Sewing Inspiration - Boden

OK, hands up who looks at fashion spreads in magazines and starts trying to work out what patterns/ fabric they could hack to make it themselves? 

I recently got sent the latest Boden catalogue, and in addition to a coupon which will allow me to replace a couple of seen-better-days fine knit cardigans (if you know me in real life or follow my Me Made May daily pics, you'll see I wear these just about every day!) there are some excellent knock-off-able looks which I am considering for summer sewing.

I have been somewhat scathing about Boden in the past, totally putting them into the Yummy Mummy box, but their last few seasons collections have been great!

The Lovely Linen dress could easily be made with a Colette Pastille dress bodice with a bit of piping and a gathered skirt (like an Emery if you needed a pattern rather than just using a big rectangle!)

Source: Boden, Colette Patterns (from the Sewing Handbook), Christine Haynes

I would use a lovely blue graphic floral rather than the yellow pictured here.


The 60s Ponte Dress is a dead ringer for a sleeveless funnel necked Coco:

Source: Boden, Tilly & the Buttons

With a little bit of tweaking (stitching down the pleats a bit and adding grosgrain ribbon to the waist), Maria Denmark's Paula pleat skirt could be just the ticket to make a version of the Poppy skirt:

Source: Boden, Maria Denmark

I think with a bit of tweaking of the wrap bodice pieces and addition of some braid (perhaps in a more tasteful colour than Boden's neon orange!), Cake Patterns Tiramisu could make a fab version of the Rosie dress:

Sourc: Boden, Cake Patterns

You could use Sinbad and Sailor's new Hepworth pattern with a little bit of neckline reshaping to make your own version of the Nancy dress (what is with all the yellow Boden?):

Source: Boden, Sinbad & Sailor

Do you like the new Boden looks?  Any you are planning to recreate?  What other fashion brands are inspitring your sewing this summer (or winter if you are in the southern hemisphere!)

Me Made May week 1

It's been a successful week and I have found it easy so far!

1st May - Square necked Alma blouse and cornflower blue Kelly skirt
2nd May - Purple Red Velvet with collar
3rd May - Denim Pavlova skirt, rose print Kimono tee (unblogged) and Carmine jacket
4th May - Nautical Emery dress
5th May - Blue Marl Renfrew tee
6th May - Charcoal grey Tiramisu
7th May - Navy wool Anna (whoops, something's gone wrong with that post - will fix it!) and Hetty cardigan

In addition I have repaired the zip on my Flora and stitched the wrap part down, so one item is gone from the mending pile. 

I have put my back out so no movement on the knickers front as taping PDFs and cutting on the floor really aren't happening until it's feeling better!

Tira two!

I did say that my first Tiramisu dress definitely wouldn't be my last, and here is number 2!

It's been finished for a while and worn on several occasions.  I also get really lovely compliments when I wear a Tira!  This was made from a ponte Roma jersey from Fabricland, which I loved the colour of.

However the stretch of this fabric has meant that it really doesn't fit as well as the first - It's not as stretchy and it pulls at the front wrap slightly.  I did take a bit off the bodice section and add quite a bit to the midriff as before, but I think next time I would cut as per the pattern and do the fit check as I did with the first one.  Another step on the learning curve - I haven't sewn with jersey enough to predict how the different amounts of stretch will affect the final fit.

It's still a much better fit than RTW though and I love the swirly skirt! 

Finished - My first Tira

I've only actually made one Tiramisu dress and this is it:

'Scuse the face - it was freezing!

But I know it won't be the last!  I fact I've got some aubergine coloured ponte jersey for the next one.

For this dress I used a poly knit which is charcoal grey with a kind of mohair effect - this worked for me as I can't wear wool and I wanted something warmer than a cotton jersey.  As you can see we have snow, and this was actually warm enough (with a cardigan) to wear to work the other day.

The pattern has different pattern pieces for different high bust measurements (including cup sizes) and waist measurements whch you mix and match for the best fit.  You use the bust and waist measurements to construct the midriff panel, making a perfect fit easy to achieve, especially if you don't fit a standard size.  It's also really easy to use a basted fitting to tweak the size during contruction (and even afterwards).

I used the 35 size bodice in a b-cup.  I had to take 1" off the bottom of the bodice after a basted fitting of the top.  I was getting a lot of gape at the front, so I shifted the centre front of each piece but 3/4" so there was more of a crossover, which fixed that easily enough.I wanted to avoid an empire line look as it really doesn't suit me, so I lengthened the midriff piece by 2".  I cut a 30" waist skirt with a 40" length (but I think I trimmed off too much in hemming and would leave it longer the next time.  The binding goes on flat really neatly.

It's such a good pattern and I'mlooking forward to seeing her other designs - I have preordered Pavlova and she's recently announced her new designs Lammington and Hummingbird.

Steph has run a really great 30 minutes a day sewalong, and i was surprised to find this really worked well for me.  It definitely got me sewing on days when I normally wouldn't have bothered as I didn't think I had enough time.  I think I also took more time with each section as I wasn't rushing to get it done - the topstitching on this is some of the neatest I have done, just because I slowed down a bit!  She put in so much work with all the posts and guidance on getting a great fit and advice on sewing with knits.

Sod this, it's too cold!

This one's definitely a keeper and I completely recommend it to beginners to garment sewing or people new to sewing with knits.  I think Steph is going to leave up the sewalong posts for future reference.  As is her usual style, she's going to be posting way to hack the pattern and change it up, which will be great - I definitely need to try a long sleeved version.

Tiramisu is finally available!

Unfortunately not the yummy Italian pudding on my current diet, but the lovely first offering from StephC's new pattern company Cake.

I love the design of Tiramisu and Steph has lots of hacks planned for us which you can read about here, including getting the perfect fit by drawing in your own side seams!

Best of all, it's on pre-sale on Etsy just now, limited run of 150 copies, and even with shipping from Australia, the total cost is just over £10.  Grab it before it's gone!