The Grass is Always Greener Top

Have you ever started one dressmaking project only to change your mind mid-process and end up with something totally different? I was all set to make an elasticated waist batwing dress - this one, to be precise - using this dreamy Elk Grove organic (yes, organic!) knit (yes, knit!) from Birch Fabrics. I'd been thinking about it for weeks, had sourced the elastic, and it was all cut out and ready to go. Yet when I pinned it together and looked in the mirror to check the fit, well... it just seemed a bit too... no, not elky... but a bit too green.

Not that there's anything wrong with green per se, obvs, but I recently resolved to stick to a signature style colour palette (which I can share more on if you're interested), and green doesn't feature. A bit of green is fine, but a green dress may be a bit "off message", as marketeers would say.

So I decided to just sew together the top half and make a simple batwing top. I do so like a good batwing top. Once I'd decided what to do, it took less than an hour to put the whole thing together using my overlocker. I finished the neckline with a facing as I didn't want to break up the print with a band or a line of stitching. If I make this again, I'd lengthen the hem and take some of the curvature out of the shoulders (is it for shoulder pads??).

With the scorching hot weather we've been having in London recently, there's something so comforting about slipping into a snuggly long sleeved top sometimes. I know, I know, the grass is always greener...

[Soundtrack: 'Steel Your Girl' by Neon Neon]

I Can Make Shoes!

You guys, I CAN MAKE SHOES! Look at these sandals - designed and constructed by moi, with more than a little help from Amanda, owner of the aptly titled shoe-making workshop studio I Can Make Shoes. I was jumping up and down when an invitation came through to a special one-to-one with Amanda herself. Just what I need to finish off my DIY outfits - DIY sandals!

So how do you make shoes? Lucky for us, Amanda has devised a simple method that allows people to make shoes at home with minimum special equipment. We began with a size 4 sole template, played around with a few design ideas, turned them into simple paper patterns and wrapped them around my foot to see what they'd look like. Soooo much simpler than pattern drafting for dressmaking! Next we transferred the shape to leather, drawing around the pattern with a biro pen and cutting out with regular scissors - Amanda uses tools that people have at home where possible. We hammered some holes out of the soles for the straps to pass through, and assembled all the pieces with glue. Ahh... the glue... deliciously thick and gooey neoprene-based adhesive - or "liquid wetsuit", as Amanda put it. It looked like Gremlin gunk and was a JOY to play with.

It really was one of the best days I've had in a while. It was so much fun to go in totally clueless, to have no idea what I was doing, discover that it isn't so difficult after all, and walk out with a pair of sandals that are totally unique, that fit me perfectly and that I absolutely LOVE. I made a few novice mistakes - such as forgetting to cut straps for the second shoe, doh! But it was all part of the experience, and I left feeling sooooo pleased with myself, with the same feeling of empowerment I felt when I first learnt to sew. Remember that feeling?

Thank you so much to Amanda for a fab afternoon, for patience while I spent about an hour deciding the order of the coloured straps, for the laughs, and for sanding down my rubbish leather cutting. Oh, and for making shoe-making so easy!

If you want to exclaim, "I can make shoes!" too, check out the awesome workshops in Hackney and e-books they offer. I'd highly recommend the sandals as an introduction for beginners. I'm seriously considering buying some liquid wetsuit and making a few more pairs.

Next I just need to learn to make brassieres, then I can have a whole handmade outfit...

[Soundtrack: 'New Shoes' by Paolo Nutini]

Blue Swallows Dress

Finished! This is Simplicity 0331, designed by Cynthia Rowley, made in a gorgeous blue lightweight swallow print cotton, courtesy of the Fabric Godmother. Quite appropriately, I was surrounded by IRL swallows as I wore this dress for the first time on the beautiful island of Vis in Croatia. Swallows, butterflies, lemon groves, fig trees, crystal clear water, isolated coves... you get the picture. (Yes, returning to Brixton was a culture shock.)

Back to the dress - it's a lovely loose-fitting, floaty design, very forgiving after a week gorging on researching the best ice cream flavour on the island (coconut, since you ask). I love all the gathers, which feature on multiple seams on this 13 piece pattern. Not the fastest make in the world then, particularly as I had to redo the yoke gathers three times when baste fitting the bodice, but one of those sewing projects that is a real pleasure if you're not in a hurry.




Next time I make it - and there will be a next time, I've already got a floral print red mystery fabric in my stash earmarked for this pattern - I might change the sleeves. I really love the loose-fitting sleeves, but while they look great on the model in the pattern illustration, combined with the other flouncey bits they kinda drown my small frame. Maybe I'll shorten them a little or add a cuff. But I'm not complaining - I still love this dress!

PS. Wishing my American readers a very happy Fourth of July tomorrow!

PPS. Going through my holiday snaps, I came across this one of seagulls tailing our boat back to the mainland. If only I'd had the foresight to take my dress photos in front of this background...



[Soundtrack: 'Sexy Boy' by Air]

Guthrie and Ghani: Snapshots

Some snapshots from a lovely day spent chez Guthrie & Ghani haberdashery in Birmingham last month when I was there to teach a Miette skirt sewing workshop. The students were great fun and it was such an amazing venue in which to get crafty. It was wonderful to catch up face-to-face with Lauren and her lovely hubs Ayaz, seen here modelling a tie he is sewing himself! It was also the first chance I had to have a proper look around the shop. The last time I was there the place was so crowded and I was so busy at the cutting table that I didn't actually have the opportunity to see what was in the shop. It is soooooo amazing, you guys! So pretty and light and spacious yet jam packed full with sewing and knitting goodness. Have you been there yet?

In other news, my next workshop is Learn to Sew: Tilly's Bow Belt at the Village Haberdashery in North London on Monday 8th July at 6.30 - 9.30pm. There are still spaces available so if you're an absolute beginner and want to get to grips with your sewing machine, make a cute bow belt and have a fun evening, come along!

[Soundtrack: 'Don't Leave Me [Ne Me Quitte Pas] (Russian version)' by Regina Spektor]