Jane made this parrot and glitter print cotton jersey dress up for Miaow using McCall’s 5135. Jane lengthened the top and narrowed down the side seams (because Miaow is a string bean), she also added some gather to the neck.
out takes:
Miaow made these space print cotton jersey pyjamas with a little help from Granny (Jane). Hardly any help really, Mia pinned out the pattern onto the fabric, cut them out, overlocked them together and even made ‘Arfur’ the rabbit a matching nightshirt and nightcap. The only thing Jane did was hem them (which she did because they needed to be done TONIGHT and Miaow didn’t have time).
Miaow is 8. When she grows up she wants to be an astronaut.
The pattern is McCall’s M7499 (discontinued but similar things are available).
Lynn has been making clothes for herself, friends and family for years. She works mostly in soft furnishings and upholstery now so making clothes is a real treat, and what a treat this t-shirt is? Made from 95% Cotton 5% Elastane lightweight jersey with a fun seagull print (seagulls are not best friends in Devon but they are tolerated on a t-shirt)
Marion on her silver wedding anniversary cruise wearing her fun and easy cat print cotton jersey dress designed and made for her by the genius Dawn Hooper of Hardy and Hooper (Maidenhead).
Kitcat modelling her christmas reindeer printed cotton jersey nightie in the shop. Made by Jane, it has raglan sleeves and jersey binding around the neck. Everything was sewn on the overlocker apart from the hems and the binding. Made using Butterick 5129 (now discontinued but you can sometimes find them)
Miaow wearing her Christmas tree printed cotton jersey nightie in the shop. Made by Jane, it has raglan sleeves and jersey binding around the neck. Everything was sewn on the overlocker apart from the hems and the binding. Made using Butterick 5129 (now discontinued but you can sometimes find them)
Sol here again proudly wearing his cloud print cotton and elastane single jersey pyjamas made by mum, Pauline. Finished with 1″ Elastic on the waist and a smile
Frances made this dress for her grand-daughter to go to the school Oscar awards. It’s an easy pull on dress using McCall’s Pattern 7079 and made with a t-shirt weight cotton and elastane single jersey.
It’s a good idea to stay the shoulder seams with a bit of tape on t-shirts and dresses, you can use a seam tape, iron on a bit of stabilising interfacing or even sew in a bit of the jersey selvedge (if it is stable enough).
Elwen wearing her lion print cotton jersey T-Shirt using the Burda 6820 pattern. I’m pretty certain this print is more effective at cheering oneself up than any prescribed drugs, she was definitely very pleased with herself the day she came into work wearing that.
Worn with a panelled mini skirt made using remnants of cotton needlecord. The pattern is Burda 6928 and is a great user upper of remnants!
Rachel terribly pleased with herself after making this t-shirt in Liberty pure cotton jersey.
She used Burda 6848 mock wrap t-shirt pattern with minor alterations to enable a good fit. Other than a bit of seam tape in the shoulders and ballpoint machine needles no special equipment or extras were required.
Turquoise and white cloud print cotton and elastane jersey hat made by Jo for teens with cancer. Have a look at her website: http://www.jashcroft.co.uk
Suzanne chose this digital print floral cotton jersey for her Maker’s Atelier wrap dress and she says it’s a dream to sew (music to our ears!).
Anne and her husband visited the shop in the summer, he was wearing these brilliantly bright and cheerful trousers and they bought the parrot digital print jersey to go with them – such a fun and cheerful outfit!
I am not sure which pattern Anne used but it looks like the Burda pattern I make up frequently -Burda 6602 (highly recommended). Anne used a small piece of turquoise cotton rib for the neck binding and pocket. We stock this pattern.
Effee said she bought this pink daisy print 100% cotton jersey fabric ‘by accident’ whilst looking for tailoring supplies, and then I guess this dress was accidentally made into this brilliantly happy swing dress from a self drafted pattern, and a jolly good accident it is too.
This type of 100% cotton jersey does not have too much stretch to it so perfect for this style dress.
Julie usually makes beach bags to sell (they are exceptional), but she had a lot of fun making this up in floral print cotton and poly mix french terry jersey. There is no elastane so the stretchiness is fairly minimal. Julie sewed it all on her trusty sewing machine.
Rachel (who is most definitely a dog person) wearing this fabulous cat print cotton & elastane french terry jersey mock wrap top. The pattern is Burda 6848 and is a tried and very much tested pattern.
Getting 100% Cotton Jersey for t-shirts is harder than it should be, then we get too many metres in one colour so Bess painted a load of this cream with flicks of a paint brush with fabric paint, and then made this T-shirt for her sister Lulu. The pattern is an ancient Vogue Elements hoody pattern V9926 (we still have an out-of-print copy if you would like one)
Alice made this banana print sweatshirting into a hoody for her bananaphile daughter, Lizby. The pattern is Style Arc Josie, the only changes she made was to line the hood with a contrast ochre jersey and to omit the drawstring around the hem.
Sooooo much fun 😊
Trevor here with his first ever t-shirt made by his own fair hands, the pattern is Simplicity 8613 and he used a cotton and elastane jersey, he’s (rightly so) very pleased 😊
When we received the email entitled ‘a pair of strawberry tarts’ we weren’t quite sure what we were opening. 🙀
This is Rachel and Rachel wearing their matching strawberry print cotton and elastane jersey t-shirts along with wolfy the dog (whippet the whippet was locked outside after rolling in fox excrement).
This is possibly our favourite catwalk photo EVER ❤️❤️❤️
Bess made up this feather print T-Shirt for her little sister using lovely stable Cotton and Elastane Jersey with lots of stretch that makes the binding on the neck a cinch. Plus there is the added bonus that as the fabric is so wide and Lulu is such a squinge Bess can make up the entire thing out of 80cm. Bonus!
The hems are done with a simple zigzag because Bess hates the coverstitch machine.
Aiste made this most fabulous green peacock print cotton and elastane jersey made up with black ribbing on the neck and cuffs (cut on the fly – as is Aiste’s speciality)
Sue had never sewn jersey before so approached this project with a little trepidation, a few days later she was showing off her skills with both the white wrap top made in cotton and elastane jersey and the maxi skirt made in multicolour digital print lightweight viscose and elastane jersey. I think it is fair to say Sue is approaching jersey with a little less trepidation now 😉
Bernie in the South of France wearing her blue and cream dragon print cotton culottes made using a pattern taken from the Burda magazine no 195, March 2016. She made adjustments (intentionally) and took out the pleat in the front simply by seaming it down. The culottes were finished by then but felt they were far too wide so rather than disturb the good fit over the hips and waist she just took out the fullness by stitching the pleat down as a seam and then cutting away the surplus, an overall difference of several inches. Bernie did have to undo the waistband for a few inches on each side to do the job properly. Then (unintentionally as when using the overlocker to finish these extra seams she got the back caught up in it thus making a hole!) made a similar seam down the centre back of each leg of the culottes, no more than an inch or so of width, and is very pleased with the result. (HOORAH!)
As for to the top, it is made from some lightweight organic cotton jersey and the pattern is an amalgam of several for a far too complicated reason to explain! Let’s just say it is a t-shirt!
Kitcat wearing her terribly kitsch cat digital print cotton and elastane jersey long sleeved dress (made by Jane). The pattern is Burda 8455 but Jane pieced together the yoke and hem so as not to cut up the print. Kitcat is such a squinge it is cut to age 6 but lengthened in sleeve and body (Kitcat is 9!). The neck was lowered so as to go over her head and negate the need for a zip but next time the neck will be altered so it doesn’t gape.
Now all the grown-ups want one too.
She then said that she needed pink leopard print ponte jersey cardigan to complete the outfit -personally we are not so sure this is a good fashion move but what do we know in the world of 9 year old fashion? We shall leave it to you to decide. The pattern is McCall’s 6542 (age 6 with lengthened sleeves), it is bound down the front and around the neck with jersey binding.
Lizzy with her boiled wool circular skirt. Lizzy has a paper pattern phobia and so usually just wings it. Luckily circular skirts are easier to wing than patterns so here we have a completed project and a proud owner 🙂
The boiled wool is quite stretchy so the waist came out bigger than anticipated. She has used cotton rib jersey as a yoke and then tied it in with plaited velvet ribbons to make a tail.
She then embroidered beads onto the ‘Lion’*… as you do.
*Lizzy is completely convinced there is a lion hiding in the print (hence why she beaded him). Lizzy swears she has never taken drugs.
Pauline made these pyjamas for her son, Sol, out of squirrel print cotton and elastane single jersey. They are finished with 1″ elastic on the waist.
Bess wearing her digitally printed cotton jersey dress made using her (much repeated) panelled dress pattern-this normally has waist seams but she omitted them so as not to cut up the balloons too much. As the pattern is normally used on woven fabrics she also pinned out the little bust darts as they were unnecessary in this stretchy fabric.
This jersey is quite a heavy cotton jersey with a high percentage of elastane (6%) so it keeps its shape well and doesn’t need lining. Rather than meddling with facings (which never lie terribly well in such a stretchy jersey) Bess used jersey binding around the neck and arm holes.
All the seams were sewn in a jiffy with the overlocker, the hems and bindings were done on the machine (because it’s quicker to zigzag than drag out the flat locker).
Rachel wearing her fabulous digitally printed graffiti cotton and elastane jersey wrap t-shirt. Rachel had made up this t-shirt before in a Liberty pure cotton jersey but there’s a lot of elastane in this jersey (6% -double what you usually get), which makes it super stretchy and caused a few alterations to be made, she got there in the end! Jersey used to be Rachel’s nemesis but she’s learning how to kick it into shape.
Jerseys, just like wovens are not all made from the same mould, the weight, the fibres, the density of knit and percentage of elastane all effect the way it behaves, so even when you think you’ve got the perfect pattern along comes a new fabric that needs alterations. Such is the joy of dressmaking!
Anyway, it’s fab, and you learn much more from our trials than the easy projects (just keep telling yourself that).
Car print raglan sleeve T-shirt made by Bess for Lulu.
Fabric: 4983 Cotton jersey with 8% Elastane
Adjusted from Burda pattern 6990
Because the fabric is soooooo wide Bess managed to not only get this top but also a knee length a-line skirt for Lulu, and a little tiny skirt for her daughter, Mia-moo, all out of 1.4mts.
Altogether now, Awwwwwwwwwww!
Bess wearing her much-loved cotton lawn trellis print shirt. Lawn is a brilliant weave to wear in the heat as it is so fine, yet still nice to sew with. The pattern was copied from a worn-out White Stuff shirt (now out of production), The bust darts are really tucks coming down from the shoulders. The armholes are faced with a wide tapered bias armhole binding that folds back to give the armhole some substance (anything to balance out Bess’s hips, she says, is a good thing 😉 )
Bess used no interfacing in the construction of this shirt – looking at the one she copied it didn’t seem they had used any, she worried about the buttonholes cocking up not working and the collar-band not lying properly but it was fine, if the fabric was less stable than lawn she would use light interfacing.
Fabric and Notions:
Blue trellis print cotton lawn
10mm red buttons
Pattern: drafted from manufactured shirt.
Also seen, cloud print red and white jersey skirt
Bess wearing her cloud printed cotton elastane jersey mini skirt, with cobalt blue double jersey raglan sleeve top. Both the top and the skirt took less than half an hour to make (each) – more time was spent waiting for the iron to heat up, or choosing which side to do the top (the reverse of that fabric is a lovely teal colour.
Bess loves things that take less than half an hour to make 🙂
Fabrics and Notions:
Cotton Elastane cloud printed jersey #2846.
Cobalt Blue/Teal double sided jersey #3193. See more jersey here
Elastic
Patterns:
Skirt: DKNY for Vogue (adapted from long skirt, pattern now discontinued)
Top: Marcy Tilton for Vogue. #8636 (collar, cuffs and hem adapted from pattern)
Stephanie sporting her spotty printed cotton and poly crinkle jersey top.
Fabrics and Notions:
Red and white polka dot printed cotton and poly crinkle jersey
Elastic (for neckline)
Lulu wearing turquoise cloud print cotton and elastane jersey t-shirt with stand up collar made by Bess.
Fabrics and Notions:
Turquoise cloud print cotton with 7% elastane (v.stretchy) jersey.
Stay tape
Pattern: Adapted from an ancient Vogue Elements hooded top pattern.
To add a stand collar like this to a round neckline is easy as the pattern is cut straight, just cut a rectangle twice the height of the collar (plus seam allowances), and as wide as the circumference of the neckline (do not add seam allowances). Sew the collar into a tube, fold in half and then overlock or stitch the raw edges together at the neck.
Onesies made by Lucinda using Free Spirit printed fleece and lined in cream organic cotton jersey
Fabrics and Notions:
Free Spirit circle print micro-fleece
Organic cotton
Zip
Pattern: Ottobre magazine
Floral printed needlecord cotton dress with pink marl jersey, and blue twill cotton romper with contrast pockets.
Fabrics and Notions:
Ditsy floral printed needlecord cotton
Polka dot lawn (lining)
Pink marl cotton elastane jersey
Blue twill cotton
Spotty cotton
Elastic
Poppers
Piping
Rickrack trim
Bias Binding
Pattern: Ottobre magazine
Becky modelling Lucinda’s quilted cotton hooded jacket with laser cut leaf embellishments, and worsted wool shaped yoke with jersey draped skirt (made using the Julian Roberts sub-cutting method)
Fabrics and Notions:
Skirt:
Marble print viscose and elastane jersey
Chocolate brown English worsted wool
Red viscose and elastane jersey
Invisible zip
Jacket:
Dyed calico
Laser cut leaves from ultrasuade, jersey and calico
Blue viscose (lining)
Wadding
Cotton bias binding
T-shirt:
Viscose elastane jersey
Kitcat with her horse print fleece ensemble made by Jane and Clair.
Fabrics and Notions
Horse print fleece
Daisy buttons
Elastic
Grey cotton jersey
Cheryl stood outside our shop wearing a red robot printed cotton dress
Fabrics and Notions:
Red robot print cotton
Invisible zip
Medium weight iron-on interfacing
This style dress is easy to make and will often not even need a zip, a great choice for beginners, or those who want to knock something up quickly. For best results choose an interesting print and let the fabric do the talking, or trim a plain fabric with ribbons, bindings or braids around the hem and neckline. This style also works really well in jersey.
Bess (the day after her wedding) wearing cartoon print jersey dress.
Fabrics and Notions:
Cartoon print cotton and elastane jersey
Elastic
Bess thought the jersey a bit lightweight for her taste so made it double (rather than lining it in a tricot which she didn’t feel was heavy enough).
Also worn at Womad for her hen party. The neckline was cut the same as her wedding dress so she wouldn’t get tan lines.
Black, White and Red Beefeater Soldier Nutcracker print 95% Cotton 5% Elastane lightweight /T-Shirt weight Jersey
Black and Multicolour neon sign print 95% Cotton 5% Elastane lightweight / T-Shirt weight Jersey
Green and Multicolour Klimt Flower Garden inspired digital print 95% Cotton 5% Elastane 190gsm Jersey
Blue and Multicolour Monet Waterlilies digital print 95% Cotton 5% Elastane 190gsm Jersey
Multicolour bright swirly psychedelic abstract digital print 95% Cotton 5% Elastane 190gsm Jersey
Aqua and Lilac watercolour floral print 95% Organic Cotton 5% Elastane medium weight jersey
Dusky Pink watercolour floral print 95% Organic Cotton 5% Elastane medium weight jersey
Old Rose Blush Pink 60% Cotton 35% Polyester 5% Elastane marl jersey with graphic 2.5cm daisy print (some of the daisies have a gold glitter centre)
Terracotta and Ginger Brown hatch print 94% Cotton 6% Elastane 220gsm T-Shirt weight Jersey
Mint Green crosses print 94% Cotton 6% Elastane 220gsm T-Shirt weight Jersey
Yellow and Mustard 1cm grid print 94% Cotton 6% Elastane 220gsm T-Shirt weight Jersey
Candy Pink and Green polka dot spot printed Cotton and Elastane Jersey
Rust Orange Cream and Green 60% Cotton 35% Polyester 5% Elastane marl jersey with graphic daisy print (some of the daisies have a gold glitter centre)
White, Blue, Lilac and Green paisley print 95% Cotton 5% Elastane medium weight French Terry Jersey
Pastel Aqua, Peach, Pink, Green and Blue vintage floral print 100% Cotton Lightweight Jersey
Denim Blue, Orange & Aqua small floral print 70% Cotton 25% Linen 5% Elastane lightweight slubby Jersey
Celadon, Green and Cream floral print 47% Cotton 47% Modal 6% Elastane slubby linen look soft and drapey lightweight Jersey
Azure Turquoise Blue and Multicolour bright kitsch floral print 95% Organic Cotton 5% Elastane lightweight Jersey
Hot Pink and Multicolour bright kitsch floral print 95% Organic Cotton 5% Elastane lightweight Jersey
