Lekala Dress 5957 with no fitting whatsoever and #NYlon2014 excitement

I have found the best thing ever- a site that sends you patterns that are drafted to your exact measurements AND are a lot cheaper than usual PDF patterns. I picked the tightest thing I could find to test out how accurate they can get the fit and let me tell you, it's very accurate.

The illustrations can be a bit hit and miss on the site and the usability leaves quite a lot to be desired. You'd probably struggle with the pattern instructions if you are new to sewing so I'd recommend getting a bit of practice in before attempting the more complicated garments. Anyway, the dress:

I did absolutely no fitting on this dress and didn't even try it on until it was pretty much done. The first time I put it on, the words "like a glove" were in my head. This really is unheard of. I usually really struggle to get a good fit, mainly because I am ridiculously chesty (yeah, thanks breastfeeding).

This dress seems to completely ignore that. I LOVE princess seams and it does help that the fabric is lush. It's a wool/ poly mix I picked up last August from Edinburgh Fabrics when we were there for the Fringe. It is an amazing store crammed full of wonderful fabrics- definitely worth a visit if you're up there. It's been sitting in my stash for a while and was going to be a Brazilia dress with leather inserts but sadly I never got around to the pattern testing sewing (sorry, Rachel!)

The only issue I had with the fit were the sleeves as the original pattern had them quite wide and full length which didn't look good at all. (My husband was very impressed with the dress when  it was sleeveless so I'll probably make another version with no sleeves just for him to admire.) I shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length and tapered them down. I also drafted a self facing for the collar as the instructions called for using bias binding as a facing which I find a bit untidy.

I really love the fit of this dress and will definitely keep my eye out for some ponte to make another version of this and I will be attempting to turn it into a skirt as the fit is just perfect.

In other news, I have signed up to head to #NYlon2014 and am crazy excited at the prospect of meeting other people that sew and perhaps even a few of my favourite bloggers! I shall have to clear out some more of my stash so I have space for all the lovely fabric I'm planning to purchase so do expect to see more amazingly fitting clothes from Lekala.

Dinosaur boy

With the British summer being what it is, my boy needed a thin rain coat to make sure he stays dry but doesn't overheat. Luckily his mummy had some random dinosaur print PUL lying around so he is now the proud owner of this little number:

I made it based on a a pattern from a website called You Can Make This. It's an odd one that site- they have many many children's patterns but most of them are just horrendous (sorry but they really jar with my taste). And then you get some amazing ones. Like the jacket pattern from the Peek-a-boo pattern shop:

It occurs to me that children's clothing is perfect for practicing making new things. So far I have made two collared shirts for Oskar and so would feel confident tackling a grown-up sized shirt in the future. And now this- totally makes me comfortable trying to make something like this for me.

The pattern instructions were a bit of a nightmare to follow for this and PUL is a complete nightmare to sew- honestly, I had my zig zag foot, teflon foot and walking foot out as well as playing with the zipper foot. Was basting almost every seam and had to rip seams out several times along the way. Plus, the organic bamboo and cotton mix I used for the lining has got to be the world's most easily wrinkling material.. But it's ok. It all worked out in the end.

Have you ever sewn PUL? Any tips?

Summer bunting DIY

Remember those piles of triangles? They've now been turned into bunting. Here's what I did:

First of all, I made a template from cardboard. You can download one from here.

Then I set about cutting out the triangles. I drew all my triangles onto the fabric using a fade-away fabric pen and used pinking shears for this as it also finished the seams at the same time- win!

I then sewed the triangles together, right sides together, clipped the tip and turned then the right way around using a gorgeous bamboo point turner. Now it was time to press, press, press ad nauseum. First all the triangles and then the cotton tape which I pressed in half. 

I cut 3m strips of the tape for my bunting which meant I could fit 15 triangles on every string and still have a bit of extra tape for tying the ends. Once I'd done the pressing, I got to pinning the triangles inside the tape.

In hindsight, I would definitely recommend basting the triangles into the tape over pinning as this didn't attach them very securely so some of the triangles moved whilst sewing, giving my seam ripper an outing or two (or more).

Once I'd finished pinning the triangles, it was time to sew a long straight line. One more press and ta- dah! we have bunting.

Have you ever made bunting before? Will you try using my tutorial? Would love to see how they turn out.

PDF template for the triangles.

Real life bunting action

I just wanted to share with you the joy that is making several buntings. It's taking a while but it is for a good cause. Ivy Street Family Centre is fundraising at a fair this Saturday so I'm helping out for creating lovely things for them to sell. I've had a bunch of floral fabric sitting around for a while and had also bought some seriously strong white tape from the now-closed Sew Fantastic for pennies so this is a perfect stash-busting project.