Manic Shopping Confession

Dear readers, I have a confession, I have a bit of a shopping trigger finger happening, I'm buying fabric left right and centre, there have been a flood of new patterns over the summer and I want them all! Want to see into my over-filled mind?

I want to make a turia dungarees variation with a skirt (because who am I kidding with that shorts malarkey?) 

I want the Pauline Alice Xerea, I think it will make an amazing showcase for jazzy fabrics, and is a new silhouette to all the fit and flare dresses in my stash. Also, how amazing would it be in blocked light and dark blue chambray?

Speaking of fit and flare I want Sew Over It's new vintage summer dress. I've been looking for the collar variation everywhere and as you may have guessed I'm a bit obsessed with shirt dresses. 

I also want to sew something with a waist, I love my bump, I'm really enjoying my shape.... is it possible I'm bored of the washi?! Surely not! I think I just want something completely different, like the Hollyburn. I really want the Hollyburn! Though not especially seasonally appropriate, I'd probably want it in wool but I've been drafting skirts that are similar to this for ages, but with little pleats. I'd love to have a pattern for this style.

And then there's the stash of fabric... I usually buy too much fabric per project, and so I end up with excess. I have now reached the stage where my excess is reaching epic proportions. I don't want to do anything with this leftover stuff, I've already made what I wanted, but I can't throw it away. All I can think to do is patchwork blankets, and I can't really be bothered. I've already made a cushion for the nursery chair, and I love it. But patchwork has never really been my thing and when I contemplate cutting one hundred rectangles it makes me want to cry.

I also want some classic washis, with the little cut out like my first ever one in some cotton sateen. I'm running out of work clothes, though I'm running out of days where I need to be in work so that shouldn't be an issue for much longer. How am I supposed to resist these fabrics? (Side note: I did not resist these fabrics).

Maybe it's because I haven't been able to sew for so long. I got the sewing room into a complete mess before all my trips away, I feel guilty if I'm not sewing for baby (count the baby clothes... 0) I'm sure once I get going with it I'd enjoy it but at the moment I just don't really wanna. And last weekend the sewing room was converted into a nursery with all my stuff being put into corners around the house, there is so much stuff!

I think I just need to take a step back, calm down and sew something. Once I get back in the chair I'm pretty sure I'll stop behaving like a maniac. All I need is time, but I'm quickly running out of that!

Spotty Anna

The last time I made an Anna dress, I had to make a lot of adjustments to the fit to get it right. This time round I learnt my lesson, I used the finished garment measurements instead. To do this I used my Upper bust, bust and waist measurements.

There is usually only about 1-1/2 inch difference between my upper bust and bust, so I've never done a full bust adjustment, choosing to make any adjustments once the dress is made. Maybe if I find a dress that I find has a lot of issues I might do this in future.

However, I have found that it is useful for me to grade from the smaller size at my upper bust for the shoulders/ neckline to the full bust measurement. I did this on the Anna as below:

This means that I get a closer fit above the full bust line. This dress therefore now fits so much better than my previous version (before all the adjustments). It's so comfortable to wear, and I added my favourite skirt on as well New Look 6723 , this is basically just a trapeze shape which I add pleats to once the bodice is made. In order to do this I stitch the skirt sides together, and pin to the bodice (with pleats sewn in) at the side seams.

I then find the centre of the bodice and mark, and the centre of the skirt and mark. Pinning these two centre points together and then up to the point of the pleat like so:

I then create a pleat from this point by folding over the excess fabric to the inside. I then do exactly the same at the back, but instead of folding the fabric under itself, I create a box pleat by bringing the excess fabric from either side of the pleat into the middle.

Using this method, I can ensure that the pleats on the skirt and bodice match up perfectly. Using this skirt instead of the drafted Anna skirt means I can have a big lunch and not worry about the consequences ha ha. Once I got the bodice right on this dress, I managed to make it up in 2 1/2 hours! I've now made two for friends and two for myself, I'm becoming a bit of an Anna obsessive.

I got the inspiration for this dress from a Cath Kidston one I saw that was navy polka dot with ric rac on the bottom, I really liked the style, though it's probably more twee than I would normally go for. I bought the fabric from ebay though and it has already started to fade quite a bit, so I may need to replace it soon. I've found it so easy to wear to work, I think another couple in some 'sensible' fabrics may be on the cards.

It looks like the back is quite gappy in these pictures, and there is a little bit of ease here, but the dress is so comfortable I wouldn't want to make this any smaller. My other version is in a slightly thicker material, so may have needed to be brought in. But I'll tell ya all about that when I post it!

Do you like the shoes? Definitely not sensible, I decided this year was the year of the shoe. They are the perfect way to feel dressed up, and Ive only fallen in them a couple of times! (I always fall over... even in flat shoes, no real reason just that the ground likes me) I think I want to get some more fancy shoes. I figure I dont buy ready to wear very often these days, so I can splurge occasionally.

Mad Men Dress

Ah only fools post about challenges they've nearly finished... or some such sewing based idiom. I did finish my dress in time (promise) but a series of unfortunate technological events contrived against me and the pics weren't ready in time for the challenge showcase! Boo! Ah well ya win some ya lose some. What I won was an awesome By Hand London Anna, proud of how it came out in comparison to my inspiration... and although I missed the challenge here are some Peggy inspired pics.

Hard at work on my latest advertising piece

You can see there's a little bit of bagginess at the back still. I did struggle with the sizing on this dress, it came out far too big on the first go so I kept having to adjust. Ill have to go down a size or two for the next one I think. I also wanted to shorten the skirt pieces, but didn't do it in the pattern stage so made myself some little pleats. I love how they came out as I like a little extra material round the midriff. Anyway, back to work...

Hmm.. what rhymes with Coca-Cola..?

Here are some pics on Betty so you can see some of the details. 

Can you see my picture on the wall? It's the legend that is Captain Picard "Make It Sew", Data and Geordie have sewing machines... it's the best

And if you're interested, oooh look at the pretty insides. I used pre-made bias binding to bind the seams, and hair canvas around the edge to give it a nice standing out skirt. 

And the winner is...!

Sorry this took so long folks, I have no excuses other than that I didn't order my super special prize until right at the last minute (like... right now!) and I didn't want to do the big reveal without it.

I can now reveal that the lucky winner...

Chosen by random number generator...

You have to imagine this is being said by the guy off the lottery, not my Northern accent...

Is... Mary of Handmadebymaryall who appears to be all the way in Italy! How international this international giveaway is!

Thank you so much to everyone who took part, it was lovely to take part in something in a physical way rather than over the airwaves. Im looking forward to doing some more things like this in the future.

Please see below the extra little something I have ordered to go with the massive haul of patterns, love these sewing related bits and pieces, hope you do too Mary!

Sleeveless Mathilde

Here is my Mathilde Sleeveless Blouse as promised! I love this blouse, it's floaty, spring-like, work appropriate, and a stash bust, hoorah. The fabric was bought in my years at Abakhan and is a polyester-type chiffon-type material (not very accurate description I know). 

It's been a staple through Me Made May, as some of you may have noticed. Not sure why I'm pouting in so many of these pictures... maybe I was feeling especially posey. Apologies for looking so shattered in these, it's been a hard week! I'm shattered, but it's nearly the bank holiday weekend. Before I get into the ins and outs of this make, I wanted to let you know that me, my sis and best friend went to London last weekend and found the bridesmaid dresses... and they are amazing! Can't wait to show you, you lucky people you.

I put a lot of effort into this blouse, this is the first time I've ever worked with chiffon (?), and wanted to make sure it wasn't skew whiff. I took my time, and wasn't able to draw on the fabric with anything that would show up due to the pattern/ material so as you can see (just) in the above three pics, I traced all my markings with tacking stitches in orange. This was a very lengthy process, but totally worth it, as everything turned out straight, and my tucks are much better than with my black Mathilde.

I wanted to really highlight the best elements of this top (like the tucks and yoke) and didn't want them to get lost in the pattern, so I added some lace along the seam of the yoke, and was going to add some behind each tuck, but it just looked far too busy, so I settled on the top line and I'm really happy with it.

I also bought both ivory and pale grey bias binding to finish the seams, to see how both looked, and I settled on the ivory as it went so well with the lace. And I bought orange flower buttons to go along the back, but again it looked busy so I went for ivory buttons, but in all different shapes and sizes (relatively similar) this did take a while, as each button hole was different to the last. But it was a great stash buster, this has been good on the stash-busting all round. To complete, here are some pics of me looking silly and tired.

A Mathilde Blouse and New Look 6128 skirt

My Mathilde Blouse!

I made this (it feels like) months ago! and we've finally had some sunshine so I thought I would show you my homemade outfit.

The skirt was so boring I decided not to post about it, but in short it's another New Look 6128, in a red and black check (which definitely doesn't match at the seams).

But it's perfect for work, and it fills a whole in the wardrobe.

Hope you like the boots! I was pottering around the garden in my work clothes and walking boots before these pics got took, and I'm far too lazy to go get fancy!

To the main event!

My Mathilde blouse. I'm so proud of myself for making this, I'm sure there are mistakes and tiny things I could do better, but this was the first time I've ever made a blouse, and the first time I've used a slippy fabric. I love this blouse and I'm not afraid to raise my arms to it. In fact, I've begun a second one immediately! And in the over-confidence from the black blouse, I decided to make it in a chiffon/ georgette from my stash, wish me luck!

Here's a sneak preview:

More to come! If you'd like this fabulous pattern, along with the wonderfully in-depth instructions click below:

Another New Look 6128 Pencil Skirt... and a Happy New Year!

First things first... Happy New Year everyone!

Apologies for my lengthy hiatus from the blog, after the move away from Edinburgh, and our unsettled-ness (living with parents's) I have failed at putting anything online. First off I want to show you the last couple of projects I did before we moved, and then I'm going to over the next couple of days add some more projects that I did for Christmas pressies, which I haven't been able to publish for obvious reasons!

After the success of my burnt orange pencil skirt, I decided to do the same pattern again, because it fit so well... and because of the novelty of having a straight skirt that doesn't do that tightness around the thighs and bum which I don't like.

And here it is! It's in a dogtooth brown, and what Mr T calls Dragon tooth in brown on the pockets. I love this pattern, it came together really easily, and I haven't stopped wearing it for two months:

Hope you like the pictures, I hope you've all had an amazing festive season, did you manage to get any crafting done? I've mostly been eating chocolate, but it has to be done ey? 

Swap shopping and packing post

The date of the big move is inching ever closer, and so I'm afraid my blog posts will start to slow down a little while I try and get packed and sorted out.

This is also due to having to pack away my sewing machine, and paraphernalia including a massive amount of fabric and wool that I don't actually want or need. So the Granny's Swap Shop came along just in time. I went through all of my craft materials and packed a (shamefully) massive suitcase of stuff which I took along to work with me (donating some wool to work mates along the way), and then took over the Central Hall for some swapping fun!

You can see here the suitcase once it was empty, and the single ball of wool I took home with me, very proud of myself for not swapping my masses of stuff for more masses of stuff.


Everyone was super generous with all of their donations, with everyones gems from the back of the cupboard coming out of the woodwork, including vintage patterns, half finished socks, loads of wool and even some knitting needles!

I had a brilliant night and I feel like I've made my first step on the road to packing. I hope you can see from the pictures below, that I think the rest of the Granny Greens Gang had a great night too, thanks Andrea for organising this brilliant event!

Have you ever done a swap shop? Any hints and tips for finding a brilliant bargain? Or would you like to do one but just don't know where to start? Leave a message below and I'll get back to you.

Thanks, Deborah

New Look 6723.... success!

I have completed my wallpaper dress!

I learnt lots of things whilst making this dress, one of which being it doesn't matter how careful you are at measuring, you can still end up with a dress that's about 2 inches too big for you. I will take a note of this and (probably) end up making this in a size smaller next time. I think I've seen bloggers mention this problem before, have you encountered anything like this?

I'm still really happy with it though, I like the casual element that the slightly bigger size gives. But I'll try and make a smaller one next time, to see if I like that aswell.

In the picture to the left you can see me taking advantage of the pockets that I added to the pattern (all dresses/skirts should have pockets).

In these pictures you can see the shared garden in our Edinburgh flat... and the light disappearing from it even though it's only 1pm in the afternoon. I'm going to really miss this outdoor space, but I'm not going to miss that it loses light so early in the day! Hopefully I'll have a garden all of my own in our new house

  

Overall I'd say this pattern is easy enough to make, the instructions are clear, and there are no confusing extra steps to trip you up. However, it annoyed me that it didn't come out the size that it said it would, so it loses points on that score!

If you'd like one that might be a little more accurate, this pattern looks quite similar to the Peony from Colette patterns. There is a project on at the moment called a Sewalong, which you can join in to make your very own Peony, bloggers will take you through the process step by step and everyone can add in hints and tips for making this dress the perfect fit. I had already started my dress, so have missed out on the chance, but if you want to give it a go, click on the logo at the bottom of the page to have a look. Happy Sewing!

Deborah

New Look 6723... and my stupidest mistake so far

So! My first attempt at making a dress for about three years, and I'm making it from a pattern, and due to the success of my pencil skirt I am once again following the instructions.

The first thing I had to do was make an adjustment to the dress pattern. From my measurements I was a size 18 hip and waist, and a 16 top.

I'd like to mention here something that I'm sure people know but I want to put my two pence in. You have to measure yourself and use these measurements to choose your dress size. I'm usually a size 12 in dresses, and have fallen into the trap before of just going for it and making this size... only to find it is then three sizes too small. This is much more depressing than measuring your body, and matching this to the (clearly mental) sizings on the pattern packet. Do not be depressed! You have not put on 6 stone since you got up this morning, the pattern people just live in a strange bubble of sizing. So... rant over.

Back to the point, to match up the pattern pieces I just drew a line after the waist point, following the curve of the pattern piece as much as possible, starting from the size 16 line and ending on the size 18.


First to the mistake... I cut out my skirt pieces (the biggest bits of all) upside down! This was kind of irretrievable, I cut out new pieces in the end and had to buy more (stupidly expensive for my first go at this dress) material. I then cut out as many pieces from what I had left as possible, being a bit haphazard with the pattern, but at least not upside down. The next day when I cut out the skirt, I went back and started thinking again and doing things properly. I started by lying out everything I had on the floor to see where I was up to, how it was going to look etc. I recut my skirt pieces, matching up the pattern to the top piece (which the pic above does not do... I was going to attempt to use the back as the front... the pattern was far too higgledy piggledy). And then cut out my lining pieces. Everything was going to be ok!

Because of the trauma so far on this dress, I decided not to take any chances on the sleeve (which I've never done before... the sleeve, not take chances) so I made a muslin. Which basically means that I cut a sleeve out of cheap fabric, tacked it on to see what it would look like, and how sleeves work without ruining my fabric. This worked really well, as you can see from my pleased face in the picture.

I worked out from this where I wanted the sleeve to finish, as in seeing the sleeve on I thought the 3/4 sleeve might be a bit much with all that pattern. I marked this spot on the muslin and cut out my sleeve pattern pieces accordingly.


This is where I am up to so far! I'm so proud, and cant wait for my next challenge... a lapped zipper! wish me luck!

Burnt Orange Pencil Skirt

I finished something! Hoorah! And here's a picture of our kitchen (which only fits one person) actually looking quite clean for once. I think I could give The Little Paris Kitchen a run for its money.

Out of my entire giant list of things for last weekend, I feel I did very well by actually completing a project and not getting distracted, attempting to do four and achieving nothing.

However, I did only finish one project, but it was totally worth it. I made a burnt orange pencil skirt for the winter, and it fits both my waist and hips. Something I have never found in the shops, even when I was teeny tiny. I'm really starting to believe I can sew clothes.

I always used to give it a go, but never paid very much attention to the pattern, or ironed anything, so it was never quite as pristeen as I would like it. The sizing would be out, or I'd have made something up ad hoc and it would go wrong.

Not that I haven't done that in this project... but I'm getting better at it maybe? As you can see in this post, the skirt is a remake of a remake, a hack job I did on a skirt that was several sizes too big. I unpicked all the side seams and recut the pieces from my pattern.

Something to do with me leaving the back zip in instead of re-doing it meant that the waistband fell just short of the right size, so I bound the raw edge with navy bias binding. I think I got away with it, just. But now I know when I make the pattern from fresh that I might add another inch to the waistband just in case.

I also made belt loops, which came together very quickly and easily. Unfortunately when I was stitching them into the waistband, it seems to have pulled the waistband closer together (I should probably have basted alot more?), if you've got any tips on how to avoid this in future then please let me know!

I added in tartan panels for the pocket pieces to add contrast (and because I ran out of material) and added in the belt loops in tartan to keep up the theme.

When I did the top stitching on the pockets, I did it in navy to tie in with the pockets.

I learnt something new on this project too, understitching. When I read the description of what this was on the pattern, as usual, it all sounded complete gobble di gook, so I looked up understitching on google, and what should come up but the lovely Colette of Colette Patterns. Her instructions here, were clear and easy to follow with pictures (v. important to a person like me who gets all those words confused in their head). I was very pleased with the results, this makes the fabric not roll out revealing the navy lining.

Overall, this pattern worked really well. It was easy to follow, and fit me to the dimensions that it said on the packet (not always something that actually happens). I'm still learning, but feel like I really made progress with this, and haven't stopped wearing it since it was made! Any projects you're particularly proud of at the moment?

Deborah

September Weekend Projects

Working for the Council has some benefits, the best of which is the Midlothian September weekend. I have a four day weekend to play with, and for the first time (probably since we moved up) we don't have visitors!

The original plan was to make a practise version of my wedding dress (above left), but with the prices of fabric up in Edinburgh, and the amount of fabric needed for my first draft pattern V1094, I decided to get a pattern with a little less fabric. So I chose New Look 6723, and a beautiful vintage wallpaper-esque navy blue fabric. I think I need the most practise on the bodice, so went for a basic one to start with, to work my way up. I'll keep you posted with progress on this one.

The project I've first started is a re-working of the orange skirt (in the centre of this picture), when I first bought this skirt it was a number of sizes too big for me. So I did my usual job of taking it apart and adding a couple of pleats. It sort of fit, but having lost a little weight over the summer, it has just become unwearable. So I've gone back to basics, taking all the seams apart, and making the pattern pieces from New Look 6128. I ran out of fabric to do the waistline, so I've added in some dark green and blue tartan as the pocket pieces, adding some contrast. I think it works, but will have to wait and see if I wear it when it's finished.

You've seen a variety of pictures of my flower embroidery, and I'm coming to the end of finishing it. So I bought some teal pom pom trim (my favourite kind of trim) and I'm going to add it to the edge of the pillow/ cushion to make it slightly more cushion looking (hopefully). Also, Im thinking it needs something a little more in the main area of the cushion, feels a litte white to me. I've got some plans for how to fill this in... watch this space!

Obviously I have taken on way more than I can do in this weekend, but it's quite nice to have exciting plans ahead. Ill update you soon with my progress!



Deborah