About a year ago my kind friend Clr (She's from Stoke on Trent and they don't believe in using vowels there) lent me her sewing machine. Since then the most action it's got has been some repairs and alterations - mostly just turning trousers up as I'm a shorty. The only 2 items of clothes I think I've ever made were both costumes rather than clothes. An 80s Flashdance style
t-shirt (essentially just a big square with 4 holes in appropriate places) and a witch costume (from MacBeth) for my GCSE Drama where the aim was for it to look badly made and raggedy (I succeeded!). Let's just say the staff of Saville Row are not fearing for their jobs.
Needless to say I've never actually tried to make something that looks nice or wearable. So to complete challenge 24 I needed to up my game a bit. So did I rush to the sewing machine and practice my stitching like any budding seamstress? Of course not! No, I sat on my sofa all morning watching "The Great British Sewing Bee" and claimed it was research. Actually to be fair I did learn a lot of little tips and it gave me more confidence and motivation to make my frock. Plus it's a mighty fine telly show - check it out on the iplayer before it vanishes.
So first step was to buy a pattern and the material. I had a spot of luck here as the girl in the shop clearly didn't understand the pricing policy and instead of charging £10 per metre for the 2.20metres she just charged me £2.20 in total! I might have pointed out her mistake but I was also purchasing TGBSB Book at twice the price it would have been on Amazon so felt that pricing Karma had evened itself out nicely.
Once home the first step was to print out, alter and cut out the pattern. Typically the pattern only came in sizes 12-16 which infuriates me. If 16 is the National average why would you make that the largest size?! So after some calculations, paper sticking on and a lot of snipping the pattern was ready.
I wasn't convinced my calculations were right mind you so was a bit nervous but had to just go with it and start chopping the fabric. Now as you know I'm off to Eurovision in a couple of weeks time so I'd decided to make a Union Flag dress for the occasion. Here's a little sneak peak of the fabric in Sepia:
Part of my "research" had taught me that you spend almost as much time at the ironing board as you do at the sewing machine when you're making clothes so I'd set up mine and frankly my iron hasn't been used that much in years. (That's more to do with my failure to be a domestic goddess than the dress needing much pressing).
So with the neckline done I learnt how to do gathering stitches and put in sleeves before trying to tackle a zip. I'm afraid I failed to understand all the instructions at this point so just busked it as best I could. With the final seams sewn and a final press my dress is now complete.
And to keep you going until then, here's a little vintage treat for you:
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