Pattern Review: GBSB Breton Tee

Hello!  It’s been a while, but here is a pattern review for a top I made a while ago…

Details

  • Name: Breton
  • Variation: ‘Hack: Breton Tee’
  • Design House: Book – The Great British Sewing Bee: From Stitch to Style
  • Size I made: 12

Fabric

I used a lemony-yellow cotton knit fabric.  I do not think it has any stretch and I think there is a reasonable risk that the garment will become distorted and stretch over time.

Difficulty

I would say that this pattern is straightforward to make, especially if you have tried sewing with knit fabric before.  The hem is a bit different as it has side seam slits but it’s a nice new technique to learn if you haven’t tried this type of finish before.

Clarity

I found both the illustrations and written instructions clear for this make.

Design and Fit

I was drawn to the neckline and grow on sleeves but now I have made it, I’m not as much of a fan of the neckline.  If I made it again, I would make the neckline not so wide.  However, it is worth highlighting that it might be my fabric choice which has made the neckline feel quite so uncomfortable.  As I mentioned, my fabric doesn’t appear to have any elastane in it, so it might be stretching width-ways!

Time Taken

This top can be made in a day.  As the sleeves are part of the front and back pieces, there is not much to cut out.

Conclusion

I’m not sure that I would make it again.  If I did, I would choose a better-quality fabric and possibly adjust it a bit to fit better.  For example, I could try to stabilise the neckline a bit better.

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Pattern Review: Bertha Cardigan

Recently, I received the latest Tilly and the Buttons book – Make it Simple – as a gift.  here is my first make from it!

Details

Pattern Details:

  • Name: Bertha
  • Variation: Original without additions/hacks
  • Pattern House: Tilly and the Buttons
  • Size I made: 4

Fabric

This red drapey single knit fabric is from my stash and was meant for my nan’s Kinder cardigna, but I cut into the wrong fabric for that.  It has a clear right and wrong side.  It was tricky to cut out as it was hard to lay out on the table to cut.  I had to cut a couple of pieces twice as I hadn’t laid the fabric out straight first time.  However, the fabric feels nice and looks smart.

Difficulty

The pattern is straight forward and simple.  It’s suitable for a beginner but has a few pattern pieces and is in knit fabric.  I made mine completely on the overlocker – minus the final stage where you secure the neckband hem to the hem band.  I followed the batching checklist which is designed to be a faster method of working but looked at the more detailed instructions when I needed clarification on any point.

Clarity

I didn’t struggle with any aspect of the instructions and found the checklist worked well with how I like to work.

Design and Fit

As intended, Bertha is loose fit in style to avoid excessive time on adjusting it to fit.  I would consider lengthening the sleeves next time as I’m only just comfortable with this length on me – but this is personal preference (technically they are long enough!)

I chose to avoid pockets on this occasion as I felt this fabric would look nicer without and made it look smarter if used for work.

Time Taken

I was very interested to track the time it took as the book does give guidance on this.

For cutting time it advises it will take around 40 minutes, but it took me about an hour – but I did go wrong and I am a slow cutter.

For sewing/construction time, it advises 1 hour 35 minutes.  It look me 2 hours 20 minutes.

The guide times are like those you get in a recipe book where it is just a guide and it may be that you are faster second time round.  I do think I may have been a bit speedier if I had been a bit more organised though!

Conclusion

A very fast make, and definitely possible to make in an afternoon.  I’m very happy with it and can’t wait to try out more patterns from the book.

You can watch my related video on this make below:

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Mend it! Adding a blind hem to a dress

One of my 2020 goals is to get through my mending pile and fix items as I go along.  I finally got round to my first project, which was to mend a tunic dress I bought years ago.  The hem stitching had come away on the majority of it so I had not worn it for a while.  It was time to resolve the issue.

Details

  • Garment: Tunic dress (shop bought)
  • Fabric type: Knit (quite stable)
  • Problem: hem needs restitching
  • Solution: Blind hem to match original hem appearance
  • Resources required: Blind hem foot (optional), matching thread

On my machine (Toyota Super Jeans 34) the stitch to use for stretch blind hems is stitch 9.  If I wanted a blind hem, I would use stitch 7 instead.  Both stitches allow you to create a hem which is still machine sewn but avoids an obvious line of stitching, which is great for certain projects where this line of stitching would spoil the appearance.

This is the first time I have tried out this hemming method, and I was impressed with the result.  Fortunately, this fabric is so busy that it is very forgiving, but I will need to be much more careful and accurate on a less forgiving one!

Conclusion

I’m really pleased I finally mended this dress as I learned a new way to hem along the way.

You can watch more about this mending project and how to create your own blind hem on the vlog:

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