U-handblog

Serged Summer Dress (just in time for autumn!)

It's always the way, as soon as you try to sneak in a bit o' summer dress sewing - the temps begin to cool. Nice one!

Ah well, this dress for Mabel was very quick and fun to make. Stitching it was a most enjoyable way for me to get reacquainted with my (had it for ages) Baby Lock Imagine Wave.  As the chill increases and it becomes time wrap up, I have vowed to use it a lot more in the coming months. I'm looking forward to whipping up snuggly leggings, pants, dresses and sweat tops for my Disco Kid.

Here's the dress I made.  It took 4 days from patterning to finishing up.  I could've have made it in a day, but I am a mum to a toddler (so uninterrupted sewing sessions are an artefact of my childless past - or only possible when she's living it it up with her Grandies).

Click on images to enlarge.

All seams are stitched and finished with the overlocker (serger) except for the bib, straps and hem.  The dress is unlined.

 

Cross over shoulder straps are a must for fidgets!

The strap bases are elasticated (because mummy is a softy like that - and she saw it on another dress and thought it a great idea) and this prevents the straps from digging in during energetic disco dancing.

 

Double layer ra-ra hem.

Very proud of my first attempts at a rolled hem (using a 3mm rolled hem machine foot). So neat and fast, no ironing needed. I must look for other things to insert a rolled hem into!  And very easy (once you figure out how to feed the fabric into the curl of the foot).

 

If I begin my autumn sewing now I might have items ready for her to wear before Summer 2015!

 

How to chose the right machine needle

There are a vast array of needles to choose from, but those little needle packs don't come supplied with an awful lot of info!  Print out the graphic below and use it to choose the right needle everytime.

See also my guide on machine needles - Sewing machine needle know-how.

 

Click on the image to get a better view.

 

Source: http://visual.ly/sewing-machine-needle-guide.

 

Amy always Glows!

I love my life, I do!   And one of the many reasons I do, is to do with the people that are part of my craftiverse.  One of my craftiverse faves is Mrs Butler; an uber-talented, authentic and 'good for the planet' individual.  Yesterday I popped up to London to see Amy. I hadn't seen her in well over 3 years and she hadn't changed a jot (it must be that doing what you love IS the secret to eternal youth (I'm counting on it!).

Amy was giving a talk on what she's been up to and her upcoming fabric collection; Glow (oh and Dave, their cats and my Miss Mabel where also given plenty of air time).  I also met some lovely sewing magazine editors.  So, being surrounded by fabric, Amy Butler, cakes, crafters and craft chat, all adds up to my perfect kinda day out! 

Gorgeous, isn't she!

Hoo hoo!  My fave kind of goodie bag is always a craft goody bag.  The lovely folks at Coats gifted us a Amy B. freebies: Hapi fabric, Soul Blossoms strip roll and note book and Hapi Creative suite pattern all strored in a Coats tote. Heheh! I'm very Hapi!   :)

Collage taken from Amy's Facebook.  After the talk the girls were let loose on cushions and 1m each of Hapi fabric each.  Cushion covers in under 5 minutes. No sewing needed, and seriously, the results looked fantastic!