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

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!