March 2017 - Anna-Jo Sews

Dressing Miss Daisy: the favourite flower dress

Aug 15 078 (Copy) Anyone following this blog for a while will have noticed that I’m fairly selfish sewist, no doubt. Oh, I have plans to make garments for all the people I love most in the world, but with limited sewing time and limited funds I tend to prioritise clothes for myself.

But Daisy often compliments me on my new makes and asks if I can make her something too, so when she picked out this fabric on our pre-Christmas shopping trip to Rose Crafts, I offered to make it into a skirt or dress for her. After Christmas, naturally. I wasn’t that crazy!

And so we got to March, and Daisy reminded me again, and we decided a dress would be a good idea. In fact, what she wanted was a facsimile of her favourite dress. A very old John Lewis pink jersey dress, shown in the pic on the right. She’s been wearing it for a couple of years now but it fits really well and seems to have more growing room. I had a good look at how it was constructed and decided I could probably have a go. After all, how hard could it be? #famouslastwords

In a Nutshell:

A cute jersey dress in a dark floral pattern. This is so Daisy, and it fits her perfectly! It’s become her new favourite dress. It also counts for my #dressmakingbloggerchallenge for March (Springtime theme) what with that floral pattern. Are dark florals spring-like? Okay, I don’t care. It’s floral, and that’s good enough for me. Continue reading “Dressing Miss Daisy: the favourite flower dress”

You win some, you lose some: a tale of two tees.

Not all of my sewing projects are successful. Not even when they’re as simple and straightforward as a t-shirt. Here are two tees I’ve recently completed-one win and one fail. And by recently I mean one at the beginning of January and one last week. Partially recent, at any rate!

Major photobombing from my cat, Lottie, in these pics, by the way. Sneaky little so and so!

In a Nutshell:

Even the simplest of projects can go horribly wrong. I’ve learnt lots about what sort of tee shirt patterns suit me, though, so it wasn’t time wasted. Continue reading “You win some, you lose some: a tale of two tees.”

The Madrid Dress: Seamwork’s Neenah

I’m currently dealing with a severe lack of sleep and two ill boys to look after (okay, one of them is in his 50s, but still a boy when he’s ill), so what better time than to cheer myself up by blogging my favourite recent make? And while wearing it too! Yep, this passes the secret pyjamas test for sure.

Oh, and why the Madrid dress when I’ve clearly been modelling it in my back garden? Read on to find out!

In a Nutshell:

A quick and easy make that’s become a firm wardrobe favourite. Style and comfort, what more could you ask for?! Continue reading “The Madrid Dress: Seamwork’s Neenah”

The Rooftop Cleo dress

I know every sewing blogger out there (pretty much) has already made this dress, but I’m not jumping on a bandwagon, honest! I’ve actually wanted a dungaree dress for yonks, as I had one I absolutely loved when I was pregnant with Daisy (who’s now 11). Last summer I was busy pinning dungaree dresses on an inspiration board, wondering how I’d go about drafting my own pattern for one, so when Tilly released this pattern I was more than ready to make one. I wonder why it took me until February? I blame Christmas for getting in the way 🙂

Like with my recent Moneta dress post, these photos were again taken on our glorious roof terrace during last month’s trip to Madrid.

In a Nutshell:

A cute but very practical dress–ideal for chasing about after toddlers!

Pattern:

The Cleo Pinafore and Dungaree Dress from Tilly and the Buttons. I sewed the knee length version with the split and used two back pockets and one on the bib.

My waist measurement put me between sizes 3 and 4, and my hips were between sizes 4 and 5. Although the pattern instructions cautioned me to go with the larger size, I’d heard this pattern came up quite roomy at the waist so I rebelled and cut the smaller sizes, grading between a 3 at the waist to a 4 at the hip. With hindsight, this might have been a mistake! More on that in a minute… Continue reading “The Rooftop Cleo dress”

Seasonally inappropriate sewing: the Aster blouse

I’ve been finding the sewing challenges I’m taking part in so motivating that I’ve done the unheard of: completed a summer blouse in the middle of winter! Okay, it’s early spring really, but if it feels like winter, that’s all that matters. I don’t think you can see the goosebumps on these pictures, but I can assure you they were there. Oh yes, and I must thank my darling 11-year-old daughter Daisy for taking these pics. Didn’t she do a great job?! 🙂

In a Nutshell:

A pretty summer top, but I think this pattern will need some adjustments for next time. I decided to treat this as a wearable muslin, but I spent my time sewing it carefully to get a good finish as I wanted to practice some shirtmaking skills for future projects.

Pattern:

The Aster blouse, by Colette Patterns. It’s a loose-fitting, V-necked blouse with a yoke, and I sewed View 1 with the short sleeves. My measurements put me between an 8 and 10, but I chose to cut the 8 with no grading as the pattern has lots of ease over the hips, and I know I have narrow shoulders so I figured I’d be better having the smaller size there.

This was one of my #2017MakeNine projects as I wanted to build up to making a proper shirt, and I figured this pattern would give me some practice while leaving out some of the scarier parts (collar and cuffs). The reason I sewed it in February was the #WardrobeBuilder challenge for this month: shirts and blouses. That and I fancied filling a wardrobe gap before the weather heats right up. If it ever does… Continue reading “Seasonally inappropriate sewing: the Aster blouse”

February round up and March sewing plans

I’ve decided to shake up my “monthly” crafting posts and make them more structured. And more about sewing than crochet or knitting, because let’s face it, that’s what I do most of these days.

So, without further ado, here’s what I made in February:

L-R: Tilly and the Buttons Cleo dress, Seamwork Neenah dress, Colette Aster blouse

That’s three complete garments in the shortest month of the year. Go me! At this rate I could be sewing one garment a week before long–speedy Gonzalez, that’s me!

I’ll be blogging all these February makes really soon, I promise. February was also the month I started a proper sewing journal, and already I’m finding it’s helping me to focus on my sewing more and make better plans. I might blog more about that in the future…

March sewing plans:

I’ve got t-shirts on the brain at the moment–partly because of this month’s #WardrobeBuilder challenge, but also because I desperately need some new tops. I’m planning on using up stashed knits to begin with and will hopefully have a bit of fun playing around with patterns and techniques. The Plantain tee is probably going to be first up as I’ve made it before, in a hot pink interlock with short sleeves. Perfect for wearing under my Cleo dress!

I also really want one more longer sleeved knit dress in my arsenal, and so I’ve got the SOI Heather Dress pattern printed out. My eye is on some pink and purple ponte at my local fabric shop–colourblocking ahoy!

I’m also thinking about cami-style tops for the warmer weather that will hopefully just be around the corner. I would like to use up the leftovers from some of my knit projects to make the Seamwork Aurora top.

I also have a “going out” top to refashion from an old velvet tee that was cut into by someone (can’t remember who, but they gave it to me years ago). Should be a really quick make and will hopefully fill a wardrobe gap for warm yet fancy clothing.

And last but not least, another knit project, but this time for my daughter, Daisy. She wants a dress made from some fabric she picked out before Christmas. It’s black with flowers, and she wants a copy of her favourite short sleeved dress. I’m feeling confident enough with knits to attempt this now, and what’s more, it will be my entry for this month’s #dressmakingbloggerchallenge, as that’s all about florals.

That’s nearly all from stash, so March should be a thrifty sewing month for me 🙂

What are you planning to make this month?