Part of the shopping trip to London included the super exciting purchase of some very sparkly fabric to make a dress out of for New Year’s Eve. In my panic of shopping I ended up buying a good half metre (and then some) more than I actually needed. Combined with knowing that I wanted to make an Astoria out of some very lovely teal sweatshirt material I got as a bolt end from Guthrie & Ghani, it seemed like the perfect time to test out the Astoria pattern and a couple of embellishment ideas I had in mind at the same time!
What is it?
A cropped sweater made in a super shiny black and gold jersey with gold topstitching at the collar and cuffs
Is it blue?
No
What’s the fabric?
Black and gold jersey material
What’s the pattern?
Astoria by Seamwork
Where’s the fabric from?
Another Walthamstow find, this one was from a shop that (surprise!) I can’t remember the name of. It had loads of rolls lined up and they were all under £5 a metre (indeed, this stuff was maybe £3 a metre?)
What was good about making this?
It was so fast! I think it took maybe an hour to get from cutting out to trying it on. I shouldn’t have been surprised given Seamwork pride themselves on patterns that take three hours or less, but it was nice to find out it was true! It was also good fun to test out using gold thread for topstitching (especially as it worked!)
What was bad about making this?
Nothing. Actually, the amount of waste paper produced when printing out the PDF. Though I’m not sure what could have been done about that?
Would you make it again?
Yes, I just need to get round to prewashing that fabric!
x
ps. Apologies for the awful train selfie of this one. I’ve worn it loads since making it, but somehow never managed to get a decent picture!
Remember that time I went to London and got enabled into buying several metres of sequin fabric?
I knew at the time that I wanted to make it into a super sparkly skirt for my work Christmas do, and so it was that one evening in November, having used the super handy By Hand London circle skirt calculator, I found myself on my hands and knees in the dining room, preparing for the flood of sequin babies that even now we’re sweeping up…
What is it?
A teal green sequin circle skirt, which Elle has christened a mermaid skirt (and who am I to argue?)
Is it blue?
No, although pretty close on the colour wheel
What’s the fabric?
SEQUINS!
What’s the pattern?
A simple full circle skirt
Where’s the fabric from?
One of the first bricks and mortar shops you come to in Walthamstow Market, although I can’t remember what it’s called…
What was good about making this?
The shininess and testing out the swooshiness once it was sewn up (although I’ve no GIF for you this time as my trusty assistant was visiting friends)
What was bad about making this?
I read Lauren’s incredibly helpful blog about sewing with sequins. And promptly forgot everything I read, apart from the bit about using a teeny needle. So whilst I didn’t suffer a broken needle at any point, I did have to endure a LOT of snapping threads. Cue frustrated face.
Would you make it again?
I would make a circle skirt again; I like that it’s swooshy and big without being quite so gathered. I would sew with sequins again too, as now I’ve done it once, it can only get better. Would I make a sequin circle skirt though? I’m not so sure (but I don’t think that’s a bad thing)
My word. How time has marched on since I last put up a blog post! Quite a bit has happened over the last month and a half, not least the passing of 2015 into 2016. I’ll be putting up some more blog posts over the next few days / weeks to rectify my silence, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve been up to since last we met:
I went sewing crazy through most of December, making a circle skirt, a cropped jumper, a jersey dress and the best part of a shirt dress
Father Christmas / My awesome mum bought me an overlocker (which, coincidentally, was used to make the jersey dress, but more of that soon)
During the Christmas break I rediscovered my love of knitting, not least because it was a very useful way to pass the time on the drive down to Dartmoor for New Year’s Eve (I wasn’t driving…). I’ve now got the bulk of a jumper back on the needles, with plans to redesign the jumper front when I get there. When I share the original and the redesign, the redesign won’t be a surprise!
I made a couple of resolutions for 2016. Unsurprisingly, two of them are sewing related. They are:
By the end of 2016 have a week’s worth of every day me-made clothes that I actually wear
Make a pair of jeans (argh!)
The week’s worth of clothes is an interesting one; I’ve already made quite a few pieces, but, like most new sewists, I’ve got the combined bugs of only-makes-dresses-and-skirts and overwhelmed-by-choice-so-buys-bold-patterns. I love wearing dresses and I also love patterned clothes. However, if I actually sit and think about what I wear most days, particularly in the winter, I should really add more plains/simple prints into the mix, and not just plain dresses, but a good, solid, jersey top pattern that I can remake and wear with skirts and trousers. That’s not to say I will stop making patterned clothing (I already have 3m of unicorn print fabric washed and waiting to be turned into a Sewaholic Cambie dress…) but I’ll be trying to offset my sewing of dresses that fall into the “super special” category with at least the odd “wear it everyday” item.
So there we have it; 48 days in a nutshell. How about you, what have you been up to in that time? Have you made any resolutions for the year ahead?
I’ll be upfront. I’m not about to hand over a box of Milk Tray to every reader. However, don’t you agree that my new dress is very Cadbury purple? Particularly as, for reasons beyond my ken, the camera appears to have over exposed in the background.
I digress…
What is it?
A lovely swingy swooshy jersey dress
Is it blue?
No, Cadbury purple (which I guess could be argued at blue if you get that far round the spectrum?)
How quickly it came together! I sat down at 3pm on Saturday and by 5:30pm I had a dress that was ready to wear out to dinner with friends (if we ignore the fact that I was lazy and didn’t hem the skirt until the Sunday….).
What was bad about making this?
Although I’ve made the Moneta before, this is the first time I’ve done it on my own machine and also the first time I’ve sewn jersey on my machine. It was fine for the most, but there were a couple of ‘oh yes, that’s how you do it’ with the shirred waistband as well as a ‘why won’t you work?!’ when using the twin needles on the hem (along with a note to self to read the instruction manual before doing twin needle sewing again….)
Would you make it again?
Yup, I’ve already got the fabric to make it up for my dress for New Year’s Eve. I think that next time I’ll add the collar back in as I’ve realised I really like the collar, although I might use one of the add-on hacks you get when buying the pattern (let’s not kid ourselves, it’s going to be the Peter Pan collar because I’m a sucker for a PPC).
So yes, all in all a delightful quick project, which was especially welcome as it feels like a long time since I’ve actually made anything! Now I just need to tackle a slightly longer-than-I-have-time-for list of things to complete before Christmas…. Wish me luck!
It might be time for me to admit I have a fabric buying problem as, as if buying a load of fabric and swiping winning a load in the stash swap at SewBrum, last weekend I found myself on a train to London at an ungodly hour* to meet up with some really rather lovely sewists and explore Walthamstow Market.
This week’s stash of sewists [and if that’s not the collective noun, it should be!] were all members of a group on the wonderful forum The Foldline. The group is united not just by our love of sewing but also by our age; we’re all 20-something sewers *cough* just in my case *cough*.
When I finally got to London, the first thing that threw me was the wind. Literally. It was raining when I got out of the station to meet the others, so I put up my brolly. This turned out to be a bad ideas I turned the corner towards the meeting place, got grabbed by a HUGE gust of wind and thought I was going to be knocked sideways.
Once I’d recovered I finally got to meet the lovely ladies who’d also made the journey; Dinushi, Jenny, Lucy and Laura (who also organised the day), as well as Laura’s fiancé who bravely came along in the face of the stash.
We headed off down to Walthamstow market, and there was no stopping us. We went into pretty much every store, stopping at every stall in the market en route. There was a lot of umming and ahhing and, a lot of enabling. All it took was for one of us to go ‘but will I really use it?’ for the rest to say ‘ ah but you could maybe use it for this’ and come up with a load of reasons for them to buy the fabric. Enablers.
It worked….
The lipsticks will be a blouse, the strawberries (hiding just out of shot…) will be a summer a dress, the hearts will be a dungaree dress, the shiny gold jersey is for my new year’s eve dress and the green sequins are for a Christmas party skirt.
The sequins are pure enabler; I spent all day debating them and they spent all day convincing me that I did want them. I’m not sure why I was surprised to be honest. I mean look at them . They’re SEQUINS! And there were little sequin babies when I moved the fabric for cutting, which definitely didn’t make me go ‘awww’…
After all that shopping, we were pretty weighed down and starving so stopped for a bit of lunch and a natter before heading off into the sunset. And speaking of the sunset, the sun finally came out. Once we were finished…
Thanks again to Laura for getting us all organised and to all of the sewists for putting up with my sequin indecision. It was a great day and I can’t wait for our next meet up (although I think I might need to do some sewing first to reduce down my now ridiculously massive stash!)
x
*seriously, if you think I complained about having to leave home at 9:30 for SewBrum, on Saturday I left home at 8. With a hangover. Not fun.
<Warning! This post might get long. Go fetch a cuppa (or gin…) first>
On Saturday I found myself leaving home far earlier than I usually would* and heading into town for my first ever sewing meet up. I had no idea how many people would be there or what to expect so it was with some trepidation that I climbed the steps up the museum and into the Edwardian Tea Room.
What I saw when I got there can only be described as overwhelming:
With the exception of pictures, I don’t think I’d ever seen so many sewists all together and in one room. This picture captures maybe half of the people who were there? It was pretty crazy.
From the tea rooms we headed down to the Rag Market for a fabric spree. Despite Birmingham being my home turf, this was the first time in a very long time that I’d gone into the market. In my head it’s a bustling, busy place with too many options, leaving me to normally run away to a bricks and mortar shop instead.
On Saturday though, armed with a very specific list of fabric I needed, I embraced the hustle and bustle and left no stall unturned. The market did not disappoint with three projects sorted for less than £20!
The purple is destined to be a long sleeved Moneta, the floral is for a Sewaholic shirt dress and the black is for a first mock up of the super secret project.
We headed from the rag market out to Moseley for lunch at the Farmers’ Market. With the sun shining, it was a lovely day for it, and whilst I went to the samosa man, I think the falafel man couldn’t believe his eyes at the number of sewists queueing up for one of his delicious looking wraps
The final stop of the day was Guthrie and Ghani, and if I’d thought that the tea rooms was busy, G&G was busier! I was talking to Lauren at one point and she said by her reckoning there were over 70 people there!
It was a great opportunity to chat some more with the lovely people there, cross my fingers really hard during the raffle (no, I didn’t win the overlocker :'( ) and enjoy the lovely coffee and cakes. The best bit though? STASH SWAP!
I had no idea what to expect from the stash swap, but my word it definitely didn’t disappoint. I came away with…
…3m of floral fabric that will become a shift dress of sorts, green gingham that I’m hoping will make a shirt dress (need to measure it first!), loads and loads of white broderie that I plan to dye blue (surprise surprise)…
…a Simple Sew halterneck pattern, another cape pattern with matching skirt and, amazingly, an UNUSED Colette Dahlia pattern. The generosity of people clearing their stashes is amazing, I was bowled over by what was on offer!
Speaking of generosity, the lovely Caroline of CJ Made gave me a piece of the gorgeous Girl Charlee jersey she won in the raffle.
Isn’t it gorgeous? I’m hoping I can just squeeze enough out of it for a shift dress
PLUS look at the merit badge I got in the swap!
So the one on the left is the one that was made for me by the lovely Claire of Sew, incidentally. Isn’t it incredible?! My return offering felt a bit paltry in comparison to her amazing work but I think it was well received 🙂
(I made Claire a fountain of knowledge because she is one of the nicest, knowledgeable sewists I’ve met, always quick and happy to give answers or point people in the right direction)
And after all that I went to a party in the evening. As promised in my last post, here’s a picture of the Poison Ivy costume in all it’s glory. I was pretty pleased with, but I didn’t half feel silly roaming the streets of Moseley on my way there….
Phew! All that’s left for me to say is a MASSIVE thank you to Charlotte of English Girl at Home for organising Saturday’s event. I had an amazing time and it was fab to meet so many other like minded sewists. Absolute blast of a day.
Ok, so I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what counts as spooky sewing, however this definitely counts as speedy sewing; in under three hours this morning/afternoon I managed to sew up a whole dress!
What is it?
A green shift dress that forms the basis for my Halloween costume next week; I’m going to go as Poison Ivy although I’m going for more of a 50s theme Ivy and a bit less flesh-revealing than the traditional comic book character…. I’ll be cutting a load of ivy down from out garden to wrap around myself and into my hair and making my eyes all green and sparkly to complete the look.
Is it blue?
Nope, green. How many ivy plants have you seen that are blue?
What’s the fabric?
Really nasty cheap polycotton that I bought for a previous costume
What’s the pattern?
The pattern is one I drafted myself in a copy-your-clothes class. The original dress is one of my favourite ever RTW items. What you can’t see in this photo (not least because I haven’t sewn them on yet…) is that there’s a false opening on the back held together by buttons. The only difference I made was to the skirt which is a bit tighter than the original, not least due to the limited amount of fabric I had!
Where’s the fabric from?
I think it was from Fancy Silk?
What was good about making this?
I was really pleased with a couple of things with this. The first was how quickly it came together. I didn’t have any bias binding but managed to figure out a bodge for hemming the neckline which I was chuffed with.
Basically, I sewed baste stitches at the 5/8 seam, then used these to help me turn the hem, cutting notches as necessary on any curved lines. I then pressed it all and resewed at 3/8. I was also pleased with the gathers connecting the skirt to the bodice, especially as the back pieces don’t connect so I had to make sure they lined up as neatly as possible without actually joining them (that doesn’t make sense but would if you saw the back)
What was bad about making this?
Despite being a copy of a dress I already have, I don’t like the way the armholes sit when the dress is on, nor do I like where the bust darts are. It also seems tighter than expected, which is a bit of a worry.
Ultimately, although it’s a bit rough around the edges, I’m pleased with the speed that this came together. Besides which, once I’ve dressed it up with ivy and the like (and I’ll share pictures next week after the party) all the bodges and rough bits will be hidden and no-one will know!
How about you? Are you making a costume for the spookiest night of the year (possibly)?
This weekend has been one of plotting and planning for my next couple of projects. So, in a cryptic, not so cryptic way, here’s what I’ve been up to…
1) Green thread
MANY moons ago I measured up my sofa to make a new sofa cover and bought a load of fabric to make the sofa cover. This is what I looked like when I’d just bought all the fabric. To give you an idea of how long ago it was, this wasn’t taken in our old flat, it was taken in my old flat (i.e. over two years ago….). And since then it’s just sat in a bag. However, yesterday I finally bought some thread that matches the fabric. So maybe, just maybe there’ll be a sofa cover somewhere in the future
2) Orla
I fell in love with Orla pretty much as soon as Tilly published it, and I’m pretty convinced it’s going to be perfect for some gorgeous Nani Iro double guaze I picked up in Japan over the summer. In a strange move for me, I’m going to make a muslin this time around.as I’m terrified about cutting into the fabric and want to make sure I have it absolutely right before I make the first scary cut.
3) Super secret secretness
I had a planning brunch about this today. All I can say about this is it’s very secret, I’m excited about making it, and think it will be pretty darned amazing if I manage to pull it off!
4) Toiletry bags
So these are a bit different. A local group has been collecting a whole heap of items to send to those needing aid in Calais, Kos, Lesbos and Syria. Rather than just send the toiletries in huge boxes, they decided to make them into individual packs, each in a reusable drawstring bag containing a message of hope and peace. I volunteered to help make some of the bags, so this afternoon went along to take those I’d made so far and sew up another batch of 14 over the course of a couple of hours. Whilst we were sewing, other people were filling those bags already made and it was amazing at the end of the session to see just how generous people had been with their time and their resources (253 are being sent off this week!).
If you’re in the Birmingham area and would like to help, this is the group I’m helping with: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Kingsheathcollects/
Rosie (who is co-ordinating the work) may be able to help you find a collection nearer to you if you aren’t able to make it to the Kings Heath area
If you’re in the wider world and would like to help, I’d recommend using facebook as a way to find a grassroots collection near you, or alternatively take a look at the website of any of the many charities and organisations working in these areas, including the UN Refugee Agency, Save the Children and Oxfam
It’s finished! Or rather, it’s not finished if you read the pattern, but it is if you want to wear it out to dinner on a Saturday night….
Theoretically I should still be adding double breasted buttons on to the cape, but I’m not sure whether I actually want to have buttons on it. They seemed like a really good idea at the time, but now that I’ve discovered the buttons I’ve bought are too big for my one-step buttonholer I’m not so sure (surprise surprise….), especially when I realised I could use a fab brooch instead. I might change my mind and go back to it, but for now I’m going to revel in it in all it’s swooshiness*. That and figure out what to do with half a metre of leopard print fur. Maybe trim a wiggle dress for the ultimate fifties look?
What is it?
A LEOPARD PRINT CAPE! Boom! Operation Leopard Print is a success!
Aside from getting to swoosh about and wear leopard print, the cape itself came together really quickly. I also got to learn to make welt pockets which was a bit of an experience and one I’m pretty proud of.
What was bad about making this?
Well there were a couple of things, but the biggest issue was the neckline. I have no idea if I cut the cape pieces too big or misread the seam allowance or what but it ended up being about two inches shorter than the facing and the collar. I managed to bodge it a bit, and thankfully, because it’s a shiny material and is meant to hang you can’t see unless you look closely but that wasn’t great. I even went so far as to get the collar paper piece back out again because I was convinced I must have cut the wrong size. It was also pretty dull to sew together as whilst it was fast it was a lot of long straight lines and the fabric got pretty heavy once it was all connected.
Would you make it again?
Hmm. See, I bought the leopard print to test this out before buying some ludicrously expensive coating material. Except, actually, now I’m not so sure I want one that’s made from coat material. I fancy making one in some sheer guazey fabric for the next time I go to a wedding or posh do (which is not that often if I’m honest) as an alternative to the obligatory pashmina, and I think I’ll probably make one in sequin fabric for next year’s festival season. But a cape in coat material? That will almost certainly be a block colour? Probably navy? It just doesn’t seem fun enough for this pattern. We shall see.
*Speaking of swooshiness, of course I had to test out how swooshy it was as soon as the cape pieces were together. And then I had to make a gif of it. Because gifs.
So a while ago I was in Guthrie and Ghani and spotted something that caught my eye. It was a new indie pattern designer I’d not come across before and there was a host of interesting designs.
There was however one pattern above the others that stood out to me. It wasn’t the most practical of items, but, none the less, it was intriguing.
I ummed and ahhhed about it for the best part of a month; would I be able to make it? Could I justify buying nearly 4m of fabric for something I might not wear? Especially as I’d need particularly expensive fabric.
Then, one evening, the boy asked a seemingly innocuous question that got my brain whirring.
And so, this weekend, I’ve begun on what can only be a foolish road. I’m code naming it “operation leopard print cape” because, well, I’ve decided to make Papercut Pattern’s Milano cape using fake leopard print fur.
Part of the shopping trip to London included the super exciting purchase of some very sparkly fabric to make a dress out of for New Year’s Eve. In my panic of shopping I ended up buying a good half metre (and then some) more than I actually needed. Combined with knowing that I wanted to make an Astoria out of some very lovely teal sweatshirt material I got as a bolt end from Guthrie & Ghani, it seemed like the perfect time to test out the Astoria pattern and a couple of embellishment ideas I had in mind at the same time!
