Concert Dress

The dress code for our symphony orchestra concerts was black. We also had to cover our shoulders and knees as we performed in Italian Duomos (Cathedrals) which you need to be fairly covered up in. You may notice that this dress fulfils only one out of the 3 requirements, being black, but neither being knee length or covering my shoulders.
Once upon a time it covered my knees, and then the fabric shrunk. The empire line used to be at my natural waistline… This is entirely my fault because I didn’t bother to pre wash the cotton jersey that this dress is made up of.
The other requirement ( the sleeves) is missing because I had 2 metres of the stuff and I could get in a sleeveless dress and a t-shirt or a dress with sleeves. I decided that the obvious choice to go for was choice numero a. (Just realised that the letter a isn’t a number, but we’ll just skate over that issue… Oh and I’ll also point out that when I made the dress weeks advance of going to Italy I was not informed that we had to cover our shoulders. So in the end I just had to wear a black cardi on top which would have been fine if it was not 35 degrees and playing clarinet in a concert, which when you put some effort into it is surprisingly sweaty work. (Too much information?)




Here is a really badly photographed line drawing of the pattern I used, taken from the book called Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin. What the book does is give you a basic pattern and then shows you ways to adapt it to make completely different garments which is really useful. E.g. This skirt was gathered but the pattern only came with a fitted skirt, so what you do is cut the skirt into 3 lengthways and spread it out and now you have enough to gather. It’s a brilliant book with loads of really useful information.

It is actually a really comfy staple piece which works well with a statement necklace (as demonstrated to your left). It would also work well with shoes (as is not demonstrated to your left as I seem to have forgotten that aspect of my attire).
I would like to make another in an interesting print sometime.







Well, I think that’s just about all for now so thanks so much for reading!
Lauren x

Floral Wrap Skirt

I found 2 pieces of floral cotton at the bottom of one of my fabric piles the other week and realised that it was two cut out pieces for a wrap skirt, so all I needed to do was sew them together, hem it and attach poppers in relevant places. Oh and pop on a waistband.














To the left is me proving that it is in fact a wrap skirt, which provides plenty of coverage in windy conditions.

And here I’ve really badly photoshopped in some arrows to show you where I put the poppers for maximum security.

















And here is a lovely photo to leave you with of me enjoying a nutella and marshmallow pancake. Oh it was so good.








As always, thanks very much for reading!
Lauren x

The Dotty Knit Dress

This dress was obviously from the title my first time working with knits. Having read all of the advice given by other bloggers it went very smoothly. It did help that the pattern I was making the dress from was quite straightforward to put together.
It’s one of my favourite projects so far and I always get compliments when I wear it, which is lovely.















The pattern I used was from Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin which I picked up for a bargain at The Works. As well as including several patterns and instructions on how to adapt them it gives information on how to deal with knits. I adapted the “What A Waist” t-shirt pattern which is the line drawing to your left by just lengthening and straightening out the hem to make it a dress. I think this would not have worked so well if I did not have teeny hips.

 The fabric I found at the market in Lincoln for £5.99 per metre, which was how much I used for this dress.
Construction-wise, it was fairly easy, however this was the first time that I had done sleeves. It turns out that finding the middle of the sleeve head and pinning it right sides together to the shoulder seam and pinning downwards from there does not count as “setting in a sleeve”. It didn’t seem to particularly affect the fit of the dress as I can easily put my hands in the air without any discomfort but next time I will do it properly…

My only query is that how are you supposed to press the seams? Or are you just not supposed to press the seams open? As I don’t have an overlocker I used zigzag for the whole thing which worked fine.
All in all It’s a lovely smart dress which would have been lovely for sixth form. However no dresses are allowed, sad face, so I guess I’d better start making skirts and tops ready for next year sometime soon.





That’s it for now, thanks for reading!
Lauren x

The Dorothy Dress

I’M BACK FROM ITALY. And I haven’t tanned one little bit in the 42 degree weather. Anyway; this is definitely the favourite thing I’ve made so far. It’s called the Dorothy Dress because that’s what you automatically think of when you see a blue and white checked dress, but apart from the fabric, it really isn’t related to the wizard of oz atall. The dress really was last minute project. It was laid out on a bench outside the McDonalds service station on the way to Italy while I evened out my hem with my embroidery scissors. I managed to hem it and attach all the hooks and eyes on the coach.The photo was taken in Vicenza, Italy which has the most amazing walls to photograph against.

I used a vintage Style pattern no. 3595 for the bodice and a gathered skirt that a made years ago for a dress that was never completed.
The fabric was actually from an old duvet cover of mine when I was little, with a stripe of embroidered hearts at the top end of it. I really wanted to incorporate this into the bodice but I had to go against the grainline that was suggested. Fortunately this didn’t seem to make much difference.

The curtains in my room at the time were made of the same fabric and a now in my sewing room. Looking at them I had a flash of inspiration and realised that the curtain tie would make a fantastic belt. Fingers crossed mum won’t notice that it’s missing… The belt was simply attached using 3 hooks and eyes.

The only zip that I had in my stash at the last minute was a yellow one. I think I partially succeeded at hiding it. I now realise that the hook and eye need to be further from the edges to pull the back together as where they are at the moment does nothing whatsoever.

All in all, it’s a lovely summer dress and I will be wearing it loads and loads and loads.












Thanks so much for reading!
Lauren x

Floral Peplum Top

This top was made from a Prima peplum dress pattern shown here. As I had little fabric and needed to make some tops for sixth form next year I thought that I could just chop off the skirt portion.

So the top was finished, the zip sewn in really prettily and I try to get it over my head. Here the issues started. You see, I forgot to take into account the fact that my head is larger than the circumference of the peplum. I only figured this out after forcing it over my head and accidentally tearing out the beautifully sewn in zip.

Then I thought about hoody zips, and thought that that could work so I went and bought one, and it did work. Hooray! So now I have a pretty top to wear for sixth form, probably not with a skirt as short as that though… To the left you can see me trying and failing to look studious with a photo album that I hoped looked vaguely like a text book.






Thanks so much for reading,
Lauren x