More paisley pattern

You've probably guessed by now how much I love paisley pattern. I've been very lazy about blogging  the things I've sewn recently, so here's the first of my recent makes. I'm still trying to perfect one of my favourite patterns that I've made and blogged about before, here and here, vintage Simplicity 1364. I've got the body length correct by adding 2" but the sleeve needed to longer too. I thought it would be fine in the two previous versions but swimming has made my lower arms more muscular nd I've just got longer arms anyway. The three quarter length sleeve hems were a bit tighter than I'd like them to be. They're not unwearable, it's just something that I could improve. So, I had the pattern and when I saw this red paisley pattern cotton fabric at Edinburgh Fabrics I had to buy it.

So, this time, I added an inch above the elbow and also an inch below it. There's a lovely elbow dart and the additional length I've added means the dart just hits the right place!


I didn't make the facings around the neck but made my own bias binding. I'm not so sure it worked 100% and may try facings next time. The corners of the neck are quit an acute angle and there's a little bit of the bias showing. But only if you look closely!

 I'm very pleased and not a little smug at how good this zip in the back seam looks. Even if I do say so myself, I've made a very very good job of it and it isn't an invisible zip, just a bog standard ordinary zipper.



In the spirit of the vintage pattern, I finished all seams with my pinking shears and I've really been appreciating how 'soft' the keep the feel of the seam, if you know what I mean. I'm also a fan of zigzagging, but pinking has shot up to the top of my seam finishing chart just now! The photo on the left above shows the hem and back seam finishing.

Hey, this make wasn't anything revolutionary but I really enjoyed sewing it the lengthening to the sleeves was spot on! What are you making at the moment?