cotton – Measure Twice Cut Once

Posted on 03/08/201518/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 2 Comments

Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers week – round up

So Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers week has been and gone and I didn’t get to even a fraction of the things I had planned. Life stuff got in the way and ever since I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to get back to the blog.

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in, I sincerely hope you’ve added a few more pretty knickers to your lingerie drawer.

Despite all the life dramas of the week I did manage to squeeze in a tiny amount of sewing time and got 3 new pairs finished. These were all part of my stash busting efforts so I was using fabrics and trims I had on hand.

Next year I’ll be looking forward to lots of fun stuff when we have our next Everyone Deserves Pretty Knickers Week!

Posted on 30/04/201418/01/2016 by Susan Goodwin — 4 Comments

What you need to make some Knickers

I am so happy with the response to our “Everyone deserves Pretty Knickers” challenge. It’s so exciting to think that everyone will soon have pretty knickers that they made themselves.

To help you get ready for the big week, here is a run down of all the Measure Twice Cut Once patterns and what you need for each one. This way you can raid your stash for your supplies or head on out to buy what you need, am sure you can all stand the drudgery of more fabric shopping, lol.

The Charlotte Knickers

The Georgiana Knickers

Fabric: Cotton wovens such as voile, cambric, lawn, quilting cottons. Also silks and satins.
Gusset: Cotton Jersey
Unsuitable for fabrics with bulk or stiffness such as denim or cord.
Trim: Thread, 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic). This is photographed with a rolled hem, it can be made like that or it can be turned under and top stitched like The Charlotte Knickers. So even without an overlocker/serger you can create this style.

The Jane Knickers

Fabric: Cotton wovens such as voile, cambric, lawn, quilting cottons. Also silks and satins.
Unsuitable for fabrics with bulk or stiffness such as denim or cord.
Trim: Thread, 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic). The top edge does not need to be lingerie elastic, but it looks really cute if you can use it. This is a great one to practice or learn using how to stretch the lingerie elastic while top stitching and still keep the decorative edge peaking up above the top of the fold.

The Mary Knickers

Fabric: Knits such as jerseys, cotton lycra/spandex, super lightweight double knits. Highly recommended to have a high cotton content and lycra/spandex content is nice but not essential.
Gusset: Cotton Jersey
Unsuitable for fabrics woven fabrics.
Trims: 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic), thread

The Lizzie Knickers

Fabric: Cotton wovens such as voile, cambric, lawn, quilting cottons, silks and satins.
Gusset: Cotton Jersey
Unsuitable for fabrics with high degree of stretch, bulk or stiffness such as swim lycra, denim or cord.
Trims: Thread, 6mm width elastic (does not need to be lingerie elastic). Due to the elastic side “strings” on this style a nice soft elastic or a proper lingerie elastic certainly makes it a lot more comfortable. See if you can source some if this is your preferred style?

The Lydia Knickers

Tomorrow we will be covering suppliers of elastic and we have plenty more posts coming up on how you can create knickers to suit your style. Start gathering up your supplies and don’t forget to pop your name down on the announcement post, and grab a sidebar button so we can keep an eye out for your beautiful makes.

Posted on 13/01/201408/01/2014 by Susan Goodwin — 2 Comments

Sewing Adventures

I did it again, I made another skirt!

I’ve been enjoying my first Pattern Runway skirt so much that I made another. I actually made this one a few weeks ago but was too embarrassed to admit to making yet another skirt for the 3rd week in a row.

This version is in a lovely cotton I picked up forever ago at The Remnant Warehouse and it has been languishing in my stash ever since. Now I’m not entirely sure what I got it for at the time as I only bought a small amount and it has all together too much orange in it for me to want to use it for a dress, I can only imagine I had it mind as some kind of trim or to pair with something else?

By cutting it on the opposite grain I managed to squeeze it onto the amount I had purchased. I even managed to get the pockets too. The side seam pockets are fantastic, just one small thing. I need to move them up. I had shortened the skirt pattern last time I made it up but as I had omitted the pockets on that one I hadn’t measured their placement in relation to my own arms. This time I just matched the notches and sewed and well they could be slightly higher up for me. I’ve written a note to myself on the pattern for next time, because we all know there is going to be a next time with this pattern.

So it seems that I have finally come around to being a skirt wearing person! I’m now totally open for suggestions on your favourite skirt and top combinations as I’m keen to sew some more.

Posted on 02/12/201330/11/2013 by Susan Goodwin — 1 Comment

Sewing Adventures

I have been trying hard to not show any of of my handmade Christmas presents pre Christmas but this one is too cute not to share.

Last week on Twitter I saw a link to the new release of Figgy’s Heavenly Collection. The Ethereal dress and blouse just stood out for me so I snapped it up and thought it would make a brilliant present for one of my nieces. Plus isn’t that red headed little model just the cutest?

Of course this meant finding the perfect piece of fabric. I couldn’t find anything in the stash that seemed right so I headed to Spotlight. I found a sweet stripe with little cherries all over it, a pretty floral, a stripe basically a whole bunch of stuff and none of it felt right, I even called my brother to see what he suggested (that’s a first right there). I had seen this pale lemon printed with large metallic yellow dots early during my search but it felt a bit stiff. However I just kept coming back to it, so I decided it was the one. The photos don’t really capture the metallicness of the dots but they have a real shimmer to them.

After some quick phonecalls to my mum and my brother to determine my nieces current size I assembled the pattern and went for it. The construction itself was quite straight forward but I made a number of changes to the Figgy’s construction method.

– added the gathers to the lower skirts and then attached them to their respective tops using french seams

– double turned the frill outer edge eliminating the overlocking/serging as I thought that the extra stitching would show through when pressed

– machine basted the frill onto the front neckline and armhole

– added the button loop using some patterned bias binding and bused the same bias to finish the back slit

– french seamed the shoulders

– bound the armholes using the patterned bias

– french seamed the side seams

– double turned the lower hem

– bound the neckline using the patterned bias

I did all the binding as the top is meant to be lined but this niece is in Queensland, and summer in Queensland is all high temperatures and humidity. The thought of extra layers was all just too much, so I just took them out. The added bonus of being able to use a patterned bias binding on the inside was also a factor as I totally love bias!

The french seams was mostly because I could but also because the printing is a little stiff. It will totally soften with a few washes but if I had just overlocked/serged the edges I was worried a small person might find them scratchy (and seriously who wants to be the person who gave the kid “that scratchy top”). Plus they look all pretty and professional.

Overall I am pretty happy with it and I hope my niece likes it too!

Posted on 18/11/2013 by Susan Goodwin — 1 Comment

Sewing Adventures

What a wet and wild weekend here in Sydney. Wet weather is perfect for sewing….then again what weather isn’t perfect for sewing?

Finished up this Simplicity style which is yet another Cynthia Rowley design (I do like her style). The fabric is from Cabramatta (a suburb of Sydney well known for it’s bargain fabric shopping) and I think the entire dress cost like .50 cents?

Now this one may yet end up a disaster. I have made the exact same pattern before and it fits well. So bouyed by the success of the last time I made this style I went ahead and finished the whole dress without trying it on. It was only when trying it on that I realised the fabric has zero give in it. I actually got stuck in the dress when trying to get out of it. Minor panic attack time.

I’ve now gone back and reduced all the seams, let out the darts a bit and even moved the front opening. It’s still a bit tough to get in and out of but it looks good. Am hoping that with time it will relax a bit? Sadly that wasn’t the only downfall with this make.

Now I love my sewing machine, it is simple and a super hard worker and I treasure it as it was a present for my birthday/doing well in fashion college from my parents. But I don’t love it’s buttonholes. They are a bit wimpy. Just not enough stitches to create a nice polished look. I generally end up doing 2 buttonholes one on top of the other to make the buttonholes stronger. With the buttonholes being quite literally front and centre on this dress it just makes me go hmmm a bit and wish for a more professional finish.

Despite setbacks of not quite enough give and not quite professional looking buttonholes, it looks good and will be a welcome addition to the work wardrobe.

I hope you all had productive weekend’s too?

Posted on 04/11/201304/11/2013 by Susan Goodwin — 1 Comment

Sewing Adventures

Big weekend of sewing but most of the projects are not ready to share yet. This one is more of a toile/muslin* but looks cute.

It’s been getting warm at night and I thought that one of these sweet Colette Pattern Nutmeg‘s might be the answer, so I raided the scrap box and cut out the bralette top. With everything on the bias I went with a patchwork look. It worked out surprisingly well and looks adorable in real life.

You can see I have added a centre front seam to the top panel, this was purely to fit it into the limited amount of fabric I had on hand, added some silk velvet ribbon as straps as I thought the colours matched well.

Construction wise there were some odd elements. The facing on the top edge is no end of annoying and will never sit in place unless I add another line of stitching across the top cup, next time I would simply cut 2 top panels and bag the entire area out which will not only eliminate the facing but also add more structure to the whole thing. At the centre back straps, it is finished with hand stitching, this would wear very easily, so I bagged out the back panels and moved the opening to the side seam and concealed it there. Much easier and much stronger. Despite these changes it came together quickly and everything lined up.

Once it was together I tried it on and it looks well, awful. Fit wise it covers all that it needs to cover and the elastic is in the right place and the straps are doing what they should, but the complete lack of support just made me look dreadful. I’m not large chested but it would seem that if you are bigger than a B cup that this unsupported style doesn’t do you any favours.

Thankfully it is only a test piece and it didn’t take too long to sew. I think I will look for something that has a different construction/support system and see how that works out?

*I’m never sure if to refer to my tests as toiles or muslins. At fashion college it was strictly a toile and I’ve continued to use that term ever since. However I see that muslin is the preferred term on sewing blogs when talking about test garments. So if I occasionally say toile instead of muslin you will know what I mean.

Posted on 28/10/2013 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Sewing Adventures

This dress has been hanging round the “to finish” pile longer than I care to remember. I pulled it out over the weekend, attached the sleeves, added a centre back zip and ran some bias binding round the neck and it was done. It was so easy I was wondering why I had left it for so long?

I’ve used this Simplicity 2846 pattern before and it worked out well. Previously it was in a heavier weight wool herringbone which I got a lot of use out of throughout the winter time. This version is a cotton I took from mum’s stash some time ago. The polka dots are actually tiny little flocked spots. Which makes pressing an interesting challenge as to get the iron hot enough to get the cotton straight makes the polka dots come off!

It was while pressing that I discovered potentially why it had been in the “to finish” pile so long. I’d added the pockets before putting in the darts. I could even see some marks where I must’ve attempted the darts at some time? After a quick try on I decided if I added a belt then I don’t need to worry about the darts. I used my cummerbund style belt I got from Antipodium forever ago, which is not only supremely cute but incredibly comfy.

So how dd your weekend sewing go? get any pesky projects out of the way?

Posted on 10/10/201319/06/2019 by Susan Goodwin — Leave a comment

Summer dresses

Today is going to be a scorching 39 degrees Celsius here in Sydney.

So naturally I’ve been up early, put up heavy sunblock curtains on the windows that face the sun and had all the blinds pulled down low since the sun came up.

With a day packed filled with meetings I did my weights session early, got the washing out on the line and selected a cool cotton dress to wear.

Walking into the city I saw so many women dressed in the most simple and stunning dresses. A red patterned strapless maxi dress was paired with a cleverly tied lightweight cotton scarf to create the illusion of straps and offer some sun protection.

A mustard multi layer voile dress had a fitted bodice and a tightly gathered skirt and looked the picture of summer ease, as it was atop a mint green step through bicycle with a wicker basket on the front.

Even now on the train I can see a zip front navy sweetheart neckline dress with teeny tiny yellow flowers scattered across it, a simple shift in a Liberty style floral and I’m wearing my pink Cynthia Rowley.

Thank goodness for the ease and style of a nice dress, it really makes the heat easier to cope with.

Stay cool today and try and avoid the heat!

(Update: what I had thought was a simple shift in a Liberty style floral, actually had a front filled with inserted lace details. Pretty!).

Here are some fantastic summer dresses, photos by The Sartorialist