Dressmaking

For a long time I have wanted to have a go at making my own clothes.

Whenever I go shopping and see things I like there's often one thing (sometimes tiny) that I dislike about that article, so I figure if I can make my own then I can eliminate these problems.

After seeing Cath Kidston's garden birds dress I was instantly in love and severely disappointed when it sold out. I sourced the fabric from eBay for £14 and decided to make my own.
By the time my fabric arrived the dress was back in stock. Instead of dropping £65 on a dress that I could make myself I decided to take the very scary plunge into dressmaking.

The pattern is from the book the Great British Sewing Bee, which comes with a free paper basic dress printout and a link to various other patterns, for example a circle skirt and jacket.

I had just enough fabric to make the dress, which led to a few anxiety induced moments when I thought the front would have to have the birds upside down (tip: cut out the fabric for the front first).
I also had a few problems understanding darts and how they work, my pattern did not have the dart width and therefore had to guess. This led to the dress not fitted quite as well as I would've liked.

I really enjoyed sewing this dress, I really got in the 'zone' and enjoyed the process not just the end result (like a lot of my sewing projects). To anyone wondering whether to take the plunge, is it worth it, how hard is it etc, I would say have a go. It's an extremely rewarding experience, you create something you love, AND you can save a bit of money by copying expensive dresses!

My brain is buzzing with ideas about things to make, and thinking of making a skirt next, inspired by this picture I saw on tumblr.

Would you ever make a piece of clothing?

Amy x