Stitch and bitch #7. Hanging by a thread

Ah shirring! In the early 80’s when I was a new mum with no money, me and a friend bought lengths of fabric from the market, shirred the tops, sewed up the back seams, added some straps and wore our new sundresses the next day! All sewn in an hour whilst the babies and toddlers had a morning sleep!

My mother made me a sundress like that in the 1970s. I can still remember that dress it was one of my favourites.

Unfortunately I couldn’t wear that style now - not very flattering for large busts in my my opinion

Wish I had a photo of them

Having had a similar, maxi length sundress in the past, I kept standing in it, which pulled the shirring down and flashed my top half to the world 😳🤣
My sew-Jo is at a low ebb. My attempt at the Sauvie sundress has ended up as scrap. I think I’m not as much of a ‘confident’ beginner as I’d hoped. I found the instructions incomprehensible in places and had chosen terrible fabric which frayed really badly and shed lint everywhere. I think I’ll go back to TATB patterns for a bit as I find her instructions fool proof, even for me. Maybe I’ll attempt the Skye sundress instead. Very glad I didn’t let myself loose on the Liberty lawn that I bought recently!

Thank you for making me laugh! As a rather well endowed 'lady' shirring hasn't been anywhere near me since I was a child in the 1970s and can't be held accountable for what my Mum chose to dress me in! My favourite photo of her and I (which I will claim when my father dies) was taken in 1969 or 1970 (born in 67 possibly 3 in the photo) and we are wearing matching dresses! My Mums was a (wait for it) brown and gold horizontal striped crimplene shift dress - very 60s and she has fab winkle picker shoes on and pearls. I am wearing the same, obviously smaller, dress in 2 shades of green...... in the 80s I wore her dress and shoes to a 60s disco. Sadly I'd only get one leg in now!

Anyway I have a question! Harem pants - I thought they had a baggy crotch area (so I avoid like the plague) but I've seen some online which just look like tapered trousers. Am I missing something?

Its totally normal to go through phases of not enjoying /feeling up to sewing.

I remember a phase where everything I made went wrong and I pretty much gave up.

Even now where I would class myself as reasonably advanced there are still times where something doesn't work and I get a bit fed up and stop for a bit.

I've just come out of a phase like that and to ease myself back in made a Zadie Jumpsuit which I can almost do blindfolded now I've made so many!

@Rosenspants I’m on a low ebb too - my sewing room is a mess, and the things I want to make will need some prep/fitting work done so I feel a long way from wearing something new and shiny which puts me off starting.

I love the descriptions of sundresses past, I don’t recall my mum making me sundresses (though when I was about 5 she made me a royal blue party dress for Christmas) but when I was maybe 12(?) my mum made me, my younger brother and my two toddler cousins matching fleece jumpers.
Almost all the women in my family sew, but I don’t remember wearing much handmade stuff at all, with the exception of the itchy jumpers in odd colours knitted by my great grandma.

@SleepingisanArt harem style bottoms I’ve seen for kids are usually a dropped crotch and a tapered leg, what pattern is it you’ve seen?

Thanks all…. That’s reassuring. I think I had a bit of a honeymoon period with my first few garments. All wearable and really surprised myself. I will start afresh after the holidays. I do think I find imagining stuff in 3D difficult and this hinders my progress.

@SleepingisanArt I have harem pants which don’t have a dropped crotch. They’re just fuller at the thigh and taper to a deep cuff at the ankle. Not sure about patterns though. I guess you can get the same effect with relaxed joggers.

@NutellaEllaElla I like the Sew Over It videos as well as the TATB ones.

meanwhile I am massively cheering myself up having realised that I’d only got into Sewing Bee for the most recent few series, but have now gone right back to the beginning on BBC iPlayer and am working my way through. Somehow although the recent series are more polished, they lack the warmth and humour of the earlier shows. And there is way more fashion history and sewing instruction too.

I’m in a bit of a period of diminished sewjo but there’s been a lot going on this year and I’ve just not had as much time as I’d like. I think I’ve only finished two garments this year and both have needed work to get the fit right. I’m looking at a few things on my to do list and being put off by the fitting adjustments I know they’ll need.

On the positive side my repair of our awning seems pretty good although I have been through all my curved needles trying to find one to get through four layers of weatherised canvas. I managed the first row of stitching but had to resort to glue for the rest. Looks ok and seems strong enough

Help!

I need glam, “Strictly no denim!” Glam. (Yes, finally got selected in the random draw, tickets to see 3 of the pro dances being filmed).

I’m plus sized, very apple shaped, no budget but a significant stash, mainly stretch fabric.

I need ideas on a tight budget please!

A sewer on the GBSB FB page today posted her wearing E&Ms Favourite Sweater paired with Sew Magazines Beau pencil skirt in a really vibrant scuba fabric. She said they were easy, looked really fantastic and the outfit would work very well for a plus sized apple I think.

Sewingdufus - worth looking at the Halla Agnes swing pattern . If you join the facebook page , you can get the pattern for free with a code ( I think that still applies - haven't looked recently) . It is quick to make , and flattering.

No time for sewing here, so am enjoying your makes instead. Away for the next week and then friends staying so no sewing until at least a week on Tuesday. That said, there's nothing I particularly want to make at the moment - I think it's the changing seasons so I don't want to make summer stuff but nor am I thinking about autumn/winter makes.

Thank you, already have it printed but haven’t made it as I like a combination of Waves & Wild’s Beachcomber and Cuppa Tee as a dress length. Not sure it’ ‘glam’ enough though!

I think 50% of glam is the fabric choice. Get the right fabric, vibrant colours or a luxe sparkle and things look so much more posh

Quiet weekend for me,sewed a couple of t shirts to try and defeat Mount Stash and de scruff my daily wear.

love the beachcomber - being tall , I make the dress length , and its perfect ( slightly long) tunic length for me !

I’m planning a Salisbury trip to look at the fabric in Franklins which is the nearest shop to me now C and H in Chichester has closed. Although John Lewis in Southampton has a fair choice.
Going to cut out the charity shop patterns and do the adjustments this week.
Then my husband will ask as usual
” are you going to use the overlocker I queued up outside Lidl’s for an hour to get you?
it’s so tricky to flipping thread up so I avoid it as much as possible!

Threading the overlocker gets a bit easier with practice. There's also a shortcut to change looper threads on a correctly threaded machine. Note your current tension settings, you set all tension to zero, cut the threads just above the bobbins, put your new colour bobbins on the pins, knot the new thread to the old thread, and then pull through. You can do this with the needle threads too if you want, but I tend to just thread them manually.

My mam's Singer overlocker defeats us both at times, she only changes the left needle colour unless there's an emergency.

Yes mine is a singer. Unfortunately when I got it ( 6 years ago) I pulled out the threads not realising that I could just tie new ones on . 3 out of the 4 threads are easy but one of the underneath ones makes us both swear! I must make more of an effort though

I could do with a 1-1 face to face tutorial but can’t find anyone locally

With my mam's Singer, it took me maybe 2 hours the first time I fully threaded it. You definitely have to thread in the order they say (left to right I think?) or it somehow happily snaps one of the looper threads when you try and use it. My Janome seems a bit more forgiving on that front, but it can still be funny at times.

i tried the tying-a-knot overlocker thing but it completely defeated me. Luckily i have a Juki and their YouTube channel shows the threading really well, so i managed that quite well.

My favourite photo of her and I (which I will claim when my father dies) was taken in 1969 or 1970 (born in 67 possibly 3 in the photo) and we are wearing matching dresses! My Mums was a (wait for it) brown and gold horizontal striped crimplene shift dress - very 60s and she has fab winkle picker shoes on and pearls. I am wearing the same, obviously smaller, dress in 2 shades of green...... in the 80s I wore her dress and shoes to a 60s disco. Sadly I'd only get one leg in now!

oh that is hilarious. I have a picture from about 1968 in the Peace Gardens in Sheffield. My mum is wearing a black poloneck, a powder blue a-line mini, white lacy patterned tights and red crocodile shoes (chunky heels). I am wearing the same but my tights were plain white and my shoes were start-rite t-bars. My brother was 1 and wearing a powder blue mothercare overall, with a black polo neck underneath and little red shoes. I was 5 and my mum 28. It is my favourite photo of us all.

OK, off to iron then hopefully make another t-shirt dress thing for my daughter, and hopefully that will get my SewJo back on track.