My Mum is awesome!

Here’s why….

I went over for our weekly (usually ends up being a-lot-less-than-weekly) swimming session and she said, “I’ve got something for you!”. She passed me this little brown bag…

As you can see it’s well padded and you can already get the feeling the contents are sewing related!

Well I opened it up and it was JAM PACKED with thread and zips.

Mum and Dad had gone to a car boot on Sunday and a woman had a stall selling loads of sewing items. She explained that she was closing down her haberdashery and thought this was the best way to get rid of her stock!

Mum didn’t really know what to get me so she picked a variety of colours and variety of zips. Like I said she’s awesome!

I love the variety of colours in the threads. Nice silvery colours and a range of spool sizes. I love that pinky colour but they all look lovely and shiny.

They’re all polyester threads. Some say “stretch polyester” which I’d never heard of but must mean they can take a bit of strain, right?

And you can never have enough zips.

Some of these are rather small but I’ll find a use for them. Maybe some zip pockets or little purses. Or for a little help getting into a tank top.

There’s only one invisible zip but that’s okay. I’m grateful for anything I get! Mmmm lovely red zip!

And now for my final point on why my Mum is awesome. She got me all this for £2.60!!! OMG can you believe it!?! 10p per thread! And it was roughly 10p a zip! PLUS the woman said she’d be returning until the stock was all gone and bringing different things each week (She told Mum she has lots of ribbon and bias binding to bring another week). So my Mum has promised to keep buying me stuff every time she sees the lady! Woop!

If you’re curious and in Yorkshire, this is the Rufforth Car Boot I’m talking about. Go along and see if you can find her tomorrow, Sunday 27th. And if you see a lady piling a bag high with things it’s probably my Mum! 🙂

MMM12: Day 21. Elsie knock-off

Woo I’m super pleased with myself. And not afraid to say it!

Ages ago I saw a picture of Elsie and went “ooooooh”.

I love Elsie’s blog A Beautiful Mess. Her fashion taste is fab and she always tries to include lots of varying fun diy ideas. She’s also a lovely photographer.

Immediately I pinned this dress on Pinterest and set about making my duplicate! What do you think?!

Unfortunately my fabric isn’t as bright, but it is still lovely and was £1 a metre! Have I said before that I LOVE Jack’s Fabrics.

I then made my own pattern for the front panel. I use baking paper when making my own pattern pieces. It’s a bit stiffer than tissue paper which makes it harder to pin but the pieces last longer.

I found some cheap red lining fabric and buttons that are a near perfect match for the Elsie buttons. And set about sewing. I decided not to include the sleeves as they looked a bit poofy in the picture and I didn’t think they’d suit me.

I’m super pleased with the construction because I used french seams, top stitching and my serger finished all my seams beautifully!

I wore the dress to work and was quietly smug. It turned out to be lovely and sunny today too so I didn’t feel too out of place in a sundress.

A brief deviation from sewing….

I’ve just finished an awesome polka dot dress. I’ll be putting photos of me wearing it up here on Monday as we’re going away for the weekend! Yippee.

We’re off to Cambridge to see Jimi’s family. His Grandma Maisie is the sweetest little lady. Jimi speaks to her every week and she always asks what I’ve been baking and sewing! She knows my mum makes cakes for a living so assumes mine are as good.

Well I decided to make her a little birthday cake. Ta da! I didn’t put her age on it because a lady should be modest about her age, so I put some daisies on instead. Daisies for Maisie!

Bit wonky but hope she likes it.

It’s lemon curd cake and I tried not to make it too sweet (as in lemony-sour-sweet). Here’s hoping it’s edible.

MMM12: Days 9, 11 and 14

I said I’d be back and I AM!

I have been pottering away with a couple of projects. One which will soon be posted as a tutorial.

I won’t go into the drama of Sunday and my time spent watching paramedics scamper round my boyfriend but I will say he’s all fine now. Phew!

Recently I wore two tops made from the same self drafted pattern. I love empire line tops if you haven’t gathered but do plan to try some button and zip up tops to stop having to feed elastic taped to a safety-pin through almost every item I make!

So here are days 9 and 11. Summery tops but here in cold miserable Yorkshire I’ve had to wear jeans, cardigans, scarfs and keep an umbrella with me at all times.

SO what about day 14?

Well after watching Mondo on Project Runway All Stars make his own ink blot / Rorschach print with fabric dye I thought “I CAN DO THAT!” and promptly bought a plain canvas bag and a little tub of fabric paint in a squeezy tube.

The result is this tote bag that I’ve used for hulking stuff about in like shopping and swimming gear. I love it. I think it looks a bit like a woman’s face with a crazy beehive. What do you think?

As I said… tutorial to follow. I plan to make more of these on better quality canvas bags, possibly in different colours (meaning different colour bags AND paints) and then if I’m feeling brave I’ll try like Mondo to make a t-shirt or dress with a panel of this kind of print on it.

MMM12 continues… I promise.

Wow the last few days went super quick! And I have some photos for MMM12 to upload soon but tonight I’m absolutely wiped out.

It was a dramatic day to say the least(!) as Jimi did his half marathon and got right to the end but then  needed paramedics and a stretcher and I was so frightened. He’s okay now and he told me to sew once we were back home and he was all sorted out, but I’ve been too skittish to focus. I promise photos from the last few days soon.

I have been wearing me made items just saving them up for a proper post. Just want to spend time checking the big fella is okay right now then I’ll upload some treats!

MMM12 Day 8: Spot On!

So I had a bit of a sewing disaster this weekend. For some inexplicable reason a cup of tea flung itself out of my hand and all over: a) my sewing table, b) my mannequin “Beryl” and c) some of my fabric. Oh and the floor but who cares about that?!

Errr can I stop taking photos yet?

By the time I’d mopped it all up, washed the fabric and gotten myself a new cuppa I’d lost the will to sew. *Sulk*

But by yesterday I’d gotten back enough motivation to add straps to my new dotty top! Amazingly this was a prima magazine pattern gifted to me by my mum’s friend Sandra! Thanks Sandra 🙂

Prima patterns are very straightforward which is both a good and a bad thing. They don’t look like much when you’re done but they are easy to make and provide a nice staple for the wardrobe.

I have some other Prima patterns to work through including a very simple skirt pattern to try. Hopefully when I get my pattern review page up and running I can add details there!

In other news, the trampy red lace I bought is washed and looking at me longingly… or am I looking at it longingly?! I don’t think it’s that trampy actually. I’m more worried about the white lace looking granny-ish! And I am desperate to start cutting out my spyrograph roses and my fish print fabric…

Oh and I wanted to also share this awesome Vogue colour chart showing the Queen’s fave colours. She loves a bit of blue….

Rainbow Queen

MMM12: Days 4 and 5. WASABI!!!

Long weekend woooo!

I wore my polka dot top to work Friday made from Butterick 5644 with a self drafted peter pan collar. I had a very productive day. No one was really in the office so no one really noticed/cared I was wearing my top. I was pleased with myself at least. Straight after work I met up with old work friends for a drink. Always dangerous on an empty stomach but awesome fun to catch up with everyone.

Yesterday I didn’t really do as much sewing as I’d have liked. I bought bucket loads of fabric though! I have FINALLY found nice lace. All of Yorkshire seemed to have a nice lace  shortage, apart from Sam Taylors who have gorgeous but COSTLY lace. Last week I bought some online from Hertfordshire and was rather impressed with it when it arrived. But then, wandering round the market yesterday I found gorgeous red and mint coloured lace at a bargainous price of £2.85 a metre! God bless you Jack’s Fabrics.

And then I bought lots of lining fabric from Jack’s from their clearance shed. It’s not really a shed but a walk in cupboard area which is definitely hit and miss but when you find a hit, it’s usually amazing. The best thing about the shed is that everything is about £1 or £1.50 a metre. Jersey, cottons, georgette/chiffon, and occasionally some awesome printed polyester turns up in there! I usually have to tear myself away. It’s great for making a wearable muslin and real projects. And if you’ve read Tilly’s post on the cost of making clothing, Jack’s helps me keep costs down.

So if that wasn’t enough I then opened my exciting new package. My baby overlocker!! Isn’t it sweet!? A Singer too. It was a little fiddly to thread but not half as bad as I thought it would be. I made my chain thread but have yet to practice on any fabric and set the tension. That’s my main plan for this afternoon.

Finally I should mention my MMM item for yesterday. I wore this star print top made from New Look 6962. Jimi and I have been dating for 23 months and 3 weeks so we celebrated our almost anniversary by going out for Teppanyaki!

Wasabi Teppanyaki at Granary Wharf is so much fun. I recommend it to everyone. They cook everything in front of you on a giant hot plate and the set menus give you a great variety of things to try. Japanese salad is delicious, hot miso soup, vegetable tempura, then I had aubergine, courgette, mange tout, tomatoes and onions in garlic and teriyaki sauce with egg fried rice. Yum. And there is obligatory shouting of “WASABI!!!”  throughout dinner.

Now you may ask why not wait an  extra week to celebrate?! Well it is because Jimi is doing a half marathon next weekend. This means he can’t have a deliciously indulgent and giant dinner the night before the race and he may be too physically ruined to get off the sofa the day after. If it turns out he’s bouncing all over and fit as a fiddle  the day after I’ll drag him out again.

Sewing inspiration V8723

It’s not that I don’t have any original ideas but I like to see if other people have had better ideas. For example there is nothing unsensible with googling other people’s V8723 dresses.

For instance Spatastic’s yellow version is cute but not my colour and it’s good to know where she had problems.

Jorth’s spotty version captured my attention because I’m a crazy spot fiend.

And though I’m not brave enough to wear a totally white dress this version by Terri is so girly and pretty I’d like to twirl around in it in a field of daisies.

Ahem back to reality. I think I’ll make this out of a fairly sturdy cotton from ikea.

And if it goes well I’ll remake one or both of these two…

God I love a good pop of stripes or a clash of spots!

MMM12: Day two!

Today I wore a stripey little top that I’d cooked up a few nights ago. It was supposed to be a dress but when I washed the fabric the black stripes bled into the other stripes in places and I ended up with less than a metre to work with. Chuh!

Least it was only £1 a metre, courtesy of Jack’s Fabrics! You can even see some scraps left over in the background (ahem: I’m normally a lot tidier promise).

Amazingly for me my attempts to match stripes worked out well. Considering the variations within the patterns it took a while to figure out and I’m so glad it did. (My mental maths lets me down a lot.)

A girl at work said something nice about my top which is always appreciated. My boyfriend nearly convinced my to sew a huge bow to the front of the top but I thought I looked deranged so I’m glad I didn’t. He’ll read this later and I bet he’ll try and make out it was my idea in the first place. Bah, lies.

Now I’m going to cook up what I’ll wear tomorrow and possibly pinning something new like my Vogue 8723 pattern!

I will NOT throw my rolled hem foot across the floor

 

Right, so not to be narky but I was promised by a couple of people that a roll hem foot would change my life. My hems would be “neat and chic” and “look dreamy”. I got a 3mm foot for under £5 and away I went practicing and practicing….

I thought I’d pretty much perfected my technique. Yay me.

 

Smugly I then attempted to add a rolled hem to my latest top project. Errrr disaster.

Not sure whether I crumbled under the pressure of it not being test fabric, I need more practice with my technique or whether every time you have a go at these hems there’s a high chance of it turning crap.

Probably all three!

I’ve  just read an ace blog post offering calm collected top tips for rolled hems from someone going through the same torment as I have been. I recommend you read it you’ve contemplating buying a hemming foot.

http://tanitisis.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/the-rolled-hem-foot-devil-or-divine/

I’d also recommend you get a 4mm or even 5mm (if they do them) as I think it’ll be easier to work with as you’re not trying to get such a tiny hem started/maintained! I’ll be off to try and buy a 5mm one soon.