By Hand London Flora: Cold shoulder hack

By Hand London
Despite mainly sewing my clothes, I still visit the high street regularly and keep up with what's in store, and I can't help but notice that cold shoulder tops and dresses are everywhere. A lot of these garments are quite loose fitting, which is not a style I can get away with too easily, but I sort of wanted in on the trend too. So I decided to make my own version, using the tried and tested By Hand London Flora bodice.
By Hand London Flora bodice hack
I'd already tackled the fit adjustments for the the Flora bodice for a culotte/jumpsuit hack, so that made it an obvious choice for experimenting with shoulder inserts. I hung onto my muslin - it's a pretty rare occasion that I'd even make one, so this was lucky - and made use of some scraps to do a bit of testing. I ended up with what's essentially a gathered arm band insert that I was pretty happy with - I'm thinking of putting this together in a more detailed fashion in the near future as a bit of a how-to if anyone's interested!

Sketches and plans
Scraps and muslin practice
The fit of my Flora remained almost the same, but I took an extra inch off the front neckline to open it up a little. I also shaved 0.5cm off the centre back, to get a slightly closer fit. I used a mid-weight crepe from the grab bins at Abakhan, which could have only cost me about £5, if not less! The fabric may look plain, but it has such an expensive feel and drape to it - the sort that you might find in Whistles or Cos.

Side view
The only thing I would do differently if I made something similar would to be line up the neckline with the shoulder inserts a little better, and lower the back neckline 1" to match the front. I'm just slightly out with these, which makes the neckline look a little disjointed rather than creating a clean line across, but oh well, practice makes perfect!

From the back!
I made the bodice without too much consideration of what the skirt would look like. I think I'd sort of envisaged a straight, just-below-the-knee-length darted style, but to be perfectly honest, I got lazy, and couldn't be bothered to draft, adjust, or find a pattern to match. My gathered skirt wasn't on a complete whim though - I tried the bodice on with an old self drafted gathered skirt to get an idea of the shape, and it just sort of worked. I used all the fabric I had left so I could make it as long as possible, and I think the gathers hang really nicely in the fabric. There's no visible stitching on the outside of the dress so I decided to go all out and finish the hem by hand too.

A long gathered skirt to off set a slim bodice
I'm really pleased with the results, and massively proud that I managed to translate what I saw in the shops, into something that's much more wearable for me. It's actually turned out quite a lot posher than I imagined, and I'm wearing it at a wedding in these pictures - who says you can't wear black to a wedding eh? I think I'd like to try it again in a print fabric, or maybe as just a top version eventually, but I do have quite a lot on my list at the moment - imminent Autumn sewing is calling! - so we'll see!

A Polaroid of me and Chris at the wedding :)
As a side note, and speaking of the Flora bodice, my culotte/Flora hybrid made it in print! Thanks Megan of Pigeon Wishes for recommending my project as her favourite pattern hack. Check out Megan's own (amazing) pattern hack and article in the latest Sew Style mag.

I'm in Sew Style!
Can anyone think of or recommend any other Flora hacks for me to try?! I've definitely got the bug now!
:)
Stay in touch!


By Hand London Flora/Culotte mash up

Buttrick
It's my birthday! I saw in the early hours of the day at a wedding, wearing what I think may be my finest ever sew - a culotte jumpsuit - and luckily managed to get some pictures of it too. This has been in the pipeline for a little while now, so I'm thrilled that it a) worked out, b) I had an occassion to wear it, and c) I get to share it with you guys!

B6178 meets Flora!
Clearly ecstatic about the freedom for weird dance moves!
I made it using a mash up of two patterns - the By Hand London Flora bodice, and the B6178 Culottes, which I've been singing the praises of for the last couple of months (and blogged about here). I've had the Flora pattern for nearly 2 years now, but I've always put off making it for the fear of having an ordeal with the fit adjustments. After making a couple of pairs of B6178s and absolutely loving them, I realised that they'd look amazing together if I could make it work. This, coupled with the slight pressure of an impending wedding - one of my resolutions was to sew my own dress for wedding attire - was the push I needed to get fitting. It's not quite a dress I know, but I wanted something a bit different, and in my head, in this totally fitted the bill.

Working out the fit adjustments on the bust
Gigantic darts on my muslin!
First up was the - dreaded - fitting. I needn't fear the FBA, but there's just something about committing to it that makes me nervous. Anyway, the BHL site has the best FBA tutorial for version B of the Flora bodice. I made up the adjusted version and it was nearly spot on. I just had to take a centimetre out of the centre front as everything was all a bit too far out. I made up one other muslin  - a big deal for me considering it's usually very rare that I even make one - just to be sure I had the fit right, and then cut straight into my final fabric.

A pretty good fit for the first muslin
I used this lovely black and white polka dot crepe that I made the Nita Wrap Skirt in. I bought 4metres ages ago for a project that never saw the light of day, and I'm finally glad to have found the perfect use for it - a bold silhouette calls for a bold fabric right? I even had enough to fully line the bodice in it too - the stuff of luxury! The only thing I should've given a bit more consideration to was the placement of the spots. There was no way I was going to attempt pattern matching, but although I matched the selveedges, I seem to have cut the fabric with the spots running at a twisty angle. I'm hoping the spot placement looks fairly random despite the definite squiffy angles.

Used making my own outfit as an excuse to buy sparkly new shoes!
I was lucky that the bodice and culottes matched up pretty well with very few adjustments. I moved the front darts slightly, but in hindsight I didn't even need to do this, as the culottes are ease stitched into the waistband/bodice, so there's a bit of wiggle room. I used a 22" invisible zip straight up the back, and handstitched the lining in on the inside, and taa daaaa! It's done (phew!) but it really was a seriously enjoyable make!

Back view
Happier than I look!
I'm not saying it's quite my finest technical sew, but I couldn't be prouder of the ideas, the pattern mash up and how it came together, and getting the fit just right - I love it, and it's a dream to wear. It's even more of a dream to wear with these sparkly shoes I got in Zara - making your own wedding attire totally justifies a new shoe purchase right? I've since seen a pattern that's probably a quicker way to make a similar one (the New Look 6446 - Erica Bunker made a fab version) but I'm glad I pushed myself with this one, and finally made up the Flora bodice! I think there'll be many more of these (Floras and Flora/culotte jumpsuits) to come :)

Here are a couple more pictures from the beautiful wedding we went to (congratulations Helen and Shaun!)



I have another 3 weddings to go before the season's out, and I'm really excited about making my dress for the next one after being sent a parcel of beautiful fabric from Sew Essential. Updates on that one very soon!

Is anyone else planning to sew their wedding outfits this year?


Stay in touch!

Desperately seeking...

By Hand London
... sewing inspiration! I had last week off work with the intention of getting a load of sewing done, but after finishing my third Simple Sew Lottie blouse, I thought I needed a bit of a creative kick up the arse.



Don't get me wrong, I love the pattern and finished blouse is so easy to wear. I did add sleeves this time to bust some scraps from this earlier version I made for a friend. They actually turned out much better than I expected! I thought I was going to have to add cuffs but the almost billowing sleeves work pretty well with the paisley - 70s vibes, and nice and breezy, think its my favourite version yet!


So in other non-Lottie related sewing news, I went to London and got to pay a visit to The Cornershop, a newsagents brimming with hand sewn goods! The whole effort has been lovingly crafted by artist Lucy Sparrow, who was also acting store manager for the duration of The Cornershop's opening in August. Here I am outside (wearing my collared Megan dress!).



I asked Lucy the question that most people probably asked: 'how long did it take you to make everything?' And she replied with SEVEN MONTHS! Now that is dedication, and she was even  making up orders at the (sewn felt) till point - that's right, you can actually buy everything in the shop! 



So here are some shots of the shelves. If you squint, or like me, don't bother wearing the glasses that you're meant to wear, then the products look like they belong in a genuine corner shop.







So feeling suitably inspired by sheer commitment to the sewing lifestyle, I left, craving a bag of cheese and onion crisps - not sure if it was the felt or potato version though. You can find out more about the project and visit the online Cornershop here.

Next up I found myself visiting Raystitch in Angel/Islington where I was absolutely IN MY ELEMENT! It's the stuff that my sewing dreams are made of - so many beautiful Japanese printed fabrics, sewing books, patterns and general sewing paraphernalia. I had a lovely chat about indie sewing patterns and sewing blogs with the assistant, and walked away with two beauties...



Some serious sewing - well muslin making - is on the cards. I've never tried a By Hand London or Dear and Doe pattern before, so I'm really excited - though I could spend all day just looking at them and the beautiful packaging!

First up though, one I've been talking about making for ages. I finally made a start on the Mimi blouse from Love at First Stitch. Will post about the finished garment hopefully very soon!   


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Thanks for visiting!