Sew La Tea Do

Last week I made my first proper dress, from a real pattern and all!  I used my new Pip Lincolne book Sew La Tea Do which I spotted in Liberty when I went to London a few months ago.  Inside are 25 patterns for all different kinds of things, and it includes two dresses which is what prompted me to buy the book.

I decided to make what looked like the easier of the two dresses, the sleeveless tunic style dress.  I very sensibly cut out the pattern pieces on one day, and then sewed them a couple of days later so as not to rush, though it was very tempting to do it all at once!




The dress as it is meant to look like!



The cutting process went okay until I went to cut out the front piece and realised that as I had cut the smaller facing pieces first, I hadn't left myself enough room to put the front pattern piece on!  Luckily with some careful manouvering of the pattern I managed to squeeze in on in the end!



This fabric is a pale green, though you can't tell it from this photo!

 Sewing it all together wasn't quite as complicated as I'd imagined it to be.  I had a couple of errors where I sewed the facings on the wrong way round, and then again when I went to sew the whole thing together and I'd put them on wrong side round!!!!  Thankfully it was all unpickable if a little bit frustrating!


Here's the finished result!



The back!





The front, with added Sanderson pocket!

 I'd definitely make it again, though this time probably using a thinner, less creasy material, and I'd make it longer.  The pattern said for 2m of fabric which is what I bought, but I think 2 and a half metres would make it a better length.  However, with leggings underneath, I'll get away with it!  But considering the cost of the fabric (about £3.50 from Abakhan) it's definitely value for money.

Aside from the sewing, I'm still working on my crochet blanket, got loads to go still on that score!  Following on from my last post, I'm excited to say that we've bought a caravan for holidaying in!  Pictures etc to follow after we've fetched it this weekend!  I've also just discovered a gorgeous blog by the lovely Hettie Brown.  You can follow her here

Hope you're all having fun!

G x