The Felicity Dress Sew Along - Gathering the Front and Assembling the Bodice

Right, let's assemble our Felicity Dress bodice's today shall we?

Steps:

1. Within the seam allowance of 1cm (3/8in) and between the notches on the front of the bodice neckline (indicated in the photo below by the two arrows), place a row of basting stitches.  Leave long tails of thread at each end.

Note: I did mine in white thread in the photo below so it's kind of hard to see, which is why I've added the extra dashed line to show you where you'll be sewing.

2. Tie a knot at one end of your basting stitch and gather your neckline using the other end. Take your Front Bodice Gather Guide and make sure the neckline is gathered into itself so that your bodice notches match those on the guide.

Loosely tie off the other end of your basting stitch, being mindful that you may like to adjust the gathers once your back pieces are attached for fit.

Ensure that the centre front seam is matching up with the centre line on the guide.

3. Finish off the side and shoulder raw edges on both the front and back bodice pieces.

Right sides together, place your back pieces on top of your front bodice, matching up shoulders and side seams. Stitch shoulders and side seams, back tacking at each end to secure your stitching.

4. Press side and shoulder seams open and finish the entire bodice waist raw edge in one go.

Now you can pin in your zip and try your bodice on. Hopefully because you've made a muslin, there shouldn't be too many adjustments to make, but now's the time to make them if you do.

Easy peasy!! Next week we're moving onto inserting our yoke pockets into our skirts and assembling them ready to attach to the bodice.

xx
J

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Sew Indie Month - Bundle 1 Sale!

Hello hello all!

Sewing Indie Month (SIM) is happening again next month, and in preparation for all the awesomeness that is SIM, the first bundle of patterns is officially on sale.  Just in case you've had your eye on The Cressida Skirt, now's the perfect chance to get it, as it's included, along with a bunch of other amazing indie patterns, as part of that bundle. But you only have until next Wednesday (12th August) to get in on the action - better hop to it!

So, what exactly is Sewing Indie Month? It's a month long celebration of indie sewing patterns where designers collaborate to bring you fun blog posts and informative tutorials. This year SIM is happening in September with a sewalong contest and a bunch of great prizes.

Since the patterns in the SIM Bundle 1 pattern pack are mostly wovens, this gives you a great chance to make muslins before the contest begins.

Oh, and you get to decide just how much you pay for it, with 20% of the bundle sales going directly to charity, and the more you spend, the more you get!

• Pay $25 or more and get the Sutton Blouse by True Bias, Cressida Skirt by me, Sugar Plum Dress by Lolita Patterns, Mississippi Ave Dress & Top by Sew House Seven and the Ultimate Trousers by Sew Over It.
• Pay $30 or more and get the Cookie Blouson by Waffle Patterns & Bonnell Dress by Dixie DIY added into the pack
• Pay $35 or more and also get the Melissa Dress, Blouse & Skirt by Muse Patterns, the NEW Saltbox Top by Blue Prints for Sewing and the New Sorrel Dress & Top by Seamster Patterns.
• The 10 people who spend the most will also get printed copy-shop versions of the patterns mailed to them as a free bonus.

That's a whole lotta sewing right there.

20% of the bundle proceeds will be donated to the International Folk Art Alliance, which provides education and exhibition opportunities to folk artists from around the world. Just a few examples of what the International Folk Art Alliance has been able to accomplish by helping artists create stable, year-round livelihoods includes helping shelter women from domestic violence in Ecuador, building a school for children in Pakistan, empowering women in repressive cultures around the world, and feeding villages in Niger.

This year the Sewing Indie Month HQ will be over at Sew Independent where you can buy the bundle and keep up to date with the latest SIM news.

Hope to see you all there,

xx
J

Stitching up Felicity: Stay-stitching, Stitching in darts and Assembling the Front bodice (to clip or not to clip?)

Okay people, the Felicity Sew Along is back on!! So, let's start assembling the Felicity Dress shall we? Today we'll be going through stay-stitching, sewing in darts and assembling the front bodice.

Stay-stitching 

Stay-stitching is an extra little step that you may want to take to avoid any pieces of your pattern that are cut on the curve, from stretching out or distorting (which they are prone to do).

This would be particularly noticeable on your Felicity armholes, especially if you're like me and like to try things on at each stage (no matter how many muslins you've made!). Since Felicity is sleeveless, trying the bodice on multiple times, without stay-stitching the armholes, will more than likely result in them stretching out (I say this from experience...) and that will then make them sit out from your bodt, rather than flat against it.

Stay-stitching will also provide a stable seam for when you're attaching your bias binding, again, preventing you from stretching the armhole when you are attaching it (and yet again, I speak from experience).

Stay-stitching is really easy, all you need to do is use the longest straight stitch on your sewing machine (a basting stitch), and keeping within the seam allowance, simply start from one end of your curve and stitch to the other. In the photo below, I've just done it as a part of attaching my underlining - do it to both the front and back bodice pieces.

In other woven garments, you might also like to stay-stitch the neckline, but since Felicity has a gathered neckline, you don't need to worry about that just yet.

Sewing in Darts

Felicity only has two little darts at the back to help shape around the shoulders. Below is how I like to mark and sew in darts, though everyone likes to do things differently, so do it how you feel most confident.

You'll need - 
Ruler
Needle and thread (preferably contrasting thread!)
'Temporary' Fabric Marker (more on this later in the post)
Fabric scissors

Note - I'm showing you how to do this with the underlined version of Felicity, but the technique is still the same whether you choose to use an underlining or not.

1. Mark the dart legs on your fabric by snipping slightly into your seam allowance (indicated by the two arrows below). Remember, your seam allowance around the neckline for Felicity is 1cm (or 3/8in), so make sure your snips end well before that - they are only there for a guide, nothing else.

2. Take your contrasting thread and mark the tip of the dart by piercing the pattern layer and going right through to the underside, leaving a long tail on each side.

Note: you could use a tailors tack, but I find that as along as you are careful and aren't too stingy with the amount of thread you leave either side, you'll be fine. You could also knot the bottom of the thread, but again, this is only a marker thread and isn't really in your pattern piece for very long, so I like to do the minimum amount possible (tehee!!).

3. Carefully remove your paper pattern piece from your fabric, being careful not to pull your dart thread all the way through.

4. Gently separate your two layers of fabric until you reach your thread, then snip the thread in the middle.

5. Right sides together, fold your fabric in half, matching up the snips you made for your dart legs and making sure the thread marker for the dart is at the tip. Press.

6. Take your ruler and fabric marker and draw a line from the snips in the neckline to the thread at the tip of your dart.

Note - I'm using a ball point pen and no, it's not just for show on these photos, because sometimes, I use one in real life. I KNOW, I'm a bad seamstress. But at the end of the day, the line you just marked is the line that you'll be sewing over to make your dart, so you generally won't see it. Plus, nobody except you will see the inside of your dress and if they did, they probably wouldn't even notice it. And sometimes, those fabric markers are either really hard to see anyway OR they rub off in 2 seconds, so, using a ball point pen just makes sense really.

Of course, use your judgement on this one because if you're using a light coloured fabric and grab a felt tip pen, as it's more than likely going to bleed through to the right-side of your fabric.

7. Starting from the end of the dart legs, stitch toward the dart tip (back tacking at the start) and sew all the way off the end - don't back tack at the tip (you'll probably find that your sewing machine will eat it anyway since there isn't enough fabric for it to grab) otherwise you generally won't end up with a nice pointy tip. Instead, leave long tails and knot them.

8. Press your dart flat, then press it towards the centre back seam. Repeat for the other dart.

Note - if you do use a more permanent way of drawing in your dart leg, to hide it even more, make sure it's on the side of the dart that gets pressed toward the centre back seam, like I've done below. You definitely won't see it this way :)

Assembling the Front Bodice - to Clip or not to Clip

The front bodice of the Felicity dress does have a slight curve, which may make you think that you need to clip it. Please go a head and do this if you feel you need to, but I found with all the versions I made, especially with the type of fabric that I suggest you use, that the curve was slight enough that I didn't need to and that it didn't really effect the overall successful outcome of the dress.

For a smooth centre front seam, use lots of steam and a tailors ham.

1. Right sides together, stitch your front bodice centre seam together.

2. Press seams open and finish raw edges separately

Note: I do talk about when to finish the centre front seams in the instructions and my reasons for why I have you finish them after you've stitched your seam closed, but the short version is that because the seam is on a slight curve, finishing them before you've stitched them shut could result in you accidentally stretching them out of shape. But, if you want to finish them first, by all means go ahead. You could always baste them first to prevent this - and since I was using an underlining for this version, attaching that to my fashion fabric has meant that I've essentially done this (this is the dark brown stitching you can see).

So, how are you going stitching up your Felicity? Do you have any questions so far?

xx
J

Knitting: The Belfast Cardigan

A few weeks ago I finally cast on my Belfast Cardigan and promptly finished all of about 10 rows of ribbing with what-feels-like only 10 million more to go (ugh, ribbing...). I don't know what it is about ribbing, but I'm not a fan of doing it, and since this is knit from the bottom up, it's first up on the list of things to do.

I know I won't be able to finish it in time to wear it by the end of this winter - I'm not the fastest knitter and following a knitting pattern requires all of my attention, but throw in a 10 week old (!!!) also requiring all of my attention (and refusing day-time sleeps - apparently day-time sleep is for the weak according to Oscar), and you have one very long term project. It's also a really big pattern in terms of the fact that it's a long, loose cardigan with a hood, so it's going to take some time to make purely because of it's size. It's almost like a coat and cardigan combined - a coatigan??

The wool I'm using is Bendigo Luxury wool in Ghost, a really lovely soft light grey, and the pattern is by Quince & Co. I've never made one of their patterns before, but for a person who hasn't followed many knitting patterns (Miette being my first!) it's going along relatively smoothly (I know, I know, I've only done the ribbing...and not even all of it! Tehee). I'll still need my computer close to YouTube for most of the techniques, but I'm sure it's going to be doable. The bulk of it is done in stockinette with just the perfect amount of detail to make it interesting, but hopefully not too hard.

I am actually really excited about getting this coatigan finished though, and keep having mornings where it would have been the perfect extra layer, I just really need to make myself get past the ribbing!

I'll be Raveling it over here. What are you knitting at the moment? Any ribbing involved?

xx
J

The Dandelion PJ's...

These wee pj pants, along with my Maternity Bronte top, were the last things I managed to stitch up before Oscar was born - and thank goodness for that since I've literally spent the majority of the last 9 weeks in pj's. 

I figure if I'm not leaving the house that day, since I'm spending most of the time either breast feeding or catching up on sleep, getting dressed in anything but pj pants is a waste of any precious spare time. Add to that the fact that one of my RTW pairs has officially bit the dust (think big ol' hole in your pj butt - does that mean I spend too long sitting down?) means that these cute jammies were a good investment in pre-Oscar sewing time and they've been getting a tonne of wear ever since.

They are technically a wearable muslin since I drafted them up really quickly and then cut straight into my fabric. Normally I'd do a bunch of testing before cutting into my actual fabric, but at the time, I just wanted a new pair of pj bottoms and since I was quite pregnant, any time spent fitting them to me would have been a bit of a waste considering my shape was vastly different to what it is without a baby. Plus, I was at that stage where I just had to sew when I had the energy, otherwise I'd end up doing nothing.

For a quick draft, I think they're pretty spot on. I really liked the fit around the back when I was pregnant and knew that if I hadn't had to wear them so low at the front due to my bump, they would probably fit nicely there as well since they looked similar to how my RTW pairs looked at that stage. Now that I am post bump, I'm happy to report that they look pretty good at the front now too :)

I did end up having to stitch an extra wedge onto the top of the waist band, mainly at the back because I hadn't made them quite big enough there, but the fabric is forgiving with it's print and since it's gathered with elastic, I don't really notice it much at all. 

They are made from a lovely soft flannel fabric, and while I did pre-wash it, it's not at that buttery soft stage flannel pj's tend to get after a little bit of wearing and washing in, but they will hopefully only get better as time goes on.

I have some more fun flannel with little bunnies on it that I'm going to make another pair from now that the bump has gone and I can see that there are no major fit issues to get around. I added piping to the bottoms using this tutorial I posted an age ago and will do the same with the next lot. I'm also thinking I might pop in a faux fly-front, just because I can and possibly pockets. Pockets on everything!

Right, off to snuggle my baby in my snuggly pj pants on this cold blustery winter day. Hope you're staying warm (or cool if you're basking in some summer time warmth!).

xx
J

The Maternity Bronte - A Tutorial

Today we're going to learn how to turn your Bronte Top into a maternity top!

This tutorial could be used for any number of 'fitted' knit t-shirt patterns, so you don't necessarily need to have the Bronte Top pattern if you don't already own it. For example, if you have the Renfrew or Nettie patterns, you can easily translate this tutorial for them.

A quick note for choosing your maternity Bronte size - I recommend grading up a size at the bust, waist and hips but keeping your standard size for the shoulders and neckline. I did this for mine because it was much more comfortable to have a looser top as my pregnancy progressed rather than have it end up too tight when I needed maternity clothes the most.

Supplies:
Bronte Top pattern (or other fitted knit t-shirt pattern)
Spare paper
Ruler
Marker

Steps:
1. Lengthen your front and back bodice pieces by 7.5cm (3 inches) or however much you think you'd like or need for extra comfort - you can find details on how to do this to your Bronte Top here.

While you can skip this first step if you want to, what I noticed with my non-maternity Bronte Tops and RTW knit tops was that they were all too short when you included a bump and when I wore them (especially towards the end) I'd end up with a wedge of belly showing - not quite what I was after, especially in winter!

7.5cm (3 inches) is based off what was comfortable for me, but you may prefer more or less. It's really a trial and error situation and totally depends on how big your bump is, how much bigger you've gotten and where you're carrying your bump. Also note that frustratingly, these will all change over the course of your pregnancy, so if you're making your maternity Bronte early on, for a garment that will grow with you, go bigger/longer rather than the other way around. At least you can shorten and take it in if it's a little too big.

2. Next you'll want to mark on your pattern your where you under bust and under belly (?) are on your front pattern piece as this is where your gathering will go, providing the extra room for your bump to grow into your top. This is not an exact science since everyone has different body shapes, but I worked out mine by using the highly accurate method of holding the pattern piece up to me.

Since this is a knit pattern, it's all rather forgiving if you're a tiny bit off with where you think your under bust and belly are, and you're pregnant, so don't worry too much :)

Below is where on your body you want to roughly find... pretty much directly under your bust and around where a pair of hipster pants would normally sit.

Below is the pattern (after I've done the initial lengthening in step one) where I've added some notches to mark where my under bust and belly are...

I worked out that my under bust starts around where the size numbers for each pattern are and ends (at my newly lengthened) under belly at around 7.5cm (3 inches) from the bottom 'lengthen/shorten' line.

3. Next you want to add the extra length to the front pattern piece only for that all important gathering. I added an extra 10cm (4 inches) to mine, but you can add more or less depending on your preference and your fabric - to do this, use the exact same lengthen/shorten technique as in Step 1 but to the front pattern piece only.

Below is where I've added my 10cm (4 inches) - it's the extra brown paper above the extra length I added at the start and the arrows are indicating where my under bust and belly sit.

4. Now you can cut out your pattern pieces making sure to mark where your under bust and under belly are on your fashion fabric (I like to mark these by snipping into the seam allowance).

5. Between your marked under bust/belly notches and within the seam allowance, stitch a line of basting stitches down the side, leaving long tails at either end.

6. Stitch up your Bronte as per the instructions until you get to the step where you stitch the sides together.

Match up your sleeve and under arm seam exactly to the back piece until you hit your under bust notch, place a pin at a parallel angle to mark this spot. Then starting from the bottom hem, match your side seam up exactly to the back pattern piece until you hit your under belly notch, mark this again with a parallel pin.

You'll now have excess fabric in between your under bust and under belly notches.

7. Secure one end of your basting stitch thread with a knot and pull the other end, gathering the excess fabric between your under bust and under belly so that it fits evenly into the back pattern piece. Pin in place.

8. Stitch your side seams together and finish your Bronte Top as per the instructions.

Hey presto! A lovely little maternity Bronte top is all yours.

Are you going to try giving a Maternity Bronte a go? I'd love to see them if you do!

xx
J

Me Made Maternity - Week 38: Lucky Last

Wearing - self-drafted PJ pants and a Maternity Bronte Top

Firstly, thank you all so much for your comments and well wishes on the early arrival of Oscar. We are slowly figuring out our new normal as a family of three, which changes every day, but we think he's pretty neat and wouldn't swap him for the world.

This was my final Me Made Maternity outfit. We took these photos at 38 weeks and 2 days, my waters had broken the night before and I'd been having mild but sporadic contractions ever since. Oscar was born in the evening the following day...

I had had the first Braxton Hicks I could really feel on Sunday morning. They weren't painful, but I completely understood why you'd need to concentrate on breathing through an actual contraction - your middle gets so tightly clenched, completely out of your control, that you naturally want to breath quite shallowly because anything else requires effort. If you want to get some idea of what they feel like, clench your stomach muscles as tightly as you can and try breathing deeply, it's a bit harder than your average breathing!

Even though I had been having Braxton Hicks, I still thought that I'd have plenty of time to photograph and blog my new pj pants and maternity Bronte top, but babies come when they feel like it and I had literally just finished making these pj pants when my waters broke that evening. All I could think about (after a mild freak out that I was going to have a baby really really soon) was that I hadn't taken photos of either of them and that my Bronte top just wouldn't look quite the same without the all important bump. 

So, erm, yes, I was in labour and I still took outfit photos - that's dedication right there, huh? *wink*.

Actually, it's not really since I wasn't in active labour (and wouldn't be until the next day) just the very early stages and I spent the majority of that day doing normal things anyway. I went out for lunch, did some grocery shopping, went for a long walk to try to get things moving (it's so strange being out in public in labour, breathing through the contractions and trying not to let on that you are having contractions, lest anyone freak out on you - that's the last thing you need!) and into the hospital twice for monitoring.

So, while we had to stop every now and then for a contraction to pass during the photo taking, we tried to go about our day as normally as possible, since little Oscar obviously wasn't planning on coming within the next couple of hours, and what else was there to do? No point sitting around twiddling our thumbs, right?

I'll be posting more details on my new PJ's as well as a tutorial on how to make your very own Maternity Bronte Top in the next few days...

Until then, I need to attend to my little Snuffalaffagus (nobody tells you how noisy new borns are when they sleep - I swear he sounds like a little old man 90% of the time!) and try to figure out where the past 3.5 weeks have disappeared too.

xx
J