Linden Sweatshirt Dress - Paisley Vintage Jersey

Hi all,

It feels like an age since I have written a blog post! I have been so busy with birthdays and the like that posting has been put on the back burner. Well I am back today with a super quick sewing fix!

I have been doing a lot of sewing recently some of which I hope to be sharing with you guys in the coming weeks, but I kind of overloaded my self and needed a bit of a break. So I have had a week without sewing pretty much, which for me felt kind of crazy! But this week I gave in and decided I needed a quick simple project to get me back at the sewing table. 

Firstly let me explain, I have a 'to sew' list which changes on occasion but mostly I work my way through it and am pretty happy, but the weather has kind of made that a challenge recently. I had planned my next batch of sewing to be vests, summer tops, dresses, things for my holiday. In fact I had a whole post based around it ( but lets not talk about that shall we) but when the weather decided to stay wet, grey windy and well, very cold I decided, all this summer sewing just won't do! 

I got out my Linden Sweatshirt pattern from the ever faithful Grainline Studio and decided, I NEED more sweatshirts. So that was that, I cut out a lovely grey knit sweatshirt from my newly modded pattern and thought this will be my sewing fix. For some reason I wasn't quite content with that, so I went back to the fabric cupboard and sought out my Vintage paisley cotton jersey. 

I feel I must explain, this is stuff of legends, it is 100% cotton and so thick it could keep you warm in winter like a blanket, it is wonderfully stable, sews like a dream and.....is over two meters wide!

Where did I find such a magnificent piece of cloth, well like most of my snazzy prints it was handed down to me from my Aunty. Back in the day when there were multiple fabric shops on the high street, my Aunty would go and buy amazing fabric so cheaply it now makes me feel a little queezy just thinking about it. She would not only buy for herself but for me when I was a kid, so she has amassed a rather large stash of pretty rad 70's, 80's and 90's prints that she very generously donates to me when I am looking to make something super snazzy.  

Okay, sorry, getting back to the point, I got a little off track there with the whole 80's fabric shopping nostalgia. I  have saved this particular piece of fabric for about eight years, yes, that's right, eight years, I love it that much. I decided it was time to cut that 80's fabric up and have myself a new dress by the end of the day. I wanted a dress that would see me through the pretty poor weather we have been having, something I could wear with tights and a shirt underneath, but equally just on its own in the summer. I wanted to make myself a t-shirt smock dress and decided that the Linden Sweatshirt pattern was the perfect place to start.

I wanted a smock t-shirt style dress, so I set to shortening the the Linden bodice, adding some shaping and then cutting two rectangles to give the gathered skirt I wanted.

Here we have it, I think it fits the purpose I made it for, it is perfect for layering, but also great for when the weather gets a little warmer. I purposely made it just long enough so I could go bare legs if it ever gets warm enough here and the wind drops.... this is not a dress for a windy day...

I have to say I finally had some success with the neckband on this Linden, I feel super happy with the finish on it. ( I was getting a little jealous over here of everyone's wonderful Linden necklines)  I have had a little trouble with this in the past and thought it was perhaps just me being a sloppy sewer.... but as it turns out it was my fabric. My previous two Lindens were out of crazy unstable knitted fabrics that laddered when stretched so adding the neckline had been a challenge. I feel it looks neater this time around, yay for stable jersey!

Here I am laying up my dress because as predicted by the time I had finished my dress it was still mighty cold and I needed my shirt and tights to keep me warm. 

And here is how I hope to wear it if the weather gets a little warmer, however by that point I hope that my legs won't quite blend in to the magnolia colour on the walls quite like they do now.... lets just say I need some sunshine......

I am pretty happy with my quick sewing project, I think I will be making a few more, possibly in a woven next time just to make things a bit cooler for the summer.

I would love to know if you have tried any hacks out with the Linden Sweatshirt pattern. If so please let me know in the comments below!

~HJF~

Tartan Linden sweatshirt view B - and a tale of badly printed knit fabric woes....

Hi all,

Today I am back with my second Linden sweatshirt by Grainline Studio. I received this pattern for christmas and was pretty quick to whip up a first edition that you can see here. When I made my first Linden I was so eager to make it I just decided I would make the biggest size as that seemed right according to my measurements I did not however account for the HUGE amount of stretch my knit fabric had, and I mean huge. My first Linden could keep me and seven other people warm all at the same time!! So second time around I decided to be a little bit more cautious, and plan a little better. I do try and plan my my makes really well, but I think I always let myself down when it comes to stretch and knit garments, I tend to forget there are equal if not more fit issues with a stretch garment than with a woven.  

I worked out that my new tartan knit fabric had no where near the amount of stretch my last fabric had but I still felt that I needed to come down a couple of sizes. I was making view B sweatshirt with the intention of it being layer over a shirt so I didn't want it to be too baggy or too long. I opted for a size 14 and kept the original view B length. 

One thing I also noted on my first linden was that the neckline came out huge on me (think over the shoulder, audition for FAME, do you need some leg warmers with that, wide), so I decided to grade the neckline down from a 14 to a 10. I know this might seem like a huge jump but I wanted a much closer fit around the neck than last time. (I am under no illusions I am a size 10 here folks, have no fear!) 

Ok so the after all the grading and tracing I was like, yeah, awesome, the fun bit, cutting out! I had bought me some lovely drapey tartan knit from Abakhan sometime last year. At the time I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it but then I got the Linden pattern as part of my sweet christmas haul and I figured they were a match! So I buy quite a lot of dressmaking fabric from Abakhan, it means I can buy ends of bolts at very reasonable prices for the most part. I also like to shop there because they have a lot of imported prints and It is my ONE and only local fabric store if I don't want to venture into the depths of Manchester which right now isn't an option for me on a regular basis. 

My tartan knit is not my usual colour scheme, because well, there is colour in it, but I liked the shades and I guess the thing that swayed me was the GOLD, it has a metallic gold printed check in the tartan pattern, and I completely blame my magpie eye here, I feel metallic prints on fabrics are still emerging and It fell into my basket with few questions asked. I did not however anticipate the hassle this fabric would give me. 

I decided I was going to be a good seamstress, pattern match all my side seams, pattern match my raglan seams and step back in sheer wonderment at the gold tartan joy I had just created. Yeah, well, that really didn't happen did it, I knew as soon as I lay my fabric out on the counter top to cut it out we were not going to get along. The print was so badly off, and I mean so badly, I had to make a decision. Do I go with the vertical stripes running vertical to my body and all of the other horizontal stripes being off, or do I go with all the horizontal stripes perpendicular to my pattern centre front and the vertical stripes being off. Well I went with the first option, I decided that the bold black vertical lines that ran down the tartan would look much more obvious if they were running all crazy across my body, so this meant my horizontal tartan lines are all kinds of crazy (see bottom hem) but there was literally nothing I could do. I am not happy but I had the fabric and I wanted that Linden. If there was something I missed I would love to know, please comment below :) 

So that kind of meant pattern matching my side seams was near impossible and pattern matching my raglan seams was also going to be difficult. If I am honest here I decided it wasn't worth it, in order to get any sort of match I would have had to completely throw off the one way stretch of the knit and I just wasn't willing to do that and compromise on fit and drape. So no pattern matching for me, but you know what, I think I am ok with it, because in the end, this sweatshirt is all kinds of crazy. 

First photograph please.....

You can barely see the metallic gold here, and I feel I need to justify my fabric buying boo boo, so here is the GOLD......

I had a couple of problems with the neckline on this sweatshirt, I cut the band to a size 12 even though I had graded the neck to a 10. I hoped that the extra length would stop the fabric over stretching and making the neckband too thin, but I think next time I will go up even another size to a 14 neckband so it comes out a little thicker. I know this is mainly a problem when using the same fabric for the neckband as the body of your sweatshirt, when I did a little research other people seamed to have had similar experiences. 

Ooh look at those non pattern matched raglan sleeves ha ha... Shocker!! 

One slightly unusual choice for me on this sweatshirt was that I have decided to keep the hem raw, now I may live to regret this (or not regret it but just put it under my cover stitcher and hem it) but that is my choice for now and I kinda like it! I think that this fabric has a wonderful drape and just lends itself well to being left raw, but we will see. 

 

 

This is pretty much how I hoped to wear this sweatshirt with a shirt underneath, nothing too fancy.

 

Today however Is the hottest day yet and after snapping these pictures the weather was warm enough to warrant shorts and t-shirts.... should you so wish!

 

Thanks for stopping by guys, I will be back soon with more details of my pledge for Me Made May.

 

~HJF~

 

 

 

 

Sea Change Top - Pattern Testing for Lily Sage and Co

Hi all,

I am back today with a lovely bit of pattern testing. I started following Debbie of Lily Sage and Co over on Instagram a while ago, and was so inspired by her fashion an her sewing skills, her style is just fabulous. So, when she posted her new Sea Change top and shouted out that she needed pattern testers I thought I would try my luck.

I was aware that Lily Sage and Co are very popular so I wasn't sure I would be in with a chance but I think being at the larger end of the size spectrum meant I got a shot at testing. I have never tested a pattern for anyone before so I have to say it was quite exciting for me, and it felt really nice to be a part of someone else's creative journey instead of just my own, and hopefully I was able to give some constructive feedback too.

 

Ok so here we go, the Sea Change pattern is a cropped shape top with loose kimono style sleeves. It is super easy to assemble with only minimal pattern pieces to achieve what I think is a really nice clean finish .

 

 

 

Above you can see the kimono sleeve details, there is so much scope with this pattern. It is styled to be a slightly cropped fit, and I made it this way for the pattern test and think it looks great. For me personally next time around I will be adding just a little more length to make it a bit more flattering to my larger figure.

 

 

I made this top in some navy and off white georgette that I had in my stash, it has lovely drape to the fabric so I thought it would be perfect for this (nautical stripes....again!!). This pattern states it works for jersey fabrics too and I can definitely see that being a bit hit, a bamboo jersey with just the right amount of drape would be perfect for this top.

 

 

 I am seeing potential for a really great dress hack here too, add elastic into the waistband and an A-line skirt and it would be great wardrobe staple!

 

All in all I am super happy with this make and will be making more once the official pattern comes out. If you are looking for a new top/blouse pattern for the summer (or the winter, think of the layering options!!!!!) this really is a winner. Great work Debbie!

 

That's all for now,

 

~HJF~

 

 

 

 

An Easter Treat.... A Baby Bunny Romper suit anyone?

Hi all,

I am back today with a little Easter treat for you, a Vintage inspired knitted baby romper of the bunny variety!

As I have mentioned before I love knitting, but I am not the quickest of knitters and most of the time just enjoy having a small project for the evenings to keep me busy. I usually try and knit with a purpose but on the odd occasion I like to knit things for little people, and while I don't have any of those of my own right now, or know too many people that do I usually figure that if I knit something up, it will hopefully never go to waste.

A little while ago I knit up a vintage style romper, (you can read more about it here) and well I fell in love! I adored the style and knew I would need to knit more, they are so quick and easy that it doesn't even take ME more than a couple of evenings to knit up, and maybe another night for the final sew up.

My first romper was in a neutral tone of grey with thoughts in mind that were it ever to be gifted it was gender neutral, but ever since I finished my first romper I wanted to make another.

I have had some fuchsia pink yarn stashed away for a little while and I figured it would be perfect for another romper and would let me have a little more fun with a theme.

So here we have it...

My knitted Bunny Romper suit.

 

I used a pattern by The Daily Knitter called Lesley which is a lovely pattern and is really simple and quick to knit up.

 

 

 

I initially started with just the plain old romper, but I just couldn't resist adding one last touch.....

 

 

A little Bunny tail... I mean this isn't usually my thing, I don't go for overly cute baby things, I totally blame these buttons for my decisions.

 

 

I bought these wooden buttons on a birthday fabric shopping trip to Grace and Favour and, well things just went hopping out of control from there. ( I mean, I bought smiling cute bunny button faces, huh, so unlike me, but I challenge you to resist these guys in person)

 

Here is a final shot of the Bunny tail which is a small pom pom made from acrylic yarn which is pale pink with blue and fuchsia flecks in it, I made it kind of large to begin with, so I clipped it down a lot (which I have to say was immense fun, who knew) so it is now a super dense pom pom tail and I loooove it!

 

 

I fairly loosely followed the pattern this time around as my yarn didn't swatch the same, so I decided to go by measurements, I also changed the depth of both the rib on the waist band and the leg cuffs to be slightly deeper than the pattern called for. 

 

The other main change for this romper was I deciding to use a moss stitch for the bib edging, last time I did a rib stitch and I just wasn't happy with the finish and I thought it looked kind of scruffy so I was keen to find something that would give me a cleaner look. I decided on moss stitch and I think I am fairly happy, although I think next time round I would drop my needle size my a half to give a firmer finish with a slightly less open look.

 

I think I am hooked on knitting these little rompers, they are so much fun to knit up and I think they would make a lovely gift for a new baby. I am currently resisting the urge to knit a nautical inspired version in a navy and white cotton yarn I have.....

 

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to hear any thoughts you have on my knitting projects. 

 

What small projects do you like to knit? 

Is there a project you like to knit repeatedly, or have a favourite pattern?

It would be great to hear all about it!

 

~HJF~ 

 

 





 

 



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Thanks for stopping by!

~HJF~

Shirt refashion with a Grainline Studio Alder Shirtdress

Hello there,

Today on the blog I wanted to share with you a really quick make I made this afternoon. 

I was feeling the need to get in a little bit of sewing, but nothing too mega, (I have a 'mega' sewing list full of, you know, nice projects, that take you at least a day to fully commit to starting) ,but they all require more brain power than I had today, so I opted for something a little more simple. I had the idea of a shirt refashion in my head for a while, but I wasn't quite sure where I was going with it. 

I bought a lovely Jaeger shirt a couple of years back, smart casual, white with dainty blue stripes in a deliciously soft cotton, just my sort of thing.....  I should just stop you now and say I bought it second hand... I am not the lady who can afford to shop at Jaeger for a regular old shirt, nope, not me. So I bought the shirt loved it until I realised it was a cuff links shirt, I mean I get that cuff links are cool, but I am not able to pull off that sort of style so it went in the sewing pile, destined to be refashioned. The shirt was like new when I bought it and there was no way I was going to waste the fabric right? It was only when a piece of my lovely blue cotton chambray fell on top of my shirt did I realise they were a perfect match and had to be partners in a shirt hack up crime. 

So here it is my Jaeger/ Alder shirtdress shirt refashion. 

I used my favourite and go to shirt pattern which is the Alder Shirtdress pattern by Grainline Studio. ( Which by the way is a totally awesome pattern, if you haven't already checked it out... run, don't walk!!!!!) This pattern fits me really well so I figured it was a good place to start. I altered the length and made it shirt length rather than dress length and started to make my changes to the neck. 

I am so pleased with how this has worked out and I can see me making more of these if I come across anymore abandoned shirts in mine or Mr. F's wardrobe! 

I tried my new blouse on and instantly felt summery. So I am hoping it will get plenty of use now, with a sweater and later when (fingers crossed) we get some sunshine. 

That's all from me at the moment, this shirt was a lot of fun to make, and I definitely got my quick sewing fix that I needed for the day, plus I feel good for reusing my old shirt and stash busting my chambray. 

If you would like to know anymore about the process of my refashion, don't hesitate to ask. 

~HJF~ 

Ahoy there, it's another dungaree dress!

Hi guys,

I am back this week with another dungaree dress, first I feel there is a little bit of back story needed so let me tell you...

When I was younger, say in my mid/late teens I loved anything nautical, for example I loved anchors, anything with anchors on it I had to have it. I also loved anything with sailboats, stripes and the colour scheme navy, red and white. I thought I would grow out of all things nautical, but I guess, I didn't. 

Ok, ok, so now I don't have a need to be covered in anchors but I still love me some nautical pieces in my wardrobe. 

Onto my latest make, which I am hoping will be a well worn addition to my wardrobe. 

A navy twill dungaree dress with burgundy accent stitching and an embroidered anchor. 

(Ok, so maybe I just had to sneak a little anchor in there!)

I originally planned to just use a navy cotton for the stitching but my mum suggested some burgundy to liven things up and I am so glad she did.

I used some snazzy bronze buttons for this which I just love with the burgundy, I had bought some traditional style jean buttons but somehow they just didn't seam right for this, too heavy. What do you think?

This fabric was also a bit of a stash buster, it has been in my cupboards for a while and I am so happy I made use of it with this dungaree dress. 

This fabric is a cotton and acrylic twill mix in a traditional navy. I love it, but it does seem to however attract fluff at every move, I am hoping that with washing that will disappear. 

I used a pattern I made from a favourite RTW dungaree dress a couple of weeks ago. You can read more about it here. I love this version so much, It is so much more wearable than the floral version I made a couple of weeks ago and I can see myself making this a few more times over in more lightweight fabrics for the summer. I already have a chambray in my sights.

Do you have a favourite pattern that you make over and over? 

If so I would love to hear about it...

~HJF~