Stitches and Thrills

Continuing from part 1 . While I am making the Drape Shirt from the World's End Blog, some friends started to join in. :-) So this is officially a sew-a-long. This second post continues with the sleeves. As I have not sewn that many garments before (I am more of a small accessories sewer) this was the first time I'd have to gather a sleeve ! Luckily I had just read about this in my Tilly & the Buttons book . And actually: it is pretty easy. You stitch from 12 to 13 in the pattern in a very long stitch (4 instead of 2-2 1/2). Using a contrasting colour makes it easier. Make 2 rows. Then softly pull the thread from either side until gathered as required. Then came another first. The pattern called for a French seam along the long edge of the sleeves. This had been a Great British Sewing Bee learning moment for me last season. For a French seam you first sew the fabric wrong side to wrong side with a small seam. Then turn the fabric around to sew it right side to righ...

After coming across a post about Vivienne Westwood's Reading List I was browsing around on the WORLDS END SHOP blog and found an interesting free Do It Yourself pattern of the Drape Shirt . Enthusiastic I shared the link to Facebook friends. And now some friends are going to make it as well. Do you want to join in? Here's the link to the pattern: http://worldsendshop.co.uk/drape-shirt/ The pattern comes in 3 sizes (small/medium/large). The PDF has to be printed out on A4 papers. For size large it was 43 pages. Very important: do not mess up to order of the papers or you're screwed! Clear a floor space of 2x2 meter minimum. Start in the top left corner. Lay the first printed page down. Place the second under it. Continue till page 5. Then cut page 6. The lowest half of page 6 fits on the right side of page 1. See photo's: The arrows show where to connect the pages. Then crawl on all fours for half an hour with cellotape taping all the pieces tog...