Diary of a Chain Stitcher

July has been a bit of a strange month for me and I am therefore WAY behind in my blog reading so I apologise if this month's update misses the mark somewhat...I've done my best to keep up with all the exciting new pattern releases this month but please do help me out by pointing out in the comments anything I may have missed and I'll update the post as speedily as I can! As soon as I've finished writing this I'm settling down with a cup of tea to see what you lovely lot have been sewing over the last few weeks! New Patterns Republique du Chiffon have released the Nadine Shirt and Charlotte Skirt PDF patterns. I'm yet to try sewing a pattern from this french company because of the language barrier but I love so many designs I'm going to have to take the plunge soon, possibly with one of these two! Ohhh Lulu released the Hilda Bike Shorts which were a free pattern for the duration of July. A great idea to wear under breezy summer dresses if you ...

I posted my Electric Blue Biker Jacket version of the Pauline Alice Quart Coat a few weeks ago and said I'd be back to talk in more detail about the construction of the shoulders and sleeve heads. The shaping of these is probably the one aspect of the jacket that I'm most proud of. Which is surprising as they were the one element of construction that I was most concerned about! After setting in the sleeves themselves (probably my least favourite sewing technique but which went smoother than I ever imagined because of the beautiful crepe's response to shaping with steam) there was the question of how to tackle the sleeve heads and shoulder pads. I did a lot of research and experimentation so I thought you might be interested to read about that here. It was my first real experience of inserting either of these elements and I was slightly concerned about how extreme the effect of using both of them might be but after trying on the jacket before, after sleeve heads and...

Yes this is the third version of the Emmeline Tee from The Little Tailoress that I am sharing with you within a couple of months! I was always planning on making more as I've fallen hard for this little pattern and have been practically living in  my other two  but I wasn't going to bore you all to tears sharing every single one...until Marine from  Supercut  contacted me to ask if I would like to sew something up in a remnant of some beautiful Italian silk crepe she had chosen for me. I instantly thought Emmeline and it's turned out so well I couldn't resist sharing the fabric with you.  Supercut are an online fabric store based in Italy. They stock a stunning selection of fabrics from high quality brands including Liberty, Merchant & Mills and Linna Morata along with a gorgeous range of notions and haberdashery. Marine sent me a selection of samples with my silk and I'm kind of in love with this cotton shirting which is embroidered with litt...

Just a quick post for you all today to introduce you to a newly launched online fabric store called Fabrics For Sale . I've been keen to spread the word about this new opening as I really like the look of the site and the products they are offering. The company operate out of a warehouse in Leicester, UK and offer a selection of fabrics for dressmaking and upholstery at very reasonable prices. I love that the company is operated by a team of young women who are passionate about fabric and about offering us home sewers with a more varied and unusual choice. Their stock is sourced from all over the world and includes technologically forward and digitally printed designs alongside classics such as Liberty prints. I'm particularly drawn to their fairly substantial selection of viscose/rayon which I often find hard to get hold of in prints and colours I like here in the UK. These are a few of the many that have caught my eye and may soon be making their way into my shopping basket...

I'm sure many of you will have seen by now the latest release from By Hand London , the Zeena Dress . I'm also sure those of you who don't live in London will have heard about the little heatwave we've had here recently as when we British get a bit of proper summer sunshine we do like to shout about it from the rooftops! Well Zeena has been my saviour in the muggy heat of the last week or so and has rapidly proved itself to be somewhat the perfect summer dress. I tested this pattern and as BHL are no longer producing patterns in a printed format it was my first experience with one of their PDF patterns. I had absolutely no problems printing or assembling mine, just make sure to check that your printer is printing at 100% scale and not shrinking anything to fit or your dress will end up too small! There's a post here if you need any tips. From a testing point of view I thought the instructions were as thorough and clear as I have come to expect and include some...