01 02 03 Miss Smartie's Sewing: February 2015 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 24 21 24 21 24 25 26 27 28 29

Miss Smartie's Sewing

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Monday 16 February 2015

The Heart skirt: measurements, notions and pattern

As I've explained in my first post about my measurement system, I wanted to make sure everybody uses their correct measurements by not using a standard sizing system. This may sound inconvenient, but I wanted to prevent you from just selecting your standard size, and not ending up with a garment that actually is your size. This is mostly down to all sizes differing from country to country. I've also not skipped the uneven numbers, so be aware of that! Oh and your size will appear to be smaller too!

When making your own clothes it's really important to get the fit right. To customise your pattern to fit your unique body. You will have to measure yourself to know witch size you are. Please believe me that the result will look better on you if you use the size your body actually has an not the size you want your body to have.

In the following table you will find the final measurements of this pattern. All measurements are given in centimetres. You don't have to account for wearing ease when taking your measurements, the stretch fabric will take care of that. Please select the size witch is closest to your own waist, scaling down (or up) the hip area by moving up or down a size (or more) at the point were the skirt is the curviest and reattaching all lines smoothly.


12345678910
Waist58 626670747882869094
Hip86909498102106110114118122

for this project you will need:

  • One meter of fabric unless you plan on doubling up the fabric in wich case 1.5m should be ok for all sizes. 
  • A smaller piece of less heavy fabric sized 18 by 100 cm for sizes 1-5 (or 36 by 50cm) and sized 24 by 100 cm or (42 by 50 cm) this fabric can have dots or you can paint them on yourself.
  • white fabric paint, if your lighter fabric doesnt have dots already.
  • a cotton tipped swab (like the ones to clean your ears) to make the perfect dots
  • a white fabric ribbon. not the plasticy kind, it has to adjust itself to the round shapes.
  • an invisible zipper max. 22 cm long.
  • The pattern found here: pattern for all sizes

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posted by Unknown @ 20:41   0 Comments

The Heart skirt, a Valentine Pin Up Pattern

A late happy Valentines day to all! I've finally made up a skirt from my first ever graded pattern. It's a super simple and pretty straightforward pattern to make but I really love the result. I felt both sexy and super comfortable wearing it out yesterday witch to me is the sign of a good garment, beauty without pain.

This pattern is a waist high narrow pencil skirt with back godet witch extends to the front and a ruffled detailed finish. It also features a big heart stitched on your back. This pattern is meant to be executed in stretch fabrics with some body to them for the skirt pieces and a lighter fabric if available for the ruffle. You could also just double up the skirt using two pattern pieces each of lighter fabric, witch I did on my original skirt for a friend, but this uses more fabric off course. Please use stretch fabrics that will allow 3 cm stretch per 10 cm of fabric.


I've paired the skirt with the secretary blouse pattern I reviewed a few posts back. I think they look very good together. If you are interested in the blouse pattern as well check out my 'my patterns' page at the top.

I got my inspiration for this skirt when my best friend and partner in fashion crime showed up with the following picture a few years back. She's always looking for edgy new clothing and her question was the usual. Can we make this? The picture stuck in my head after that, I loved the colour and shape of the skirt and the bold tongue in cheekness of the heart. I decided to make up a pattern for it for my friends birthday in October. After a few perfecting sessions, we got a look we were both happy with. From this final pattern I made my own skirt. And that's the pattern I'll be sharing here with you.


posted by Unknown @ 20:38   1 Comments

Sunday 1 February 2015

A Cat for Company

I fell in love with this pattern a while ago while going through Mccalls patterns. The expression on this cat's face made me smile and I knew I had to buy it then. The cat on this cover really caught my eye in the original pattern, it's so cute and looks so bewildered sitting there amid the mess of bobbins she presumably caused, looking all innocent and cat like. The cover also features some cute piping in the seams. Other than that it's just a useful (and pretty) item for your sewing room.


It sat around for a very long time before I got round to making this one. Mostly because I rarely make crafts and I was a bit nervous about it. But also because assembling the perfect materials took a very long time. I've ended up using a lot of scraps that I've had laying around for ages. Most of them leftovers of dresses I've made in the past or pieces I know will be left over of dresses I'm going to make. I used a lot of old mismatched buttons but I also couldn't resist all the nice and shiny buttons in the store, so I ended up having waaay to many of them. My favourite item for this project however heavy duty cord for the piping I had to find, something I never dreamed I would be purchasing for sewing purposes. And couldn't find in any of my regular sewing supply shops. I ended up buying them at a building store witch got me some funny looks.

If you plan on making this pattern you will probably have to adjust the pattern to the size of your own machine. It's not pretty hard though, but maybe a bit challenging for a beginner since the pattern doesn't explain how this can be done at all. The instructions to this project are fine, but not very elaborate, (but seeing the project isn't that complex that's not a bad thing). It did explain the piping and how to apply the appliqués briefly. Having the sewing lines on the pattern pieces was pretty practical while adjusting the 'fit' of the cover so I liked that.


I added a couple of extra buttons because I they were all so cute and I did some more hand sewing to make it look as if the bobbins are a bit unwound. I've made no other changes except to make my sewing machine fit. I really love how to looks very unique and typically me. I've always been a cat person but I really like my new companion. I've even got one or two people in mind to sew this for as a present but it would turn out as totally different looking projects than mine I think.

I've also noticed that the cover is reversible. It looks pretty acceptable inside out as you can see on my picture. I definitely consider this a plus too.

As a whole, I'm very happy with my new addition to the sewing room. It will take care of my machine and make sure it doesn't get dusty. It also looks a lot nicer than the plastic cover I used to have and never used because of it's appalling ugliness. I really like how it brightens up my sewing room and I think it will be a great inspiration for projects to come.

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posted by Unknown @ 22:52   1 Comments