Girl Can Sew

Hey Everyone! Another week, another make! Inspired by Rosabella from Sewn I decided to purchase the New Look, 6469 pattern and paired it with this luxurious stretch velvet from Minerva Crafts . Originally I intended to make it in a similar purple stretch velvet from Goldhawk Road but found when I got home that the fabric was faulty and large patches of the pile were going in the opposite direction resulting in large black areas when the light hit it. Not sure what caused it but that will teach me to pay better attention to the fabric I purchase there in future by unrolling it some and checking for faults. Pattern instructions were easy to follow and had clear illustrations. Originally I was a bit confused as to why you would need a zip in a knitted garment - surely you can just pull it over your head? I stuck with the pattern anyhow and I'm glad I did because the neckline is quite close fitting and so it would put too much strain on the neckband if you did not includ...

Hey Everyone! This week I bring you my latest vintage make, it's the Merchant & Mills Trapeze dress made from a vintage bed sheet I bought from Oxfam online . Zeus wanted to be involved with this one! The pattern instructions were relatively easy to understand with illustrations of each step. However, I have to say I disagree with the method chosen to construct the dress. The all in one facing which covers the arm holes and the neckline, was near impossible to attach. It requests that you fully attach the neckline to the facing and then attach the armholes, this is all after you have sewn the side seams and centre back seam. Honestly, I still do not understand how this is supposed to work and all videos I found on YouTube were using a completely different method. In the end I decided to overlock the facing so it was only around the neckline and then use bias binding to finish the armholes. This method worked very well and was much simpler. In future I would rec...

Hey Everyone! This week I bring you my latest make which probably anyone who sews has either made or is planning to make. It's the Tilly and the Buttons Cleo pinafore dres s. I used a super soft pink corduroy from Walthamstow Market. Practical things first - as with all of TATB patterns the instructions were super clear with plenty of photos showing each step. It also gives tips and explains why you do certain steps which has helped me when sewing other garments. I did not make any fitting alterations at all but I did make sure that I bought the hemline buckles as I have previously used the Prym ones and found the buckles tend to come undone too easily. I also bought Gutermann top-stitching thread as I wanted to make a statement with the top-stitching. I have seen many different versions of this dress so I knew exactly what to expect and it turned out precisely as I imagined it would. It is a simple design which makes it easy to layer with many different tops and jumpers ...

Hey Sewers! I'm really excited to share my latest make with you, it's the Tilly and the Buttons Francoise dress . What really inspired me to make this dress was the fabric, I recently found that you can purchase vintage textiles from Oxfam's website . So without a project in mind I bought a 1960's floral curtain, a wool bed sheet and a William Morris curtain. I had seen other people using vintage fabrics to make this dress so I thought this floral curtain would be the perfect match. As I've said before this pattern is exactly what you can expect from a TATB pattern, very simple instructions with plenty of photos. Slightly more advanced than the Cleo pattern as you need to fit an invisible zip, bias binding and darts.I did not make any fitting alterations other than rather than using the pattern piece for the bias binding I bought some normal bias binding as the fabric I was using would be too bulky and fraying to make a good binding. I was also quite lim...