• A Myosotis Dress | Deer and Doe

  • Well well well…. I’m back! After nearly 2 years away from blogging… and what a time it has been. For those who don’t follow me on social media, I have had a bit of a rough old time with our littlest boy, Arlo, being diagnosed with a number of complex medical conditions. We have been in and out of hospital. And riding the waves of a pandemic at the same time. I just cannot believe how the past 2 years has panned out. So my time has been spent focusing entirely on my little boys. And it has taken until now for me to start to think about having some time to myself again. Yippee! So I have quite the backlog of makes I want to upload onto here. I do it as much for myself as anything else… I like to have my ‘Gallery of Makes‘ as a way to document everything that I make. So it will absolutely complete me to have all of my more recent makes added to the collection.

    So here goes! This was a dress which I made way way back in 2019. This was around the time that this pattern, a Deer and Doe Myosotis dress, was relatively new. This has been such a cult classic, with so many sewists making this. I think it was Marie from A Stitching Odyssey who inspired me to have a go at this pattern – she’s made lots of these and hacked the collar too. Please check her out for inspo! She’s brilliant.

    This pattern is so lovely to sew. Yes, it did take quite a bit of time sewing all of these ruffles. But I honestly enjoyed it. I LOVE how the pattern guides you to sew the gathers – they suggest you sew 2 lines of basting stitches, then when you sew the ruffled section into the non-ruffled piece, you sew between those 2 lines of basting/gathering stitches. I previously used to sew 3 lines of gathering stitches. I guess that probably gives you more control over the gathering. But I got on fine with just the 2. The thing that I really loved about their instructions is the topstitch once you have finished the gathered seam. You topstitch through the top/right side of the fabric, as close to the seam as possible, whilst also sewing through your finished seam allowances on the other side. Take a scroll through my photos and you’ll see what I mean. It gives such a tidy finish, which I love staring at when I wear this dress.

    The mandarin collar construction was fairly pain-free. I always dread collars… that fear of not getting it perfect coupled with a relatively high risk sewing technique..! But it paid off. And the buttons (which I sourced from my fav, Textile Garden) are so gorgeous too. They have this kind of ombre silver glittery finish, but still quite understated. Just beautiful!

    I did take a fair amount from the length of the dress, as the full pattern pieces took it to below the knee for me – more of a midi length than a mini on my short body (5’4″ in case you’re interested).

    The fabric is a lovely linen/viscose blend from Sew Me Sunshine. The colour is just beautiful – kind of between a pink and lilac. It was lovely to work with, and the finish is just so perfect for this pattern. Drapey but light enough to give some good swishy movement. It is opaque too, so no need to figure out any kind of lining (massive win for me!).

    All-in-all this pattern has been an absolute slam-dunk hit for me. And even when I was in early pregnancy, and post-natal too (inc breastfeeding). It’s generously sized, and has been so flattering on my ever-changing body shape and size. I can only thank you Deer & Doe! I feel like a total princess when wearing this. Love you Myosotis – our love affair has only just begun… I will be making you again my pretty!

    Pattern: Myosotis by Deer & Doe

    Fabric: Linen/viscose blend from Sew Me Sunshine

    Notions: Buttons from Textile Garden

    Size made: 38

    Alterations made: Shortened length of the middle skirt section

  • A Maternity TATB Indigo Dress

  • Hi folks, hope you’re all safe and well? Strange times we’re living in right now, that’s for sure. While I’m self-isolating at home, I thought I’d share with you this latest make. I made this back in February for a guest blog post with Brother Sewing UK (disclaimer – I provide Brother with guest blog posts, in exchange for loan of a sewing machine and coverstitch machine). If you wanted to check out the full post, it’s available here.

    So I thought I’d drop on here with the photos of this make to show you all. It’s a Tilly and the Buttons Indigo Dress. I bought this pattern as soon as it was released, but by the time I’ve gotten round to making it, I was quite pregnant! No problem – it’s actually a pretty good pattern for working as maternity wear too. I just raised the waistline slightly, and lengthened the skirt. It’s such a lovely smock dress (or top!). I can’t wait to try this after having the baby too.

    I didn’t toile the pattern, which maybe I should have done. I made a size 3, which in hindsight, was ambitious! I should have sized up as my normal TATB size 3 was a little tight across my bust. Lesson learned! It isn’t unwearable – just not as loose and comfy as I would have liked. I just struggle to have enough time to toile things these days – I just want to jump in with the fun part!

    The fabric I used was this lovely cotton from Backstitch. It’s like a chambray, but has these tiny flecks of neon yellow and pink woven throughout – which is so pretty!

    Anyway, I hope you like this. I had fun with all of the gathering – and discovered that my new favourite sewing finish is to topstitch across my gathering. It just looks so professional when finished!

    Stay safe and well people – much love! x

    Pattern: Tilly and the Buttons Indigo (Dress version)

    Fabric: Neon flecked cotton from Backstitch 

    Size made: 3

    Alterations made: Raised waistline & lengthened skirt

  • My Hackalong Make with Simplicity/McCalls and The Eve Appeal

  • Hi everyone! Long time no speak. I’ve been a little caught up for the last few months… dealing with a combination of moving house AND morning sickness! Yep, all good news to be expecting – and baby Walker no 2 is due in June. Exciting times! But safe to say that I definitely wouldn’t recommend moving house when struggling with morning sickness!

    So I haven’t exactly had the luxury of time to be able to sew lately. Though, I have been having fun setting up my new sewing room in the new house (full photos to come soon in another blog post!). But just now been able to start dabbling in a bit of sewing in snippets of time here and there. So feels great to be showing you a new make!

    This is a dress I have made as part of the ‘Hackalong’ run by Simplicity/McCalls, which is supporting the fantastic charity, The Eve Appeal. I’m so grateful to have been included in the blogger line-up for this! I’ve been admiring other bloggers makes for months.

    The pattern I chose was the Simplicity 8658 top. I spent such a long time working out a style that would work around a little baby bump. And I figured that this would be large enough to work well. I didn’t want anything too fitted!

    And the fabric I choose was this gorgeous John Kaldor crepe from Minerva (full disclosure – fabric was gifted to me in order to take part in this project). It was an absolute dream to work with – very well behaved, and so super drapey!

    Anyway, back to the hack along! These are the alterations I made to the pattern, in order to magic a top into maternity dress:

    -Lengthened to dress length

    -Sizing graded out from the waist down

    -Shirring added to high waist (above bump)

    I’m so pleased with the result! AND I need to tell you that this was my first ever attempt at shirring. I was terrified of it all going wrong and ruining the whole project! But all was fine – after tonnes of practice on fabric scraps beforehand. I did have to change my bobbin tension so it was a little tighter – which gave lovely ruffles in the shirring. I did 5 lines of shirring over 2 inches (a line every half inch).

    I hope you like what I’ve done with this pattern – it was a little bit scary at points, but so pleased I braved it!

    If you want to follow along with the hack along, head on over to the Sew Direct website here –https://www.sewdirect.com/hack-along/

    And you can find out more about the charity, The Eve Appeal here.

    Thanks for reading!

    Jen x