I’ve not been very well since Christmas, nothing serious just this cold/flu virus thing thats going around, but it has made me feel pretty grotty for long enough now, and I’m fed up with it! Its left me with a cough that just won’t go and I get pretty exhausted quite quickly. I had to make the decision a couple of a weeks ago as to whether I was going to sew or start exercising again. I decided I had to get back into my exercising regime, got to watch that waist line! However I started re watching the last series of the Great British Sewing Bee (wish they’d do another) and really wanted to do some sewing. I have a work in progress, another Cocowawa Marshmallow dress, but feel its a bit too fiddly and needs too much concentration for the way I’m feeling at present. So I decided that this gorgeous quilted jersey fabric would make a superb long sleeve Trapeze top.

what I love about making the Trapeze in a jersey is that you only need 3 pattern pieces, and its so simple to put together. I almost completed it in one day…

I added 6cm again to the bottom of the pattern and turned up the hem by about 2cm. Very happy with length.

This is not a very good picture of the back!

This quilted fabric just makes every garment look that little bit more professional I feel.

Please excuse the bed hair!!

I love this fabric in the grey, its a bit different to the navy and black fabric, as its really soft to touch and so snuggly to wear. However I do feel it will pill like a bugger!! So there we have it, satisfied my urge to sew and I now have a gorgeous new top.

I flipping love this dress. I’ve been looking for a pattern for this type of dress for the longest time. I even considered making my own version with a pattern hack of my trusty Trapeze dress pattern, after reading the blog by nobleanddaughter.com, but I couldn’t quite get my head round the idea. And then luckily this pattern popped into my radar. I believe I had seen it a while ago before, but think it was probably only in a PDF version, and so I bypassed it. Now though its available in a printed paper version too.

It is the cocowawa, Marshmallow dress ! And I bloody love it…

I’ve always loved this style of dress, and when I saw the this one by Victoria Beckham I so badly wanted one or to be able to make one like it, so the pairing of this pattern with the fabric was like a dream come true.

Okay so mine isn’t exactly the same but I think its a pretty good example of this style of dress. And dare I say I prefer mine. Not least because it only cost me about £20 instead of several hundreds of pounds!

I made it in a ponte roma quilted jersey from Fabricgodmother and at £8 a metre and 150cm wide its quite a bargain. Plus in this fabric I actually feel like I’m wearing a marshmallow!

I’ve done my usual and simplified my version. I’ve taken out the button down back, and because its in jersey I haven’t done a facing. Nor have I used any of the add ons like the collar or the bow. I also shortened the sleeves more than the recommended amount, the original short sleeve length was elbow length.

I find measurements on sewing patterns to be quite confusing sometimes and if I’d followed the guide on this pattern I’d have made a size 14 which would have been way too big. I plumped for making a 12 and its still a bit too big. The next one will be made in a size 10.

I managed to make it using about 1.75m of fabric.

There will now follow lots of pictures…

I just love the silhouette of this dress, its just so damn cute I can’t stand it!

I love it with heels, as seen above.

And I love it with flats/converse.

But the bestest thing of all about this pattern is…

POCKETS!

It has inseam pockets and they are the best!

Here comes another Trapeze!

I’ve had this fabric for a couple of years now, when I bought it I made the mistake of thinking it was horizontal stripes (its a mistake I often make for some reason), so it threw me when I realised it was vertical stripes. So it languished in my stash box for the last 2 years. And on top of the stripe mistake I also went off this type of fabric (I think its a cotton poplin) and started making with knit fabrics more often than not.

Since I discovered the Trapeze dress pattern works well as a maxi length dress, I looked at this fabric again. Pondered on it for a week or two and decided to go for it.  I bought 3 metres which is just as well as its only 107cm wide and the trapeze uses a lot of fabric at the bottom, and even more in the maxi version! I was just able to squeeze it out of the fabric, but it was really really tight!

I decided to not to do a facing which I usually leave off doing when using knit fabrics, haven’t done it with a woven fabric before though. I made sure I had enough fabric left if I ended up needing to do a facing. I only left it off as I was feeling lazy!

So without further ado here she is. Husband says its quite striking…

I like the way it looks like the stripes go in different directions due to the way it drapes.

Stripes almost match at the sides.

I have to look twice when trying it on as the centre back seam blends in so well I can barely see it. I managed to put it on Gertie (my mannequin) the wrong way round once and wondered why it didn’t look right!

Works well with Converse and one of my bags

And also with sandals.

Side view looks better in the flesh.

Another successful Trapeze and happy to have finally used this fabric.

Well what can I say? I simply can not stop making Trapeze dresses! Here’s a maxi version in the softest of black jersey. I added 6inches to the original pattern length and I really like it.

It works well with different types of foot wear too.

Once again very happy :0)

I love this, one of my more simple makes. No alterations made to the length, this is how it is. The fabric is another lovely ponte roma jersey from Fabric Godmother.

I’ve worn it a couple of times already and just know its going to be perfect when the weather gets really hot!

I think I’ve said it before, but I love working with jersey fabric as the seams don’t need finishing so it results in a  very quick and simple make. Which from time to time I really enjoy.

There won’t be as many pics as usual as like I said its a simple dress and a simple make and you’ve all seen similar from me before.

And there we have it. Happy dance from me.

I would just like to add that its Four years this weekend since I made my first cushion cover, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to take up sewing. It makes me so so HAPPY :0) Xxx

it didn’t quite work out as planned. I felt it looked more like a nightshirt and when the Husband agreed it was a done deal. So I turned it into a tunic instead. And I love it and have worn it so many times already. The fabric I got for my Birthday and it came from the fabulous Fabric Godmother, seriously that website is so dangerous for me! The fabric is a gorgeous crepe and it feels wonderful to wear. I think its sold out now otherwise I’d get some more.

Here’s a couple of pics of the dress version.

When I look at the pics again I quite like it now, I’m definitely going to have another go at making a dress version.

And now for the pics of the tunic.

Not too sure how else to describe this! I had been thinking about trying another jacket made from the Trapeze pattern like this one that I made last year, but making it from the tunic length pattern I’d made, and using the boiled wool fabric from Merchant & Mills that I used to my make Strand coat from.

This is the kind of thing I mull over in bed at night, I come up with an idea and then think about fabrics and so forth. As it happens I’d ordered some fabric from Fabric Godmother  and had been sent the wrong fabric as part of my order. After getting in touch with them they were very apologetic and refunded me the difference as the fabric I received was cheaper than the one I ordered and had been charged for, so no problems there, and they would have refunded me if that was what I wanted to do, but I was actually quite happy with the wrong fabric. I earmarked it straight away for the Trapeze cardi/coat thing!

Its a lovely jersey Ponte Roma fabric. I bunged it in the wash and planned to get cracking the next day.

I do so love that I only need 3 pattern pieces when using the jersey fabric. I thought this was going to be a very quick make, as I wouldn’t have to finish the seams but as the way this fabric is woven/knitted I felt it would be vulnerable to fraying and therefore decided to zig zag the seams.

This little project also took a bit more thinking about and planning than I had anticipated. I wasn’t too sure it would actually work…

Quite pleased with how the side seams matched up. Not planned at all.

Once I’d put it together, I liked it but couldn’t help but feel something was not quite right!

I couldn’t get away from the feeling that the opening edges were wobbly and flimsy looking. I had a go at folding the edges under another 3cm and pinned in place. Once I was I was happy with it like that I sewed into place and felt much better about it.  Above is the before and below is the after.

Its got a bit of a swing coat vibe to it!

Husband says its very me! I’m really happy with it and I love that I am able to make things that are very me.

I wanted to make another practice run for the dress I want to make for my Nieces wedding, but as it turned out I didn’t have enough fabric for a dress, so decided to make a top instead. I was wanting to check out how easy or tricky the neckline might be in this fabric. So I decided I had nothing to lose.

The thing about crepe viscose fabric is that it frays like a bastard! So I decided to zigzag all the edges before putting it together to take the worry of that away and it really did help. I shall definitely be doing that again.

As to be expected the collar and plackets were quite tricky but taking my time and using a million pins turned out okay. Hemming it turned out to be trickier than I expected it to, so I ended up leaving it un-hemmed And it looks fine.

I feel fairly confident about making the dress version now. So watch this space…

A grey jersey Trapeze with hem detail.

I was going to be turning up the hem by about 5 inches, but after I’d stitched the hem in place and before I’d cut off the excess fabric I looked at it and rather liked the effect, so I kept it.

jersey dress.

So I’m thinking about making an Imogen dress for my Nieces wedding in June from some gorgeous Crepe fabric I got for my Birthday from my Husband. I decided I ought to make a trial run, so chose this lovely jersey fabric I had in my stash from last year.

This was a very fine jersey fabric and as such was quite tricky to work with. It kept wanting to slide off the table and I had to use millions ( I do not exaggerate) of pins to get it to stay in place, I thought this would be good practice as the crepe fabric I want to use will be quite tricky too.

It went quite well all in all, except for one side of the collar that doesn’t lie quite flat enough. I can live with it though.

The fabric drapes beautifully. However I wasn’t too sure I liked this pattern as a dress and very nearly turned it into a top this weekend, but I tried it on again with my trusty Birkenstocks and decided it would be perfect for those summer days when its too hot to wear too much! And if I do make a dress for the wedding it will be a tad shorter. I haven’t quite decided yet if I want to make the fabric into a dress or if I want to get a couple of tops out of it instead.