Scandinavia dreaming

Here is a photo of my friend Ylva's sewing machine. It was taken about a year ago in Malmo, Sweden. One of my favourite colours is this type of deep orange.

The Mathilde blouse: sewing game changer

I discovered Tilly's brilliant blog after watching the 'Great British Sewing Bee' and soon after bought both her wonderful patterns Mathilde and Miette.

What can I say...I enjoyed making the Mathilde blouse a lot! I didn't leave my house for about four days! It was a huge learning curve for me and in many ways a 'game changer'. I think I can break down my sewing journey into pre-Mathilde and post-Mathilde. I really took my time with this project and tried to overcome bad sewing habits like being too eager to complete a project to the detriment of the final garment's finish.

Tilly's instructions can't be faulted one bit and they really give you confidence. The cut of the pattern itself is just lovely too. I made mine in a quite thick blue cotton and I used an orange linen for the yoke and the cuffs. The buttons I used were in my sewing box for ages and I can no longer recall where they came from!

The main things I learned were:

 - never underestimate the importance of pressing seams. The finish of a garment is improved ten-fold when everything is properly pressed.

 - interfacing is your friend and is really not that scary!

 - to be more creative when thinking about future projects: after all I can now do cuffs, tucks, and gathered puff sleeves!

 - French seams are brilliant and really make for a tidier finish.

I enjoyed this project so much that I then adapted the pattern to make it into a shift dress. I took out the tucks and changed the button centre back opening for an invisible zip and I used some green linen. It's the first time I've used linen for a dress like this and it certainly is not a myth that it is a fabric that crumples easily. I'm pretty happy with the dress and it feels lovely on but next time I'll make it in a different fabric and maybe add a lining too.

Here are some pictures of the Mathilde blouse as it is meant to be, and I'll add some of my dress version soon!

Thanks, Tilly!

Sewing spaces

Having a place where you can sew and pattern cut is a luxury and most sewers have to work with what they've got. Kitchen tables double up as cutting tables; bedroom floors are littered with pins.

I was getting a bit sick of getting a sore back drafting patterns on my bedroom floor so when I found this tutorial I knew immediately that I had to make it. I added wheels to mine though so it would be easier to move around. Here are some pictures of it in my old bedroom where it really dominated the room!

Elastic spotty skirt

I picked up this blue spotty fabric in Les Petits Riens. I got about 4 metres of it for 2 euros! I think it is some sort of silk-polyester blend, I'm so bad at identifying fabrics! It drapes nicely and is nice and shiny so I thought it would be perfect for a simple elastic skirt. I followed this great tutorial. Et voilà...a new addition to my wardrobe I know I'll wear time and time again.