Just like honey(comb)

I made a Honeycomb dress by Cocowawa crafts and I can report it is a very sweet pattern, just like honey. I’d seen lots of lovely versions online and I was curious about the construction. As I said in my previous post, I’m curious about patterns with ties rather than zip closures. The Honeycomb’s gathered skirt is cinched in thanks to two front ties on both sides. I definitely could have sewn my gathers better but gathering is not my strong point.

It’s such a comfy dress to wear and it feels both dressed up and dressed down at the same time.

The fabric I used was bought on a wee trip to Amsterdam with my sister in 2017 – I found about 3 metres of it at the bottom of a remnant bin and took pity on it and decided to give it a home. For a while I regretted buying it as I couldn’t think what to make with it. But it was the perfect fabric to try out a new pattern on, and see if I could get at least a wearable muslin out of it.

But luckily, I got a full on dress I love! The fabric is very light flowy corduroy/needlecord that could possibly be curtain fabric.

Tea House Dress of dreams

You know when you make something and at the end you have the ‘ok this is why I sew’ feeling? Well, I had that feeling big time making this dress. And as we all know, that feeling is certainly not a given with sewing – or any hobby you really care about.

The pattern is the Tea House Dress from Sew House Seven – and I. LOVE. IT.

The dress ties together with a waist tie and drapes really nicely, there are no fastenings, no gathers, and loose sleeves. I’m not a massive fan of gathers or elastic, and while I do love a zip and some buttons, the chance of messing those up – whether in terms of fit or finishing – is high. You can’t really mess up the fit of a dress that just pulls in with a waist belt. It’s the type of dress I know I’ll be able to make in both ‘everyday’ versions and in a fancier fabric for a wedding, for example.

The fabric is ‘Ledding Viscose Twill – Mustard’ from Fabric Godmother which I bought myself as a Christmas present – the first time I ever bought fabric online, I think. It’s gorgeous and I just love the colour.

The waist belt I used is a trim I bought in Chien Vert with no particular plan for, I think the deep blue spots go really well with the yellow. First of all I used a different trim for the belt which didn’t work at all as it was too poofy when tied at the back, so I unpicked everything to change it for this and I’m so glad I did.

This dress also made me think of the relationship between the design of a pattern and sustainability in terms of how often you might need to wash the garment. Obviously this is very personal and everyone is different, but as this is not really ‘all up in my armpits’ I don’t feel it needs washed as often. Definitely an aspect to consider when choosing patterns with sustainability in mind.

Did I mention I love this pattern? I’ve got two more versions cut out already – this pattern will hopefully help me do some serious fabric stashbusting.

Here is a photo burst – couldn’t get my camera to properly focus in some of these but you can still see the dress 🙂

 

 

All over the Ophelia overalls

I’d been looking for a dungaree pattern for a while when I came across the Ophelia Overalls from Decades of Style’s Everyday range and I was immediately drawn to the original design. They are roomy and loose, but straps and D-rings at the side cinch them in a bit at the waist. I love the big pockets on the side. I took up the hem by about 11cm so they would skim my ankles and I think it is a length that looks nice with sandals or boots. I hardly ever wear trousers so they do take a bit of getting used to for me but I’ve been wearing them loads since I finished them a few weeks ago! While having a wide trouser leg feels a bit odd sometimes to me and I have to hike them up a bit when I’m on my bike, all in all they are an absolute dream to wear and I don’t know how I lived without them before!

And can we talk about this lovely mustard yellow corduroy?! Like lots of other sewists, I certainly am a sucker for the mustard yellow. I bought this fabric in Pauli Stoffen in Leuven (best fabric shop in Belgium!) in January. The Ophelia overalls pattern envelope design even has one of the illustrations in yellow corduroy, so it was meant to be! It was so lovely to sew with and I’ve got loads left over so I plan to make some dungarees for my cousin’s wee baby.

I really took my time to make these dungarees and one thing I did was spend a lot of time researching and sourcing my hardware. I used spring snaps for the closures at the side seams, this is the first time I’ve had any success with spring snaps and finally finding some that work for me was so satisfying! After a LOT of research I bought some spring snaps and set in tools from the Laughing Lizard Store on Etsy. I’ve never mastered those annoying Prym plyers and I find it so frustrating that most sewing shops sell plastic snaps or, at best, quite bad quality ring snaps. Closet Case Patterns has an excellent read about the difference between spring and ring snaps and how to install them.

One thing I’ve definitely learnt when it comes to trying to be as sustainable as possible with your sewing is that it is better to take three months to make something and really make sure it is well made and that you’ll wear it, rather than bash something out only for it to languish in your wardrobe.

Can’t wait to make more things with spring snaps!