Eat your heart out Mary Berry...

... or my mother in law's floral jacket.

Earlier this year my mother in law decided that she would like a floral blazer, a bit like the one worn by Mary Berry on the GBBO. The ones available in the shops were not quite the style she was after and she had a particular colour scheme in mind.

I took her measurements and went searching for a pattern, settling on #135 05/2014 from Burdastyle, which looks like this in the magazine.

We then went searching for the perfect fabric, we found quite a few quilting weight cottons, but nothing substantial enought to make a jacket from. Eventually we found some perfect fabric at a local funrnishing fabric store.

The jacket was an easy make and went together well. I only made slight pattern alterations, adding a little extra width at the waist and reducing the CB by about 2 cm. The sleeves were also shortened slightly. Instead of a press stud fastening we opted for a self covered button and made an in seam buttonhole.

This is my first successful attempt at bagging the lining and it worked perfectly. I did catch stitch the shell and lining together in a number of places to ensure the layers didn't shift when wearing.

Wrap Style Dress

I've been inspired by a dress I've seen in a shop recently. I tried on the dress in the shop, but the fit was off for me. too small on the shoulders and to big at the bust. I was in love with the dress, but however many times I tried it on - it still didn't fit :(

I set to work trying to create my own version. for my take on this dress I created a notch neck bodice, with a standing collar and cap sleeves - which was different from the dress I'd seen. I love cap sleeves and have been using them a lot this year.

I made a half circle skirt, which is not as full as the dress I'd seen, but better for everyday wear. I added long ties at the waist, which cross over the front and then tie at the back. This was the feature that I liked from the style in the shop.

I made my dress in a plain dyed black cotton from The Sewing box in Morpeth. It's fine for day wear, but something with more drape would be better for a going out dress.

I wore this dress with my restored DM mary janes and a red cardy for shopping in Newcastle today.

When I made the first draft I screwed up the colar on the bodice and had to redo the whole thing. thankfully I had enough fabric to make another one.

Masterpiece Seamed Dress Burdastyle 09/2014 #122

On first glance I had passed this pattern by. I think it was the styling of it in the magazine.

Then I saw this version by dawn at Two on, two off. I liked her adaptation of creating the dress without the godet, and as I only had 1.5m of fabric I decided that this would be the dress to make.

For Christmas my husband had bought me some bright pink soft cotton baby cord. 3m of it and at 150cm wide, that's a good amount. I had used 1.5m to make a tunic dress back in January that is still waiting to be blogged. the rest was destined for this dress.

I did not make a muslin, but measured the pattern carefully at the wait and hips. I cut my usual size 38 for the bust and waist and graded to 40 at the hip. I extended the centre front to avoid having to cut the godet.

As the dress has lots of curved seams around the bust area I wanted to make sure that the fit was good, so after sewing the fronts together and the shoulders. I basted the side seams and tried on. I ended up pinching out about an inch at the shoulders, tapering to the arm edge. The side seams were fine in the bodice area, but the skirt was far to big and I ended up taking quite a bit in at the hip. I could have got away with the size 38 for the whole dress.

The fabric is quite thick so I didn't bother with a lining and faced the armholes and neckline with bias strips in a matching cotton. In retrospect a self fabric neck facing would have been better, as it would have given a flatter finish, and I think I might reshape the neckline a bit too. I can highly recommend this dress. it takes a bit of skill, but it's very flattering and forgiving.