Pattern Testing & New Azaire Pattern Giveaway [Closed]

Update: Giveaway closed & thank you for the comments. The pattern goes to comment number 4! Congratulations Carmen, I'll be in touch.

The Azaire dress and top is the newest sewing pattern from Gather and I was lucky enough to be a pattern tester. Caroline and Sandra (from Gather) have also offered me a copy of the pattern to give away!

 

 

 

The Azaire pattern comes with a detailed instruction booklet which includes size charts (sizes 8 to 18), fabric requirements, body and finished garment measurements, fabric and cutting layouts and very helpful diagrams illustrating the sewing instructions.

 

 

 

 

 

I sewed the Azaire dress (wore it to a wedding) and had an excellent pattern-testing experience particularly as the end result is a dress that I love wearing.

 

Though my measurements fall between 12 and 14, the "Finished Garment Measurements" included with the pattern indicate that the Azaire has a loose silhouette so I chose to sew size 12.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed the whole process of testing this dress. My choice of fabric wasn't the best, being transparent! This meant I had to add an extra lining to the centre front and back of the dress.

 

The details of this dress allow for customisation and mixing different fabrics to highlight the style lines. It has a curved yoke, boat neckline, hi-low peplum, two sleeve options and front and back seams for fitting. Initially I wondered if the silhouette was too loose, but the style lines mean that the dress and top can be easily fitted. After testing the pattern, I fitted the dress more at my waist by sewing curves on the front style lines.

 

The pattern includes short petal sleeves on the dress and these are probably the most complicated aspect of the pattern. The sleeves are lined and overlapped so there are four layers of fabric to keep under control. The instructions for the sleeves are detailed and easy to follow. My only suggestion would be to muslin or fit the sleeves as I found them narrow-fitting. My 'strong' upper arms from heaving lifting in my previous nursing career means that I often have to take account of this!!

 

 

 

 

 

The pattern pieces all fit together perfectly and I was particularly pleased with how neatly I was able to match the back seams at the invisible zip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was such a joy to test the Azaire and I would love to pass a little of that on.

 

Just comment below with a way to contact you by email and I'll randomly pick a name next next Monday Oct 3rd. I will post anywhere in the world.

 

 

 

 

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Teacher Gifts 2016 Edition with Sew4Home Patterns

For the last few years I have sewn gifts for teachers ...... purely for selfish reasons - on a balance I would prefer to spend my time deciding between fabrics rather than deciding between chocolates or mugs!!

 

When I need sewing patterns for gifts, one of my favourite sites is sew4home.com. The picture for the Airstream Travel Bag turned up in an e-mail from them very recently and it seemed like the perfect teacher gift. It's particularly suitable for my son's teacher who has told the class about some of her trips to Dubai & America.

My fabric and ribbon choices are very different to the original, and I made some alterations to the pattern.

 

 

Firstly I added a flower brooch to the outside. This brooch is a pattern I have been testing and proof-reading for an English translation 'Sew Snappy' of a Dutch sewing pattern book 'Zo Geknipt' which will be launched in Oct 2016.

 

I omitted the piping from the pattern, which if you have time, is a good addition as it helps provide structure to the bag. Instead, I topstitched the inside binding to the outer curves, with stitching on the outside and this worked perfectly.

 

 

 

The third main change was to fully line the inside. The pattern indicates that the base and zipper portion should only be lined, but it is very straightforward to cut extra front and back pieces and then bind them inside.

 

The ribbons are stitched on the fabric as indicated in the instructions. These are two different stitched ribbons from Jane Means.

 

 

 

My daughter had 3 teachers this year and I wanted a pattern for their gifts that would be faster to sew. Her year had two teachers who were job-sharing and then another who just did maths with her class. Interestingly this worked very well, better than what could be imagined. The pattern I chose is also from sew4home.com.

 

 

The Roll-up Make-up Brush pattern is one I have used a few times before. Because it is so easy to sew, you can have fun with fabric and ribbon selections.

 

 

 

Most of the fabric, binding and ribbons are from my stash. The outer corduroy is from a European fabric company Stenzo. The bindings are Japanese from superbuzzy.com (a shop with all things Japanese that I wish I had shares in!) and the 'chocolate and turquoise' spotted ribbon is from Jane Means.

 

The top inner fabric is a laminated cotton 'Parson Gray' and the quilted cotton pockets is from Patty Young.

 

I can't describe fully how easy this gift is, to sew. The most time-consuming part is sewing the lines for the pockets.

 

 

 

 

Another version of the same pattern, this time with a flower brooch ( I enthusiastically sewed a few of these brooches, in my testing of the Sew Snappy pattern!)

 

All from my stash, the outer fabric is also a Patty Young fabric, the binding is Liberty of London and the striped ribbon is Jane Means

 

 

 

The inside fabrics are an oilcloth bought locally and the quilting cotton pocket fabric is Heather Bailey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would sew these for all the teachers every year if it was possible, but the children sometimes have teachers for more than one year. Maybe if I passed them off or label them as pen holders or pencil holders or cutlery holders instead of Make-up Brush holders, it might work!!!

 

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