Back to Dress Making (ish)
And by 'ish' I meant that I made an apron instead
I've had this pattern by Janet Clare knocking about for I think a couple of years? One of those purchases that you think you'd do straight away but end up pushing it down the endless crafting list. I came across it again, and I have no excuse at the moment not to make the time to... well make it. Not only that if I could figure it out, and not make a hash of it, make one for my mum (coming soon!). Shout out to my print maker mum!
Ironically, I didn't quite have enough fabric in my stash to make it, (what were the chances?) so, I did have to do a small order but I made sure to make my purchase to support a small UK business and doing my utmost not to just order for the sake of ordering.
Now the pattern itself calls for 2 lots of 2 metres of linen/cotton fabric but with a bit of checking and getting fabric with a width of 1.4 m, I actually only needed to get 1.5m (x2) of linen which saved a little bit of money. I purchased some lovely bio-linen from Dragonfly Fabrics in a teal and grey. In hindsight I wish I found some slightly more colourful linens but you know it works nicely - and I can add to it (more on that later). Upon it's arrival I gave it a gentle wash, ironed and let it dry completely before tackling it the next day.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed making it - it took a few brain-cells at times to figure things out how to do certain things (especially the shoulders) as it's been a while since I've made any form of clothing but you know what, a challenge is a good thing especially when your mind might be wandering to less than happy topics.
Looking at Janet Clare's shop it looks as though the pattern I picked up has since been improved to include different sizes - which for me is a good thing as it is a little swampy on me but as it's for me while I am sewing its not such an issue. One thing I do need to do is break up the vast swaths of plain linen with some extra decoration but I think this will be something I will do as I continue to wear it. For now I've added a few pin badges that seemed rather appropriate. Fancy giving it a go the pattern can be picked up from Janet's Etsy shop, click me.
