I made a top.

Here it is.

Wasn’t happy with it (can you see the look on my face?), felt it was too short, and simply not good value for money. At £22 a meter I thought it a bit expensive to be a short top. So whats a girl to do? Add some length,

length added.

thats what……..

I liked it better with the added length, but decided it was now too long, so I took a few inches off again……..

Now I’m very happy with it, although it might not look like it from my face! I finally settled on this length as being perfect for me after wearing  a beach dress that was this length and being really happy and comfortable in it. So there you have it. Three stages to the perfect length dress for me!

I’m too excited not to share immediately! This bank holiday weekend I’ve done nothing but SEW! I’ve made 1 top and 3 dresses. First up is the top, as the post bout the dresses will be quite long.

I made this with some lovely jersey fabric I got in Merchant & Mills, I mentioned in an earlier post. I just love jersey, it doesn’t fray, so it means you don’t have to finish the edges, nor do you have to be so meticulous with the seams. Which all goes to mean a faster making process. YAY!

OK you lucky people, I’m putting my face in. Pretty sure the only people reading/looking at  my blog are my friends anyway, and you all know what I look like.

I’m really rather pleased with this top, might have to make another in navy. I am, I’m afraid one of those people who, when finds something I like, I buy it in multiples for fear that it will wear out and I’ll never find it again. So now, I can, and do, make things in multiples, for fear the fabric will become unavailable and I’ll never find it again.

Went to London yesterday with my friend Kristina, had some lunch,  did some shopping. One of the shops we went to was Liberty of London. And of course had to go up to the fabric floor. Last visited the fabric department, June last year. I hadn’t been sewing long,  had only made some cushion covers, so I felt a little overwhelmed by it all. I never thought I was going to be brave enough to make clothes so didn’t dare buy any fabric, although I thought it was all quite beautiful. So yesterday it felt quite different. I had a good long look at all the beautiful prints but I just couldn’t decide, they really were all so pretty. Again I was overwhelmed and decide not to buy anything. Kristina asked me why? And I told her they were all so lovely I just could not make a decision, so rather than make the wrong choice I wouldn’t make any choice. Kristina wasn’t happy with this, and said she would pick one out for me. She knows what I like and the style of tops I make and wear. I thought why not, lets see what she picks. Kristina walked up and down looking at the fabrics, picked out three different ones and showed me. I rejected the first, the second I liked but I wasn’t keen on the third. However after holding up the fabric against myself we came  to the conclusion that the third choice was actually the best one for me. I duly purchased a metre and off I went. Happy! :0)

This is a really gorgeous fabric, feels so soft and silky.  And the pattern is just wonderful, so much going on if you look closely. Lots of cute little details. There will now follow lots of pictures.

I love the little details, like the hearts in the middle of the flowers.

I can’t wait to make this into a top.  At £22 a metre its not the most expensive fabric I’ve bought but it still feels a bit special and I’m a little nervous. I really want to be able to do the fabric justice.

Watch this space!

Next up is another challenge from Kristina. I meet up with her to discuss what she wants. Kristina has a top she’d like me to alter, wants it a bit longer to wear on the beach when she’s on holiday. Kristina is very patient and kind and always believes I can do something when I’m convinced I can’t. She produces a pretty white top that is perfect but just too short for what she wanted it for. She also gives me a white T shirt that I can cut up and use as the extra fabric. I tell her might not be able to do it and she says ” darling you can do it, but if its not possible then its not a problem”. So there’s really no pressure other than what I put on myself!

I take the top home and have a look at it, I look at the T shirt and the top and try to work out how on earth I’ll put them together. I must sit there for at least half an hour and then think, “nope can’t be done”. I go down stairs and talk to my Husband about it, he says he has an idea of how it could be done. So we both go upstairs and look at it. He starts telling me what he thinks should be done and I start saying “no it can’t be done, it won’t work”. And bless him, he perseveres, and after establishing that it doesn’t matter if we cut up the t shirt as its an old one, so it won’t hurt to try, I finally give in and listen to what he has to say.

Now for the life of me I can’t fully remember what we did, but it did work. It wasn’t perfect but it was perfect enough for the beach. I felt a real sense of achievement when I finished, and was really quite happy with it. This was also my first time working with jersey fabric, and it won’t be my last!

I added the bottom layer.

Close up of bottom front.

Bottom back. Not perfect but it will do for the beach.

I now feel a little bagged out and feel the need to have another go at making a top. I buy some more of the blue & white cotton fabric from Merchant & mills. I’m still using Portia’s patternless top formula, but I’m altering it a little. Instead of having a split in the neck at the back, I’m going to try it without. And I’m making the back a little longer than the front. I’ve also read the instructions a bit better this time and see that for the facing on the neckline I need to do something called under stitch. O.M.G. What the hell does that mean? So I googled it and found some tutorials I picked this one from sewaholic, it took some reading and re-reading, and still it took me a while to work out quite what was going on, but I got there in the end (I think I blanked it out the first time. Otherwise I would have been so freaked out by it I would never have made the first top!). Quite happy with the end result. The neckline on this top has a much better finish than the first (obviously, having done it properly). I’ve also finished the hems better too.

Love this top

Then I made this black linen top. There will be no modelling pics as I’m not terribly happy with it. And while the linen is a lovely lovely fabric (bought from Merchant & Mills) it creases like paper within minutes of putting it on. Actually it creases while putting it on!

I had some of the blue & white cotton fabric left, but not quite enough to use the patternless top formula. So I used the basics of the patternless top idea, Its still a rectangle shape but this time I’ve had to use two separate pieces of fabric, and I’m trying a boat neck too. I think it worked quite well, not perfect but its a wearable top.

And then came this black & white top, fabric again from Merchant & Mills.  Similar to the blue & white one but again a little different. Now whilst I don’t like being too adventurous I seem to not like doing the exact same thing twice either, so i alter things ever so slightly each time.