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Sewing Adventures – Pink Embroidered Babydoll

Second make from the stash and it’s this gorgeous embroidered cotton lawn. At first I didn’t know where I had got this one from but I consulted my Cora fabric stash app and it has it recorded as being from Pitt Trading.

I kind of didn’t know what I wanted to make with this one but I had it with me while I was away dog sitting along with my standard block and thought I’d have a little play with making the neckline a little more square, narrow the shoulder straps, drop the back neck to be a scoop back, eliminate the centre back zip and of course change it to a more empire line bodice. I know it reads like a lot of changes but it actually wasn’t too big an ordeal mostly just drawing lines and adjusting.

The skirt was determined by the amount of leftover fabric which I cut in half across the width of the fabric to make the skirt length (being short is such a win for using up less fabrics!). Then it was gathered tightly onto the bodice which had been bagged out with some white cotton lawn (also from the stash). I added a lining to the skirt of white cotton lawn (also gathered) but because I did the gathering separately it makes the skirt seem extra floofy so the whole thing feels like a cloud.

I had to wait till I got home from dog sitting to do some overlocking as I did attempt to zig zag the fabric but the zig zag did not play well with the embroidery so I thought I’ll just wait and overlock it at home.

Pattern: self drafted block

Fabric: embroidered cotton lawn and plain cotton lawn both from the stash originally from Pitt Trading

Changes: pattern changes as noted above

 

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Sewing Adventures – Jalie Clara Tights Camo edition

It’s winter which means its cold and the temptation to stay on the couch cuddled under a blanket eating biscuits, drinking tea while reading books is big.
Sadly I know I need to move more. I have to get fitter and rebuild strength in my core and back.
So in an effort to motivate myself with new clothes to workout in I purchased the PDF of the Jalie Clara tights.


These are so intriguing as they have no centre front seam and only a back seam and an inside leg seam.
I measured myself and decided to go with the size Z with the 3/4 leg option of size O.


Cutting was easy and I added in the gusset, centre back seam and inside leg. At this stage I tried them on and decided I need to size down. Instead of unpicking and recutting I basically used my overlocker to cut down a size.


Tried them on again and decided on taking a dart like wedge out of the centre back and tightening the inside leg from mid thigh down the leg.
Popped them on again and was satisfied. Added the waistband using my overlocker and then twin needle stitched it in place using my coverstitch and hemmed (also on my coverstitch) and I was done.


I’m 5 foot tall so the top waistband sits really high on me (like just under my bra high) which is fabulous as it goes well up and above my surgery scar. It also goes above the weird swelling shape and weight gain which means it’s not going to move while I exercise.


There is some wrinkling around the knee that I’m not wild about but am going to wear them for awhile and see if there are any other changes to be made before I set about fixing that.


Great pattern, really impressed at the results and loving this Lycra from Pitt Trading which has no grin through of the white base fabric and isn’t see through even when stretched!

Having worn these a little am definitely going to size down even more, I want the Lycra to work a little harder as right now it feels a bit loose particularly around the crotch and thigh. It just doesn’t have that “firm” feeling yet so am going to do some tweaks. However I feel like the changes would be less if I wasn’t using such a nice quality Lycra.

Pattern – Jalie Clara tights pattern

Fabric – from the stash but originally from Pitt Trading

Changes – go down at least one to two sizes, take an extra dart shape wedge out of the centre back, tighten up knees a bit more