Sew Over It Cami Top – perfect for summer

Carrying on with my mission to make myself clothes that I can get maximum wear out of, I considered where I had a gap in my wardrobe and decided I needed more tops that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.

Wearing my cotton lawn cami on my recent trip away

Enter the Sew Over It Silk Cami Top Pattern. I’ve never made a cami top before, in fact I am often completely put off making them as the idea of having to ‘turn through’ tiny shoe-string straps fills me with dread.

However, the Sew Over It Cami Top is different. It has quite sizeable straps, plenty wide enough to both construct easily and when made up is fine to wear a bra underneath.

The PDF pattern didn’t take long to piece together as it is such a quick project too, which is always a winner in my eyes.

The pattern suggests using French seams although I instead stitched the top up in the ‘regular’ way and overlocked the inside seams instead. I don’t think it really matters – I guess it just depends how you want it to look on the inside.

Out and about in my silk cami

So far, I have made two of these tops but sure I will make more. One is made in a cream cotton lawn and the other is made in a grey sateen fabric with a flamingo print. I also have a few other bits of fabric in my stash I’m already thinking may work as a cami too so I will share any more I make on Instagram! I managed to get both tops out one a metre of fabric (with a bit of creative cutting) so its a great stash-buster if you want it to be.

I’ve already worn these tops on my recent holiday, out for food and plan to wear them into the office over the summer months maybe tucked into a skirt.

Before I make any of my sewing projects I tend to do a bit of looking around online to find inspiration. The idea of sharing creativity to me is ace so I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy seeing all of your wonderful makes.

I’d love to hear what you’re making at the moment.

Until next time, happy sewing!

My Sew Over It – Mia Jeans

Jeans for me are an essential wardrobe item. At the start of this year I decided that I wanted to make myself a few more  clothes that I can wear all of the time, rather than just launching into making cute dresses etc that can only be worn on special occasions.

New Mia Jeans (don’t ask why I’m jumping on the bed – just felt like it!)

My free-time wardrobe is essentially denim, whether it be me wearing my favourite denim skirts or pulling on a pair of comfortable jeans – I seem to go to my ‘denim staples’ more than anything else.

So, a few months ago I decided to treat myself to the Sew Over It e-book called ‘My Capsule Wardrobe’ written by Lisa Comfort. 

This was a first for me really as I had never bought an e-book before and had never really been interested in the concept of ‘digital learning’. However, as the Sew Over It book is filled full of cool projects I felt were right up my street I decided to make an exception and purchase a copy.

Having already made the Molly Top (the Molly Dress is still on my ‘to sew’ list but haven’t got round to it yet), I wanted to have a go at making the Mia Jeans.

If you are unfamiliar with this pattern, I would say the finished product is more like a jegging than stereotypical jeans as they don’t have any front pockets and are a fairly skinny design through the legs.

Having not made any jeans by myself before, I read a few reviews of how other people got on online and discovered a really helpful ‘how to construct the front fly’ video on the Sew Over It You Tube channel. This was sssooo helpful, as I think I may have struggled with the construction of this otherwise.

I ordered the stretch denim for the project from Sew Over It and then picked up a regular zip and jeans button from my local market.

A view of the jeans from the side!

The instructions are easy to follow for this project in the e-book and helpfully you can amend the seem allowance down the side seams to suit you. The pattern suggests that you machine tack the side leg seams in place with a 2.5cm seam allowance then try on the jeans to see how they fit. you can then adjust as needed before stitching in place for real.

I found that the 2.5cm was fine for me, although now I have been wearing the jeans for a while I think next time I may make the calf area slightly looser for comfort.

The pattern suggests using a stretch interfacing for the waistband, which is a good idea if you want the waistband to mould to your body shape. I’m pleased I followed this tip as I think if I’d used a regular interfacing the jeans may have been too stiff around the top.

Unfortunately, the denim I used doesn’t hold its shape very well so after a couple of wears they do need to be washed but generally I love the fit.

The only point (apart from maybe altering the seam allowance slightly) I would change next time would be tailoring in the ankle seam slightly so they look more like shop-bought skinny trousers.

If you are taller than me (I’m 5’10) you may also wish to make the jeans a bit longer – they sit around my ankle but look ace with pumps / flat shoes and will be perfect to wear when the weather finally warms up!

Overall, I would certainly recommend making these jeans and I will definitely sew them again myself at some point 🙂

Have you made these jeans before? I’d love to hear what you are crafting at the moment.

Until next time, happy sewing.

Sew Over It Molly Top and other February makes

Hi everyone, hope you’re well. I thought I’d just check in to update you on my latest sewing adventures.

Wearing my new Molly Top on a recent weekend away

After a busy few weeks I decided to treat myself to the Sew Over It City Break e-book by Lisa Comfort. I’d never bought an e-book before; I know that makes me sound like I’m from the dark ages, but it just hasn’t appealed to me before.

However, after scouring the internet for reviews and looking for images of projects other people had made from the book on Instagram I was truly inspired to drive in and see what I could make myself.

Most of the projects in the book look right up my street, but I decided to create the Molly Top first of all as I’m a big fan of simple jersey tops as they go with so many other things in my wardrobe.

I made it out of a pinkie/purple cotton jersey fabric I got from a local shop. The easy design looks cool made up in a plain fabric, although next time I may try making this project out of some snazzy striped fabric as I’ve seen lots of lovely versions using this kind of fabric online.

The Molly Top didn’t take long to make. To be honest sticking together a PDF pattern always fills me with dread as I think it will take ages but this one wasn’t too bad.

There is also an option to make the Molly pattern into a dress too, I’ve added this on to my mental ‘to sew’ list so will hopefully get onto it later in the year (if not sooner).

The fitting

There is not much fitting to do in this project really as there are only two main pattern pieces plus the sleeves. I did find the pattern came up quite loose around the tummy / waist area but actually it looks lovely tucked into a skirt.

Would I recommend it?

Enjoying a big breakfast in my new Molly Top 

Definitely. I’ve really enjoyed wearing my Molly Top so far at home and to work tucked into a smart skirt. I think it could look completely different if it was made up in different kinds of fabric, although I guess this could be said of most sewing or craft projects.

More plans from the e-book

Next on my list to sew are the Mia Jeans from the book. I’d also like to tackle the shirt pattern included in the book too. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

What else have I been making?

I seem to have been busy working on a few different projects, squeezing in crafting time wherever I can.

My latest Minerva Craft review went live online earlier this month. I made a long sleeved

Coco top

Coco Top by Tilly and the Buttons out of a colourful Ponte Roma fabric. I wasn’t sure about the fabric design at first but actually really like my top now it is made up – it’s nice to add a bit out brightness to my wardrobe at this time of the year. It has been freezing here so wearing bright colours helps me to feel cheerful. You can read my full project review here. 

New Linden Sweatshirt 

Finally, I wanted to make another sweatshirt before I went on a weekend away a couple of weeks ago. If you have read my blog before you will know that I’ve made the Grainline Pattern’s Linden Sweatshirt before but I don’t think I can have too many of them so stitched up another version using some blue polar bear themed fabric from Guthrie and Gharni.

Anyway, I hope you’re well. If you have made the Molly Top or Dress I’d love to hear how you got on and if you have any tips for my future versions!

Until next time, happy sewing 🙂