January Blues

I always assume that January will be a quiet month, one where no one will want to go out because no one has any money. I'm always wrong, ha ha. I've been out for dinner, am planning a trip down to London mid-month, three leavings dos, and I couldn't make it to a murder mystery evening due to the number of invitations bandying about! So naturally I have been grumbling about my fabulous social life instead of just getting on with it. Sometimes I pine for the days where my one social outing a week was the craft club in Edinburgh, and then I remember that no social life is no fun at all and I get on with it. How has everyone else's week been? Do you moan about having 'too much' to do?

I've been wearing my comfiest clothes in this super cold weather, trying to stay warm and not moving much from the brand new sofa where I can. This outfit is a comfy weekend/ evening favourite, another 2014 make, I'm catching up promise! The top is based on the Coco pattern. You may remember I attempted a dress from this, and though the comfiest dress ever, I didn't feel pulled together enough for day to day wear. However, I did see potential in the pattern.

I wanted a pattern to match my favourite jumper (the black and white one in this post), so laid the coco pattern over the jumper, with a roll of pattern paper underneath. I then matched up the under arm seam, and neckline. Areas where my RTW jumper extended past the pattern, I drew onto the paper underneath. 

I then took the jumper away and matched up the Coco pattern with the new lines. I followed the Coco pattern instructions to complete, and got the following jumper! 

The material is a mystery knit from a basket at Abakhan, with a lovely stripe of gold for a bit of glam. I've still got loads left, maybe I'll attempt a cardigan too? The skirt is an unblogged New Look 6128, very straightforward, navy cord skirt, nae fuss. this is a workhorse outfit. I've been trying to work at filling gaps in my wardrobe, and this certainly ticks all the boxes on that. 

Back to Work... Back to Reality

Guys! Whose sad to be back at work? For some reason the holidays felt like they lasted for so long, so it was especially difficult to push myself off the sofa and back into the big world. Though in actuality the return wasn't half as hard as I thought it would be, shiny new job carried me through. Here's me looking swish in my working clothes, 'cause I'm a workin' ladayyy, though to be fair most days I have a very thick jumper on these days because the office is freezing.

I managed to put most of my clothes away over the Christmas break, this was my main goal, as well as ya know, eating my own body weight in cheese etc. Is that bad? The wardrobe was basically empty and every surface was covered in clothes. Sometimes I'm lazy, what can you do? Well, I suppose I could be less lazy but that's not happening any time soon so goals over the holidays will usually include getting back on track with the tidying.

This skirt is an A-line self drafted black jacquard work/ going out skirt. This is another attempt to de-orphan some of the clothes in my wardrobe, and have something a little smarter to wear in the office.

I have yet to perfect the high waist skirt waistband however, and this one again came out a little big. every skirt will get better and better though so by 2018 I'm sure I'll have a skirt that fits right off the bat. We also emptied our downstairs cupboard of all the charity/ tip stuff we've had in there for over a year (can you believe that?!). It's just so hard to get rid of stuff when you don't have a car. Which reminds me, I will definitely learn to drive this year, third time is the charm! Has to be, can't be doing with this goal not having been achieved yet after all this time. Ridiculous!

... And we bought a sofa! See? We weren't lazy at all, naysayers the lot of you. I'm so excited about sofa, it's the first time we've bought ourselves such a large piece of furniture, and the first time we've owned our own sofa having struggled with second handers, hand me downs, and 'furnished' house monstrosities since we both left home for uni. I'm excited about having a seat that doesn't slope, or hurt my back/ posterior. Good luck with the end of your week, if you're anything like me you're probably lagging a bit by this point. You can do it guys, so close to the weekend.

Hits and Misses 2014

Happy New Year guys! I hope your New Years was fantastic, and your holidays as Christmassy as you should wish. I was very lucky again this year and was thoroughly spoilt as usual. Plus there was karaoke-ing with my family (quickly becoming tradition), loads of food... plus I bought my own christmas food shop so we could indulge once we got back home, all in all it's been a really lovely time, and just the break I needed. Though I have had a cold for a while which is a bummer, hopefully it will get lost soon so I can get back to normal brain.

2014 was a fantastic year, first year of marriage, new job, friends, book clubs, party times, I have a lot to be thankful for. It was a great year for sewing too! I made 14 items in all, not counting some items yet to be blogged, I guess I'll add those to next years review. Here are my top 5!

Number one of course is my shiny new purple raincoat, I mean, I did make it completely out of season, but I'm so proud of it, and that means it will be ready to go for spring which is when I'll want it, instead of starting in Spring and not having it ready in time for the season. 

Most of these outfits appear to have a similar silhouette, capped sleeve, in at the waist, one with a straight skirt, but the rest with a more a-line/ floaty shape. I don't want to change this in the new year really, I want to continue to make things that will reclaim the orphans in my wardrobe, and keep making things in exciting fabrics. One thing I haven't done more of is embroidery on clothes, but I haven't done that many plain items so there wasn't much opportunity for it. 

I could only think of two misses really, most of my makes have done really well this year, fitting well into my wardrobe. Planning has played a big role in my makes this year, I'll save that for another post though. Here are the misses:

I loved this Spotty Anna, I always felt great in it, but the fabric was cheap, and it didn't last long. It is now basically grey, and is destined for the charity pile. 

I made the trousers more for the challenge of a zip fly than anything else, so I can't be surprised really that I haven't worn them much this year. I'm still very proud of them of course, and they will stay in the cupboard with pride. 

2015 is going to be an amazing year, I can't wait, and I'll keep making adventurous cake to keep me going through the year. How was your year? Any resolutions for 2015?

Sparkly Pencil Skirt (or another New Look 6128)

Hello lovely people,

I've been at a meeting in Carlisle today for the new job. I get that for other people the travelling for work thing becomes tiresome very quickly, but I'm riding the wave of 'a day out of the office?' Woooo! We got the train (love trains) and I got a chance to chat to more of my new colleagues, and I had m&s falafel and hummus followed by too many sausage rolls. So a winner all day really.

I've been a bit tired recently due to the new job, I think it's just tiring using your brain a bit more, trying to get your head round a lot of new concepts, even chatting to new people. It all adds up, so sewing has been more of a difficulty this week, just because I'm so tired when I get back that I want to veg out. But I have managed a couple of gifts, two of which need to be posted,,,, now! So I'll be wrapping and finishing things this evening (once I drag myself off the sofa).

Otherwise, I'm very much feeling the festive cheer. I'm looking forward to catching up on my blog roll (I'm so behind due to aforementioned work tired), plus I follow so many now that keeping on top of it can be hard when I've got a good book. But I refuse to remove anyone dammit!

So anyway, here's another New Look 6128. This is my fifth version of this skirt, so there isn't a lot to say except only that three of these now exist 'cause I keep making them out of wool, which I then shrink in the wash. So I'm glad this is 100% washable (apart from the sequins).

This is one of my favourite outfits, I love the shape of the jumper mixed with the straight skirt. I wear this to work, and at the weekend, and any other day I can get away with basically. It feels smart, and comfy, and I love that this material has been recycled. 

I could possibly have ironed this.... ah well! I bought this fabric back in the bygone days of my working at Abakhan in Manchester. It's lovely stuff with white sequins on the fabric. I originally made it in a dress, but in standard style for back then I made it up as I went along pinning on my dummy (that isn't even the same size as me, pinning and adding straps as I went along in hope of making a well fitting dress. 

It did fit ok... but I had so little knowledge of sewing then that it was a bit of a mess. I loved the fabric though so I took it apart, and made a new skirt from the leftovers.

The pattern matching... almost works! And if you squint it works perfectly

So that's it! Hope you're feeling festive now, and have everything ready and are laughing at poor fools like me who thought we could have it all!

The Fantastically Generous Bloggers Shirt

I had a week off from le blog last week, sacrilege I know! But as you may know from my previous post, I started a new job and as we are on the countdown to Christmas there is just so much to do! I've been bringing a few things together, including some ideas for my secret santas. I decided to take part in two this year. One by A Krafty Kat, the one that I took part in last year, and have grand plans for my pressie. Also I have taken part in a newer crafty secret santa by Stitched Up from the Start I've got a great person and can't wait to get it all wrapped up and sent away.

How has your week been? Mine has been good, the new job wiped me out for the first week, lots of meeting new people (even though I've only moved down the hallway) and wrapping my head round a whole world of new acronyms. But I'm feeling good about the move, and can't wait to go to my (two!) Christmas parties.

When I got this new job, I started to think about getting some more work appropriate clothing. I would say that work clothes are one of the things that I love most about making my own clothes, I think I might have mentioned that in my Washi post. I want something that shows my personality, can be dressed up or down, and is layerable (because I sit on an air vent... not as exciting as it sounds). The photos in this are terrible, you can probably tell that yourself but I thought I'd mention it, sometimes it's either terrible pics or freezing pics while your neighbours watch you whilst clearing a garden. I went with bad pics.

Enter my Pauline Alice Cami Shirt

I got the buttons, and lovely... especially bad photographed bias binding from my secret santa last year, I snuck in under the line for making this before the next Christmas! This lovely packet came with instructions, I was to make a shirt. I hope I did you proud Santa!

Unfortunately I didn't find a place for the light blue ribbon, but it awaits in the stash for the perfect project. 

The detailing comes from another lovely bloggers de-stashing from the 2013 Birmingham blogger meet-up, unfortunately I didn't make this years... I was hungover (to my eternal shame). But hopefully it will be on again next year and I can tag along because it was a brilliant day. I got the following material from Amy of Almond Rock, in the great de-stash/ swap, and added it to cuffs and collar.

The shirt is a little tight in the back (see slightly unflattering picture below), I did widen the sleeves as per the adjustments I thought of from the Zig Zag Cami, including a wide shoulder adjustment, which did work as the shoulder seam now sits comfortably on the edge of my shoulder. However, I don't think I widened the arms enough and that is what is causing the tightness. On to the next version!

I bought the skirt in this post from a charity shop in Edinburgh when we lived up there, it had weird little tacked on badges of squirrels and owls, which I removed. It's a great skirt for walking up a hill, or going to the office, and is super warm for chilly knees. The lining was recently falling apart so I attached a new lining to the inside of the skirt, using the edge of the old lining to stitch to.

I love a colourful lining, this was another purchase from the blogger meet-up... there have been a few things languishing in the cupboard for a while ey? Feels good to be using up the stash.

Overall I'm very happy with this shirt, this pattern is on its way to perfect, and once it's right I have so many plans for pattern hacking. I'm very excited!... but should get back to making Christmas pressies. Selfish sewer? Who... me? Hope you have a great weekend.

Debs

Jazzy Washi Dress

Hello everyone,

How's your week going? This week is my last in my current job, I've got a new job beginning on Monday! I'm a little nervous as it's a step up, and I don't know a lot about it just yet. But I'm excited to be moving onwards and upwards in my career. My outside of sewing life isn't something I talk about very often, but I'd like that to change, my fave blogs always show a little bit of themselves in their posts and I want to try and do that too.

So now I'm going to talk to you about the Washi dress. My favourite dress pattern to date, this is the dress that I get the most compliments about, and I'm already on my second version.

With shirring in the back this is ridiculously comfortable as well. Look at the fabric! I bought this at the minerva meet-up on a rainy summers day in Darwen, and went through a few plans before I landed on the washi dress. I found this pattern reading The Creative Perfectionist, who made it sound so comfortable, work wearable, and excellent weekend wear that I had to give it a go. I've found that the tunic a-line shape it creates is very flattering for me (or so I'm told) and I plan on making many more of these.

The curved cut-out needs a little work, as the points don't lie flat. However, there are hints and tips in the dress pattern for how to combat these issues. As I hadn't made the pattern before I just made it to the pattern specifications and hoped, but I'll be trying out some of these techniques in my next version. 

You can see there is a little extra fabric in the back, I'm not sure what the solution is to this as it needs that extra fabric for movement. Any thoughts? 

I'm very proud of the shirring on this, I've only ever tried shirring a couple of time before this and though not disastrous they were not exactly triumphs. I followed some of the tutorials online, and the information that came with the pattern, and I'd definitely recommend doing this. However in essence here are the three things I learned:

1. Slightly stretch the shirring elastic as you wind it on to the bobbin

2. Practise practise practise with the material you are going to use, whilst adjusting the tension until it is right

3. Pause halfway through each line and make sure your elastic isn't caught anywhere, and that the tension is correct. 

I hemmed the edge with some bias binding that I also picked up from the meet-up, I have started to pick this up whenever I see any nice bias binding as it is my favourite way to hem a dress.

So what's your latest fad? Have you got a go to Tried n True (TNT) pattern? Also, did you see my shiny shoes? (this is my new favourite phrase) they are part of my, buy awesome shoes plan. The plan has been very effective so far... well if you think, 'it takes a certain kind of person to pull off hipster shoes' as a success, which I definitely do. 

I'm off to watch another five mins of Stargate the movie before bed... Captain O'Neills hair! I'll leave you with what appears to be my favourite new pose, the who... me? shoulder pose.

Purple Raincoat

I did it! Woop! As you can tell I was pretty excited to finish this coat, it is made from a laminated fabric, so it was pretty difficult to manouvre through the machine, but it was totally worth it.

You may remember from my previous post that I made a pattern from an old coat, taking this apart and tracing around the pieces. You can see that here.

A couple of adjustments I made to this pattern were to omit the collar, and replace with a hood. The original coat had a hood attached by buttons underneath the collar. But I never took the hood off, and the collar got in the way of the hood so off it came.

This meant I had to draft the hood as I wanted one that was a little deeper, I hate when the wind picks your hood off your head in the midst of a downpour.

I used a heat activated waterproofing tape to seal the seams, it was a little difficult to get the temperature correct. Some of the tape melted, and some of it didn't attach, but I got there in the end. All I can hope is that it's still ok in there!

The pockets were attached on to the outside, I used the lining piece from New Look 6128. I lined the pocket pieces and then top-stitched them on. I rolled the lining into the centre, so you would see very little of it on the outside.

The seams have been stitched using flat felled seams, this stitches the bulk down on the inside. The triangular pieces at the back and front yoke caused a bit of a headache, but I found that if I snipped off the edge at the point of the triangle, stitched down to the point, and did the same for the other side (rather than leaving the needle in and pivoting) it all went ok.

Oooh shiny green lining. The lining was a little bit complex, I haven't lined a jacket successfully before so I didn't really know what I was doing, but I muddled through. I began by attaching the hood lining to the top of the back facing. I then stitched through the hood to the facing, to secure it in place.

I stitched the sleeve lining pieces to the end of the sleeves right sides together. I then attached the lining to the facings, inside out and stitched the sleeves to the main lining. This meant I had the raw edges of the sleeves showing where I attached it to the main body. I could have had stitched but  was feeling under a bit lazy at the time so I hand stitched bias binding to cover this seam. I then hand stitched the bottom edge of the coat together.

A mistake I made was to put the button holes on the man side of the coat, but you know you win some, you lose some. Feels very odd trying to the close them up on the wrong side though.... as my face shows here.

This definitely counts as a completed challenge, I'm so proud of the coat. It is a spring coat really, I wore it for a week but it was pretty chilly, and a little sweaty in there on a hot bus. Can't wait for the spring! Look here's a dance... do you reckon it will make the spring come early?