Hello,
Hope you are all well. Today I want to share with you my latest make, a top! Right on time to participate on the #TopIdol challenge over at Minerva. 😊
This one must be one of my favourite tops and you can read more about it here.
Aren’t the details so beautiful? A truly lovely Summer top!
Hope you like it!
Happy sewing,
Maria x
Hello,
Hope you are all well.
It has been such a long time! I haven’t been sewing much lately and have been sharing even less. The world seems to be upside down and I find it hard to focus, to be honest.
I have another make to share with you but today I want to share the new skirt I made as part of Minerva’s challenge #SewnWithMcCalls.
You can read all about it here and I do hope you like it.
It really is a lovely pattern and the fabric is so pretty!
Hopefully, I will soon be sharing more projects with you. 🙂
Have a lovely rest of the week,
Maria x
Hello,
Hope you are all well.
Before starting to share my 2022 makes I would like to share my Christmas Dress.
The initial plan was to make a dress that I would wear for the Office Christmas Lunch and later for Christmas day however, as it happened to many of us, the plans were changed and the work Christmas lunch had to be cancelled. Although plans were changed, I decided to make the dress anyway and wear it for Christmas Day even if it was only the four of us. It was not how we would prefer to spend the day nonetheless, I wanted to make it special. Pretty clothes, a nice table with special details and yummy food, quality time, cuddles and fairy lights did make it special indeed.
Now, back to the dress. The pattern I used was the McCall’s 8032, View C with the View A skirt length to add a bit of length to the dress. As I wanted a long-sleeved dress, I mixed the original sleeve with the sleeve from M7973. I don’t usually change patterns or mix them as I am always afraid to mess it up however, lately I am feeling more adventurous in my sewing project. This was really a simple alteration as I did use the M8032 sleeve cap for two reasons. First being, I really like it and second, I did not want to mess it to the point of not fitting well with the bodice. Next, I used the M7973 length and shape as it was already adjusted to me size and I like the shape.
As usual, I made a size 8 at the bust with size 10 at the waist and hips. I think a straight size 8 would have word well.
It was not the first time I used this pattern and it is one that I really like. It did turn out just how I expected it would. I wanted something that I could dress up with the right accessories and shoes but I still can wear it with boots for example for everyday wear.
Regarding the fabric, I must say that it did took me a bit of time to decide. I first thought about making it in velvet but then I wouldn’t be able to wear it every day. For that reason, I decided to go with Needlecord. Next was the colour… I thought about a dark red or dark green as I like both colours but then again it would be too much Christmas. Finally, I decided to go with the colour petrol. Still lovely and will look good for Christmas as well as for the rest of the year.
I got the 100% cotton, 21 Wale Babycord in colour Rich Petrol from Higgs & Higgs and it worked very well for this project. It is soft, light enough for the gathering and very comfortable. As for the lining, I used a Liberty Tana Lawn leftover from a previous project.
I did wear my new dress all day and it is very comfortable. I am quite happy with it. 😊
Have a Happy New Year and thank you for following my sewing journey!
Maria x
Hello,
Hope you are all well and having a good start of December.
I have been wanting to make a dress suitable for the colder months for a while and I finally did it.
Again, I have used the McCalls 7973 however, this time in a different style.
This time I used a Viscose and adore the drape and how fluid it is.
You can read all about it here.
Hope you like it. 🙂
Have a lovely December!
Maria x
Hello,
A new post, a new dress and a lovely one if I might say so.
I made the McCall’s 7745 using a beautiful Mind the Maker Viscose Twill.
You can read all about the fabric and pattern here.
The fabric is so pretty. Aren’t the colours just beautiful?
Happy sewing,
Maria x
Hello,
Hope you are well.
Today I am sharing a dress I made recently using a Dashwood Studio Cotton Lawn in the most beautiful colours.
You can read all about the fabric and pattern here.
Hope you like it!
Happy sewing,
Maria x
Hello, hope you are all having a lovely summer.
I have not been sewing much but still have plans to make a few more dresses that I hope will work well for early Autumn paired with a cardigan or a blazer.
The dress I will be sharing today was planned a few months ago, before the pandemic hit us all. At one point I almost did not make it but, in the end, I am glad I did. Also, paired with a blazer, I believe it will work wonderfully when the weather starts to cool down.
The pattern is theMcCall’s Sasha or M8036 in size 8 for bust and graded to size 10 at the waist/hip. This is a normal adjustment that I have to make for most of my makes. It is just one size however, it does make all difference and it looks so much better. Even more important, it feels so much better.
This pattern offers three skirt options, two sleeves and three closure options. I made version B with A/C sleeves. The changes I made were minimal if we can even call it changes. I used, a hook and eye for the inside closure instead of two ribbons because I didn’t want to be noticeable from the outside (I was afraid the ribbons would add some volume) and I made the hem slightly shorter than mentioned in the instructions, just out of personal preference.
I like Wrap Dresses as I think it suits my body type well and I like statement sleeves so, for that reason, this dress went right to my “I have to make it” list. I also quite like version C with option B sleeves… I guess another version should be considered.
I really like how this pattern works with different fabrics and I have seen some really pretty versions. However, I wanted the pattern details to stand out so I chose a plain fabric with some structure. The fabric is linen from The Fabric Store in Duck Egg colour and I really adore this shade. The linen worked quite well with the pattern and I truly like how it turned out.
Wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Maria x
Today I am sharing over at Minerva Crafts Blog another dress I made some time ago, using fabric from their shop.
The pattern is the McCall’s 6696, view B, using a pretty vintage looking cotton.
You can read more about the dress and fabric here.
Have a lovely week 😊
Hope you’ve had a wonderful Easter break. As I am writing this post, we are enjoying our last few moments of holidays, before returning to school tomorrow. It was a lovely break with some days of wonderful weather that, made the summer dresses come out of the closet… except for F, who has barely nothing to wear as she outgrown almost everything in her closet! Need to fix that ASAP!
In any case today, I am not here to talk about my girls’ clothes. I am here to share with you another summer dress I have made.
I bought this pattern last year but, didn’t managed to actually make it until a couple of months ago as part of one of my projects for Minerva Crafts (I’ll share more about that later) and I liked it so much that I made it again, this time using a different fabric.
The pattern is the McCall’s M6696, made in version B. The sizes for these patterns are slightly different from most Indie designers I’ve worked with but, I used my measurements to choose the size and did not have any issues. So, I made a size 8 graded to 10 at the waist/hip without any further adjustments, except taking 4 centimetres to the skirt height. Also, I omitted the pockets only because I did not have enough fabric.
I found this pattern very complete offering three different cup sizes options, also three sleeves and 2 skirt options, including as well a slip dress to wear under in case it’s needed. I opted for the short sleeve and pleated skirt option. In fact, the pleats are one of my favourite things in this pattern.
The fabric was bought without a specific pattern in mind (that’s why I didn’t had enough for the pockets!) and it’s a recent product from Stragier, Liberty’s Double Gauze. Yes, it is as good as it sounds! It has only a few (but all gorgeous) prints available and I bought the Felicite one.
The fabric worked very well for this project and was nice to work with. When I work with double gauze, I always prefer to use a walking foot. Do you use a regular foot?
I am so pleased with this dress! I really like the details in the pattern, how comfortable it is and, of course, how pretty it looks.
Hello! It’s been a really long time since last wrote or share anything in here.
If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen that I am still sewing and that I made a few changes recently.
The most obvious change was the name, as the blog is no longer called “Fairies, Bubbles & Co.” being now called “A Pinch of Sewing”.
The thing is, when I first started sewing I did it exclusively for my girls and never thought that one day I would be sewing for myself. At that time the name made sense for us but then the girls grew up and no longer believe in fairies (maybe they still do), bubbles are not as fun as it used to be and I started sewing more for myself so, a new name was needed and as it happens while cooking, a pinch of the right ingredient makes everything taste better. So is sewing!
I am also changing the visual part of the blog but that still is a work in progress…
Although I haven’t shared much in here lately, I have been sewing and some of the projects I’ve made are part of the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network. That means that the posts are being published in their blog but, in the future, I will share a few photos here as well, with the link to the main post.
If you would like to have a look, these are the things I’ve made and were published so far:
Christmas dress using the patter New Look 6723 in cotton velvet. I absolutely adore this dress!
This is my second McCall’s 6996 cardigan, this time made in a lovely wool and viscose jersey. So good, you can read more about it here.
I’ve also made a few more things that I’ve shared on my IG page if you would like to have a look. I do tend to share more there than in here.
Hope you like my new name! Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions regarding the kind of content you would like me to share in here. 😊
A Pinch of Sewing 