Category: dresses

Remember the space-themed duvet cover that I turned into a maternity dress? Well, Dott and I share a love of Very Silly Fabrics, so I when I heard the news I couldn’t resist treating her to a special dress. Here it is in action – complete with a cuddly dog in each pocket! 

This dress has the advantage that with only a small alteration (basically a big seam/dart right up the centre front) it will be perfectly wearable as a non-maternity dress too. I love the way that Dott has styled it with a fabulous pink sash belt – I love seeing how people put their outfits together. 

I’d like to say a big thank you to Dott and Dave for the photos – as well as CONGRATULATIONS, of course, on the safe arrival of Carys, who made her way into the world this week!

I usually have a very strict “no alterations” policy, having been inundated in the past by other people’s trousers and curtains. Very occasionally though, I’ll make an exception – such as when Lisa from Off With her Head Millinery sent me a photo of this dress that I made for her, way back in 2009. I know the date partly because of the name label, which pre-dates eternal magpie, and also because Lisa wore this dress, with a hat of her own creation, to my wedding in the October of that year! 

This fabric has to be one of my absolute favourites – a 1980s nostalgic print on a heavy cotton, in the most gorgeous muted lilac and green colours. (Those little girls with the hoop and bonnets and ruffles are my new fashion icons.) I made it originally as a short dress, but when Lisa asked for it to be altered into a shorter length tunic top I couldn’t resist. It’s just so nice to know that something I made nine years ago is still going strong, and even nicer to know that with a simple alteration it can keep going for even longer!

Every now and then I have a little wander around the internet, searching for “square neck dress” patterns. This style has been a basic staple of wardrobes since the 1940s, and I love seeing all of the different ways it’s been styled. This one is from the 1960s, and I have to admit to LOVING the hat!

The orange dress in the middle of this late 1970s pattern ticks two of my personal favourite boxes – elbow-length sleeves (bonus points for puffiness), and a ruffle at the hem. I can imagine a sleeveless one layered over the high-neck version too, for winter warmth. 

This one is from the early 1960s. It’s not clear, but I think it’s supposed to be a nightdress. The version on the left goes all the way to the floor, and again, I do love a puffy sleeve. A nightmare to squash underneath a cardigan, but so cute! And the one at the back with the ruffle and the belt? Definitely not a style to be confined to the bedroom! 

Aaah, the 1980s. More belts, more ruffles, more puffed sleeves. This depiction could only be improved with blue mascara and a pair of pixie boots. 

The 1970s bring a lot of fantastic versions of this dress, often in children’s sizes. I love its versatility, from floor length all the way up to blouse. And the little red t-bar shoes on the right? Yes please! 

This is a slightly more grown-up version of the 1970s look, perhaps just ticking over into the early 80s – it’s really hard to tell with some of these. I love the angel sleeves, and the almost crop-top version on the right. And just look at that button detail on the cuffs of the long sleeves! 

I’m thinking that sleeves and ruffles are going to need to make an appearance on some dresses near you very soon…

You might have seen this Space-themed fabric whiz past on social media last week… I did say it was already spoken for, and now it’s a dress. As we haven’t had a #dressupatree for quite a while, I thought it was time to take one of my traditional lilac tree photos for you! 

What you may not be able to tell by looking at these pictures is that it’s actually a maternity dress.

It’s a pick-and-mix project, with the yoke (the shoulder straps part) in one size, the body in another, and a fair bit of extra width and curve added to the front panel, just to make sure there’s plenty of room.

As the dress will only be needed for a couple more months, I’ve made sure that it can also be easily de-maternitified (is that a word?) so that it can be worn again afterwards. 

It will result in a seam – actually a great big dart – right up the centre front of the dress, but that will largely be hidden in the folds of the fabric, and it will give a comfy dress a much longer wearable life. 

I can also take this pick-and-mix approach to any dress, not just for maternity purposes! If you’re feeling a bit confused by the size chart, and not sure what’s going to fit, you can send me your measurements and I’ll make you a dress that’s just right!

That’s more like it! 

I know the neckline and pockets look a tiny bit wonky on the dress form, but that’s mainly because it was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING outside this morning, and I didn’t take the time to line everything up properly because I just wanted to get back indoors into the warm! They’re nice and neat in Real Life, I promise.

This is New Look 6298 – the pattern says it’s easy, and it means it. Admittedly I didn’t feel like embracing the details of making the v-neck nice and neat at the front, so I made view C, round neck and pockets, with the long sleeves from views A and B. 

It’s made in two colours because once again I was working with two short pieces of fabric rather than one long one, but at least there was no design to get upside down this time! The fabric is a gorgeous organic cotton sweatshirt fleece from the Organic Textile Company. I think the colours are Dark Grey and Grey Melange. I’m not certain because I bought it as part of a remnant bundle, hence having two smaller pieces instead of one big one. 

The fabric’s nice and wide, so from two 1-metre pieces I still have plenty left over to make the sleeves and pockets for another one! The reverse side of the fabric is white and brushed and fluffy, and I expected to look as though I’d been rolling around in a field of dandelieons by the time I’d finished sewing. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, and aside from a little bit of fluff in the overlocker the fabric didn’t shed at all. Just as well, as I was rather foolishly wearing a black jumper while I was making it!  

The only even remotely fiddly bits in this dress were the corners of the pockets and the topstitching of the neckline – both a little bit tricky to do neatly in a heavy fabric. Not difficult, just needing a little bit of attention rather than sprinting on through. Next time I’d like to give the v-neck a try, and I think I’d make a shorter version too, so I could wear it as a long sweatshirt rather than a v-neck dress. In fact, I’ve got my eye on this organic cotton black and white stripy fleece – how good would that look with jeans, or yoga pants, or a long black skirt? 

In fact, while I’m thinking about sweatshirts and jumpers and warm winter clothes… can anybody recommend a cardigan pattern that would work with a sweatshirt-type fabric?

All of my existing jumpers and cardigans are wearing out before I can knit new ones, and to be honest unless the pattern is something really special I’d far rather knit little things like socks and scarves. I’m thinking V-neck, hip length or waist length, with buttons rather than a zip or a waterfall style. Suggestions very welcome!

My husband asked me recently why the things I make for myself are never as carefully-made as the things I make for other people. The answer is probably “I’m always in a hurry when I make things for myself, because I feel as though I should be spending all my time on my work instead”… but at the time I protested mightily and said that of course that wasn’t true! 

And then I made this. 

At first glance, it looks okay. It’s a 1993 fit-and-flare shirt dress, Vogue 1290, view C. I’ve had the pattern… not quite since 1993, but it was certainly one of the first that I bought when I started sewing from patterns in the late ’90s. (It’s not just me who has 20-something year old uncut patterns in their stash, surely?) 

I checked the size chart, checked the actual garment measurements… and yet it’s still come out far too small. I forgot to make my usual short waist adjustment (I usually shorten the bodice pieces by about an inch), so the narrowest part of the dress sits below my waist, making it bunch upwards. And despite the garment measurements allegedly having a fair amount of ease over and above my body measurements, it’s turned out to be far too tight all over. To the point where if I overlap the front pieces to put the buttons in, I’ve got no hope of actually fastening them. 

I’ve bought a bright orange zip from Ebay. I’m going to stitch that in, and hope for the best.

And then there’s the most enormous elephant in the room, which is that the print IS CLEARLY UPSIDE DOWN on the front panels and one of the sleeves. *sigh* 

I didn’t have enough fabric to make the dress, so I bought another piece, meaning that I was working with two 2-metre lengths. I had it all very carefully worked out so that I could fit the back panels on one piece, the front panels on the other, and a sleeve on each, shortening the dress slightly to fit. Sadly, the thing I didn’t carefully work out was whether the two pieces of fabric were the same way up when I started cutting out. And OF COURSE the upside down pieces are on the front. That’s just the way these things happen. 

Anyway. If the dress fits once I’ve got the zip into the front, I’ll wear it anyway. Hopefully people will be too busy saying “oooh, glow in the dark skeleton Darth Vader!” to notice that he and ghostly R2-D2 are actually upside down. Fingers crossed. 

I have to admit that I did think twice about sharing such a glaringly obvious mistake with you all. Then I decided that, you know what? It doesn’t matter how experienced you are, at pretty much anything, occasionally you’ll still make a really silly mistake – and sometimes it’ll be a really big one! 

To make myself feel better I sewed the world’s simplest sweatshirt dress afterwards, which cheered me up no end. I’ll show you photos very soon. 

Two years ago (according to Facebook, very helpful, thank you!) I made this dress. 

Can anybody tell me why I gave it to the charity shop? It looks to me like the perfect item of clothing to be wearing during this summer heatwave!

Inspired by a half-remembered Laura Ashley dress from the early 1990s that I never owned, this was intended to be worn over a set of Edwardian combinations that I never did get around to making. Although I can see the pear-embroidered hem of my bloomers just peeping out from underneath.

This dress was specifically designed not to touch any part of my body, as the fibromyalgia was particularly bad at the time. (I used to have blisters when I took off my work uniform, from the seams touching my skin. Not nice.) 

You can see from the picture on the mannequin that the armholes are extremely low. This was a very common feature in early 1990s dresses that were intended to be worn with a t-shirt underneath – in fact a lot of them came with a t-shirt pattern included. 

This one, which I found during one of my extensive Etsy-browsing sessions, doesn’t include a t-shirt pattern but it does include a version that’s a jumpsuit! According to Instagram (which is apparently my style guide now, rather than Pinterest), jumpsuits and dungarees are very popular amongst Creative Types at the moment.

I do own a pair of dungarees, but they’re two sizes too big (aaah, the joys of internet shopping…) and strictly for wearing only while digging up the garden. And though I’m not usually one to jump on board a bandwagon, I do have to admit that I’m looking at that left-hand illustration and contemplating my fabric stash. Organic cotton checks, maybe? Or a floral duvet cover?

I don’t tend to buy many sewing patterns on Etsy these days – most often I’ll see a style that I like, and then figure out how to draft an approximation of the pattern for myself. Partly that’s because so few patterns are available in my size, and partly because the cost of shipping from the USA (where so many vintage patterns seem to be) has increased quite dramatically – particularly since Etsy has started charging fees to sellers on their shipping costs and forced people to put up their prices.

Anyway… I am extremely tempted by this one. It’s reasonably priced, it’s in my size, and it’s in the UK so no extortionate postage costs, and it should arrive pretty quickly. 

1990s dungarees, at the age of forty-four. Shall I? 

It’s July, and here in the UK we’re in the middle of a heatwave! Most of my garden is looking a little bit dried up and sad, but next door’s tree is full of lovely ripe plums. 

We’re currently between neighbours, and the plums were starting to fall off the tree and attract wasps. We didn’t want them to go to waste, so we’ve picked the ones we could reach and popped them into the freezer. Our current plan is to make some kind of plum liqueur with them, and give it to our new neighbours as a housewarming gift. 

It turns out that one nice big eternal magpie pocket can easily hold 350 grams of lovely little ripe plums – and one tiny little pink caterpillar! 

I definitely wouldn’t recommend leaning over the fence and picking your neighbours’ fruit… but if you know where to look you can quite often find plums and cherry plums growing wild. (The park close to my house has a couple of lovely cherry plum trees.) And it’s been so hot lately that blackberries are starting to ripen already, so if you’re lucky you might be able to spot a few nice juicy ones. 

What are you going to put into your pockets this month? 

This is a fashion statement which I’m going to be calling “middle-aged overheated goth recovers from uncharacteristically busy day with a nice cup of tea”. 
Reckon it’ll catch on? 

I know it seems ridiculous to be wearing black in the middle of a heatwave, but I did have a good reason, I promise. I was going to a creative session run by the local art group, Jelly, and I didn’t know how much mess I was going to make. From that point of view, a white or pale summer outfit seemed like a rather bad idea!

It sounds very dramatic and a bit over the top to say that outfits like this have saved me this summer, but I think it’s true. My fibromyalgia doesn’t cope very well at all with the heat, and having any kind of restrictive clothing touching me can cause quite a lot of pain. These dresses, and the bloomers, are so light and flowing that they’re really, really comfortable. 

(PS – if you’re a UK size 6-8, I have a dress in this fabric in stock for you.)

I did have the bloomers for sale on the website, but then the manufacturers discontinued my favourite elastic, and I couldn’t find a way to make the size chart not-confusing, so I temporarily took them down again. That was about a year ago. Oops.

As far as the elastic goes, I’m now making these with one inch wide elastic inside a folded waistband, as in the photo above. I have seen a similar elastic to the frilled-edge one that I used to use, but it’s four times as expensive and not as soft, so I’m not totally convinced it’s going to be a good replacement. I need to make a pair for myself using the new elastic, and see how they feel. 

I don’t think I’ve managed to un-confuse the size chart either… and a quick question about it on social media the other day resulted in requests for lots more information, including actual garment measurements, so that’s something that I need to work on. 

For now though, the bloomers are available to order… but if you really have no idea which size to go for, just let me know your actual waist and hip measurements in the notes when you check out, and I’ll run up a nice loose pair that should fit you nicely!