Sew, my second make as a blogger for Simple Sew is the Nicole Dress.

I liked the denim look that Simple Sew had made it in but as I have just finished making a blue denim dress I wanted to try a different look, and I had plans for a pattern hack.

I love a dress with pockets, maybe its because I am a photographer I need some where to put bits!

 So I had a rummage through my fabric stash to see what I could make it in as I am on a mission to sew my stash this year. I have way to much fabric, not to be called a fabric collector now and although its great insulation for my home, I feel I need to free my pretties and get making beautiful things with them. I am going to write a post about my mission towards zero waste fashion at a later date – watch this blog for details.

These pretties were the finalists

But in the end I choose a pink stretch denim that my friend Rebecca of http://www.livingabstracts.com (check out her brilliant Instagram Course) gave me and the red floral cotton from http://www.fabricland.co.uk for the facing and pocket contrast.

As the fabric had a stretch to it I decided to make it a pull on dress, with big pockets – ideal for long haul flights as I have a couple coming up this year. Also I decided to make it a maxi dress which I am rather fond of for traveling when you are going from a cool climate to a hot one.

Here you can see how I decided to extend the length, and my cute new fabric donut weights from http://www.ohsewquaint.co.uk

I liked the fact that the pattern had some shaping to it even though it was a relaxed fit.

Trying to minimise waste – I often cutout 2 different patterns from the same fabric. Loving my donut weights.

Time to make up the facing, by stitching the front to the back. I used a light weight interfacing as the facing was a light weight cotton.

I then joined it at the shoulder seams

I clipped the edges of the curves around the next before I turned it over

Making the darts: I put a pin through from the bust point to the other side of the fabric and then marked it with a pin.

Normally I would have put a tacking stitch in but this worked as a quick fix.

I started stitching the dart from the armhole and ended it by tying it off at the end.

I tried different designs for the pockets

And here she is Nicole in all her glory

I love this dress and would recommend the pattern, its quick to make and versatile. This version in stretch denim is perfect for the spring. I am going to make a mini one is cotton for later in the summer…watch this space.

This is my first make for the lovely people at Simple Sew patterns and I chose the fab Jackie O Jacket. Click here to have a look or buy the pattern Jackie O Jacket Pattern I initially chose it as I had bought some amazing 2 sided printed linen from Japan via Ebay and really liked the idea of using it for this pattern as the jacket is unlined and I thought it would be fun for it to have a different inside pattern.

I loved the fact that the pattern was printed on ‘normal’ paper not tissue, as I cut the largest size of the pattern, then trace off the size I am going to use and somehow no matter how careful I am the tissue ones never last as long.

The Instructions and diagrams were clear, which was a relief as some companies pattern instructions are not and rely on you having a lot of existing knowledge and experience of garment making.

I liked it so much I decided to make another one, this time I wanted to make a more formal more so pattern hacked it to make it longer. The fabric was from the utterly wonderful ABAKHAN I chose a boiled wool in charcoal, however i realised that it was going to need to be lined as the wool was brilliant for the jacket but a bit itchy for me to wear if I wasn’t wearing any sleeves under it.

For the lining I chose a lovely silky bird print from one of my favourite local fabric stores Fabrics Galore The print design reminded me of Ted Baker prints and I wanted the lining to have a bit of a colour pop about it, and this fabric was just right.

I extended the length of the body by 4.5 inches and the sleeves by 2 inches as you can see below

A slight aside here, but I have a bit of thing about Zero Waste. So when I cut out a garment, I try I see how close I can get to either zero waste or what I could also cut from the remaining left over fabric. This time I decided to cut a matching jacket for my Little One who is 4yrs old. You can see her bodice ‘block’ in this photo (its the blue/green shape). I am happy to say I did manage to have enough fabric over to cut her a jacket. When I have made it up I will post some photos of it.

To make the lining, I tired the bagging out method, without the facing. I wouldn’t recommend this and when I make the Jacket again I would cut the lining by tracing off the body, less the facing, then stitching the 2 together. This way I would get a more professional look, but I thought my way was going to look good and be quick, I was wrong on both counts!

I finished it with a fine black trim around the sleeves, neck, bodice front and hem line.

I am really happy with this version and will be making another Jackie O Jacket in the future.