Latest sewing projects

A couple of months ago I decided to tackle the Miss  Marlo dress in Pip Lincolne's Sew La Tea Do book. I'd been wanting to make it for a while, but hadn't bothered to print out the updated pattern from her website. (Note to people with the first imprint of the book: there was a printing error on the Miss Marlo pattern, so you'll need to get a new one here.) I also decided I wanted to scale the pattern down a little bit, as the smallest size was S to M.

It's a really simple dress to construct. Pip's method of doing facing is really easy, so if you've never sewn anything with facing before it's a good place to start. It also tucks in neatly with very little fuss (I can't say the same for facing on many other patterns). In scaling down the pattern I must have done something weird, because the front ended up 6 centimetres longer than the back. I was able to easily fix the problem by adding a feature strip of red fabric to the bottom. The pocket is made from some Robert Kaufmann fabric I had in my stash.

I later decided to try my hand at turning the dress into a top. I scaled the pattern down further, and used a larger seam allowance for the facings to get a more fitted look (using a black fabric that has a little stretch).

The buttons are just some of the many I bought from Skull Buttonry. The Skull Buttonry Etsy store is run by Cate, who many of you many know as the brilliant woman behind the Foundation 18 orphanage in Indonesia. In addition to her other Etsy stores raising money for the orphanage (see Foundation 18 and The Giving Bowl), Cate now sells buttons to raise much-needed funds (with ALL of the profits going to the cause).