Forget Me Not Patterns – Em Sew Happy Blog

Vera Knit Top

I’ve been trying to be more adventurous with knit fabric. I came across this floral stretch crepe jersey fabric from The Fabric Store Online which has a beautifully fine texture with good drape. I bought a 125cm x 150cm wide piece which I thought would be lovely for the Vera Knit Top pattern from Forget Me Not patterns. I’ve been meaning to sew this lovely top featuring bishop sleeves using the long cuff option for a while and finding the perfect fabric has prompted me again. One of the suggested fabrics was viscose knit which is why I thought the crepe jersey would be a good match.

Floral Stretch Crepe Jersey (White Coffee)

Forget Me Not has generously offered this as a free pattern to the sewing community and it includes all the detailed instructions that come with her other patterns. There are no short-cuts just because it’s a free pattern. It is a great way to sample their incredible patterns.

The blouse is based around a B-cup bust. My measurements of 38-inch bust, and 33-inch waist and 40-inch hip sits between a size 38 and 40. The pattern is nested which make it super easy to print. I decided to print both sizes and graded from the size 38 to 40 and added one inch to the length from the bottom of the blouse. The top features a V-neck and it’s fitted in the bust with more ease around the waist.

Knit fabric is always a bit tricky for me. I’m still gaining experience with handling the stretchy qualities of knit fabric. The instructions are excellent with tips all the way on how to handle the fabric, which needle to use and what stitch to sew with. It really takes all the guess work out which is so helpful. Another quality of the fabric I should mention is that there is more stretch one way than the other which has been fine for this blouse as the pattern is quite versatile. I would love to make a winter version with merino wool or something similar.

I’m excited to add this top to my Spring Capsule Wardrobe. I’m hoping to sew a skirt as well to wear with this, but I think it will match quite a few items I have. I know I’m categorising my sewn items into different capsules but obviously any item can be worn for any season. With my love of neutrals and browns, everything could fit into an Autumnal theme. I’ve just been organising my sewing this way to get a better cross section of items into my handmade wardrobe.

I’m feeling more confident with knit fabric coming away from this. I want to practise with this pattern a few more times so I’ll be on the lookout for more fabric suitable for this pattern.

Thanks for reading and happy sewing!

X Em

Helmi Blouse II

Featuring Nani IRO Lei Nani Organic Cotton Lawn Fabric from DIY District

When Diep from DIY District Fabric reached out regarding their online fabric store based in Kyoto, Japan, it was hard to choose only a few pieces with the wide selection of high-quality premium fabrics on offer. This beautiful Nani IRO Lei Nani Organic Cotton fabric in red was kindly gifted from DIY District in exchange for an honest review. It is made from one hundred percent organic cotton and is beautifully sheer and lightweight being around 100gsm (3.5oz) which made it perfect for another Helmi Blouse. I was drawn to the vibrant red of this cotton lawn. The fabric reminds me of a watercolour painting with a red background and a random distribution of blossoms in white and a hint of shimmery silver through the blossoms.

I had made the peter pan collar version with ¾ sleeves previously in a lightweight muslin fabric. This time I’m sewing the full sleeved version featuring ruffles along the shoulder seams and a stand collar. I thought I would focus my blog on sewing with this lovely fabric.

As mentioned, this fabric is 100 % organic cotton, so my usual procedure is to overlock the two cut ends of the fabric before washing. To avoid shrinking the cotton, I made sure to only use the cold wash with an organic detergent. I then air dried the fabric and once dry, I ironed it with a medium heat iron. Impressively, there was no loss of colour and the fabric has kept it’s shape well after washing.

Moving on, I prepared my machine by threading a matching red cotton thread. Due to the fineness of the fabric, I changed my needle to a 75/11 needle which is great for lightweight fabrics like cotton voile, silk, synthetics, Lycra, and Spandex. It’s always nice to start with a fresh needle with a new make which ensures there’s little chance of the fabric snagging.

The Helmi Blouse requires about 2.6m/2.9yards of a fabric measuring 114cm/44inch in width. Now, here, it’s important to take note that the Nani IRO Lei Nani Organic Cotton Lawn Red has quite a wide selvedge which means that the pattern measured only 99cm which is narrower than the 110cm mentioned in the description. Luckily, I was sent enough of this gorgeous fabric with a bit to spare.

Instructions of the Helmi Blouse are great because it covers a variety of fabric types including sheer fabrics like finishing with French Seams. Testing the fabric, it also stood up well to overlocking, but I preferred the French seams with the finer fabric. I’ve made the size 36 with the medium bust as my measurements are 35-inch High Bust, 37.5-inch Full Bust, 33-inch Waist, 38-inch Hips and it’s a comfortable fit without any modifications needed.

This time, I used the keyhole neckline finished with binding and included the ties rather than a button closure. I made the binding from the same fabric by cutting a 2cm strip on the bias. I found it easier to pre-press the bias strip, first in half then inwards by half to the midline. Using the pressed line as a guide, the bias strip was sewn to the keyhole opening. It was easy with the pre-pressed line to fold over and finish the binding. I also made sure I reduced the stitch length to 1.8 to sew around the curved keyhole. The rest of the sew went pleasantly with everything fitting into place.

This Nani IRO lightweight cotton lawn is incredibly smooth and untextured compared to other cottons that I’ve worn. It’s very breathable but at the same time has a crisp finish. This will be great to wear in spring and summer. In fact, I’m packing this for my tropical getaway where it can get very hot and humid. When I first received this fabric, I thought it might have been a silk blend because of the slight sheen and silky-smooth feel of the fabric. I think this texture must be due to a very high thread count. I find the weave of this cotton lawn is tighter than the muslin fabric which I used for the first version of the Helmi. I hope this will mean that the blouse will be more durable without the thickness and rough texture of ordinary cotton.

Even though this fabric was gifted, I can say that I would purchase this fabric from DIY District without hesitation. The quality and the service were incredible. From the time of ordering to receiving the fabric was a matter of days and it was easy to reach out via their website which is in English as well as French. As mentioned, this fabric was gifted but all opinions remain my own.

Thanks for reading and happy sewing!

X Em

Valerie Raglan Dress

The start of 2023 has been great for my motivation to sew. One of my sewing goals this year was to really pick projects that help to develop my skills and to only sew items that I would wear repeatedly. Seems like an obvious goal but when I started sewing, a lot of garments were beyond my skills. I tried the big four patterns but often instructions were a bit illusive to a novice sewist like me. When Forget Me Not Patterns generously offered me a pattern for review, I was a bit worried about this, but the instructions and illustrations are one of the best I’ve ever sewn with.

The Valerie Raglan Dress was the pattern that I chose to review. It’s a dress with a fitted bodice and A-line skirt. The sleeves are raglan sleeves but are tailored with a dart at the shoulder, so it doesn’t have the bulky look of other raglan sleeved dresses or tops. There are so many sleeve options included with the pattern. I chose to sew the short sleeve with a flounce, there is also a long sleeve option with a cuff which I’m planning to sew for winter and there’s also the ¾ sleeve and short sleeve version. Along with all these options are also cup size options which is great for obvious reasons!

Fitting the pattern was a breeze with the comprehensive and logical instructions. In fact, the second page of the patterns gives such good instructions on how to choose which size to sew up. I fitted in the medium bust range, so that is equivalent to a B cup to C cup and my dress sizing was between the 38 and 40 for my measurements of 37 inch high bust, 33 inch waist and 38 inch hips. The pattern alteration tips were fantastic because I toiled bodice graded the size 38 bust to a 40 waist and hip. The other impressive thing about the pattern were the little notes that helped me to pause in my sewing so that I would go and check the fit physically. It’s such a good practise to develop as I didn’t have any sad surprises at the end of my sew.

Sometimes the mention of an invisible zipper sends a sewist screaming into the bush, but I had no problems installing it. I just followed the instructions step by step and before I knew it, I had installed it perfectly! It’s not a technique I’m familiar with but the result was the easiest invisible zipper I’ve ever installed, and this is even without an invisible zipper foot! It’s great to learn more professional techniques in a pattern. This was evident again with the facing attachment. This was attached using the stepped-back method. I watched the video and had a few attempts but unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, so I attached it my way. The great thing is, next time I come back to the pattern, I will try it again and I have the resources to help me.

The fabric I’ve sewn with is a rayon which has beautiful drape and is so good for summer. I’ve sewn a lot with rayon because it’s what I reach for in this heatwave called summer. Sometimes, I’ve read comments about the difficulty of sewing with rayon so I put together a little Instagram reels to share some of the tips that were generously shared with me.

Thanks for reading and happy sewing!

X Em

*Full Disclosure: Pattern was gifted for a review but all opinions expressed were my own.