Anyone else going to join me on the Sewing Bee watch?

[flubba]

A bit excited about it

:o

Tell me, harbinger, have you recently found any sewing books and is it any good?

am taking my girls to Fabricland tomorrow to choose some fabric for their dresses :) (no expense spared :o)

Be prepared for Fabricland! I find a Monday better.

Good luck

Excuse me for going on..... but yes.... yippee

I love Fabricland! DD1's in school on Monday so it's tomorrow or never.

Go for it then. How old are your DDs?

ah, I see MrsP

I really wish I lived near fabricland.
it's really hard to tell what the fabric's like from the website.

True, unique.

DDs are 4 and 5 harbinger

The website is awful. The only time I went in was for fat quarters, not material for clothing. So can't help.

BTW the dress was ponte fabric (modern day crimplene).

Going in the BAG of horrors.

I always find fabric really hard to tell online. I wasted a load of money on fat quarters buying something that looked like a nice subtle blue or a rich rich red to get screaming 1980s turquoise and nasty salmon-y colours. I have a great stash of really ugly fabrics.

I found a pattern that is apparently quite easy to make - and that I actually fancy the look of - but it wants heavy cotton and a lot of them look shite, or those cutesy retro prints with owls and things, which are quite nice but not for me.

Flubba, that is lovely. How are you coping? The first bit is hard, baby and toddler (just). Mine are 20 and 21.

I have a 2 year old too. I'm permanently knackered :o :o

You will get out of the 'fog' eventually

LRD look on E bay. With a fine tooth comb!

oh yes, the website is awful - that's how you know how good they are!
I like that you have to ring and they know exactly what they're on about.

lrd it's all about knowing the words.

try plush addicts - they're mostly 100% cotton and are the same type as yiu get on those 1950s stiff dresses that fkare out.
the colours are good too and if you stick to the same designer/collection, you can't go wrong with matching.

really ugly fabrics can be good if you use them sparingly.
(or failing that as sanitary towels - no one will ever see them)

Thank you, both!

I was wondering what the right words were - I kept googling last night and feeling like something out of Little House on the Prairie (she always talked about 'poplin' and 'calico').

Btw, this shows how useless I am ... I know fabricland as a website and have browsed their stuff (with migraine pills at the ready). Had no idea where it was until now, but DH just dropped in 'if you're going to make a dress we should go to fabricland, it's the nearest'.

Yeah.

Real-life shop might be better.

yeay! a dh suggesting fabricland

do any of you know of a pattern similar to the design of this emily and fin dress for me to make?

Well, his mate has just made him an amazing costume for his LARP game, so I think he has been picking up tips!

I love that dress nevergoogle (obviously no idea about a pattern!).

How about this one? simplicity 6094
It has 2 box pleats rather than being flat but you could maybe play around with that?

You would have to be careful to match the pattern for the cap sleeves.

Still looking:

Vogue pattern 8665 has princess seams and no waist band so would be easier to sew to give the same overall silhouette?

This Simplicity 1652 dress has the version with cap sleeves just shown from the back. The skirt detail is a bit different to you pic but maybe could alter to remove the front gathers and move the pockets round to the sides?

If I find any more will be back

thanks for all the ideas.

i bought the dress last weekend in a sale for £25. it's beautifully made and lined so am very pleased with my purchase. i fancy making more of the same style as it's so flattering.

the pattern will need to have side seams for me to add pockets (bit nervous about having to alter a pattern to include pockets).

i think the waistband is what gives the good shape, so it would be good to have a pattern with a waistband.

butterick 5782?

nevergoogle knob pockets (as we called them at college because of their shape) are easy to add to a side seam. Make sure the opening is big enough for your hand to fit in. If you are concerned about it make a toile first out of a similar but cheaper fabric and you can make any mistakes there. If you pop a retaining row on the pocket lining it should stop the fabric rolling forward.

I'd go with the Vogue pattern myself as it's a basic shape you can alter the neckline etc for yourself as you get more confident.

Also, invest in some dot and cross paper and trace off the pattern onto the paper. You can make loads of changes and never ruin the basic pattern. Once you've got your dress as you want it and the fit right you can transfer the paper pattern to card and you'll be off making loads! I find that on both paper and card patterns if you put some masking tape on the corners before cutting out it helps to keep the corners sharp, but then I'm a teeny bit obsessive about keeping my patterns nice

Don'tForgetYourBalanceNotchesTiggaxx