DIY Ribbed Halterneck Top

My sewing plans before leaving for University revolved around formal outfits and 'going out' clothes. I've already shared details about the former makes, which included a jumpsuit and a black velvet dress. This top falls under the second category, I made it with the intention of wearing it in the evenings. I should add that when I made this top it wasn't the middle of winter, it actually snowed yesterday morning so a sleeveless top doesn't feel like quite the right thing to be writing about!

The design for this top is based off of a ready to wear top, which is often where I find inspiration. I own a lot of t-shirts but nothing that was really to suited parties. I really like the halter neck design of this top, it's a style that I'm often drawn to and used when I made my prom dress. My favourite detail of this top is the fact that the front panels are fully lined, meaning that the only visible seam on the inside is the horizontal one in the middle (the bottom panel is cut on the fold). It makes it really neat inside and is ideal when using a lighter-weight fabric like this rib.

The back simply has a rectangular panel of fabric, again it's fully lined. I've been on a roll with upcycling old garments lately, having recently transformed this top into this turtleneck. This lilac rib has a similar story to the pink one, I liked the top that I made from the fabric at the time but wasn't wearing it anymore so decided to make it into something new. You can see the old top here, I really like the colour of the fabric so I'm glad I got to make something else out of it.

The lining comes into its own around the armhole and neckline, making sure that the seams are all hidden. I'm really pleased with the shape of the neckline, it's often hard to know exactly how steep to make a curve when you're drafting a pattern but I think it turned out well. Overall this was a really simple, speedy make. It's not the kind of thing I'll wear everyday but I'm looking forward to having it for the summer!

Vikisews Patterns Courtney Dress in Black Velvet

 

If you read my blog post on the grey jumpsuit I made you'll know I was in need of some formal outfits to take with me to University. I wanted to bring something long (hence the jumpsuit) as well as a shorter dress so that I'd have something different depending on the occasion. I was especially keen to make two items of clothing that could be worn in different settings - I didn't want something overly smart that I'd only wear a couple of times so neither the dress nor the jumpsuit are that formal. I think there might be a ball at some point too, for which I have this prom dress that I made a few years ago if I don't have time to make another.

I really love the jumpsuit I made and it feels like something a bit more special, but I wanted a simple dress to take with me too. I don't own a lot of dresses and the ones I have made tend to be more summery - this blue floral one and this black one. Seeing as Uni starts in the autumn I needed something that could be worn with tights (those dresses are viscose so don't really feel like winter outfits) and that was a bit smarter.

It was my mum's idea to make a velvet dress. She suggested that I go to Fabric Land to try and find something quickly as I needed to make the dress before I left. Fabric Land is definitely not the kind of place I'd go to for fancy fabrics but it turned out to be perfect for both my jumpsuit and this dress. Considering how much effort I put into choosing a fabric for my prom dress, this was much easier! I chose a black velvet which I think works perfectly. It's a short dress so I can wear it to casual events but the fabric is smart enough that it works for formal dinners. 

I actually wasn't sure about the fabric whilst making the dress. Something about it felt quite underwhelming, maybe because of how plain it is. I also initially added a lining which really didn't work: the velvet has a slight stretch to it but the lining fabric I bought wouldn't budge when I put it on, making the dress much too small. There was a moment of panic when I tried it on with the lining and couldn't get it on, but luckily the dress fit perfectly once I removed the lining! 

I also really like how the velvet looks now that the dress is finished, there's something quite sophisticated about it. I couldn't decide whether or not to add topstitching and in the end added some to the bodice but not everywhere, which I think was the right decision.

Like I said, this dress was made with University in mind. However, earlier on in the year I had planned to use this pattern to make my prom dress. The prom planned for this year wasn't a big event like the one two years ago for which I made a lovely long dress so I had a shorter, simpler dress in mind. Anyway, I made a toile of the Vikisews Courtney Dress and even purchased some fabric to make my prom dress with. The prom was then cancelled, and I decided to keep the fabric for something else rather than making it into a dress. But, in the disorganised way of events run by teenagers, we had our prom put back on at the last minute. By last minute I mean a couple of weeks before hand, so there wasn't a lot of warning! 

Finishing my formal dress in time for prom seemed like the perfect thing to do, it meant that I could get more wear out of the dress and avoid having to get something separate for the prom. Seeing as I had already toiled the Vikisews Courtney Dress I knew I had a good chance of my altered pattern requiring minimal fitting. I also really like the design of this dress so I'm glad to have finally made it with a purpose in mind.   

Making my floral Courtney Dress was a bit of a nightmare. It required a lot of fitting and the fabric is really too thin for a dress. This time, I had perfected the fit of the bodice and knew that I wanted the skirt to be less tight around the hem. I'm so happy that the fitting paid off, I had a couple of moments whilst making this dress where I wasn't sure if it was going to work but the final product is just what I had in mind.

It's really hard to photograph the black fabric but the back has seams running down it like the front making it fit really well. The dress is finished with an invisible zip, always my preferred method of closure.

I think I've finally managed to do this pattern justice! The velvet worked so well, especially for making a more wintery dress. I also think it's a good one for dressing up or down, it's neither really casual nor really formal. In terms of wearing these formal clothes, I wore this dress to prom and I'm also going to an event this evening where I'll be wearing it! I also wore the jumpsuit during my first week of University and really loved it.

Tilly and the Buttons Stretch - Ribbed Sleeveless Freya Turtleneck

I actually made this top a while ago and never got round to taking photos of it, but considering how much I like it I wanted to share it. As you can tell from looking through my past makes I'm a big fan of turtlenecks. Since discovering the Tilly and the Buttons Freya Turtleneck it's become my most used pattern - this is the first version I made of it. It's such a great pattern to hack, my current favourite hack being a sleeveless turtleneck.

I've posted about the two other sleeveless Freya turtlenecks I've made, one in black and one in white. I wore those two tops constantly in the summer, but I actually made this pink one first. This top is also a refashion of an older make. Depending on how long you've been following my blog you may remember this pink ribbed top - I can't believe that was three years ago! Like many of my refashions I really liked that make at the time but it no longer fit my style. I think I wore it fairly consistently for about a year but I haven't reached for it in a while. My favourite thing to do in this situation is always to turn it into something new, and I've written a whole blog post about the many items I've refashioned. 

I had already planned to make my black sleeveless turtleneck and I thought that refashioning an old item of clothing would be a great way to try out the pattern hack before cutting into my fabric. Because I the pink fabric wasn't new and seeing as I wasn't wearing the old top anyway there was nothing to lose from trying something new. The main thing I considered when making this top was how to finish off the armholes neatly. What I chose to do in the end was double up the fabric. I cut the hem on the fold, so the top is actually fully lined. Because a turtleneck is then attached around the neckline the whole thing is finished off very neatly both on the inside and outside of the garment.

I did end up changing a couple of things in the design between making this pink top and the other ones. If you look closely you can probably see that the armhole doesn't sit quite as well on this one as it does the others. The second time round I added a band around the armhole to bring the excess fabric in rather than line the top. This rib fabric was a lot less stretchy than the cotton jersey though so I'm not sure that the same technique for the armhole would have worked.

The fit of this top might not be quite perfect but it's certainly very wearable and I'm so pleased with it. Like I said I love this style of top and refashioning an old make gave me the opportunity to try out something new. I love how it pairs with my Dawn Jeans too!

DIY Black Ribbed Flares

 

Having avoided wearing flared trousers for a long time I now can't seem to make enough! I recently made a pair of corduroy flares and also own a denim pair, but I've seen a lot of jersey flares around too. Unlike those made in more structured fabrics, knit flares don't have any classic jeans features (so no fly, pockets etc) meaning that they're comfy to wear and really easy to make. I like how the same design can be made from lots of different fabrics with each fabric structure changing how the trousers look.

I've seen an emergence of black ribbed flares especially and the thought of making a pair has been at the back of my mind for a while. So when I saw this fabric from Minerva I knew immediately that I wanted to make a pair of black flares out of it. With trousers made from stretch fabrics it's important to ensure that a thicker knit has been used, and when it came to using a rib fabric it needed to have some drape. A top like this one works well in a small rib but the fabric wouldn't hang correctly as trousers.  

This particular fabric is a medium-weight velvet rib, it feels so soft and hangs perfectly. It's nice to have the rib pattern to add a bit of interest to plain black trousers and the stretch makes them comfortable to wear. I wanted to keep these trousers as simple as possible so they're made from two front and back pieces and a waistband - only three pattern pieces altogether! 

These trousers have such a simple shape and were really quick to make. I copied a pair of RTW jeans to make them, but you could easily hack a trouser pattern. The actual flare is quite subtle but the contrast between the tighter legs and wider base gives the trousers their shape. These are possibly the most comfortable trousers I own - I think more so than my joggers thanks to the relaxed waistband and soft fabric. I like that they seem a bit more put together than joggers but remain very comfy.

I always like to add a couple of interesting details to my makes and for these trousers a split in the side-seam was the perfect finish. I stopped sewing the side-seam about 15cm from the end, pressed the seam allowance inwards and sewed around it. As a result the split kicks open when I walk, a nice additional touch. 

[This fabric was given to me by Minerva in exchange for a blog post]

DIY Floral Viscose Midi Skirt with Split

Last year I made myself a viscose midi skirt which quickly became one of my favourite summer makes. At the time the midi-length wasn't something I'd worn before and so was a little out of my comfort zone, but the emergence of longer RTW skirts on the high street meant that I soon got used to the style. Because of how much I loved wearing the green skirt I thought I'd make another one this summer in exactly the same style but with a different fabric.

My favourite thing about viscose fabrics is the sheer number of pretty designs there are to choose from. When I first started sewing with viscose I stuck to more simple designs like this black fabric, but floral fabrics have become really popular and I wanted to make something a bit bolder. I found this orange viscose at Fabric Land on a trip intended to purchase the fabric for my jumpsuit. I thought it would be perfect to make another midi-skirt and, although I wasn't fully convinced by the orange flowers, I really liked it and decided to get a metre of it. Now that I've turned the fabric into a garment I'm really glad I bought it. There's a chance it could have been a bit much as a dress, but as a skirt which I'll pair with a white or grey top it's really fun. 

I went into more detail on how I made this skirt in this post, but in summary it's a hack of the skirt pattern that my prom dress is made from. The skirt without a bodice and made in a more casual fabric looks completely different to the dress and I'm really pleased to have made the most out of the pattern. I like to use the same pattern over and over with different hacks which can be harder to achieve when the pattern is for a special occasion, but with a bit of pattern hacking a completely different garment can be made from the same base.

This particular skirt pattern is quite loosely fitted, making it very comfortable to wear. Darts at both the back and front help to fit it well and I also added in a split on one side. When it came to my prom dress I initially hacked the skirt pattern to have two seams running up the front skirt, one sewn all the way and one with a split. To keep the viscose skirts simple (and to avoid disrupting the print) I cut them with only one seam in the front skirt which is used to create the split. 

This skirt is sewn in exactly the same way as the green one, with bias binding to finish off the top. Because this skirt pattern was intended to be joined onto a bodice to form a dress there wasn't an obvious way to finish the skirt. I could have added a waistband but with such a lightweight fabric it wouldn't have looked right. The bias binding gives the skirt a really neat finish without disrupting the pattern lines, the waist seam is simply folded over by 1/2".

I actually made this skirt a little too late into the summer to get much wear out of it this year, but I'm looking forward to rediscovering it again next year. Having enjoyed wearing the green skirt I'm glad to have another one in my wardrobe, and whilst the two have the same design I think the fabrics make them look very different.

Handmade Grey Formal Jumpsuit

This is quite a special sewing project and I've been looking forward to taking photos of it and writing a blog post about it for a while. I don't often get the chance to sew something for a smart event but I really enjoy making formal wear. It means I get the chance to explore different sewing techniques that I wouldn't normally use and to focus on fit. Last time I made something like this was my prom dress in 2019 which is still one of my favourite and proudest makes.

I needed a few formal items of clothing to take with me to University, and so of course decided to make them. This jumpsuit is the first of those items, and it feels so fitting to be writing about it on my blog which has been a constant over the past few years. It's been a long time since I made this Coco top! Sewing has kept me grounded throughout my exams and remains an incredibly special hobby to have. I'm not sure how much dressmaking I'll be able to do next year, but I'll be able to continue wearing the clothes that I've made.

This jumpsuit wasn't actually intended from the start at all. At the beginning of summer my sister asked me to make her prom dress, and I went to Fabric Land to buy a cheap drapey fabric to use as a toile. I drafted a bodice based on what she wanted but didn't add the skirt to it as her prom was cancelled last minute. I had always planned to reuse the fabric and I really liked the bodice so decided to keep that the same. Seeing as the fabric was going to be a toile for a prom dress, it was the right weight to make a formal dress. I could have just added a gathered skirt to the bodice, but the thought of a dramatic maxi-length jumpsuit was too good not to make!

So I decided to add trousers to the bodice. I knew that I wanted them to be long and wide-legged, and I thought of the Rae Pants by Named Clothing. It's a pattern that I've wanted to make for a while and seemed to be perfect for a jumpsuit. I constructed the trousers as per the instructions but sewed the waist to the bodice rather than to a waistband. The bodice and trousers pair so well, I don't think you could tell that they weren't designed together.

The fabric I got was really cheap but it feels lovely, one of those surprisingly good Fabric Land finds! It's a viscose and drapes beautifully, something I wanted to make the most of by adding gathers to the waist seam. The trousers also have a pleats in them which work really well in this fabric.

Because my bodice was self-drafted and not intended to go with the trousers, it was really important to me that the bodice darts and trouser pleats line up to make them seem like an intentional match. My favourite detail is that the trousers lie flat between the pleats/darts and then the gathers begin after the centre panel. I think it also makes the jumpsuit smarter not to have gathers the whole way around.

I'm very proud of the jumpsuit bodice, which I self-drafted using my dress form. It always takes a while but the fit has turned out really well. Because I've used a plain fabric the darts provide interest as well as fit, and I added a centre front seam to give a similar effect. The back bodice also has two darts in it that draw it in at the waist. The risk of adding gathers was that the jumpsuit wouldn't fit so well and therefore look less smart, so having a close fitting bodice makes a big difference. The invisible zip contributes to getting a great fit and the bodice is also fully lined so the neckline and armholes are neatly finished.

The Rae Pants have a really clever design in which the slit up the centre front of each leg is hidden by the pleats. I included a slit in my prom dress too but this is such a good way to make the design a bit different. Walking in this jumpsuit feels very cool thanks to the wide legs and floaty fabric! I knew from the start that I wanted the trousers to be full length and I find it funny to think that had I made this a year ago I would have definitely made them cropped. The first long wide-legged trousers I made took a bit of getting used to but feel completely normal now. I think it's a mix of getting more confident with what I wear and changing fashion trends. 

I love this jumpsuit so much and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to make something special and different and fun! It's so strange to think that I'll be wearing it away from home, but I'm happy to be able to bring the clothes I've made with me to University. 

DIY Square Neckline Top

As evidenced by the large number of plain t-shirts that I have sewn over the years, I’m a big fan of making wardrobe staples. I prefer using plain fabrics to prints because I know that these will get a lot of wear and they’re easy to pair with clothes that I already own. I recently made a couple of sleeveless turtleneck tops using Craft Cotton Co’s cotton jersey range and I’ve worn them so much (finally, a top that goes with more than one pair of trousers!) that I wanted to make another plain white t-shirt. I realise that most people probably don’t want to reuse exactly the same fabric immediately after completing a sewing project, but like I said I’m a fan of wardrobe staples and I’d rather make five tops from the same fabric that all get worn than five tops in different prints that I don’t like so much.

Obviously I didn’t want to make something too similar out of the same fabric, and the great thing about jersey t-shirts is the ability to make something that looks completely different with just a few tweaks to the base pattern. For example, this top looks completely different to my turtleneck one as the sleeves, hem length, looseness of fit and neckline have all been changed. 

A design that I’ve been wanting to try for a while is a square-necked t-shirt. It’s a really lovely neckline shape, probably used more commonly in woven blouses and dresses but adding it to a jersey t-shirt makes it feel more casual. I also love how it looks in a white jersey; I think it’s a t-shirt that I’ll be able to dress up or down depending on what I pair it with.

Hacking a basic t-shirt pattern into a square neckline was pretty simple. I started by measuring how far along I wanted the square to go, and also how deep. When it comes to hacking a pattern like this I’d always recommend taking out less fabric rather than more, you can always make the square cut out larger but the reverse isn’t possible! I’m pretty pleased with the depth of the square that I ended up with and I like the slight trapezoid shape of the bodice, meaning that the angle is obtuse rather than a sharp right angle up to the shoulder. The only thing that I would change next time is that I made the neckline a bit too wide at the shoulder and the sleeve slips down slightly from time to time, although it isn’t a massive problem.

After cutting out my bodice pieces I also drafted a 1.5” deep facing which I sewed around the neckline and flipped to the inside. I then topstitched around the neckline to secure the facing, leaving a deep hem that I really like the look of and taking care to keep the stitches neat around the corners.

I initially wasn’t sure what the back of this top should look like, but decided to copy the front and make this bit square too. It actually goes down a bit deeper than the front, and I think a nice alternative could be to have a high front neckline with a square cut-out only at the back.

I tend to always finish sleeves in the same way but for this top I chose to make them a bit longer than usual, ending them just above the elbow. It’s a good way to balance out the lower neckline, and I think it also makes the top a bit smarter. I left a 1.5” hem on the sleeves and on the bottom to mimic the neckline, the kind of detail that to me really finishes a top. I actually made this top a few months ago so I can honestly say that it’s been worn a lot. I’m wearing it here with my black Lander Pants, but I also really like it paired with my balloon jeans.