Emergency holiday sewing

Well what's a sewist/dressmaking/sewer (*delete as applicable) supposed to do when they book a holiday except sew some new clothes!?

I originally had a list of 4 or 5 things to make but when I found out we were expecting I was put off by the idea of making something I wouldn't fit into very soon.

Plus with exam marking and sewing a baby dress for a present I didn't have much free time.

Two days before we went away I was frantically cutting and sewing and managed to make the True Bias Southport dress and the Merchant and Mills saltmarsh skirt from their new workbook.

I've been wanting to sew the Southport dress since it was released but the first version got canned after buying rayon fabric and not stabilising it when cutting which led to some very wonky cutting. A shame because the fabric was gorgeous! 

The second version was made from this rayon from eBay. I didn't have any trouble sewing it up, I anticipated the bias binding armholes to be a pain but with a bit of pressing they went in fine. I omitted the button band and cut a size 4 grading to a 6 to accommodate bump, I think the bodice is a little big though and could've stayed at my usual 2. 

One problem I did have was trying to match the bodice and the skirt together and ended up with an 8 inch gap between the waistband casing and the skirt! I had to try and gather the spare fabric in the skirt so that I could sew the two together but I have no idea where I went wrong. I used ribbon from my stash as the waistband drawstring.

Next up was the Saltmarsh skirt from the new Merchant and Mills workbook, the fabric is from John Lewis bought when we went away to Edinburgh in Easter.

I originally tried to make the skirt with no pattern, just a straight dirndl with an elastic casing waistband but it looked so homemade I knew I wouldn't wear it. It was the first thing I'd tried to sew since being pregnant and the first trimester tiredness is no joke.. I couldn't visualise how to sew the bloody thing together! Following someone else's instructions and a pattern turned out to be much better.

All in all the the skirt was very easy to sew, I used the ribbon M&M had tied some fabric together for me from a delivery as the drawstring and used my over locker for the sides. I loved how the waistband came together.

We went to Kos, in Greece, and had a fantastic time! I thoroughly needed a rest, we've had a stressful few weeks and a break was sorely needed. A bonus was just how beautiful it is over there as you can see in some of these pictures.

Emery dress x Merchant and Mills

I've had the Emery dress pattern for a while and had planned to make a plaid version inspired by the TV show Outlander which is set in 1700s Scotland, however once I received this Merchant & Mills "Jones town" linen I knew this was the right fabric. I am completely obsessed with both the TV show and the book and I am currently making a cowl also inspired by the show.
Most of the time I buy fabric and patterns together, for what I imagine in my head, but my heart skipped a beat and I had to have this fabric! It's a gorgeous soft blue linen that holds a crease so beautifully but does not seem to crease much on it's own.

The dress jumped to the front of my sewing queue, but I just could not decide on sleeves/no-sleeves. I cut the long sleeves out and then left them to one side to debate.
Halfway through sewing the lining I realised the way I was sewing it would leave the armholes raw instead of enclosed and so I had to include the sleeves too.

I had a little trouble sewing the lining, I'm not very good at envisaging things inside out/right sides together and so was sewing blind at points, not quite realising how it was going to fit together. I had a quick google and found Christine Haynes sew-a-long which made it a lot easier to understand! I lined my Lilou dress but as that one is sleeveless the method is slightly different and instead of pulling through a shoulder you just pull through the bottom of the lining. It makes for a beautiful finish around the zip as well.

 Does anyone else find setting sleeves in a bit like doing liquid eyeliner? It either goes right first attempt or you're arsing around for ages trying to get it right. A bit like zips that way. One sleeve went in and I missed the outside of the dress so the lining and the sleeve had been sewn but not the dress itself! Then I kept catching bits of the sleeve that weren't supposed to be sewn. All in all I must've sewn it 4 times... the right sleeve went in with absolutely no bother!

I sewed a straight size 4, grading to a 6 for the skirt (I wanted a fuller skirt) and left off the waist darts as I wanted it to be a looser fit. I definitely achieved that but not as much as I would've liked. I love really exaggerated silhouettes like Cabbages and Roses do.

I tend to sew in a couple of hour chunks but I felt like I was sewing this dress for an eternity! It took me a week to finish and that was whilst being off work. By the time I was sewing the sleeves I hated this dress. Having said that, after wearing it all day I am starting to like it more.

Having said that, this is the best dress I've ever made in terms of construction, all the seams are zig-zagged (hot damn I need an overlocker) and the insides are just a beautiful on the outside. The only flaw is the fact that I lined the top of the zipper tape instead of the top of the zipper tab and therefore there's a slight gap at the top of the dress. I'm going to hand sew a hook and eye to fix it. Check out that not quite invisible zip! I first tried to sew in a zip after having a drink...that ended with a wonky zip and a broken needle. Don't drink and sew people!

I have to say this is definitely not going to be my last Emery dress!

Aaaaand one more awkward photo for good luck! Me and Gary headed out for a walk, I was bribed by having some semi decent photos taken for my blog, but I kept cracking up laughing at how ridiculous I must look. I have to say they are an improvement on the rubbish photos done in our house!

Merchant & Mills The Dress Shirt Review

Merchant & Mills are my favourite online shop, I spend hours browsing their fabric and products dreaming of combinations of patterns and fabrics. The first pattern I decided to try was the Dress Shirt, I was a bit nervous about this pattern because it's the first "proper" pattern I've used, the others have been from the sewing bee book. I also decided with this pattern I would invest in good quality fabric. Which made this project very scary for me!

The fabric I chose was Doll's Deckchair Linen also from M&M, it's a gorgeous baby blue stripe that feels lovely and soft. For the Dress Shirt I needed a metre and a half, but ordered two.

I had some trouble with the dress shirt's instructions, they come on one piece of thick paper and the illustrations are quite small. The bib took some brain power to figure out how to attach, I thought the sleeves were going to be really tough to fit but actually found them really easy to sew in.
I absolutely love this dress but I wouldn't recommend it unless you've made at least one item of clothing before. Whilst I wouldn't say it's complicated, I would say it requires some skill.
Now to dream of other fabric combinations to make... I think a gorgeous soft white linen could be the next project.

                  

I'm not sure if it was the time taken to make this dress - I made it over 4 days instead of rushing to finish in one day - or the expense of the fabric but I've worn this dress more than anything else I've made and even braved putting it in the washing machine!

I'm subscribing to the idea of slow fashion - making gorgeous items of clothing that I love instead of picking up poor quality clothes in Primark for that quick fix.

I'm already dreaming of my next project - a long summery faded floral dress.

In other news, I'm marking for the exam board and currently in the middle of marking 432 exam papers - nightmare! Come follow me on Twitter or Instagram for more up to date updates

Amy