Guilt...and Gratification

I knew it was going to be difficult for me to stick to a resolution not to buy any more fabric when I headed, with LDC member Joy, for the Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts show at Excel on 7 April.  It only took us 45 minutes to get there, 45 minutes of non-stop sewing chatter.  In fact, we were so busy talking that we went straight past the entrance to the show and had to turn round and retrace our steps.
Once inside we headed to book some of the free workshops available.  We both signed up for one on ribbon embroidery techniques and Joy also bagged a place on one just about to start and headed off to take her seat in the workshop area.  That left me with about 40 minutes before the start of a talk by Wendy Dolan on the techniques that she uses for her textile art, techniques that I thought might be useful for dress making embellishment. Should you have the chance to hear Wendy talk and show how she creates her work then take it.  She showed some wonderful examples and the lace she created for a wedding gown, using only sewing machine stitching, is just amazing.
Those 40 minutes led me into temptation and by the time I met up with Joy, who had spent the time being very creative in her workshop, I had 2 metres of jersey knit in my bag purchased from the stall of Lili Fabrics .  I had not been able to resist  the dark blue, grey and tan colour way,  as I knew it would go with many items in my wardrobe but I still felt Guilty for breaking the resolution yet again.  The plan was to make a simple knit dress using a pattern that was in the May 2016 issue of Prima magazine.  It had to be something simple because I have had two frustrating makes in the past few weeks, one being a disastrous pair of trousers and the other a dress, which turned out well but caused a number of headaches in the making.  I needed some easy sewing Gratification to restore my confidence.
The yardage requirements for the pattern were stated to be 1.80 metres but the length was just under 20 cm shorter than I wanted so I bought 2 metres.  I should have remembered that in the past I had found that Prima overcalculated the amount I would need and so it proved.  I decided to make a skirt and top instead, giving me the chance to wear them together or separately.
The top was taken from a pattern that I bought in the 1970's  and had made previously.  In fact I still wear the top, now even more fashionable than when I first made it as it is in a quilted knit.  It is worn by the middle figure on the pattern envelope - and check out the flare on those trousers!

The skirt was View D from New Look 6164, bought a couple of years ago in a closing down sale of a Brixton fabric store.  It has an elasticated waist and a centre back seam with a slit for ease of movement.

I made only two adjustments to the skirt pattern , the first was to lengthen it and the second was my usual one for flat buttocks by pinching out an amount from the centre back seam accross the pattern along the hip line, graduating  the amount of the reduction to nothing at the side seam.  I do it by slashing the pattern across the hipline and pivoting it the required amount, then taping it in position.  If I don't do this my skirt side seam will swing forward because I do not have enough derriere to support the shape at the back.
Fortunately for me and my sewing sanity, all went smoothly, the only hiccup being that I cut the top sleeves separately and was just about to cut the second one when, in the nick of time, I realised I had failed to reverse the fabric and was about to cut another left sleeve.
I am pleased with the result.  I am not a fan of elasticated waists but it certainly gives a quick and easy result and is easily disguised with a belt or by a top worn over it plus no worries about overeating as the skirt waistline expands with you.  My only niggle is that the centre back slit seems rather high for modesty but it does mean that I shall have no worries about there being enough leg room for bicycling.
So here it is, top and skirt worn together.

 And taking a leaf out of the book of member Pia, who writes this inspiring blog , I have attempted to coerce my partner into taking some other photos to show the two items worn in other ways.  First the casual jeans mode-

 and next the efficient secretary at work mode-

I wore the top and skirt on 12 April to the Monthly LDC meetup at Ev's, where almost everybody was wearing great examples of their makes- jackets, skirts, blouses and dresses. I can see that I will wear these two pieces a lot as it doesn't crease and can be dressed up or down.  I don't feel quite so guilty now and got so much gratification that I am likely to make these again soon using some knit fabric from my stash to take part in the sewalong starting on 22 April, details here , thus allowing me to feel very virtuous.

Our Sewalongs

Butterick 4790

Every so often we schedule sewalongs as part of the LDC group's events.  This is how they work:

Our sewalongs usually start with some members of the London Dressmakers Club deciding that they would like to make either a specific garment or item, or something with a specific theme. Sewalong aren't "meetings" as such.  We don't meet up in a physical location for this, this is an opportunity to sew the item at home, at your own pace: a sewalong is just like a knitalong, you do your own thing and then you compare notes.

The scheduled event gives you a chance to exchange tips and comments with the others who have signed up. You can post comments on the Sewalong meetup page, or upload photos in the suitable photo album.  If you have a query or get stuck with your project, then ask a question in the comments or bring your work-in-progress along to a monthly meeting to ask the others for advice in person.

Meetup allows us to post meetings that last up to two weeks, but no more. The Sewalongs typically run much longer - we like to put them on for anything from two to three months.  It is up to you whether you might like to get started early and get it done, or if you want to space out your sewing a bit over the entire period. Life is busy and it can be a challenge to find sewing time.  It is important to be able to sew in whichever way works best for you.  The Sewalongs can be great inspiration and motivation to complete a specific item.

Some sewalongs are quite informal: we did put a 'simple item' sewalong on a while ago and dressmakers could make anything they wanted. We set a time of two months and invited comments and photos but didn't suggest any other framework or structure.

Other sewalongs were a bit more structured: we split the two months into several two week slots that we scheduled individually and suggested specific tasks for each part.  We will probably keep doing both kinds of sewalongs, some people prefer one to the other.

Our May/June/July sewalong is to make a Summer Wrap Dress - any kind. This came out of several members wanting to make the Walk Away dress (as seen on the Sewing Bee 2015: Butterick 4790 or the vintage edition Butterick 6015. There was even a 'Walk Away Dress, the Mini Version'! Butterick 6204), some of us have the pattern and want to make it up.  It is up to you whether you want to make the Walk Away dress or another kind of summer dress, it doesn't strictly have to be a wrap dress, this is more by way of suggestion.  Go with whichever pattern and style of dress you feel like!

Butterick 4790



Butterick 6015

Do you have any question about our sewalongs?  Don't be shy asking, just post a comment below or on the relevant sewalong meetup page.

Happy Sewing!


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LDC jacket lining discussion

LDC Dilemma Corner: Lining your jacket
Sew-a-long discussion.

Hello Seamstresses,

Many of us got involved in the great jacket sew-a-long if you have completed your project how did you find the lining stage? Any hints and tips? If you are yet to complete it still let LDC Seamstresses know how you plan to tackle this section, it can be mind boggling ... That is my experience!

LDC Sew-a-Longs

Have you joined a London Dressmakers Club sew-a-long?

I joined the LDC group in the Summer of 2013 and took part in the Jacket Sew-a-Long that ran from the end of September and finished at the end of November.

This challenge was great for me as I had previously steered clear of sewing jackets as I knew that they can sometimes require a lot of fitting and to be honest they don't feature a huge amount in my lifestyle (I'm much more of a cardigan girl). There fore I decided to stick with a very simple pattern such as Simplicity 2250

The ease of the pattern enabled me to be able to finish the jacket within the the challenge timeframe (although there is Meetup for the sew-a-long stragglers here) and I was lucky enough to pick out my fabric at a shopping trip with the group a couple of weeks before. 

LDC is a great place to chat to fellow sewers about the projects that we are working on, exchanging ideas, hints, tips and troubleshooting. This was even more so for me when sewing this garment as many of the LDC members were experiencing the same jacket woes and joys at the same time that I was!

LDC are hosting another sew-a-long from February 1st - 31st March, this time for a skirt. So why not set yourself the challenge?  Fill a gap in your wardrobe or just surf through the ideas and projects that people are working on. You can find further information on the sew-a-long here

As we are talking about skirts ideas I must give a shout out to LDC member Samantha who had the great idea of turning jumpers into skirts. You can see more on this on the LDC Member Makes pages here. Such a simple and great idea for rejuvenating items in your wardrobe!

Lastly, if anyone has any ideas for future sew-a-longs do feel free to comment below! We would love to hear from you.

This is the blog of the London Dressmakers Club

This is the blog of the London Dressmakers Club.  We are based in London, UK.

We are a sewing group organising meetings through Meetup.com.  You can find us here:

 

              The London Dressmakers Club on Meetup.com

This group is open to anyone who enjoys sewing and fashion: beginner or advanced dressmaker, maker of garments or sewer of useful items - everyhone is welcome to join.

We are looking to schedule all kinds of meetings and events.  We would love to hear about what you would like to do, like sew alongs or exhibitions to go to, - if you would like to go on fabric shopping trips, attend meetings where we can sit, hand stitch, and swap sewing tips, - or something totally different that we haven't thought of yet.

We would also like to encourage all members of the group to contribute to this blog: this is a members' blog and better the more people contribute.  You can comment on any post already, but we would particularly like members to become registered authors so you can put up your own posts and photos. Please drop us a line.

You could write about a project you made or a work in progress you are busy with (lots of progress photos please! I'm a sucker for those! G.).  You could tell us about an item you want to make and what you like about it: show us photos of the fabric, the pattern or any other bits and pieces you got for it. Or you could tell us about a technique you found useful, or give a summary of a good blog or a short list of links - I'm sure that any kind of contribution like this would be really helpful to other members.

We could also have a regular feature of 'Ask a sewing related question'.  You ask the question, the members of the London Dressmakers Club do their darndest to provide a helpful answer.  That could be really helpful?

Put your thinking caps on and let us know what you come up with.

Please get in touch!