We're so pleased to bring you another fabulous lace creation, this one is from our lovely blogger Manju and features a very adorable model - maju's daughter Kezia. We love this make, which features one of our best-selling, most affordable laces.

GBSB LACE CHALLENGE

McCalls 6829: DIY Girls Lace Peplum Top #GBSB


McCalls 6829: lace peplum top

Hello Readers,

Who’s been watching Series 3 of the Great British Sewing Bee then? Wasn’t it great? Without giving too much away, the theme for the week was “sewing with challenging fabrics”, one of them being lace. The lace featured in todays post wasn’t sewn up by any of the contestants (I don’t think), but I think I did spot it for a few seconds being handled by Debra? Anyway, this lace is a very reasonably priced corded lace fabric in lilac, from White Tree Fabrics. White Tree Fabrics asked if I would make something up in this fabric to compliment their laces being featured on the program and I was happy to do so.

The pattern I have used is McCalls 6829 which is sadly now discontinued (although some sites still appear to be selling it). This is one of the Fashion Star patterns, and although, personally I don’t think the envelope photographs do it much favour, it is lovely when made up.

I made view B, but basically decided Kezia has too many party dresses, and a top might be more practical. So I cut the skirt off at 8 inches to make a peplum top. I cut a size 7, but ended up removing a total of about 3 inches from the side seams.

McCalls 6829: lace peplum top

This top is fully underlined (except the yokes) and lined using this aubergine light weight satin (currently reduced to 50% of the original price!) The yokes were cut from this lilac shimmer mesh. I added a sparkly button from my button jar.

McCalls 6829: lace peplum top

McCalls 6829: lace peplum top

The fabrics were easy to cut and work with, although I did use a microtex needle to sew through the satin.

Pattern Review

Pattern Description:
CHILDREN’S/GIRLS’ DRESSES: Lined dresses (cut on the grosgrain) have raised waist, pleated skirt and tie ends, ruffles attached to lining, back-button, loop (elastic) and zipper. A: overlay, sleeves and narrow hem. B: underlined, yokes, purchased flowers, trim and ribbon for tie ends. Designed for lightweight woven fabrics. SUGGESTED FABRICS: Satin, Linen, Peau de Soie; A – Contrast (Overbodice): Single Edged Scalloped Lace. B – Lace. B – Contrast (Yoke): Organza. Ruffle – Netting

I made a slightly modified version of View B.

Pattern Sizing:
3 – 14.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, except I made a peplum top rather than a dress.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Nothing to dislike. I love the finished product.

Fabric Used:
A corded polyester lace, a shimmer mesh for the yokes and a lightweight satin to underline and line.

All fabrics were supplied by White Tree Fabrics as a promotion to tie in with this lace being featured on series 3 of the Great British Sewing Bee.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I cut a size 7 for my 6 year old daughter and removed 3 inches in total from the side seams. I cut the skirt pattern off at 8 inches to create a peplum. Next time I might lengthen this slightly. She’s tall :-)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes! I think this is such a cute top and I could definitely see me making this again in fun cottons for the summer. Yes, if you can get this pattern (it’s now discontinued), I would recommend. It is perhaps a little bit of an older look, but made in cottons I think it will be very cute.

Conclusion:
My daughter’s very pleased with this. It’s perfect to dress up jeans or leggings but still practical to let her play rough and tumble at parties.

 

We're pleased to share another fantastic lace make with you, this time from our lovely guest blogger Jane of Handmade Jane. Take a look at her lace skirt below - we love the contrasting lining!

GBSB LACE CHALLENGE

Just as the Great British Sewing Bee seems to have evolved as a TV series (more challenging tasks, contestants working with a variety of different fabrics and techniques etc), so too does the accompanying book. I reviewed the book for the first series here and was mostly positive about it, my main criticism being the lack of patterns included. I was recently asked to review the book for the current series -Fashion with Fabric - and wow, what a difference a couple of years makes!

 

I've been keeping one pattern up my sleeve  - the lace pencil skirt - as it's one I've already made!

 

I kept coming back to it in the book and in the end just decided to give it a try with some leftover lace from my lace top. For the underskirt I used a sea-green lining fabric previously used to line the sleeves of my boiled wool coat, so all in all, a good stash busting exercise! The skirt is a simple, elegant shape with no front darts, an invisible zip and a facing. I only ever intended it to be a practice run to test out the pattern, but I think the finished version is totally wearable. I also made it before this week's episode of the GBSB and let me tell you, I could NEVER have finished it in 3 hours or however long they were given. Hats off to the semi finalists!

Using the finished measurements as a guide, I made a size 10 with no adjustments, and the fit is spot on. The two skirt layers are made up separately, but attached around the zip as a single layer. They're then treated as two separate fabrics below the zip. It's a brilliant technique which I'll definitely use again. I also used hairline seams for the first time, where the seam is stitched, narrowly zigzagged and then trimmed. A hairline seam is a good choice for sheer fabrics and it worked well for my lace overskirt, creating a very light finish.

I'm amazed by the number of excellent tips and techniques I've picked up from reading this book - I learnt two new ones just from making a simple skirt! I'll keep you updated with anything else I make from it, but so far, it's shaping up to be one of my favourite sewing books to date.

'Fashion for Fabric' was given to me free of charge for review by Quadrille Publishing. All views my own.

One thing WhiteTree fabrics are proud of is our extensive selection of laces. Stretch, rigid, with a scalloped selvedge, without, floral, geometric, all different colours and designs.....we have over 700 designs to choose from. So when we saw that The Greart British Sewing Bee were going to be using laces in series 3 of their show, we reached out to our bloggers to ask them to create some fantastic lace projects.

Maria not only created a fantastic outfit, she also documented every step to bring you this fantastic how-to sew with lace guide!

Be sure to stay tuned for part 2 and a very special photoshoot.

GBSB Lace Challenge

Sewing with great lace

A lace as lovely as this needed some planning to get the best result. You can see in the picture below I checked how it was cut and ran a ruler across the top edge

I clipped along the edge of the fabric so the circles all ran straight. There was a risk that I would cut out the fabric at an angle which I didn't want to risk. Below is the back pattern and I've lined the grainline along the circles.

Now to cut out the next layer for the back, I laid the first layer on the second layer so the circles match along the same grainline.

Now for the front and the front front facing. Scary but do-able. I laid the front pattern grainline following the circles. Then I laid the front facing piece on the front and drew the large circle on the pattern piece so I could match the circles. I took my time when I cut this out and I made sure there were no distractions in the house too.

Here's a closer look at the circle markings being transferred onto the front facing pattern.

You can see below where I've marked the large lace circles on the pattern piece on the bodice so the large circles would run level across the body.

Then the 'easy' part was to cut out the knit lining. I decided to sew both fabric layers together as I sewed the jumpsuit together.

Both fabrics are 'knits' and don't unravel. This made construction a whole lot easier after I managed to cut each piece out separately and aligned to the lace circles.

The buttons selected by White tree fabrics blended in so well I decided to hand sew the button holes and each buttonhole is place in the centre of each large circle.

As I've already made this jumpsuit before the proportions worked well for this fabric. The leg width was slimmed down from the first version I made and I had raised the arm curve to suit my needs.

This is lace jumpsuit a keeper. Thank you White Tree Fabrics for asking me to do this special project post. Both fabrics have been great to sew and this outfit has been easy to wear in our hot Summer weather.

We love this gorgeous Navy lace Party dress, which proves that not every party calls for a little black dress! 

This dress is my latest make for White Tree Fabrics. They provided the fabric and the pattern (of my selection). Whilst I genuinely do love the lace, I am not so sure about the pattern itself. Here’s the lowdown!

The pattern is McCalls 6989, which is a Melissa Watson pattern for Palmer and Pletsch. Here’s the line drawings:

The sleeves are, without doubt, my favourite part of the dress. They are actually a two part sleeve that is designed to sew in with no ease. I french seamed the sleeve pieces and used a recycled diamante button I had in my stash.

The rest of the pattern….I am a bit….meh about.

The bodice is designed with armhole princess seams. Obviously, I didn’t do a muslin (I hate doing muslins and will generally tissue fit where possible). I did a two stage FBA using Fit for Real People, adding 1.25 inches to the front piece, and 1 inch to the side panel (does that sound a lot?) Yep. The bodice ended up huge, and I removed 2 inches from either side seam (i.e. 4 inches in total!) I also dropped the apex point by 2 inches.

So, also, in case you’re wondering, I swapped the skirt out for a pleated skirt. The main reason for this was I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the skirt as in the pattern. I actually think that skirt would have been nicer. I ended up shortening the skirt by 2 inches and further shortening the bodice by about 0.5 – 1.5 inches. Philip pointed out to me that the skirt does seem to be dipping low in the front and I think he’s probably right. Sigh.

I also inserted an invisible zipper and cut the fabric on the cross-grain so that I could use the scalloped edge as the hem of the skirt.

The lace fabric is a cotton leaf flower lace in navy. It is a lightweight netted lace which is beautiful. The whole dress (except the sleeves) is underlined (not lined) with lightweight black satin. I am not going to lie. When I initally tried to sew the satin with a regular needle it snagged terribly, so I switched to a Schmetz microtex needle after which there was no problem. I overlocked all the seams inside. 
 

Pattern Review

Pattern Description:

Dresses have collar band, princess seams, semi-fitted bodice, raised waist, and back zipper. A: self-lined sleeves. B and C: collar, two-piece sleeves gathered into button cuffs with seam opening. C: bodice cut on crosswise grain and skirt on bias grain.

Pattern Sizing:

6 – 22

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

The bodice part, yes. Due to fabric constraints I swapped the skirt out for a pleated skirt. I think it would look better with the gored skirt in the pattern.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Yes and no. The sewing instructions are fine. The fitting instructions (this is a Palmer and Pletsch pattern) were a little strange. No instructions on how to do an FBA, although the lines are marked on the pattern. I would have thought that would have been the most common adjustment sewers would make? But there is no guidance on it. Also, note, no body measurements are included on the pattern instruction sheets (only on the envelope flap), and there is no mention of needing buttons on the notions section of the envelope.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

My favourite part of the dress is the two piece sleeves which set in with no ease and the button cuffs. I am not sure about the rest of the dress…(including the high neckline on me).

Fabric Used:

All fabrics were provided by White Tree Fabrics. I used a navy cotton lace underlined with a lightweight black satin.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I did a two stage FBA using Fit for Real People, adding 1.25 inches to the front piece, and 1 inch to the side panel (does that sound a lot?) Yep. The bodice ended up huge, and I removed 2 inches from either side seam (i.e. 4 inches in total!) I also dropped the apex point by 2 inches and did a 1 inch sway back adjustment. As  mentioned above, Due to fabric constraints I swapped the skirt out for a pleated skirt. I think it would look better with the gored skirt in the pattern. I don’t think the front is hanging straight with the back. The question is, can I be bothered to go back and adjust it? :-) I did end up shortening the skirt by 2 inches and shortening the bodice by 0.5 – 1.5 inches.

 
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

You  know, I might sew it again, with the collar perhaps? I think it has potential….for me, it needs more work. I would recommend with caution! Hey, we are all individual…it might work brilliantly for you.

Conclusion:

I wore this dress on christmas eve and I felt comfortable in it and I didn’t feel bad wearing it. Maybe with time/ an adjusment to the front to get it evened up I might love it a little more!