An Apple a day keeps anyone away if thrown hard enough!

Hey all! How is it October already?! I don’t know about you guys but I’ve made a start on my autumn/winter wardrobe already.

Recently, Tilly and the Buttons had a sale on specific paper patterns, so i had to have a nosey.

Would you believe i didn’t own either the Agnes or the Rosa so i treated myself to them. I’m normally a PDF lover but it made a nice change to have something physical in your hand and no piecing pages together.

I used many of Tilly and the Buttons patterns before and knew i Size 6 would fit ok for the shoulders and bust and grade to a 7 for waist and hips.

I was kindly gifted this beautiful Breton Apples Jersey in Blue and White from By Graziela fabrics for my honest review.

The Jersey is 95% cotton / 5% spandex 
with a nice weight: 220 g/qm, being 1.50 m wide and also to Oeko-Tex Standard 100

It was beautifully packaged, with plenty of ribbon on which my boys nicked to play with the cat with and the handy tote bag has come in handy for quick trips to the supermarket.

If you haven’t come across By Graziela Fabrics before, where have you been hiding?!! They have a fabulous range of jerseys, sweatshirting and Cotton all designed by Nina’s Mum! Here’s a little bit more information about this great Company – Taken from ByGrazieal’s about us page;

Nina and I founded byGraziela in 2008 to relaunch my Mum, Graziela’s hugely popular and iconic designs in Germany. 

Since the 1970s, Graziela has been working as a successful graphic designer, designing fabrics as well as bed linens, children’s clothing and dinnerware. Her designs are cult classics in Germany and have won her numerous gold medals from the Art Director’s Club.

With a passion for sewing, and having children of my own, I decided it was time to pass all those lovely patterns on to the next generation. byGraziela has grown into a well loved company with a big following in Germany and I am delighted we are now launching our happy and bold fabric range in the UK!

All our fabrics are based on my Mum’s original designs, sometimes modernised, but still retaining the authentic retro feel.

I hope you love our colourful and happy fabrics as much as I do and create some wonderful things with them.

How nice is that?!

I wish sometimes i would design my own fabrics!

The Fabric was delightful to sew with and even Mr Singer didn’t want to ‘eat’ it either! Upon handling the fabric you know that it was good quality fabric and the print was so precise and colourful.

Since the lines were diagonal i didn’t even bother pattern matching, how on earth was i supposed to do that?! I was definitely not in the mood!

It sewed up really quickly and instead of using threads to gather i just got my trusty dental floss for the sleeve head and used clear elastic for the ruched sleeves.

I made such a rookey error, when i was grading my seams after i sewn in the last sleeve….. i accidentally cut into the sleeve itself which resulted in this!!!

ARRGGGHHHHHH!!

As you can imagine there was a lot of swear words involved and even shared my mistake over on instagram to share with the world no matter how much experience you have sewing, mistakes do happen!

Thankfully, i let myself cool down and called it a night with it. I carefully unpicked the sleeve and cut out a new one with some of the left over fabric. I’m a Yorkshire lass through and through and did some pattern tetris to get the most out of the fabric with some spare for instances like this!

Phew, my Agnes were saved!! No Memade garment isn’t complete without a label! I just love Kylie and The Machine labels 🙂

Here she is paired with sunshine bright Pinafore, the colours work so well together.

Then for everyday wear with jeans and an apple of course!

Now for an sneaky discount and a giveaway!!

To be in with the chance to win 1.5m of any of ByGraziela Fabrics! Yes you heard that right!! How amazing is that?!
All you have to do is comment
on this post.
Giveaway closes 31/10/2020
at 12pm GMT and can be posted withing UK and Europe!

Now for the discount!! Use code ‘Sally10’ to receive 10% off your purchase!

Then follow myself over at Instagram @theyorkshiresewist and @bygraziela_fabrics too

Happy Sewing!

Sal xx

*Disclaimer – I was given this fabric in exchange of my review in form on a blog post*

44 Comments

  1. Tamlyn Leslie says:

    Oh my goodness, well done for rescuing the situation! What a nightmare though 😭 Love the top & excellent photos with the Apple! X

  2. Gemma Daly says:

    Amazing Sally! A great blog post and an exciting giveaway! Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 😊

    1. The top looks amazing. Love Tilly and the button patterns.

  3. I love your top and I now completely NEEEED a yellow pinafore dress! Fabulous! Would love to be in the draw to win some if this gorgeous fabric too! xx

  4. Steph Murphy says:

    Love this! I’m starting to dip my toe in the world of dressmaking, and things like this really give me the drive to do it, even though I’m terrified of patterns. Love the fabric too, it’s on my wishlist to make something with!

  5. Oh my goodness this fabric is lovely! Also your yellow pinafore with those motifs is #outfitgoals
    Xx

  6. Gorgeous top!! I’ve been covering these fabrics for a good few weeks now!!!

  7. I have sewn the Agnes top before and I love the way it looks on you as well! I think it’s a very flattering design and it is indeed easy and quick to put together. Thanks for your blog post and for showing that sewing fails do happen and we’re human, we just need to breathe and try again!

  8. Kirsty Grundy says:

    TATB plus the fab fabric = match made in sewing heaven! Their prints are amazing!! Hello from one Yorkshire lass (Leeds!) to another 🙂

  9. Debby Hill says:

    It looks delicious with the pinafore and you’re so lucky to hand been gifted it. Lovely

  10. Kellie Simpson says:

    Love this top. I haven’t quite managed to make it successfully yet – but that’s what practice is for – right!

  11. The fabric looks fab x

    1. Christine says:

      Oh my thank goodness you kept the extra fabric lol!! I have been gifting my spare fabric lately while channeling my inner Marie Kondo so I would have had any spare whisked away to my local sewing group and left sleeveless 😂😂🤦‍♀️ love the print, looks great on you 👌👌

  12. Carol bentley says:

    Lovely make Sally, and can we throw that apple at covid now, it’s time for it to do one!!

  13. Christina Sayer says:

    I absolutely love Tilly and the Buttons and by Graziela fabrics, I have my on so many patterns. Would love to win some beautiful fabric, I have a few Tilly patterns ready and waiting for the right fabric. 💗🧵✂️

  14. Karen Court says:

    What a gorgeous top Sally! I love the touched sleeves…and I’m glad you managed to save one of them, phew!! Looks great with your pinafore. Xx

  15. Michelle says:

    Great blog Sally the apple fabric is so fun 😁👍

  16. Megan R says:

    Might have to make my own Agnes now!

  17. Marie @thetraybakers says:

    It looks great and well done for persevering with that sleeve! I think the graziela fabrics I’ve seen on insta are absolutely beautiful and am determined to purchase some soon!

  18. I love your top and the fabric of course 👍👏👍👏👍

  19. Camilla Steel says:

    The fabric is lovely and looks great with the sunny yellow pinafore! Thanks for sharing your mistake with the sleeve : as someone fairly new to the hobby, l still makes a tonne of errors it’s nice to know that everyone does it! Great to pick up some tips and techniques as well 👍

  20. Great read!

    1. Charis says:

      I love love love your Agnes! Especially paired with the yellow dungars, Such a beaut combo! ❤️ All the ByGraziela fabrics are so fun and retro, would love the chance to win some 😍

  21. Helen Parker says:

    Gorgeous top. It looks great with jeans or the pinafore. I think we have all been there with the cutting, I usually do it with my overlocker blade so I now hold my breath the whole time I’m using it. So pleased you could save it.

  22. Fab save Sally!! And a gorgeous top, and it’s part of your 5 a day!! xx

  23. Claire says:

    Love the outfit the colours look fantastic together.

  24. Lisa Loynes says:

    Fab top Sally great fabric choice! Need to go stalk this company. I really need to get this t shirt pattern. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one whose never made it yet 🤪

  25. Wow, that fabric and pattern are perfect for each other! Also, I’ve never heard that dental floss gathering tip – definitely need to try that!!

  26. Great save, Sally! It certainly pays to do some pattern tetris when cutting out. I haven’t heard of this fabric company before but will definitely be having a look. Thank you for sharing your error alongside your success.

  27. The nightmare of cutting into the garment. Hooray for fabric Tetris!

    1. Love this! The Agnes is one of those that I keep seeing, and thinking “I probably need that” but haven’t got yet. Love your version ❤

  28. Sara Santos says:

    If that happened to me, I probably wouldn’t have enough fabric to cut a second sleeve, since I usually by as little as possible!
    But I’m glad you had it! 😀
    And thank you for the giveaway! xx

  29. Oh lovely! I’ve been eyeing up these designs for a while!!

  30. I love how your top came out, especially the cute sleeves!

  31. Thanks for showing the fail! Just been Into Bobbins and Bolts to buy fabric and Jem suggested you to me . Love your fabric for the Agnes !

  32. It looks brilliant, well done. And the fabrics they have are super gorgeous, I’ve already sent a while window shopping!

  33. Laura Welsh says:

    I have yet to try the dental floss trick! Love those sleeves x

  34. Sharon Roberts says:

    Looks great and this is so inspirational 🥳

  35. That looks fantastic! And I’d never have thought of using dental floss for gathering – that would save me so many swear words (can’t afford to swear out lout when sewing too often, in case my pet budgie learns the words!!) with broken threads while attempting to gather fabric!

  36. Stacey B says:

    Fun reading! You had me reread the dental floss bit.. I’m still perplexed, do you have a seperate blog entry about that possibly?
    I’m following you from the byGraziela fabrics as they’ve caught my eye, massively! I’ll definitely be ordering once payday arrives again. Fabulous designs x thank you 👌😍

    1. Hi Stacey thank you for lovely comment I’ve out this on my FB page https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2810658092542362&substory_index=0&id=1692772574330925 but don’t mind putting a full tutorial together for it x

  37. Love the top and blog Sally 🙂 brilliant giveaway too! Xx

  38. Good save with the sleeve – unpicking lightning bolt stitches is no fun…

  39. Hannah barber says:

    Love a tilly pattern! I also snapped up a couple in that sale. And I love the top!

Leave me some Love :)