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A Dressmaking Sewing Blog

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Hello! If you’d like to email me for a chat about sewing:

janelle@sewhopeful.com.au

Or you can come over and say hi on my Instagram page @sewhopeful

sewhopeful

I finished my @iconic_patterns #iconicpatternsrach

I finished my @iconic_patterns #iconicpatternsrachelblouse in chiffon. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and this fabric was much easier to work with than I expected. I did french seams and hand rolled hems and used silk organza as my interfacing for the cuffs and button facings.

The only changes I made to pattern was a significant reduction in shoulder width (2.5cm narrow shoulder adjustment), a small 1cm forward shoulder adjustment and did gathers instead of pleats at the neckline.

Really love the sleeves, they were so easy to set in with no excess ease at all, just beautiful drafting.

Now I want to sew all the blouses and all the chiffon.

#chiffonblouse #bishopsleeves #slowsewing #handrolledhem #frenchseams

I haven't sewn for ages - I've started quite a few

I haven't sewn for ages - I've started quite a few projects but things haven't turned out as I've liked. In part it's because after many years of liking the same silhouette of fitted bodice, waist defined and flared or straight skirt I all of a sudden am completely over it. I don't like feeling anything tight around my waist and I'm still getting used to my post menopause body shape. I feel so different. So anyway, this started off as a dress in my usual fit and flare shape and after almost finishing the bodice, I cut out the skirt and I realised I just hated it.

After sitting on my dressmakers dummy for a few months I removed the waist darts to loosen up the shape and added a small half circle peplum with some scraps and a small flared sleeve. I used french seams and did a hand rolled hem (see my previous post for some details about that). The bodice is underlined and the sleeves and peplum are unlined.
Do you recognise the bodice shape? It's the #emerydress by @christinehaynes. The sleeves are from the @iconic_patterns #iconicpatternsrachelblouse, which I'm looking forward to making up as a proper version soon.
Hopefully I'll get some wear out of this as a blouse, it's definitely got more potential for wear than as a dress. I have enough fabric to make a long sleeved blouse too, so I'm hoping that works out. #handrolledhem #sewingchiffon #peplumblouse #slowsewing #underlining

Check out the last slide for an unbelted view.

Hand rolled hems on some sleeves for a chiffon blo

Hand rolled hems on some sleeves for a chiffon blouse. #chiffon #handrolledhem #sewisolated.

I used a mini tutorial from @juliabobbin on her stories which includes a visual for left handed sewing which was so helpful.

It's a new old dress, still need to sew the motifs

It's a new old dress, still need to sew the motifs on but I'm so stubborn I kept going with this dress long after I should have just binned it and moved on. It started as a rather austere tea length dress which I wore once, hated, and then chopped into a skirt which I also never wore - the fabric is a heavyweight cotton/linen that just felt too heavy to wear on a hot day - so.much.fabric. in a full skirt.

So I took off the sleeves, chopped up the skirt to make it much less full (and lighter) and added a ruffle, lining and invisible zip.

Maybe I'll wear it more this way on a hot day, who knows, but it's been fun learning more about fabric choice and style and what works and what doesn't.

I would go so far to say a whopping percentage of a successful sewing project is just fabric choice, then another big chunk for cutting accurately and on grain, definitely proper pressing technique and then right down the bottom of the list is the actual sewing.

#sewonmotifs #sewsustainable #slowsewing #refashioneddress

Gift for a friend who loves dogs. A shopping tote

Gift for a friend who loves dogs. A shopping tote in a really cool dog print cotton drill from @spotlightstores lined in a slate grey muslin and with its own little pouch so it can be folded up neatly. I love how this turned out so much may need to make one for myself. Swipe to see how it folds up into a neat little package.
#shoppingbag #reusablebags #shoppingtote #dogprintfabric #giftfordoglovers

Third project for 2020. A crochet bag using a lace

Third project for 2020. A crochet bag using a lace motif as the base. Made it up as I went along. Will use as a beach bag or most often it's my #shoppingbag for when I walk down to the shops. It's surprisingly roomy. First photo shows the colour the best plus bonus sleeping kitten. 😻

#crochet #crochetbag #crochetandkittens #crochetstringbag

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A Note from 2019

Although I’m not actively blogging any more, I still often refer to my notes on this website, it’s a great reference for me on my fitting issues, pattern reviews and a record of my sewing journey. In 2019 I made many older posts private, so you may get 404 page not found errors if you come here from an old link. I’ve also cleaned up bad formatting, corrected spelling and grammar and in some cases edited the text on older posts. I have made my old Flickr account private, so some posts that used Flickr may have missing images.

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