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Thursday 26 May 2011

Welcome to my dressmaking blog!

More photos of dress below.



Welcome to my new dressmaking blog, my name is Lynn and I love sewing and many types of crafts.
It is twenty years since I did any dressmaking, I gave it up when my son was about three years old, but after seeing all of the wonderful sewing blogs out there I decided to start sewing again. Some of you lovely bloggers will already know me from my other blogs here at Happiness is cross stitching
and Lynns Cross stitch Tutorials blog here which you are all very welcome to visit. I am not promising to do as much sewing as I do cross stitch, but will diarise  all my dressmaking creations on here, hopefully it will not be 20 years before I make another dress!
I have just finished making this dress and I am quite pleased with it, before I talk you through the pattern and fabric I will show you some of the things I found in the loft once I decided to get my sewing machine out again,  I found my tailors dummy in a suitcase, I have not yet altered it to my new size, mmm I have put on a few pounds in 20 years, thankfully not too many!
I then found all of these threads and notions and various stitching tools that will certainly come in handy.
I am sure some of these must be vintage!
Talking of vintage- how many years old does something have to be before it is classed as vintage?
I checked on the internet and it said 7 years, but I thought that timespan was a bit short, can anyone enlighten me?   


And now for the pattern ( Simplicity Pattern  2886) that I used to make the blue dress in the photo above, I am going to make the little bolero jacket later.     
I made view A. 
I chose this bold navy and white poly/cotton fabric, I prefer cotton but they did not have any that I liked, I then chose to interline the skirt with soft batiste 100% cotton, I am so glad I did because it made such a difference to the finished dress. I hand stitched the  pockets and interlined them too after reading about the benefits of hand stitching in Claire Shaeffers book Couture Sewing Techniques, I found it quite relaxing doing the hand sewing, not rushing the process really made a difference to the finished result of the garment.

I initially made a toile ( muslin ) I had to do a full bust alteration on the bodice, but when I make it again I would make the armholes smaller as they are just a little too loose.

I stitched a 4cm hem.

I really enjoyed making this dress, I am certainly going to make another!  

Until next time, happy stitching!   


15 comments:

Vintage Girl said...

Wow Lynn, the dress looks great. I guess sewing is like riding a bike, you never forget how. Awesome job!! I love the combination.

Kellie said...

Bravo!

mdgtjulie said...

It's really cute, Lynn. Love the fabby you chose!! My mom is a seamstress, so lots of those tools look familiar to me!!

Mouse said...

absolutely lovely and your hand stitching it sew neat .. would have thought you had used a machine , if you hadn't said :0 well done .. can I come for some lessons please :) love mouse xxxx

Solstitches said...

Your dress is lovely Lynn and is so beautifully made.
I enjoyed seeing your attic finds as it made me think wistfully of all the vintage patterns and other dressmaking related stuff I got rid of out of our attic before we came to Spain.
Hugs,
Margaret
I do still have my threads though :)

МамаФиалка said...

Its so cute!! You are so talant person!!!

Akila said...

Congrats Lynn, on starting your new sewing blog and the oh so pretty dress!!! It's simply lovely. You have inspired me with your finishes. Am sure you are now going to inspire me to touch the sewing machine :)
Do put some "sewing for beginners" tutorials

Nancy said...

Very cute dress! You did a great job on it!

Rosa said...

bellissimo lynn!!!!!!
i miei complimenti è un abito bellissimo!!!
anche io ultimamente vorrei lanciarmi in questo tipo di cuciture però per il momento vorrei farlo in piccolo per mia figlia!!!!
ancora complimenti!!

Roberta said...

Lynn, love your dress it is beautifully made.

Funny I also, found several of my sewing patterns and accessories this past weekend and I am thinking of sewing once again.

Jackie said...

Hello Lynn. I tried to leave a comment the other day when I stopped by to visit,but blogger would not allow me to do so. Your dress turned out wonderful. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Thanks for sharing. I also enjoy your crosstitching blog.
Jackie.

yuli-prezent said...

My best cogratulations on opening one more lovely blog!!!
The dress looks very elegant, like it very much)))
Hugs, Yuli.

Pauline said...

You did a beautiful job on this one!

Justine of SewCountryChick said...

Welcome back to sewing. Obviously you were a good dressmaker. Thanks for the tips.

Irene said...

What a beuatiful dress! I love the fabric and the pattern is very flattering. Congrats!