Monthly Archives: June 2022

Chaos Quilt

I have a great many scraps of cotton fabric which are the remnants from dressmaking, bag making and general crafty sewing. I also have a Big Shot die cutting machine with ‘Drunkards’ Path’ dies. Back at the beginning of the year I decided to put those scraps to good use and make a quilt. I vowed that I would not be buying ANY fabric, wadding or backing for the project.

Die cutting: I sorted through the scraps and wherever a piece was at least 5 inches square, I ironed it flat and put to one side ready for a mammoth die-cutting session.

Construction: I set all the pieces in two piles – one of the 1/4 circles and the other of the ‘arc’ shaped pieces. With no thought about co-ordination, these pieces were then stitched into pairs in a totally random fashion. All the stitching was completed by hand whilst I joined in at the Friday morning sewing group.

Once I had about 100 squares I started to put them together into blocks – 4 individual squares per block. I used two different layouts. 1) where the ¼ circles were placed to the centre to make a complete circle and 2) where two of the ¼ circles were flipped to the outer edge of the block to make what I call ‘a turtle’.

Block layouts – Circles and Turtles

I started to lay out the blocks and decided that I would like to have the quilt made up in 6 rows of 6 blocks with sashing in between. I needed to make another 44 squares to give me the total 36 blocks required.

Layout: The completed blocks were laid out on the bed and photographed. After some switching around I came up with the final plan. I labelled each block before cutting the sashing. Using some calico from my stash (usually used for toile making) I cut strips 1 ½ inches wide and started stitching the rows together. I then cut more sashing to make the crosswise sashing plus a border.

Next it was time to add the wadding and backing. Checking my stash of wadding I had only two pieces of polyester 2oz wadding which was stitched together with a 3-step zig-zag and produced just enough to back the quilt with a 1 inch border all around.

layering up

Backing – I knew that I did not have any cotton print that I was prepared to use for the quilt. A quick search through the spare bedding revealed a brand new King size flat sheet in Yellow – just right to back this quilt. I used 505 temporary spray adhesive and a few quilters safety pins to layer up the three fabrics – backing, wadding and top.

Quilting: I used the extension table fitted to my Brother 550SE machine, set up on the dining table. I ‘stitched in the ditch’ on each block before using one of the built in decorative stitches to run down and across all the sashing. The backing was trimmed back to 1 inch beyond the edge of the top, then folded and turned to the front of the quilt and top stitched in place complete with mitred corners.

Chaos quilt completed June 2022

Conclusion: I am pleased with the final result which is so very colourful and will be ideal for use in the conservatory. I think that this may well be my final large quilt project as there are only so many quilts that one can display. The grand piano already has a ‘wardrobe’ of quilts for each month plus some ‘specials’ for Christmas and Valentine’s Day! In future I will continue with quilting but it will probably be much smaller projects and maybe some clothing – I have a hankering for a patchwork quilted jacket!

Project #27 completed 27th June 2022

‘Marilyn’ – a new hack

I recently purchased 3 metres of this very bold ‘in your face’ Viscose crepe from Rainbow Fabrics, Kilburn. To be honest I am not sure what I was thinking when I ordered the fabric so was a little surprised when I opened the parcel and saw how dramatic the colour and print was. However, the fabric was laundered, has a lovely drape and feels great against the skin.

Having made 6 versions of the Montana dress by Style Arc and 4 of the Myosotis dress, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the two designs, make a new style that I have named ‘Marilyn’ and use the bold Orange viscose for a wearable toile.

Line drawing for Marilyn design

Drafting the pattern: I first copied the bodice front and back of the Myosotis before laying over the Montana so that I could extend the shoulders for the cap sleeves. These days my ‘go to’ method for sleeveless and cap sleeved dresses is to line the bodice so that the armhole can be clean finished. However, this time I drafted an all-in-one facing. You will see that originally I planned to make the skirt with a hem ruffle but then I decided to make the skirt in three tiers.


Cutting out: I was careful with motif placement as I really did not want that large White bloom on the apex of my bust! I cut the back bodice in two with a centre back seam so that I could then cut 6 panels 12 inches deep x width of fabric (WOF) to make a three-tiered skirt.

Construction: The Bodice – My usual MO is to make up the bodice first so that can sit on the mannequin (to be admired!) whilst I stitch the skirt panels, pockets and frills. After a night’s sleep when it came down to it, I decided to ignore the all-in-one facing and instead use self bias binding. I still have the pattern for the facing in the envelope so maybe next time. For the self bias I cut strips 2 inches wide and pressed them wrong sides together before sewing to the right side of the bodice and flipping to the inside. I understitched the bias and seam allowances before top stitching the free edge of the bias binding in place. I was unable to find the exact colour of Orange for the buttons (not really surprising) so reverted to more of the Mother of Pearl ones that I bought in bulk and have now become my favourites.

The skirt: Again, I procrastinated before sitting down and getting on with the skirt. All those lengths of fabric had to be stitched together and have double rows of gathering. Then it was sitting quietly, marking the quarters, matching and gathering evenly for each of the three tiers. Each tier was sewn before attaching the final skirt to the bodice.

Final fitting: The overall length was a little too long (possibly dragged down by the weight of all the fabric in the skirt). I revisited the seams between the second and third tier and re-stitched taking a further ½ inch seam allowance from the original seam and overlocking (once again!). This brought the overall length up by 2 inches which was ‘just right’.

‘Marilyn’ version #1

Conclusion: I am very pleased with how this ‘wearable toile’ has turned out and delighted with the colour and design of the print. I think it is a dramatic dress and may well end up being my ‘birthday’ dress for 2022. I may be ageing but will certainly not be invisible. I am sure I will make the ‘Marilyn’ again in Viscose crepe but next time will either cut as a skirt plus a hem ruffle, or cut the skirt tiers at 11 inches rather than 12 inches so that the length is less ‘maxi’ and more ‘midi’. I have an idea for another ‘hack’ for the Myosotis to remove the collar stand and clean finish a round neckline instead. Watch this space…..

Project #31 completed 23rd June 2022

Revisit an old Favourite

Butterick 5356

Back in the Summer of 1998 I made my first version of Butterick 5356. I remember it particularly well as it was my ‘birthday’ dress. That year my husband and I spent a lovely day exploring ‘The Vyne’, a National Trust house and garden in nearby Sherborne St John, Hampshire.

The fabric used was a polyester crepe de chine purchased from a market trader in Andover. I still have the dress, it still fits, and I wear it every Spring and Summer.

I made a second version of the dress using a Lavender-coloured crinkle cotton. Unfortunately I no longer have that iteration as I gifted the dress to a friend, now sadly passed away.

Every Spring/Summer since 2000 I have wanted to make the dress again, but this time in a natural fibre so that it is more comfortable to wear in the really warm weather. Finally I have done it!

The original dress was made to size 22 with a few adjustments – reduce the width of the shoulders and the length of the dress. As I knew that the dress was ‘just right’ in terms of fit, I would be able to cut straight from the pattern.

Ditsy Daisy Sustainable Soft Viscose Challis

Turquoise is a special favourite as I believe the colour particularly suits me, I selected some Ditsy Daisy Sustainable Soft Viscose Challis purchased from Rainbow Fabrics, Kilburn at the end of April 2022 at a cost of £21.57. Thus this length has not been long in my stash and I thought that the print and drape of the fabric would be a great match for the Butterick pattern.

As I am currently watching the latest series of ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’ where each challenge is undertaken with a time limit, I decided to time myself making this project. Total time taken including cutting out and the final hand sewing of the hem was 8 hours. This is longer than expected but can be down to the mobility of the fabric, having to hand sew tailors tacks for all the deep tucks on the bodice, plus a hand sewn hem. However, as I was very keen to get the dress completed quickly, I have neatened seam allowances with the overlocker rather than make French seams which is time-saving.

Order of work was:- Session 1 – Cutting out. Session 2 – Making the self-fabric ties, interfacing the collar and front facing, making the back darts and including the ties at the waist point of the darts. Session 3 – Making sleeves, preparing the back neck facing with a ‘Carousel’ label. Session 4 – Sewing the front bodice tucks, shoulder seam front to back. Prepare Collar and one half of front facing. Session 5 – Second front facing, side seams, set in sleeves, make 12 buttonholes. Session 6 – Add 12 buttons, prepare the hem. Session 7 – hand sew hem in place.

Conclusion: Marking the I front bodice tucks and sewing the collar are both fiddly, especially with this particular type of viscose. I am sure that if (when!) I make the dress again using a crepe it will be less time-consuming. I love the finished dress which I think is particularly slimming and very comfortable to wear. I will definitely be making another.

Butterick 5356
Butterick 5356 Back view

Project #30 completed 15th June 2022

Sweetpea Pod Pouches & Pin Dog

At a recent sewing morning with friends I was asked to make a couple of these charming Sweetpea Pod pouches so that they could be gifted to a new sewing granddaughter of one of our members.

I recall that many years ago I made a dozen or so of the pouches as Christmas gifts, however I did not remember exactly how to make them. After a long search through the pattern files on my computer I gave up and ordered a new copy from a seller on etsy.com.

The pdf arrived and has now been safely stored on my patterns usb memory stick. I have also printed off and placed in my ‘quick projects’ folder!

It took about 40 minutes to make the two pouches and I still had a large piece of the fabric remaining. What to do? I made yet another pin dog! So in the space of 1½ hours I had completed the projects and hope that the recipient will enjoy using the sewing accessories as much as I did when making them.

Sweetpea Pouches & Pin Dog

Project #29 completed 27th May 2022