2012

Review time!  Well I majorly failed in achieving what I set out to do at the beginning of the year!  I was going to make a dress every month of the year to increase my sewing skills and to increase my wardrobe! Well that didn’t work! For the first few months it went well I made 4 dresses and a cheating dress for Miss C all of which I’ve worn regularly over the year.

But then deadline was getting to me, I was making Simplicity 2588 in a lovely navy gingham and it just turned into a disaster when I got the the collar stage.  I’d even made a muslin of this dress which looked good and I had high hopes.  I spent ages making sure that the gingham squares would line up but I think I put the collar piece on the wrong way round and by the time I realised I’d trimmed the pieces and broken my heart!  Its all in a bag, maybe I’ll revisit next year…

So I decided to stop pressuring myself and take a break.  From then on the rest of the year was great, I sewed what and when I wanted, I even got into hand sewing and hand quilted a quilt.I found it relaxing and enjoyable to sit there in the evening sewing away.  This was why I at the end of the year I finally had some success with crocheting. 

My best successes this year were designing and drafting a costume for Miss M and making my Stripy Renfrew top although the kids LOVE the quilt!

I enjoyed the process of making a sloper/block for Miss M and the freedom to design whatever we wanted.  It made me go back to my long dreamed of ideal of having a basic block for me and adapting it.  I’m not going to set myself the challenge of doing this as from past experience I’ve found it doesn’t work, plus since last year I’ve now got 2 jobs and doing a Teaching Assistant course which tons of homework each week!  Hopefully I will be getting more work next year so I’m not going to put any more pressure on myself, but I would like to draft out a basic bodice and go from there instead of buying the same type of dress all the time and making similar adjustments all the time.  I’d also like to make more Renfrews as they are just great and perfect for work in school so I’m on the look out for lovely knits.  I’d like to try more crochet but not sure what yet, it was great to have a target and theme of Christmas for the bits I made but not sure what to do in 2013.  BTW this blog is now 3 years old!

Where’s the bandwagon?

Yes I am still here, never being the most regular blogger I seem to have turned into an occasional blogger these days.  I still read everyone else’s blogs avidly and in doing so have seen all the wonderful Pendrell Blouses around blogland.  I stumbled across Tasia of Sewholic Patterns just as she was finishing her Pendrell Blouse Sewalong and then loads of versions popped up on various blogs each one looking as lovely as the last and making me itch to make one myself especially as I’m her target audience being very pear shaped!  So when she released her latest pattern (Crescent Skirt) and was offering free shipping (from Canada fgs, I can’t get free delivery from Tesco round the corner never mind Canada!) on both patterns I thought it sounded a great deal (ever the MSEer!). 

Tasia is starting a Sewalong on Monday for the Crescent Skirt which I intend to join in with BUT I’m away for the Easter weekend so I might dip in and out of it.  But in the meantime I HAD to make a Pendrell and as part of my on-going attempt to transform from Slummy to Yummy I thought it would be perfect.  I knew I wanted a white top, to be able to wear with a multitude of patterned skirts I’ve previously made so I found a white cotton lawn (I think) with dobby dots and little squares.  Its a little sheer but not too immodest!  I didn’t want my first (I’m sure there will be more of them….) version to be slippery fabric so I went for the cotton and it was really easy to make.  The only problems I encountered were of my own making

• I need to use a finer needle for fine fabrics as I had a problem with skipped stitches especially sewing through the various layers when sewing on bias binding trim.  I used a new needle and I re-threaded many times but I kept having the same problem therefore I deduce the problem must be the wrong size needle.  I don’t usually sew with finer dressmaking fabrics so I need to invest in better needles.  I found this a problem in the past having used cheaper Hemline needles, and then swopping for better quality John James needles.  I should have used a size 9/70 I guess..
• The pattern is a little too long for my tastes, I don’t wear tops tucked in so the natural length is too long for me.  I was too unsure about cutting the pattern before hand (I have enough trauma cutting the paper pattern as it is, what if I’ve got the wrong size?  What if I cut the wrong line?! Can’t get a refund on a cut pattern!) so I ended up cutting off about 4 inches after construction.  I shall go back now and amend the paper patterns to take this into consideration as I can’t every see myself wanting to wear it longer. 
• I measured myself and 3 out of  4 measurements ended up in the size 14 columns so I traced that size off on Frost Fleece.  Using the Fit For Real People method I tissue fitted the pattern but felt that it wasn’t quite generous enough across the bust and hip even though they were the measurements that hit that size!  I went for the Size 16 (and cut the paper pattern!) but I still have the Frost Fleece if I decide to go a little smaller.  I think the 16 is a good fit but maybe a smidgeon big around the neck.  I might try a 14 in a Frost Fleece muslin to double check the size. 
• Maybe because I used the 16 I found the armholes a little gappy so I sewed the side seam about 1/2 inch smaller and tapered back to the side seam, this seemed to work well. 
• I had to sew first and then overlock later as I’m always afraid to commit to doing it in one pass on my overlocker which made the process a little longer.  Having done one version I think next time I’ll do it in one go, that might reduce the amount of skipped stiches as well as the overlocker doesn’t stop for anyone!

Anyway so late last night I finished it!  As it was such a lovely day today I decided to wear it on our family visit to Fishbourne Roman Place near Chichester along with my previous latest creation which I never got round to blogging!  Back in February I bought some Echino Bonbon in brown which I think made a lovely skirt but none of my family seem to agree!!! What do you think?!

I was wearing jeans when I tried it on yesterday but when I put it on this morning I had a bit of a crisis of confidence as I looked different and the ruffles looked waaay too OTT for me but looking at this picture I think it looks ok.  I would like to make a turquoise version to match the turquoise circles in this skirt but then I would only be able to wear it with this skirt or jean?  I would also like to try a shiny fabric but defiantly need good needles for that one!

I’ve got all my supplies for the Crescent, even though it took ages to find a fabric I liked so that's the next bandwagon to jump onto, at this rate I’ll be on to the Colette Patterns next as they are other company that everyone in blogland raves about atm.  Crepe maybe? Or probably Beignet?!

So anyway after irregular blogging I’ve made up for it in this post a very wordy one which can be summarised thus

1. I made a Pendrell because everyone else was
2. I will most likely make another one or two
3. I’m going to make a Crescent Skirt in the Sewalong
4. I’m easily swayed to follow a sewing blogging meme!
5. I’m a crap Blogger!

Bedroom makeover

 

Gosh, its been a while…..  what have I been doing for the past month and why haven’t I been blogging?  Well I’ve been doing a makeover to Miss M’s bedroom, you might remember I was designing and making a duvet cover a few weeks ago well I finally finished everything!  She’s 8 now and previously her bedroom was all pinkified and with fairies everywhere so we/she wanted something a little more grown up (without being too grown up!) and there wasn’t really any character theme that she was interested in that would last her the next few years and all she wanted was purple.  So we was decided on something bohemian, glamorous, eclectic and  comfortable that would be appropriate for the next few years before she turns all goth and wants to paint it black!   I decorated her duvet cover and make cushions using Pat Bravo – Dreaming in French range which I bought from Seamstar.

It was packaged beautifully!

and looked yummy!

 

So I cut and sewed and cut and sewed and cut yada yada yada ended up with loads of pillows!

 

I had 2 24” cushions, 5 16” cushions and a bolster (which required Pi calculations to get the right dimensions!).  The square cushions are all envelope backed and the bolster has an invisible zip. 

Here’s the bed in all its glory, duvet cover and cushions!

Even more cushions!  A reading nest!

The walls were painted a nice lilac colour and 1 of the walls was painted a vivid purple colour, to match the curtain,  and lovely vinyl decorations added (There are over 100 pieces on this wall!!!) And check out the mirror, how very Snow White is that? 

 

 

 

How great do these look?

We also added some vinyl to another wall which has Miss M’s name in beautiful script, more flowers and although it doesn’t show up here some of the white flowers as well.

(I’ve obscured her name for privacy!)

A reading light above the bed for late night reading. 

We changed the handles on her furniture which previously had pink hearts but now they are glamorous purple crystal-like handles. 

One of the best parts of the room is her notice board above her desk.  I investigated magnetic paint but found conflicting reviews about its effectiveness so we got a sheet of mild steel from eBay, primed it, and painted it with the wall colour then screwed to the wall.  This means we can get some fridge magnets and Miss M can decorate it as she wants! 

I think this is Miss M’s favourite part, her ‘chandelier’…

I think the mirror and the purple wall with white vinyl are my favourite

Mirror mirror on the wall…

What do you think?  What's your favourite part, would you have liked to have a bedroom like this when you were 8? 

Right, sewing clothes next, just bought Fit For Real People which I’m pouring over at the moment so hopefully I’ll have something to show you soon….

 

I shall be linking up with all these lovely link parties this week

Water bottles

My kids currently take packed lunches to school every day so I made them some personalised lunch bags this year. Our school had a £1/2m building program this year to enlarge the school hall to allow hot dinners to be served, (all hail Jamie Oliver, we love you!).  This means the kids won’t be taking their lunch bags into school but I still want them to take their water bottles as they can drink them in class when they need to.  So (insert drumroll here) I made them water bottle holders!

It was based on this tutorial from Kathy at Pink Chalk Studios except I used wadding rather than Insul-Brite, this gave it a little more bulk than the original so my base disc didn’t fit quite as well as hers but I’m still pleased with it.  The girls have already used them for after school activities and I don’t have the carry the bottle, yipee! 

I lined the bottles with rip stop nylon as I did their lunch bags and I used different patterns to quilt the layers together.  I can’t believe how much fun it was just sewing line after line to quilt the purple fabric!  I tried using a more haphazard free motion quilting technique on the pink fabric with varying success.  I like the end product when other people have used it but I think I need a lot of practice as it was a little too haphazard!  I keep getting a little closer to the idea of actually making a proper quilt, maybe one of these days I’ll actually get there! 

I shall be linking up with all these lovely link parties this week and crossing another thing off my to-do list!