Sorbetto and other free clothes

Inspired by The Great British Sewing Bee I finally got my act together and started stitching again.  Blogland is full of lovely sewing blogs and websites and I've spent a few months procrastinating, collecting stuff and planning on how to expand my wardrobe without spending a lot of cash.  My annual budget is just £120.  So far so good.

 

So, the Sorbetto is a free downloadable pattern from Colette. www.colettepatterns.com Very popular in blogland and had great reviews so I duly downloaded it and made this from a remnant piece of fabric!

 

It's far from perfect but I love it!  In fact I finished stitching it this morning and am now wearing it :-)

I wanted the finish to be of a high standard so I dredged up memories of Home Economics at school (think I'm the last generation where girls were taught sewing and cooking and boys were taught woodwork!!) and did French seams. I thought a contrast bias binding would look good but in retrospect I don't like it.  I made bias binding for the arm holes and did bound seams (kinda by accident as I stitched the bias binding on the right side by mistake!!)

 

I think it looks good from the inside too :-)

 

I need to wait for the teenager to come home and take a decent pic of me wearing it but hope this one shows what it looks like on me.  Next time I'll make it longer (I have a long body!!) and take it in an inch on both sides under the arms as it gaps a little.  It fits nicely across my back.

This is my next project. My mum was having a clear out of her wardrobe so I acquired several black bags of clothes.  This flimsy flowery dress from Asda does nothing for me so I'm going to alter it into a tunic length top.

This is a lovely lined dress. It's got a Target label and cost $49.99.  Mum doesn't remember buying it or how she came to have it!! It's 2 sizes too big for me so I'm going to take it in.

So from the above I'll have 2 tops and a dress and it hasn't cost me a penny!

The Great British Sewing Bee

Anyone else hooked by the BBC programme The Great British Sewing Bee?  It's being tipped to revive the home sewing movement in much the same way as The Great British Bake Off has revived baking.  So far 2 episodes have aired (available on BBC iplayer) with 2 to go. 

I had already noticed a revival in sewing with the success of magazines like Cloth, Sew (my current favourite) and Mollie Makes.  I'd also noticed a rise in workshops and classes teaching people to sew.  I even attended one myself (corset making) in February.  It completely revitalised my enthusiasm for dressmaking.  I've always made home furnishings but rarely attempted clothes for myself.  I grew up wearing handmade clothes so maybe I've avoided it for that reason!

I'm currently in the process of making a corset for myself, one for my friend and a kimono style dressing gown for myself.  I've also got plans to make a summer dress and a skirt.  All from fabric acquired from various places, no money involved.

A quick look round blog land unearthed some great sewing blogs.  Looks like the GBSB has tapped into an already growing movement!