The first official Sew Over 50 meet-up

After a couple of months in the planning I can hardly believe that the first ‘official’ Sew Over 50 meet-up is over! This isn’t really a blog as such, it’s more of a photo album so that those who were there can look out for themselves and to prove that it did happen and a great time was had, new friendships were made, information and tips were shared, fabric was stroked and support and encouragement was offered. 

Judith and I were simply overwhelmed by the feeling that was in the room for those 3 hours. The Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead, London proved to be the perfect venue to hold the meet-up with it’s mix of light-filled studio space and retail opportunities! Whilst quite a few of us already knew one another, and had met in the past, there were many others for whom this was the very first time they had gone to such an event. The distances some people travelled was extraordinary too, south Wales, Cumbria, Cheshire and north west England, Scotland, East Anglia, the south coast and Cologne, Germany were just some of the places people had come from. This represented a really big deal for some because it took them a long way outside their personal comfort zone to go on a long train journey to London and meet lots of strangers who they only ‘knew’ through the medium of little Instagram squares. So far as we can tell all of them thought it had been worth the effort and anxiety because within minutes of arriving they were chatting with fellow sewers and crafters as though they had known each other for years. That’s what the Sew Over 50 community seeks to encourage, to nurture and expand each others skills and talents, we try to make it a positive and supportive place to share our makes whether they are completely successful, or a dismal failure! 

I would personally like to thank every single one of the companies and individuals who gave me prizes for the charity raffle in response to my requests, and several others who offered without me even asking. 

Have a browse through the photos (please ask permission and credit me if you would like to use them elsewhere though, thank you) these are just a few of the hundreds that my daughter Bryony took for us but without them I don’t think there would be much record of the event having taken place…hardly anyone else took photos because they were too busy chatting!

unpacking the cake!

starting to arrive

the chatter gets going

The Village Haberdashery before we filled it up!

Marcia and Ana in the queue to get in

Val and Gilly came a very long way and had never been to a meet-up before but they had a great time

one question which never got asked was “did you make that?” because, obviously, we DID! More likely was “which pattern is that?” or “where’s that fabric from?”

pattern designers Marilla Walker and Ana Cocowawa Crafts who both donated prizes

what’s in the bag?

It’s a handmade plaque made especially for me by Jayne Wright, who also donated two handmade ceramic hedgehog pin-cushions (Threadquarters is the name of my workroom in the garden) Thank you so much Jayne

Judith and Lisa Bobo Bun who had come all the way from Norwich

Sara telling Jo all about sway back adjustments

I love this one, setting up for a selfie!

when Insta-friends finally meet in real life

this made me smile, Judith and I mirroring each other…

Ex-Brownie leader waiting for quiet

Ceramicist extraordinaire Corrie with our Great Leader, naturally she’s wearing one of her own handmade brooches

Susan and Amanda Patterns and Plains who generously offered a prize without me even asking

sorry Marilla but this was the best photo without one of you having closed eyes!

the much-admired cake made by Mr Y, it was universally agreed that it was a delicious fruit cake! ( and now he won’t let me forget it!)

busy in the shop now too

I love how during the course of the afternoon people are in different shots talking to different people all the time.

None of these ladies knew each other before they arrived but they got on like a house on fire

having a really good natter

my raffle ticket-selling friends Sara and Di

Me and lovely Ruth, whose son kindly donated a fabulous designer Anglepoise lamp which was much-coveted in the raffle.

Sharon (with the shoulder bag) is the talent and the brains behind Maven Patterns and generously donated 3 patterns to the raffle

group shot-it was a bit like herding cats but I think we got virtually everyone in

gathering to draw the raffle

by the wonders of WhatsApp I’m telling Kate (who was in Stockholm) that she had won a prize

She had won some lovely Lamazi fabric

with my fellow Love Sewing magazine photo-shoot friends, minus Kate and Sarah who couldn’t be with us. Love Sewing donated a one year subscription

this is us with former editor Amy and we featured in the February 2019 of Love Sewing magazine

designer Lucy of Trend Patterns donated two, here’s Charlotte with her prize

Corrie was thrilled with her Anglepoise, she’d been coveting it right from the beginning!

Sue was over the moon to win a Pfaff Passport 3.0

Judith trying out my teleportation device fashioned from an old hairdryer and sticky-back plastic. It didn’t work so it’s back to the drawing board for me!

I had opted to raise funds for The Samaritans, a UK-based charity who offer support at the end of the telephone to those at risk of suicide and the raffle made over £550 which is magnificent.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along and made it so enjoyable, thanks especially to Judith for having the courage to start the account in the first place. We’re approaching 18K followers and there have been almost 52K uses of the hashtag #sewover50 That’s a LOT of work which Judith and Sandy put in every day to ensure it’s such an enjoyable, interactive and mutually supportive community. I for one hope it continues this way. I’m sorry to those of you who couldn’t get a ticket, or are simply too far away, we want to actively encourage you to create your own meet-ups like this, there was no sewing at this one but you just need a venue where you can chat, a friendly cafe? your local sewing shop? Now we’ve started the ball rolling don’t forget to use the hashtag #so50meetup so we know what you’re up to.

Now, back to some sewing for a while!

until next time,

happy sewing

Sue

Tilly and the Buttons Nora top

I’m very excited to have been offered a copy of one of the new Tilly and the Buttons and I jumped at the chance to try Nora, a drop shoulder jersey top with several variations of sleeve, neckline and length. It’s just the sort of top I like to wear, often layered up in colder weather so I thought you might like to know what I think about the pattern.

keeping the design under wraps before the launch.

For once I decided I would trace off the pattern first because I’ll probably want to use several of the variations but this time I wanted to start with the long sleeve, uneven hem version.

Initially I checked my measurements against the sizing chart, and then the very useful finished garment measurements chart too. It’s always helpful if patterns have this (‘big 4’ patterns usually have them printed directly on one of the major pattern pieces) because you can make a much better judgement of the size you want. Take a tape measure and hold it around your body using the finished garment measurements to see how you feel about the fit-too loose? too tight? I opted to go down a size from the one indicated by my body measurements because I felt the finished top would be plenty big enough.

I had some lovely loopback sweatshirting in my stash that I’d bought from GuthrieGhani at last year’s one and only Great British Sewing Bee Live in London. It had been destined for a top based on one I’d seen at the Burberry ‘Capes’ show at the beginning of 2017 but never quite got made. When I clapped eyes on the Nora I knew the Burberry top would rise again.

I love the varied layers and stripes of this look.

In order to match the stripes, take your time laying up the fabric ready to cut. Ensure the stripes on the underneath layer are in line with the top layer by popping a few pins through both layers every so often. Next, I placed the front and back pieces onto matching stripes at the lower edges, double checking that the bottom of the armhole was also the same. I didn’t cut the sleeves out at this time, I waited until I had the front and back sewn together at the shoulders and the neck band attached before doing this. This way you can have your actual garment laying on the fabric next to where you’re intending to place the sleeve pattern, I cut each sleeve separately to make absolutely sure.

Tilly’s instructions and photos are generally very clear and helpful in my experience. I’m not sure if I did the neck band in quite the same way as the instructions but it worked and looks good. Different knits and jerseys have differing amounts of stretch so you may need to adjust the length of the band you use. I made mine shorter in the end as it wasn’t sitting flat at first, the band needed to be more stretched onto the neck edge to sit nice and flat.

I’ll take that!

The beauty of the sleeve on the Nora is that it’s a ‘shirt sleeve head’ so it’s almost flat across the top. This means it’s very simple to sew on because there’s no tricky setting into an armhole to do, you sew it on flat and then join the underarm and side seams afterwards. Incidentally, I sewed most seams using the tricot stretch stitch (looks like lightening in the symbols if you’re looking for it on your machine) You could also use a zigzag that’s very flattened out by reducing the stitch width. Alternatively, you could sew most of Nora together using an overlocker but don’t forget the seam allowances are 1.5cms and an overlocker will be much narrower which could result in a bigger garment than planned if you don’t trim them down first.

Before I hemmed the sleeves I tried the top on and opted to bring the sleeve width at the cuffs in by a total of 6cms [only as far as the elbow though from where I graded back into the original seam] Although the cuffs were a bit too wide for my liking I loved the extended length which comes some way over your hands.

That just leaves the stepped hem. I used a twin needle to sew straight across the hems and a regular ballpoint needle to turn the side seams.

Before I started Nora I’d already decided that I’d wear a shirt under the stripy version because the front is actually a bit higher than I like so, when I make my next one, I’ll lengthen the front somewhat but still keep a ’step’. I’ve been wearing it with my favourite The Maker’s Atelier Holiday Shirt underneath and I love how it looks together. I bought some beautiful Liberty fleece-back sweatshirt fabric from Fabrics Galore at the recent Knitting & Stitching show which I’ll use to make the Nora with the high roll collar instead and the long cuffs will roll back to show the contrast colour, it’s going to be so cosy. I reckon you could make it in a drapey woven fabric too BUT  you’d have to make the neckline larger because you wouldn’t get your head through otherwise!!

No make up selfie in Threadquarters! I really like all the hem interest going on.

Thank you Tilly for the chance to try out Nora, I’m definitely a fan and I think there will certainly be a few versions of her finding their way into my wardrobe over the autumn and winter…and then there will be short-sleeve versions when the spring arrives!

Until next time,

Happy sewing

Sue

 

French dart shift by Maven Patterns

This could very well be the perfect dress for the imperfect figure. It sits nicely on the shoulders with smooth set-in sleeves that blouse slightly at the cuff (if you’re going full-length) the French darts give it shape and the slight A-line flare of the skirt skims the body, it has pockets and finally there’s a funnel-neck collar to draw attention up towards the face if that’s your best feature! Oh, and there’s no zip, just pop it over your head!

I bought my pattern from the lovely Mike (son in law of Mrs Maven) who was manning the stand at the autumn Knitting & Stitching show for Mrs Maven who’d had to dash off for a family emergency. He must have done a grand job because I bought a pattern, as did many others while I was there, the samples on display were very enticing.

The French Dart Shift appealed to me because I liked it’s relaxed but stylish aesthetic, there are lots of possibilities. It has 3 sleeve options (plus sleeveless) and you could make it in a whole variety of fabrics from winter-weights like worsted wool or denim, through cotton poplins to softer fabrics like crepe or lace with suitable linings.

The patterns aren’t cheap at £18.50 but they are beautifully produced in a folding wallet, printed on quality paper with a comprehensive instruction booklet. I decided to trace off the pattern onto Swedish tracing paper rather than cut it out-I don’t always do this as I’m not an habitual tracer! I checked my body measurements and then using the measurements chart provided so I went for a UK 14. 

This time I transferred the pattern to Swedish tracing paper.

I had a rummage in my stash and found some navy fabric with tiny dots which I bought ages ago in Hitchin market and there was just enough. I didn’t follow the cutting plan as I hadn’t got the suggested quantity but by careful refolding and some single-layer cutting I got everything out.

One detail you need to watch out for is that the seam allowance is just 1cm rather than the more usual 1.5cms. The instructions are comprehensive and thorough although if you struggle with following written instructions this might be a challenge for you. There are illustrations too which are very detailed but they could do with being just a bit larger for those of us who are a bit sight-challenged, I managed but that’s partly because I had an inkling of how it was likely to go together.

The instructions encourage quality details such as taping the neck and pocket edges to prevent stretching (I actually used iron-on tape which fulfils the same job) and reinforcing the joins between the pocket bags and the side seams.

I failed to take any photos during the making, sorry about that, but it all went together as intended. The band on the cuffs is quite narrow and a bit fiddly but it’s worth persevering because the end result looks nice. You could leave the cuff off i suppose and make a channel with elastic through it if you wanted, or you could shorten the sleeve to between wrist and elbow length too.

the narrow gathered cuff is very feminine

The collar is cut on the bias which gives it a lovely roll and it stands well on it’s own, there’s no interfacing inside it. If you were making the dress in something more flimsy (like cotton lawn for example) you could mount the collar onto a fine fabric like organza, or a second piece of lawn or voile to give it more body.

Finished, I actually hand-stitched the hem so that it was nice and invisible.

I finished the navy dress before Christmas-I wore it on Christmas Day in fact, but I’ve only just made a second version recently [a 2 week bout of flu put paid to any creative sewing for a while]

I’ve made this second version in a lovely Ponte Roma I bought from Fabrics Galore at the Knitting & Stitching Show 18 months ago (I don’t like to rush these things) Although Ponte isn’t one of the suggested fabrics it’s worked well but you need to make sure that the wide neck edge is taped to prevent it being stretched before you put the collar on.

I think I can safely say this dress is my ‘secret pyjamas’, it’s sooo comfy!

Whoop, the sun came out so here’s some pictures in the garden. I used the twin needle to turn up the hem on this one.

I chose not to cut the collar on the bias because it’s a slightly stretchy fabric and this has back-fired a bit because it’s collapsing. Never mind, we live and learn, I should have followed my own advice and mounted it onto something else for a bit of structure.

All in all I’m delighted with this dress and I can see me making several more for the summer. Take a look at the Maven website for more inspiration with fabrics, you could even leave the collar off, and I know Portia Lawrie has produced a colour-block version too which looks fab. I think I’ll investigate some of Maven’s other patterns now too as they look really appealing!

Let me know if you’ve tried any of them,

Happy sewing

Sue