The Seamstress tag

Thank the heavens above that it's finally becoming Autumn. And not just because it's nearly October, I mean because it's getting to that time of the year when it's dark when I still go to work, it's slightly chilly in the evenings and I can actually wear a cardigan without feeling I'm going to boil my insides. 

I've seen the "Seamstress" tag floating around Youtube over the last week or so, and although I don't have a Youtube channel, I still wanted to join in. So, here's my go at the tag!

1. Who are you?

I'm Philly (that's me above!), I'm 23 and I live in the West Midlands.


2. When & why did you start sewing?

I first started sewing around the age of 17 as I was taking a Textiles course at school but this was more creative art rather than dressmaking, however I properly started sewing around a year and a half ago. I watched the first series of the Great British Sewing Bee and instantly bought my first sewing machine, a Brother LS14. I wanted to learn the "art" of sewing because if I'm being honest, I get really fed up with buying clothes that everyone else seems to already own. I love being able to have an idea in my head, and actually make it in to a wearable garment.

3. What is your favourite or proudest make?

By far, my proudest make is my New Look 6449 dress shirt. It's a fairly recent make of mine, however it's the one that challenged me the most and actually made me think of how a garment is constructed. Before now, I never really appreciated just how much work goes in to pattern matching, attaching a collar or sewing in the cuffs on a sleeve. I've already got another one of these on my adjustoform, although this has taken a bit of a backburner as I just haven't had the chance to sit down and concentrate!


4, What is your most disastrous make?

The most disastrous make is possibly my denim shift top as it just really does not suit the shape of my body, being such a stiff fabric. I do think this'll look better sleeveless, so the sleeves may be removed in the near future! 


5. Where is your favourite place to go fabric shopping?

Honestly? Ebay. I know it's a bit of a risk as you can't physically see the fabric in front of you, however I purchase 90% of my fabric from the Textile Center on ebay. They have fantastic customer service and their prices are extremely good, given the quality of the fabric! 

6. What is your most used pattern?

The Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress. I absolutely love this pattern because of it's versatility, in total I think I've used this about 7 or 8 times already and plan to use it so many more times. It was my PDF pattern I purchased, and my first time actually trusting a small company (as opposed to one such as McCall's or New Look).

7. Your most dreaded sewing task is...

HEMMING. I hate it! I can't hem to save my life and if I have to admit, all of my hems are just turned over twice and sewn down. I can't be dealing with the other fancy hem techniques out there.

8. And your favourite sewing task?

I think my favourite sewing task is probably cutting out the fabric. I love laying out the pattern pieces and making sure the pattern pieces are on the grain, checking the pattern matching and also seeing the pieces I'm about to construct. 


9, What is your favourite 'sewing entertainment'?

Okay so this is probably going to be a bit odd, but I absolutely love watching The Sim Supply on Youtube when I'm sewing. I find James' videos to be great background videos as they're quite long, and they also allow me to get my Sims fix....

10. Printed or PDF?

I'm still really torn on this one. I love the though that if I cut a pattern out wrong, I can reprint the PDF, but I love the convenience of a paper pattern. I do only tend to buy patterns when they are on sale though, and do find myself reaching for paper patterns more.

11. What sewing machine do you use?

My beloved Singer Starlet 6660. I've only had this machine for about 7 months but I love it. It's my little workhorse. 


12. Do you have any other hobbies?

Apart from sewing, I'm also partial to a bit of crochet, baking and gaming. I'm a right little oddball! 

♥

What have I been sewing?: August 2016

I'm a little bit late on writing this post, but for some reason August just flew by and before I knew it, we're almost halfway through September! 

If you remember a few posts ago, I said that I'm going to try and push myself a bit further, by either choosing more difficult patterns or by using a fabric which needs to be pattern matched a little more carefully. I've (semi) successfully achieved that in August and I couldn't be more proud of myself! I also invested in an Adjustoform and I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. I'd been umming and ahhing for near enough a year now and finally took the plunge early August (shortly after payday...). I have to admit, this has spooked me more than once in the middle of the night. 

Moving on...the first sew of August was another Colette Aster blouse. 

This fabric is just...so gorgeous. It's a really nice quality cotton, something that I wouldn't normally go for. My Mum actually purchased this a few months ago from Rags in Worcester town center but never got round to using it, and if I'm being honest, I'd dropped a hint more than once that I loved this fabric and in the end, me and my Mum ended up doing a fabric swap. I'd given her a stretch cotton fabric which would be perfect for the sort of dress that she wanted to make, I had bought the fabric months and months ago and just never felt inspired enough to use it. All in all, a good swap. 

I completely forgot to make this blouse a little smaller before I cut the pattern out, so it does gape a little. I may end up taking this in an inch or so either side to make it less...tent like. Now, for my first go at real pattern matching, I'm actually quite proud of this. I'm about a cm off or so on the front, but it isn't that noticeable if I pull the one side down a little. The only other place that's not that perfectly matched is along the yolk on the back, however as I have extremely long hair, I bet 99% of people aren't even going to notice it. I must say, I'm quite happy with this, and can see me getting a lot of wear out of it in the upcoming autumn months. 

The second, and last, sew of August was the New Look 6449. 

This took up so much of my time. I had one solid week where I spent around 2 hours a night tackling this, so all in all, it probably took me around 8-10 hours to sew, but I'm honestly so proud of myself for actually persevering with this. I'm not even ashamed to say I cried over this dress, I really did feel like giving up because as soon as I noticed I'd done one thing wrong, everything seemed to be going wrong. I ended up cutting out the largest size because that's what matched my bust size and to be honest, the rest of the fit is actually perfect! It's not too baggy but I will wear this with a belt, like I do with all of my dresses. But, without a belt, it's actually quite tailored to my shape, which is quite weird as I hadn't done any alterations whatsoever. If you follow Sew Over It on youtube, you'll recognise this fabric from Lisa's 1970's vintage shirt dress review and whilst it wasn't the nicest fabric to work with, it's certainly one I instantly fell in love with when I saw it. I need to be really careful when I iron it though...I have a feeling this will burn really, really easily. 

I found this pattern quite difficult to follow, but that's due to my own ignorance. I'm happy to say I learnt a LOT whilst sewing this pattern...before now, I never knew what a continuous lap was, or how to sew a cuff onto an arm or a collar on to a neckline. It's by far the most advanced garment I've made and no, it's not perfect. The pattern matching is a few cm off on the front where the buttons are and the arms ended up being a little too big (that's one thing I'd downsize next time) but I am just. so. friggen. pleased. with myself! 

I haven't had chance to begin sewing in September so far, but I am having quite a hectic time lately at work and by the time I get home, I'm so tired that I just want to chill out and not do anything. I'll see if I can find the time to squeeze in a few simple sews! 

♥