A-Line Skirt: This is the first garment that I made and it was done by following a tutorial laid out in the Love at First Stitch book by Tilly Walnes. It has an exaggerat-ed A-line shape and is fastened at the back with a zip. It was made using a large checked fabric and embellished with 8 gold buttons that run down the front. Here I learnt how to take body measurements, construct a basic skirt and insert a zip.

Ties: These two ties were made as gifts. One was made with a checked fabric the other with a blue and white cotton lawn. Both were lined with a polyester lining fabric.

Megan Dress: This is the first dress I made and it was done following the tutorial laid out in the Love at First Stitch book by Tilly Walnes. It has a high waistline, short sleeves and a semi fitted skirt. The bodice is shaped with darts and dart tucks and uses a navy cotton. The skirt was sewn with a pink, white and navy floral cotton. Here I learnt the basics of dress construction including, sewing darts, adding sleeves and in-serting a neckline facing.

Gathered Skirt: This gathered skirt was made using a bright floral cotton fastened by a zip at the centre back. It was made following a tutorial laid out in the Love at First Stitch book by Tilly Walnes. This skirt taught me a number of skills such as drafting a simple pattern, gathering fabric and sewing French seams.

Blue Lilou Dress: This dress has a scoop neckline at the front and back, a pleated skirt and a lined dart-ed bodice. The dress was made with a lighter shade of blue in the skirt and a darker navy blue bodice. The dress is accessorized with a red bow belt. During this project I followed a tutorial laid out in the Love at First Stitch book by Tilly Walnes. I learnt skills such as how to insert a bodice lining and how to add pleats.

Pink Lilou Dress: This dress has a scoop neckline at the front and back, a pleated skirt and a lined darted bodice. The dress was made with a patterned pink cotton lawn with a contrasting black lining. This is a repeat of the two tone blue dress sewn previously. Pink cotton lawn from Liberty (£22.50 per m)

Kimono Wrap Dress: This kimono wrap dress was made from a two tone blue cotton fabric. It is secured with two popper fastenings (one at the bust and one at the waist) and a tie around the waist. It is a dress that is suitable for all sea-sons as in the summer it can be worn with a pair of strappy sandals and in the winter it can be layered over a pair of tights and worn with a cardi-gan. It was made following a pattern in Love Sewing magazine.

Cushions

These cushions were made to liven up a plain sofa, the colour palette was selected as it matches a green feature wall. The front

of the cushion is made using patchwork whilst the back is made from a solid green fabric. The cotton was sourced from ebay

and includes patterned fabric from Liberty and Kath Kidston.

Yellow Kimono: This kimono was made following the need for a cover up when going on holiday. It was made in a bright yellow patterned cotton. Here I tried to devise a basic pattern by using a men’s shirt to create the basic shape.

Slouchy Gilet: This gilet has a relaxed fit and a slouchy neck, it is fastened by a zip which is posi-tioned on the front left. This was designed to be a layering piece during the win-ter to be worn over the top of long sleeved jumpers. It was made using a ribbed jersey that added texture to the look. I followed a pattern in Love Sewing maga-zine and it is where I learnt how to sew with a stretch jersey fabric.

Jacket

This jacket was made following a pattern by Simplicity. It

has full length sleeves and a collar and is fastened by a

hook and eye closure. One key feature is the gathered

peplum element. It is made from a brown fabric which

has been woven with gold threads. It was designed to be

worn to the office with smart black trousers and a blouse

but it could also paired with jeans to create a smart

casual look. Here I learnt about jacket construction.

Jewellery Carrier: This design was inspired by the need to hold my jewellery whilst traveling so it doesn’t get tangled up and damaged on the journey. It opens like a book and is secured shut by Velcro. It has loops to fasten necklaces, Velcro slip pockets, zip pockets and rigid interfacing that is used to hold earrings. It has a denim outer with the addition of a patterned cotton to introduce a splash of colour. The inside is lined with a blue cotton. I created my own pattern by combining several tutorials from the internet and I learnt how to construct zip pockets and slip pockets.

Striped Skater Dress: This skater style jersey dress was made following a pattern in Love Sewing magazine. The main feature of this design is the pattern matching that occurs in the skirt, where the stripes that run at right angles to each other meet at the centre front and centre back seams. The design was picked to replace a similar item in my wardrobe. This allowed me to learn a num-ber of skills such as, how to attach bias binding and how to pattern match.

Purple gathered wrap dress: This pull over dress is close fitting and features a gathered front overlay that is finished with-in the side seams and ¾ length sleeves. It is made from a medium weight purple jersey fab-ric. It is designed to be a smart/casual dress to be worn during the winter months with a pair of tights. It can be dressed up with heels or dressed down with leather boots. During this project I followed a pattern form Love Sewing magazine and developed my skills of working with a stretch fabric.

Jewel Neck Dress: This grey and blue patterned cotton poplin dress has a jewel neck and a figure hugging fit. It was designed to be worn to formal occasions during the winter months. Following a pattern in Love Sewing magazine, I developed skills such as adjusting the fit, making a toile and inserting a slit in the centre back seam.

Tea Dress: This dress has a fully flared panelled skirt which falls to just above the knee. The bodice has a front and back shoulder yoke and a sash collar that forms a v-neckline. A cluster of pleats come from the front yoke seams and a box pleat is positioned at the centre back yoke seam. This dress was made using a white cotton lawn with blue patterning from Liberty (14.60 per m). This dress was designed as I wanted a floaty tea dress for the summer. It was made by combing a bodice and skirt pattern from the Boundless Style book Victory Patterns. Here I learnt how to insert an invisi-ble zip, line a skirt and construct a bodice with a yoke.

Elasticated Skirt: This gathered skirt was sewn with a light weight turquoise cotton jersey which has a black border print. This skirt was designed to be worn in the summer with t-shirts and sandals but could be worn in the slightly cooler spring months by pair-ing with thin tights, ballet pumps and a t-shirt and a cardigan. I constructed the pattern by adapting instructions in the Love at First Stitch book by Tilly Walnes, where I replaced the zip with an elasticated waistband. Here I learnt how to add an elasticated waistband. Turquoise cotton jersey which has a black border print from Girl Charlee (£9.95 per m)

Pleated Skirt: This pleated wrap skirt is made using a bright and colourful cotton lawn fabric, it was designed to be worn as a summer skirt however, it could also be worn with a pair of tights and ballet pumps during the cooler spring months. Here I followed an online tutorial to learn how to con-struct the pattern, here I also learnt how to sew button holes. Cotton lawn fabric from Liberty (£22.50 per m)

Kimono: This kimono was created to be worn as a cover up during the spring/ summer months where it could be paired with a t-shirt and jeans during the cooler days or shorts/a mini skirt in the warmer weather. The cut of the garment was cho-sen due to oriental nature of the pattern of the cotton lawn fabric. Here I used the basic pattern of the kimono dress I had made previously, but I amended it by changing the length and by constructing a collar which was added to the front edges. It also has a tie that fastens it at the waist. Cotton lawn fabric from Liberty (£22.50 per m)

Lace Dress: This was inspired by a €300 lace dress seen in a shop window in Seville. I wanted to see whether I would be able to replicate the design for a cheap-er price tag. I followed a Simplicity pattern that provided guidance on the fitting. The dress has a blue satin underlay with a sweetheart neckline and a blue floral lace overlay with a high neckline. It has a circle skirt that fin-ishes at the knee and the shape is created by using princess seams on both the overlay and underlay. Additionally, boning has been added to the un-derlay to provide structure to the bodice. It is a dress suitable for cocktail parties and formal occasions. The skills I learnt from this project include how to sew with satin, how to sew with lace, how to insert boning and how to sew princess seams. Satin (€13.50 per m) and lace (€22 per m) from Galerias Madrid.

Lydia Skirt: This is a full multi panelled skirt which has two overlapping pleats at the front and back of the skirt. It falls to just above the knee and is lined. It has an invisible zip and a hook and eye fastening in the side. This was made with a jacquard from Ga-lerias Madrid, Seville (€13 per m). It was created as a smart/ casual skirt to be worn in the winter with a jumper. Jacquard from Galerias Madrid (€13 per m)

Checked Laptop Bag: This was designed due to the requirement for a laptop bag. In the past I have struggled to find one that was both practical and looked good. The bag was made using a check tweed fabric (Truro Fabrics, £30 per m), which was a key AW16 trend, and a con-trasting wax cotton flap (KBT Fabrics, £8.99 per m). The front of the bag had the addition of a cargo style pocket, whilst the in-side of the bag has a padded laptop pocket, slip pocket and zip pocket. The entirety of the bag is lined with a red denim (Ebay, £10.90 per m). The bag has an adjustable cotton webbing shoulder strap. This bag was not made following a commercial pattern, I devised the pattern and construction method myself. This involved combining instructions from a number of sources including books, magazines and the internet. This project taught me a number of skills including how to insert piping into a seam and how to pattern match.