Stitch and bitch #7. Hanging by a thread

Very excited here. I have just over a week off work. I am planning to get started on my Sew Over It Frankie jacket. This will be my first go at a lining.

I'm probably going to make the jacket a little wider to fit my barrel shape and also longer as I am quite long bodied and also want it to go over shirts which I tend to make longer than the pattern.

I have been gathering together all the bits and bobs I will need (Notions, assemble!). I can do this!

Hello lovely sewists. I need your expert advice.

I’m looking to make a jersey day dress, v neck to a waistband with a swishy skirt for a nice day time dress. The only pattern I’ve come across is this one but I’d have to make a few adjustments- straight 3/4 sleeves with a cuff and remove front opening skirt to side seams only instead of button front. Maybe make the waist band thinner.

i have experience in dressmaking, but a bit rusty. Am I making this too difficult with this pattern? Do you know of something similar that would require less changes?

thanks so much

That’s interesting @NutellaEllaElla I might purchase and give it a bash. Im supposed to be working on a dissertation and now got sucked back into dressmaking loveliness.

and @SBAM that top looks lovely.

mustn’t get too carried away…

And now for something completely different! Quick sew to restore my spirits using two colours of miniature print herringbone tweed! Much easier than full sized clothing! (He's 4 inches tall!)

Oh @SleepingisanArt your 🐘 is so adorable

@SleepingisanArt how can something so tiny be easier?! I find the fiddly little bits the hardest and that must be all tiny fiddly bits

@Dellabob123

Would Sinclair’s Yasmin work for you?

Cute elephant @SleepingisanArt

https://sinclairpatterns.com/products/yasmin-v-neck-knit-dress-with-pleated-accents-pdf

Before I start my next dress I have to figure out a very unusual sewing job…..
Lovely new expensive but in the sale mattress with a tufted finish - I hate the dips they make. Mattress toppers make no difference, Memory foam is too hot and we have passed the 30 nights try out period. All I need to do is to “make” somethings to fill up the dips made by the tufting. , just to bring them up to the level of the rest of the mattress which is very comfortable. My husband hasn’t even noticed the dips but they are quite uncomfortable for me. I really don’t want to write off the mattress and start searching again.
Any good ideas from you inventive lot? I’m even considering crocheting or knitting some saucer shapes and stuffing them with pillow stuffing!

@SBAM - thank you I might do one in the reverse colourway too....

@123ZYX - my smallest bear ever was just under 1 inch - quite fiddly to turn through the pieces I have to say! I like the 3 - 4 inch size as its a nice quick make for me. I made a 20 inch bear from a very expensive tartan by Harris Tweed a few years ago (when I took commissions for memory bears). He's the biggest bear I've ever made and possibly the most stressful because of the fabric - expensive fabric comes with great responsibility! I had the pieces laid out for over a week before I was able to cut the fabric!!!!

@Storynanny1 my first thought would be to cut the buttons off but that might affect the interior stuffing.... What about a cotton pad topper rather than a memory foam one? (I'd just melt sleeping on memory foam so get your resistance to that!) Or something like this?

https://www.marksandspencer.com/comfortably-cool-mattress-topper/p/hbp60137709#intid=pid_pg1pip8g4r1c2|prodflag_plp_ts_QP_20

I’ve googled all sorts of toppers cheap expensive thick thin etc but the reviews all say you can still feel the dips and bumps so not sure I want to spend any more- I’ve tried a few different ones

I’ve googled cutting off the tufts bits but apparently it might make all the stuffing shift about. They don’t actually bother me. It’s just the dips I’m hating more every night!

Would quilting wadding do the trick? A couple of layers in a cotton sandwich, wonderweb round the edge and ironed onto the mattress.

cute elephant @SleepingisanArt
years and years ago (early 70s) my friend and i sewed tiny felt teddy bears, and made clothes for them and so on. about 2" high.
My mum made me some more and i had a whole family of them. Hours and hours of fun with those

@SleepingisanArt lovely elephant!

@NutellaEllaElla I have made a few jackets and a coat. The new thing for me is lining as the only things I have lined so far have been bags. On the plus side the instructions for the pattern are extensive and there is a sewalong video.

That sound a definite possibility! I hadn’t considered an iron on solution

My husband has suggested I try lying on his yoga mat! He will no doubt be suggesting I make something with the dreaded overlocker…

I’ll make a protype and post a photo….

@Storynanny1
I had a similar issue with my mattress and resolved it with a thick, down, mattress topper. (Keeps me warm in a cold house too!)

Alternatively could you make mini pillows (to fill the dips) and then sew onto a sheet to go under a quilted mattress protector?

I’ve dragged out of the attic the 10 tog double duvet now redundant for the new king size dippy mattress and giving that a go tonight. I’m loathe to buy the most expensive topper in case I can still feel the dips. I’ll see how it goes tonight and then have a go at the weekend at a prototype mini stuffed flying saucer to put in a dip and see if it stays out under a mattress protector without the iron on vilene.
Im envious of a the Nottingham draping course, my family still live in Derby but I’m the furthest south from there as possible!
I think I’d only been looking at pattern drafting and not thought about draping. Will Google courses near me.
I really would love to find a full time degree course and do it properly but I’m 66 so probably missed that boat! Would be far more interesting than my initial teacher training degree in the 70’s!

That was good to see some reviews and pictures @NutellaEllaElla interesting as is looking a little bit how I’d want it. I might bite the billet.

although, I was utterly inspired by your draping course- that was always my dream too. Please tell us everything about it when you start.
I spent a lot of time looking at online e draping tutorials and pattern making from them and wondered about just having a go at that instead. Although- I’d struggle with sleeves…never my strong point!

@Storynanny1 the same as you about the degree…really wish I’d have done it as well. I’m late forties and decided on doing a Masters. When it’s finished. I think I’m going to really get back into sewing and do several short courses.

I must focus on my dissertation. I went to bed dissecting a draped dress in my head rather than my dissertation.
this is bad.

Actually, something has been niggling me about pattern making from draping.

if you make the bodice say in muslin and it’s all pinned as it would be on the finished garment… and then you draft the pattern from this…if it was symmetrical and to be placed on the fold when cutting…wouldn't it be the wrong way round??

I can’t get my head around draping on the form, drafting pattern and then reworking to put on the fold when generally it’s done right sides together? Would you have to pin and cut with the wrong sides together in this instance because all your pattern was made on the front?

does that make sense? I feel like my head is going to explode with this one.