Constructive criticism required…

I’m about to decorate Miss M’s bedroom and we’ve been umming and ahhing for ages about how to change the bedding, should we get duvet covers, make a quilt etc etc.  In the end we decided to get a plain duvet cover which I will then applique on random shapes in the fabric range we’ve selected.  I’ve been playing around trying to mock up the duvet cover but having a real crisis of confidence.  Bearing in mind I have NO design experience, very little colour awareness and like bold patterns but usually too timid to use them!  The colour range we’ve selected is Dreaming In French St Germain palatte by Pat Bravo with some Moda solids in flesh, purple and lilac.  The duvet cover is from John Lewis and plain lilac.  3 of the walls will be a lilac colour and 1 will be a darker plum colour to match the curtains.  There will be 4 small cushions, 1 bolster cushion and 2 larger cushions covered with the same fabrics as the duvet cover and the whole feel we are going for is eclectic, bohemian, warm & cosy. 

Here's what I’ve got so far……

… what do you think?

I’ve tried to balance shapes, lights and darks and scale of print vs. solids.  OH suggested embroidering her name on the bottom but I’ve just put her initial at the moment.  I like the bottom and I like the corners, I think I like the 3 ripples in the middle but maybe the top right section is too cluttered. 

What's right about it, what's wrong about it, am I on completely the wrong track, all advice gratefully received, even if you don’t normally comment, please give me an opinion today, I need blogland approval!

My day out in Brighton…

I had a lovely time at the Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft Show at the Brighton Centre today.  I went last year and reported back so I thought I would do the same! 

There is a mixture of interests catered for including knitting, quilting, paper crafts, card making, general sewing and also miscellanous stalls like a bloke selling hanging baskets!  This year there were less fabric stalls, in fact I only saw 3: Stitch Witch, Eternal Maker and the most beautiful stall I ever saw from Dandelion Designs; they were 4 deep at this stall, all oohing and aahing over the vintage buttons, Scandinavian-esque stitchery and Union Jack Quilt kits. 

(beginning to regret not buying this kit…….)

So what did I buy? Well I bought lots of hab-dab stuff including invisible thread, a new blade for my rotary cutter, a new bias binder maker (which allows to add iron on tape to added) and a loop turner. 

A new cross stitch kit for Christmas, I was on my way out when I spotted this and just had to have it!

Some strips of pretty panels, not sure what I’ll do with this but it was too pretty to leave behind!  I could applique the panels to t-shirts for the girls or on  a bag maybe……

and then……. from The Eternal Maker the most lovely Echino linen!   Yummy yummy yummy! Echino Bonbon in brown.  I bought 2 metres intending to make a skirt for myself and it cost more than I usually spend on fabric (£16/m) but I HAD to have it!.  This stall had the best fabrics I’ve seen in the flesh for ages.  They have a shop and workshop based in Chichester which I have visited before and will be heading back there soon!

There was a stall run by the UK Hand Knitting Association which was running knitting workshops.  Wanting to capitalise my recent knitting adventure I had a little introduction to increasing and decreasing stitches and knitted myself a little kite shape.  The lady also gave me a set of knitting needles and a ball of acrylic yarn although not as nice as the cotton yarn and bamboo needles I got from the WI workshop it will do for practise!

After this I decided to go Fabricland where I could easily spend all day and much too much money!  I’ve bought from the website before but of course you have to pay postage but as I was in Brighton, well it would have been rude not to visit! 

I bought this cotton seersucker with a peach stripe which was £1.99/m!  So I bought 4m!  I intend to make a shirt for myself with this. 

 

This is a jersey mix which I intend to make a top based on one I bought from Dorothy Perkins. 

This is a polyester blend, which I don’t normally like but it will make a lovely skirt for me.  There might be enough for one of the girls as well!

So that was my haul from Brighton, I found the show at the Brighton Centre a little disappointing this year, mainly as there were much less fabric retailers this year.  Chatting to a stall holder apparently it costs too much for the fabric retailers as they have to have a large stall to hold the stock.  In fact all the fabric retailers had small stalls whereas the paper craft retailers had large stalls.  I think if you are interested in more than just 1 craft then it would be worthwhile but I don’t think I’ll bother next year, especially as the best stall there is one I can easily get to, living between Brighton and Chichester! 

These fabrics will have to wait for a little while as the next project is decorating Miss M’s bedroom….

What do I need to know?

I'm thinking of doing a dressmaking & tailoring course at college and went along last night for the Information Evening but unfortunately they had no information!   They are in the process of recruiting a tutor so they will have more information when they are appointed. 

What I was expecting was a syllabus of things that would be covered/achieved through the course but the details I have got are very vague - 'You will learn to understand a pattern and choose suitable material.  We will look at creating detail on your garment, including pockets and button holes.  By the end of the course you will be able to product a personalised garment from stratch.'  Now that doesn't sound very thorough to me, it sounds like you would choose your commercial pattern and then make it through the course (2 hrs/ week for 11 weeks) learning the things you would come across on THAT pattern therefore if you had chosen a simple pattern you wouldn't cover things that you would need for a more difficult pattern. 

So it got me thinking - what would MY syllabus be?  I grew up with my mother sewing loads of clothes both for me and other people and I would make dolls clothes as a child.  I later did sewing in school but at a very low level (pre - GCSE) and then did nothing until a couple of years ago.  So I have some basics but also lots of holes in my knowledge and definitely in my confidence level.  I have now improved lots of my skills (through blogs and web in general) but I know there are lots of things I don't know or am not confident about. So my question is what does a sewer need to know, I mainly make clothes and I'm interested in knowing about designing patterns so here's my brain-dump list of things I'd like to know or have trouble with:-

• making button holes
• fitting collars
• fitting yokes
• fitting sleeves
• fitting pockets
• handling fine fabrics
• expected sizings (e.g. children, womens)
• different fabric types
• accurate measurement
• drafting block/sloper
• lining clothes e.g. a bodice
• designing children's clothes, understanding proportions as they grow

Do I need to go to college to learn these things?  I guess not but I think the advantage would be someone to talk to about any problems I have as I don't have anyone in the real world that sews and could help me out.  Maybe I need to find a sewing circle or some other method to pick up this knowledge.  I live in Sussex if anyone has any information about sewing circles or course in the area.....

Goodies!

I went to a fair yesterday at the Brighton Centre at which I bought lot of lovelies which I thought I would share with you and some of the lovely exhibitors I met. The buttons above came from a local company called The Button Company which is based in Chichester. They make and dye their own buttons made from polyester rather than nylon according to the the lovely lady serving me. They had oodles of lovely buttons in different shapes and shade and very individual ones. I don't really need the buttons for anything specific but really wanted to buy some! The ones above remind me of jelly sweets and look scrumptious to eat so much so that they have been commandeered by Miss C to use in her sweet shop game!

There were some lovely fabric retailers there as well including Stitch Witch, Sunflower Quilting Corner, Eternal Maker but my absolute favourite was a tiny little stall run by a lovely lady called Fiddlesticks Fabric who runs an online shop through ebay. Her fabrics were so special and different, as she said her customers are slightly younger so they want fabric that's different. That means she has loads of cute, funky and different fabrics rather than lots of florals as you sometimes get from some retailers. She said she had only just got her new stock in from the US and hadn't even got it online yet so check out her shop in the next few days so more gorgeous lovelies (I know I will, just don't tell DH!)

Look at this!

How sickenly cute is this???!

a few close ups-

I'm thinking I might use this as applique material for the girls clothes as they are so stinkingly adorable!

I also bought 2m of this lovely flowery fabric from her. I just thought it looked so happy and would make a great spring skirt.

Which might get made using with the present I bought for myself which arrived in the post the same day!

I was tempted to buy this book after Florence raved about it the other day. I wanted to learn the basics of dressmaking and pattern drafting and this book looks ideal for that, it has basic patterns for skirt, trousers, t-shirts, tops and dresses although I'm not sure the dresses would suit my curvy frame but we'll see. I poured over the book last night (who though reading pattern instructions would be interesting!) and have lots of ideas. As I mentioned before I want to make a simple a-line skirt in beautiful fabrics like Boden skirts but without the Boden price! Ideally this book will give me by perfect pattern for a simple skirt so I can then experiment with all the lovely fabrics out there (Watch out Fiddlesticks Fabrics)!

My other purchases were not crafty or fabric but gifts instead! Some for me but also for MIL

This one is for my MIL birthday coming up soon.

This one is for me! and so are these........

and these.......

...and these!

I think that's enough goodies for one day, I better go read my book somemore so I can actually make something!

Challenge

Carolyn over at My Favourite is setting us all a challenge for 2010 to create something each month. She has set it all out already what each month will cover and the idea you do as much or as little as you can. I'm signing up, in fact it was this that finally got me moving on starting my own blog to track my progress in exploring my creative side, so come and join in! It'll be fun!