Lovely Lady Liberty!

 Morning all, 
in case you hadn't noticed there is steam coming out of my sewing machine at the moment. Summer holidays and children who can fend for themselves ( The twins are now 16 can you believe it)  means that I have been lucky to have lots of free time and I am enjoying every minute of it.

So this is Anna! This is the Anna that I planned! An elegant easy to make pattern in harmony with iconic Liberty peacock feather fabric that I bought from Fabworks months back  and because I bought enough for that ginormous skirt I still have some left yippee!

After my last version that I do really love, I studied lots of other versions online and realised that mine looked a lot drapier in the neckline. So I took a deep breath  and  tweaked the shoulders and tops of the grown on sleeves back down to a size 10 leaving everything else at a 12 and I have to say that the fit is perfect!

I didn't do french seams as my fabric, even after washing was a bit stiff, so overlocked the raw edges and then added a bit of  luxury by adding a lovely silky bias binding to the armholes and facings.

I finished this last week and have worn it lots already. I omitted the split  from this version which makes it very wearable for pretty much all occasions. I left the length the same as the last one and so far so good I haven't fallen over it!

I can't actually believe it took  me so long to make this  pattern up. If you haven't tried it yet definitely give it a go you won't be disappointed ( Although if you are making the long skirt check the length before you start).

I am planning at least one more Anna dress this year maybe with a circular or half skirt for the cooler months, but for now at least I am still stitching a summer wardrobe!

Till next time when I have a couple of tops to show you.

My first Anna Dress

Morning all,
try not to be too shocked, but today I am going to treat you to some up to date sewing! The Anna dress from By Hand London is one of my #2017makenine. It has been on my things to make for literally years as I rushed out and bought the pattern when it was rumoured that By Hand London were taking all of their patterns to PDF ( I don't think that ever happened). I don't actually know why it has taken me so long to make it up either. There are literally hundreds of inspiring examples all over the internet, not to mention all of the amazing hacks out there! Google it if you get a minute.

Anyway I have bought two lots of fabric for this dress now. Some very beautiful liberty cotton from Fabworks ( cutting that out later today )  and this cheap, gorgeous green stuff from B and M fabrics when I went to #sewupnorth which was going to be my toile.

I was little disappointed by the green, as I loved it so much in the shop , but it has bled the green into the cream. It is, I hope, only noticeable to me as I still love it and  you get what you pay for .

I decided on the boat neck long version which reminds me of a purple silk number I owned about 20 years ago.The original length of the skirt was very, very long and although I wish I was this  tall I had to cut 5 inches off of the bottom. I made the  the size 12 bodice exactly as it was and it is a fairly good fit.... although looking at mine in comparison to many of the other versions out there I am not sure that I couldn't have made a sba  in the bust  as I can get this version on over my head without undoing it. This could be however due to the drapey nature of the fabric.

The pattern has lovely illustrations and techniques - french seams throughout . As this was just a toile I chose to just overlock the seams which definitely sped me up. I promise to do it properly on my next version. :)

The pattern had a choice of splits left/right or without. I am not sure if you can tell but I kept the split in for this version as it is so lovely and drapey that I thought it would work well. It does and I think probably has saved me from breaking my neck a couple of times since wearing it. If I decide to leave the split out of the next one I might have to raise the hemline slightly.