Pink Summer Jersey Dress

Hello all! Today's Minerva make is quite a simple one. Now I've left school and am free of a restrictive dress code, I had to have a think about what sort of direction I wanted my wardrobe to go in. My key words were comfortable, stylish and easy to wear, which of course led me to knits. So, I'd decided that a knit dress was the way to go, but I wanted it to be a bit different. This is what I came up with. 

I hacked the Deer and Doe free Plantain T-shirt into a swing dress by slashing and spreading which added volume to the side seam. It did distort the armscythe a little, but it seems to be okay when worn. I also added a fair bit of length to the hem. I did add another 2" of length when the pattern piece was pinned to the fabric because I was worried it would be a tad too short. I used the same pattern piece for the front and the back. Next time I need to raise the neckline because it's appallingly low on me. Seriously, you can see everything. The viscose knit is pretty stretchy and the weight of the dress drags it down a bit lower than it would on a more stable knit.  It's just as well the shoulder ties cross over it.

I'm going to call the rectangles hanging down from the fabric shoulder ties, because I'm not quite sure what else to call them! For the shoulder ties I cut 2 rectangles 39" long and 6" wide because that's what I could get out of the leftover fabric when the main body of the dress was cut out. I just left the edges of the rectangles raw because they won't fray, and I didn't want to add bulk.

 After a bit of fiddling around and unpicking I decided that the best way to attach the shoulder ties was to cut the front neckband piece in two- one for the front and one for the back, sewing them on separately before the shoulder seams are sewn together. Then I pleated one of the shoulder ties to fit the width of the dress front shoulder. The shoulder tie will then cover the front neckband. Then, when the shoulder tie is sandwiched between the front and back dress shoulder pieces, sew the shoulder seam. Repeat for the other side of the dress.

Then, the ties can be crossed at the bust and tied at the back, which also cinches in the waist nicely, creating a pleasing silhouette. They can be tacked down where they cross to keep them in place.

 The viscose is ever so soft and drapes beautifully. Its really stretchy and comfortable to wear and the colour is divine! It also irons really easily (Yes, I, Lauren Digby, used an iron). I normally go straight for prints, but the plain colour really helps the crossover detail to stand out. Although, it could be very interesting in stripes...

So, is this dress comfortable, stylish and easy to wear? Absolutely, without a doubt. Thanks to Minerva Crafts for providing the fabric!
Lauren xx

MMM15 Recap

So I did a round up of week 1 and then decided that I'd scrap the weekly thing and do a recap at the end of the month. May was a real mix of clothing for me. I was at school for the first half of the month (which meant suits) and at home for the other half revising (comfy casual). Hence, my clothing at the start of the month was drastically different to the end of the month.

My dark grey suit and new purple (unblogged linen Victoria blazer and Holly trousers) suit were in the highest rotation as I'd lost my navy blazer which would have been in much higher rotation. I did find it in a coffin on the last day of school with my mummy costumes which is good, because I love that blazer, and it'll get a lot of wear even though my school days are over. Same goes for my purple suit. However both of my grey suits are going to be retired now.

My school uniform consisted of blazer, skirt, top and cardi so my purple and green cardi's were in high rotation. I need more cropped cardigans, maybe in pink and turquoise. I wore a toga in honour of eurovision, and completely baffled the lady who knocked on my door who wasn't expecting to see a toga. It is so comfy though! I also had leavers ball that week, and I even finished my dress the night before. That never happens. I usually finish the minute before we leave... When revising I've been living in my purple hudsons and new cropped hudsons. I need more hudsons! My floral dungarees were perfect for golf.

My goal was to not repeat an outfit, and I achieved that which was great. I didn't finish the challenge last year and it was good to finish it with ease this year. Lots of my favourite dresses didn't get a chance to be worn. Now I've finished school I've got to tweak my wardrobe a bit to be more casual. That basically means, sew up all the knits. It's going to be good being able to wear dresses every day of the week! I didn't wear completely me-made this month, because that wasn't the point for me. Mixing old RTW and me-mades worked well. 

Thanks to Beth, Mum, Emma, Edward and Dad for taking photos. 

Lauren xx

Cropped Hudsons

I've now officially finished school (although I do have to go back for a couple of exams) and so I'm free from suits! I want to work on a more relaxed wardrobe (Read: knits) for revision time and the summer holidays. My first pair of Hudsons get worn literally all the time, so I decided it was high time to make a second pair. 

I did originally intend to make these using the adapted Hudsons I used for my birthday jumpsuit which gives a bit of a more gathered harem pant look, but I didn't have anywhere near enough fabric so I stuck to the original Hudsons. I used the scraps from my lady skater wrap dress hack to squeeze out the trouser front, backs and pockets. I didn't have enough for the waistband and cuffs so I had to dig in the stash. The waistband is a white interlock and the contrast pocket bands and hems were cut from the viscose jersey scraps of a future MCBN project. There was enough jersey for the waistband, but it's quite lightweight so I thought the sturdier interlock would be better.

 The contrast cuffs for the hem were the original length, but they didn't look quite right, so I unpicked and trimmed them down to the same width as the pocket contrasts which I think looks more proportional. I think if the waistband was pink as well, the original length would have been fine, but it wasn't so it wasn't.

My overlocker stopped working after a couple of seams (It was threaded, but when I pressed the pedal down the thread wasn't staying in the fabric. I re-threaded, which didn't do anything but I've got some new needles to try.) I haven't sewn knits on my normal machine for a while, but it was fine. It just doesn't look so professional on the inside. The contrast waistband looked very white, so I did several rows of contrast zig-zag-ing to jazz it up a bit.

Thank you very much for reading and to Dad for pausing his carrot-peeling to take photos. The pink and patterned knit scraps were provided free by Minerva Crafts.

Lauren xx

Mallori Lane Bralette

Hi Everyone! I tried something new last weekend. Bra-making! I've been wanting to dip my toes into the bra-making waters for a while now and Madalynne's new pattern Mallori Lane is what gave me the push to attempt making lingerie.

I ordered my plush back elastic, strapping and sliders from different ebay shops. The elastic came in either 3m or 5m bundles. I got the 5m, and I have quite a bit left over for another project. The strapping only came in a 2m bundle so I bought one and hoped for the best. (2.5m is specified in the pattern). I ended up having some left over strapping too, so that wasn't a problem. I didn't do a second horizontal strap across the back, but I would have had enough. I just thought it looked fine without it.

I used fabrics that were already in my stash. Long-time readers may recognize the lace from my Lace Lady Skater and Lace Bomber Jacket. It seems to be the lace that keeps on giving! I used a scrap of white interlock to underline it. Spray basting is recommended in the instructions, and after sewing the bralette up I can see why! It would have made life a lot easier, had I had some on hand.

I wasn't quite sure how to marry up the scallops and the bottom band piece but ended up cutting the interlock as specified. I then matched that to the starting point of the scallops, so the lace pieces were longer. The insides are so pretty, because most of the seams are covered with the plush back elastic. The 2 lower side seams are overlocker, but the rest of the bralette was sewn on my normal machine with a zigzag.

Even though I've never sewn a bra before, I found the instructions quite easy to follow. The only bit that got me confused was putting the straps together, but with comparison to other bras and some fiddling I got there in the end. I wasn't sure which side of the strapping was the 'right side' but I chose to have the matte side facing upwards, and the shiny side towards my skin, I'm not convinced about how the sliders look at the front, so next time I'll probably put them at the back.

My very unsubstantial bust circumference is 29 inches, and the XXS on the pattern is 30-31". I cut out the XXS and ended up taking in each side of the front piece a fair bit, but the bottom band was fine, and didn't need any alteration. The sides were gaping a bit even after I'd taken them in, so I added a little tuck into the seamline, which isn't particularly noticeable. Maybe adding in that 2nd horizontal strap would have helped.

I wasn't quite sure about whereabouts to put the front and back of the straps, and ended up putting the bralette on my mannequin and guestimating where they should be. Some notches would have saved me some time there. That being said, this project only took 2 1/2 hours, and was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Mallori Lane is pretty supportive (for my tiny bust anyways) and I feel totally secure wearing it. The scallops on the bottom bands make me stupidly happy. It's a bit of a workout to get in and out of, but that may just be because I'm used to a back closure.

It was very refreshing to print out a 7 page PDF (including instructions!) I didn't have to tape a single page together since every pattern piece has it's own page.

Thank you all for reading and a huge thank you to Edward for setting up a little indoor studio this evening with fancy lights and everything! I do need to iron the backdrop next time though... I hope you've enjoyed seeing something a bit different on the blog. I was going to take pictures of Mallori Lane on my mannequin, but it's so hard to get a feel for what it looks like on an actual body, so I thought I'd better give modelling it a go. It's not so bad, because it's almost waist length anyways. Obviously, when I go out I will wear something over it!

Lauren xx

Leavers Ball Dress

There have been so many designs in my hair for this dress over the last year, and I'm really pleased with what this dress evolved into. A friend of mine bought me a gorgeous vintage sari for my birthday, and I decided that it would make a great Leavers Ball dress. 

The fact that I cut the dress from a sari was both a blessing and a curse. What would have been the raw edges of the fabric had a rolled hem, so they were already finished for me (They became the front and back necklines). The sari was 4 metres long which is plenty of fabric for a short dress. I wanted to incorporate the stripes, but they only featured on the first metre or so of the sari so I could only use them on the front bodice. It would have been nice to continue them down into the skirt. There are also some worn patches on the skirt which I didn't notice until it was finished.

The back features a lower V-neck than the front, and the skirt was basically 4 gathered trapeziums. I learnt how to gather on my overlocker and it is fantastic. I'll probably never gather on my sewing machine again.

The bodice was my first ever attempt at draping! I pinned each selvedge to each shoulder of the mannequin, so the fabric was on the bias and the stripes were diagonal and improvised from there! I made a seam where the necklines met, which formed the V-neck. I then pinned the left selvedge to the left-hand side seam of the mannequin, and ditto for the right. All of the excess fabric was pleated towards the centre seam, which did interesting things with the stripes. I wanted the pleats to stay down, so I top-stitched them in place but I'm not really sure if they count as pleats anymore. They do kind of get lost in the print, so maybe they would have been more effective on a plain fabric, I did pretty much the same thing for the back. 

The skirt is pretty sad and droopy without petticoats, but with them twirling is just amazing. It's a pity the music wasn't jazz or swing, because that would have been amazing to dance to in this dress. I had 2 existing little black petticoats which I normally wear together because they don't have enough poof on their own. I added some white netting between the 2 of them to give it some extra oomph. 

The back and front bodices were tied together at the shoulders in a little double knot. There's an invisible zip in one of the side seams, which I managed to get pretty invisible. (Yay!) I did have some issues with the bodice side seams stretching out slightly because it's on the bias so I should have stabilized that because the waist seam is a tad slanted. It's hidden by the belt so it's okay.

Onto the flowers! When the the bodice and skirt were joined together, I felt that it was a bit lacking. I love all of the couture dresses that have 3D flowers on them so I thought I'd give them a try. I made them with rectangular strips, that were about 12inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, folded them in half length ways, and gathered the raw edges together on my overlocker. Then you just wrap it into a flower shape and sew it where needed! 

 I used 3 different types of purple fabric to co-ordinate with the colour of the stripes in the bodice, and placed them strategically around the hem. It took a fair bit of time to get them all sewn on but I got there in the end! I only realised that I could have done the hem whilst sewing the flowers on with 1/4 of the hem to go, but oh well! Some of the flowers are more stable than others! After the first 50 I just wanted it to be done!!!

I also made a matching flower crown. I was orginally going to make one out of the fake flowers like I did for my year 11 prom, but they were too far out of my budget so I made flowers out of fabric scraps and sewed them to a paperclip chain the circumference of my head. It worked out pretty well!

I think that's it! I learnt so many things throughout this project: how to drape a bodice, gathering with an overlocker, how to make flowers and a flower crown. I love twirling around at Leavers Ball last night and recieved some lovely compliments.

Thanks to Paul for the beautiful fabric, and to Edward for the photos!

Lauren xx