...finishing New Look 2373 camisole top

 I finished the camisole top I started at the end of my dressmaking course, the idea for this was that it was a practice for making the dress from this pattern and hopefully a wearable garment as well.  I trimmed it with some vintage royal blue ric-rac that I brought from e-bay and I was very pleased with the vintage feel this gave to the top.  Sadly when I washed it the colour ran out of the ric-rac and ruined the top, I now know to look for colour fast on any vintage trims that I buy in the future and also to give them a little wash test before I sew them on.

I am glad that I made this as a practice as I made a number of errors.  Firstly I cut out a size 20 as my bust size fell between an 18 and a 20 so I went for the larger size, when I make the dress I will cut it at size 18,   I took at least a couple of inches out of the bodice while making it up but there are fitting issues and I had to bodge a little dart under the arm to try and bring in the top band and stop it gaping at the side.  I didn't follow the pattern at the beginning as I left my instructions at home and should have paid more attention as I feel the ill-fit could be due to me not having picked up on something early on.

On a more positive note I was pleased with the way the zip went in but I was a bit mean with the seam allowance so it was very slightly exposed when it was on and I am happy to report that I did not suffer with zip fear, I did have this page of my blog open to refer to and that was a great help.  It was my first go at making straps and I was happy with the way the came together, it was certainly a wearable garment.

I was lucky to get plenty of time to sew in the last couple of weeks but I don't feel that I put it to best use, I spent far too much time pinning on the next pieces and standing in front of my bedroom mirror to see how it looked.  I need to stop second guessing and just follow the instructions given and to just get on with it.

My next sewing project is going to be the same pattern but as a dress, this time I am going to take heed of all the markings on the pattern to avoid any underarm bodges, there will be less time spent  in front of the mirror and more time in front of my sewing machine!


What are you sewing at the moment? are you making anything for your holidays? Have you got any horrors stories of trims that have ruined your finished garments?

... Simplicity 2373

With my dress project completed I had time to spare in my sewing class to start something new.  I have decided on Simplicity 2373.  It offers a choice of sundress, a camisole top, short sleeved jacket and wide legged trousers.  I am interested in making the sundress for my holidays but wanted to be sure that I could get a good fit and that the straps would cover my bra so I decided to make the camisole top to test the pattern as the only difference is the length of the body.

I had brought this cotton fabric from myfabricplace last year with the intention of using for wearable test pieces, it cost about £2 or £3 per metre so I am not too concerned if it doesn't end up as something I wear.  There is a lot of trim on this pattern which I felt was a bit too fussy for me so my plan is to use some vintage ric-rac (approx 1960's)  that I had in my vintage haberdashery collection.


I am going to run a line at the top and the bottom of the top band and two or three rows towards the bottom where the lace is shown on the illustrations.  I love this colour combo and you can see how well this is going to look when it is complete.

As class time is limited and I am fairly confident at cutting out I chose to do this at home beforehand which is just as well as finishing the dress took longer than I had thought.  However, I did have enough time to make a start, but all my good preparations were in vain when I took everything out of my bag and found that the page containing the first instructions was missing!  Disaster was averted by our wonderful tutor Lisa who is very experienced and just looked at the pattern pieces and said start attaching the bodice top pieces together.


When I got home from class the first thing I did was check in the dining room where I had done my cutting out but I just couldn't see the instructions anywhere.  I finally found them hooked over the horizontal bar of the chair leg, no wonder I hadn't spotted them.




It seems that I am bang on trend with my ric-rac trimming as I spotted these lovelies on the Cath Kidston website.

What do you think of the ric-rac trend?  Are you planning to use it on anything you are making?  Have you ever lost your pattern instructions?