Fake dotty day dress

Do you remember in October 2012, I first started my sewing class and chose the Simplicity 2215 skirt as my first make? Well, guess what? I actually, finally finished it eight, yes eight, months later!!

 

My class is only once a fortnight (with breaks over Christmas, Easter etc) and with five or six other members and a very particular teacher, the going was ssssllllloooowwww....

But, I am learning loads of techniques and it's such a laugh.Gill, the teacher, who used to be wardrobe mistress for one of the Birmingham theatres back in the day, likes us to do things her way and so I haven't really worked on the skirt outside of the classes.  Instead, I've just got on and sewn whatever I've wanted to get my fixes!

The reason I call this the fake dotty day dress is that the first time I wore it, I paired it with my Sorbetto made of the same fabric and with a belt on, it does look like a dress. I wish I'd done something else with my hair that day, it looks awful in the photos above. But it was a work day after all so it was a case of shoving it up into a messy bun and just getting on...

It does look just as good with a different top

Oh, it is definitely polka dotty, the
previous photos are blurry! 

Um, I'm going to let you into a tiny secret. Even though I was really careful and thought I had paid attention in class, the waistband is about 3 inches too big! Don't think I'll be getting an A star for that, right? Whoops!!

Oh and one other little thing - my design came third in the sewcialist logo competition! The winner was Joost, with an ingenious design that can be personalised with different colours - I've already got mine up on my sidebar. Go and get yours!

Butterbeer is RANK! ... But my Robe Sureau is not!

Really sickly sweet and not very nice!

So I got to go to the Harry Potter studio tour for my birthday - it was great fun and as it was a special day, I wore my Sureau for the first time. I love it! It's so comfy to wear and looks really good.

I'm holding Lord Voldemort's wand in that photo above! The dress certainly wasn't without its trials; I decided I wanted pockets and so set about using the instructions from another pattern I have (Simplicity 2215). Except that I've never used an invisible zip before. Or put in pockets. The right pocket was fine and has turned out lovely:

But the left pocket, which sits in front of the side zip, was a complete and utter nightmare to do. I don't know how many times I had to rip out the seams and start again, about five I think! It seemed to go ok when I made the toile but I suppose I wasn't being particularly neat then. When I eventually got the hang of it (well, sort of) I realised that the raw edges of the pocket were showing at the side, doh!

So, more seam ripping. I eventually got it so that I was reasonably happy with the look of the finished pocket. The different coloured pockets are on purpose, before you say anything. The invisible zip isn't entirely invisible by the way!

Bit of a blurry photo!

I love the dress and the pattern was so easy to follow despite being in French. Thanks to Eleonore and Anna, I got lots of tips from the sew-along and managed to make a lovely dress that I'm sure I'll wear time and time again. I may change a couple of things for next time though - perhaps putting the zip in the back rather than the front if I make pockets again and also I might make the skirt part not as full. Oh, and I found these really cute button to go on the bodice - apologies for the blurry photo again.

Here are a few highlights from the studio:

And I couldn't resist taking this next photo of Delores Umbridge's pink dresses, after all this is now a sewing blog...Future projects maybe??!

A change of heart

Well, I've decided not to make the Belle skirt after all... I had a look at the pattern in more detail and realised that it had an elasticated waist and lots of gathers. When I bought the pattern I obviously only looked at the photo and not the description as I was under the impression that it had a zip closure. What a silly moo I am! I will be more careful in the future as I think I wasted about a tenner on the pattern when I could have got a few patterns more to my taste in the recent sales. Never mind, it's a lesson learnt. Maybe I should the pattern on eBay and see if I can recoup some cash?

I jointly ordered some patterns from the US with my friend Katie (hi Katie!) and they arrived yesterday. Looking through them, I realised I could use this skirt pattern instead:

I love the fact that it has pockets! SO, this is going to be my first sewing class project instead (although I have already started a little weekend project on the side - more on that soon). Watch this space!