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Tuesday 17 June 2014

Dots in the Sand

Well hello there! Slightly unplanned blog absence, but life decided to intervene and keep me very busy, including preparing for an unplanned house move. However, here I am checking in, and I'm off up north for two weeks from Monday, so I hope to get plenty of scenic pictures to bore you all with.

This post is, however, one of those with me filling every frame, although I've squeezed in some of the beautiful beach, just because.

I went to my cousin's lovely wedding this weekend (Congratulations if you're reading this!), and thought I would make use of the beautiful Anna Sui silk organza that I won through the Grainline Studio blog during the new Christine Haynes book blog tour, so thank you Jen and Christine for the fabulous fabric! I have never sewn with anything quite so precious (and slippery) so was worried I wouldn't be able to do it justice, but I hope it looks respectable ;)

The pattern is the ubiquitous ByHandLondon Elisalex, which I have now made a few times. I made a gathered skirt this time, so I could utilise the border print. I underlined the bodice and skirt with white taffeta, and also lined the bodice with white cotton. Underlining worked well to make the silk more stable, and helped me keep those pesky circles and dots reasonably straight!

Although it is wearable, I'm not that happy with the fit in the end. When I first inserted the zip the bodice was too tight, particularly around the waist, so I reinserted the zip using bias binding (slightly unorthodox?!) to give me a bit more space. However, this has now made the back gape and folds have appeared under the bust and on the back waist. I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong with fitting, I've fiddled in various ways with this pattern each time I've made it but never seem to get it quite right. I guess I should probably go back to the start and make some test versions, or maybe I just need to do some more sit-ups?!

Anyway, to the pictures!






 This rolled hem foot is bloody marvellous and I suggest you all go out and buy one immediately :)

 Thank you Mr Greencoffeepot for your fabulous photography skills :)