Stylish Dress Book vol 1- How to make a tunic dress V

I managed to sew up the next dress from my Japanese sewing book a few weeks ago, dress V which is the shirt dress with a collar and pocket. I found sewing this up was much like the first dress although I did find sewing the collar a tad tricky as I've never actually sewn a garment which has a fold over collar. I did however manage to work it out by looking at an existing shirt I had which had a similar collar.

I made a few alterations to the pattern which I thought would give it a slightly more feminine touch to it. I noticed on the original pattern the shape of the shoulder is quite straight and was of a dropped nature so I raised the shoulder line and added gathers. I also added gathers to the cuff. Below is how I did these alterations.

For this dress I chose a lovely soft cotton plaid fabric (about 1.7 metres). Matching up the lines wasn't too bad with this pattern, it just took a little extra time to make sure they were in line.

The alterations

Raising the shoulder
Trace your sleeve pattern onto tracing paper. To give the shoulder a raised look you'll need to increase the head by about 2cm. Mark 2cm above the very top of the sleeve and then draw a gentle slope, starting from the back balance point mark. This line will continue over the top of the sleeve head and to finish at the front balance point mark.



This is your new sleeve head. Now you've altered the sleeve you'll need to take 2cm off of the front and back bodice piece. This is to ensure that the sleeve will comfortably fit the sleeve hole.
Mark 2cm in from the end of the shoulder on the front bodice piece. Start from that mark and draw a gentle curve sloping inwards until you reach the sleeve line where the balance point is. Then cut off the area you've just marked.




Do the same with the back bodice piece and you're done.

This technique of raising the shoulder is really useful when you require a gathered shoulder head. Raising the shoulder allows the gather to sit slightly in of the end of the shoulder which aesthetically looks better.

Gathers
So onto creating those gathers. At the bottom of your sleeve measure the desired height of the cuff you want, I think I made mine 5cm. Mark across and cut this amount off. This is your cuff- remember to add seam allowance to the top edge of your cuff after pinning it to your fabric.

Starting from the top centre line on your new sleeve piece draw 5 lines, 2cm apart. Cut down along these lines.


Number your strips and then spread them out leaving spaces of the desired amount (I did 2cm). Stick these all down on top of a new sheet of tissue paper, tidy the top sleeve curve by re-drawing the line. Go onto cut around the whole sleeve shape.


This will be your new sleeve. Your gather line will be from where the first strip starts to where the last cut strip ends. Now you're ready to sew the rest of the dress.

Step 3. Sew pocket

Take your pocket and fold in and press the seam allowances according to the image in step 3. remember that the top edge folds over twice, once by 1cm and again by 1.5cm making a total of 2.5cm. Sew down your top edge, 2mm from the edge.


At this point I actually sewed all the edges down as shown in the main image on page 76 and then sewed the pocket to the dress front. However the proper way would probably be to just go straight ahead and sew the pocket onto the dress without sewing the edges down first. by the sewing the edges down first it did help me to neatly sew the pocket to the dress more easily, especially as the pocket it cut on the bias but it's up to you which way you do it!




There are quite a few steps to this tunic so I'll be posting them up in stages! Stage two coming soon...

Winter Collection on main website!

Just a quick post to let everyone know the winter collection is now up on the main website phew! Finally we managed to get everything ready and online before Christmas. There are quite a few one off items like the jersey scarves and a couple of the ties so once they're gone, they're gone! Do take a look!

Mouret dress: Work in progress 1

Just a quick post to show how the dress is coming along. Here are photos of the poly satin fabric and of the lining I have nearly finished sewing.

Because we couldn't locate lining which matched the self fabric perfectly I've made facing pieces from the self fabric for the neckline and I'm wondering whether to do the same for the edge of the sleeve too.

Once this part is finished it'll be onto the main part of the dress and interfacing the parts of the dress which come under a lot of strain and are prone to stretching. Lots to do and only 4 weeks to go till the wedding event!

Day out at the fair...

We're back from the fair! and it was a really good experience. It was held inside The Old Fire Station, now called the Bungalows and Bears and there were about 9 other stalls all packed into one side of the ground floor. There were quite a mix of stalls including cute illustrated chinaware from Lianne Mellor to beautifully handcrafted ceramics by Paula Briggs. Other stalls included Rhea Clements quirky knitted scarves and also notebooks made from old record covers by When The Music's Over.

Winter season clothes and scarves (sneak peak!)

I had a good time seeing what other people had made, making new contacts and chatting with customers. I found it a really good way to collect feedback on what people really thought of what was being sold and also see what type of people were interested in the stall.

The only down point was that the lighting was really poor so people were finding it difficult to see what was on offer, but there was still a good crowd of people who came round to have a look. I would love to do another fair sometime soon!

Craft Candy Mini Fair

Craft Candy is a Sheffield based organisation promoting Craft in Sheffield. They organise several contemporary craft fairs a year showcasing some of the best art and craft this city and beyond has to offer. They are holding two mini craft fairs this winter and I have been offered a table at the first which is this Saturday, 6th November 1.00pm-5.00pm at the Bungalows and Bears on Division Street in Sheffield. Entry is free so do pop along if you are passing by! I've never been part of a craft fair before so I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm excited to see what it will be like!

Knitmaster Machine

If you don't know already, Freecycle is a great way to get rid of old items you don't need any more or to ask for things that others might be willing to give away to you. For years I've thought about one day getting a knitting machine, however they are very expensive and so I put the thought to the back of my mind. Then a few weeks ago I suddenly thought I would try and put out a 'wanted' post on Freecycle for a knitting machine. Doubtful that anyone would answer I didn't place much hope in getting any replies but to my surprise someone did! I very kind lady offered me not one machine but two knitting machines with a lace maker too!

I was incredibly thankful and have endeavoured to try and set up at least one of the machines. This week I've managed to do that and have tried knitting some very simple wrist warmers and some mittens for Niah. I would like to try some more adventurous things but I still have a lot to learn about how to operate these machines.

It was a bit of a hunt online to find the instruction manuals and work out how to use the machine but all the searching was well worth it as it knits up items so quickly! I received plenty of help from yahoo UK knitting groups and from a machine knitter called Susan Ranner, who by the way has a great blog with lots of knitting resources, if you're into knitting her blog is a good place to visit.