Author: bessworks

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Digitally Printed Balloon Jersey Panelled Dress

balloon digital print jersey panelled dress

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).

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Ultramarine Blue Ponte Roma Persey Peplum Dress

ultramarine blue ponte roma jersey peplum dress

Lesley made this ultramarine blue Ponte Roma jersey dress with a peplum. The pattern was Simplicity Project Runway 1650.  This pattern wasn’t lined, but she preferred a fully lined dress so did it with a polyester Tricot (knitted) lining. 

Lining  a dress like this gives it a more professional finish as it meant the armholes and neck could be under-stitched so the stitching is not visible on the right side.  She also lined the peplum rather than just hemming it (as per the pattern) to get a better finish.  Ponte Roma jersey is not that stretchy so an invisible zip is used at the centre back which she tacked -something she hasn’t done for years but so worth it to set it in evenly on a stretch fabric and to make sure that seams lined up perfectly.

 The Ponte fabric was lovely to sew; for anyone not comfortable with sewing jersey or stretch fabrics it is a good place to start.

 

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Reversible Cotton Lawn Shift Dress

Liberty archive print cotton lawn reversible shift dress

Elwen with her Liberty archive printed cotton lawn shift dress that reverses to show lime green organic cotton. It chucks over her head so there’s no need for a zip. The printed side is longer than the green side so with a reasonable hem you see a border of print when worn on the green side (trying to make each fabric the same length is a recipe for disaster). Patch pockets are added to each side.

Liberty archive print cotton lawn reversible shift dress
Liberty archive print cotton lawn reversible shift dress

The pattern is a discontinued Burda pinafore dress.

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Embroidered and Embellished Cotton Piqué Coat

daisies and sequined grass embellished cotton piqué coat

Bess made this turquoise cotton piqué coat for a wedding, wanting something very plain that would go with all her dresses. All the best laid plans and all that – Bess HATED it plain (felt like a doctor’s coat), so cut up some daisy trim and sewed them all over, and couched some yellow vintage strung sequins and green jute string as grass. Bess is not ruling out the possibility that there won’t be more flowers and insects added at a later date.

daisy trim embellished piqué cotton with sequins and jute string
daisy trim embellished piqué cotton with sequins and jute string

The Peter Pan collar is accented with red satin (ready made) piping and the same piping is used between the printed cotton lawn lining and the front facings. The sleeves are lined in red Venezia as they are fairly slim and need to slip.

The pattern is a Vintage burda pattern no. 7041, it makes up beautifully with hardly any alterations.

floral cotton lawn used as lining
floral cotton lawn used as lining

 

Peter Pan collar on turquoise piqué embellished coat
Peter Pan collar on turquoise piqué embellished coat

Finally the buttons were added, these buttons were the originals intended for the plain jacket but Bess was determined to use them, whether they go or not. (I think she gets away with it – just).

Turquoise diamanté and oxidised metal asian inspired button
Turquoise diamanté and oxidised metal asian inspired button

She loves them. Every girl needs a bit of bling.

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Floral Digital Print Shift Dress

Floral digital printed cotton canvas shift dress

Jane wearing her floral digitally printed cotton dress. This cotton is a light canvas type with a soft brushed finish. The pattern is Jane’s block which just has bust and waist darts so the pattern is minimally cut. The dress is unlined and has an invisible zip.

 

 

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Possibly the Poshest Embroidered Linen Dress in the World

embroidered and hand painted Italian linen dress

Jane’s amazing embroidered Italian Linen dress. This fabric is hand painted on top of the embroidery and doesn’t come cheap –it’s enlightening to discover what things cost when they are made properly and the artisans are paid a fair wage.

With such an amazing fabric you only need a very simple shift pattern, Jane used her block which just has bust darts, front darts and back darts so there was minimal chopping up of the pattern.

The fabric truly is stunning.

embroidered and hand painted Italian Linen
embroidered and hand painted Italian Linen

 

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Digital Printed Floral Cotton Trousers

digital printed cotton drill trousers

These fabulous floral cotton trousers were made by Claire who came to the shop with her friend and spent 2 hours poking about in all the corners (We welcome anyone who is brave enough to do that). They came armed with lists of things they wanted to see and seemed to leave with a whole lot else besides. (C’est la Vie).

The pattern (Burda 7062) is a tapered trouser for mid – heavy cottons.

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Lilac Printed Viscose Cowl Neck Top

viscose cowl neck top

Elaine wearing her printed viscose cowl neck top (Butterick 4132). She put a brooch on the cowl to weigh it down nicely but for the next one she will put a curtain penny weight in the facing. These tops drape beautifully in a fluid fabric like viscose and to add to the drape the fabric is cut on the cross.

 

 

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Lion Print Cotton Jersey T-Shirt

lion print cotton t-shirt and panelled cord skirt

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!

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Hand Painted Spots on Irish Linen Skirt

hand painted spotty Irish linen skirt

Not content with the £33mt fabulous blue Irish shirting weight Linen, Bess (with clearly too much time on her hands) hand painted spots all over it before making up this much loved A-line skirt.

hand painted Irish Linen
hand painted Irish Linen
hand painting spots onto Irish Linen
hand painting spots onto Irish Linen (Wine is obligatory for this task)

There are belt loops sewn around the top and a length of picot edge petersham ribbon added as a belt.

picot edge petersham ribbon belt on Irish Linen skirt
picot edge petersham ribbon belt on Irish Linen skirt

The skirt is lined (Hong Kong style) with Cotton lawn and fastened with an invisible zip on the side.

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Sea Green Stretch Pique Pleated Dress

sea green stretch cotton piqué pleated dress

Helen made this fabulous pleated dress for an afternoon tea get-together in London. She’d had a bit of a slump before this with a couple of disastrous projects and this put a proper smile back on her face (yay!). She used sea green stretch cotton pique with daisy trim decorating the hem. The pattern is McCall’s 6953 which we’ve seen made up in a variety of fabrics and on a variety of body shapes and always looks good. The Bodice is lined in Venezia lining.

 

sea green stretch cotton piqué pleated dress
sea green stretch cotton piqué pleated dress


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Black and White spotty 60’s Mini Dress

black and white spot print cotton 60's mini dress

Elwen sporting her unlined LG black and white spot print cotton 1960’s mini dress, made for a party in which she was supposed to dress in the decade she was born. Either Elwen has aged incredibly well or she cherry picked the decade because she fancied this print.

The cotton is a lovely poplin weight cotton with a fair amount of body, it works very well in this kind of a-line shift dress.

The pattern is a discontinued Burda pinafore dress, they said she needed a concealed zip but when she made up the toile she found it would chuck over her head so she didn’t bother (she’s ever so agile for her age)

She totally didn’t do the pockets on the cross just so she didn’t have to match those spots.

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Yellow Brocade Tom and Linda Platt Dress

Yellow Brocade Tom and Linda Platt Dress

Lulu wearing her Tom and Linda Platt (Vogue 1348) yellow and turquoise poly/lurex brocade dress, made by Jane. The pattern has box pleats with bizarre instructions (Jane followed them once then did the rest her way). It has a concealed zip, silk underlining and velvet ready made piping around the armholes and neck. There is a petticoat in turquoise cotton poplin which is trimmed in lace. There are a million pieces to this pattern and so whilst it was not particularly difficult make (especially when ignoring the box pleat construction) it took a long time to cut out all the pieces.

This dress needs a fabric with a certain amount of bounce to it and this brocade worked a treat. The petticoat has ruffles and lace trim galore but the skirt hoops out all by itself.

 

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Blue Digital Print Cotton Drill Fluted Hem Skirt

cotton drill fluted hem bellville sassoon skirt

Rachel wearing her blue digital print skirt with a fluted lowered hem at the back, this skirt works in both soft drapey fabrics as well as this stiffer cotton drill. The pattern is a Bellville Sassoon for Vogue, now discontinued but you might find it on the world wide interweb, V1296.

Use the heavy cotton or stretch cotton tag to find more fabrics like this

 

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Triple Crepe Coat and Dress

triple crepe coat and dress

Margaret is wearing a polyester triple crepe shift dress with matching lined coat. Triple crepe has a fantastic weight and drape to it, it’s not the easiest thing to work with but hangs beautifully (you need to make sure you have it absolutely square before you start as it is easy to pull it off grain). 

The coat is lined in satin lining and has a big feature button closure.

triple crepe panelled dress
triple crepe panelled dress
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Brocade Desigual Inspired Coat

Desigual inspired brocade embellished coat

Lulu wearing her Desigual inspired coat made by Jane using an assortment of brocade suitings, odd buttons and various trims. She used an old Vogue pattern (V2005) which has been made up a number of times for Lulu in various fabrics and always works. It is lined in vivid chartreuse green satin lining with a fine line of turquoise satin piping.

I suppose if you were a hoarder you could make this coat out of your stash, but we were playing with all the fabulous brocades that had just arrived at the shop (If you can’t pick one pick them all). She did manage to use up an assortment of trims that were appliquéd in various designs over the coat. Jane used a mismatch of various Vintage buttons, doubling them up when we couldn’t get exactly the right thing.

 

 

 

 

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Graffiti Printed Wrap T-Shirt

graffiti digital print wrap jersey top

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).

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Peacock Lace Shift Dress

peacock lace shift dress

Elwen in her peacock leaf design cotton mix lace shift dress with lime green Venezia lining.

Using Burda pattern 8213, she lengthened it a bit (Elwen says it’s quite short but it’s more that she’s quite tall). The lace is overlocked (by Bess because Elwen was being a proper wuss), the lining was cut 2 sizes bigger to accommodate the stretch of the lace, but it was a bit too big so 1 size would have been sufficient. Made on the 30th for New Years’ Eve so no time for alterations!