Draped Top

I finally got organised enough to sit down and make something from my lovely birthday present last year!  The Great British Sewing Bee have a book called sew your own wardrobe and it is filled with gorgeous clothes.

I had some time this week so I sat down to make this draped top.

It looked fun and a great light top to wear in the summer.

I was gifted a voucher so I popped off to get some fabric and found this gorgeous orange printed light cotton.

All in all this pattern is quite simple to make - only 3 pieces to cut out which is always a bonus!  Because of the simplistic nature of the top the seams need to be kept quite neat and it is really important to be precise in the measurements.

Anyway - this is the finished piece.  I have to admit I love it and will be making a few more out of this design.

 The only adjustments I would make to the pattern is to make it a little longer - this is great with high waisted things.  But I would like to wear it with some lower cut jeans without showing my stomach!

Has anyone else tried anything from the sewing bee books?  What should I try next???

Suede love and saying hi

It's been a while!  I've been sticking my head in the books and also stitching away for a fabulous wedding.  Here are the 3 bridesmaids in the dresses I made.


It was really a most beautiful day and the bride looked stunning.

So now I have submitted a few assignments I have returned to the sewing machine for a days chilled out sewing.

Recently I got given some suede scraps to use - for me scraps are teeny tiny bits of fabric that it is hard to decide what to make with.  I guess when you start doing upholstery scraps take on a different meaning because at the end of the suede session I have 3 cushion covers and a new skirt!

It was a totally new experience for me sewing with suede - something I have never tried but I really enjoyed it.  Yes it is not very forgiving - sew in the wrong place and the fabric lives to tell the tale but if you take it slow and steady it is fabulous!

I decided to make a wrap skirt done up with a button - when using a new fabric I thought I wouldn't try to tackle the zip!  I didn't have a pattern so just free-handed some shapes and lay them together until I was happy.

If you want to give suede a try I would suggest getting leather needles as using them made a huge difference to the sewing experience.  Other than it is much the same as usual just take it slow and steady!

So here it is ;

It is just an all round fun skirt - good to dress up and good to dress down.

I made the top too but more on that on another post!

Hope you're all having fun sewing

 :)