How I made My white lace pintucked blouse

A Jaycotts.co.uk blog post 

This is how I made my beautiful lace pintucked blouse and how I wear it without looking too "girly" Thanks to the wonderful Alex Jaycott for his input into my  adventure with corded pintucks.

If you don't have a pair of leather trousers do go and try some on right now, they are an effort to get into I admit, well my skinny ones are , but they are the most comfortable thing ever. I love lace but for me it needs to look edgy rather than girly, so this pretty blouse will be worn with my leather pants and upcycled leather biker jacket. I will show you how I blinged my jacket later.

To give you a view of what we are going to make this is the front whilst It is being worn. The shape is very flattering with a fitted waist and lots of pintucks to create shape.

I must stress that if you do not want to do pintucks then gathers are quite acceptable, but do at least try them

How I made my BY HAND Anna Dress.

A BEAUTIFUL EVENING DRESS

I had such a great time choosing the fabrics for this post. I wanted to try a brand of pattern which I had never used before and this By Hand pattern, named Anna, really appealed  to me.  I am enjoying making and wearing garments made from the new pattern houses which are emerging. This one in particular fits well with little adjustment, the instructions are very easy to follow and the overall effect is extremely flattering. If you have not tried one of the new pattern houses yet then I do urge you to take the plunge. You wont be disappointed! The link to the pattern is below. Please note that this particular pattern is now only available to download,  the paper version is sadly no longer available. This design can quite easily be copied on any simple dress pattern though, so don't be put off

BY HAND PATTERNS

I am lucky in that I do get to wear a lot of evening dresses both long and short, so it was an easy decision for me to want to make the long version of the dress. I decided against the slit in the skirt seam as it can be very draughty in hotels!

Using an Overlocking foot on your regular sewing machine .Making warm jersey tops.

A review for Jaycotts.co.uk 

Do you have an overlocker? They are great and I would not be without mine, I love owning one, but sometimes it seems too much hassle to re-thread it when you only want to overlock one thing, or you do not want to go out and buy overlock threads in a colour you will not use again.

What is the answer?  I recently made this stretch jersey top using just my sewing machine with an overlock foot. I have to say it was no trouble at all to switch feet and choose a different  stitch in fact it was quick and enjoyable.

I found a piece of this unusual burnout fabric at Abakhan Fabrics. It is a soft feel stretch jersey, there was just enough to make a top.