SpoolPod & Garment Planner Notepad Review!

Hey guys! I'm back today reviewing some bits from Creative Industry. When they emailed me asking me if I'd like to review their new Garment Planner Notepad I jumped at the chance and I was even more grateful when the parcel came and they had included one of their SpoolPods too! I want to state now that even though these items were gifted to me my opinion is still completely my own and 100% honest, I would never recommend anything to anyone if I didn't believe in the product.

SpoolPod

I'm going to start with the SpoolPod because I think this little tray is amazing, so basically it's a silicone tray with 10 slots so you can store a spool of thread and matching bobbin together, we've all accidentally used a navy blue bobbin with a black spool of thread and this cool little storage solution will eliminate that error completely. Each slot in the tray measures 1.8cm x 7.7cm and it's not just compatible with Gutermann threads, you can also use it for Aurifil and Coats, and I'm pretty sure there are a few others out there that would work too because the silicone stretches a fair bit.

Current Storage

When this arrived my thoughts immediately went to my own thread stash, I currently have my bobbins and spools of thread stored separately and I'm going to be quite honest here... This system only truly worked for me for about 6 months give or take before I was really sick of it... Basically I've been getting more and more frustrated with the fact that my bobbins are unravelling and jumping out of their slots, I actually put an elastic band around the case after about 3 months because there was nothing keeping the lid closed securely, but even with the elastic band (which is wrapped around twice) keeping the lid tightly shut, if the case is shaken or knocked the bobbins still have enough room to jump out of their slots which jumbles them up and has resulted in a few really knotted and tangled messes! The spool case I own is better but it's still got the same issue when it gets knocked... If I even slightly knock it with my elbow or something when I'm sewing the lid flies off and the spools go everywhere, thankfully they don't unravel because you can secure the thread on the spools themselves. I started looking for alternatives after that 6 months but as you can imagine it's one of those things where unless you are actively having the problem you kind of forget about it, I would only really look when I was sewing something or when I'd been tidying up my craft room so it kept being put on the back burner.

Spool and Bobbin

Bobbin Stack

When I did my review of the PatternTrace Swedish tracing paper, which is also sold by Creative Industry, I had a LONG browse of their website and saw the SpoolPods and immediately thought it was a front runner for replacing my current storage! I had the idea that even if I didn't want to solely store spools and bobbins together that I could maybe stack a few bobbins in each slot, so when I was testing them out I decided to try out my theory and I was pleased to find that I could stack 6 Janome bobbins in each slot meaning I could store an epic 60 bobbins per tray!! 

As one of my biggest annoyances with my current storage is that the bobbins and spools fly out and get tangled I decided to put it through it's paces during my video review (which you can find below), basically I put 6 bobbins stacked in one end and a spool and matching bobbin in the other and shook it hard! Nothing flew out or even moved, so I then took the spool out and shook again to see if a bobbin would move if it was on it's own, it did move slightly but only in the slot it didn't come out and the thread was still securely wrapped around the bobbin. I love that you can stack these too, I had a light bulb moment thinking you could store them stacked in a pretty photo box and then you can keep different thread types and brands separate which is great because I currently have 2 bobbin cases, 1 for Gutermann and 1 for Aurifil.

I will definitely be getting more of these in the future, I really do love it! If you want to purchase one you have the option to purchase a single SpoolPod or in a pack of 5 which is perfect if your thread stash needs taming ;) you can use the code lilbitcrafty for 10% off any order on Patterntrace!

Garment Planner Notepad

Now onto the Garment Planner Notepad, if like me you often find yourself wandering into a fabric shop thinking "Now what size buttons did I need for that top again?" then this notepad is for you! There are 50 pages which basically means enough for 50 projects and as you can see there are various sections to each page and some blank ones too so you can add your own for those more obscure and unusual bits of haberdashery. The paper is a really nice quality and it even has a slight background print, it looks kind of blueish grey with these cream squares connected by lines which is very pleasing to the eyes, I wanted to test a variety of pens to see if there was any real problems like the page ripping or ink bleeding etc.

Pens

The pens I used were Pilot Frixion erasable pens, my Gryffindor ballpoint pen, a free ink roller pen, a Sharpie and a Staedtler Fine Liner, there weren't any issues with any of the pens really, the Sharpie bled through the page but the ink didn't go through onto the next page so it would work in a pinch if you had no other pens available, to see the pen test in more detail you can watch my YouTube video which is above. 

Back of Page

I really do love this notepad, the fact that I can just write down everything I need and pop it in my bag really does appeal to me, I hate coming across an amazing little shop and not knowing what I need for my project it really frustrates me because then I usually end up having to find it online etc and I love shopping small/local and that just isn't always an option when shopping online. If like me you're constantly forgetting what haberdashery you need and what sizes then this notepad is perfect for you, I'm not going to lie... I have actually been in a shop before hopelessly searching the Internet to find out what I need so I know this will get lots of use! If you want this notepad, or anything else from Patterntrace, then you can get 10% if you use the code lilbitcrafty (this is not a referral code or an affiliate program, it's literally just a discount code for my followers).

Close Up of Erased Frixion Pens

So yeah, all in all both products are fantastic and definitely fit for purpose, I can't find fault with either of them. I want to thank the lovely people from Creative Industry for giving me the opportunity to review these items, and I hope that anyone reading this or watching my video has found it helpful. Thanks for sticking with me this long, if you have any questions at all then leave me a comment below and I'll get back to you ASAP, I will be back really soon with some cool Cricut projects!

Patterntrace and Simplicity 8723 Sewing Pattern Review! {Official Harry Potter Pattern}

Hi guys!! It's been a while since I posted and that's purely because I've been struggling to get what I want to say written in words, I've just found it so much easier to do vlogs rather than blogs, however doing some guest blogging for Minerva Crafts has got me back on track!

So today I'm going to be talking about something that means the WORLD to me... Harry Potter... When I saw the official pattern from Simplicity a few months ago I freaked out... Like squealing kind of freaking out, which is pretty rare for me... ANYWAY long story short my friend got it for me for Christmas and as I was looking through the pattern instructions I was feeling a little bit deflated, the pattern is fantastic and I'm not knocking it in any way I just wanted my robes to be more movie quality than fancy dress so I sat and worked out all the alterations I'd have to make to the pattern to make this a reality and now I'm sharing it with you so you can do it too.

Wand Pocket

I'm going to start by talking about the tracing paper I used to trace the pattern off, I wanted to keep the master pattern in mint condition so I used Patterntrace swedish tracing paper from Creative Industry, it's 1m wide and you can get a 10m roll! It's brilliant stuff and has quickly become a crucial part of my sewing tool kit, it's thin but resilient (if you watch my video you'll see that I am really trying to pull the scrap of tracing paper apart and it didn't tear!). I love that it's extra wide because it really helped with these pattern pieces, they get really wide at the bottom of the body panels and obviously they're long pieces because they're full length. You can stick pieces together to make it longer/wider and making adjustments straight on the paper is super easy too because pencil lines rub out easily without damaging the tracing paper in any way. It's made from eco-friendly abaca fibres which means it's compostable, which is crucial because as we know some pattern pieces are odd shapes meaning there will always be a bit of wastage. It kind of feels like a lightweight interfacing and I've been informed by the company that you can actually sew the paper together meaning you can make toiles with it to check fit, I will definitely be using it for all future projects, I genuinely don't know how I managed without it! The lovely people over at Patterntrace have given me a discount code for you guys, if you type lilbitcrafty in at the checkout you'll get 10% off, this code works on EVERYTHING in their shop not just the tracing paper and you get free UK delivery! I won this roll of Patterntrace Swedish Tracing Paper in a giveaway from someone on Instagram and decided to review it as I love it so much, these opinions are completely my own and I'm not lying when I say I have used this for many projects already and haven't found a fault with it yet!

Now onto the robes themselves, so I wanted fully lined robes, I was not happy with the idea that the robes would only have the contrast colour (House colour) in the hood and in some facings down the front sides and across the neck, I've been to the Harry Potter Studios and the ones they give you to wear for the green screen experiences are fully lined and I also found a photo of Hermione when I was doing my research where you can clearly see the Gryffindor red in the sleeves. Before you can even start you need to work out fabric amounts so to do this you need to look at the back of the pattern envelope, if you are new to using mass produced patterns then this might freak you out a little bit, have no fear I am here to simplify this a tad, on the left you'll notice you have the body measurements in inches and the fabric quantities in yards, now that's fine if you're from America but here in the UK we buy our fabric in metres, in the right hand column the fabric amounts are shown in metres but that whole half is in French and there are so many sizes that it just started to all blend together, to combat this I used highlighters to highlight the sizes and fabric quantities in both the left and the right columns, as you can see each size has a different colour so it is quick and easy to cross reference between the sizes, it has made it so much easier to read the pattern because there are so many sizes it can start to look like gibberish!

Back of Pattern Envelope

So here are the changes I made to get the robes the way I wanted them!

• So to do the fully lined robes you'll need to look at the back of the pattern envelope, go down to where it says "B Robe" and find your size to see the correct amount needed for the black outer fabric, when you're looking for the amount of fabric needed for the lining you just need to look at that same bit again, completely ignore the bit that says "Contrast Hood and Facings", you will need to double check the fabric widths because the black fabric I used was gabardine and was 60" wide but the lining fabric I used was a polycotton and was only 45" wide, which meant I needed more of the lining than the outer fabric because it's not as wide. When it came to sewing them I just basically sewed the outer fabric pieces all together following the pattern instructions, then I sewed all the lining pieces together following the instructions but I skipped the side seam pockets because you don't need them in the lining, then I put them right sides together matching up the crucial seams (the top of the hood, the neck/hood seam and then the bottom hem) and stitched from the top of the hood all the way down the front on one side then repeated it again on the other side (I did it this way because I didn't want to risk the fabric shifting too much!), then I stitched the bottom hems together leaving a gap of around 9" to turn it through (when you topstitch the hem you'll stitch this gap closed). When you turn it through you need to make sure the points in the hood are turned out fully and any corners like the bits at the bottom hem on the front, use a blunt object to do this like an old knitting needle. To sew the sleeves together you need to press the seam allowance (5/8") to the wrong side on both the lining and the outer fabric then put them wrong sides together, lining up the underarm seam and pinning the two bits together all the way around (repeat for other sleeve) and topstitch them together close to the edge, I used my blind hem foot to do all the top stitching because lining up the edge of the fabric with the little guide on the foot meant the top stitching would be perfectly uniform all the way around, I made sure the black fabric was on the top because I find when sewing the top thread is usually slightly neater than the bobbin thread and given it's the outside I didn't want to risk it being even slightly messy, I also used different coloured thread in the top and the bobbin, I had black in the top and burgundy in the bobbin thread so that the thread matched the fabric. Now this next part can take a lot of time... This is crucial because you need to make sure all the seams are pushed out and pressed flat because you're going to topstitch all the way around the front and the bottom hem to stop the robes from looking puffy and to keep the lining from rolling outward or vice versa.

• The pattern says to interface the facings so I used Vilene Standard Iron-On Medium Interfacing (F220) in white, I didn't do the facings but I used the pattern pieces for the facings for the interfacing instead. I basically decided that the interfacing was there for a reason and so I'd better find a way to use it, I just used the interfacing on the front facing pieces and the back facing (I added a 5/8" seam allowance to the edge that would be on the centre back seam) these pieces needed reinforcement because the hood is heavy and the front has the closure on it which pulls at the fabric.

• I also didn't like the way the pattern says to close the robes... Instead of using plain black buttons I wanted the buttons to match the robes fabric perfectly so I used Milward 22mm Steel Cover Buttons because it allowed me to use scraps from the robes cuttings to cover the buttons. The pattern calls for a piece of elastic cord to be sewn together into a loop and then wrapped around the buttons... I hated the thought of this... So I wracked my brain for a solution and came up with the idea that I could take a 1" wide strip of the fabric fold it in half width wise wrong sides together, then fold the raw edges into the middle and fold it in half again, then I used my Clover Wonder Clips along the edge then I used a ladder stitch to sew the two folded edges together to create a tube of fabric that I could thread some cord through, I did try sewing this on my machine but no matter how close to the edge I stitched it was always too flat for my liking. Below you'll see a photo of the tube I made... I used a couple of lengths of 2mm satin rattail cord and basically threaded it through until I thought the tube was padded but pliable enough to bend into a nice curve to go around the button. I sewed it into the seam allowance when I was going around the fronts of the robes, I stitched it into front edge on the left hand side facing (opposite of the patch), I basted it just inside the seam allowance to keep it in place, there is no real measurement for this piece it's more personal preference, it just has to be long enough to go around the button on the opposite front piece.
  
  

  

  Closure Tube

• If you want to add a wand pocket then you'll need to cut two pieces of fabric that are 3 1/4" wide and 12" long then sew them right sides together around the two longer sides and one of the shorter sides using a 1/4" seam allowance, turn it right side out and press flat, I put a piece of cardboard roughly the size of the finished pocket inside to make sure all the seams were pushed out while pressing, then I tucked the seam allowance of the unstitched short side inside and pressed. When I stitched it into the lining I put the open edge at the bottom so it would be stitched closed when I stitched the pocket to the lining, I also took into account the fact that wands are 3D so I sewed it flat at the bottom then I brought the top edges inward slightly so that there was enough give in the pocket for the wand because if I had sewn it on flat I would have risked the wand pulling the lining a weird way and making the robes look slightly off... This was sewn on before the lining and outer were sewn together.

• I got my patch from Platform 9 3/4 shop and although it's and iron on patch I did some hand sewing around the edges to keep it in place and to prevent it from lifting or moving later on down the road.

That's all the changes I made, it's honestly a great pattern and I love that you get the jumper, tie and robes all in one and that the sizes cover most of the family too. One tip that I did pick up (not sure if it was in the pattern) I sewed a line of gathering stitches 4/8" in from the edge on the sleeve heads (once the underarm seam had been sewn), this made it easier to ease the fabric in between the notches and seams on the sleeves and the armhole and I found it made for much more successful sleeve insertion.

So there you have it! Hopefully after reading this you'll be inspired to make your own Hogwarts robes! I am so beyond proud of mine, they are my most favourite make to date!

Thanks for reading and sticking with me this long guys, I'll be back real soon!
Lily

My Janome DKS100 Stitch Bible ~ and how to make one for your machine!!!

Janome DKS100 Stitch Bible

Front Cover

Hey everyone, so if you follow me on YouTube or Instagram then you'll have seen that a couple of months ago I upgraded my sewing machine... I had a good, but fairly basic sewing machine, the Janome 4400, and as great as it is it wasn't ideal for me as my love for sewing grew... I wanted a computerised machine because I just knew it would make the whole sewing process easier for me, the speed control and the start/stop button are life changing features because it means I wouldn't have to use the foot pedal.

So I started searching for a new machine, I knew I wanted either another Janome machine or an Elna machine (Janome's sister company), and I was scrolling through Instagram one day and saw that the Janome UK account had shared a photo of the DKS100 machine, I was instantly intrigued so I went and investigated further and found out that it was the PERFECT machine for me! It has 100 stitches and 48 of them can also be done with the twin needle so in theory you've got 148 stitches, with the machine you get a chart of all the stitches printed in the manual and you also get a printed chart on a bit of plastic that you can clip to the machine, both are great but I found it hard to actually picture how some of the stitches would look so I decided to make a Stitch Bible. If you want to see my review of the DKS100 and a flick through of the Stitch Bible then I've added the video below, if you prefer to read about it and see photos of the pages then keep reading :). 

A Stitch Bible is basically a physical representation of the stitches so you can see how they'd really look on fabric, so I bought a metre of calico from my local fabric shop and cut it into pages that were 7.5" x 10", I then separated them into two piles because I wanted to double up the pages. I took one pile and started drawing lines for the stitches to go on, I left a gap of 1" at the top and bottom of each page, then I drew lines that were .5" apart to fill in the rest. My machine's maximum stitch width is 7mm which meant that by drawing the lines .5" apart I was able to line it up so the stitches sat comfortably in between the lines and even when a stitch was using the full 7mm width it meant it wouldn't go over the edge, so if you're planning to make your own Stitch Bible double check your machine's maximum stitch width first and adjust your line spacing accordingly. I drew my lines and stitch numbers on with a normal ballpoint pen to start with and when I has finished doing all the stitches I used fabric paint to go over them, however if you wanted to you could sew the lines in and if you're machine has an alphabet and numbers you could even use that to sew in the stitch numbers, it's completely up to you how you want to do it, I just did it this way because I didn't want to waste thread and my machine can't do numbers.

So once the lines were drawn I was ready to sew, I chose bright colours and spools that were nearly empty for the thread so it really shows up against the cream of the calico and it used up any bits of thread that wouldn't necessarily complete a project. Like I said earlier I doubled up the pages so they were more stable, if your machine has some seriously decorative stitches then you might even want to add some interfacing to the back of one of the pages of calico to stabilise it so it doesn't pull in and look pinched, mine does look a bit pinched in places but at the end of the day I didn't really want to add interfacing because this is just something for me, it isn't a show piece or a gift so I just figured I wouldn't use more materials on it than was necessary. You will also notice that I jumped from stitch 1 to stitch 7... that's purely because on my machine the first few stitches are just variations on the straight stitch so I didn't see the point in doing them :) that's the reason for any other missing stitches too! I also wanted to have a record of the different widths and lengths (density) of the zig zag stitch for future reference, so I broke up the line into sections and then when the needle hit that line I just upped either the stitch width or length depending on which one I was doing at the time.

With this machine you can also elongate the satin stitches (71-79) by up to 5x without losing any of the density of the stitch, I wanted all 5 elongations to be documented for each of those stitches too so I decided to use two lines for each of those and split the first one into thirds and the bottom one in half, so the top line has the elongation up to 3x then the bottom line has 4x and 5x. It was so interesting comparing the 1x to the 5x on a lot of these stitches because they can look so completely different, especially number 78!

As I was working through I realised that I hadn't taken into account the twin needle stitches in my original plan, I really wanted to include them in the Stitch Bible because they can and quite often do look very different to the normal single needle version of the stitch, so I made up a few more pages leaving a gap of 1" after the last stitch (00) so I could paint in the heading "Twin Needle". This machine has a great feature for this, it has a twin needle button, which when you press it, will mean you can ONLY select stitches that will work with a twin needle and it'll set up the stitch width so that the needle won't swing out too far and hit the needle plate. I used a different colour thread in each of the needles so I could see exactly what each one was doing and once again I was really surprised by some of them, because you're essentially doing the stitch twice it makes the stitch width smaller so both of them can fit in the 7mm space and I thought they wouldn't appear quite as detailed, turns out they are just as detailed just more delicate.

I was going to overlock the edges of the pages to stop them fraying but I changed my mind, I decided I wanted to use the DKS100 to make this from start to finish, so I used my Overcast foot C with stitch 9 to mock overlock the edges, it worked great and even though I will always use my Overlocker when dressmaking I can see the Overcast foot/stitch being handy for smaller projects like this.

For the cover I decided I wanted to draw my machine and just do some basic lettering etc, I used DecoArt Crafter's Acrylic and DecoArt Glamour Dust mixed with DecoArt Crafter's Acrylic Fabric Medium to do all the painting, the paint is great and the glitter is amazing, you don't need to do loads of coats of paint, in fact a few light coats is all you need because the coverage is pretty fantastic.

I decided to add 2 eyelets to the top of each page, I used the Prym 5mm silver eyelets and installed them using my Prym Love Vario Pliers. The thing I love about the Prym Pliers is that you can literally use them for everything from plastic snaps to jeans buttons, and you have to use very little effort to use them because they are ergonomic, the eyelets went in smoothly and they are so flush and honestly look perfect. I really struggled to decide how to keep the pages together, there are 9 pages of stitches and a cover and for obvious reasons I didn't want to risk losing any of them...  I was looking all over the place and I did come up with a range of ideas but nothing was perfect, I wanted something tough that could withstand me flicking through the pages but that was also flexible enough so I didn't risk them snapping or it being too difficult to just flick through the pages, so after an evening dedicated to searching the internet I ended up finding these locking stainless steel wire keyrings that were absolutely perfect for the job and this is the end result.

I am beyond pleased with how this turned out and I know that it will get plenty of use, I've already come up with at least 20 different projects in which I can use some of these decorative stitches. If your machine does more than just the basic stitches then I definitely recommend making yourself one of these, not only are they fantastic for future reference they are also brilliant for familiarising yourself with your machine! I also 110% recommend this machine to anyone looking to get an upgrade from a basic machine, it's great for so many things and I can't fault it at all!

REVIEW of the My Dressmaking Project Bible from Stationery Geek

REVIEW of the My Dressmaking Project Bible

Cheat Sheet at beginning of the book

Hey guys I’m here today with a quick-ish review of the Dressmaking Project Bible from Stationery Geek. I have a few products from Stationery Geek now and they are all a brilliant quality, I have their Crochet Project Bible, the Bloggers Bible, the Crochet Pencils, the lime green Wrap Around Pencil Case and now the Dressmaking Project Bible, and I have my eye on plenty more things on their website too! I have been using my Crochet Project Bible to keep track of some seriously intense projects, one of which is my Sophie’s Universe blanket which, if you don’t know, has over 100 rounds/rows and quite a few different coloured yarns to keep track of too, so I knew that the Dressmaking one would be amazing too, sometimes there’s just one too many things to try and keep everything straight in your head and to be honest with you that’s when mistakes will happen.

                      

                    Wish List and Dress Size Conversion Chart

You have a choice of two sizes, A4 or A5, mine is A5 which I personally prefer because it means I can just pop it in my bag and take it to the fabric store with me easily and it has more than enough writing room, however the A4 would be equally as good, especially if you have larger hand writing. You can choose between the standard cover which says, “My Dressmaking Project Bible” or a personalised one, so you could have your name on the cover in place of “My”. There is even a new option to have it printed in a dyslexia friendly way, you can read more about it HERE, but basically instead of printing on bright white paper they will print on cream OR if you would prefer a particular colour then all you have to do is drop them an email and tell them which colour it is you want, you could even ring them if you wanted to discuss it further. The paper is also slightly thicker than their standard paper so that the printing on the other side can’t show through. They have done the research to make their dyslexia friendly range really and truly work and I for one and beyond impressed with their effort and dedication, I have family and friends that are dyslexic and trying to find notebooks etc that work for them that are also fun looking has been pretty much impossible, so I really am grateful for this range.

Blank Project Page

In the book there’s space to record all the details for up to 50 projects and there are a few pages at the beginning with some useful info, there is measurement conversion charts, some abbreviations, a list of useful tools, a space for a wish list, a VERY hand women’s dress size conversion chart and LOADS of space for notes and doodles. When you get to the main part of the book each project has 2 pages dedicated to it, a page to keep all the information about the project including a space to write any washing instructions, pattern amendments etc and the other page is just grid paper which I’ve used to draw up a tension table, but you can use it for anything you can even tweak it depending on the project you’re doing. As you can see from the photos I decided to give the headings a pop of colour by colouring them in using my fineliner pens :) I like to use a lot of colour in my Project Bibles to keep them looking fun and interesting (one day I'll show you my crochet one!

Details for my Kingston Jacket

The only dressmaking project I’ve recorded in my book so far is my Kingston Jacket, I realised while making that how important keeping track of tension is when dressmaking, especially when it’s a project that’s using two different fabrics or threads, that’s why I used the grid paper to draw up a tension table as well as a very rough sketch of the finished jacket… I was using denim, jersey fabric, sew-all thread and top stitching thread so there was a lot to keep an eye on. Not everyone will need a tension table because I have seen that some machines have auto tension control, mine doesn’t so that’s why I drew the table. I have a sewing machine and an overlocker, so it was even more crucial and meant I also had to think about the differential feed which had different settings for both the denim and the jersey.

A very quick, rough sketch of my jacket and the Machine Settings Table

In short I absolutely love the Dressmaking Project Bible, before I had it I was using various notebooks and scraps of paper to keep track of everything, so this is great it keeps everything in one place and means I won’t lose any crucial bits of information, it also means if I ever want to remake a pattern I can go back to see if I had written any notes on it to make the second time easier. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from Stationery Geek again, in fact I really want their Quilting Project Bible next!

If you use the following link then you'll get 10% off of your first order on the Stationery Geek website. (It's a referral link so I will get a £5 voucher to spend with them if you use it) 10% Off First Order

And this link will take you directly to the Dressmaking Project Bible! Dressmaking Project Bible

Dogtooth Kingston Jacket!

Dogtooth Kingston Jacket

Pattern - Kingston Jacket Ladies

Buy Pattern Here

Kingston Jacket Add On

Buy Add On Here

Thumbhole Tutorial

How To Add Thumbholes

Hey everyone, so I’m back again showing off a little something I’ve been busy working on, you may have already seen this on my Instagram or Twitter but here’s a complete write up... Now I can’t really remember how I found this pattern, but I do remember thinking “This... This is just SO me, I need to make it!!!” the pattern I’m talking about is the Kingston Jacket & Add-On from Rebecca Page.

The Kingston Jacket is like the ultimate pick ‘n mix pattern, you choose what sleeves and what kind of pockets you want and if you get the Add-On pattern you get even more to choose from, different pockets, another sleeve option, a hood and even a back frill... All in all, there are 6 sleeve options, 4 pocket options, a hood or a collar and an optional back frill so lots of choice! The minute I saw it I was picturing loads of combinations, then with a very sobering thought I quickly realised that I had made the grand total of ZERO dressmaking projects and maybe two or three things with my sewing machine at this point, so with that in mind I set out to gain the required skills to make it, or to give myself half a shot at the very least... I could have winged it and just went for it but it wasn’t something I wanted to rush into, I didn’t want to end up ruining the fabric by constantly unpicking it or doing it and hating it entirely, so I took my time and didn’t even buy the pattern until I felt comfortable going for it, which may seem a bit over the top but I know myself, I would have been too tempted. To prepare myself (more mentally than anything) I made two tops in cotton, a denim Hepworth Apron (pattern from Jenni Smith) and read A LOT of books, blogs and articles about working with denim and knit fabrics before I felt ready to attempt this jacket. While I was playing with the different patterns and fabrics I found that I really loved making my own clothes... It wasn’t something I set out to do when I first got my sewing machine but after one garment I was well and truly hooked, I loved the process, I loved the way it felt to wear the finished item, how proud I felt when someone commented on it... I just really loved the whole thing... In short? I was hooked!

Patternsy Delivery!

The only downside to the pattern (and bear in mind I use the word downside very loosely here) was that it was a PDF download only, meaning that I had to either print it out and stick it all together at home OR get it printed at a print shop, I didn’t really feel like printing it at home because it seems like such a mission so I set out to find a place to get it printed, and that’s how I found Patternsy. Patternsy are a brilliant pattern printing company, they print on thin tissue paper and they even have a few options so they can make the printing even cheaper for you, I looked at a few printing shops and the quotes to print this pattern cost a fair bit more, almost twice as much in some places and they have zero experience with sewing patterns, they can just print the A0 format. After I had uploaded my files I worked out that there were some sheets that I didn’t need printing because they were just some of the sleeve options that I’m never going to use, and the staff were fantastic, after a few emails everything was sorted, and my order was paid for and done! When it arrived, I was pretty impressed with the print job... the paper is super thin, so I wasn’t expecting it to be as clear as it was or for the paper to be as resilient as it is, I have unfolded and refolded these sheets a fair few times now and they are still as good as they were when they arrived. I had always wanted to make this jacket a few times in a few different sizes so for this reason I wanted to keep the master pattern intact, so I traced the pattern onto greaseproof paper in the size I wanted, and the greaseproof paper has worked a treat.

My fabric and thread choices

By the time I had the pattern printed I had made my decision on what combination of pockets, sleeves etc I wanted to use to make my jacket (I went for the knit sleeves, knit hood, internal pockets and welt pockets from the Add On and the chest pockets from the main pattern) but I didn’t know what fabrics or even what colours I wanted to do it in so I spent some time going through the different fabric sections on the Minerva Crafts website and that’s where I found this awesome dark teal dogtooth quilted jersey fabric, the moment I saw it I fell completely and utterly in love with it, and once I had stumbled across this gem it was easy to work out the rest. I chose a bright teal Gütermann top stitching thread and matching sew-all thread, 17mm silver star Prym Jeans buttons, a glitter silver 120cm flat shoelace for the hood drawstring and I pulled a Star Wars fat quarter out of my stash for the welt pockets and then it came time to choose the denim... I decided to do it in an 8oz denim, so I was looking through the colour options available and decided I wanted to go with a very light blue, so I placed my order and waited... When the fabric came everything was brilliant... until I noticed weird stains and splotches all over the fabric... Now here is where I can’t praise the staff at Minerva Crafts enough they were all so patient and helpful during the whole ordeal, the next day I rang them up and the lady I spoke to was absolutely brilliant, after a quick chat the return was arranged and another order was placed for the same fabric, she put a note on the order asking the warehouse staff to check the new piece for the same stains and then requested that they also send it up to the office so they could check it too. Unfortunately a little while later I got a phone call back from them saying that they’d checked the whole bolt of fabric and it was all damaged, so I decided rather than wait for more of it to come into stock that I would choose a different colour, this time I decided to go for the other end of the scale and went for black denim thinking that the thread would really pop against it, again they were going to check it over as it was from the same supplier, but alas it wasn’t meant to be, an hour or so later I got an email saying it was unexpectedly out of stock and as silly as it sounds I really didn’t want to wait the 7-10 days that it would have taken to come back in stock then be delivered to me, so third time lucky I rang them and we changed the colour again... this time going for the next blue up from the denim I initially ordered and I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I was when I got that dispatch email!

My Dressmaking Project Bible

In between all this happening I was talking to another company who make some of the best stationery products I’ve come across, Stationery Geek, a few months before they had posted a photo of their calendar with all their upcoming events on their Instagram and I spotted an upcoming release for a Dressmaking Project Bible. I was anxiously awaiting the release of this item because I already have the Crochet Project Bible and I can’t even begin to tell you how helpful it’s been to keep all my projects in line, so I was desperate for the dressmaking one, anyway I was talking to them about another one of their products and just inquired about the dressmaking bible and they asked me for some help/advice on the terminology etc for the book and I was more than happy to help out. The reason I’m writing about this here is because my Dressmaking Bible was absolutely invaluable while making my Kingston jacket, I was able to write down all the different tension settings, stitch lengths, stitch types and I was able to keep track of the differential settings for my overlocker too, because of the two different fabric types, the different threads and the two different machines it was just too much to keep track of mentally so I drew up a small chart to keep track of everything. I will be writing a separate blog post to review the dressmaking bible soon (probably next) so if you want to see more of that then definitely keep your eyes peeled!

Welt pocket

So, after pre-washing all the fabric and cutting out all the pieces I needed I sat down with some scraps and worked out all the settings I needed to use for each fabric, I tried out the buttonholes and the different stitch and fabric combinations I’d be working with and wrote down all my findings in my Dressmaking Bible. I had never done flat fell seams or worked with knit fabric before, so I managed to combine a lot of the testing with a bit of practising too, the instructions are so detailed and easy to follow I really can’t fault them at all, I didn’t get lost or confused once. The instructions are comprehensive, so I got them printed and went through them with a highlighter to highlight all crucial pieces of information, mainly for the flat fell seams, I didn’t want to start sewing with the wrong piece on top!

Starting to look like a jacket!

When I finally sat down to sew I slowly worked my way through the instructions and at the end of each step I was that much closer to having something that resembled a jacket, watching it grow from a few pieces of fabric into something that was so recognisable was so gratifying, I’m not going to lie and tell you that it all went perfectly the first time because it didn’t, don’t get me wrong there were no major mistakes or issues, it was mainly due to me being a bit of a perfectionist, basically I unpicked any part that I wasn’t 100% happy with, even if it was just one stitch that I wasn’t happy with. I had to redo the hood completely because somehow it managed to completely move and was a good inch or so out on one side (actually thinking about it now it might have stretched while I was sewing it), but honestly that was something I should have double checked before attaching it anyway, it was also the last bit of sewing that day so I was probably tired too, but either way I had more than enough fabric left to cut another hood and I didn’t even want to attempt to salvage it once I’d unpicked it because it had also got a weird chunk out of it so I’m guessing something went seriously weird while I was overlocking… Don’t sew/overlock when you are tired folks!! One part that kind of irritated me was the way my buttonholes came out... They looked really messy around the raw edges so I just got my needle and thread out and whipped around the edges of them so they looked neater and were more secure, they just looked more finished now and I'm much happier with them.

The buttonhole on the left is "finished" and the one on the right is "unfinished"

Internal pocket

I had also decided while I was looking through the pattern that I wanted to do thumb holes in the cuffs... I am a HUGE fan of thumb holes and all my favourite jackets have them, so I knew this one had to have them too. I’ve got quite long arms so I had to not only lengthen the cuffs to accommodate the thumb holes I also needed to lengthen the sleeves, this is the first pattern that I’ve done any kind of pattern adjustments to and I’m quite pleased with the method I came up with, the pattern pieces for the knit sleeves and cuffs don’t have lengthen/shorten lines so I made my own.

Only missing the waistband!

I used the grid on my cutting mat to line up the grainline so I could add the lengthen line about half way down the sleeve (just below where the elbow would be) and the same with the pattern piece for the cuff, although with the cuff you have to take into account the fact that the pattern piece for the cuff is going to be folded in half so you have to lengthen each side of the fold line the same amount. I did contact the Rebecca Page customer service about this because being a newbie I didn’t want to do it wrong, especially if there was a specific point where I should be adding the length but I was impatient and thought “If they say to do it a different way then I’ll just retrace the pattern piece and redo it!”, turns out I had done it right. I also told them why I wanted to lengthen them, and they pointed me in the direction of one of their videos on their YouTube page showing you how to do thumb holes. It’s a truly fantastic tutorial and it worked first time, now I’m not going to lie and say it’s so easy because it isn’t... Well it is, it’s just a bit fiddly because you’re basically doing origami with the fabric, which in hindsight would have probably been a lot easier if I wasn’t using a quilted fabric... Nonetheless I pulled it off and now I have a seriously awesome jacket with the thumb holes of dreams!!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!

I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to buy another pattern from Rebecca Page, I’ve actually already got my eye on a few ;) and I also have another 2 versions of this jacket in mind, one of which me and my sister have been toying with for a few months now, it was actually an idea that was being developed even before I had bought the pattern, and we’ve just started gathering up the materials needed to make them... I am really bursting at the seams to spill the beans on the plans for this jacket, but I really want the surprise unveiling so much more so you’re going to have to wait for the blog post or the Instagram photos to drop! I will be back soon with another post, and I’m hoping to film some more YouTube videos this week!