Antwerpen dress

I got the fabric for this dress in Antwerp way back in 2014 (!) in a shop that I can’t remember the name of and that I probably wouldn’t be able to find again. I had a voucher to spend which was my prize for taking part (and coming last) in the Belgian/Dutch online sewing competition ‘Sew it up‘ that Hanne and Caroline used to organise. So, wow, it has taken me four years to make something with this fabric! It is a soft drapey viscose that was way easier to work with than I anticipated and I’m glad I kept it for so long until the idea for this dress was born.

The pattern was the result of a day of pattern drafting experimentation! My favourite part is the cut-out back, although I think I’ll be wearing this with a top under it and tights from here on in as the wintery weather has just arrived in Belgium.

Here is a photo of the bodice pattern piece in case this is useful to anyone interested in drafting a similar pattern. Be careful with this type of ‘French dart’ as you can end up with a ‘pointy boob’ situation if the end of the dart is too close to the apex of the bust, so it can be worth shortening the dart a smidgen more than you would if it was in another position. As this fabric is really busy it is pretty forgiving but in a different fabric the darts might look slightly off. Not that anyone should be paying that close attention to the dart positions on your clothes (unless they are a fellow sewing aficionado).

The skirt is a slightly modified version of the skirt I used for this dress. For the sleeves I followed the ‘very flared sleeve’ method from Winifred Aldrich’s classic ‘Metric Pattern Cutting for Women’s Wear‘ book.

For the back, I cut two pieces that look like this:

I wore this dress to my dear friend Anna’s wedding on the Isle of Mull recently and as always seems to be the case when I make something for a particular event, somehow I end up hemming it at 1 in the morning the day before I need to get a train or a plane…all part of the fun! (You can read more about Anna’s wedding in my last post as I also made her wedding skirt!)

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago just before all the leaves on this tree started to fall!

Uisken skirt

Today I’ve got a very special project to share: I made my dear friend Anna’s wedding skirt! Anna is one of my closest and oldest friends so this was a very special – if daunting – project! And it is definitely one of my favourite sewing projects. The top Anna is wearing comes from Catherine Deane in London and I think it goes really well with the skirt. (Want to make it clear in the first paragraph of this post that I didn’t make Anna’s ‘top half’ so I’m not accidentally taking credit for others’ work!)

Photo credit: Ruaridh Cameron
Photo credit: Ruaridh Cameron

First up: let’s start at the end and look at the anatomy of the finished skirt:

The skirt is a half circle skirt with the main fabric a duchess satin from Mandors in Glasgow. There is one layer of tulle above the main fabric, two layers under for volume, and then a cotton lining. There is an invisible zip in the centre back seam and the waistband fastening is a hook and eye. On the back there is a ‘false button’ – it’s actually a badge that Anna had made in her new fella’s tartan (Cameron).

Hand sewn zip to keep all those layers in place


Anna with the finished skirt!

Photo credit: Christian

The process!

1) The first thing I did was take all of Anna’s measurements when we were both at home last Christmas and then I drafted a basic front and back bodice block. I sewed up a quick bodice muslin and made the necessary adjustments to the blocks. (Initially the plan was to make a whole dress but we took the wise decision given I am in Brussels and Anna in Glasgow that I would just make the skirt and Anna would find a top to go with it.) Even though we didn’t end up doing a whole dress, making the bodice blocks was still a really important part of the process. First of all because it was as good as any as a place to start! Secondly, I love drafting and relished the opportunity to try fitting on someone else’s body. And thirdly, I think it was a good way for Anna to start thinking about what kind of outfit she wanted, and how she wanted it to fit.

2) Next, I made a first ‘draft’ of the dress in muslin fabric once I was back in Brussels.

3) Then in February Anna and our friend Sally came over to Brussels for the weekend and brought the fabric she had chosen. Anna tried on the dress toile and I made some fitting adjustments to the blocks. I then made a full dress bodice and skirt mock-up in the main fabric, with sleeves too. I decided to cut into the ‘real fabric’ early on as it was a good way of seeing how it worked. I’d never worked with duchess satin before so wanted to get a feel for it.

That was when we decided that the bodice didn’t really look right in the fabric and to just focus on making a skirt. We realised it was going to take too long to get the bodice looking and fitting right and we only had so many weekends together to do it – think it was a wise decision! We played around with different levels of fullness – at first I made a full circle skirt but it was too puffy, the half circle skirt had a better balance of drape and poofy-outness (the technical term).

The sleeve testing!

3) After the weekend I added a lining and a waistband with a tie and some tulle layers. I then brought this over to Scotland when I was home for a visit so that Anna could take it with her to look for tops to go with it.

Un peu short

Say hello to my favourite sewing project from this summer — shorts! I drafted my own pattern and made a few muslins to get the fit right, so I’ve now got a good block that I plan to use to make some trousers. I wanted a high-waisted style and to get a good balance between slouchy and fitted. The other thing I’m happy about with these shorts is that the fabric comes from a vintage skirt bought at a ‘brocante’ so no new fabric was required, and I was even able to recycle the zip from the skirt. All in all I had a lot of fun working on these shorts as they were something I really needed (for the crazy hot weather), I got to play around with fit, learn new construction methods, and refashion something old.

I had so much fun in fact, I made a second pair (see below)! From leftover chambray from my Archer shirt from years ago — bought in Leuven in a fabric shop called Pauli Stoffen. It felt good to finally use up the rest of that fabric!

Now autumn is on the way (yes!) I’ll be wearing both pairs (not at the same time) over tights and leggings.

The other thing I want to mention about the making of these shorts is that I followed this brilliant tutorial from Closet Case Patterns for the Jenny shorts pattern religiously when it came to construction order for the zip and pockets. I just love the way the method has the lapped zipper integrated into the pockets. Seriously, bookmark that tutorial.

Before: a vintage skirt that was way too small for me.

Close up of Heather’s brilliant construction method, and my slightly shoogly sewing 🙂

The second pair!

More lapped zipper swooning…

My Brighton and Hope Dress

Communicating with a higher power or blinded by the light?

This was one of those sewing projects. You know the ones. You’ve got a ‘deadline’. Say, a wedding in Brighton that’s been planned for months in a few days. And you decide that now is the perfect time to start an un-thought out sewing project to make for it! Sometimes this approach is a recipe for disaster for me, but this time luck was on my side and I’m really happy with this new dress.

The fabric has been in my stash for a few years now after buying it in Paris at one of the shops near the Marché Saint-Pierre. It’s a woven, has a sort of canvas-y feel, and has just the right amount of stretch in it. I can’t remember how much it cost but I don’t think it was very much and I bought 3 metres of it (in a burst of ‘I’m in Paris, oh pretty fabric’ enthusiasm). It’s an unusual shade of pink (which doesn’t capture too well in photos) and I think that is why it took me so long to make something with it. It feels like the kind of fabric that doesn’t deserve half measures. It needed to be a dress really!

It’s also interesting going back through the fabrics I bought a few years ago and looking at them with a more critical ‘environmental eye’. Even though I think (hope) I’ve always been ‘conscious’ about how much fabric I’m buying etc., over the last few years I’ve definitely got way more uncomfortable with the lack of information on the exact provenance of all the piles of textiles piled up in my apartment. I’ve no idea where this came from really (beyond the Paris shop where it ended up), what was the dyeing process used to get that deep pink, and I’m not sure what types of synthetic materials are woven together to get that nice stretch.

But the pattern itself is a pattern hacking act of recycling though!

p.s. not my litter!

I was about to buy some new patterns recently and then I decided to reorganise my pattern shelf and look again at the patterns I’ve only made one or two times. It can be so tempting to buy new patterns all the time but I think it is good to get a balance between buying new patterns (and supporting all the wonderful indie businesses) and getting the most out of the ones you already own.

I’ve recently been re-wearing my BHL Flora dress after reworking it (‘reworking’ sounds a bit over the top as I really just lengthened the hem) and I was reminded of how perfect the fit of the bodice is. It is fitted but still has room for lunch. So I took the bodice and altered it to this more ‘corsety’ shape. Then I made some longer straps and drafted an A-line skirt with added flare. I was tempted to go for a circle skirt but I wanted the skirt to hang closer to the body. As the fabric is quite structured it still has that ‘fit and flare’ circle skirt effect but it would be interesting to make this dress in a soft, flowing fabric which would hang differently.

This dress is really fun to wear and after wearing it to the wedding I’ve also been wearing it out and about too. I didn’t get the chance to take pictures in Brighton so these were taken in Brussels in the glaring heat of this endless sunny spell.

Yay, lampost head!

Tête dans les nuages

After making my first Closet Case Patterns Kalle shirt, I knew I wanted to make more!

For this version I changed the collar though. In my first version, the collar was kind of in my way so I decided to forego it this time round. Instead of using the band collar included in the pattern I drafted my own band collar/’visible bias facing thing’ so that I could get it exactly where I want it. It took aaages to get this right and I hand sewed it on in the end, but I’m really happy with the result. Here is a pic of the work in progress:

The fabric I used for the shirt was salvaged from an old sundress that I bought in New Look years ago and didn’t wear anymore. I always loved the cloudy fabric so didn’t part with it. I’m so glad I cut it up and managed to get the Kalle pattern pieces cut out from it.

It is as light and airy to wear as it looks. And it feels so good to make something you love out of something you didn’t.

I’m more motivated than ever to get through my piles of ‘things to rework’/‘UFOs’/fabric scraps. I find it quite oppressive having them in boxes in my apartment yet I just can’t part with them or donate them, and of course I can’t bin them!

I recently had one of the most therapeutic days ever though which I think only people who sew will understand. I keep all my fabric scraps that are big enough to be used again, so that is a lot of bits of fabric that – let’s be honest – won’t all get used again anytime this side of ever. I spent a few hours going through the fabric scraps and forced myself to only keep some of the really special remnants where I had a specific idea in mind of what to do with them.
The rest I used to stuff a cushion I made. It is so nice to look at the cushion and know that both the outside (made from the same fabric I used for a Belladone dress a few years ago) and the inside are nods to my past sewing projects. Such a good way to scrap bust and reduce waste!

From this….


…to this…

…to this!


Zero waste! 🙂 🙂