Scrap busting with simplicity 1412

Hi there sewing friends. I hope you're all well, and sewing up a storm! I didn't get my birthday dress finished in time. Boo! But it's almost done, just the hem to go now. Despite this, I had a lovely day. I was brought breakfast in bed by my eldest, and given lots of lovely prezzies. Nearly all of them were sewing related - how fabulous!!!

In the meantime, I still have something to share with you all and this is from the "its so easy" range at Simplicity. I made it before here. And the darling daughter loves a good pretty dress; who doesn't?

The dress uses up the smallest scraps from this top;bearing in mind I only bought a metre of it in the first place, I would say the fabric has done me very well indeed.

The rest of the dress is a pillowcase cut up and refashioned. It is lovely fabric, and only got consigned to the cut-up pile as it had a small stain that just would not wash out. 

I love the ric-rac embellishment, I think it really makes it special. I hand-sewed it on at my first visit to the monthly Brighton Sewing Bee. It was so exciting getting to meet so many other people, all crazy for sewing and nice cake.

Do you go to any sewing groups or craft clubs? I feel really pleased to have found the Brighton Sewing Bee group. Sewing can be an isolated hobby, so I am very grateful to social media, blogs and meet-ups for keeping us all in touch.

 

Bye for now; will see you soon with my finished dress...

More Simplicity 5776

During Me Made May I lived in my two Simplicity 5776 skirts (see posts here and here). They are so comfy and easy to wear.  I don't feel dressed up in them, just "me". However, the warm weather has finally struck and I can no longer wear my woollen tartan beauty, as it just wouldn't be right without opaque tights. So, enter version three.

This time with pockets!  I'm getting to the stage where I want pockets on everything I wear. You may recognise the fabric, as it is the remnants of the camo design from which I made my boys trousers. Those trousers, by the way, are a massive hit with the boys and they are always chosen above RTW; this fact fills my heart with joy, and is one of the many reasons why I sew.

Needless to say, we will NOT be seen out wearing these at same time, matching mummy and boys - I will have to dress them before I dress myself, or risk us ending up looking like the Von Trapp family.

Back to the skirt: having made it twice before, I didn't even need to read the instructions - it pretty much threw itself together.

Can you spot my zip?  This is my best zip ever, wahoo and hurrah. I actually sewed it in by hand. Not because I was trying to be fancy, but because middle child was misbehaving at bedtime; it gave me something to do whilst sitting outside his room putting him back to bed every five minutes!

His naughtiness went on so long that night that I sewed the waistband on by hand as well. It was rather calming and Zen-like.  It saved me getting cross with the boy too, so win-win.

I am really pleased with this skirt: it is the perfect weight for the summer, and holds it shape beautifully. I decided to make the waistband bigger on this version and I rather like the chunky look.

Cost effective too, as I was again using up leftover bits from my stash. I now only have a  few centimetres of this fabric left, and I am cutting out some hexies from it.  It will only yield a few, but it will mean I've achieved zero waste. I've cut out some hexies from other teeny tiny scraps of fabric too. Not sure what I will do with them but soon I'll have enough to do something fun and multicoloured.

At the risk of being boring I am going to make one more, but next time a maxi-length. I just have to find the right fabric for it.

 But for now I am super happy with my latest make.  It has been a joy to get sewing again.