Indie Pattern Month II – Sewing Seperates… “Agnes’s Pin Pegs”

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I’m very happy to report that my dress from last week’s contests was one of the winners – yay! Thank you so much for all your votes- it means the world to me, especially as the other entries were all so amazing – I’m really honoured.

Anyway I couldn’t stay away for long and here I am with my entry for this week’s Indie Pattern Month – Separates Challenge… which is really exciting for me as I had never actually sewn a top yet and this was a perfect excuse to finally do so and I love skirts – I wear them all the time!

THE SKIRT:

The pattern… I knew straight away that I wanted to make a Pin Pegs Mini Skirt for this week as the lovely Annie Mollison from Sew This Pattern emailed me a few weeks ago introducing her new and first sewing pattern the incredible Pin Pegs Mini Skirt and I loved the look of it and have been itching to sew it up. I loved the fact that this was a big step up for me too – the techniques used are a lot more advanced than I have used before and I thrived on the challenge and really enjoyed making this.

The fabric… is a great slightly stretchy textured blend that I picked up 4m for £5 at Kilburn Car Boot – I am actually not sure what the fabric type is as the lady selling it had no idea what it was and I’ve never come across it in shops – if any of you know please do comment and let me know as I’d love to know! Anyway it sewed up beautifully. I was expecting it to move a lot like the knits I have sewn with before but it behaved like a quilting cotton and pressed brilliantly too.

Techniques… As I said before there was a lot of new stuff for me here – I used a open end zip, hemmed with a twin needle, made up a crazy square of facings to go around the edge of the skirt and sewed a button & button hole for the inside of the skirt for the first time. Luckily, Sew This Pattern have done such an amazing job with the instructions that I managed to pull it all off without a hitch -which shocked even me. The instructions really are flawless – I loved the fact there were photos throughout and everything was broken down into easy steps so it didn’t feel overwhelming.

I fully recommend this pattern to everyone – even complete beginners- as the challenge is incredibly satisfying and I learnt SO much from making it and I LOVE IT! This skirt rocks my world!! 🙂

Then I needed to find a top to go with it… and I started by finding the perfect colour match…

THE TOP:

The pattern… As my first ever top I had many options but I wanted to find a long sleeved quirky top as that is what I wear all the time – I was scratching my head for what I was going to make and then (as if by magic) an email popped up in my inbox – Tilly & The Buttons have a new pattern… a top… especially for knit fabrics… with lots of options for long sleeves and pretty ruching… HELL YEAH! When I saw the picture I pressed ‘buy now’ without even reading more about it. It was so me and now I had the missing piece to my separates week!! So here is my take on the brilliant Agnes Top.

The fabric… I have been pretty jammy at finding good cheap fabrics recently, as I am addicted to bargain hunting, and this was no exception – another car boot find – I got about 3.5m of this lovely drapey royal blue jersey for a crazy £2.50! I am pleased I have a rotary cutter as this fabric is a right pain to cut – it likes to move it move it…it likes to MOVE IT! 😉 But luckily, with a stretch needle in place and my overlocker taking a starring role – it sews up nicely.

Techniques… I used my sewing machine’s stretch stitch for the first time and man, it’s a powerful stitch – no unpicking after that!! This pattern has a lot of good stuff – using elastic to ruche up the sleeves and neckband which is a great trick to have up one’s sleeve and using the twin needle around the base of the neckband to stitch the seam allowance to the bodice, which looks so pro!

I made a few amendments here – firstly the neckband was gaping badly at the back so I added a 3 darts – one in the middle and two either side which worked a treat. Also, I knew right from the start that I wanted to add a lace bib as I have a the perfect trimmings to decorate tops like this with and I’m delighted with the result- also it covers up the darts on the back perfectly too – bonus!

I was just about to hem the sleeves and bottom after overlocking the raw edges and realised that it looks great left like that – I promise I wasn’t just being lazy here – I just liked the fact the white overlocker thread matched the lace and adds interest to the plain fabric.

Anyway – I really love this top and I will be making many more!

Here’s one more piccy of the outfit with added cute dog!! (My mum and dad’s jack russell, Tigger)

So there is my little summery (but English summer where it’s still frequently chilly!) outfit. I’m really inspired to make a lot more separates like these so thank you to the Monthly Stitch for giving me an excuse to do so!

I’ve got one more contest this week and then the blog will get back to normal – I have lots to blog about – a border skirt tutorial, a drop down cutting table tutorial and loads of pictures of my summerhouse/sewing room makeover – I have been a busy busy bee these last few months!

Hope you’re all well and enjoying the times when the sun has got his hat on!!
Love and lace,