#SewAprilBlouse24

I got swept up into another monthly instagram challenge, #SewAprilBlouse24. 

It’s run by Gabrielle of Cloth Edit and Ruan of The Yorkshire Sewgirl every year. It’s not a complicated challenge.  Basically: You make a Blouse, in April, and post it on Instagram, tagging in Gabrielle and Ruan.

Blouse #1 

My immediate plan was to resurrect a project I’d abandoned about three years ago. Back when I was a blogger for Simple Sew patterns, I opted to work on their Lottie Blouse pattern. 

I’d link to it, but they don’t sell it any more

I did a load of grading to make their basic, only-goes-up-to-size-18 pattern get nearer to fitting me. I did an FBA. I took a whole load of In Progress photos, for the purposes of blogging my process for them. But I didn’t hear anything from the person who was supposed to be running the blog, and it eventually became obvious that she was taking it in a different direction. So I put the pattern away and after a while, I deleted all the photos. I’d intended to make the blouse up in this zebra print crinkle georgette from my stash (I think I originally bought it for dance costuming purposes), and it was still there all this time later. It was clearly this fabric’s destiny.

It’s a bit see-through!

I made the blouse up with the pattern as it was, hoping it would work as a wearable toile. The construction order is quite straightforward – sew the bust darts, then the shoulder seams. While the body is still flat, add bias binding to the keyhole neckline to neaten it, in case it shows from under the bow. Then gather the sleeve heads, insert the sleeves flat and then sew the side seams. Make the (long) neck tie, by sewing the tie ends, leaving a gap for the bit that’s going to encase the neckline of the body. Stitch the neck tie onto the body and then hem the sleeves and bottom of the blouse. Boom. That was always the thing about Simple Sew patterns, they are simple to sew.

Happily it is perfectly wearable, and you saw it in my Minty Ponte Matchy Patchy Skirt post.

The Librarian Look

Blouse #2

The Zebra version showed me that the pattern still needed some tweaking, to get the bust dart just right and to give a smidge more ease at the hips. This is what the front piece looks like now!

I also wanted to fancy up the sleeves because they’re a bit boring. So I did all the necessary adjustments, and then I set to hacking the sleeve pattern.

I wanted more fullness, so it was time to play with slashing and spreading again! I used 5 slash lines, cut them (and they went VERY curly!) taped them down over another piece of paper, adding 5cm extra at each line & hoped that would be enough. I added a bit of extra length at the back end of the sleeve, to allow for the bend of the elbow. And I made the whole thing a bit longer than the original sleeve.

I considered what fabric I wanted to use for my second blouse. I eventually settled on this navy and pink floral viscose, originally from the Textile Centre (I think), when they had a shop in Walthamstow. It was good and wide, and I had plenty to work with.

For the cuffs. I measured what size I wanted them to be and simply cut rectangles to twice those dimensions (to allow for the fold over) plus seam allowance. I also wanted to change the neck tie from being all wide and floppy, to being narrow, so I cut a 5cm strip, which again is a 1.5cm width strip plus seam allowances. It’s about 1.3m long, and again, I hoped that would be about right.

The only significant difference to the construction was that once the sleeves had been added and the side seams sewn, I gathered the lower edge of the sleeves and added the cuffs. I treated the narrow neck tie like a visible bias binding finish (though I’d cut the binding on the grain, not the bias) and where the extra length extended, I topstitched them together rather than faffing about with trying to turn and iron thin strips of fabric.

And since I had a load of fabric left over, I made a matchy matchy skirt. It is the easiest skirt in the world – I cut two rectangles a bit wider than my hips, and a bit longer than I wanted the skirt to be. I tapered the sides in a bit towards my knees. 

I sewed the sides, added an elastic waistband and hemmed it. Job’s a good’un.

So now I can wear my blouse and skirt as a fake dress. In fact I wore them to my niece’s confirmation a couple of days after I finished them.

The blouse & skirt combo – I really like the sleeves!

Blouse #3

It was getting close to the end of April. Could I manage one more of these blouses? There was only one way to find out. I pulled out a rather lovely blue linen I’d bought last year. I figured I had this pattern sussed by now, and I was happy to try it with the good stuff.

So pretty!

I got it all cut out. I was using the same plan as for Blouse #2 – a skinny neck tie, rather than a big fat one, and bouffy sleeves with a cuff. I changed the proportions slightly to account for the length of fabric I had available, so the sleeves are a bit shorter, and the cuffs wider. 

Dear Reader, I cannot tell a lie, I couldn’t manage it. Sensible Béa told me that there was no point in ruining this lovely make by rushing it… So I completed this one in May rather than April, but clearly it is still very much a Sew April Blouse, at heart.

The linen was an absolute joy to sew with. I got it from Lamazi Fabrics last year, and I can’t recommend their fabrics highly enough. They are so beautiful. If I wasn’t on a buying ban, I’d be shopping there all the time! 

Trying out that silly half-in-half-out tuck. Makes me feel like an idiot. I’ll stick with all-in or all-out in future

This has turned into being a really useful base for future blouse endeavours. I think it’s still got more hacking potential, so I’m really glad that I tried it out.

It’s Me Made May prep time!

Mend March is out of the way, so I’m on to the next Challenge month!

I’ve been doing Me Made May, hosted by the wonderful Zoe of So Zo What do you know? and Check Your Thread, for 10 years (with varying degrees of success), and this will be my eleventh year. Eeep! It gets harder each year to find a new way to make the challenge meaningful. But I think I’ve got it sussed for May 2024.

My wearing habits are very lazy. I wear dresses because that’s just a single decision to make in the morning. Separates require deciding on one garment, then deciding on a second garment to go with it. Too much for my morning brain! But I think I could benefit from dressing in a more positive, thoughtful way, so I’m going to focus on wearing my me-mades that make me happy. Dopamine Dressing! I’m going to photo-document each day’s outfit on my Instagram Stories (saved into a Highlight), and record why the outfit makes me happy, so that hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll have a better handle on what I love to wear, and what I don’t.

I’m also going to treat MMM as an opportunity to carry on with my mending and fixing up of whatever wardrobe items need it, but I’m not goalifying this one. Also, as in previous MMMs, I’m going to like and comment on other MMM-ers’ posts and images on Instagram, because for me it’s all about building the community. But again, I think that’s just a good habit, I don’t need to make it a specific pledge.

I’m feeling very positive about my pledge and looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing.

Mend March Debrief*

I went into Mend March knowing I was unlikely to meet all the daily prompts. I’ve tried enough of these monthly challenges to know I’m not very good at them! But I did a lot of mending and fixing up, and I posted 20 times, and as the late great Meatloaf once said, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.

I mended more than I posted. I fixed a few holey tights. I’ve renovated several pairs of knickers and two bras, bringing them back to comfortable wearability.

But it wasn’t all undies – I fixed a hole in a dress (that was right on my bum).

Holey dress fix, Batman!
Sorry – as soon as the word Holey was there, I knew there was going to be a Holy [something] Batman reference. I’m a child of my time… Anyway, clicky for a bigger picture, to see the full detail of how well fixed up it is

I updated the neckline of a dress that I made quite recently, that had ended up a bit too gapey. I had some leftover fabric left, so I gave it a neckband. More of a Fix than a Mend, but it still counts. It makes the dress a lot more wearable.

I did the Punk Smocking to fix another dress with a gapey neckline.

I also got started on tackling a Big Scary Mend that had been scaring the pants off me, for the last couple of years. I made a lovely Sew Over It Zoe Dress back in 2017, using a completely bonkers Massive Paisley print**. Somehow, at some point, the fabric in one sleeve got thoroughly shredded. The other sleeve is fine. It was such a mess that the dress has been hanging in my wardrobe all this time, waiting for me to get the courage up to do something about it.

Before – you can’t tell from the photo how scraggy all that shredded fabric is!

The whole spirit of Mend March had given me enough confidence to at least give this a try. I decided to start at the cuff, which was a bit worn, and just gradually move upwards. And it turns out, it’s not scary at all. I could do it all with basic darning and a bit of lining fabric to hold everything together. It’s a cross between visible and invisible mending. It’s visible but camouflaged by the bonkerness of the print!

After. Well technically it’s still During, because there are some other bits in the armpit and bodice that I want to reinforce, but all the shredded fabric has been tamed!

I was also happy that I was able to do this using thread and lining fabric that I already had in stash. Because this post may be all about #MendMarch2024, but I’m still very conscious that I’m also doing #LastSewistStanding. I’ve managed to keep in the Heavyweight division. My main motivation is not disappointing Miss Taeschli! And mending is very much in the spirit of LSS – it means you’re using what you’ve got to avoid buying new stuff.

I’m happy that I’ve got a load of other menders in my feed now, to inspire and encourage me. I’ve got more techniques to experiment with as my mending journey continues. So Mend March has been a Big Win for me! Big thanks go to Kate Sekules (@visiblemend on Instagram) for setting up the challenge in the first place, and running it throughout March this year. It’s been a massive inspiration to me.

We all thought this would be the last one, because of Instagram’s stupid hashtag policy making it really difficult to follow tags. But we coped this year with microtags for each day, and Kate has confirmed Mend March will be back in 2025, so that’s a lovely thing to look forward to – Hooray!

Mend March may be over, but that doesn’t mean the mending will be going away! I will continue to rummage through the underwear drawer, to make sure I’m fixing up holes, adding new elastic and replacing worn gussets*** as needed.

* And I use the word advisedly!
** You might see other images in that Paisley print – I couldn’t possibly comment.
*** Gussets! Fnur, Fnur!

Mend March

No sooner do I take on one challenge (Last Sewist Standing – update: I’m still standing, despite being ambushed by all the beautiful fabric shops of Goldhawk Road last weekend), than I go crashing headlong into another…

This month is Mend March, a challenge set up and hosted by Kate Sekules, aka @VisibleMend on instagram. It celebrates all the beauty and usefulness of mending your clothes.

This may be the last Mend March, Kate warns us, because of Instagram being so rubbish about hashtags at the moment. Maybe the algorithm will be tweaked, who knows? I really hope it won’t be the last.

So why did I commit to this? I’m trying to be more thoughtful and considered about my impact on the planet. I’m no Greta, but I’m trying to do my bit, to keep fabric out of landfill, and make the best use of the clothes (and fabric) I’ve got.

Mending may be about sustainability, but it’s also about looking after the clothes you love, so you can keep wearing them and loving them. I’ve got a couple of dresses that are a bit broken and need fixing, and if I can fix them I get to keep wearing them!

I’m trying to post daily on my instagram. History shows that I’m not very good with daily prompted challenges but I’m giving it a good old try. I’m not promising to meet the daily prompts, but I’m aiming to do *some* mending every day in March. Admittedly up till now its been mostly underwear. I’ve been going for the easy wins, especially on school nights, and double especially on nights when I’m teaching and don’t get home till 9.30 or 10pm. But there will be more exciting posts coming up at weekends when I have a bit more mindspace…

Let’s see how far I can get with this one!

Last Sewist Standing 2024

I don’t normally do sewing challenges, apart from Me Made May. Sewing challenges usually involve making clothes I don’t particularly want to make, to a deadline. I don’t want to make clothes to order. I like the freedom to make what I want, when I want. I don’t feel the need to make things than I won’t realistically wear. But this challenge is a lot more within my own sewing ethos.

As any reader of this blog will know, I’m a big fan of Zoe Edwards of So, Zo, What Do You Know and her podcast Check Your Thread. She was my introduction to the #LastSewistStanding challenge, hosted by Lise Bauer, aka Miss Taeschli. This is basically a No Buy Challenge, that runs from 14th February to 31st December.

No buying fabric, no buying patterns, no buying zips, buttons, interfacing, elastic, any sort of notion apart from general purpose thread. EEEEEEEP!!!!!!!

That’s the Heavyweight Division, and we all start there. If we buy notions, or patterns, we drop down to the Lightweight Division, but we still have a horse in the race. You drop out properly if you buy fabric. I’m not sure how far into the year I can get with this, but I’m damn well going to try! I’m certain I’ve got a sufficient fabric stash to see me through, and I think I could even manage with the notions I’ve got, unless I try making something really specialist, or massively out of my experience. My downfall is likely to be seeing something very pretty and getting a bad case of the Wants. So I’m hoping that Internet Accountability will be a powerful driver in sticking to the Challenge.

I don’t know what the rules are on Fabric Swaps, but I’m hoping that they are allowed so long as you don’t come away from the swap with more than you put in.

If you want to find out more about the challenge, and how it can help you to bond with your Stash, you should listen to Zoe’s Check Your Thread episode about it, with Lise herself.

I understand from 2023’s Last Sewist Standing that having a horse in the race is de rigeur. Mine will be called Gollum (see my instagram post on this for some kind of explanation).

The challenge starts Today. Wish me luck for the rest of the year!

One Week, One Pattern 2017

I’ve always loved OWOP, and it seemed to be a two-yearly kind of thing, but this year, the very lovely Sheona of Sewisfaction kindly hosted it, running from 25th November to 1st December and it was an amazing week of seeing lots of brilliant makes and hacks on Instagram.

Of course I wanted to join in, but what pattern to choose? I’ve used the Belcarra collection and the McCalls straight skirt before, so that was out. I could have gone for my self-drafted straight skirt, but I’ve only got three of them. I also thought about my Shannon collection, but I’d only got four of them. So it had to be the Thrifty Stitcher’s Shell Top – with a massive five of the same! They were a bit summery for November/December, but they are very layerable with cardigans. So that was that decision made.

Here’s the photo collage of all seven days. Inevitably there were a couple of repetitons, but I tried to change the styling.

In other news, the sewjo is in hibernation, but I’m trying to keep making, with the 100 Day Dress100 Day Dress, with knitting and crochet, and I’ve also been working on a Simple Sew make, but getting through the pattern-futzing stage has been hard going! I think I’m ready to  sew my toile. Hopefully it will be about right and not need too much tweaking, and that will give me encouragement to get on with the “real” one.

 

Hurray, hurray for Me-Made May!

It’s that time again! Zoe of ‘So, Zo… What do you know?’ has posted the Sign Up for Me-Made May 2017, in its eighth glorious year.

This will be my fourth year of taking part. My formal pledge remains the same as in the last two years:

I, Béa of Bea’s Sewing Adventures/@missbeacurtis, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’17. I will endeavour to wear Me Made clothing (not including underwear, shoes and tights) each day for the duration of May 2017.

I already wear me-made almost every day anyway, so it’s a case of taking my RTW clothing out of the wardrobe for May and wearing only Me-Made. Beyond that, my personal challenges are:

a) to make sure I photograph my outfit every day and post it on Instagram (I’m @missbeacurtis there). I will post round-ups here. It’s tricky sometimes, as I don’t have a dedicated photography space at home, so be prepared for a load of office selfies.

b) to dress with a bit more care and thoughtfulness, particularly with regard to jewellery and accessories, because I can be very lazy about those.

c) to crack on with some making. Past experience tells me that MMM is a really useful catalyst for completing WIPs and getting on with planned makes, refashions and fix-ups/mending, in the April build-up and during May itself. It’s already started.

Having said all that, May is always a stressful time at work, and I don’t want to make getting dressed in the morning an additional source of stress. So I’m giving myself two Get Out of Jail Free cards (one from Chance, one from Community Chest!). I hope I won’t need them, but they will be there, in case I do.

Fancy taking part yourself? Want more information? Well head on over to Zoe’s sign-up post. It doesn’t need to be a Me-Made-only pledge, it’s entirely personal. That’s what is so great about it, it’s a challenge that works for you, that nudges you to wear and love your handmade clothing more. Everyone needs a different nudge, so you pick one that will be achievable and helpful for you.

I’m starting my preparation. I always need more tops, so I’m going to try and get two or three done as part of the prep, or part of MMM. I’ve tackled two of my WIPs, and an evening of hand-hemming tonight will see them both finished, I reckon. Watch this space!

#Sewdots

I posted the sewing details for my Sew Dots Simple Sew Batwing Dress on the Simple Sew Blog, which went live a few days ago. You can read all the making details there.

This was going to be a toile for the Batwing dress, but as it became clear that a) it would be wearable b) it was going to be awesome (though I say so myself!) c) I wanted to get the dress posted on social media for Rosie DIY Couture’s Sew Dots challenge, it became my official version. I wore it pretty much as soon as I could, to go out with friends, on Saturday evening, but I’ve also worn it to work this week , and here it is, presented in daylight!

The office selfie is not going away

 

The Sew Dots Challenge is running for the rest of October, and it’s helping to raise funds for the RNIB, as part of their Wear Dots, Raise Lots campaign, to help raise awareness of the importance of Braille. I’m very happy to boost the signal. All you need to do is sew something dotty in October, share a picture of it somewhere on social media with the hashtag #sewdots and make a donation at Rosie’s Just Giving Page for the RNIB. Don’t forget, if you are a UK taxpayer, you can increase your donation at *no extra cost* to yourself, by clicking on the Gift Aid option, so that they can claim tax back on your donation. Go on, you know it makes sense!
And having finished this dress, I realised that I *have* got a spotty fabric in one of my UFOs, so I need to get on and finish it, so I’ve got two dotty makes for October.

Rosie of DIY Couture has rounded up some amazing prizes for the lucky winner of the Sew Dots draw. What more do you need to get going with some dotty sewing?

The Refashioners challenge

Source: www.makery.uk

I’m so very tempted to try this challenge. I’ve got at least 2 pairs of jeans that haven’t seen the light of day for a couple of years, so I have the basic materials. And it would really tie in with my stashwatch aims.

I’ve committed to another project just recently (of which more later) and I need to see how that will work out, before I go bonkers on this one, but I’ve definitely got ideas paddling around in the inspiration pool. Mostly involving embroidery, it has to be said. It’s not going to be anything prizewinning, but that’s not the point – the  point is to take something you don’t wear and turn it into something you do.

And I’m pretty sure I can do that!

Edited to add… Holy moly! Have you seen the prizes?!

The You Mean I’m Wearing Orange? Skirt (AKA the Sew Weekly Reunion Skirt)

This is the official “finished” post, and I’m really happy with how this came out. It actually came out looking just like the picture I had in my head.

Guildford Castle

At the Bandstand

I do have to thank my lovely boyfriend for suggesting the Castle Grounds for the photoshoot, and for being willing to troll around taking photos of me, and for being a proper artist who knows about composition and colour and light and stuff like that. And since it was quite hard to stop him taking photos once he got started, this is quite a picture-intensive post!

The Facts

Fabric: purple cotton drill- £6.00, patterned cotton from stash, I only used a tiny bit of it to cut out the appliqués, so I’m calling this free.

Notions: zip- 80p, cotton pearl embroidery thread- £4.05. hem binding- £1.50. Edited to add- a bit of interfacing from stash- I’m counting that as free.

Sadly, although I was using one of the notions (the purple tape measure) to help make this when I was cutting out, there’s nothing concrete from the pattern & notions swap in the fabric of this skirt.

Pantone Challenge colors: main colour: Acai, slightly pastelled down. Accent colours in the appliqués: Emerald, Koi, even a touch of Vivacious.

Pattern:McCalls 3830. I’ve used this twice before so I’m counting it as zero cost.

Year: 2002

Time to complete: A couple of hours for the basic skirt, what seemed like an eternity (but is actually more like 13 hours) for applying and embroidering the appliqués!

First worn: On Sunday. And again Tuesday.

Wear again?: Definitely! It fits so well in with my existing wardrobe.

Total Cost: £12.35

The pattern is my faithful McCalls straight skirt- it’s dead simple, it’s just a plain straight skirt.

I went for mid-way between views C & D, so it’s on the knee. I did start by trying to make it a bit more A-line, by angling the side seams out, but it didn’t look right, so I cut them back to straight again. So essentially, I stuck to the pattern. I suspect I didn’t start the angling of the sides high up enough, I’ll know better next time I try it.

Stuff I did that was new for me:
The whole appliqué business. I’d decided from the off that I wanted to have a plain skirt that was embellished in some way, and when I found the accent fabric in my pitifully small stash, and the colours were so damn perfect for the challenge palette, as well as for my base fabric colour, it was self-evident to me that it would be cut-out shapes from the accent fabric appliquéd to the plain skirt. I might use different techniques another time, but I like what I did with it here. Basically, I cut shapes out from the accent fabric, tacked them onto the skirt, then used a rough satin stitch with black cotton perlé embroidery thread to fix them in place more permanently. The black embroidery gives the shapes clear definition, and adds a bit of texture to the skirt.

Appliqué Detail- that black line at the bottom of the skirt is shadow, not an edging!

I also did a bound hem for the first time, which I think is really pretty and I’ll be doing again. I used a lilac satin bias binding, and it feels lovely on my legs!

Hem

Stuff that stressed me at the time:
The zip just would not behave!* It took four goes, and its still not one of my better zip insertions, but khalas, it’s done.

Having got started on the appliqué embroidery, I was overwhelmed by panic that it would take forever to do, and that I wouldn’t have enough supplies of embroidery cotton. I had visions of having to photograph the skirt only from the front because that was the only bit that I’d finished! Here, have a back view photo, to prove that I did complete the embroidery all the way round!

The Back View

What I don’t love so much about this skirt:
I did zig-zags to finish the seams, and it’s just not as nice as turning & sewing, or adding a proper binding. So it’s not as pretty on the inside as I’d like. Lesson learned for next time- finish the seams more nicely.

What I DO love about this skirt:
The colour! I love love love the purple, and I also love that I’m wearing a colour that I’ve avoided like the plague for years, albeit in homeopathically small quantities and well away from my face- I’m not stupid!

I also do love the appliqués with quite a passion, and I will definitely be doing something like this again.

And since I have lots of photos of me up by the Castle, here’s a few more.

  

It’s been fun sewing this skirt, and you can check back over my earlier posts about this skirt using the “the You Mean I’m Wearing Orange?!” tag in the list over on the right there. I loved the colour challenge, and I’m SO looking forward to seeing everyone else’s creations all together.

But the main thing this Challenge has taught me is that all those Sew Weekly Contributors were INSANELY productive!!! This skirt (a measly straight skirt for heaven’s sake, it’s not exactly ambitious!) took me two pretty intense weeks** to make (and a third week to get photographed nicely), and I was getting all panicky and stressed over it. The Sew Weekly contributors were making far more complex and amazing outfits in just one week, routinely, and taking it in their stride. Kudos to you all, Sew Weekly people- I salute your work!

And finally, because there always has to be *one* goofy shot, here’s the Alice Through the Looking Glass statue, because Lewis Carroll died in Guildford, because he stayed with his sisters who lived here, when he wasn’t at Oxford.

Béa Through the Looking Glass

* It was all my own fault, not the poor zip’s.

** Well, to be honest, more like one easy messing-about week and one intense, stressy, panicky week.