This is not a New Year's Resolution

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions; you are just setting yourself up to fail (me cynical, no).  Many a diary has been started on January 1^st, only to be discarded before the month is out.  So this is in no way shape for form a New Year’s Resolution; but I do need to get control of my stash.  I sew therefore I stash.  It’s not so much my fabric stash that disturbs me (although it is considerable and has been slowly multiplying over 30 years), but my pattern stash, especially the PDF patterns.  Most are printed off, stuck together and cut to my size, that’s a lot of work for me then not to be using them.

For me most PDF sewing patterns (or the Big 4 printed patterns for that matter) are impulse buys.  See pretty thing, buy pretty thing, all too often do not make pretty thing.  Last November Sew Over It released the Heather Dress, a snugly ponte winter dress with all important integrated pockets and it was only £7.  However, for once I resisted the temptation, I thought those design lines look not dissimilar to the Muse Philippa Dress, I already have the pattern for the Muse Philippa Dress, I have had it for months and not made it up, I know I will make a snugly ponte Philippa winter dress.  Of course I had to buy new fabric to make it, but that’s a different story.  So here it is

Whatever am I saying?

It’s a little longer and a little looser fitting than the Heather dress, but really comfy and very snugly.  I used the Narrow sleeves from the Muse Sleeve Pattern pack, I self drafted a neck band (85% of the neck circumference), also I didn’t insert a zip, I can get it on and off without one.  I stabilised the pocket opening with some elastic, but it was maybe a little too bulky and in hindsight unnecessary, I don’t think the pockets will stretch out.  The only other change and the reason for the dress being looser fitting, is I cut the side back and centre back out together to eliminate the curved seam, which probably added a few centimetres of ease at the waist, I did contemplate removing the ease with a fisheye dart, bit I’m ok with it being on the loose side.

And it's loose enough to give Bonnie Hugs

So that’s one PDF pattern used and likely to be used again, many more to go.  Top of the list are two Blueprints for Sewing Patterns, the Saltbox Top and the A-Frame Skirt, the Rosari Skirt by Pauline Alice and the Tahi Skirt by Muse Patterns.  Not to mention, The Jutland Pants by Thread Theory, the Jasper Top by Paprika Patterns and the Gable Top by Jennifer Lauren Handmade.  That should keep my busy for a little while.

One Melissa, Two Melissa, soon to Three and Four

You know when you find a pattern that just fits.  I have quite broad shoulders and a long back, so usually have to tweek patterns to get them to fit, but not with Melissa, if fits straight off the printer.  I made a blouse and skirt with this patterm for Separates week over at The Monthly Stitch and decided to make another blouse for One Pattern Two Takes.  I previously blogged about my adventures with Melissa here.

The only fit issue I had the first time round, was it was a little loose around my waist and hips.  I remedied this by grading the seam allowance for 1cm to 1.5cm for the bottom 15cm of each seam and now it fits beautifully.  I had ironed this really, it just I'd been wearing it all day at work, hence the wrinkles.

The fabric I used was a man's shirt I bought from a charity shop and some white cotton from my stash.  It was a bright sunny evening when we took these photos and the colour has washed out somewhat, the stripe is actually very close to my skirt colour.  I decided not to include the back contrast chevon as I thought it might look a little busy, but did include the chevron trim on the pockets.

I utilised the original buttons and buttonholes from the men's shirt, which has lead to me being confused no end as the shirt buttons the wrong way.  When I do this again I will try and remember to cut the front upside down (provided it's not a directional print), to get the buttons to do up the Ladies way.

Making this for a second time, did make the process a whole lot faster.  The only fiddly bit was of my own making, as I had to bind the collar with a bias strip as I wasn't utilising the facings.

I already have plans to make this blouse again with some not so subtle red gingham for Check it Out Month. 

It's been really fun to participate in IMP2015, now I just have to keep up with the posting.

Today I will mostly be making seperates

If Me Made May showed me anything, it's that I wear mostly separates.  Out of the 31 days, I only wore dresses on 4 days, the other 27 days I wore separates.  I just find them much more versatile, I can happily wear the same skirt 3 days out of a week, pairing it with different tops, but would feel self conscious if I wore the same dress twice in a week.

So when The Monthly Stitch announced a Separates Week during Indie Pattern Month, I knew it was the challenge for me.  But what pattern to choose...  I eventually opted for the Melissa Dress/Blouse/Skirt by Muse Patterns.  I bought the pattern not long after release (unusual for me, I don't tend to be an early adopter), because the 40s/50s aesthetic appeals to me.

I keep trying to use fabric from stash, rather than going our and buying new and found a remnant of red denim that I have had for at least four years begging to be used.  The only problem was, the pattern calls for 1.8m of fabric either 114 or 150 wide and I had 1m of 1.2 wide.  A couple of modifications were required.  I decided to omit the button front and insert a side zip instead, I also omitted the centre back seam.  As you can see from the picture above, my Tetris skills came to the fore when positioning the pattern pieces.  I didn't think my fabric had any sort of a nap, but just to be on the safe side put all the front pieces in one direction and all the back pieces in the other direction.  I also didn't have enough fabric for a waistband, but as I'm not a huge fan of straight waistbands anyway, I opted to finish the waist off with petersham ribbon and a large hook and eye.

The fabric for the blouse is also from my stash, it's a dress weight cotton from Ikea, with a copyright date on the selvedge of 2007, so I've had it a while.  I love the pockets on this pattern, they may not hold a lot, bit I think the chevron details is lovely.  I replaced the button and buttonholes with poppers, partly because I liked the look, but mostly because my sewing machine has recently been having a strop whenever I try to do buttonholes.  My sewing machine has now had a service after 5 years of abuse and I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear is feeling much better.  There will be buttonholes in my future.

And just to finish a not great picture of my outfit but a lovely picture of the lovely Hagrid