SEWVEE: March 2017

Sorry to make you all horribly jealous, cue chants of 'my manfriend is better than yours', but this year the man with the gammon shaped ears I call mine got me FABRIC for valentine's day. Forget the flowers, chocolates or love notes (you might all be sick if I tell you I got one of those too). FABRIC. I could have wailed with happiness.

After By Hand London, Sew Over It were the next brand of patterns I tried as I embarked on my journey learning to sew nearly four years ago. They have remained a favourite ever since. Having never threaded a needle, the manfriend pays incredible interest in my sewing, and he has followed Sew Over It for as long as I have. He automatically shouts 'Hello Lisa' at the beginning of each vlog; he is on their mailing list and even texts me to ask me what I think of the latest pattern release (often beating me to it!). A couple of valentine's ago he contacted the team to ask if I could pattern test for them - it was quite a surprise when I got an email from the team! It was beautifully timed, and I was very lucky enough to test the Vintage Shirt Dress. At the time this was a bit of a stretch for my skills. I had never sewn a collar, and the construction was a lot more complicated than anything I had tried before. But I did it!

I kept doing it. Next came The Garden of Heavenly Delights Dress...

I ended up unpicking the sleeves after a couple of wears as I found them a little full at the shoulder. I wear it ALL the time now it is sleeveless.

Then came this African Wax number that I made for a friend.

Now, back to the dress of the moment. My man picked me out these two beauties from the Sew Over It.

Metropolis

Berlin triangles

Originally I was planning on making the Alex Shirt dress from the Capsule Wardrobe, but I'm a little worried about the fit at the sleeve and shoulder. I'm very slight in the shoulder, and my measurements come in a little below the smallest size (I have tiny bones). I'm worried that the over-sized fit might swamp me at the shoulder - anyone made the Alex shirt dress? Thoughts? The long and short of it, though, was that I just fancied a nice simple sew. I didn't want to spend time making a toile. I will make the Alex shirt dress though, maybe from the triangles?

As I was browsing through my patterns, I paused on the shirt dress and realised it had to be, after all the pattern was a valentine present of sorts too!

My very first Vintage Shirt dress was made from an Atelier Brunette cotton lawn. So I knew these beautiful cotton lawns would work well. However, I find the first dress a little lightweight in the skirt. Therefore it only comes out on very warm days. The three dresses I have made since are lined, and I wear the two that are mine come rain or shine. For this dress, I had some beautiful lemon crepe also from Sew Over it in my stash that I thought would work well. I was right it feels gorgeous against my skin, so it won't deter me from wearing it in the warm months too.

I wanted to make this a dress I could wear to work, so I decided to go for sleeves. As I said above, I find the sleeve a little full for my narrow frame so I set to work to take some fullness out. I redrew the sleeve head, so it had less depth and walked it around the armsyce until I had about and inch ease in the sleeve (again I'm no expert, but this worked for me!).

Other than that this was a straightforward and bloody lovely sew. I shared most of the sew on Instagram stories which was fun to share.

Right, time for lots of photos...

I finished both hems with bias binding. I machine stitched the lining but I hand sewed the main hem.

I used the turn over and stitch method to finish the seams in the bodice and the facing; French seams in the skirt; matching bias binding to finish the waist seam, and I overlocked the shoulder seam in matching thread.