Sew Party Ready - Part 1

I have to admit, as a Mum of a 2 year old and workaholic business owner, dressing up all fancy is quite a rare occurrence for me, but the festive season and Christmas time is a lovely, yearly chance for me to make and wear something that is really special.

So in this 2 part series I hope that I can give you some inspiration to make something amazing, that you wouldn’t normally make, using some of our new sparkely fabrics!

Check out my latest Youtube video to see the outfit close up or read on for notes, links and pics!

If you follow along with Heather Lou from Closet Case Patterns and from Kelli Truebias patterns on Instagram, I’m sure you will have seen their ‘sew frosting’ challenge. It’s a great motivator to throw anyway the more practical planned project list and do something that gets you all excited again.

The first out fit I wanted to show you is a great showstopper skirt and top combo, which you could easily wear with other things in your wardrobe for a paired down look.

Sequin top

Fabric – I used some of our rose pink glitter sequin fabric. This is seriously sparkely and like no other sequins! Not only does it have hundreds of tiny little sequin discs, its also covered in glitter! I lined it with our pink viscose fabric. We’ve also got the glitter sequins in two other colour ways and regular fine sequins in 3 other colours.

Pattern – I used the Grainline Scot tee but I chopped about 4.5 inches off the bottom so that it would be more cropped and boxy to wear with something high-waisted. I’ve used this pattern quite a few times before with sequin fabric as its really simple to make and always shows off the fabric nicely.

Top tips for sewing sequins – Working with fine sequins like this is actually pretty straight forward, you just treat it like a regular woven fabric, cutting and sewing the seams like you normally would. I found that I didn’t need to finish the seam allowances and instead of pressing the seams with an iron, you just squish the sequins flat with your fingers. I’ve got a great video showing you more tips in detail.

Top tips for lining the garment – This is also surprisingly straightforward. I like to use Prym forming tape interfacing to stabilise and effectively ‘stay-stitch the neckline of the sequin fabric and the lining fabric. With a cooler iron its fine to press the iron-on forming tape interfacing to the sequins.

Simply make two tops – one from sequins and one from lining fabric but don’t finish the neckline off. Then join them together at the neckline right sides together and under stitch. You can opt to put a French tack, which is like a chain stitch, to hold the lining in place at the side seams.

Top tip for hemming the sequin fabric – I decided to use this Atelier Bruentte cotton lawn bias binding to hem the sequins so that it would mean there wouldn’t be sequins rubbing against my skin or clothing.

Pleated skirt

Fabric – This beautiful ex-designer pleated fabric has an amazing subtle glitter finish on it and catches the light in a really lovely way. It’s got a blush pink/nude undertone to it and the pleats are set into the fabric so won’t come out with pressing or ironing.

Pattern – I did a really simple job with this one and it is literally a tube rectangle with an elastic channel at the top – so no pattern needed! If you did want to follow a pattern you could opt for the Tilly and the Buttons Dominique skirt. I’ve also made a Closet Case patterns Sallie jumpsuit in this fabric which looked really cool so think anything floaty or wide legged too.  

Top tips for sewing - I treated the fabric like it was a normal woven fabric when it was in its relaxed state(even though it stretches quite a bit due to the pleats). It’s made from polyester and the weave of the fabric is very dense so it doesn’t fray at all. You don’t need to finish the seam allowances and even the hem is just cut – its not turned back on its self. When I put the elastic into the casing and got it at the right amount of tightness around my waist, I evened out the pleats in the skirt and pinned the elastic at the sides and centre back. I then stitched though the casing and elastic at those points to stop the gathers created by the elastic for shifting around all over the place.

Links to all the fabrics and patterns I mentioned are below!