Elephant Dress and Black Polo Neck

Hello all! For this months Minerva Make I wanted to use this fantastic elephant print jersey fabric. I then decided to make a black polo neck which would make a great layering piece for winter. You can see more photos and read about the making process here.

Thanks to Minerva Crafts for all of the supplies and to MK for taking photos and to Grace for directing.

Lauren xx

A bra! Madalynne x Simplicity 8228

Hello all! A bit of a departure from the usual today, but when I saw New Craft House offering bra kits I wanted in. I sent a cheeky link to my Mum and 'lo and behold it turned up in my birthday present pile.

I was a bit smaller than the smallest size so I cut out a trial band to quickly check that all was okay. The fit seemed alright so I went ahead and cut everything out. I only just had enough lace, and definitely not enough to recut anything so just had to pray that I didn't have to. The powermesh was disgusting to cut with shears, and would have been a smoother process with a rotary cutter.

 Luckily the only adjustment I needed to make was to take in the band a bit at the back which was easy to do. I might take the halterneck in a tiny bit at the back for a little more lift and support.

 In the instructions I couldn't see any elastic joining the powermesh to the elastic at the bottom of the bridge, but I thought it would be worth doing, so did that anyway. I didn't add the channelling because I wasn't quite sure what purpose it served and instead pressed the seam allowances up into the cup and whipstitched them into place. I didn't topstitch the seam allowances down in the cups because I was anticipating having to alter them but they seemed alright so I whipstitched those down as well.

All in all, I'm very pleased with my first attempt at a 'real bra'. It was quite a quick sew and a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday evening. Please don't hesitate to give me any tips or advice because I'm very new to this side of clothes-making. In retrospect a darker coloured lace would have worked with my skin tone better, but the pale pink works very well as a neutral.

Thanks very much for reading and to Rachel for taking photos!

Lauren xx

Metallic circle skirt

Hello all! My lovely friend MK gifted me this silver fabric for my birthday last month. It took a bit of umming and arring to decided what I wanted to do with it because it's very delicate. If stretched it ladders instantly.

I decided to go for a gathered circle skirt, which is a fairly simple make, and doesn't require any stretch. I used the circle skirt calculator from By Hand London to see what the biggest radius I could get was, while maintaining the length. Ideally, it would be a bit fuller at the waist and a tad longer but I'm quite happy with the gathers I did get.

The fabric was stabilised at the waistband with waistband interfacing and I put in an invisible zip in right to the top of the waistband. A light grey zip would have ideally been better than the black but it's what I had 'in stock'. After the zip was installed the skirt was somehow too big, so I pinched the room equally out of each side, sewing down the width of the waistband.

Then all that was left to do was the hemming! When I cut out the circle skirt the fabric was a nightmare, I couldn't get 2 layers to sit flat on top of one another at all. In the end I ended up cutting out just the circle for the waist and a centre back seam, then trimming the hem on a single layer after it was left to hang for a few days.

The fabric is very thin, and very static. You can see below the hem of my top forming a ridge. Perhaps a half slip would sort this out, or pairing it with a bodysuit would work fabulously.

The original plan was to add a bodice to the skirt, but everything I draped was just silver overload so I left it as it was. I wanted to wear it out on Friday night but everything I tried on with it just looked wrong! I do quite like it paired with this black polo-neck though for a more casual look. I'm intrigued to see how well the skirt would pair with a sheer white button-down shirt, but I don't own one of those at present so will have to keep a look out for the right fabric. All in all, it's very snazzy and I love it.

 Thanks very much for reading and to Rachel for taking the photos!

Lauren xx

Minerva Makes: Metallic top and scuba leggings

Hello all! My latest project has a little of the party and a little of the practical about it. As a student I find myself 'going out' at the weekends to various pubs, bars and clubs with slightly nicer than normal dress codes. There isn't really anything in my wardrobe that I feel quite fits the bill, and I thought that this metallic fabric would fit the bill perfectly. You can read all about the making process here.

Thanks for reading, to Minerva for the kits for this outfit and to Edward for taking the photos!

Lauren xx

Batwing top patten hack, Sew Style, Essentials bookazine feature

 Hello all! Today I'm excited to share that I was in Sew Style's latest bookazine with a pattern hack. I started off with  Kwik Sew 3720 as a base pattern which is a basic batwing top.

I decided to really go for gold with the hacking and chop the pattern off at the waist, add a circle skirt and raise the batwing sleeves slightly. I'm really pleased with the resulting dress and I really think it demonstrates how versatile you can be with  a basic pattern.

The fabric is from Minerva Crafts and although I didn't think it was very me when it arrived, it's really grown on me. Plus, it's really soft and cosy to wear.

When I chopped the bottom of the bodice off, I failed to take into account the weight of the skirt, so next time I'd shorten it a bit in anticipation of that. I also didn't anticipate the fact that the elastic would stretch out when I sewed it to cinch in the waist, so next time I'd either cut the elastic shorter or make a channel with it to run through, instead of sewing it directly to the fabric.

I really like the length of the sleeves, although they are a tad impractical. At the time I cut the skirt as long as was possible, and I'm undecided on whether to shorten it or not.

Thank you very much for reading, to Sew Style for letting me feature in their bookazine and to Edward for taking photos!

Lauren xx