Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Dressmaking - experienced and beginners welcome

811 replies

AnnieSnap · 24/05/2023 11:40

Dressmaking has becoming a topic in the ‘No Buy, Low Buy’ thread. In order not to derail that and because it deserves its own thread, I invite anyone who would like to make some of their own clothes or those already doing so to post here about fears, joys, problems, successes etc.

Having binged watched several serious of The Great British Sewing Bee when was laid-up with Covid and because that corresponded with the woman who did my little alterations stopping doing it, I was inspired to get a cheap sewing machine to try to do my own. That was just 16-months-ago and, having no previous experience at all, I quickly fell in love with sewing. I am not usually very patient with tasks (I have great patience with people and animals, but not with much else). Surprisingly, I have endless patience with sewing even when things go wrong 🤷‍♀️ At the beginning, I never dreamed I would be able to make clothes, but it turns out I can. So far, I’ve made dresses, skirts, tops, trousers, a gilet, a couple of things for my husband and even a jacket and a coat 😮

I try to buy ‘deadstock’ fabric when possible in the interests of the environment. It is fabric that is overstock from designers or big companies like Boden, M&S, Nobody’s Child and all the rest, or even fabric they have had produced and have changed their minds about using. I was horrified to discover that up to recently, all of this, tons and tons every year, went into landfill. It still does if it isn’t sold.

Any sewists (as we’re called these days) or potential sewists, what’s your story? And don’t forget the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee starts tonight. BBC1 9pm.

@pigtailsandall @theatrical @Zipps @remuslupinsbiggestgroupie @daisywaisy

OP posts:
Thread gallery
119
AnnaMagnani · 29/06/2023 18:05

I have just come back from my first experience shopping for fabric on Goldhawk Road.

It was fabulous!

I wanted Liberty tana lawn but not at Liberty prices. Went in to Classic Textiles and have come home with a lot of fabric, no idea how the manager was pricing it as they gave me prices when I picked up bits of fabric but then she kept randomly knocking bits off the price.

Ended up having paid £10 a meter when it's £27 normally and even now they currently have a sale on £22.

Well chuffed and very excited to get cutting out.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/06/2023 18:08

I'm very confused! When the patterns arrive, I will measure myself and them come on here and panic a bit before I cut anything out! Grin

AnnaMagnani · 29/06/2023 18:19

It took me ages to decide what size to cut out between:

the size according to my measurements
the finished garment size written on the pattern

In the end I have just picked a size and hoped for the best.

CocoPlum · 29/06/2023 20:03

AnnieSnap · 29/06/2023 17:45

Not the finished measurements (sorry to contradict @CocoPlum). Your measurements to the measurements on the pattern. The finished garment measurements are where ‘ease’ comes in. We can’t wear a garment that measures the same as our body. We need to get in and out of it, and move whilst wearing it. That said, if what you are making is an ‘oversized’ of boxy style, you may want to look at the finished garment measurement and if you feel it would have more ease than you’d like, you can choose to size down accordingly.

Sorry, to clarify: on a TATB pattern, I would check finished measurements not the pattern. The ease on them I've found is just mad, the sizing measurements put me at a 5 but they are stupidly big on me! Or make a toile out plof a sheet or similar to check.

But yes with patterns generally don't go finished measurements, sorry to confuse!

AnnieSnap · 29/06/2023 20:14

@CocoPlum 👍

OP posts:
clowniform · 29/06/2023 20:29

Another vote for finished measurements here! I think ease preferences are so personal it's safest to measure a similar thing you already own and like the fit of*, and cut the size with closest finished measurements to that. Some pattern brands like miles of ease, I think a New Look shirt was the worst for me: cut the size according to my bust measurement and had about 13" excess; the armholes were nearing my elbows!
*Admittedly this can get a bit chicken and egg sometimes.

AnnaMagnani · 29/06/2023 20:58

This is where I had to be brave!

I know the size I measure as.
I know the garment is supposed to be oversize
There is no way I am making a toile as 1. there are far too many pieces and 2. I am lazy

I'm fairly certain if I make it in my pattern size I'll have made an expensive sack. So I've been brave and gone down 2 sizes.

AnnieSnap · 29/06/2023 21:24

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/06/2023 18:08

I'm very confused! When the patterns arrive, I will measure myself and them come on here and panic a bit before I cut anything out! Grin

It will be fine. Not complicated at all when you see the pattern details, but do come back here and check.

OP posts:
AnnieSnap · 29/06/2023 21:29

@AnnaMagnani If you look on The Foldline pattern page, there are sometimes reviews. Those who have made-up the pattern tend to comment on fit and if they’ve sized down, by how much. Always worth checking the #pattern on Instagram. You’ll see it worn by women of different shapes and ages and there are comments on modifications on fit (e.g. sizing down).

OP posts:
AnnaMagnani · 29/06/2023 21:55

Thanks

Unfortunately it's a vintage pattern. I've been wanting to make it for years.

Dressmaking - experienced and beginners welcome
AnnieSnap · 29/06/2023 22:12

@AnnaMagnani You’ll need to make a toile 😬

OP posts:
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/06/2023 22:19

AnnaMagnani · 29/06/2023 21:55

Thanks

Unfortunately it's a vintage pattern. I've been wanting to make it for years.

This is divine.

Floisme · 29/06/2023 22:22

Oh don't get me started on pattern sizing - it's even more random than the high street. When I was just making unstructured things with drop shoulders etc it wasn't that big a deal. But then I wanted to have a go at shirts - at first I was so pleased to see it all come together that I didn't really care that the shoulder seams were halfway to my elbows, but then it started pissing me off. So now I'm trying to get to grips with how to alter patterns properly, and even thinking of drafting a couple of basic pattern blocks.

Up until now I've been a toile resister like AnnaMagnani. I understand why they're recommended and I guess I need to learn to view it as part of the process, but I'm not a patient person and the thought of making something that I know from the start I'm never going to wear kind of makes me want to weep.

AnnaMagnani · 29/06/2023 22:29

@AnnieSnap I am so not making a toile, it's 10m of fabric and just working out the cutting layout gave me a headache!

I don't think it's difficult - the skirt is basically a tube - but keeping track of all the pieces and colours is already requiring a note book.

AnnieSnap · 29/06/2023 22:32

@Floisme you can make a wearable toile, using a fabric that you like enough to wear, but is not as expensive as the lovely stuff you’d really like the garment in!

Good luck @AnnaMagnani Let us know how it goes.

OP posts:
Floisme · 29/06/2023 22:42

Thanks Annie, I know you're right, I really do. But it all takes so bloody long and sometimes I just think hell, I haven't got time to piss around any more Grin

clowniform · 29/06/2023 23:46

@AnnaMagnani that is amazing! I wouldn't bother with a toile either, if it didn't fit me it would be hung up as an art installation in the living room!

Hiddendoor · 30/06/2023 09:39

I normally don't bother with a toile but I want to make a really smart pair of Genet trousers so I can show off my skills, and I'll only be able to do that if I get the fit right so need to practice it first.

The shorts currently look like some comically over sized safari shorts a skinny legged aristocrat from the 1920s would wear on holiday. So I've got a bit of work to do...

@AnnaMagnani that pattern is gorgeous! Good luck!

Bunionbandit · 30/06/2023 12:26

Hi all fellow sewing fans, I’ve just recently bought myself a new sewing machine & completed my first full project (nice top) in years. I used to sew full projects years ago but have been doing more alterations/upcycling projects for a number of years. I’m wanting to purchase a cutting mat & roller cutter (like they use in GB sewing bee) as I think this will save me loads of time with the cutting out phase. However, I’m a bit flummoxed with the choice/price range & don’t know what/where to buy. Can anyone recommend a particular website or (reasonable cost) cutting mat/cutter to buy? Thanks in advance.

ReviewingTheSituation · 30/06/2023 12:38

10m of fabric???! Surely not! There aren't even any sleeves (which are generally pretty fabric-hungry).

You don't need to toile the whole thing. The bodice is the only area where the fit will be an issue. I'd be inclined to do that.

The skirt looks like the same construction as a puffball skirt? (bottom edge gathered, and joined to the lining). Are you dead set on that? I'd be making a 'normal' skirt if I was making up that dress, and just hemming it normally. You have to sew very precisely for that kind of skirt to hang well - particularly if there's a zip somewhere.

But it's a stunning pattern - what fabric are you making it in?

AnnieSnap · 30/06/2023 13:12

That’s great @Bunionbandit I can’t recommend particular mats or cutter. I bought mine off Amazon and took account of the reviews. I would say, get really large mats. I have two and together they don’t quite cover my cutting table. Also buy high quality blades.

OP posts:
Bunionbandit · 30/06/2023 13:35

Thank you AnnieSnap, I will research on Amazon.

AnnaMagnani · 30/06/2023 14:17

@ReviewingTheSituation the skirt seems to be doubled back on itself, the waistband is just elastic.

The vast quantities of fabric are partly the skirt being double, and partly cutting all the different colours- there are 6 different colours!

Even redoing the layout, the one from Vogue was useless, it's still a lot of long fabric strips and quite a bit of waste.

ReviewingTheSituation · 30/06/2023 14:38

@AnnaMagnani I looked the pattern up, as it's so nice!
Is it the shape/style you're keen on, or the 'patchwork' element? The skirt looks like it's just a rectangle with an elastic waist (doubled over, in the pattern, but I'd be making it in a single layer). Like you say, it seems very wasteful, if you're buying fabric for it specifically.

Swipe left for the next trending thread