I’ve finally hopped aboard the Moneta bandwagon! I think everyone else in the whole world has made one of these… and finally I can be added to that list.

The Moneta seemed a perfect choice for adapting into a maternity dress. It uses knit fabric (tick), has a big swishy skirt (tick), and covers my modesty (tick tick tick!). All I really needed to do was raise the waistline a bit higher, so that it sits above my bump. I think I could have even taken it up another inch or so still, but I’m really happy with this result.

The fabric was lovely to work with. It’s quite a medium weight jersey with a nice drape. I picked this up when I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, from the Sew Over It stand. I love houndstooth pattern! It is kind of printed onto this fabric, so from the wrong side you can’t see any of the pattern at all. This gave me a moment of head-stratching before I was about to cut the pattern pieces out, as I didn’t want to end up cutting out on the wonk. I ended up cutting out from the front of the fabric to make sure I was keeping nice and straight. It just meant flipping pattern pieces over to cut them the right way round.

I then had the joy of my very first shirring experience with clear elastic. I say joy, but actually mean punch-up! My first attempt didn’t go so great. I had such uneven gathering. I unpicked all of that and on my second try it turned out a lot better (not perfect, but much better). It just takes a bit of a knack for feeding it through the machine at an even tension for the whole way round the waistband of the skirt, plus keeping the elastic on the straight and narrow.

I did want to add pockets to the dress too, but ran out of time as I rushed this through before heading down to Shoreditch to attend the launch party for the fabulous Suzy Magazine. I had such a great time, and talked until my voice stopped working! But that’s another story 🙂

Then I also had my first attempt at twin needle stitching. All I can say is ohhhhhhhhhh. Got on really well with this technique!

I love the Moneta and will definitely be trying to make another maternity version before I pop. It’s so comfy and easy to throw on. And I’m also looking forward to making a normal Moneta post-preggo… hopefully when I have a waist again!

Pattern: Moneta Dress (version 3) by Colette Patterns

Fabric: Houndstooth Jersey from Sew Over It

Size made: Medium

Alterations made: Bodice shortened by 2″, skirt shortened by 2″ overall

So I’ve been busy nesting lately. Except not with preparing a nursery or anything… instead I have been tarting up my sewing room. Obviously. Got my priorities sorted!

I made this jazzy ironing board cover following this fab tutorial on the Tilly and the Buttons website. It was so quick and easy to stitch up! It basically ends up like one big shower cap which fits over the ironing board. Threading the string around the edge took a bit of patience, but I did it sat on the sofa in my PJs watching Nashville, which eased the pain!

The fabric I used was a remnant on sale at Backstitch. I was obsessed with the colour and pattern as soon as I locked eyes on it. You might also recognise this fabric from inside the pockets of the Guise Pants I made recently (blog post here).

Fitting the cover to my ironing board was a 2-man effort to get it perfect, and tied up nice and tight (shout out to husband for helping with this!).

Et voila! A new ironing board cover which didn’t cost much at all to make, took very little time and skill, and adds colour and prettiness to my sewing room. Maybe this will mean that I will have a new found enjoyment of pressing now… or at least it will distract me from swearing when I inevitably burn my fingers in the future…!

Happy pressing people!