Wednesday, 13 September 2017

Simplicity 1080 Dottie Angel frock..... or as I call it marmite dress

I picked this pattern up  few months ago half price at hobbycraft. I needed more dress patterns as much as I needed a hole in the head, but got taken in by the chunky knit and boot clad girl on the cover, so in my basket it fell.
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 Not long after I saw it mentioned on one of the Facebook sewing groups with almost everyone saying it looked like a sack on them, the for was wrong as in the darts were in the wrong place, the arm holes gaped and the sleeves caused confusion. I promptly put Dottie to the back of the pattern box and forgot her. Then a week ago she sprung up again in a group and some wonderful pictures of the ladies makes made me dig her out and have ago. BUT.... me being me I had to do my own thing. So out comes the knit fabric. Hey why work with the easy well behaved cotton when you can battle with a stretchy misbehaving knit? 
I won't go into full pattern details as I figure if you are here you probably have it. So here's what I did differently





 The contrast pockets and ties in black cotton jersey. I added the band as instructions on the pocket and then overlocked around the edge. I love my overlockers and will use it whenever I can get away with it. Then folded under and topstitched the pockets in place. 
 The ties should be folded in. But jersey is a giant pain anyways and rolls and working on a thin strip would have ended in the whole project being put in the fib (fuck it bucket) so I folded in half and overlocked the open edge then turning blade off I overlocked folded edge too. Personally I like the look of the overlockers stitch so have no problems with that raw look.
 The bust darts/folds. I actually like this way of doing a dart and haven't come across it before. The end of the ties are sewn into them and adds a nice detail. Now advice on the aforementioned Facebook groups told me to check placement for us with blessed boobage areas. So lining up the shoulder I figured mine needed to be an inch or so lower to avoid sitting on bust. I think the knit is a little more forgiving than a cotton would have been on the bust. 
 Now sleeves, they are an all in one cap (I guess) style.  I wanted them to fall a little lower and although I could have extended the pattern and cut out of the fabric....honestly I forgot to do it so ended up drafting an extra bit in jersey and sewing on. Which big head and all I think looks brilliant lol

 So there we go. My take on Dottie Angel 
Maxie x

Sunday, 8 January 2017

Pleat conundrum.....

I have a make it up as you go along approach to..... well..... Everything. Life, craft,cooking,my job.....
So I set out to make a pleated tartan skirt, easy right? Fold. Sew. Zip. Then rock with some thick tights and boots for winter....
Nooooooooo.... who knew deciding on pleat...errrrr. ...pleatyness  (totally the right word for it lol) was so taxing.... (fullness... Maybe that's the word I'm looking for)
Thankfully the pattern on tartan makes the process so much easier... but still... I don't want too much puff around the bum. So I figure not too many folds but I want it to look pleated at the end
Decisions decisions
Pleatyness and skirt update to follow