Tried and tested

You know those patterns that some bloggers can't help but use time and time again (I'm looking at you, Karen)? Well I finally have one of those myself!

The EvaDress 650 1934 blouse is, on the face of it, not very exciting. I think I struck gold, though, when I decided to try and turn the collar into a pussy bow, as I love my blue blouse and wear it to death. The pattern is simple enough to run up in a couple of hours, and also basic enough to withstand amateurish fiddling from the likes of me!

I had some cotton/silk mix left over from the Sew Weekly meet up that I was planning to use for a skirt, but decided it was just too light and have been wondering what to do with since. I figured that actually it'd make a good floaty blouse and thought what better than to use my EvaDress pattern to make a third version of my blue pussy bow blouse! This week I had a few hours spare, so set about sewing and this was the result!

As with the previous version, I simply lengthened the collar piece, sewing up the ends before attaching it to the neckline.

I also trimmed the neckline into a more gentle V, rather than keeping it as a slash as I had before. This gives less spare fabric under the bow when it's tied low on the chest.

There were two long shoulder darts in the front of the pattern, but I turned these into 4 pleats near the shoulder and I think it worked well!

Finally, I used my overlocker to finish the seams as I went for the first time, and I'm really chuffed with the results! I even changed the colour threads the overlocker was using. I feel very talented now!

I feel like I am sewing at a far more intermediate level now. Although the pattern is in no way challenging, I used a finer needle on my machine to avoid pulling the delicate fabric - something I've not bothered with before, I used a narrow hem foot for the sleeve hems and of course I was switching back and forwards between the overlocker and sewing machine. Add to this the 'as I went along' pattern alterations and I really felt on top of sewing this blouse like I don't think I have before. I'm really pleased with this, with the overlocking it really feels like my first professional piece.

Next on my list is a third skirt made from Simplicity 3688...maybe I can have a tried and tested week where I just wear the two patterns together all week?

Sewing bows

I was feeling pretty tired this weekend, but I still managed  to get a reasonable amount done.
First was gardening, and some fun gardening too. We paid a trip to the local garden centre and spent a happy (me; boring as hell, Tom) afternoon looking at plants and having coffee and cake.
Once we came home I got to plant the seeds (my favourite gardening job) and plant up my hanging basket (second favourite job) but didn't have to do any real work like digging. Success!
Later that day I sewed up a top I cut out earlier in the week, It's my second time making the EvaDress 650 blouse (first one is here) and I thought I'd make some changes. I've been hankering after a pussybow blouse for some time and so I thought I'd have a got at altering this blouse, since the pattern is so simple. All I did was to extend the collar pieces by about 50cm past where their normal end would be, and it's worked pretty well.

When tied low down, the faced edges of the slashed neckline do fold up and stick out a bit, but fortunately the fabric, a linen mix, has enough drape that this is well hidden, and I have the option to tie it higher up at the collar if I want.

I decided that I liked the blouse sleeveless so I finished the armholes by facing them with some bias strips, et voila!

I wore it to work today with my old faithful work trousers and a cardigan. I'm really happy with how it's turned out for such an experimental item!

Thanks to Rebecca Jean for the lesson on how to tie a bow this week - it's amazing how something simple can be tough to work out on your own!

You may also be able to see curly hair in the picture. I set my hair last night and the front turned out really well. Sadly, the back had several pins escape and I ended up with a few straight bits, making the back look rubbish. In the end I couldn't find a style to hide the back and show off the front, so I threw the whole lot up in a clip. I'll get the pin curls right sometime!

I managed to spend some money on Friday, the first since I started my 'lent' thriftyness. It didn't feel as good as I thought it might, which is a nice revelation. Possibly. I realised, though, that I needed fabric (and no, there was nothing suitable in my stash, honestly, I did look!) for the Horrockses dress which I'm making for an event in May. If I'd waited till the end of the no spend period to buy it, I'd only have had a few days to make the dress up, so it was now or never really! Still, I got what I needed and nothing more, which is quite a change for me!

It's a lightweight viscose and the drape is lovely, hopefully it'll work ok on the rather structured bodice section.

I've also cut out the final pattern for my trousers, so I might finally take the plunge and cut up the real fabric this week...

Productive day

I spent Sunday mainly watching films and sewing, I'm making some costumes for several people at the moment and, simple as they are, they've been very time consuming of late. I'll also not be able to wear them on a regular basis (I'll pop some pictures of them up soon!) and so I've been feeling a bit bored with them. I managed to get the bulk done on Sunday morning though, and so I thought I'd use the rest of the afternoon to run something simple up for myself.

Eva Dress 650

I already had the pieces for this blouse cut out so I thought I'd have a go at putting it together (loving this bulk cutting out I've been doing - it makes sewing so much quicker!). I'm happy that my sewing skills are advancing so that I was able to finish this in about 2 hours. It would probably have been a lot quicker but I decided to watch a film with subtitles while I was doing it, so couldn't really give it my full attention!

I thought the fabric was a cotton or linen blend, but it obviously has a high synthetic content as, while pressing the facing under, I managed to melt a spot. It's gone a bit yellow and all wrinkly. Very irritating! Still, it's not too visible and at least it was very cheap! I also now know that the pattern is a.easy and b.fits me well, so I will be happy to run more like this up in future, this time paying more attention to fabric content!

Despite how quick it was, I ran out of time towards the end when I had friends coming over and so haven't added a pocket (I may still do this but I quite like it without) and I also didn't turn the sleeves up as instructed. I think that this does mean the sleeves are too long, so I'll probably either go back and turn them up, or possibly just chop a couple of inches off the ends and leave them plain.
I could also have added a button and loop at the collar but I liked it open, so didn't bother. I think I would do this if I make it again though. I'd probably lightly interface the collar on another version and possibly lengthen the body slightly as it wouldn't tuck into anything that isn't high waisted. Other than that, it's pretty perfect as patterns go!
The collar went on easily, the 4 darts were simple and, despite the rather sparse directions (being a copy of a 1930s pattern) it was all pretty common sense and I didn't have any trouble working it all out.

I would recommend this pattern for anyone who's sewn a couple of patterns already and feels they could work out the directions for themselves. For anyone with good experience, you wouldn't need any instructions at all! It's dead simple, dead quick and really sweet.