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Sunday 22 July 2018

Easy Breezy Charlie Caftan


This is my lovely new Charlie Caftan from Closet Case Patterns.

It usually takes at least a few months for me to start liking something I've made but I love this straight off the machine! As Heather Lou says, it really is caftantastic!


The drafting is excellent, especially that centre panel. I thought it would be horrible to sew with a drapey fabric but it went absolutely fine - everything lined up so perfectly. The blog post about setting it in also made it much easier. My corners aren't perfect but they're good enough for me, and on such a busy fabric it's barely noticeable.

I couldn't for the life me get my top stitching right on the v neck so instead I hand basted it before sewing it down with a running stitch in cream embroidery floss. I like it so much after I'd done it that I did the same the centre panel too. 



For reference this is a straight size 14 (I measure B - 40, W - 33 and H - 43). I went for the 14 rather than 16 because I have narrow shoulders but I probably should have graded out to a 16 at the hip. I mean it's still roomy but an extra inch or two added to the back panel would make it perfect [EDIT: Having worn this out in the wild, I don't think I do need the extra room, it was perfect as is]. I also took 5 inches off the bottom (out of necessity rather than preference) but I quite like the length. I'm 5'4" for reference.

I also raised the underarm seam by 2.5" as I wanted to wear it as a dress rather than a cover up and I was showing rather a lot of skin with the larger armholes.
I will definitely be making another one soon. I do quite fancy View A with the pleats so watch this space!




#scenesfromthesewingroom #closetcasepatterns #charliecaftan #sewcialists #sewingblog #sewleeds #summersewing #patternreview

Friday 20 July 2018

Microblogging and Me: A Resurrection

I've recently regained some of my sewing mojo and I've decided to breathe some life into the old blog at the same time.

I've never been good at keeping this blog up to date so I've come up with a plan to help me be more consistent in my posts. The plan is to use my Instagram captions as mini-blog posts for the time being and see how it goes from there.

So why post on here at all if I'm just going to be using the same stuff as on insta? There are two main reasons really:

1) I like to do pattern research by looking at other people's blogs and I almost always search for examples of finished garments that have been made in my size and in a specific fabric. Instagram's search function doesn't really work for that purpose and I want people to be able find my pattern reviews and fitting noes for their own research.

2) I find insta captions much easier to write than full blog posts. I can do it on the go and there's a bit less pressure to get it perfect which will enable me to post a little more frequently (I hope!).

So that's the plan. Let's see how it goes shall we!


P.S My Instagram username is @scenesfromthesewingroom if you'd like to follow me on there!

Sunday 5 February 2017

#2017MakeNine

I have a confession.

I have not made even half of the projects I set out to do last year. I found myself, as I often do, completely overwhelmed by the ever-growing number of ideas on my sewing to-do list.

It's like I know I want to sew something but the number of choices I need to make first (pattern, fabric, fabrics!?, trims, thread, embellishments, alterations, variations, etc) prevent me from starting at all.

Evidently, I need a more structured plan. If only someone had left a handy time-bound, planning relating hashtag lying around….

Oh hello there #2017MakeNine! It’s better joining in late than never, right? I figure the public hashtag will help keep me accountable and the list will give me a bit more of a plan to follow than usual.

So here's my #2017MakeNine. There are some which have an obvious order to them and some which I can use as small palette cleansers between big sews.

1. LITTLE RED DRESS
2. SKIRT SLOPER
3. WRAP DRESS
4. SEW OVER IT ANDERSON BLOUSE
5. JEANS
6. SEWING MACHINE COVER
7. BRA
8. TOP FOR WORK
9. MORROCAN TILE PRINT ANNA DRESS

Let’s see how this goes!

Charlotte x

Friday 29 April 2016

Kommatia Going Out Dress

I’d never heard of Kommatia Patterns before I read about them on Fiona’s blog, Diary of a Chain-stitcher. I've been reading Fiona's blog for ages now and she really does have great taste in patterns so I thought I’d better check them out!

Kommatia is run by Jess and her patterns are all cool modern designs that would be great to make for when you’re going out out. There are lots of 80s inspired batwings, slouchy jumper dresses, bodycons and leggings.

I wasn’t intending on buying a pattern but I saw this one and decided I had to have it. I had the perfect jersey in my stash from my recent trip to Abakhan in Manchester (which a whole other blog post! Needless to say I was like a child in a sweet shop).

The jersey itself is a lightweight poly blend with an amazing large scale geometric colour block pattern and the surface is foiled with tiny bits of gold. It was on clearance too so I got a metre and half for about £3! Bargain!

Lovely cheapy cheap fabric...
I made some alterations to the pattern before I cut it out by taking out of inch of length between the bust and waist and adding it back in between the waist and hip. I usually have to do something like this because I have a very short torso and quite long legs (for my height anyway!). However with this pattern I could have easily left the inch in at the top for a slightly more blouson effect. It is pretty short though so I’m grateful for the extra inch I added there.

When I started cutting out I found that there was a large black mark in the middle of the fabric so I had to avoid that while cutting out. I didn’t have quite enough fabric so I really had to squeeze pattern pieces at much as I could. To aid my pattern tetris I cut the wrist section of the sleeve separately to reduce some of the pattern width and seamed it back onto the sleeve during construction which worked pretty well.

The pattern instructions were pretty clear too which was good and the pattern came together relatively well. The one thing I don't really like is the way the top is joined to the skirt because it results in a rather wavy seam which I think looks untidy. If I make this again I’d gather the top onto the skirt instead of stretching the skirt to fit the top (which is what the instructions specified). I’d also probably add a full waistband to the pattern rather than the external elastic casing as I think it would help with the waist seam issues.

I did really like the application of the clear elastic around the neckline though and I’ve since used clear elastic in a few other projects for stabilising knit seams.

Overall though I really like this dress… I wore this on a night out in Leeds and felt pretty damn cool. What more can you ask of your clothes really?

A photo posted by Charlotte Boul (@cboul92) on

I do really like the cross-over back and with a belt, you can't even see that annoying waist seam!

x

Thursday 21 April 2016

OhhhLuLu Giselle Knickers - Pattern Hack

I love the Giselle by OhhhLuLu. They fit like a dream and you can make them in less than an hour. Basically, they're perfect.

I made a couple of pairs of Giselles a little while ago and have been meaning to make some more for ages. They're ridiculously comfortable, with just the right amount of coverage. And don't get me started on the ruching in the back, it really is just the icing on the cake. 

For my first pair I made a size L in black stretch mesh with lace overlays and burgundy elastic. The second iteration had deep green satin in the front and sheer stretch lace in the back. 

The third pair are something else entirely. I used black and lilac galloon lace for the front and back, making a feature of the scallop edges. The width of the lace was perfect too - just the right width to leave a little peek-a-boo V in the centre back. 

Aren't they just pure loveliness in knicker form?
I cut a medium this time round which helps the lace to hug the body in the absence of leg and and waist elastic. 

The pattern actually has the back cut in one piece but, because I wanted to preserve the scallops, I cut it in two pieces and seamed up the back. I added the ruching elastic to the centre back seam allowance to help keep the edges of that lovely, peek-a-boo V taut. 

I finished the back waist and front leg openings with fold over elastic which is really soft against he skin. The gusset is lined with black cotton jersey for even more comfort. 

I just squeezed this pair out of a scant yard of lace from eBay.com seller rongwei5516 which I bought for just over a quid.  I have a pretty big stash of stretch galloon lace from them (how could I resist at that price?) so I think there will be few more pairs of these sexy-comfy pants in my very near future.

What do you think to these Giselles? Do you like my pattern hack? And have you ever used OhhhLulu patterns?

Until next time,

Charlotte
x


Tuesday 5 April 2016

Coasters

Back in July, I moved to Cardiff for a job and found myself living on my own for the first time in my life. After my family and I had cleaned, moved all my stuff in and done the obligatory Dunelm Mills shopping trip for home accessories there was still one thing missing.

I'd bought some lovely placemats from Dunelm but they had sold out of the matching coasters and I hadn't found any others that I liked in the shops. I vaguely remembered pinning a coaster tutorial or two on my Sewing: Small Projects Pinterest board and I have pretty fat quarters coming out my ears  so I decided to make some myself.
 


I went with this tutorial for quilted coasters from A Pretty Cool Life but with a couple of small adjustments. One to make the wrong side a bit neater and one to reduce bulk at the edges.

In the tutorial each quilted square is sewn separately and tied off at the back. I didn't really fancy tying all those fiddly knots so I did the quilting in one continuous line of stitching (SEE PIC) and then just had the two ends to tie off. I then threaded the ends through a needle and buried them in the middle of the coaster so they're no loose ends on either side, yay!. 



The tutorial also had you iron on the batting all the way to the edge. I decided to do it to the edge of the coaster rather than the fabric (as above) to reduce bulk at the edges.

The finished item!

I'm really pleased with how these turned out and I might just have to make a few more, I always seem to need more coasters!