Without even realising it, The Magnificent Thread has just passed it's 1st birthday! I think I approach my sewing with a lot more consideration and confidence than I did a year ago. I'm not just making garments by the book (or pattern) any more. I've ventured into alterations, tricky fabrics, (and the more expensive ones that I would've been terrified to even cut into this time last year!), and of course, pattern drafting. So I think this sew is a nice one round up a year of blogging about my developing sewing skills - a Self-Drafted /Lilou hack!
I've blogged a number of makes from Tilly Walne's Love at First Stitch, including two Lilou dresses (see here and here). I love the Lilou's pleated skirt, so I decided to combine this with my self-drafted bodice, which I've used and wrote about many times. My self drafted garments are all based around a pattern/block that I made at evening classes at Leeds College of Art (which I wrote about here). I'm trying to experiment with the pattern a little each time, so for the purpose of this dress, I altered the bodice centre-front pattern piece to create a round neckline.
The all-in-one-facing creates a neat finish to both the neckline and arm holes on sleeveless garments, and it provides a bit of structure and support around these openings as it's interfaced. The process of applying an all-in-one facing can be a little bit confusing, but Dolin O'Shea's Famous Frocks: The Little Black Dress offers a great step by step 'how-to' - I'm sure there are some brilliant tutorials online too!
After making the alterations to the bodice pattern, I had to do a few tweaks to the Lilou skirt pattern pieces. I only had to move the positioning of the pleats very slightly to make them match the princess seams on my bodice. I also added 1cm to the side seams to make sure everything matched up right. Ideally I would've made the skirt longer - probably below knee length - but my fabric wasn't nearly wide enough (or long enough). I had to do some very questionable pattern placement/squeezing in just to get the dress finished.
I'm still a little unsure about the length but all in all, it's not turned out too bad - it should get some wear on holiday! And now I've just about used up the last of my Hebden Bridge Rag Market Spoils! Luckily there's another one coming up on the 16th May...
Exciting stuff and I'd definitely recommend going if you live in the area! You can find the latest details on the Facebook page. Hope to see some of you there!
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I've blogged a number of makes from Tilly Walne's Love at First Stitch, including two Lilou dresses (see here and here). I love the Lilou's pleated skirt, so I decided to combine this with my self-drafted bodice, which I've used and wrote about many times. My self drafted garments are all based around a pattern/block that I made at evening classes at Leeds College of Art (which I wrote about here). I'm trying to experiment with the pattern a little each time, so for the purpose of this dress, I altered the bodice centre-front pattern piece to create a round neckline.
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I also decided against sleeves for this incarnation, which meant that I got to draft my very first all-in-one facing! I worked from my original pattern pieces, testing them with my facing pieces by pinning them to a dressmaker's form, and I'm unbelievably pleased to say that it worked! It looks a bit like this when the bodice is inside out...
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The all-in-one-facing creates a neat finish to both the neckline and arm holes on sleeveless garments, and it provides a bit of structure and support around these openings as it's interfaced. The process of applying an all-in-one facing can be a little bit confusing, but Dolin O'Shea's Famous Frocks: The Little Black Dress offers a great step by step 'how-to' - I'm sure there are some brilliant tutorials online too!
 |
After making the alterations to the bodice pattern, I had to do a few tweaks to the Lilou skirt pattern pieces. I only had to move the positioning of the pleats very slightly to make them match the princess seams on my bodice. I also added 1cm to the side seams to make sure everything matched up right. Ideally I would've made the skirt longer - probably below knee length - but my fabric wasn't nearly wide enough (or long enough). I had to do some very questionable pattern placement/squeezing in just to get the dress finished.
 |
I'm still a little unsure about the length but all in all, it's not turned out too bad - it should get some wear on holiday! And now I've just about used up the last of my Hebden Bridge Rag Market Spoils! Luckily there's another one coming up on the 16th May...
 |
Exciting stuff and I'd definitely recommend going if you live in the area! You can find the latest details on the Facebook page. Hope to see some of you there!
- Tuesday, April 28, 2015
- 8 Comments
