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By Hand London

Dressmaking & sewing

The green gables dress

February 2, 2015

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Can I firstly just say I love everything about this dress? The style is perfect for me, it fits really well and I love the fabric. Since making the birthday dress last year, I’ve wanted to use the Vogue V8723 again and, although I mixed it with By Hand London’s Elisalex here, it’s not quite the same as making the full version.

I think the skirt in this version is slightly less gathered than in the birthday dress, but I think I almost prefer this version as it feels more wearable. It actually looks quite weird in the below photos (and I promise I have hemmed it properly), but in reality it looks ok.

Since I made it before Christmas, I don’t actually remember what it was like to sew up but I’m sure I’d remember if it was a nightmare. Plus, I always think that sewing something the second time around is easier, as you’ve made the notes/adjustments you needed to the first time.

The fabric I used is from one of my favourite fabric stores on Ebay, but I’ve seen it in other places too. Here‘s the link. I love its colour and it really suits the pattern. I’m so happy with the way this dress turned out and I know I’ll wear it again and again!

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Crafting ideas, Dressmaking & sewing

In honour of Anna

January 30, 2015

I’m currently sewing up my first Anna dress for White Tree Fabrics. It’s not a style I particularly wanted to make when it first came out to be honest (I always preferred the Elisalex), but the pattern has definitely grown on me and I’m excited to sew it up now. I have some lovely Tilda fabric* and I plan on making the shorter version. Perhaps I’ll even make the maxi version for the summer.

The Anna dress has recently moved up my to-do list, purely because I’ve seen a few really great versions online lately (most recently Roisin’s version). So, having taken to Pinterest, I’ve chosen a few, really inspiring, Anna’s. Maybe they’ll even inspire you too. Please click through for links to the original pins and blog posts. All images are courtesy of the bloggers, of course.

1. Anna from Paunnet‘s beautiful navy blue Anna dress

Anna's beautiful Anna dress

2. This lovely graphic print maxi version

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3. Jenny’s two-tone Anna dressdb0f2fd3fe28a4b8196ea7787a724b98

4. And finally, Roisin‘s floral number

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I’d love to see more of your Anna dresses, so send links this way please. In the meantime I’ll let you know how I get on with mine.

*Given to me by White Tree Fabrics as part of their blog team

Dressmaking & sewing

Pattern mixing: Elisalex meets Vogue V8723

January 12, 2015

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A little while ago, I took part in this competition run by the lovely ladies from By Hand London but because of London and work in general, my laptop breaking, Christmas, New Year and various other things, it’s taken me a while to post it.

The brief for the competition was to make a modified version of any By Hand London pattern and so I decided on using the Elisalex pattern. It is probably my favourite By Hand London pattern as it’s so classic and vintage in style, plus I love the shape of the skirt.

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Having made an Elisalex dress fairly recently, I thought I’d forgo on the skirt this time and just use the top pattern. I mixed this with the skirt from my new favourite pattern (Vogue’s V8723 of course) and used a sweet hedgehog fabric which began life as a duvet cover.

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A close-up of the hedgehog fabric I used

I really like using duvet covers and sheets as fabric as they’re cheap and versatile. The quality of this type of fabric isn’t always great as it can tend to be quite thin, but as long as the dress is lined it’s generally ok. Plus, duvet covers and sheets also work really well for any muslins you make.

I’m really happy with this dress. I love the fit and it feels summery and wearable. Initially, I added sleeves, but they didn’t look right this time, so I took them out. Plus, the pattern matching doesn’t look too out of place and that’s always a winner, right?

Crafting ideas

By Hand London Sabrina dress

September 27, 2014

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Today the lovely ladies at By Hand London have released their newest pattern –  the Sabrina dress. The dress comes in two variations – the strappy, button down version and the sleeveless dress with the bateau style neckline. It’s a beauty and is the perfect start dress for anyone keen to get into sewing.

Sabrina comes as a PDF only version and is available directly from the By Hand London website, priced at only £9. Buy it here. I’d love to know which version you will be making up. I’ve got my eyes on the sleeveless version in an autumnal colour or print.

Crafting ideas

The Spring Knitting and Stitching Show

March 24, 2014

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Last weekend I was lucky enough to visit The Spring Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia, London. Over 200 companies were exhibiting and selling their wares at the show and there was also a number of dressmaking workshops and other classes on. Sadly, I didn’t have a lot of time there and I had to be quite selective with the stalls I visited, but I managed to see quite a bit considering my late arrival. Obviously, one of the first stalls I visited was the By Hand London one, where they were selling all their patterns, including their new Flora dress pattern and I got to have a nice chat with Victoria.

The By Hand London girls were promoting their new Flora pattern at the show

The By Hand London girls were promoting their new Flora pattern at the show

I also visited the Toft Alpaca Shop, a DIY knitwear company with a lovely range of wools and jersey yarn. I first discovered the brand last year when I researched them for Prima and they’ve certainly become one of my firm favourites. Although I mainly focused on seeing my favourite brands, I did discover a few new names, including Katie Essam, a mixed media textile artist who works mainly in embroidery. I loved her stuff and, when I’ve got a bit of money, I’ll definitely invest in one of her pieces.

I did have a lot of fun at the show and I came away with many crafty ideas as well as some supplies. My favourite purchase was some green fabric which will hopefully be used for some trousers shortly.

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The Toft Alpaca stall was selling a range of beautiful yarns

Katie Essam's work is a mix of embroidery and other mediums

Katie Essam’s work is a mix of embroidery and other mediums