Hi.

Welcome to my blog. I mainly post about my sewing projects, as Iā€™m building a colourful and comfortable everyday wardrobe suitable for a working mum of primary school children. I really love African wax fabric, so that features heavily. I also occassionally post about family life in Edinburgh and travel. Hope you have a nice stay!

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Seamwork Jo in banana print

Seamwork Jo in banana print

I got this fabric to make a Named Reeta, which I've been admiring on other people for a while. However, when the fabric got here I realised it was a lot drapier than I expected and maybe not suitable for a structured shirt front. I procrastinated for a while, using up my other two Minerva fabrics first.

Luckily my stash of printed out patterns came to the rescue with the Seamwork Jo! I have a number of patterns that I had printed pit to make up the minimum order at the A0 printer I use, and this was one of them. I clearly have always been about the cocoon silhouettes!

It is a perfect match as it is specifically designed for drapey fabric. 

This is a fairly involved make, with a burrito facing, collar stand, gathered front and back, and placket. The instructions were mostly really good and detailed (it does not skip any staystitching, understitching and topstitching like some patterns) but I did not at all understand what was going on with the placket instructions. I'm fairly sure I didn't do it the way it said but I did end up with something that looks like the pictures, so all good

The fabric has quite a loose weave as well as being drapey, so I did have some issues with it stretching out and ended up having to recut the placket pieces to be longer as the front piece got lengthened substantially despite the stay stitching, and I ended up trimming my pieces to match in a couple of places. At the same time though the fabric presses really nicely.

I'm super happy with this dress. I think a shirt length version is in my future!

Kids DIY Beetlejuice costume

Kids DIY Beetlejuice costume

Dubrovnik holiday part 4: Lokrum island

Dubrovnik holiday part 4: Lokrum island