Bleuuuurrrrrggggghhhh

What the term for when you have a great creative idea but it doesn't quite come out the way you envisioned?  I keep having ideas at the moment which I'm kinda keeping under my hat as I'm not sure if they are gonna work and I'm inching closer to something worthwhile but its hard work.  I have all these ideas but when I try them they aren't quite as good as they should be or I want them to be.  I'm wondering if I'm moving towards something worthwhile or wasting my time.  I guess I'll have to plough on and give it a shot and see it through.  What do you think?  I know its hard to help as I'm being delibrately vague but is it better to aim for something and miss or to admit when you are beaten?  Guess I have to think, what would I want my kids to do in this situation, quit or try it? 

Pincushion

I'm not the tidiest of people and any work area I inhabit very quickly gets untidy, there are usually strata of projects anywhere I work!  I've recently commandeered the spare room for my crafty adventures and true to form its gotten really messy, there are bits of thread all over the floor (and pins!!) there are scraps all over the place and pattern pieces everywhere!  Its just not good enough and then I saw this pincushion featured on Sew, Mama, Sew and knew my life would not be complete unless I had one so I did what any respectable crafter does, ignored my family for a few hours and made one! 

I used some tea-towels I had picked up from Poundland so you know it didn't cost much!  Wotcha think?  I think it looks pretty nifty, I need to put some more weight in it, its weighed down with rice but I think I might get some gravel (maybe?) to make it heavier!   Just to show you the problem here is the before picture......

and here's the after picture......

now if I could just sort out the bed and the cupboard I'll be laughing!!!!!

any ideas to make me more organised?!

Failure and Success

Well in my last post I was debating whether to make a particular dress and whether it would suit my body type.  Well, I decided to go ahead with it, the suggested fabrics on the back stated, 'fluid fabrics, satin, silk' amongst others.  There was no way I was going to make it in silk but went to the fabric shop and looked at the kind of fabrics I don't normally look at, slippery, tactile, flimsy, glamorous(?) fabrics.  I ended up plumping for a pinky floral satin.  OMG, what a nightmare I've been having with it!  Its slippery, it frays easily, it snags easily, it puckers easily and it generally a bl**dy pain in the a**e!  The last 2 weeks have been tortuous, yes 2 weeks! (I've done a bit then got frustrated, thrown it across the room and then stomped off for a few days!)  Anyway, I've now finished the dress and it looks ok on although it clings with static (I believe fabric conditioner resolves this) but and this is a big BUT I have a problem.  Where the v-neck comes down and has a facing on the inside, I trimmed back the seam to fold over neatly but as I already said this fabric frays very easily....... this means that the bodice has started the fray leaving a hole at the seam line between bodice and the facing.  Here it is in full close up horror!

This is right in the middle of the v-neck!

So as you can see the hole is in a really obvious place, I've tried making a rosette/flower to pin over the hole but because the fabric is so blooming slippery etc its just not happening.  I've tried a flower, I've tried a ribbon, I make some bows from bias binding, ribbons everything and nothing looks good.  Even if I managed to get the hole covered the fabric is still really clingy and snags easily so I've sadly decided to cut my losses and abandon the dress.  Realistically I'm not gonna wear it (I was making it for a 90th birthday party but I have an alternative) so why am I bothering?  So what have I learnt?  Well, satin is a pig to sew, also the way it drapes is not particularly flattering to me, so I've learnt that cotton based fabrics are my friends and I should stay there! 

Well that was the failure, now for the success........

I've been wanting to try out sewing with knit fabric but hadn't been able to find it in local shops and even on-line its not a popular as woven fabric (unless I'm looking in the wrong places?  If you know anywhere let me know!) but the other day I found Vend and got some of what I though was reasonable priced knit.  I've been wanting to make a skort (skirt and shorts combined) for Miss M for ages and the other day I came across Carolines posting showing the skorts she has been making and I knew it had to be done.  I didn't have a pattern for the shorts so I made one based on a pair of leggings as I was having trouble with the shorts she has.   Following Carolines post I made................

How cool is this?

Miss M loves them and I loved making them, sewing with knit was easy-peasy and after the debacle described above a refreshing change.  The shorts I knocked up in about an hour but it would be quicker next time as I sewed the wrong leg up and had to get the seam ripper out!!!!  The skirt took a little longer but I'm so proud of it, its beautiful inside and out, the side seams are a french seam (as usual!) the raw edges where the tiers are sewn together have been finished by overcasting, there's top-stitching on the top tier and I even put a label in!

Miss M wore it today and she loved it and I think it looks really funky and I'm soooooo happy with it

I think she will be getting some more of these!  Maybe with shorts rather than longer leg lengths and a different woven. I want to wash these before I make another pair as I think the shorts should be a little tighter on the leg but the knit hasn't been pre-washed (didn't want to deal with rolling edges for my first time!) so I'm gonna wait to see what the shrinkage is and maybe adapt the shorts pattern from there.  The only thing I didn't do quite right was attaching the woven to the waistband & shorts as the woven has 10" of ease.  I realise now that the knit should have been stretched to meet the woven whereas I gathered the woven to meet the knit IYKWIM, that means I've lost the benefit of the ease going over the hips but on Miss M its not a problem.  Next time I'll know what to do. 

This might become a new obsession!  What do you think? 

Ponderings on flattery

I've been making clothes for my girls and I think its my turn now, as I said previously I have a family party coming up and I thought it would be nice to make something new for myself for the party. Its a 90th b'day party so it won't be anything too racy or smart but I thought a pretty dress would be in order.  Rooting through some stuff I inherited from my mum I came across this pattern......

I was thinking of making view B which is the second on the right, but my concern is: will it be flattering to me?  I'm a curvy girl, ample but not too large chest, small waist, pot belly, huge hips, saddlebags & thighs.  Classic British pear!  I'm currently wearing size 14 clothes (not that the number means anything!) and have read what Gok and others advise for curvy girls and what flatters them but I do find it difficult to recognise those features in designs.  So I thought I would ask you guys, do you think this would be a flattering dress?  have you got a killer pattern for the pears amongst us?  Advice gratefully received!

a close-up

Halterneck Dress

So I made another dress for Miss M from pattern New Look 6821.  This time I made a halterneck dress using the same size as the previous dress unfortunately this produced a bodice that was way too big at the back. 

(btw - Doesn't the watermark look like a tattoo - I hope that's the closest Miss M gets to having a tattoo!)

The front looked ok but the back was ridiculous as you can see here.  The problem was that I had constructed the whole thing (zip and all) before I was able to try it on her to see.  This meant I had to deconstruct the whole bodice section to bring the side seams in 1/2 " on each side and then to do the same to the skirt.  I had done my usual french seams on the skirt but by reducing the skirt I had to forgo the french seams, now there are 2 lines of stitching and then a raw edge.  No where near as neat as I would like but in the circumstance not to bad, as least any fraying won't go too far!  I also ended up with the bodice seams and the skirt seam mis-matched.  This was the case when I originally put the dress together but once the seams were re-done it was more pronounced, as they are under the arm and not so noticeable I thinking, tough! 

(Not too bad now!)

I also realised that when I made the first dress I sewed the tucks on the bodice on the inside whereas the instructions state to sew them on the outside.  I'm not sure it looks better, which do you think?

Overall I think it looks pretty good but I don't think a halterneck dress is the best for a 7 year old but at least I've tried it and it is wearable and she likes it.

I also put one of my new labels in sewn nicely by machine so I can show you.  What do you think, pretentious or cute?

I keep looking at other patterns to see what else I can make her, although I'm going to make a top from this pattern before I get anything else.  I'm also tempted to make something for myself, I have a family party coming up and it would be nice to have a lovely day dress, maybe a wrap dress or a neat tea dress to wear to that but I haven't found anything I like yet.  What's your favourite pattern?

  

A summer dress from a pattern

I sorted out a load of clothes from Miss M wardrobe recently, moving loads into Miss C wardrobe (benefits of having 2 girls!) which left great gaping holes in her wardrobe. I bought some t-shirts as she was seriously lacking in that department and looked around the blogosphere looking for some patterns and tutorials for dresses and tops. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many tutorials for Miss M age range (age 7-8), there are loads for toddler girls and pre-schoolers but get to school age and there are thin pickings! I've always been a bit reluctant to buy patterns for the girls as they grow so quickly and they aren't very cheap at least in the UK. I've been working through my Design It Yourself book so I don't buy patterns for myself either but I'm nowhere near confident to start drafting for children!

Anyway I decided I would have to bite the bullet and off we popped to the fabric shop and I found this New Look pattern which had a number of basic shapes that you could mix and match. This is what appealed to me the most as I thought it would be very versatile and it cost £5.25 (I think) so it wasn't too expensive. Miss M measured as size 7 on the chart which meant there was one extra size to go and Miss C would fit into the range quite happily but as I mentioned she has so many clothes it’s ridiculous. I traced off size 7 rather than cut it, something I've never done before but I wanted to preserve the pattern for other sizes. It all worked very well, I decided to use bodice B with Skirt F adding on bows to the shoulder straps which is an option on bodice B. I'm really pleased with the way it came out, the size is great, generous in fact as you are never quite sure if it’s gonna be ok until it’s made! Miss M thinks it’s great and wanted to wear it straight away!

I did a blind hem and also used a french seam on the side seams to make it neater, I love french seams! 

Look how well the bodice front, back and skirt front and back matched up!  Really chuffed with my sewing skills on this one!

Love the bows for extra detail

The front and back have 6 1/4" tucks to take in the fullness, worked well at skimming over Miss Ms pot belly!

I put in an invisible zip as I feel they are a lot neater and not as difficult as you might think!

I also made some labels!  Using this tutorial involving iron-on transfer paper I made twill labels.  They are 1/2" wide and look pretty cool.  Unfortunately I made them after the dress so I had to sew them in by hand which I won't show you as my hand stitching is dreadful!  I'll show you the next one that gets machined stitched in! 

So what do you think?  Pretty good I think.  I've already decided on a halterneck dress and a frilled sleeve tunic as next on the list.  I've been really impressed with this pattern so I might try some more especially if I get more mix and match patterns so I can make different clothes rather than churning out the same dress in different fabrics!