Laura: My White Tree Fabric Project

For my first project with White Tree Fabrics I chose a lovely pattern by vogue and an absolutely gorgeous damson chiffon.

It may surprise some of you but I have never sewn from a bought pattern before.. I have always just made my own that way I know it will fit me perfectly, so this was a new venture for me.

I read the instructions through word for word and got to cutting out the right pieces for the dress.

I stitched a simple toile for this dress to ensure that it would fit me right. I'm glad I did because I had to make a few adjustments to the skirt and round my bust to give me more space to breathe but other than that it fitted well.

The damson chiffon fabric is fairly see through so for the lining I used a light blue cotton I had spare. Underneath the chiffon you can barely tell its there

Chiffon can be a tricky fabric to cut and sew with. I had to buy a new pair of scissors for this fabric as my others just weren't sharp enough no matter how much I tried to sharpen them.

Lots of pins and weighing the chiffon down and it was pinned and ready to cut. With my new scissors it was a dream to cut.

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The bodice without the lining

The Bodice with the lining. This lining complements to chiffon nicely as it brings out the rich damson colour.

The dress was fairly quick to sew together, the biggest issue I had was deciding how to finish the seams inside. When I first started this project I was set on doing French seams but the chiffon fabric did not want to press into place so I took the brave decision to over lock the seams. It took some time to get the lining and the chiffon to line up perfectly.

 Lots of stay stitching and it was finally done.

Close up of the square neckline.

Close up of the tab sleeves

& the finished dress.

Another beautiful dress to add to my collection of possible dresses to my Brother-in-laws wedding in August Think this is a good contender.. I may need to have some wardrobe changes throughout the day so I can wear them all.

And as a bonus all of our readers can enjoy a lovely 20% off and free p&p just use the discount code "SIY challenge"

www.whitetreefabrics.com

Thanks for reading

Laura 

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Laura: Butterfly Dress

I'm just going to start this post by saying I LOVE this fabric and pattern so much. It fits so well and the fabric is just so summery perfect for this weather we have been having!

I mean seriously how lovely is this.

The pattern I drew up my self, I don't even know where to start to explain how to do this.. I just get out my pattern paper and pattern master and do it. I suppose starting off with your basic bodice and dress blocks is a good place to start then I start to trace them and alter them to my working drawing which is in my head most of the time. 

The pattern pinned onto the lovely fabric and ready to cut!  I actually made the skirt too wide at my hips looked a bit like a umpa lumpa to start with. I must think my bum is bigger than what it is. 

I have a thing for capped sleeves, there so easy to put in plus they hide mistakes really well.

The back I made into a shallow V along with a slit neck at the front.

& the finished dress...

Apologies for my :/ face.. I really don't like my photo being taken.. but having taken some tips from Tilly and the buttons recent post about how to make your photos look better. I though I would give it a go instead of lots of mirror selfies.

Thanks for reading 

Laura

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