The Seamwork Devon is one of the November patterns for Seamwork and boy, are they both corkers this month! I would normally have sewn up both of them, had I not just finished making a bunch of jackets and coats, but I can tell you I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone does with the Baz. Maybe I’ll come back to it early next year.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I can’t seem to stop making green things, but August has definitely been The Month Of Pink. This weird Covid-19 period has had a whole range of effects on different people, from what I can tell. Talking to my sewing friends, some people haven’t sewn much at all and have found knitting or crocheting to be more soothing during this time. For me, it’s almost the opposite. I’ve had little periods where I couldn’t muster up the creativity for anything at all, but then have almost-manic bursts when I just want to sew 24/7. This has actually proved useful in terms of wardrobe planning, because I’ve ended up making two things that go together, more often than not.
You may have seen this top knocking about on Instagram or Facebook, as I have. It’s a simple enough design, but there was something about those cuff sleeves that kept piquing my interest. Since I have no shortage of simple woven top patterns, I managed to resist until I saw the paper version at Drygoods Design stall at Sew Expo this year (pretty much my last social occasion pre-lockdown) and had a moment of weakness. I’ve made two versions, the second being more of a mash-up with the Maya, and I have some mixed feelings about the project, although mostly positive.
Continue reading “New top: The Cuff Top from The Assembly Line Patterns”
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a subscription to Creativebug and one of my aims this year was to actually use some video classes. I had admired the Friday Pattern Company Adrienne top for a while anyway, so when I saw it was on Creativebug, pattern included, I knew it was time to make me some billowy old pirate wench sleeves.
I’m sure you might also have seen the Adrienne top around, but, if not, it’s described by the designer as “a fashion forward wardrobe essential. It is a knit top with billowy statement sleeves that are gathered up at the shoulders and hems with elastic. The length is slightly cropped with the hem hitting just below your bellybutton.” Which is all pretty accurate, but I wouldn’t say the top is so cropped on me. More like a regular high hip length. Continue reading “New top: The Friday Pattern Company Adrienne in a Pinterest-inspired outfit”
Are you a fabric before pattern person, or a pattern before fabric person? I keep changing my mind as to which I tend more towards, and since I’m trying to pull most fabric from my existing stash, it does blur the lines somewhat. One thing I have discovered recently is that sometimes I know exactly what I’m going to make, whether it’s the pattern or fabric I decide on first, but that I’m also quite happy to allow one or the other to percolate and when the perfect coupling occurs to me, my decision-making is pretty instant.
Continue reading “Working on the bias: Seamwork Dezi skirt and bias Clarke tank”
As part of the Seamwork Ambassador team, I get to see all the patterns fairly early in the month. I’m not under any obligation to make them, but if one takes my fancy, I have access to it before publication. This month, one of the patterns is the Beckett overalls and I thought they looked like they’d be fun to make!
Continue reading “New overalls: Seamwork Beckett overalls in the bonus version”
I’ve been working on the Seamwork Clarke for some weeks now. So far, I’ve made two tops and two dresses, one of them a fail, which I’ll go into below. There’s a fair bit to talk about: working on the bias vs. cutting on the straight grain, extending to a dress and quite a bit of trial and error, to be honest, so I’m going to split this into two posts. Today, I’m going to write about my first Clarke tank and my two dresses, with a few lessons I learnt about working on the bias. Next week I’ll post my other tank and a bias skirt I’m working on – the Seamwork Dezi – which will hopefully make for a nice duo. Fingers crossed!
Continue reading “Seamwork Clarke tank – more adventures in bias and a dress version”
Well, it’s been a wee while since my last post! I’ve been working away on various bits and pieces, and they’ve all pretty much been multi-part projects where I’m trying to nail the fit of a wardrobe staple. This post is about my little journey with the knit tank. During this project I had one of those rare golden moments of affirmation that one is not actually bleedin’ crazy, but instead that one has made a very reasonable guesstimate and deduction in the style of, say, Sherlock Holmes perhaps. It doesn’t happen very often.
Wearing Julia tank No. 2 in the beautiful northern Cascades, WA
Continue reading “New tops: Seamwork Julia tanks with various neckline finishes”
I ended up making both of the June patterns from Seamwork back at the beginning of May, because they seemed like a good pairing and I had the idea to go crazy and try block printing the fabric to make some sort of loosely matching outfit. And… it was fun! I did it in a very basic manner, which I’ll briefly outline below, but I’m really happy with the results. I think the shorts came out better than the top, personally, but both are not far off what I was aiming for.
Note: I’m a member of the Seamwork ambassador team, which gives me a chance to have some input into the behind-the-scenes workings over at Seamwork HQ, giving feedback on patterns, magazine articles, etc. In return I am subscribed to the service for free for a year. Nevertheless, I’m not under any obligation to write subjective reviews of Seamwork patterns and all opinions remain my own. Continue reading “New outfit: Seamwork Dorian shorts and Willis top”
I was quite attracted to the Seamwork Rory pattern when it came out last year and I remembered it when I was putting together some ideas for my loungewear plan. I rather like cut-on sleeves for a tee as long as it’s in not too stiff a fabric and also liked the base shape of the tee, which is gathered into a hem band with two ties.
Like all of Seamwork’s patterns, Rory comes in two size ranges: 0-16 with a C cup and 18-30 with a DD cup. I made the 14 graded out to 16 at the hip because, even though it’s a cut-on shoulder, I didn’t want it to be too big. My high bust is 40″ – so I could really pick anything between a size 12 if I used my HB measurement as the “bust measurement”, up to the 14/16 if I added on the 3 inches for the C cup to get to 43 inches, which is right between 14 and 16. There are different ways to approach this, but I would probably tend towards the narrower shoulder, so the 14 was my decision and I find a Seamwork 14 shoulder quite a good match for me. I actually think I would have been fine with a 14 all over as there’s a decent bit of ease going on, but the shape isn’t bad at all. Continue reading “New tops: Seamwork Rory twice over”
Belle Citadel 