**This giveaway is now closed - the lucky winner was Julia Bobbin**

As someone with an extraordinarily large number of friends with babies, I'm always on the lookout for cute sewing patterns for little ones. Needless to say I was delighted when Stitch, Craft Create got in touch about joining The Kids Dressmaking Blog Hop with Lisa Lam, especially as they're offering you guys a sweet giveaway to boot which I'll detail at the end.

Lisa Lam is well known for her handbag making empire - U-handbag - but having her daughter (who is the adorable model pictured below) inspired her to try her hand at children's patterns and the results are pretty cute!



The Dance With Me Dress is a sweet and simple design, open to interpretation and creativity so you can really go wild with it. It can also be made as a pretty smock top and comes with a matching purse pattern to boot...too cute for words!



For a funkier edge Lisa has also released the Happiness Halter Playsuit, which is a versatile wardrobe-builder for your lucky tot - you get a playsuit, dress and halter top all in one pattern!

I've yet to stitch either of these patterns up, but the instructions seem easy to understand and comprehensive, with clear pictures illustrating key construction methods. Each booklet also includes foldout full size pattern sheets, which is a huge bonus for anyone who doesn't have a photocopier/printer or hates tracing. The patterns are graded for children between 2-6 years old, so if you're a parent you'll definitely get your money's worth!

Speaking of money, you can save 25% of the RRP if you order both patterns together from Stitch, Craft Create. Or you can leave a comment below telling me which pattern is your favourite and why, for a chance to win a free copy of both booklets! Make sure you leave your email address so I can get in touch if you're the lucky winner. This giveaway is open to all and closes at midnight (GMT) on Tuesday 22 July.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

A little later than promised, but I hope you'll enjoy this glimpse into vintage Vogue 5671! As you know, I used it for my Minerva Meet-Up dress, which is also my first #vitntagepledge make. 


The first thing I want to stress in this post is that not all vintage sewing patterns are scary! I know a lot of people are reluctant to give them a go, most commonly because they fear working with unmarked pattern pieces and minimalist instructions. This is indeed true of some vintage patterns, especially ones pre-dating the 1950s, but most 1960s ones I've come across have been absolutely fine. Luckily, Vogue 5671 falls into this category and you can see from the sleeve pattern piece below that everything is marked clearly and in great detail.


I've also pictured the sleeve pattern piece, because for me, it's one of the most interesting details of the dress in terms of design and construction. A dart at the top gives it a really nice shape and volume without the hassle of gathers. What I love the most about these sleeves though, is that they're not set into the neckline, instead they form part of the neckline. The back straps are attached at the same time as the facings and although they're optional, I think that they actually help to keep the sleeves on my shoulders.



When it comes to vintage sewing patterns, it's all about the details! Vogue 5671, and many other vintage patterns, offers sweet touches like a decorative bow for the back and a bow belt to finish the outfit off. Due to my busy fabric print I opted out of both of these, but I look forward to trying them when I revisit the pattern with a solid fabric.


You may remember me saying before, but I didn't have time for a muslin when I made this, so I just had to dive in. I made up my bodice without the sleeves, basted in the side zip and tried it on (at this point it just looked like a boob-tube). To my delight it was spot on at the waist, but I clearly needed a lot more width across the chest/back to fill it - around 12cm altogether! Were women's bodies that broad/different back then, or were patterns not drafted as well as they are nowadays?!?

Anyway, I pinched out the excess, marked it on the wrong side of my fabric, unpicked my side seams and re-cut the bodice pieces. Luckily the bodice was spot on after that and once I increased the dart size on the sleeve I had a nice snug fit - these two changes did mean that I had a bit of fiddling to do in order to re-size the facings, but nothing too tricky. The only other change I made was to shorten the bodice by my usual 1.5cm and to swap the skirt for my beloved pleated Lilou one.


Overall, I'm ridiculously happy with the fit of this dress and I'm even happier that I finally got around to using this gorgeous pattern - I definitely see more Vogue 5671 variations in my future!

Long live the Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge, I say! Are you in?
Sunday, July 13, 2014

Yikes! It's been over three weeks since the Minerva Meet-Up and I'm only just getting around to blogging about my dress for the occasion! It was a truly fabulous event which I was busy having too much fun at to photograph, but the hyperlink above hosts plenty of photographic evidence.

 


I'm doubly happy with this dress, because not only is it pretty, it also counts as one of my five fruit a day Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge garments! I used the very chic Vogue 5671 from my stash, but put my own spin on it by swapping the pencil skirt with the pleated Lilou skirt. I must admit that as soon as I finished this dress I had a massive panic about it looking ridiculously 90s due to the fabric print, and although I still think it does, it fits so well that I just don't care! Also, the fabric is a very lovely cotton sateen from Minerva, which was awesome to work with...so really mustn't complain!


Vintage patterns are known for their unique details and interesting construction techniques, so I'm going to follow up this post with a closer look inside Vogue 5671. I also didn't have time for a muslin, but I did have to make some substantial adjustments, so I'll share them in the same post as well.

Vogue 5671 has a lovely curved front neckline and pleated sleeves, which perhaps would be more visible in a solid fabric! I didn't attempt to pattern match at all, yet accidentally almost managed to at the waistline...couldn't have planned that better! 


I faithfully followed the instructions on finishing the sleeves and neckline with hand-picked facings and I also stitched the hem by hand. I'm usually far too lazy for that kind of thing, but I always feel the need to do justice to vintage patterns.




This is the third time I've used the Lilou pleated skirt and I really love it! I'm tempted to use it for all my dresses, but I guess that might become a bit boring!



Vogue 5671's piece de resistance is the back of course! I find this extra, little back detail quite adorable really...but again, a little 90s in this fabric. I'm seriously considering making this dress again in a solid fabric, just so all the interesting details are a little more visible.


 

So, do you think I've started my #vintagepledge with a bang? I've still got a way to go before I finish, but I'm pretty relieved to have made a start! How are you getting on with yours? There's still plenty of time to join in!
Tuesday, July 08, 2014

We sew because we like flexing our creativity and expressing our unique personality, right? Embellishment can be a great way of achieving this, so I'm going to show you how to sew beads onto fabric, just like I did for my Bellini blouse's collar. I know I promised this post a few days ago, but I hope you agree that Simplicity's Jiffy 1356 giveaway was a good enough reason to postpone!

STEP 1 - Prepare your fabric


Press your collar piece well and apply interfacing to give it enough stability to support the weight of the beads. Make sure you also mark out your seam allowances / stitching line to help you with the placement of your beads - you don't want them getting in the way when you're constructing your collar. Although not shown in my pictures, I highly recommend stay-stitching the curved neckline edges to avoid misshaping.

STEP 2 - Experiment with your bead placement


Now's the fun part - have a go at experimenting with the placement of your beads before committing to a design! I tried out different formations and borders and even toyed with the idea of creating a polka-dot effect. In the end I settled for a flower-head design on each scallop.

STEP 3 - Measure and mark your placings


Once you decide how you want to show off your beads, a little measuring is required to put your vision into practice. First I measured the length and width of my flower-head, then I measured the width of each scallop to make sure my design was centred. I also made sure my flower-head would finish at least 1cm from the seam allowance / stitching line I then marked the centre of my flower-head with a little 'x' on the back of my fabric.

STEP 4 - Sewing beads onto your fabric



With all the prep out of the way, you can finally start sewing your beads - just double up your thread and you're ready to go! Start by finding your mark on the back of your fabric and passing your needle through. Once on the right side of your fabric, thread a bead through your needle and down your thread. Then insert your needle close to your initial entry point and pull out to the back of the fabric again. Inserting the needle close to the initial entry point ensures the bead is tightly secured and will help keep the shape of your design.


The pics above just highlight the movement you want to be making with your needle, to tightly secure your beads. Don't pull your thread too tightly though as you may end up with unwanted puckers on your collar.

STEP 5 - Admire your handiwork!


Wahoo, you've created something unique and beautiful! And your inner geek will be happy too, safe in the knowledge that the ugly threads will be hidden by the time you finish constructing your collar.



Now that you know how, are you tempted to embellish anything soon?
Sunday, July 06, 2014
**This giveaway is now closed - the lucky winner was CarmencitaB**

You're in luck again friends! As my Capital Chic Patterns giveaway ends, a rather serendipitous one begins! Serendipitous because just last week I randomly tweeted about Simplicity's Jiffy 1356, asking if I'd gone mad for liking it. Even though it turned out to be a bit like Marmite, so many of you agreed that it would make a cute summer staple! Well guess what? Unrelated to my tweeting, the good folk at Simplicity got in touch to offer one of you a chance of winning a copy of Jiffy 1356, in order to mark Wimbledon.


Simplicity's giveaway is inspired by the announcement of the famous Athena Tennis Girl poster dress auction, going live in time for the Wimbledon ladies' singles final today, and expected to fetch between £1,000 and £2,000. The dress worn in the poster was handmade using a Simplicity pattern - most likely 8203 - with a lace trim added to the neckline. 


If you fancy trying your hand at this reversible little summer dress, just leave a comment by midnight (GMT) on Friday 12 July. I'll pick a winner at random and will pass all relevant details onto Simplicity, who will arrange for the pattern to be sent out.

What do you think to the pattern in question? Personally, I can't wait to have a go stitching it up...it'll be my first time making something reversible!
Friday, July 04, 2014

It's been almost a week since Capital Chic Patterns exploded onto the scene and I'm excited to finally show you my Bellini blouse, which I was lucky enough to pattern test! If you've been living under a rock for a week, you can read my interview with Sally here and enter her generous giveaway before the end of tomorrow. 

 


Bellini is a loose fitting, cap sleeve blouse with two different collar options to choose from. Predictably, I went for the scalloped version to satisfy my inner granny. I also chose to work with a beautiful misty-coloured, peachskin crepe, which was a serious pain in the butt! People, there's a lot of pressing required during the making of this sweet blouse, so my advice: pick a fabric that presses well!

Troubling fabric choices aside, Bellini is all about the collar for me. It can be made in a contrasting print or even an edgy fabric like leather, but I decided to go demure and subtle with some delicate bead-work. If you like what you see, tune in tomorrow for a tutorial on embellishing your collar.  


Although Capital Chic Patterns are aimed at the more experienced stitcher, I have no doubt that a confident beginner can happily tackle the Bellini blouse. It's a simple design, so if you're confident with buttonholes, the rest of the instructions and diagrams are super clear. You learn some lovely finishing touches along the way too, like bias-bound armholes, a machine rolled hem and French seams throughout.  




Now, you may be wondering why I'm not modelling my beautiful Bellini and why you haven't seen a back shot yet. Well, I made some rookie mistakes, but before I go into them I want to hold my hands up and admit that they were entirely of my own making.

The reason I'm not modelling my Bellini is because it's too snug. During pattern testing the turnaround is relatively quick, so I don't often get to make a muslin. In this instance, because Bellini is billed as a loose fit, I went with vanity sizing (12) instead the size that best corresponded to my actual measurements (14). And I'm paying for it now, because I'd love nothing more than to wear this blouse! Oh, well...I'll just have to make another one pronto!

The reason I haven't shown the back yet is a little more complicated. When I came to attaching my collar, it was too wide and overlapped significant notches. I couldn't bear to start again - due to the bead-work and my tricky fabric choice - so I slightly gathered the back to make it fit. This does mean that I didn't get to try the pattern's clever method of finishing the collar and I had to draft a new facing for the back part. I know Sally's made some improvements to the pattern since I tested it, but I suspect this was never a drafting problem in the first place. I think the fact that I neglected to stay-stitch my curved edges, coupled with manhandling my collar pieces during the bead-work, is what caused this. The moral here is that it never hurts to just line everything up before you finish constructing your collar, whatever pattern you're using.



Although this tale has a particularly sad end, I really love my Bellini and I'm so pleased with my embellished collar. I seriously recommend this pattern to anyone interested in filling their wardrobe with fun and versatile blouses, which are also a breeze to make!
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
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