What Kimberley Makes

Vienna Dress This wrap dress is a flattering, versatile style that can be worn casual or more dressy. I've made mine in jersey for a more summery day time dress. The fabric I've used is gifted from The Craft Cotton Company and is an organic jersey spandex that was designed by Tilly Walnes from Tilly and the Buttons. This jersey collection features lots of pastel rainbow colours and bold geometric prints which will just brighten up your wardrobe!  The Vienna dress pattern is by Fibre Mood and suggests using fabric with a good drape and not too stiff.  I opted for the PDF version because I am impatient! The instructions are all on the website and can be accessed once you set up an account.  I've used an overlocker  (Janome AirThread 2000D)  to finish edges and roll the hems of my dress but this can all be achieved on a sewing machine too. Some tips for working with jersey - if you find that the fabric is curling too much, spray it with some spr...

This is a gorgeous princess seam strappy dress that has a centre back invisible zip and adjustable straps by NH Patterns called the Lara Dress. Purchased from Etsy, it's a downloadable pattern that you print yourself with full instructions and pictures. It reminds me a lot of the 90's style, square neck dresses, so when I saw the Chinese dragon print fabric from Craft Cotton Company this is exactly what I had in mind to make! The 90's was definitely my era so I have a soft spot for the fashion and music from that time.  The fabric is 100% cotton and after working with Craft Cotton Company fabric in many other projects, I knew it would have great structure for this type of dress. There are other designs as part of this Chinese collection so if you like cherry blossom prints and water prints in the Chinese style too then make sure to check them out!  The pattern is an intermediate pattern so it's more for a confident dress maker or someone who knows how t...

This is the first time I've ever made anything for myself to wear, I've only made clothes for Vienna before now so this was a new venture for me! I've always wanted to try a Tilly and the Buttons pattern as I've heard they are easy to follow and they are also lovely garments, so when the new Indigo pattern came out I knew I had to get my hands on it. It didn't take me long to choose the fabric I wanted to use as I prefer the feel of viscose, stretchy fabric and love a comfy material, judging by the clothes I already own! I also love dark colours and bold prints, so the daisy was perfect! (It was also super cheap off eBay so.. bonus!) I was going to make the indigo top but seen as I was able to get so much fabric, I decided to go for the dress instead. Once I decided what size to make, cutting out seemed a bit daunting. the different marks on the pattern looked scary at first, but starting with the biggest pattern piece you soon get the hang on followin...

This is the first time I’ve attempted to make an item of clothing so I thought I’d go for something small and some what simple! This is the Butterick pattern 3405 and I chose to make the top from C which was just long enough to be a dress on Vienna. I actually didn't realise that it had pants too because you can't see them in the picture of the baby on the packaging! For the most part, it was easy to follow (with the help of google and my mum for jargon busting) but the hardest part was the sleeve seam because you have to ease the fabric through the machine which I couldn't get my head around. It took a few goes to get it lined up but I had to just go for it and hope for the best! I'm very much a perfectionist so 'just going for it' was hard but I'm realising that that's the only way for me to master tricky sewing techniques. If it goes wrong then I know for next time.  I loved putting the darts in the front of the d...