Behind the Scenes... Plans and Schemes for 2017

In two days time, it'll be the seven year anniversary of when I started this blog - or the "seven year stitch", if you will.

On the one hand, it seems like only yesterday that I opened up Blogspot and started typing, not really expecting anyone other than my mum to read my blog, and certainly never dreaming that a few years later it would be the launchpad of my own business.

On the other hand, it definitely feels like sooooo much hard work to get us where we are now! Seven years of consistently working to create blog posts - and later products - that I thought you'd enjoy. Hard work is worth it when it's something as lovely and rewarding as helping people make their own clothes :)

The last year has been another busy one for us, releasing five patterns, three online workshops, doing lots of events... and working hard on things to come! So what do we have up our homemade sleeves for 2017?

What we got up to in 2016

Can you believe 2016 is almost over? It's been a tough year in many ways, but there are always good things to be grateful for. In the past year, our team have been busy sewing bees, launching new goodies, getting out and about to shows, and running workshops. If you're into reminiscing posts, here's a look back at what Tilly and the Buttons got up to in 2016...

Five Tips for Sewing Cleo

Making the Cleo pinafore or dungaree dress? This sewing pattern has become our new bestseller! While the dungaree clips may make it look fiddly, it's actually quick and easy to make - it's a great pattern for beginners, or more experienced stitchers looking for a speedy project. Today I thought I'd share some bonus tips for sewing Cleo...

A Cleo Dress for Every Day... (and a Giveaway!)

You know when you make something and you just want to wear it every single day? You miss it when it's in the laundry basket, and can't remember what you used to wear before you had it?

This is the outfit for me. I've got four Cleo dungaree dresses now, and this is the first version I made back in the Summer - and where it all began. I started off drafting the pattern for myself, then cut it out and stitched it together in an afternoon. When I couldn't wait to wear it again, when people kept asking where it was from, and when the ladies in the office wanted to make one too, I decided we should make it into a Tilly and the Buttons pattern to share with you guys.

Sewing Cleo: Sizing + Fitting

Making the Cleo pinafore or dungaree dress? Vanessa here today – let’s talk about choosing your size and fitting the dress.

The relaxed, loose-fitting design of dungaree dresses makes Cleo easy to fit - yay! This style of dress doesn't have any darts or close-fitting seam lines that need to mould to your curves, and it hangs straight down, so don't worry about trying to get it to fit a sway back.

What you might want to do though is lengthen or shorten the dress, combine different waist and hip sizes to fit your proportions, and make a couple of small adjustments as you sew. So that's what I'm going to show you how to do...

Inspiration for Sewing the Cleo Pinafore

Thinking of making the Cleo pinafore or dungaree dress? Today we wanted to share with you some of the gorgeous inspiration we fell in love with when developing this pattern - hopefully it will inspire and delight you too! Short or long, cosy and layered or light-weight and lovely - this pattern is a pleasure to wear year-round, as well as being quick and easy to sew up. Have a scroll through our picks and let the dungaree joy wash over you!

Introducing the Cleo Sewing Pattern!

Get excited – it’s here! Our new sewing pattern is the super cute and utterly wearable Cleo pinafore or dungaree dress (AKA jumper or overall dress)! Cleo is speedy to sew and easy to wear – I hope you love it as much as we do.

Aaaaaand for the very first time, we’re offering sewing kits with everything you need to make it!

ORDER THE CLEO PATTERN

or

GET THE WHOLE KIT

Five Ways to Use a Dress Form

Do you own a dress form? Also known as a dressmaker’s dummy or mannequin. One of the questions I’m asked a lot is whether to buy a dress form and which one I’d recommend. So today I thought I’d show you mine and talk you through some reasons you might want to get one.



While a dress form isn’t an essential, it’s definitely nice to have – one of those tools like an overlocker that you can certainly live without when you’re just starting out, but will put to good use when you get one. I’ve had my Lady Valet Adjustoform for six years now, and it’s still going strong. The soft cover looks nice and is easy to pin, and the solid wooden top and base look smart – in fact, it looks as good as new six years down the line! As an Adjustoform fan, I'm excited to partner with them for this post to show you five ways you can use your dress form...

Free Pattern Bonus! Rosa Shirt Long Sleeve and Cuff

Fancy making a Rosa shirt or dress with long sleeves and cuff opening for the colder months? We’ve created a bonus pattern for the full length sleeves, cuffs and facings, which you can download for free, plus step-by-step instructions (below) on how to sew them together. You're welcome!

Download the Rosa cuff pattern 

(The pattern prints on 9 sheets of A4 or Letter paper)

Nautical Cascade Anorak

Meet my new anorak! This is the Cascade pattern by Grainline - lovely lady Jen gave it to me when I met up with her in Chicago a while back, and I finally got around to making it this September. I love it!

I made it in a soft blue cotton twill from Goldhawk Road, and lined it in a navy striped jersey (I can't remember where I got that from, sorry). It's a cropped jacket with the hemline around the high hip. I didn't quite realise this until I'd cut it out - I had it in my head that it would look like a Seasalt anorak I have, and didn't bother look at the finished measurements. Good job I didn't shorten it like I usually do on bodices, as it's already pretty short! I do really like it though, and there's another variation in the pattern to add a lower panel if you want it to be longer.

How to Sew Piping to a Collar or Corner

Stitching piping to the seams of your handmade clothes is a lovely way to highlight interesting style lines, particularly if they’d otherwise be hidden by a darker fabric or busy print.

While I’ve written about piping before, I expect some of you may be wondering how to pipe the corners on the Rosa shirt and dress – on the pointed yoke and corners of the collar. So today I’m going to take you through the steps to pipe a seam with a corner.

Kitty Print Rosa Shirt

One can never have enough kitty print handmade clothing IMHO.

Remember my cat print Carolyn PJs? When I bought the lovely cotton lawn fabric on my Japan trip in January, I couldn't resist getting the same print in black and white too. Before I made the PJs, I'd already put the B&W fabric to good use for this shirt version of the Rosa sewing pattern.

The pattern is a great showcase for a cute print like this, and I've been wearing the shirt to death these past few months with jeans and dungaree dresses (you can see me wearing it in the Sew Your Own Shirt or Shirt Dress workshop videos). I love it!

Fitting the Rosa Shirt and Dress

Making the Rosa shirt or dress sewing pattern? Vanessa here to take you through fitting your handmade creation to your unique figure.

One of the wonderful things about making your own clothes is that you can get them to fit your shape much better than most shop clothing. You can add or remove length where you need it, take the shoulders in or out, adjust for larger or smaller boobs... It does take a bit of extra work, but it's worth it to have a lovely outfit tailored just for you!

We’re going to look at how to:

• Choose your size
• Pin fit the princess seams and side seams
• Lengthen or shorten the torso or overall length
• Combine pattern sizes
• Make adjustments for wide or narrow shoulders
• Adjust for a sway back
• Make full or small bust adjustments

Bear in mind you almost certainly won’t need to make all of these changes, you might not need to make any at all!

Fabric Shopping for the Rosa Shirt + Dress

Making the Rosa shirt or dress? Let's talk fabrics!

This pattern works well in so many easy-to-find fabrics. Look for a medium- or light-weight woven material - cotton lawn, chambray, lighter weight denim (including denims with a bit of stretch), linen blends (less prone to wrinkling than pure linen!), viscose / rayon (although it's not the easiest fabric to sew the collar in if you're not that confident), double gauze, shirting cotton (of course!), even fine needlecord.

For our shirt sample, we used a floaty flamingo viscose from Dragonfly Fabrics (now sold out - sorry!). On the dress version, we used a lightweight denim courtesy of Fabrics Galore. We used contrast fabric on the inner collar stand and button stand facing - Ciara B cotton lawn, courtesy of Liberty.

Inspiration for Making Your Rosa Shirt or Dress

One of the (many) lovely things about the Rosa sewing pattern is that it can look so different depending on what fabric, styling and embellishments you go for. We've got another post coming up next on fabric suggestions (look out for that), but first I wanted to share some inspiration for different looks that you can create.

Learn to Sew a Fitted Shirt or Shirt Dress with the Rosa Pattern + Online Workshop

Ready to level up your sewing skills? If you’ve mastered the basics and want to sew a beautifully constructed shirt or shirt dress, Rosa is a satisfying project that blends classic shirtmaking techniques with wearable, everyday style.

Designed with shaping and structure in mind, Rosa features princess seams, a distinctive pointed yoke, and thoughtful finishing details that give your handmade garment a professional look – inside and out.

Make it as a semi-fitted shirt to wear with jeans, or sew the shirt dress version for an effortless wardrobe staple you’ll reach for again and again.

Shop Rosa Shirt Pattern →

Join the Online Workshop →

Behind the Scenes...

Hello everyone!

Lexy here, with a little roundup of what’s been going on here at Tilly Towers as of late, include a sneaky behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in these here parts!

The Cat's Pyjamas

My Instagram followers can take full credit for the title of this post after I showed them a work-in-progress peek the other day - thanks guys! 

This is my second version of the Closet Case Files Carolyn pyjamas. I made my first pair in a snuggly stripe double gauze, with long sleeves and full length trouser legs. The pattern also includes this short sleeve, short shorts version, which I thought would be really cute for the Summer sewn in this lovely lightweight kitty print cotton lawn.

Five Tools for Drafting, Tracing and Adjusting Sewing Patterns

Whether you’re hand drafting a sewing pattern from scratch, tracing off an existing pattern to preserve it, or making fitting or design alterations to a sewing pattern, it’s useful to have a stash of tools to help you do the job. Today I thought I’d share my most-used tools to use for the job… apart from a pencil, of course! I’d love to hear your favourites too in the comments :)

A Lemons Clemence Skirt – And How to Line It

It seems like an eternity away now, but at the start of the Summer I went on holiday to the Italian Amalfi coast – the land of ginormous lemons, lemon trees everywhere, and basically everything made with lemons. So I decided now was the time to dust off this lovely cotton voile that had been waiting patiently in my fabric stash for the right occasion.

Five Tips to Prolong the Life of Your Clothes

Lexy here, and I've been mulling over how to make my beautiful, handmade clothes last as long as possible. After all, who wants to spend that long searching for the perfect pattern and fabric combo, sewing it up with love, just for it to fall apart in the wash?

A Floral Fifi Set for Summer

I’ve been meaning to show you my latest Fifi pyjamas for ages but I’ve been too busy wearing them!

The fabric choice is a bit of a departure from my usual stripes and spots obsession, but I think it’s sooo pretty and works really well with the pattern. It’s a floaty cotton lawn from John Lewis, with navy cotton poplin used to make the bias binding straps. Cotton lawns and voiles are perfect for the Fifi sewing pattern – you want something that feels nice against your skin, lightweight, preferably with a bit of drape.

Sewing Marigold: Waistband and Hemming

Making the Marigold trousers or jumpsuit? In the final instalment of the sewalong, we're going to make the elasticated waistband and hem the trousers.

Catching up? Order your sewing pattern and read the previous steps in the Marigold sewalong.



The beauty of this is the elasticated waistline is that it will cinch the trousers or jumpsuit in to your exact waist size - hooray!

Sewing Marigold: Attach the Straps and Neckline Facing

Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit? I'm going to show you how to sew the straps and attach the neckline facing, which will create a neat and structured finish on the bodice neckline.

Catching up? Order your Marigold pattern and read the rest of the sewalong - you can join in any time!

Remember in the post on cutting and stabilising we applied interfacing to the neckline facings and to half of each strap? And we added stabilising tape or interfacing strips to the bodice necklines to add structure and help stop them gaping or stretching out of shape. If you missed these steps out, do them now!

Sewing Marigold: Insert the Invisible Zip

Whether you're making the Marigold jumpsuit or just wondering how to neatly insert an invisible zip into another garment, read on!

An invisible zip (AKA "concealed zip") looks like this - you can't see the teeth from the right side. Once sewn into a garment, you shouldn't be able to see the tapes either - the fabric seam lines will join up to conceal everything but the zip pull.

Sewing Marigold: Waistband + Bodice

Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit or trousers? In today's instalment of the sewalong, we're going to make a start on the waistband - this applies whether you're making the trouser or jumpsuit version. Then, for those of you making the jumpsuit version, we'll start on the bodice.

Need to catch up? Order your sewing pattern and read up on previous steps.

Sewing Marigold: Trouser Legs

Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit or trousers? In the previous post we stitched the trouser darts, pleats and pockets. Today I'm going to show you how to sew the legs together. It's a short and sweet one!

New to the Marigold sewalong? Join us! Order your pattern and catch up with previous posts.

Sewing Marigold: Trouser Darts, Pleats + Pockets

Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit or trousers? Today we're going to start putting this beauty together! More specifically, we're going to sew the pleats on the front trousers and darts on the back trousers, then make the slash pockets.

New to the sewalong? Catch up on previous posts here.

Sewing Marigold: Cut + Stabilise Your Fabric

Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit or trousers? If you've found your size and made any fitting alterations, now we can get to the fun part - cutting out! We're also going to talk about stabilising the fabric to avoid droopy pockets and a saggy neckline. Even if you are an experienced fabric cutter, please pay attention to the stabilisation part of this post :)

Catching up? Order your pattern and read the previous sewalong posts.

Sewing Marigold: Fitting the Bodice

Sewing the Marigold jumpsuit? In the previous post we looked at some adjustments you can make to the trousers to get a bespoke fit. If you’re making the jumpsuit version, now we're going to shift our attention to the bodice.

Like with the trousers, don't be daunted by all these steps. You may not need to make any of these changes at all, or just one or two. It's a good idea to consider your first version a "wearable toile", in other words, understand that you might need to tweak the second one if you find any areas don't quite fit your body as you'd like.

In any case, this pattern shouldn't be over-fitted - don’t be tempted to make the bodice too tight. It’s designed to have a fairly loose, blousy style. Once the facing goes in it will feel snugger against your upper chest, and you'll need the extra length at the waist - particularly at the back - so you don't get a wedgie when you sit down in the jumpsuit!

Sewing Marigold: Fitting the Trousers

Summer is here and we’re pining to get our Marigold trousers and jumpsuits off the pattern paper and into the park! 

It’s Vanessa here today to share some simple trouser pattern alterations to help you get a bespoke fit. While trousers have a reputation for being difficult to fit to different figures, thankfully Marigold’s casual, breezy style makes them easier than most. Hooray! The following alterations are by no means necessary - you may need no alterations at all, or just one or two tweaks. But if something’s not quite working with your first pair, it might be worth working through this post and see if any of it could apply to you.

My Marigold Jumpsuit

It's all settled - this is the outfit I'm living in this Summer!

I sewed this Marigold jumpsuit in a lovely viscose bought from Sew Over It (now out of stock, but they do have a cracking selection of other viscoses). And then made my long-suffering fella take a million photos while we were on holiday to the Amalfi Coast before he was rewarded with a limoncello ice cream. We found this wall is in pretty Atrani, five minutes walk from Amalfi itself.