2015: Things are going to start happening to me now!

This is a long overdue catch-up and therefore a long blog post. Feel free to scroll down to the end for the Babs & Donna disco classic, it's what I would do! But I started this blog as a way to record (and remember) the things I make, so I have a few projects to talk about below.

My last blog post was prior to starting Project Mrs Santa and Lady Elf, which is going to have to be blogged separately, cos I can't be arsed writing about it today and I've got loads of pics to go through for that one.

I didn't sew a lot after the costumes were done and dusted because a) I was knackered and b) my t-shirt etsy shop was mental during December and I spent more time at the post office than any human really should in the run up to xmas. Thankfully the staff are mega nice! In fact, I just have to veer off the sewing path here to recall the day that I was making my daily pilgrimage to the post office and I'd just been reading, and watching, about the terrible tragedy which happened in my hometown of Glasgow days before christmas (and which several of my friends narrowly escaped). I'd been crying but had to get to the post office to meet a postal deadline. When the lady behind the counter asked how I was today, well I just blurted out that I had been crying all morning, and why. We chatted a bit about it (aware that there were hunners of people waiting in the queue behind me) and I left. I was crossing the road from the post office when I heard a shout (I had got a fair distance before I heard her)....well had the wee woman from the postie not ran after me out the shop, came up to me and gave me a Starbucks gift card and said 'that's so you can get a hot drink to help you feel better', and ran back as soon as I blurted out a huge heartfelt thank you. It was cold and dark and she was just in her short sleeves. I still can't believe she did that. Tearing up thinking about it now! She was only in to cover the xmas post rush, so I will need to track her down to say thank you properly. The kindness of strangers indeed...

Anyway, back to the sewing update. The big news is that I got a Singer Stylist II Serger (or overlocker, as we Brits say) for chrimble with money my mum and dad sent me (thank you both!). I actually ordered it off Ebay, feeling very guilty at not supporting my local shops here, but I can't argue with getting it half the price than I would pay in town. Sorry, my finances are just too tight not to save hundreds of dollars when I can! The machine arrived on time and is spanking new, so I am pleased with the transaction. Only drawback is that I don't get the benefit of a free learner lesson, which I would do if I had bought local.

During early December the Curvy Sewing Collective had organised a Santa Swap gift-giving thing, where you got partnered up with a fellow sewer (you could choose someone from your own country or not - I did choose from Canada to ensure that I could meet the deadline for posting the gift). I got paired with a cool lady called Sandi, who lives way over on the other side of this gigantic land. She doesn't have a blog (yet, but I think she should start one!) and has been sewing for much longer than I. She gave me a few ideas for things that she has been thinking of buying for herself, and with the set budget of 15 american dollars which we all had to stick to, no matter what country you were in, I was able to get her a kaftan pattern from designer Tina Givens, who is one of her favourite pattern designers.

It was a digital pattern and within 20 minutes of receiving it, she was working on her garment. Pure wee Speedy Gonzalez! In return, she got me possibly the most perfect present....a Craftsy class for Beginner Serging! I had told her that I was getting a serger but wouldn't be getting classes as I'd bought it off Ebay. I am so grateful, and I still don't quite believe she stuck to budget....even though she promises me that she did! Thank you again Sandi, and thanks to Tanya of the Curvy Sewing Collective for organising our bunch of rabble rowsers. I hope they run it again this year! (hint, hint)

Even Miss Havisham got the sewing blues sometimes

Despite having access to the Craftsy class (and another that I bought a few months before, called Sewing With Knits), my overlocker gathered dust till just recently.

I got my sew-jo back in the second week of January thanks to The Makehouse, my wee sewing home from home, and a leggings workshop that I attended. In the space of a few hours (the fabric had been pre-cut in my size, and was ready to sew), I made a pair of leggings which fit pretty much perfectly (I might need to put more of an arse curve in the next time to accommodate my Kardashian) from gorgeously comfy bamboo jersey knit.

Triple zig-zag stitch used to attach elastic directly to leggings (ie not in a casing)

I have worn them a zillion times, and can wear them days in a row without them bagging at the knees. Will definitely have to try to get more of that fabric! Best thing is that the fabric comes free with the workshop. The leggings were made using the overlocker, and so it was a great way to get to try using it with a teacher by my side. 

I love this way of finishing the leggings at the ankles - that's knicker elastic!

A few days later and it was the weekend. At the last minute, my boyfriend managed to score tickets for an Abba/Bee Gees tribute at our local theatre. Probably sound pathetic to you dear reader, but I was ecstatic! I love the Bee Gees and any chance to hear their music played live is going to be a cause for celebration. With nothing to wear, I very cavalierly (is that a word? It is now) grabbed a vintage stretchy knit from my stash, which I bought on Ebay last year) and wondered if I could whip up a dress on my new overlocker in time to wear that night.

Before

By the time I was ready to actually work on making something, it was 1pm. The theatre show started at 7pm, this very same day! I knew I wanted to copy a favourite Primark dress of mine (that is too wee to wear right now! Damn you christmas overindulgence), which is basically a stretchy shift with boob and back darts, boat neck, and three-quarter length sleeves. There are probably 20 patterns out there in the sewing universe that I could have used, or amended, to produce this kind of dress but I had no time to even look. 

After: yeah, I know it looks the same as the before picture!

So I set about tracing round my Primark dress. By the time I had done that, tried to measure and draft the darts, I only had a few hours left to construct it, using an overlocker which for all intents and purposes I really had no idea how to work, not to mention it had come pre-threaded with colours that were no match for my fabric. Cue much terrible stitching and gnashing of teeth.

I'll cut an already over-long blog post short by saying I literally finished it with 7 minutes to slap some semblance of make-up on my face and get out the door. To which I was faced with pouring rain, having not registered it in my total head-down state of the past few hours, and only a denim jacket on. My dress' boob darts are mis-aligned and my hems were held together with Wonder Tape (yes, I didn't even have time to sew them!), but I made it through the theatre show and drinks at a pub afterwards (and no I didn't even get a photo with it on). Talk about fast fashion. And which way to Project Runway, by the way? 

Look at that fabric...weird wild stuff!

(My dress has lain forlorn since that night, with the hems now completely come undone and that wonky boob dart is just staring me out). I'm not sure how I'll fix it but there must be a way. I still have about a metre and a half left of the fabric so can even start afresh if need be. I also want to try adding a peter pan collar and cuffs to make it more 60s. I've been following a fellow blogger, Lazy Seamstress, who is drafting her first pattern and I think it would be a close match for what I wanted to achieve with my Primark copy, so I am looking forward to her announcing the official release of her Weekend Doris.

Wearing my heart on my sleeve, kind of

My next project was back on my sewing machine when I decided to make some wee mindings (scottish word for wee gifts) to take to my friends' who were hosting a Burns Supper. I had some scraps of tartan in a box of fabrics that a lovely Zumba instructor lady gave me last year, and set to making 13 wee tartan heart wristlets for all the women who would be at the Burns night. 

And then there were thirteen

They went down well and the ladies found some creative uses for them (wish I had taken pics) of wearing them as a hair band to make a pony tail and as a tumbler warmer/marker. I'm going to make more to send home. I would have liked to have made brooches but couldn't find any brooch backs in my local shops here. I've also to make a dickie (or it seems it can also be called a 'jabot' but that sounds too much like a posh jobby to me!) for one of my friends who was at the Burns Supper, for her highland dancing outfit. I'm still trying to work out how to make it so it looks something like this:

What a dickie looks like

January is a good time for starting the year off right...just a pity I didn't get that memo! So it wasn't till last week I officially sealed the friendship with my overlocker, at long last! I moved my laptop over to beside my overlocker and settled down to watch the Craftsy class 'Beginner Serging with Amy Alan' which Santa Sandi so kindly bought me. I must confess that I've only made it as far as the end of the 3rd lesson (of 9) so far, because I wanted to get started on a project from my other Craftsy class: Meg McElwee's Sewing With Knits. I know I can, and will, go back to Amy's class though. I love her calm and well-paced teaching style. However, it is a bit confusing to be shown things on an overlocker which is different to your own, particularly when you're a complete novice. But they can't feature every single make of machine, so I totally get it.

So the next day I started watching Sewing With Knits. Meg is bubbly and very sweet but a wee bit long-winded. Doesn't bother me as I can fast forward if I really want to, and find her style to be quite charming and personable which is even more important. Again, I got as far as Lesson 3 (of 10) before I wanted to stop watching and just get on with sewing.

Among the introductory sections, the fabric primer is most useful and I'll be re-watching that. I still struggle with telling the difference between different types of knit fabric and it makes a world of difference as to how your garment turns out: use something with not enough stretch and no 'recovery' and your item will bag out; use something with too much stretch and it may sag and lengthen your garment ('mini to maxi dress in 3 easy steps!').

Different clothing items demand different knits, eg what will work for a stretchy skirt, won't work for a hoodie, etc. Anyway, I'd recently scored 5.5 metres of a gorgeous turqoise sweatshirt fleece for 7 dollars and fleece is a nice stable knit (not too droopy or stretchy) to get started with...and let's face it, I could mess it up and not have wasted too much money! 

My first finished overlocked garment, yay!

The first garment from the 5 free PDF patterns that come with this Craftsy class is a no-zip hoodie. Having looked at the completed projects of other class-takers, I thought the hoodie looked awfy plain and home-made so I thought I would jazz it up a bit by adding ribbed cuffs, a contrast lining for the hood, and a kangaroo pocket. I wanted to add rib hem too and had cut it out, but when I finished sewing I realised that the hoodie is very flared (which I love) and wouldn't suit a ribbed hem after all. The design won out and that's cool with me. 

I left a gap in my serging so I could turn the hood inside out, because I serged the bottom hem of the hood which I didn't need to do, as the hood will be closed up when attached to the bodice. Perils of working the process out myself!

That magic Wonder Tape again! Followed by top-stitching which I realised after is too close to the seam

Had to remember not to sew the curved parts onto the bodice front, or else wee hands won't get in to the pocketses, will it my precious?

Meg's class is all about sewing knits with your sewing machine, rather than an overlocker (which is why I bought the class in the first place, being overlocker-less at the time), so I had to just figure out the stitching myself, as well as how to add the kangaroo pocket, the cuffs, and the lining. All in all, it elongated the project for me but produced a great looking item, which I've worn daily since! I broke a needle and had to re-thread numerous times (my threads kept breaking so I think I had the tension too high?) so all-in-all, my overlocker cherry is well and truly popped! I also used a twin needle on my sewing machine for the first time. My top stitching is not Oscar-worthy for sure, but I can only get better. I also need to buy a wider twin needle as the 2.5/75 gives off two lines of sewing that are just a wee bit too narrow for the look I wanted (especially on the kangaroo pocket).

The topstitching is a bit too narrow for my liking

Can't see it much in this pic but the back is  much longer than the front, maybe I need an FBA?

The hood is a bit Jedi, could do with reducing it next time

I love the navy with the turquoise, it was just navy cotton jersey I had in my stash

Look at those serged seams, bloody love it!

The only seam I didn't serge. Can't remember why, think it was just cos the wrist opening was too small

The most comfy of comfies!

My boyfriend now wants a hoodie, so rather than adapt this lady-bits oriented pattern, I've ordered the McCall's M6614 pattern. I considered purchasing Thread Theory's Finlayson sweatshirt or Newcastle cardigan, but can't afford them right now (I am pretty sure I will purchase them in the near future though). I managed to snag some maroon sweatshirt fleece and black sweatshirt fleece from the thrift shop last weekend for future hoodie makes (as well as for the Jasper hoodie/top/dress from Paprika Patterns which I bought recently).

Completely engrossed in drafting our skirt blocks

Last week I was also back at The Makehouse to do the first night of a two-night introduction to Patternmaking. This class is for creating your own skirt block, or sloper, and is a good basic way in to patternmaking. As basic as it was, it was still waaaaaaay over my head and completely blew my mind. But it was very interesting and a great string to my bow in terms of gathering knowledge. In terms of skills, it will definitely be something that I will either need to re-do or practice a few times because it was a lot of information to take in and I fear it will slip away from my memory like mercury.....

There were two girls in class who had taken the Bodice Patternmaking class previously and they found it all making much more sense, being able to practice drafting again during the Skirt class. So I think it's one of those things that clicks the more you do it. I am definitely interested in the principles and theories behind patternmaking, without feeling any great need to draft anything yet....although it might save me trying in vain to trace round a favourite piece of clothing in future!

The next big project on my list is to make the Jade skirt, also from Paprika Patterns. I bought this PDF pattern last year after seeing it blogged on the Curvy Sewing Collective by Sylvie, but I was right at the edge of the sizing at that time. This week the pattern designer, Lisa, has updated Jade to include plus-sizing going up to 41.5" waist, which reflects the sizing that Jasper already goes up to. I'm not sure the skirt will suit me, but I would like to try the technique involved in creating the folded effect, and can always make it for friends and family if I don't like it on myself.

Okay, enough is enough. Till next time!

Bow before your queens!

Christmas costume project: Mrs Santa and Little Miss Elf

Even though I've fallen in love with sewing this year and dressmaking in the past few months, it's a bit of a problem for me cos I'm not really that big into wearing clothes. That is, I wear them for practical, law-abiding reasons, and I am interested in fashion as a creative art, but I'm just not that into how things look on me. So I'm really excited to begin working on a lovely project making a pair of costumes for someone else. A friend has asked me to make a Mrs Santa for her colleague, and for herself she would like a reproduction of one of Buddy's classmates in Elf: specifically the girl in blue here.

I am just giddy about all the wee details in this elf costume alone, which I'm going to try to replicate as close as possible. The matching hat, the little snowflake appliques under the fur neck trim, and the little silver petticoat peeking out from the bottom of the skirt. I don't really see this as a costume, so much as a cute wee outfit.

Looking at this photo, the girl's dress is possibly made from wool, but one of the things my friend asked for is that the dress be multi-sized so that other colleagues can also wear it in the future. So after lots of research involving stroking and stretching fabrics at the three fabric stores in my town, I've settled on using stretch velvet for both Little Miss Elf and Mrs Santa. I'm also using these pictures as a reference,which I found on a costume hire website:

 

The website says that these costumes will fit waist 28"-36" waist and up to 42" bust, so that's the sizing I want to achieve too, and hopefully by using stretch velvet this will have plenty ease, and by using a belt, the waist can be cinched in for smaller sizes. This is what I hope anyway!

The costume hire pics also remind me very much of the Lady Skater pattern from Kitschy Coo (an independent pattern designer who lives in Edinburgh), which I bought during the summer and started to make a dress from. I never finished it and it still remains with skirt and sleeves unhemmed (it also needs what I've since discovered is called a swayback adjustment. This is to fix a big pool of fabric at the bottom of my back where the skirt attaches to the bodice. But I'll talk more about that another time).

Suffice to say, I've used the Lady Skater pattern before (and will definitely be making myself more dresses from it) and I think it's what I'm after. I have also toyed with the idea of using the Colette Moneta, but even though I have this pattern I haven't made anything from it yet and I think the Skater shape of skirt is what I'm after for this costume, more than the Moneta gathered skirt (the velvet might be too bulky to gather?) A lot of this is guesswork right now as I'm still such a novice sewer!

Love this velvet dress from American Apparel - great if you're 17 years old and a size 0!

American Apparel also have stretch velvet skater dresses in store right now and even though I'm not making it anywhere near as form fitting, the basic shape is the same as what I want.

With type of fabric now settled on, I had to go about getting it! Luckily my no.1 favourite fabric shop in Victoria (actually it's in Langford, just outside of Victoria), the Cloth Castle, had the exact red stretch velvet which would be perfect for Mrs Santa, and it also happened to be on sale when I popped in last week. Score! They did have the same in navy blue, but it was more like a midnight blue and practically black (only showing as a dark blue when the nap was running the wrong way).

After trips to the other two fabric stores, I've struck out trying to find blue stretch velvet or I would have even settled for panne velour but there was none of that to be had either. So fabric.com it is! I'll be ordering tonight and should receive it by the end of this week. I could have got it cheaper on ebay, but the delivery won't be anywhere near as quick as fabric.com (one of the things I love about that website).

And today I braved the metropolis of Fabricland and actually made my first ever purchases from there! This is by far the biggest fabric shop in terms of square footage and the majority of their fabrics are apparel and home decor, with a smaller quilting cotton section, which is the reverse of the Cloth Castle and Gala (although they both have good apparel sections but not nearly as much as Fabricland).

Obligatory  shot of Bonnie on top of material

Netting, faux fur, and silver bias binding, wooh! Fabricland, I am now yours

So far I have found Fabricland incredibly daunting: I couldn't work out the pricing structure (you get discounts if you have a membership card); had no idea what the types of fabrics were or how I would use them; and generally just felt like a big old fraud going in there.

But today I made a list of exactly what I needed, stuck to it (apart from not getting the blue stretch velvet), asked for and got assistance at the cutting table and an explanation of what the membership benefits were (basically 20-50% discounts, much of which I was able to take advantage of today), and generally felt like I know what to do with everything that I bought. That is a huge step for me in the learning curve, and I feel quite buoyed up about it now!

Even though I'm nervous as feck about cutting into the red velvet, I do feel like all my planning is coming together and there's nothing I haven't considered or fully researched. All that's left is to actually do it, and with a little luck I'll get the resulting dress shape I'm hoping for!

Red and green stretch velvets

I also came up trumps at the weekend with a fantastic find at my local flea market (where I also had a stall during the summer) of over 3m of 60" forest green stretch velvet. An amazing amount of material and it only cost me $5!!! This is almost a tenth of what it would cost to buy 3m of the equivalent online or in a fabric shop. Couldn't believe my luck! (I must remember to thank the lovely lady who has been organising the market for 20 years, and is an amazing supporter of vendors, as she actually led me over to the stall where the fabric was)

The lady selling it had a bin full of fabrics, and comes every week, so I must pop in again soon. I also got a 3m length of a very drapey cotton from her, which I think I'll use for the Sew Over It 1940s Tea Dress, when I get some time to try that pattern out. Again, the fabric was only $5, so it's no biggie if I muck it up.

Over 6m of fabrics for 10 bucks, still patting myself on the back for it!

When I asked the lady who sold me the green velvet what it was, she said she thought it was a type of silk/poly velvet. The funny thing about it is, that it is so soft it feels almost like suede. And looks very different to the red stretch velvet (not as synthetic, it almost looks like a fur).

The one thing I want to improve most about my sewing is knowledge of fabrics. As I am quickly discovering, it is so essential in making your final garment sit and fit right. Picking the wrong fabric for the wrong pattern is self-sabotaging before you even pick up your fabric and cut. And if you are truly ignorant about it, it's very frustrating as you can wrongly blame bad fit on your sewing skills, faulty measurement, or even your own body (that way lies danger). These are the times when I wish I had a pal or two close by (even though I try to pick my pals back home brains as often as I can) to help navigate me through the marshy swamps of the world of fabrics.

So anyway, I'm going to use the green velvet for a toile/test dress, and hope to make it all tomorrow. I'll possibly baste on the faux fur I bought today, so that I can remove it after and use it for one of the real dresses. I'm still a bit unsure of the technique I'll have to use to attach the faux fur so that's why I want to practice with it first. Worst comes to worst, I'll leave it attached to the toile, and buy more for the real versions.

I've got a deadline of delivering the finished dresses (I'm also making some elf ears, elf slipover shoes, elf and santa hats, and a tulle petticoat to go under each dress). I was possibly going to make the belts too, but having spent a lot of time online today researching how to do it (quite easy if you make a wide elastic cinch belt), it seems that by the time I buy the buckle and elastic, it will be cheaper just to buy a belt.

A Scotch and Wry classic character from scottish comedy legend, Rikki Fulton

Even though I am really a bit of a bah humbug about christmas and definitely more of a Rev I M Jolly than Buddy the elf, I have had Santa Baby going through my head all night, so that's a good sign!

This is not what a feminist looks like - but it is what dominates the type of xmas costumes available for women. Yuck.

And then of course there's the two new christmas adverts for the two biggest UK department stores which are showing on British telly right now. The ads are not only mushy and sweet (I might not be the most christmassy person around, but even I'm susceptible to penguins and cute weans) but each one features a solo Beatle tune, yay! Paul's overlooked and often slagged off (completely unmerited in my opinion) We All Stand Together is the soundtrack to the Debenhams ad and John's beautiful Real Love (sang by Tom Odell, whoever he is, yeah I know I'm an old fart) is being used for the John Lewis ad. But my favourite beatle-related christmas song has to be this:

I'll post more as I progress, wish me luck cutting into the velvet!

Cat Lady Sewing Challenge: the (whatever happened to) Baby Doll top

This is my second ever sewing challenge in as many weeks (the first one was my wee shirtdress which is part of the Autumn of 1000 shirtdresses) but this was actually the first one that I had intended to take part in.

When I read about Miss Crayola Creepy's Cat Lady Sewing Challenge, it seemed tailor made for me!  Addicted to buying cat-themed cotton fabricsÉ. Check. Mum to three catsÉ. Check. Inability to type question mark after Bonnie my siamese mix has been lying on top of my keyboard againÉ. Check.

(excuse me while I ctrl + shift).

And we're back?!? Sigh.......Bonnnnnnnnnnnniiiieeeeee!!!!!

Two days after we got her, weighing under a pound at 11 weeks old

Early on, Bonnie discovered how to get what she wants by giving me THAT LOOK

Spider monkey

Legs that just won't quit

Punk phase Bonnie (her hair was growing back after her big operation)

Even the sartorial wisdom of Tim Gunn can't keep Bonnie awake nowadays

There are so many cat-themed prints out there, I had tonnes of ideas of what to make for the sewing challenge but still hadn't a lot of experience in doing more than buying actual fabric. For a while now I've been wanting to make a dress from the fabric I first came across when I made a tote bag for my friend's fundraiser to help Romanian Stray Dogs.

However, when I first read about the Cat Lady Sewing Challenge, I hadn't ever made a dress before, so I thought I might attempt something simpler and decided on the Baby Doll top from Christine Haynes' Simple and Chic Sewing book. This was the first sewing book I bought, earlier this year, and the main reason I actually bought it was for the Baby Doll pattern included inside.

Baby Doll top from Chic and Simple Sewing book

I had googled for any sewing tips and examples of finished versions of this top, and found a few sewers who had said they found it to be very very roomy. I was also inspired by this finished version of the top, and thought that by having a different fabric for the yoke and sleeves and another for the main body then I could get away with a metre of each (up till recently I only ever bought fabrics in metre portions as it is enough to make a few tote bags. Now that I'm starting to make clothes, I've learned to buy at least 3 metres as this will be enough to make a dress from most patterns). 

I settled on the Cat Nap in Raspberry from Lizzy House for Andover for the main body of my top, and for the yoke and sleeves I cut into a nicely matching polka dot fabric from Rose and Hubble that I had bought during the summer while home in Glasgow.

There are only four pattern pieces for the Baby Doll (score!), a decided lack of mind-melting challenging techniques (gathering the sleeves being the most fiddly), and not even a zip in sight (another score!) so it should have been a straightforward easy make, but I got all up in my head about the reviews which said it was mega roomy when sewn up, and I started messing about altering the pattern pieces. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm not sure I understand fitting issues well enough to start going all Frankenstein on patterns right now.

Avert your eyes from my rubbish freehand arrows please

I tried to avoid too much of the bulky bodice, as mentioned by previous sewers of the pattern, by removing 1 inch at the centre fold. I graded out the armholes on the top front and back yoke to make sure they weren't too tight. But when I pinned all the pieces on my mannequin, the yoke pieces just looked too small. So being in a cavalier mood, I went back and added on 1 inch to both front and back yokes (yielding a total of 2 inches width to the front, and 2 inches width to the back). Two inches now seems an awful lot in hindsight, and the shoulders of the finished top do indeed sit too far down.

I loved this! My first time doing a lining. Produces a very neat finish.

Wee Man makes himself comfortable (rare sighting of Bonnie in the background, not lying on my computer)

A top fit for Richard Kimble

Even though I had sewn up the side seams, I cut them off so that I could attach the sleeves in the flat cos that's just how I roll (and it's the only way I can cope with attaching sleeves)

Five inches too wide!

The top took me four evenings to finish. First evening to measure and cut and alter the paper pattern pieces (my mind was on the blink that evening and it took me hours to just get the paper pieces ready to pin to fabric). Second evening was cutting and sewing the top to the point of being sleeveless. Third evening was finishing the top and realising it was 5 inches too wide at the bust. And day four, I chopped it up and finally had a wearable garment.

This probably isn't any real technique at all but I decided it was easiest way to get rid of 4 inches, sew a new side seam all the way up to the end of the sleeve hem

Now I'm pretty sure that other reviewers of this top were able to measure, cut, and sew up in one afternoon. As this is only the third piece of clothing I've ever finished I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on myself (the shirtdress was my first dress, but second piece of clothing I've made. One day I'll write a wee blog post about the first thing I ever made!).

Minus 4 extra inches now

Wee bit sticky outy in front but no longer looks like I'm having triplets

Safety pin as fastener, as I don't have a hook and eye thing yet!

Gathered front bodice. I really like this technique which was on my shirtdress too

Gathered sleeves

I kind of wish I had made a test toile of this top first because I really love the fabrics I've used, and it is wearable but a smidgeon too close-fitting (and miles away from the comfy, easy to wear, loose smock top it should be, and which is what I wanted!). Even though I have kept a note of all the alternations I made to the original pattern pieces, as well as what I did during sewing the top, I'm now so confused I don't know what size I would cut the next time to ensure that perfect fit.

Nice top, shame about the stupit facial expression

Just getting worse, quit while you're ahead Tulloch

Not just an arse shot, but to see how the back sits. It actually skims my hips but looks like it's dead tight here

Maybe I'll make a toile before I attempt making another version of this top. I'm also thinking that I made the classic beginner mistake of choosing the wrong type of fabric for this style (and kicking myself for not using a more suited drapey cheap cotton I bought at the garage sale where I also bought the material for my shirtdress), but it's all part of the learning curve and of course I wanted to use a cat print so I could take part in the Cat Lady Sewing Challenge.

What Burt Bacharach was thinking of when he wrote The Look of Love?

As the top didn't quite turn out how I wanted, I henceforth christen it as the Whatever Happened to Baby Dawn top (one of the best movie parodies French and Saunders ever did).

Now, here's hoping I win that cat! Wait, you mean that's not the prize??