Paisley Print Dress - Simplicity K1418

Sometimes I find a fabric that I LOVE but I just have no idea how to use it. 

This fabric was one of those times. I love a good paisley print. In fact back when I was 14 I spent a good portion of my time wearing a men's paisley print shirt with a waistcoat and a pair of skinny jeans so it became all puffed up! Sort of like Adam Ant but with more black accessories! 

This paisley print threw me though, because 1. Its a very small print and 2. It kind of looks like old man pyjama fabric. 

I let it sit in my fabric cupboard for a while but then I bit the bullet and decided it might work for Simplicity K1418 which is a project runway pattern.

I decided to do the strappy view but I knew I wouldn't have enough fabric for the box pleat skirt so I went for a gathered one instead. I did bias bind the seam that joins the gathered skirt to the bodice though just to make it look neat and I'm definitely going to do that again as it gives an added level of security as well as keeping things tidy.

I've already made this pattern twice before here and here. So I knew I needed to take 3cm off the length of the bodice so it would sit on my natural waist. Now the waist sits a lot more naturally however I am going to have to take a bit off the back seam of the pattern and I've got some gaping in the front of the bodice above my boobs so I'm going to try and remove a wedge so it sits flatter to the chest. 

Its a looser fit than my nautical version but its a more casual dress so I'm not sure that's a problem. 

Although if it does start to bother me I'll just adjust the back seam. The zip is recycled from either an old coat or an old hoody. Lucky I love the look of a metal zip and they are so hard wearing you can recycle them quite a few times. 

The bodice has facings which I don't love I wish I had gone to the extra effort and just done a full lining. I also wish I had put the straps where I wanted them rather than following the pattern instructions as they don't sit quite right.

The fabric itself is a lovely cotton that I was given by the lady at the car-boot. There was only a metre and a half so I had to play some serious pattern tetris. Luckily it isn't a directional print so I got away with it. 

All in all I love it I just need to keep tweaking the fit until I've got it perfect, by which point I'll have decided I'm bored with it and move on to another pattern. 

I think my favourite part of the dress is how versatile it is. Its great for summer but it doesn't look out of place with thick tights and a big cardigan. 

In other news!! 

We are plugging away with Christmas shopping. Ideally I want it all done before December because I CANNOT cope with Christmas shoppers!!! 

I went to a life celebration yesterday which is sort of like a funeral. It was for a lovely, funny man who I'd known for a few years. It sounds weird but it was the nicest "funeral" I've ever been too. There was a lot of singing and people talking about his life and his achievements and reading his poetry. There were even a few jokes cracked! It was really really nice to see it as a celebration and to hear people talk about how much they loved him. 

I got highly commended in the dressmaker category of the the simplicity sewing challenge! I know it says Frankie Knits but if you click on the link its definitely a picture of lil ole me! 

I've finished some more books! I FINALLY finished "eat love pray"! Which I can safely say I don't think I will ever read again!!! Then I read "the couple next door" which I would highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed "girl on the train" or "gone girl". Then I read "me before you" I'd watched the film on the way to Las Vegas [well most of it I couldn't make it too the end because I don't want to ugly cry on the plane], The films okay but the book is much better and I really enjoyed it!

And now I'm starting "the fault in our stars" which I've read before. I am annoyed though, I brought the book from a charity shop ages ago and the bloody idiot who owned it before has only gone and written in every available free space!!!  And I mean every space! The front pages, the back pages, the margins, the gaps above the chapters!!! Its infuriating! and do you want to know whats shes written? 

HER NAME! 

HER ACTUAL NAME OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! 

Nothing else just her name!

I mean seriously? Because what? You might forget it?

Much Love

Frankie 

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Simplicity K1418 - A Project Runway Pattern in Gingham!

There's a tent drying in my kitchen. Its currently strung across a clothes horse the ironing board and some is on the floor. We didn't think we'd put it away wet but after reading a few camping blogs it became apparent that it needed to go away bone dry! And I'm not sure I trust putting it on the washing line. My kitchen floor is now also covered in mud!

Anyway this make started with this pattern Simplicity K1418 which is a pattern that's inspired by project runway. Now I'll start by saying I am a HUGE project runway fan! And I ain't never seen them make anything this simple in all of the times I've watched it. 

This particular pattern was brought form our local carboot for £1 and although I'm pretty sure it was originally a freebie in a magazine that's still pretty reasonable for a sewing pattern. 

It comes with a few different views including some sort of lace up back thing. But I decided to go for the off the shoulder version which is view b. I measured as a size 14 but knowing that simplicity patterns come with a metric tonne of ease I decided to cut a size 12.

The fabric I used is a rose and hubble cotton gingham from Minerva fabrics. You can see their wide selection of ginghams here! I am a sucker for a gingham dress I think this one is number four maybe?  And I definitely want to make others! 

One change I did make was to sway the side zip for a center back zip. I hate side zips and it was a pretty easy change! I even think it looks a bit better? Or I could just think that because I like things to be symmetrical? Although the first zip I put in this was far too short and I got a bit *ahem* stuck, and this was being made when lil man was still at school and we were running dangerously close to school pickup time so things got a bit dicey to say the least. In the end I escaped by ripping out the back seam.

Construction wise the skirt is box pleated with a slight a-line so you get the flare but the whole thing doesn't blow up at every opportunity. 

The bodice is a princess seamed, with long waist darts in the back bodice. The little cap sleeves are set inbetween the bodice and the facing and have come concealed elastic to keep them up. [Although I think I may still need to reduce the length of mine by 1.5cm or so.

Here you can see the elastic in its casing, I had to slip stitch mine to the sleeves to get a clean finish [the pattern doesn't call for the slip stitching but I'm not sure how'd you'd make the sleeves look tidy without it?]. I really liked the facing method for keeping everything tidy on the inside.

Instruction wise things are a bit unclear. There's so many variations in one pattern that I got quite muddled at some points and wasn't sure what I should be doing! None of this was helped by my reluctance to read instructions anyway. 

I was pretty proud of this make so naturally I added a label! 

For the zip I did a lapped zip because that's my favourite method. The pattern calls for an invisible zip because its going into a side seam. 

Here you can see the check properly, its a really small gingham in sort of an apple green colourway? I don't normally do green but I don't think this looks too bad. And one of the mums at football said I looked really nice so that was cool.

There's a few changes I need to make to the pattern to make it perfect! 

-reduce the width of the cap sleeve

- take an inch out of the length of the bodice

- try and remove some excess from the front bodice where there is some gaping. I'm not sure if this is down to the straps though? it sits perfectly flat when I stand put if I lean forward it gapes?

Al in all I think its a really lovely summer dress, although it does need a strapless bra underneath which sort of limits its wearability [is that a word? I'm sure its a word?]

Much Love

Frankie 

x