Simplicity 2614

Simplicity 2614 

Laura Ashley Floral Lawn Blouse

Next up, a pretty, pretty summer blouse. I'm not really a "pretty, pretty" sort of a person. Much more likely to be seen in trousers and T shirts than floral blouses but I quite like this one. 

My stash now stands at 159.84 metres. And that's just what's been catalogued! There's probably another 50 metres or so in crates and bags around the house. Most of the preshrunk, measured, described and catalogued stuff (did I tell you I used to work as an archivist in a museum?) is in a trunk in the living room. Some of it doesn't fit in there and is now in the sewing room, theoretically waiting to be made into planned garments. And then more stuff arrives. Obviously it does this of its own volition. It flirts with me, coaxes me, beguiles me in weak moments on the internet or in its dens of iniquity (fabric stores). I'm powerless to resist. I go out for a zip and come back with cotton lawn. I need interfacing, I get ponte. What's a girl to do? 

Don't know what that crease across my bum is about- it's not there usually!

In the interests of reducing my stash, I have been delving into the distant past for fabric that deserves a better life than to be squashed into a trunk. I bought this cotton lawn in Laura Ashley in Southport in 1985 or 6 probably, when they used to sell dress fabrics and they had sales where you could actually afford to buy things (not like now!). It's very fine and soft, takes creases beautifully when you want it to and feels lovely to wear. 

The pattern is Simplicity 2614 which is one of those that has different pattern pieces for different bust sizes. Always an advantage. I would have liked to have made a different sleeve as this style draws attention to my upper arms where I don't need the attention, but I didn't have enough fabric. After reading many reviews on Sewing Pattern Review, in addition to cutting the D cup, I did a bit of extra fudging to add a bit more bust room and I'm very happy with the fit. I just cut an inch lower on the upper front pieces and gathered along that edge to attach to the lower front. 

There was a lot of cutting out of pieces on the bias, which is a bit more of a faff than cutting pieces on folds but it was simple enough and quick to do. I didn't bother understitching the facing (I hate it and usually end up messing up the whole neck when I do it). I just pressed the facing to the inside and then edge stitched all the way round. It sits beautifully. 

I'm very happy with it and can see myself going out for afternoon tea in it. I don't go out for afternoon tea very often but maybe I should, just so I can wear the blouse.

Apricot skirt

Burdastyle 12-2009-122

This is the first of several recent makes. I seem to have spent more time in the room of loveliness than usual recently. Hours and hours listening to BBC radio crime drama on the iplayer and pottering between sewing machine and ironing board, avoiding the world. Fabulous.

The first on the list is a rarity for me- a Burdastyle pattern. I get the magazine on subscription every month and love many of the garments but the thought of the tracing and seam allowance marking really puts me off making anything. I actually did the tracing part for this skirt last year some time and even cut it out and THEN was put off making the skirt because it had separate bits for the fly front zip and no proper instructions as to how all that was supposed to work. After it languished in the basket of UFOs for probably eleven months, I girded my loins and tackled it head on. Actually I used the instructions from another Burdastyle magazine in which the garment with the fly front was the featured garment with the proper instructions, i.e. it had pictures. It went ok although I put the flyshield on backwards but I had well and truly reached the "Sod It" point by then and just carried on regardless. The skirt was a bit short when I tried it on and I didn't want it to get any shorter by hemming it so I made some bias binding and used that. I think all I've read about Burda fit is true though. I cut a 44 and am very happy with the way it fits.

The flouncy back view

Front

Back

Joyous waistband facing

The fabric is another ancient stashery- at least 25 years in the trunk, an apricot twill- with rather more synthetic than natural judging by the smell when I pressed it- and I didn't have enough for the front pockets or for the waistband facings. The front pockets would have been useful but the lack of waistband facing led to the part that gives me the most pleasure. I used a tiny piece of beautiful Liberty Tana lawn to face it and every time I see it, it lifts my heart. It's also butter soft against my skin. I think that is one of the chief advantages of sewing things for yourself- these little unexpected touches that set our garments apart from the run of the mill shop bought things.

I like the shape of the skirt (although not the shape of me at the moment) with its little flippy-out flounce and I think it will be useful for work and play from Spring to Autumn. It also cost nothing- the fabric was leftover from something else, the zip and the thread I already had. Free skirt! (I'm not counting the £4.75 a month subscription to Burdastyle. Out of the three and a half years worth of magazines, I have now sewn 3 things. I've just worked that out to a pattern cost of £66.50 per garment. Oops- better start sewing some more to bring the average down!)


The top I'm wearing in the first couple of pictures, by the way, was bought by my mum on a visit to America in 1964. Butterflies. Ahead of her time or what!!!

Birthday dress

I had a lovely weekend with the house full of family. Now Monday seems grey and cold and too quiet, apart from the wind whipping through the trees that is. But it did bring it home to me how soon my holiday to Germany is. I'm going to my son-in-law-ish's father's birthday party in Zwickau in a couple of weeks and so a posh frock is called for. My daughter with whom I will be doing birthday singing is wearing yellow so I've just preshrunk a piece of lemony lineny type fabric ready for making this. http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v7762-products-4349.php?page_id=855.

Unfortunately, the piece of fabric looks much smaller now I've washed it (I don't think it shrank much, I think I just overestimated how much there was of it- it's been in my stash for at least ten years). I might get a sleeveless one out of it. Or I might have to have a complete rethink and make something out of the white and bright Ikea cotton I bought cheaply recently. But whatever I do, I need to get on with it!

Procrastination part 1 (there will be many more!)

I'm nearing the end of a teacher training course so I should be writing lesson plans and essays and evaluations and sorting out my files but instead I'm surrounded by my stash in piles on the floor because I suddenly just HAD to know what I had in the trunk. I'm making a spread sheet even!

I also seem to have developed a system of preshrinking them when I have a minute and from that point, they go into a huge green "pending" bag so I can just grab something from there and sew something, if I ever get a minute. Unfortunately, the green bag is now also bulging. Maybe I'll have to make things out of the thicker fabrics first, just to free up more space. I would take pictures of all this if I could find the instruction booklet that came with my camera so I could work out how to download images to my computer.

Actually I have done a bit of sewing this week (well some of it was last week, but it's certainly recent). I bought Simplicity 4076 a couple of weeks ago and had to make something from it straight away and join the ever-swelling ranks of pattern reviewers to love it. I made the first one from a piece of white cotton or polycotton interlock leftover from making baby shirts for my son (he's now 30- I don't throw things away) and then two days later made another from a damaged bit of stretchy stuff I bought at Abakhan for about £1.50. So, two tops for next to nothing! And I like them too! I bought a long sleeved top with a similar twist arrangement from Boden in their last sale for about £20 I think. And I like mine better. Unfortunately the damage on the second one is in the most obvious place (I will put pictures up when I can) but it's still wearable and wasn't noticeable by the person I asked. (Male, polite, not wearing his glasses and asked to look at my chest- what else would he say???)

I also made an eight-gore skirt out of some fabric leftover from making a roller blind in 1981. My stash goes back a long way. I'll write about that another day when I've had a cup of tea and dealt with all these piles on the floor. Revisiting my fabric is like getting reacquainted with old friends. But without the awkward conversations and embarrassment when you can't remember their children's names or where you know them from. Actually with fabric I usually DO know where I know them from!