Girl Can Sew

  Have you ever had a fabric in your stash with no idea what to make with it and then, as if by magic, a new pattern is released which matches perfectly? Well, that’s what happened to me! I picked up this Chambray remnant from Ditto Fabrics in Brighton over a year ago, washed it, and lovingly placed it in my stash and there it sat until now. This fabric has a soft feel and good drape in a classic indigo shade so I knew I’d find something to make with it eventually. When I saw the Bakerloo Dress (by Nina Lee) made up in chambray I didn't have to reach too far for my own, it was meant to be! The pattern has really clear instructions and is beginner-friendly. The hardest part is attaching the frill to the collar because it can get caught in the corners. I tried the top part on once I had stitched the side seams and I have to say it was a bit of a struggle to pull down over my bust. I double-checked the size chart and I’d definitely chosen the correct size but because generally, th...

Hello Sewers! Here I am bringing you my latest make, Nina Lee - Bloomsbury Blouse! I have been seeing lots of people wearing floaty, frilly, white dresses and shirts recently and what with this incredible summer we're having it was time for me to get on and make my  Bloomsbury Blouse . With inspiration from Nina's own version and the fabric series from The Stitch Sisters I decided to make mine in a swiss dot bought from  Minerva Crafts  and lined in a plain white cotton bought from Walthamstow market. I really enjoyed making this and took my time handling the delicate fabric. I would definitely say this pattern is better suited for an intermediate level sewer as it has some complex elements such as narrow hems on the frills and gathering. I bought a narrow hemming foot which helped massively with this! It did take some getting used to but after some practice tries I got the knack of it and the finish is lovely! I would highly recommend purchasing a rolled hem f...

Hey! Here I am bringing you my pattern review of my second Kew Dress. You may remember in my first post I uploaded a photo of me in my first winter version made in a bottle green corduroy. This time I wanted to make a summery version with the cold shoulder sleeves. I was inspired by the fabric which I found at Walthamstow Market, it's cotton with a ditsy meadow print. Love the little mushrooms and grasses giving this fabric a fairy-tale feel. I also found the buttons in Walthamstow Market which perfectly mirror the orange flowers in the print. This was a really quick make, it took me 1 day from start to finish. I decided to batch iron so I sewed as much as I could without ironing then ironed everything together. This way I only needed 2 trips to the iron (which is downstairs) and I found it to be a much more productive way to work. My only real bug bear with this pattern is that the cold shoulders sit quite tight against my arms meaning I cannot actually reach up! Hopef...

Hi Sewers, Welcome to my blog and my first blog post! I am sure I will look back on this in a few years time and laugh about how clueless I was but we have to start somewhere don't we! I thought I would kick off by writing a little about me and why I decided to start my blog and my journey into sewing. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact point in time when I started sewing but from a child I was always making things and wanting to dress up my Barbie dolls. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I started to take it more seriously. At the time I thought that it would be considered cheating to use a sewing pattern and I wouldn't feel like I had truly made the clothes myself - it's a different story now! So without any knowledge of seam allowance or darts I started to draft my own patterns, it's fair to say this was not very successful! Nowadays I leave the pattern drafting to the experts and have built myself a large collection of paper patterns both vin...