Ponte Roma – Sew Dainty

Posted on 04/03/2019 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

Another Cocowawa Chestnut Sweater – with interchangeable ribbons!

O.k, I know that you have seen this sweatshirt before LOADS of times, but this one’s different ..

This month on my Minerva Crafts Blogger Network make I wanted to make a comfy sweatshirt and this wonderful claret ponte roma caught my eye. Available in a whopping 27 colours it was a pretty difficult choice to select which one I wanted to use.

The next difficult choice (it’s a hard life, I know), was which ribbon to pair it up with. Luckily for me, the lovely Vicki from Minerva kindly sent me two ribbon choices for me to make my mind up with at home with the fabric in front of me. After a great deal of procrastination, I finally realised that I simply couldn’t choose between the two and worked out a way that I could adapt the pattern so that I can add whatever ribbon I feel like!

It was simple to add these gold coloured eyelets to the opening of the neck slit, and doing this gives me a neat way of changing my ribbon choice as the mood takes me!

Immediately after making this I proudly showed my husband this genius pattern hack, to which he promptly informed me that I had hammered them in ‘the wrong way up’. Ho hum! Let’s not loose too much sleep over that one shall we, I still love it! Don’t worry if you don’t have eyelets, you could just as easily sew buttonhole openings here instead.

My full post, showing this in more detail is over on the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network this month, I’ll see you over there..

Huge thanks as always to Minerva Crafts for sending me the supplies in exchange for an honest review on their Blogger Nework page.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 01/10/2018 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

A Fabulous Floral Bomber Jacket – McCall’s M7100

How is it October already? The first Monday of the month means that it is my turn to post a review on the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network, and this month I am happy to share with you a make that is a little different for me.

It’s the McCall’s M7100 bomber jacket (I might mention here that Minerva have 40% off McCall’s patterns at the time of writing this), and I made it up in this incredible red floral Ponte Roma fabric which is also currently on sale at £5.99 per metre at the moment.

I won’t say too much over on my blog here, as you can read all about it over on the Blogger Network but I really enjoyed making this one and it is an incredibly quick and fun pattern to make – perfect for this time of the year!

Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to seeing you over at Minerva Crafts.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 02/04/2018 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

A classic striped Tilly and the Buttons Coco Dress with a twist of lime.

Happy April everybody!

As ever, the beginning of the month means that it’s time to share my latest make for the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network.

I already have 2 or 3 Coco’s , but really wanted a classic black and white striped version. On looking through the ponte roma fabrics on the Minerva Crafts website I came across this black, white and lime green striped fabric. I needed to look no further! The lime gives it a pop of colour and whilst it still doesn’t feel very Spring-like outside, I’m feeling it with this fabric!

My full review is over on the Blogger Network now, and you can also see how I added a decorative lacy zip at the back for more lime loveliness.

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you over at Minerva!

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 21/12/2017 by sewdainty — 11 Comments

My latest Sewisfaction Blogger Team post – The Jade Dress from Simply Sewing magazine

Hi everyone!

Just a quick one today to mention that my latest make as part of the Sewisfaction blogger team is now up on the Sewisfaction website. Do head on over and take a peek for all the details and lots more pics. If you want a dress that looks a little special, but feels like you are wearing your pyjamas, then this is worth a read!

See you over at Sewisfaction!

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 24/11/2017 by sewdainty — 8 Comments

A Breton striped Tilly and The Buttons Coco dress.

When browsing back through the archives on my blog I realised that it has been a year since I last made a Coco dress . My final thoughts after my last Coco were that I would like to make it in a striped ponte fabric. Voila!

I have had this navy and white striped ponte roma in my stash for a long time now, I can’t remember when I bought it but I have a feeling it came from Leicester market. It is incredibly similar to the ponte that I used to make one of my recent Chestnut sweaters.

As before, I wanted to make the dress version (there is a top also). I traced out the pattern (as I needed a smaller size than what I made before), and was pleased to remember that there are only 3 pattern pieces for this dress. How simple! If you were to choose the funnel neck, cuffs or pockets then of course there would be more. For me though I wanted to keep it super simple.

To give my stripes the best possible chance of matching up I cut the dress pieces out on a single layer of fabric rather than on the fold. This way I have total control over my pattern placement. I always do this with stripes.

As most of you will know, Tilly and the Buttons pattern instructions are superb. Colour photographs and great written instructions guide you through the whole process, this would be a great beginners project. It takes next to no time to sew. For best results I used ball point pins and machine needles, ( I used a ball point twin needle to finish off the neckline, hem and cuffs). I used both the regular sewing machine and the overlocker for this project.

The sleeve width feels a little wide. If I were a little more clever I would have looked back at my last review before I made this one and taken note that I mentioned that the sleeves needed narrowing down next time I were to make it. Lesson learned. It’s not a problem. I can always alter them if I really wanted to.

The length is just right for me. I needed to make no alterations on it at all.

I am so pleased with how it has turned out. I have my eye on this gorgeous red and white striped fabric on the Tilly website and think that this would make a beautiful version for the Spring.

All in all it’s a super little dress which is so comfy and easy to throw on. I am going to love wearing this one.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts, I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x