Birmingham |

This shirt is sort of one of my makes for June, but I finished it in July as I was scared to sew the button holes because my machine does not like them! But they’re never as bad as I think they’re going to be, they’re just not totally straight sometimes.

Anyway, here is the shirt:

The fabric is some blueish-greyish cotton I bought from Barry’s fabrics in Birmingham when I went shopping with some Bristol lovelies. As with my other Melilot, I made the size 38 with no changes, though this is the other view, with sort sleeves.

This version was definitely easier to make because the fabric is much more stable – and I cut it out much more accurately! One of the main things I really like about this pattern is the shape of the hem, and especially how it dips down lower at the back. BTW it’s really hard to take a photo of a hem from the side without your arm getting in the way, or looking weird and folding your arms or something!

I don’t really have a huge amount to say about this make, except to say I really like it. I like how it’s sort of between 2 colours, and I like the 2 pockets. The only slight problem is when I wore it with my Simplicity trousers, it did look a bit like a crappy uniform. It was especially bad when I tucked it in for some reason!

The only thing I did ‘wrong’ was to not use any interfacing…….because I didn’t have any and I’m impatient and wanted to just sew it already! I thought it was a thick enough cotton (though not as thick as quilting cotton) to cope without, and I think it will hold up.

I really like my long-sleeved version, but for these warm-ish months, I’m really liking kimono-style sleeves, especially if they have little cuffs, like these. I think this would be a great version to make (again) with a drapier fabric, so the sleeves sit better.

It’s funny how sometimes you make something you really like and you know you will wear it a lot, but you don’t really have anything to say about it! Do you ever feel that? Or is it just me?!

I’ll leave you with this week’s outtake! The Boyfriend was helping me take pictures and I couldn’t tell when he was pressing go so I kept talking!

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Last Saturday I went with some of the ladies I met at Sew Brizzle to go fabric shopping in Birmingham. I was sad to have missed the bigger meet up the previous week but in a way it was nice to go in a small group as it gave me the chance to chat with everyone (which I didn’t manage to do the time I went to a big London meet-up).

Here we are outside Guthrie and Ghani. Thanks to Sarah from Like Sew Amazing for the photo – she remembered to take pictures when I didn’t! A very kind man took this picture for us 🙂

From left to right: Karen, Amy, Me, Sarah, Ruth and Jen.

Our first stop was Fancy Silk Store. I felt a little overwhelmed when we first went in as it’s deceptively big – and has an upstairs – and I couldn’t take everything in! I did spot that they had reasonably priced denim and after we’d been around some other shops, we circled back and I bought some stretch and non-stretch denim for Ginger and Morgan wearable toiles.

This is the stretch one – it has a nice flecked weave and looks a little like linen, but is thicker. It was £6.99 per metre and I got 1.4m.

And this is the non-stretch. I did want something a bit lighter for my Morgans, but this will do for a practice. It is a little lighter than the stretch one. It was £7.99 per metre and I got 1.6m.

After this first shop we headed into the rag market, where there are loads of fabric stalls, inside and out. I had made the mistake of not taking out any cash as I thought if I did I wouldn’t buy anything! But I did have enough to get some black and some white cotton twill (I think it was twill and not drill, anyone know the difference?!).

I’m planning a 60s style colour blocked Tilly and the Buttons Megan Dress. I bought 2 metres of the black and one of the white, and it came to £12 in total (so £4 per metre). I bought this fairly early on and for some reason it weighs loads, so I got pretty sick of carrying it around by the end of the day – I was glad I waited until the end to get the denim!

After the rag market, we all got on a bus and went to Moseley to visit Guthrie and Ghani. I was not-so-secretly hoping we would go there, and I’m so glad I was with people who knew how to get there! I just followed 🙂 I could easily have spent a small fortune in Guthrie and Ghani – you can tell everything is really good quality. And the shop is so pretty!

I decided to treat myself to a couple of patterns which I wanted – the Ebony Tee and Dress by Closet Case Patterns and the Guise Pants by Papercut Patterns.

They have a really great selection of remnants and I couldn’t help picking up a couple of them. I just loved the pattern on this Robert Kaufman cotton. It’s navy blue, though it looks kind of black in the photo. It seems to be called Storm Drown, and I can’t find it anywhere online so I guess it’s not available. This bolt end was 275cm x 90cm and was £15.50. I’m hoping there will be enough for a Colette Aster blouse.

I also couldn’t resist this gorgeous mustard loopback jersey. The photo doesn’t do the colour justice, nor how soft it is. It’s honestly one of the softest fabrics I’ve ever touched. It was £6.50 and there’s only 155cm x 40cm so I’m not sure what I’ll be able to make, but I had to have it.

The final thing I bought from Guthrie and Ghani was this coral crepe fabric. It has a lovely drape and a slightly mottled texture and I got 1.7m of it at £10.50 per metre. This is one of the more expensive fabrics I’ve bought, but the Anderson Blouse I’m planning to make will still only cost £17.85 which is pretty good for a blouse made of such nice fabric!

The last fabric shop we went to was Barry’s. I would have no idea how to find it on my own, but it’s definitely a hidden treasure!

This is another shop that is very, very full of fabrics and I think you could easily spend 4 hours in there and still not see everything!

I did manage to find one treasure, thanks to Jen (Gingerella). It’s this nice blueish-greyish cotton and I bought 2 metres – I can’t remember how much I paid, though. I think I’ll make a short-sleeved Melilot Shirt for when the weather finally gets warm!