Seams Like Vicky

Make Nine – The Shelbys

I first saw the Shelby (not the Peaky Blinders) in December. I enthusiastically let my friend Irmak know how cute it was. She then surprised me by buying it for me for Christmas(!). I really loved the shape and selected the dress over the romper (functional toilet needs).

What with it being semi fitted I decided to toile first. So I went to Asda and got some constellation dinosaur bedsheets. A wearable toile that would be admired by my nephew was on the cards. I’d also had my eye on these for AGES and picked them up when they were heading in to the sale. My nephew has since called it beautiful and I’ve made him a matching shirt!

I made the toile in a straight size 4. As I was making this at sewing club I got useful fit advice and bought the bodice in to a size 2 for the real deal. This is why we toile! I’d bought some vintage buttons for another project, they were bigger than expected so I didn’t put them on the original project. They are perfect for the toile, although on my old Toyota I didn’t have the luxury of a 4-step buttonhole so some of them are a tad large.

The photos above feature my blue lipstick, which I do not wear anywhere near as much as I want to.

I wanted to make another blue one (I’m starting to know my colour palette) and selected the French Navy Double Gauze from Fabric Godmother. I enjoy how it’s a slightly unusual colour. I graded the pattern to a 2 at the top and a 4 at the bottom. Sewing this up for a second time was great fun. The pattern is really nice to construct and the instructions make it really fun to sew up. The buttons are hand embroidered daisies which I then used the covered button service from Sarah at Likesewamazing (it’s super satisfying to watch). I also very much decided that this needed a headband as if I was a fairy princess, so I got the gluegun out and made one.

Things I like

Really good pattern to follow
Flattering cut and pattern
New sleeve expansion for puffy sleeves

Things I don’t like

Maybe a tad short for anyone taller than 5’3” (Only my opinion)

Enjoy your sewing, add the special touches to your makes and make toiles from fabulous bedsheets.

Make Nine – The Avery Leggings

Everyone loves leggings, I did not love leggings. Leggings were for other people. I am 5’2” (160.5cm) and all of the leggings were the wrong saggy ankled length for me. Or the seam twisted around my legs. I often wore them and ended up doing a weird not very cool dance to make them work on me properly. I figured that I couldn’t make them look any worse than my ready to wear ones so selected the Averys as detailed in my pattern selection post.

I was nervous about working with something stretchy and bought some good quality but not bank breaking Black Jersey from Likesewamazing. Then I sat down and read the instructions with a cup of tea. I’m fortunate enough to have an overlocker (thanks Lidl) and made them on this and the Toyota of consternation (it has since died, but made me swear a lot).

I made these in a Medium, option A the super high-waisted ones as I felt they worked best with my style. Being impatient I didn’t want to wait to start sewing (and thought if I’m smart this wont matter) so for the bits I did on a regular machine I used a white bobbin.

I then proceeded to put the waistband on the wrong way round so the white zig-zag stitches are on the outside 🙂 (live and learn). I then tried them on and cut them to a short person friendly length. Which was too short! All things learnt though, this is a great pattern, easy to follow instructions and likely to appear in my wardrobe in another iteration. These are comfy and as such will be worn out of the house, because why waste them?

Things I Like

Comfort
High Waisted
No Outside Seam
Easy to follow instructions

Things I Don’t Like

My Impatience and short crop
My impatience and white thread showing on the outside.
Sometimes I put them on the wrong way (this is not exclusive to my me-mades)

Enjoy your sewing, thread your bobbin with the right colour and don’t cut things before you’re sure.

Make Nine – The Faux Jumpsuit

Before Covid-19 hit I had 3 weddings to attend this year. I used to be someone who wanted a new outfit for every occasion. I’ve smartened up a little since those days, but it’s hard not to get caught up in owning ever more things. I’ve pledged to myself that everything I buy/make will get 30 wears. This is why I decided that this jumpsuit needed to be faux, so each piece can be worn separately.

As I explained in my pattern selection post I chose the vintage Burda 6968 for my top to showcase my collarbones and the Winslow Culottes from Helens Closet for the bottoms. I posted my idea on Instagram in late December.

I had been admiring the Atelier Brunette fabrics for a long time and I had subtly hinted (directly told) to my boyfriend that I would like 3m of the Forest Green Moonstone viscose for Christmas. (I also advised him to buy on Black Friday and he purchased from The Drapers Daughter). Greens are my colours and everyone deserves a little bit of luxury from time to time.

With expensive fabric on the line I toiled both garments. Non-wearable and now hidden in a Closet Case Pouff. This allowed me to change the Burda 6968 from a gathered neckline to a pleated one to mirror the Winslow Pleats. It also allowed me to stop being vain about my sizes due to the lack of ease in the Winslow pattern and to go up from a size 6 to a size 8 in the culottes. Please see the wonderful toiles below.

Having toiled my final sizes were Burda 6968 graded from a 12(top) to a 14 (waist and hips) and a size 8 for the Winslow Culottes. I am really proud of the finished garments. Both were sewn on my Singer 201k, which I trust with my very delicate and precious fabrics. The top also required bias binding and I cheated and bought some pre made bias binding because I didn’t want to deal with the faff. I took special effort to make both invisible zips invisible because getting a colour match for the zips was a big challenge. I had to take to my old machine (Toyota R2200) for the buttonhole on the neckline and fortunately she behaved admirably. The button is a vintage one I picked up from a Charity Shop. Also, due to these being special makes I added some Kylie and the Machine Labels for me made luxury.