Stitch and bitch thread #4 I needle the help I can get.

[NutellaEllaElla]

Continuing our supportive little group until we run out of material

I haven't done much sewing though got my Untitled Thoughts Olive Jumpsuit finished. I really love it. I made the bra friendly option but my bra is still on show so needs something underneath, t-shirts at the moment, vests in the summertime. Again, it has a fairly unnecessary zip in the pattern which I've omitted but might need if I was to make it properly bra friendly.

I've got a pile of clothes that I need to mend and adjust. I am going back to the office on an occasional basis so am looking for a trouser pattern. I fancy the Closet Case Pietras. They look quite smart but also have an elasticated back so no zips. Not a huge fan of zips in general!

Thank you for the kind comments about the bag.

I have done the cutting out for anther bag. It's a simplicity pattern but try as I might I can work out how it works! Almost too many instructions!

Really disappointed to read that my local independant craft warehouse is closing down. Hobbycraft opened up close by and they just couldn't compete. It's a shame, Hobbycraft is okay for price but the local inependant would give advice along with thread, binding or whatever. Hobbycraft is friendly enough but they don't have anyone to get advice from.

@Ulysses that dress is gorgeous! I haven't cut on the bias much - I'm too scared of getting it wrong but that pattern is very tempting!

It is a beautiful dress. I’ve not made anything on the bias for a long time. I was very inexperienced and stretched it out of shape before the seams were sewn.

I have just returned from Matalan with a pair of cropped bengaline trousers and a pair of wide leg cropped trousers, both in black. In all honesty I could have sewn both myself but I don’t have suitable black fabric and these were cheaper than I could make them. I nearly bought a viscose dress in the sale which was very similar to the McCall’s one I will make but the fit was poor and the finish wasn’t great.

Over the weekend I plan to make another Ballad blouse in ditsy floral viscose to go with the trousers then my reunion outfit is complete

Gorgeous dress @Ulysses I’d missed that the skirt is cut on the bias - not sure I’m brave enough for that, especially as I was originally thinking of using a viscose.

Both the dresses I made were from viscose too, I just used plenty of starch spray to stabilise it before cutting out. There was a good tip on the tutorial about using a zig zag stitch when sewing the seams to help with the stretch the bias gives. I think I got the blue viscose fabric for less than £10 from pound fabrics for 3 metres. It gives it such a nice drape.

@Ulysses that is a beautiful dress. Is it for an occasion? It will grace any event.

I have managed another wonky bag.

Weather is grey and overcast so I think I will start one of the garments for my wedding outfit.

I’m on a roll. Love Notions Ballad blouse with flutter sleeves in viscose challis to be paired with black bengaline cropped trousers for my reunion.

Buttonholes and hemming left but it’ll have to wait until later

Grumpy toddler chic is go!

TatB Dungarees.

Very impressed by both blouse and dungarees.

I have done the cutting out for wedding v neck top. Had a discussion with DD1 and decided to go for the muna and broad belmore jacket rather than an elongated Tarawi shirt which I have made before as a jacket. The reason for this is that the fabric I have chosen is very soft and could end up not looking very jacket like.

So that's me with another cutting and sticking job!

Love the dungarees!!!!

I made the blouse because I couldn’t face sticking pages together. The top two buttonholes went perfectly but the machine decided to stitch the cross bar halfway back along the length. I did another perfect test buttonhole then lo and behold the machine did the same thing on buttonhole 4. 😡. I tried my other ballad and it goes on with the buttons done up so I’ve tacked the band together and stitched buttons through both bands.

Not sure what the machine is playing at. I’ll try with tissue underneath next time

Could I sneak in and ask for some advice for a very very inexperienced sewer? I would like to make a towelling dress, just that I can chuck on when coming home from the lake and wouldn't look completely insane if I needed to pop in for milk on the way home. Finisterre had one last year, a t shirt dress type shape, and I've seen this one too:

damsonmadder.com/products/ava-wave-towelling-dress

I realise the second would be much harder, but would it be completely impossible for a beginner? Or something along those lines at least.

Also, any reason I couldn't use cotton waffle for one, as well as terry towelling for one? I have a pair of waffle joggers I adore (not made by me!).

Welcome @tentative3. I’m now wanting a towelling dress 😂

The one you’ve linked has a few complicated bits which would be a bit challenging in towelling, less so in waffle. It relies quite heavily on elastic, either shirring or stitched through and that’s not going to be fun to do on a domestic sewing machine. I wouldn’t think it’s impossible for a beginner but there are a few skills in there that would need practice.

In some ways the hardest bit will be finding a similar pattern!

I've done that with a blouse when I had an issue with the buttonholes on my machine @Jins. Yours has worked out beautifully. I love those dungarees @kittykarate. I can see me joining the club and making a pair for pottering.

That's a nice design@tentative3, but agree about the shirring involved making it more tricky. This pattern might give you the kind of design you want and you could practice on some cotton fabric first.

www.moodfabrics.com/blog/tips-tricks-for-shirring-or-ruching-fabric-free-sewing-pattern/

There's also this kind of style without the shirring but a big square neck would make you can fit it without elastic. www.fabricgodmother.co.uk/friday-pattern-company-square-neck-top-pdf-beginner/

Obviously these are blouses but you would just extend the lines to turn into a dress. And big a few sizes bigger!

DH has asked for a jacket! Chosen the foreman jacket from Merchant and Mills in a deckchair striped canvas. I am excited but also nervous (buttonholes!).

Good challenge for you there!

Recent buttonhole problems aside I’m more nervous of collars than buttonholes. I’ve just put the Melody Dolman on my to do list. I picked it up a while ago in the sale but haven’t attempted it yet. My experience with the Ballad with sleeves points to me needing a wide back adjustment of some sort as the armscye is all wrong and the seam is several cm away from where it should be. I’m hoping that a Dolman style will be easier.

It probably explains why a lot of the clothes I’ve made seem baggy at the neckline and don’t fit smoothly at high bust.

Good sewing day yesterday. I finished all the thread ends on the blouse so that’s officially finished. I made a tie belt for it from an offcut - so quick and easy using the overlocker method! Then I made a waist fastening for the bought bengaline trousers out of broad elastic. I never trust side zips without a closure at the top. Finally I put the shoulder straps on my black Barrett bralette but reversed them so the sliders are at the back like every other bra I own.

Phew! I used to be guilty of never finishing garments so I’m making a real effort to break that habit.

Wow, a group of like minded people 😀 I was at a sewing day on Sunday (in Birmingham) met loads of people whose names I knew but not there faces! Trying to finish 2 mini quilts but work keeps getting in the way! 🤣

Hello and welcome. What is this sewing day you speak of??

Hi @Karatema a sewing day sounds fun, like a low-stress version of the sewing bee?

Can you all please persuade me that my latest off-piste idea to merge the BHL Jenna bodice with the BHL Holly to make a jumpsuit is insane and will not work. I love the look of the Jenna square neck and tie sleeves but I don’t often wear dresses so I thought I might get more wear out of a jumpsuit.

A couple of groups on FB went to meet up, and sew, with the ladies who demonstrate, provide patterns and do sew alongs. It was lovely to put faces to names I'd seen. It was great fun and not very serious because lots of laughter took place!

A sewing day sounds like my kind of day out! Some lovely makes recently. I've made a dress, skirt and cami top out of a lovely navy polka dot viscose I got at Abakhan last year. I managed to get the straps of the cami top twisted and sewed the lining to the bodice before inserting the neck elastic but apart from that it all went really well!!

I bought a lovely blue and cream striped linen to make a Litmus jacket (came with 'Simply Sewing' and have now realised that I will look like the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which would be wrong on so many levels. So I'm going to rethink how to use the fabric (I bought 3 metres of it.) Does anyone have any suggestions?

Not sure I can help you @Tinuviel , DH has asked me to make him a jacket out of what appears to be deckchair fabric.

Banged out another v necked scrubs top. This one to go under a jacket for a wedding. I won't bother with a photo. It's the same as all the others but this time in navy!

My local sewing shop has days where you can just go along into their workshop rooms and sew with others and have a chat and a cup of tea too. I haven't done that myself, but I have been to a few sewing related socials, not for a while though.

The Jenna has an empire line so matching it to the jumpsuit might take a bit of figuring out. You could make it less fitted at the bust so you've still got the square neckline but the overall bodice is loose. It's worth a toile though @SBAM. Let us know how you get on. You could even make the Jenna as a top and have a matching pair of trousers as a faux jumpsuit.

@Tinuviel you've just put your finger on why I’ve not matched my striped fabric to anything yet.

Peppermint magazine show a lot of their patterns made up in linen so I’ve had a look there. There’s the Wide strap maxi dress which might work in stripes.

Can you post a pic of the fabric?