Vintage Blue Ikat Ultimate Shift Dress

Hi Guys,

Today I am back with a little bit of me sewing, a simple Sew Over It London, Ultimate Shift Dress. I have been sewing a lot for others over the last few months, and not really had a lot of time to sew anything for myself. The last last dress I made, the Liberty Alpine dress, I made to go to a Craft Party in and I made to a deadline, so ultimately I was rushing up until the last moment to finish it in time. Cue hand sewing til midnight... totally worth it though :)

And the same goes for this dress really, just finished in time for a deadline.  Last week I was sewing some gifts up and it got to Thursday and I checked the weather report for my trip out on Saturday.

Now, if you haven't already realized I live in England...  and as most will well know, it is pretty much essential to check the weather report if you want to go anywhere. I was travelling to another part of the UK and I was informed we would have sunshine!  oh hello!Well, I was not prepared for that!

 So after checking my wardrobe and finding that I didn't have a single thing suitable I decided I would have to whip something up. Truth is I have just not had time to update my summer wardrobe, I have been so busy with other projects and because summer just doesn't seemed to have arrived here yet, there hasn't exactly been a rush on the sleeveless vests and sundresses! The summer wardrobe is now edging closer to the top of my list.

On a side note, I really need to stop this last minute sewing, I don't enjoy it very much, and I don't want to start putting pressure onto a skill that I really love... sewing. I need to plan more, and put time aside to sew the things I really need to fill those gaps in my wardrobe, not just last minute sew things when I have been too busy to plan ahead... not good.

Anyway... Me, a trip out, sunshine, nothing to wear. I decided I didn't have time to go too fancy, and if I wanted to make something I had just Friday to do it. So, I opted for the lovely Sew Over It London Ultimate Shift Dress pattern. I guess you could say this has become a bit of a well loved pattern for me. I think I have made four altogether and I find it a really quick garment to put together with really pleasing results.

Next up was choosing the fabric, I had a quick look in my fabric stash and pulled out some rather lovely Vintage Ikat blue cotton. This fabric was a rather lucky find from a local Vintage Fair. They don't usually do textiles there but there was a lady selling home furnishing fabrics and she had two pieces of this wonderful stuff! I think in total it cost me £6 for the lot, and I only used one of the pieces, so I am now wondering what to make with the second piece?! Suggestions would be very welcome!!

So am I going to stop chatting about the weather like a typical Brit and show you the dress...

The print had a bit of a crazy pattern to it and if  wanted to follow grain and keep those diamonds running parallel down my body it meant that the diamonds seemed to go on a bit of a wander across by body. I think that is just the pattern though and it was the best possible placement without loosing those strain grain parallel diamonds. Hey, I am happy and sometimes with vintage fabrics you just have to go with it, I have had countless pieces that the prints are all kinds of crazy off grain, but I think I just about get away with this one... 

I was a little worried about this colour on me. I loved the colour, but I was worried it would make me look larger, but I think keeping the silhouette clean with a simple shift dress has help to minimize that.

This is the first Ultimate Shift Dress i have made with short sleeves and I really love them! I was a little skeptical at first as I usually go for a three quarter length as I find that a flattering for me, but this could be my new summer sleeve length!!!

And if any of you are wondering if  got my dose of sunshine.... I totally did not...it rained and poured all day, so much so I put on my tights and brogues instead of my sandals. You win some you lose some.

 Here I am on my way down to see my friend, we were stuck in traffic, in the rain, but I was just too excited to be seeing my friend and wearing my new dress. (I wasn't the driver by the way) ;)

That's all for now, I am back to sewing for others for the moment, and I am eagerly awaiting the next gap so I can get sewing my summer wardrobe!!

Do you have any favourite patterns that you return to when you are in need of a quick make?

I am always interested to hear!

I am also open to suggestion to what I can use my left over Ikat fabric for? I have just over a meter left and feel a bit clueless about what to use it for. If you have any suggestions please drop me a message in the comments below. :)

Thanks for stopping by...

~HJF~

Mr. Mustard Tilly and the Buttons Francoise!

Garment number four in selfish sewing week is my Tilly and the Buttons Francoise dress.

I recently went on a little trip to wales to the huge fabric shop Abakhan. We have a smaller branch here in Bolton, but NOTHING on the the scale of the Mostyn shop. It has everything!!

So I had a good rummage in the printed viscose section and found this lovely vintage style mustard rose print. Now, I must explain, I am not very adventurous with colours, I like black, navy, grey and in the summer if you are lucky I will thow in the occasional colourful print. I just don't do colour, it doesn't suit me, so I stick to the darker tones. 

So in a vow to add a little more colour to my summer wardrobe I chose this mustard print.... Man how it doesn't suit me!! I am altogether way too pale to pull this number off. 

Anyway, getting back to the point. I made this dress up straight from the packet, and I am pretty happy with the fit, although the neckline/shoulders are too wide on me, but this is something I hope the rectify next time around. 

Pleas excuse the slightly dodgy photograph, it was blowing a gale outside and so I had problems with my dress blowing away... See below! 

I really like this dress pattern and the fit around my bust and hips is pretty flattering, all things considered. As I mentioned before the neckline is too large for me and needs some work, but hopefully nothing I can't rectify. 

As I said this colour really isn't working for me, and I am kind of gutted about that because this fabric is soo lovely and would be wonderful in the summer. Who knows maybe with a tan it won't look as bad?!

I will definitely be making this again, with alterations. I really like how different it looks to the sample image on the packet. I have used a completely different fabric to the ones recommended and it gives a totally different shape to the 60's versions Tilly has made. 

That's all from me for tonight, more selfish sewing week updates to come!! 

~HJF~ 

Christmas dress.... In January?!

I love a good christmas outfit, it was always a highlight as a child, what I got to wear on Christmas Day, and I guess not much has changed.

This year I decided on a dress, to be precise the Sew Over It - Ultimate shift dress.

I have made this dress three times now, it's a really simple shift dress, A-line shape and can be whipped up in a couple of hours. 

I made my first one for a wedding last October and made a few changes to the pattern for round two. 

I decided I wanted to go with a rather Christmassy fabric, and add a bit of bling.

So I did just that... I went with a holly print fabric with gold accents. 

But that just wasn't enough! 

I decided to bead the cuffs and stitch gems round the neckline. 

That's where it all went a bit wrong. 

This seemed like an excellent idea, really, it did. But somehow I managed to go from sixties inspired shift, to a dress fit for a glamour nana. Bad times. 

I still like it, and believe it or not, it looks a lot better on than it does on the hanger. 

I sadly didn't get to wear this on Christmas Day, or Boxing Day as planned as I wasn't well. I think this one might be left hanging in the wardrobe until next year. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading my seasonally inappropriate post. 

~HJF~