A second year of sewing my own clothes

It's time I documented my second year of making my own clothes. This year there was no outright self-imposed ban on buying new or second hand clothes, so I have been lucky to acquire a few more beautiful Gudrun Sjödén pieces, as well as purchasing some needed socks and knickers.

The original year-long-experiment which began in May 2013 has remained habit changing and sewing my own is a regular part of my weekly routine. Between 17th May 2014 and 31st May 2015 I sewed a lot of dresses, a few tops, had a summertime flurry of trouser making, and made three beautiful coats.

The Wiksten Tova was my 'discovery' staple sewing pattern this year, and the one I've made most of (current Tova count is six). My second favourite repeatedly sewn pattern is the Lisette Portfolio dress Kerry Green most generously sent me in January (I made three). I must also mention its sister-pattern the lovely Liesl & Co Cappuccino dress (four more of these now hanging in my wardrobe). The 'outsider lovely surprise pattern' was Scarlet et Marguerite's Baba Yaga dress.

Garment Of The Sewing Year: Burda 7072 Quilted Coat

My favourite garment of the year is the one that took the most work, a quilted Burda 7072 coat. Worth every frustrating second of fiddling to get the under-arm seams right!

The round-up photo above doesn't include everything I made, and not all of it was blogged – there are at least three more holiday dresses and six pairs of baggy trousers not included here. I may try to slow down production in the coming year, but can't see myself stopping as I love the act of sewing and the self expression of wearing handmade clothes. I wear something I've made myself every day of the year.

I am however, a little less keen to continue photographing and blogging my makes (and my gurning face) so am not sure if there'll be a third year with a round-up like this. In part I think joining Instagram has removed some of the urge to blog. So much social media, so little time.

For now though, it is a pleasure to present the line up of clothes sewn in my second sew-my-own year.

Trouserathon, July 2014

Lisette Portfolio Dress: Simplicity 2245 - in floral corduroy

I've written before about my yearning for a copy of Simplicity's out-of-print Lisette Portfolio dress sewing pattern and tweeted about this again recently having seem a shockingly priced one on eBay. Kerry of Sew Ichigo and Very Kerry Berry got in touch and kindly offered to send me her own used copy of the Portfolio pattern. I am most thankful and touched by her generosity. What better way to start my sewing year?

The Lisette Portfolio is the original version of Liesl + Co's Cappuccino – a dress I've now sewn four times (three of them blogged), so was convinced the design would work for me. There are a few minor differences between the two sewing patterns, the main one being that the Portfolio has a more demure high scoop neckline.

I'd heard that sewing the centre front square panel could be tricky, but I actually found it easier to make than the Cappuccino's V-neck. As before, I cut the dress as a size 10 for the top half, graduating out to a 14 at the hips. It has a centre back seam, so I shaped this a little more so that it wasn't baggy at the waist. I cut the back facing in one piece (instead of adding a back closure) as the dress fits easily over my head. It's a roomy A-line design and is exactly the style I feel most comfortable wearing.

The fabric I used is deliciously soft floral pin cord made by Japanese company Sevenberry (Christmas money well spent at Eternal Maker). The main body of the dress is in Flower Garden print and the yoke and cuffs are in Daisy Floral. The two fabrics clash perfectly to my taste! I love the finished dress – the corduroy is great for these colder days. There will definitely be more Portfolios this year.