Stitch and bitch thread #3 Sewing is harder than it seams

[NutellaEllaElla]

And i'm very glad to have you clever sewists to selvedge what's left of my dignity .

That is a beautiful dress, @NutellaEllaElla! I might make that myself! I've never done shirring and I'm not mad keen on gathering but I'm really tempted.

@Jins that's a bit worrying! My dress is viscose and I was planning on making it in cotton lawn but I don't want it 2 sizes smaller!!

Viscose is a strange fabric but I’ve never had this happen before. It’s fairly sturdy for viscose as well

Yeah I like the idea of making it as a top as well. And I'd add pockets. Naturally.

That's strange @Jins, must be the fabric.

So, I washed my fabric and draped it over the top of an airer to dry and now it has stretched out in lumps where the clothes horse had protruding parts. How do you get it to settle back?

@NutellaEllaElla I've done that with table cloths and a good iron usually sorts it out. Failing that, rewash it!
I had some of my fabric left, so I cut the skirt parts of my dress out and a waistband, and I've made a skirt! I was supposed to be making PJs but tomorrow is another day!

I've almost finished the Assembly Line hoodie dress. Really pleased with it, went for a medium and it's spot on. I'd bought the fabric for a jumpsuit but hadn't found a pattern I liked so decided to use it for this and it's worked really well. Just the sleeve and bottom cuffs to do now.

Please ignore the awful curtains, I'm in a rental and they're warm!

Ah wow well done @dubyalass, it looks like that was a lot of work. A really interesting idea, a proper winter dress.

Thanks! There's a fair bit of topstitching and I've already decided I'll do a few things differently next time, but it's fairly simple - it has tested my ability to match seams though!

Hey, stupid question but I'm making the Grecian sundress I linked above. After gathering and sewing the shoulders, it tells me to "press neckline extension under and top stitch" I don't know what a neckline extension is.

Oh never mind, I think i've screwed it up by mixing up right and wrong sides of fabric and now I can't sew the front and back right sides together because of the lovely seams I just made and strengthened.

😭

Oh no! Hope it’s recoverable.

Well I managed to sort my mysteriously large cami by taking the side seams in as much as I dared and shortening the shoulder straps by 4cm. It’s not as well fitted round the neckline as I’d like but it’s definitely wearable. Just goes to show that dressmaking throws curve balls occasionally.

I’ve only got tomorrow for any meaningful sewing now. Not sure I’ve got time to get another item off my list done.

I don't think it is, i'm going to have to re cut half the fabric. I do have enough but am now scared of getting it wrong again. There's a visuoconstructional skill to sewing which i'm slooooowly developing but it just does not come naturally to me. It's the ability to visualise 3D objects and to rotate them in your mind. Men are generally better at it than women after being given lego and little car sets as kids etc. Fun fact: female trainee pilots are given extra training in it to get them up to speed. It is learnable. But it's hard and it's my excuse the reason why I screwed this one up. It's definitely put my timescale in jeopardy though.

Hello, just joining in. I haven't read through the thread yet, but planning on it.
I've been sewing for 2 years. I sew mostly clothes but have very recently become addicted to bag making. I've joined this seasons bag of the month club.

Here are two sews I made today, a t-shirt for DP and a summer dress for me. I plan on making a million of these dresses this summer 😅

Welcome! I love that fabric on your dress, did you use a pattern?

I am still impressed at how much you can get done in one day

My dress pattern is the Malibu by George and Ginger. Fabric is from Spotlight (big box craft store here).

I had the day off work, so got some done! Next project this week is a bag for bag of the month club

Welcome @Gizzy93! That's a lovely dress. I've had to put all sewing on hold as I've somehow hurt my wrist, so can't cut out! I'm hoping it will be better over the weekend so I can get on with DSs PJs!

On the plus side, I've got a lot more work done!

Well, I got lucky, today. I'd been contemplating buying the remy raglan pattern but it's an expensive one and, basically, a simple top, so I was loathe to fork out.

Just spotted it included with this month's Simply Sewing!

@Gizzy93

Hello, just joining in. I haven't read through the thread yet, but planning on it. I've been sewing for 2 years. I sew mostly clothes but have very recently become addicted to bag making. I've joined this seasons bag of the month club.

Here are two sews I made today, a t-shirt for DP and a summer dress for me. I plan on making a million of these dresses this summer 😅

Love the dress on you! It's a very flattering fit.

I didn't have much time for sewing today but I re cut two pieces that I messed up before, gathered and sewed them together plus strengthened the seam. I hope to make more progress tomorrow.

I finally finished the Assembly Line hoodie dress pictured above. The cuffs are a bloody nightmare, thankfully I had loads of fabric left so I could cut a replacement cuff but I did it in denim which frayed loads so ended up overlocking everything about a million times. The cuffs barely fit around the sleeve bit of my sewing machine and I then had to try to fit my fingers in the gap between fabric and machine to get the gathered effect. The bottom cuff was much easier but I think I may end up doing the sleeve cuffs differently (or not at all) if I make another version. Or I’ll do it in a knit and use ribbing.

Apologies for another terrible photo, I’ll take another in daylight tomorrow.

It looks great!