• Introducing my shiny new Sewing Room

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    Since moving into our new place just before Christmas, I have been busy beavering away to get our spare room set up as my sewing room. I know, very lucky to have my own room for sewing and craftiness… I’m over the flipping moon with it!

    A lot of inspiration was found via Pinterest for a lot of the things I have done, and some ideas my own. I know some people that have already seen the room had asked where I bought certain things, so I’ve tried to detail everything below.

    I loved going a little bit crazy with things like loud colours and potentially childish accents… because this room is where I can be myself… and be creative!

    Anyway, I’m will definitely be away from the sewing room at 9pm tonight – as will be glued to the TV for The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2 – cannot wait!

    Hope you all enjoy having a nosey at my sewing room 🙂

    Jen x

    Pegboard - Block Design, Thread rack - Amazon, Clock - Habitat, Desk - French Connection, Orange frame - Habitat

    Pegboard - Block Design, Thread rack - Amazon, Clock - Habitat, Desk - French Connection, Orange frame - Habitat

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    Cushion - Souvenir Gallery, Storage Unit - Ikea, Succulent in pot - Geo Fleur, Trinket dish - Anthropologie

    Cushion - Souvenir Gallery, Storage Unit - Ikea, Succulent in pot - Geo Fleur, Trinket dish - Anthropologie

    All of my sewing and craft books in one place!

    All of my sewing and craft books in one place!

    Absolutely love my Sonos speaker for turning up music loud for a big sewing session! Succulent in concrete pot - Geo Fleur

    Absolutely love my Sonos speaker for turning up music loud for a big sewing session! Succulent in concrete pot - Geo Fleur

    Storage unit and chest of drawers - Ikea, Metal storage trunk - Habitat, Lightbox - Bery Lune, Badger cushion - Souvenir Gallery, Fairy lights - Cox & Cox

    Storage unit and chest of drawers - Ikea, Metal storage trunk - Habitat, Lightbox - Bery Lune, Badger cushion - Souvenir Gallery, Fairy lights - Cox & Cox

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    Lovely bit drop-leaf cutting table - Ikea

    Lovely big drop-leaf cutting table - Ikea... and the fluffy one

    Sorry, couldn't resist! He's just so fluffy!

    Sorry, couldn't resist! He's just so fluffy!

    Clothes rail - Ikea, and my beloved dressmaking mannequin

    Clothes rail - Ikea, and my beloved dressmaking mannequin

    Obsessed with Neom scents! And my vintage Singer sewing machine

    Obsessed with Neom scents! And my vintage Singer sewing machine

    Magazine rack and wire fairy lights - Cox & Cox

    Magazine rack and wire fairy lights - Cox & Cox

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    Pretty threads!

    Pretty threads!

    And I have this full length mirror outside the room for trying on my makes

    And I have this full length mirror outside the room for trying on my makes

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  • A Named Clothing Summery Leini Dress

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    There’s no denying that the few days of sunshine we have had of late totally inspired this dress! And why the hell shouldn’t it….

    I had this gorgeous fabric from an impulse buy from the Sew Over It website. It is a lovely soft cotton (lawn I think) called Hyacinth. And the colours had me completely sold. I’m a sucker for blues anyway, but this just reminded me of the woods where I sometimes go with my family, when they are like a carpet of bluebells. You might remember an old post of mine with a Rigel bomber jacket which was photographed in said woods with bluebells.

    When I received the fabric I realised that it is quite sheer. I thought I’d see if I could get away without lining the dress, but made the right decision to fully line it I think.

    On to the pattern – A Named Clothing Leini dress. This was my very first Named Clothing pattern. I bought it online, so had the PDF assembling to tackle first. I genuinely think I am fully converted to using PDFs.

    I was initially drawn to this pattern because it has the lovely elasticated waistband, which tends to look ok on me. I decided to go for making a size 10, as I was worried that the skirt could look too tight if I went for an 8. As it turned out I kind of wish I had made the 8, but the design of the dress means that it is forgiving on the bodice, as a billowy/blousey effect kind of works. But I’ll remember to take it down to a size 8 for the next one.

    This pattern also features some large pleats up the front of the bodice. When I came to make this I just felt as though that would give the dress an angular/severe look which I thought possibly wouldn’t work well with my fabric choice. So I decided to keep the pleat on the wrong side of the fabric, so you only see the neat seam running up the front. Pleased I decided to do this!

    And I also had to take quite an amount off of the length of the dress – maybe about 15cm. This is probably because I am quite short though 😉 And I do like to wear dresses at a slightly shorter length anyways.

    I had a bit of fun messing around with the overlocker to hem the skirt lining, and tried out a rolled hem for the first time. Genuinely thought I was going to stuff this up, but it was fantastic! Not sure if it is the perfect  type of finish for a skirt lining, but I like it.

    I am so pleased with how this dress has turned out. Definitely going to be slipping into this for summer BBQs and parties!

    I have added a few more close-up photos to this blog post, so hope you like seeing more of the detail of my makes. Let me know what you think – always love a natter me 🙂

    Pattern: Leini Dress by Named Clothing

    Fabric: Sew Over It

    Size made: 10

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    Understitching BOOM

    Elasticated waist

    Elasticated waist

    Close-up of pleat on the bodice, which I turned round back-to-front to the pattern instructions

    Close-up of pleat on the bodice, which I turned round back-to-front to the pattern instructions

    Hemming and topstitching fun!

    Hemming and topstitching fun!

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  • A Grey Ikat Grace Dress for Sewing Made Simple Magazine

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    Happy April folks!

    Another dress to show you today, which I’ve been excited to blog about for a while.

    Those of you who follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram may have already seen that I recently wrote a piece for Sewing Made Simple magazine, reviewing my experience of Sew Over It‘s online class to make the very gorgeous Grace dress. And this is she!

    I used a lovely soft drapey cotton from the Sew Over It shop in a black and grey Ikat pattern. I am obsessed with any kind of geometric patterned fabric, so knew I wanted to use this as soon as I saw it.  It was a little bit tricky to use to start with because although the pattern looks as though it is all straight lines, it did have a degree of randomness about it. So when I was cutting out pattern pieces, I kept having to move/adjust because it looked as though I was going all wonky…! But I wasn’t. I just tried to keep looking to the grainline in the fabric to keep me on the straight and narrow 😉

    This was the second Sew Over It dress I have made (first dress is a Vintage Shirt Dress – soon to appear on the blog!). I loved the pattern and instructions were super clear. No head-scratching moments of confusion – just pure dressmaking joy and happiness!

    And the Grace dress online class… well, what a revelation.! Lisa Comfort presents the videos, and gently walks through each step of assembling the dress. It doesn’t assume any dressmaking knowledge – though would be equally fantastic for anyone with beginner dressmaking skills wanting to have a little bit of a refresher and be guided through making a dress, step-by-step. Anyone reading this toying with the idea of trying dressmaking – I urge you to try this class! If I’m honest, I kind of wish that I had done this when I first thought about getting into dressmaking.

    I am a big fan of gadgets and tech, so this online class for me kind of feels like the way forward for learning the skill.

    Anyway, back to the dress! The fabric was lovely to sew, and is SO comfortable to wear. I am sometimes a bit mixed about pockets on dresses. Mostly because I feel as though they can occasionally add to my hips (please no). But the casual, relaxed style of this dress begs for pockets!

    I will definitely be keeping Grace Dress filed in my ‘Make more of these!’ pattern box. A perfect style for relaxing in at the weekend, or for dressing up with accessories for dinner out.

    Check out my review of the online class in Sewing Made Simple Issue 4.

    Pattern: Grace Dress by Sew Over It

    Fabric: Sew Over It

    Size made: 8

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