Happy holidays guys!

Somehow I managed to pull out all of the stops and make this dress in super quick time. Which is good, because my ‘vision’ was to make this to wear on Christmas day. 

I haven’t made a Nikko before, so it was a bit of a gamble as to whether or not I would like it… if it would suit me… because it’s a bit of a daring one! I was feeling brave enough to give it a go though. I guess I now feel as though I have a body that I’m happy with. Maybe this is a combination of losing a bit of weight, and also just caring a little bit less about this than my pre-baby self! I’m not sure if this is a make that I will get an awful lot of wear out of. But I am super excited to have whipped this up for Christmas! 

The fabric is a bright red ‘tomato’ ponte roma from my local haberdashery, Backstitch. It was so lovely to work with – such amazing quality. I will definitely be going back for some more ponte soon!

The Nikko asks for fabric which has a minimum of 75% stretch, which is quite a bit. I checked the ponte before cutting it up, and it did just about have that much stretch. However, I would definitely highlight that this is an important point for being able to stretch the neckband of the dress over your head! Luckily I have a little pea head so it just about stretched over (phew!). 

And I’m going to be honest with you here – I haven’t finished the seam on the cuffs… because, well, I don’t have to! Lazy sewing… but hey, it’s Christmas!

Sizing-wise, I cut a 4 at the top, and graded to a 6 from the waist down to hip. Seems to have done the trick on my pear-shapedness! 

Anyway, I’m pretty pleased with how this has turned out, and I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow for the big day. A bit worried about the bloating after Christmas dinner… but oh well! 

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you – thank you so much for reading and visiting the blog this year. Here’s to more sewing coming this way in 2019!

Lots of love, Jen x

Pattern: True Bias Nikko Dress

Fabric: Red Ponte Roma from Backstitch

Size made: 4, graded to 6 at the hip

Adjustments made: Shortened sleeve, graded sizing

Morning lovelies!

So, we’re nearly at Christmas… how did this even happen?! Life feels pretty darn hectic… and I know I’m not the only one to be feeling the pressure right now. So to keep myself sane, and fight the anxiety of those endless Christmas lists I have been mentally writing in my head, I decided to get myself into the sewing room. And like magic, it really helped lift my spirits and take my mind out of that anxious place. Go sewing! 

I had a half-made sweatshirt which I started making at SewCam earlier in December. So it was a really simple and quick make to get stuck into and feel that oh-so rewarding feeling of completing a make, without the time commitment. It did me wonders! 

So, on to the make itself! I decided on an I Am Patterns Zebre sweater. This is one I have made before (click here to see the blog post for this), and I need to tell you that I have absolutely lived in my first version. It’s kind of funny because I wasn’t 100% sure I would get the wear out of it before… not sure why – maybe because it is a little bit different…? But it has done me proud! I wear it for work and at home. It’s comfy, flattering – and I’ve had so many lovely complements on that pattern! So when I was frantically organising bits for SewCam, I thought a sweatshirt would be a nice quick, easy and simple make to take along. As predicted though, I did way too much chatting and didn’t actually get an awful lot of sewing done. So I finished the cuffs, neck band and waistband at home. 

And one of the really exciting things about this make is I finally cracked open the Atelier Brunette French Terry fabric I have been treasuring in my stash for so long! It’s called ‘Dazzle Night’. I’ve been too scared to cut it up for well over a year – I bought this from my local haberdashery, Backstitch. 

And because the fabric is really the star of the show with this make, I decided against putting buttons onto the shoulder. I couldn’t visualise any buttons looking particularly great with this – like they would be fighting the beautiful fabric pattern for attention, and I didn’t like that. So I went simple 🙂

The fabric was just utterly scrumptious to work with – and the inside is soft as butter. I used my overlocker to stitch it up, which worked perfectly. 

I did worry around the point of inserting the neckband that I’d overstretched it. Which to be fair, I think I had – but a good pressing seems to have fixed that. Thank goodness! Can you imagine if I stuffed up with this posh fabric?! 

And after this, I am happy to report that I have just worn this jumper for nearly an entire week when we went away to Center Parcs with Otis. I can’t rate this pattern highly enough. It has comfiness, style, it flatters the figure, is easy to wear… and I need to tell you that I love it!!

I’m hoping to blog just one more make before Christmas… so we’ll see how I get on with that… hopefully a bit of a festive one! 

I hope you’ve liked seeing this make though. In a way, I feel like it is kind of a chic Christmas jumper!

Pattern: I Am Patterns, I Am Zebre

Fabric: Atelier Brunette French Terry from Backstitch

Size made: 38

Adjustments made: Removed buttoned-up shoulder

I’m still in recovery from SewCam happening, but oh man… I need to tell you… it went SO well! I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m blowing my own trumpet, but I really can’t believe how amazing it all was!

It all took place on Sunday 9th December 2018, and we all assembled from 10am, in the main hall area of Storey’s Field Centre in Eddington, Cambridge. This venue was just the best. I’m no expert when it comes to architecture, but this brand new building was quite breathtaking. And the perfect backdrop to our day of sewing. So everyone shuffled in, and took a seat… each place had a fantastic goody bag of sewing delights for everyone to dig through. I posted the contents of the goody bags on the blog the other day, so go check it out here! 

Everyone brought along a project (or two!) for the day, so we all beavered away at our machines, but with the added benefit of being able to chat and make friends with people who have this incredible hobby in common. 

The amazing team at Brother Sewing UK very kindly loaned us 2 overlockers for the day, which were so useful to have – so a big thank you to Brother! And we set up 2 ironing boards for people to use too – so we had all the kit we needed for a productive day of sewing.

I tried to keep the atmosphere of the day very relaxed – I didn’t want too much structure. So people could just head off whenever they liked to grab a sandwich for lunch. It all seemed to work really well!

Then in the afternoon we held the charity raffle, where all of the proceeds went to breast cancer charity Coppafeel. And I’m pleased to report that we raised a total of £222!! I honestly didn’t think we’d raise quite that much – so thanks to the attendees for their generosity, and the incredible brands that came on board for SewCam by donating some truly fantastic prizes! Huge thank you!

Then we finished off the day with a little photoshoot on the stage, underneath the SEWCAM balloons, with our Santa hats. This was a lot of fun! 

I had really stressed myself out with trying to make sure the whole thing went really well – so I was over the moon when it did! Definitely treated myself to a glass of fizz when I got home that night!!

And finally just another big thank you to all of the attendees for trusting me to organise a decent sewing event, and to the brands who gave so much to make SewCam extra special. 

Here’s to another SewCam in 2019! And I’ll sign off here, with a few photos for you to have a nosey 🙂