate that it’s a pretty forgiving fabric.
I picked this 1970s pattern, which I had been wanting to try out for a while. Anyone who follows me on Instagram will have realised that I’m a bit obsessed with 70s pattern and style and this fabric seems to fit with the 70s vibe. I love the psychedelic vibes and was excited about floating around in this. However, since summer appears to have forgotten us here in London, I need to work out how to style it for autumn. Black tights are not going to cut it with this rainbow so if you have any ideas, please let me know!
Our shelves are full of beautiful bright and joyful cotton florals at the moment and whilst we know these are fabulous for dresses, shirts, PJs, etc I wanted to explore some other projects we can make with them to inspire and maybe spark an idea. Smaller projects are quick and satisfying and they can be a great way to use up scraps…then you can co-ordinate your dress and your bag!
You might remember I made a ruffle bag a few posts back with some chambray denim. I saw a beautiful round version on Pinterest and really wanted to add that to my collection! This would also be lovely in gingham…just sayin’
I marked out a circle that had a 37cm diameter and then cut across the top of the circle at the 30cm mark to give it a flat shape that will form the top opening of the bag. I then cut the following using this process:
2 x main fabric
2 x lining
2 x lightweight wadding
2 x fusible interfacing
I fused the interfacing to the main fabric then place the wadding onto the back and basted around the edge.
I then cut a strip measuring 130cm x 13cm ( I had to piece this together as I only had a metre of fabric.
Fold over the strip right sides facing and sew down each end. Turn through and press then run two rows of gathering stitch along the raw edge and gather until it fits the bag leaving a gap of about 3cm from the top of the bag.
Pin the ruffle facing in towards the bag so the frill is sandwiched between the main bag pieces with right sides facing. Stitch with a 1cm seam allowance. Turn through and remove the gathering stitches.
Now add two handles (you can make them out of the same fabric but I had some twill tape which worked well) Cut two lengths, measuring 65cm each and pin them to the top of the bag approx 2.5cm from each end.
Stitch your lining pieces together around the curved edge leaving a gap in one side of about 20cm, this is so you can turn the bag through.
Pop the main bag into the lining (lining still wrong sides out) making sure the handles are tucked in and stitch all the way around the top opening of the bag. Turn it through and stitch the gap in the lining closed. Give it all a press and you are done!
The wadding adds some body to the cotton lawn which is very lightweight, and makes a really lovely quality bag! I took it to the shops straight away and it was the perfect size for all my essentials…I’ll be making a face mask with the scraps to match!
What do you think? You could obviously make this without the ruffle and it would be lovely in faux fur or leather for the Autumn/ Winter!
How are you all? Hope there’s plenty of sewing happening in your world. I don’t know about you but all this chilly wet weather isn’t conducive to encouraging me to be sewing up nice summery garments. I’m usually away (pre Covid times of course) during August somewhere warm and sunny and often wondering if I’m leaving behind the best of the British weather. It almost had me fooled last year when we were lucky enough to have lots of sunshine and warmth. However, this year I’m not so sure!!
Anyway in an effort to cling onto the dreams of summer and lots of sunshine (can you tell I’m desparately trying to avoid sewing up wintery projects in August!!!), when Sammy asked me to choose something from her website for my next Design Team Project I opted for some of the 100% viscose. After my usual indecisiveness over fabric colours, I opted for the teal and white colourway and have to say it is truly beautiful to work with. It washed and dried great, no colour runs or bobbling. Ironing was an absolute breeze! It pressed beautifully. I did use the clapper as I usually do when pressing seams but I’m pretty sure it didn’t really need it. After searching through my patterns I decided it would make a lovely Sew House Seven Montavilla Dress. I’ve had this pattern for quite a while now but never quite got round to making it.
Once I got the dress cut out, it started to come together really quickly and had some really good and new to me techniques. I spent ages looking for the frill pattern piece only to find there isn’t one….its created by making a shoulder dart on the back and front bodice. I thought this was genius idea and love the shoulder detail. The neckline is self bound and I have to say the fabric is so buttery soft at times I had problems feeling it between my fingers.
The pockets on the side panel and the piece of elastic at the top of that side panels make a really nice feature too.
I followed the instructions to the letter and didn’t make any changes to the pattern despite wondering if I should add some length due to my height (I’m 5’10”) but I tried it on before hemming and was pleased with the length as it was.
I was really impressed with the instructions for this pattern especially for the mitred corners on the hem and I’ll definitely use this technique where possible on future makes as it gives a really nice neat finish. Those splits on the sides are just the perfect size. Just enough leg pops out as you walk and I think it makes the dress look really feminine.
I started a new job back in July temporarily whilst waiting patiently for our business to restart after being badly affected by Covid and after 20 years of working for ourselves and learning a new job, I’m finding it quite stressful right now so I found this make really therapeutic as a result of the fabric choice and pattern itself with its cheeky little techniques. I’d say the only tricky part was the belt. Despite having the Prym tube turners, I still managed to get it stuck inside itself. Luckily, Mia (my youngest) was around and kindly offered to sort the belt for me whilst I cracked on with sewing other parts.
I was super excited to wear this dress and had big plans to wear it for a meal with my bestie only to put it on and drop foundation on it whilst getting ready to go out! I wouldn’t mind but it’s the first time I’ve worn foundation in 18 months!!!! I was so annoyed so I had to put it on the back burner for another time. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long and on A Level results day we took Mia out for a meal to celebrate her grades so took the opportunity to wear it then and get photos for this blog post.
I have to say the fabric is absolutely delightful against my skin. Its super soft and light and airy. I definitely chose the right project for the fabric and felt great wearing it. I will definitely be making more versions of this dress.
I highly recommend this fabric….would it be really wrong to have every colourway?? I really can’t say enough how gorgeous this fabric is. Yes….you really do need some!
Hope you like the project I chose for this lovely fabric.
We love this fabric… the print, the colours, the weight and the handle are just perfect!
It’s 100% Cotton and is the perfect summer fabric for garments and homeware. We know it’s quite a bold print so we wanted to show you what it looks like made up as a garment and some ways to style it!
We made a Heather Blazer (Friday Pattern Company) with our naked ladies print and lined it with our polyester mint green lining which looks perfect with the lighter tones in the print.
This jacket was so easy to style…it goes with everything!
Here Debbie has styled it with a me-made Hinterland dress and some white trainers
It turns out that Debbie has lots of items in her wardrobe in that rust colour!
Here she has teamed the blazer with a Breton tee, her me-made linen Persephone pants, and some Lotta From Stockholm clogs, the perfect spring/ summer work outfit…
A jumpsuit fits perfectly under this jacket for a smart work look and the colours in the print tie in perfectly with the charcoal linen…
Jeans would work perfectly with this jacket but instead, we tried pairing it with a chambray mini dress (you can read about this dress here!)
Our chambray fabric works perfectly with this print!
I’m always drawn to sparkly, pretty trims but rarely use them. I think that’s because traditionally trims are used on occasion wear and I don’t have many ‘occasions’ to go to – ha!
We’ve got so many beautiful trims in stock and I am keen to try and find more ways to use them which are a ‘everyday’ friendly. With my fashion backgroud I naturally love looking at Pinterest for dressmaking inspiration and at beautiful embelished clothes so here are a few ways to dress them down!
We have just had some gorgeous daisy trim in two sizes delivered. I love the idea of cutting the individual daisy’s off the chain and adding them to a plain dress for a retro feel. This dress by Miss Patina uses this trim both on the collar edge and individually on the flower print on the actual dress to highlight the daisy print…so lovely!!
Adding some lace trim to the sleeves of an old t-shirt or vest top is a great way of jazzing up an old top that would otherwise end up in the charity bag…
Sew on or iron on motifs are a great way of giving new life to an old shirt and can add a feminine look to an upcycled men’s shirt…
Lace trims added to simple t-shirts are a great every day look. They smarten up a plain tee for work and look a bit more put together with jeans and simple sandals…
I hope this has give you a bit of inspiration for your latest make or upcycle!
Do you like trims, have you added any to makes this year or do you feel it’s more a partywear thing?
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!
Part 2: Seventies trends and the colour of the year!
The seventies are back! The wide collar made a surprise comeback on the runways for spring 2020 along with platforms, crochet and bell bottom trousers! Floaty dresses and blue denim are as popular as ever and we have some great fabric and pattern suggestions for you if this is a trend that appeals…
I love the mix of fabrics and textures we saw on the runway. Trimmings are a great way of adding a 1970s twist to a garment, faux leather bias binding and lurex elastic give a luxe edge to any outfit.
Here is our fabric and trim edit so you can get the look!
Tilly and the Buttons – Jessa Trousers and Shorts Sewing Pattern
Or, why not try a a bit of upcycling… The denim trend this year is for patchwork, bleached and mix and match styles, this could easily be replicated by ucycling some old jeans from your wardrobe or the local charity shop using scraps of denim to create a tiered maxi skirt…
Will you be making any 1970’s inspired pieces for your wardrobe this year? Or perhaps just a nod to the trend with some denim and vintage trimmings? I’m definitely all over this one and wish I had kept the bell bottoms I made at Art college…
