May Makes from the g&g team

With the shops 5th Birthday party just a few weeks ago, the g&g team, of course, were excited about making new outfits for the day!

Everyone looked so lovely so I wanted to let you all know the details of the outfits too!

Jo made the Kochi Jacket from Paper cut patterns using some of the beautiful forest green stardust cotton double gauze from Atelier Brunette.

The pattern is ranked as 'skilled' but Jo reckons if you are a confident beginner you could give it a try. She found the ties a bit tricky to work out and used a loop turner to turn them inside out as well as replacing them with ribbons for the inside ones to reduce the bulk as the fabric is a little spongy.

She made a size small as that was what corresponded to her hip measurements and she felt it did come up a little big. She took 1.5cm off the front wrap edges to lower the neckline a little and next time she might make the sleeves a little bit narrower too.

Other changes she made to the pattern were to bag out the corners where the slits are at the side splits, rather than just pressing them back to hem them and she also didn't interface the hem or sleeves as she didn't want to stiffen the fabric too much.

She managed to get all the pattern pieces out of 1.5m but she did have to cut the ties out a different way from the cutting layout, so for any or the bigger sizes its best to go with what the pattern recommends.

I think it looks so stylish - that fabric is such a dream!

Ben made the Walden Negroni pattern (which is now available as a PDF only - follow this link) in some of our lovely lightweight aztec trails viscose fabric.

He made a size medium to correspond with his body measurements but found the fit to come up quite loose so he so he added 2 darts at the back - each 3 inches, so he took out quite a lot of ease. The other change he made to the pattern was to create a folded back hem on the sleeve.

He used 1.7m of fabric and that was with cutting the pieces out at a right angle to the selvedge so that the striped pattern would run horizontally.

He found it came together really easily and the lettered pattern pieces made the instructions simple to follow despite all the little sections.

I think Ben looks great and he's really made a full outfit out of it with the hat too!

Meg used the Atelier Brunette Moonstone green to make a Sew Over It Eve dress with the flutted sleeve.

She used 2.5m of fabric and that was for a size 8 that with the skirt shortened to above the knee.

This viscose fabric is really floaty and drapey, perfect for this style of dress. To help give it some extra support, she added interfacing not only to the wrap part at the front bodice but also to the waist line seam. She also left the dress to hang over night in case the hem dropped out - this really helps to get an even hem of light weight fabrics like this.

I think its the perfect fabric and combo pattern and looks really lovely and swishy!

Abi used some of the super soft and slinky brilliant blooms peachskin fabric to make the dress version of the Megan Nielsen Sudley Blouse.

She used 2.5m of fabric and initially lengthened the skirt section by about 60cm, and then shortened it to about 40cm longer than the pattern.

The bodice is lined too, which is a bit easier to work with in terms of getting the key hole opening to sit flat with this slippery fabric and she used a loop turner to turn the ties inside out.

One thing to watch out for with this fabric is that it doesn't have much give in it, which can make easing in the sleeve head a bit more fiddly and for the same reason, if you choose to line the bodice, its best to line it in the same fabric, or same type of fabric.

I think this is another great combo of pattern and fabric as something light weight and swooshy like this is perfect for a gathered style skirt.

The inspiration for my dress came from the fabric - I love this fabric so much! It's a Japanese sashiko style embroidered cotton fabric with a dobby spot running through it as well.

I used the Sew Over It Betty dress pattern and made a size 8 but brought the shoulder in about 2cm (using the same method I showed in this tutorial) and I also lowered the neckline by 1.5cm.

I used 1.5m of fabric and made the length of the skirt half the width of the fabric for minimal fabric waste - and so that I could have the stripes running vertical for the skirt and horizontal for the bodice. There is a really straight forward tutorial on the Sew Over It Blog for how to add the gathered skirt - link here.

Lesley made this gorgeous Deer and Doe Belladone dress using the Robert Kaufmann emerald metallic cotton which catches the light beautifully!

She worked with the 2.5m fabric recommendation on the pattern but had about 40cm left over. She found that it does nip in at the waist and doesn't have a lot of built in ease there, so its something to bear in mind when choosing a size as you may have to grade between sizes. She found the length of the skirt came up just where she wanted it at the knee and she is 5ft tall, so if you are taller and like the knee length, consider lengthening it using the shorten and lengthen lines on the pattern.

Adaptions Lesley made to the pattern were to square off the shoulders and bring them in towards the centre back - which help to get the cross over back opening to sit flat and she added a facing to the waist band to conceal the raw edges on the inside.

She also spent time hand sewing the binding at the neckline and arm hole, which I think makes a lovely clean finish.

I love the pockets and hem facing on this dress too - it really helps to hold the shape of the skirt section. Another lovely make!

I hope you've found lots of inspiration seeing everyones outfits!

Happy Sewing!