Sewing day with Abi

Abi has a new sewing machine that is the same make as my old pink one, so she asked me to help her to set it up and teach her the basics.
When she said basics I did not think "cushion covers or bunting".
Abi did, so she was a bit perplexed when I forced her to make a 3 panel skirt with pleats and a zip closure.
I also taught her to make a shift dress with basic bust darts.
I was really impressed with her enthusiasm once she'd recovered...

I also made a shift dress along with abi to show her how to do the darts. I made my xmas Kaftan that Abida bought me and I repaired my moroccan hareem pants.

All in all I think that constitutes a very productive day.
More sewing please!

I also blew the fuse on my own sewing machine.  Urgh. To homebase for fuses!

Fabric fortune cookies

Merry mice insructions

patchwork storage bag instructions

Play mat instructions

Woodland coaster instructions

Cape making

Today I embarked on a rather crazy sewing mission.
I made myself a 50s style cape from a project runway pattern which came with a sewing magazine.

I've wanted a cape for ages and I can only assume many other people feel the same as one post I put up years ago about how to cut and sew your own cape is always in my "top 10 most read".

This project does not come cheap. It needs 6m of 150cm wide fabric or 10m 115cm wide fabric. That is a lot of fabric. A whole living room floors worth infact.
I made mine from the plain red i git in southall (£1 per metre) and lined it with an old table cloth i got for a fiver. Therefore the total cost for this project was £8.

If I was to do this again i'd probably use fleace fabric and just line it all with a patterned cotton to give a contrast lappel. That would be quicker and easier- and reduce the amount of 'outer' fabric used. It would also make it lighter. Some of my stitches are already looking pulled because of the weight.

It's a straighforward enough pattern. The biggest challenge is just the size of the project- trying not to catch bits of it when sewing other bits was a headache.

I've learnt loads today though. I've never made a lining before so that was interesting.
I've put my poor sewing machine through it's paces!

Hayley's Skirt

In return for my parcel of goodies I decided to make Hayley a skirt as a surprise.
This was a much be easier idea in theory than in practice but I can safely say that I am very happy with my finished article! I'm really pleased that I did it as I feel very accomplished and I'm fairly sure she'll love it!

It's made from fabric we bought when we went to the xmas market it Bargoed- I used a bit of it for a christmas crafts workshop but then decided it was too pretty to use up on odd and sods.

I had to fit the zip by hand- and afterwards I realised how to do a hidden zip- as it's well hidden on the inside! I think I may need more practice but for my first ever solo attempt I'm pleased with it.

 The front view:

On my blue silk skirt I messed up the waistband, it made a mistake almost in the middle of the front and you can clearly see it, so this time I was super careful and I think that looks pretty pro! even if I say so myself!

I'm hoping to get Jay to deliver it next week, so it won't get lost in the post! and I hope that she likes it too.

Project bags

Today I made 3 more project bags from fabric scraps to keep my crochet projects in- and it makes my front room look a whole lot more tidy!
No more sandwich bags and raining miles of yarn for me!
:)

I'm using the big spotty bag to hold my massive autumnal colours blanket and all the yarn I'll need to finish it- It's such a big project that it's taking a long time, by leaving it out I remember to do a few rounds when I'm watching TV but the yarn was starting to get unravelled and dusty so hopefully this will keep it a bit cleaner.

The flowery bag (I know, it's so ugly! Jen and I bought that duvet cover to make up a toile for a 50s style dress- it's vile!) is for squares.
When I finish a ball of yarn and there a bit left over I make double knit 4 round granny squares. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet but I have loads.

The pumpkin bag (I bought that fabric when I was about 14 to patch and flare a pair of jeans) has all my tatting stuff in it- Tat's and I have been doing tatting lately as a way to practice new stitches- it was originally a way for the lower classes to recreate the lacework they couldn't afford but was fashionable with the rich- usually it's done with a very thin cotton thread, but I'm using a 5mm crochet hook and double knit and making some interesting things!

Summer tote bag

I'm not sure this photo does it justice, but in the same vein as the project bag I made myself a summer slouchy shoulder bag.
:)
It's made from the fabric remnants from my prom dress and I'd forgotten how much my sewing machine hates this fabric. in theory I shouldn't need a ball point needle for this but in reality as it's not quite a silk and not quite a jersey so it's stretchy and slippery and moves everywhere you do if you want half decent tension.

Thankfully that is the last of it used up!

Same again- two squares of fabric, zig zag the edges then sew them together, the only differences ate that you hem the top and don't leave a gap and sew on a sturdier non strctchy fabric for the handles.
:D

Crochet project bag

Tats has a project bag for every project she has on the go- I currently keep all the bits for all my projects in a freezer bag. this leads to disaster more often than not...

I don't really know what I've been so lazy as these are really easy to make and use up fabric scraps which are too small to really be useful for anything else.

You need two squares of fabric, Zigzag the edges all the way round to stop fraying, put them right side to right side, sew round the edges.
turn the top over and make a channel to thread the ribbon/cord through (Remember to leave a gap!)

I tie the cord to a pen in order to thread it more easily- or if its elastic I tie it to a crochet hook.
that is my top tip for preventing elastic escape.
:)

Dressmaking

My mum and I took out a prima subscription this tme last year after spending a whole weekend working on my malaysian fabric prom dress- We really enjoy sewing and she's really good so it's an ideal opportunity for me to learn some new skills.

I arrived on Friday night, we drank gin and ate lots of casis and white chocolate liqueurs and I only trusted myself to cut my pattern pieces- no sewing! 

My mum managed to pin her pattern pieces out all wrong and cut the skirt for her dress the wrong way up- so I did feel that I made the correct choice!

My first project of the day was to sew together my cheesecloth "kimino jacket". I've never worked with such a lose woven fabric before and I'll tell you for free that I won't be doing it again until I've forgotten this experience!
It stretched so much!
Its just as well it was always designed to be loose fitting!
an easy started for 10- took about 40 minutes to sew, and would have taken even less if I wasn't to hungover I turned my hems the wrong way!

And on to my 50s style tea length skirt- I had pressure for this one as I used my Malaysian sari fabric. I've carefully looked after it for a year until I found a project for it. it was very slippery to work with- soooo many pins! It looked like a hedgehog most of the time.

The fabric also shed. Everywhere! my parents spent most of the weekend picking lengths of blue silk out of the carpet/ everyones hair/ the sofa etc.
My mum also tried to teach me to fit a zip- I did my waistband myself and I'm very proud of it- but zips remain a mystery!

Both of my finished garments:

:)

Blackberry Baccardi, Blackberry and apple pie and I've FINALLY finished that dress for the wedding.

I spent this morning trying to figure out what to do with my spoils from yesterday. Traff requested a blackberry and apple pie, I knew I wanted to make the baccardi after it's popularity and yumminess last year.

First I weighed out the blackberries fro the baccardi.
For every 2L of alcohol (Because you can do this with any spirit, it just happens that I'm using white rum- Vodka, Gin and Brandy work equally well) you need 400g of fruit and 200g of sugar (Some recipes say the same amount of fruit to sugar, but it doesn't dissolve properly so it's just a waste of sugar!)
I've also added cinnamon, and last year I added vanilla pods and cinnamon sticks- If you want to use cloves or anything solid like that I'd suggest either getting the "teabags" they sell for mulled wine, or making a muslin bag to put them in, or you might kill someone if they swallow a clove- or break all their teeth if you use the berries for a cake filling/trifle/on ice cream once the baccardi has all been drink!

I bought jars from IKea- £3 for each 2L jar- so thats much cheaper than branded jars or the ones they sell in Wilkos.
I sterilised the jars with boiling water first- but running them through the dishwasher will do the same thing as long as the food trap is clean- or you could milton them if you feel very strongly about it.

Whilst the water was cooling down in the jars, I prepared my apples from the woods- I peeled, cored and chopped them, and stewed them down with some sugar.
whilst they stewed I pre-heated the oven and made my pastry.
Traff's vegi, so I just make Pastry with margarine and plain flour- it tastes good but it doesn't go brown like pastry with lard in it- not unless you remember to milk and egg glaze it before you bake it.
I did not remember.
Put the pastry in the dishes, blind baked them for a few minutes, added the blackberries and sugar to the stewed apples and gave them a good stir- Rescued the pastry from the oven and added the fruit. I didn't make quite enough pastry for the top, so I went for a lattice.
Still looks yummy though!

I made Traff's pie and I made one for Karl, which I exchanged for a bottle of baccardi he won at one of the raffles at the white horse (after the quizzes) but had never drunk (He only drinks cider).

Pies ready and berries and jars prepped for the addition of baccardi I had a few hours before Karl's arrival, so I finished my dress for James and Lis's wedding- the blue sateen one- I made it a bit too short for weddings, it's more a cocktails and clubbing length- so I added a white lace trim to the bottom of the dress to give me a few more vital inches of modest coverage.
I really tried to get blue lace trim, but there was none to be had in the whole of bedford, so I've gone for a blue and navy ensemble for the wedding- I got a navy blue across body bag from primark and a white pashmeena to wear it with.
I was very tempted for some massive gold anchor earrings- to make it more nautical- but apparently it's not OK to have a dress theme for someone else's wedding unless they set one.
:(

Making a dress (almost) suitable for a wedding.

Today I tried to be a good "housewife" I did laundry and tidied up, sorted out the craft cupboard and threw out loads of bits of paper or old magazines etc.
Whilst tidying I found the photos from Bri and Beej's wedding in May- the ones from the photobooth. This lead me to go into town to buy a frame for those. On the way back from Town I went into the Singer shop- I don't usually go in there- I'll freely admit that theyr deals on Sewing machines are really good- and some of their haberdashery items are very reasonable, on the whole the Fabric shop by the bus station represents much better choice and value, however, by this point I'd met the wife and he wanted to go to lidls and I thought he might actually throw a fit if I made him walk back to the other side of town.

Today though, The singer shop came up trumps-I got some white printed cotton with blue flowers on it and some mint green linen for my 50s style top and skirt, respectively- that's the next project for when I'm at my mum's.
They also had some sateen fabric on offer £3.50 p/m I got in my head that an old 80s prima pattern I'd been meaning to have a go at needed 3m of fabric, so I got that too (It turned out 1.5m was all it needed- so now I have loads of midnight blue sateen so make something else out of).

I got home, put everything away and sorted out those photos (you can't call me half a job!) then settled down to make my shift style dress- theoretically it's easy- it's got an early 90s look- it's a front and back- so 2 pieces, and a bust dart in each side of the front, sew it together and bob's your uncle.
Sateen is not so simple.
I cut the pattern out OK.
Took an offcut to test for the machine tension- That was ok- it took a bit of getting used to and I spent a but longer testing stitches that I would do normally. Put my darts in.
Then the machine started acting up.

If I was to give advice to any other novice sewers out there: Buy good quality cotton thread!
I was using a navy blue cotton which I hadn't used before- It just kept snagging. I suspect it was a cheapy from a long time ago.
For the pennies saved at the time, it wasn't worth it for the effort and energy spent unclogging the machine every 5 minutes and the mess it made of my tension every time it got caught or split. stupid thread!

I did finish the dress. Very slowly and with lots of swearing- At one point traff even brought me strawberries to try and cheer me up a bit, and the end result is pretty good, so I'll take that- but I'd probably have finished an hour earlier if I'd used good quality thread (And maybe even shaved a bit more time off it I'd considered the nightmarishness of the sateen! Whats wrong with a nice light polycotton?!)

Anyway, The finished article:

I took the neckline lower than in the pattern, only because the style is quite outdated, but with a lower neck it looks a bit more current. This is a pattern which my mum has clearly cut and made a number of times judging by all the pin holes in it- she is much taller and has a much more athletic figure than I do- so can carry off such a daring hemline. I am going to try and get a lacy trim for the bottom hem to give me a few more inches, and therefore a little more modesty!
however you look at this, I put this dress together in 4 hours. I could easily get away with wearing it clubbing or for drinks, So I'm chalking this up as a win!

Crafty activities in Chippenham

I went to stay with my parents for a few days whilst Traff was away- My mum had her other hip replaced 2 weeks ago, and had been out of hospital about a week, so she's pretty bored, and my dad is all frazzled over the household chores.
In return for some "home help" (mostly cooking, washing up and laundry- but I did also sort the fridge out and do the shopping too!) My mum supervised 2 more sewing projects:

1) The 1980s pencil skirt-
This was a pattern I got from the Sally Army charity shop when I bought the velvet blazer- This is a really nice pattern, it's straight forwards, it fits and I'd make it again. It's 4 pieces and a zip- 4 darts and otherwise it's pretty easy.
I need to put the zip in by hand as I don't have a zipper foot for my machine though.

2) The prima batwing top.
This was a disaster.
Very easy to make- it's 2 pieces and then turning the collar and sleeve cuffs- you could do it in an hour- I made it out of printed cotton, and it makes me look 9 month pregnant.
I might cut it down the front and make a jacket.
I'll try it again with a drapier fabric. Maybe I can get a maxi dress or jersey skirt to cut up in town.

We also went to Ikea. for 4 hours. and my parents almost got divorced.To get the fabric for the batwing top, and to buy a banana parasol. It's an experience I don't wish to discuss, but I did get flamingo glasses, Kilner style jars for my alcohols (So now I can go fruit picking!) and adhesive labels for my xmas presents.
I also got to have a hot dog and fries!

The Prom dress is finished!

I asked a colleague to work to help me to hem my dress today- As it's impossible to do on your own and Traff didn't feel able to assist me.

She measured the length from the waist and pinned at 54cm as markers to cut off the excess fabric whilst I was wearing it, Then I took it off and she asked me to re-measure it to check all the pins were at the same height.
I had to move some and add some- but I was satisfied they were right- as she had been 5 minutes before.
We picked it up and moved it and then we had to start all over again!
The fabric is so slippery and moves so much it was just a nightmare.

After 15 minutes or pinning and re pinning we just went for it and hacked off the bottom of the skirt- Thankfully it ended up level!

We hemmed it on one of the fancy machines at work- it has a digital display! and like a bazillion stitches.
Very fancy!
When it was finished I put it on so my chrissy could check it, and then I wore it back to the prep room to show Helen.
:D

You'll have to wait for Tuesday for the real pictures- Sabrina will be my Prom date, and she's giving me a lift so I can have a gin.

I've decided to accessories with black- I already have the black strappy sandals, I'd like a black pashmina and a black evening bag- I could take my Corde one which I sometimes use for Hednas, but I do worry about ruining it.

How (Not) to make a prom dress

I should preface this- incase anyone planning on making a lovely dress from a pattern comes across this from google or some other search engine.

"Dressmaking should be a simple and enjoyable art from which is hugely rewarding for all it's challenge."

If you want the afore printed statement to be true, buy a modern pattern. not retro, not reprinted. MODERN.

This was my first error- I bought a Butterick 60s "retro" reprinted pattern, and it says on the packet in big letters that it is "easy" and aimed at "beginners". Beginners in the 60s, that is. not a modern novice. Without my mothers dressmaking know-how from her school lessons, in the 60s I'd have ended up making a right balls up of this.
The second issue with a retro patters is the assumption that you'll be wearing undergarmenst of the era- e.g, in this instance, A girdle.
Add to this that modern sizes are greatly changed- I has some of my Mums skirts from the 70s, and they don't fit round one of my thighs, let alone my waist. In the back, they carry the same size I wear. Except the vintage items are half the size.
After some very careful reading and measuring we decided to cut the 60s size 20.
42" bust projection (This is not the back number from the bra, but the overbust measure at the biggest point- If you're new to dressmaking don't be fooled!)
34" waist
42" hip.
It turned out we could have cut the 18.

The pattern called for 7m of fabric. I bought the fabric for this from Malaysia- for just over £1 per meter.
If I was making this from shop bought material from the UK (The best price I've found for printed cottons or polycottons is £5- if anyone has found better please tell me!) I'd have been really stressing about every pattern piece as I'd have no material left to play with/error margin- especially for that cost! as it is, My only stress has been that it'd be difficult to get matching fabric in the UK, but not impossible.
For like £9 cost for all the fabric, I'd have been inconvenienced if this had gone wrong, but not bankrupted.

So, pattern cut out, the next challenge was finding a surface big enough to lay out all that material- it stretched from the conservatory, through the dining room and into the bay window!

We cut all the pieces following the pretty minimal instructions- loads of actually quite complex tasks were "assumed knowledge"- e.g, tailors tacks, bust darts, how to fit a zip and which seams to leave were not explained.
Neither was the idea of using a grain line- which I'd never done before so I was pleased to be working with someone who realised we needed to check the distance from the salvage edge (With the writing on!) to the grain line was the same across all the pattern pieces.

I also didn't realise that you cut the bodice the opposite way to the skirt- to stop if from stretching. It sounds so obvious- and it wasn't detailed in the instructions at all!
It makes sense though.
The skirt was huge! 4m of fabric- so it ended up really heavy.

We zig zagged round all the edges of every piece for the pattern to make sure it didn't fray. I learned that at the makery in Bath when I made my tunic! Then they were ready to use!

That all done, and the bodice and skirt bits all made into a separate top and skirt, I was delighted that they ended up the same size!
Measuring win!

From here I pinned them together and sewed round the seam.
Thankfully I didn't catch any other fabric in it- I was expecting to be spending hours and hours unpicking stritches where I'd sewed the wrong bits together.

The half finished garment:

My mum had gone out for dinner after helping me to cut the bits out- so I'd done all my sewing without supervision.
She returned at 11pm took one look at it and declared it was looking misshapen and needed facings!
So, fuelled by gin, we cut facings from thetop part of the bodice pattern pieces, zig zag hemmed them and sewed them right side to tight side round the arm holes ann neckline.
we finished at 2am, and it looked like every orifice of the dress had a peter ban collar of it's own.

I got up early and used another of my Makery skills to roll and pin all of the facings. It took me about an hour so I'd finished by the time mum had got up in search of coffee.
She took over and sewed the seams whilst I had a shower.

She fitted the zipper for me- as I'd never done one and we were on limited time. That is my next skill to master.
Once the zip was in I tried it on and it honestly looked like a sack!
It was so big.
I had no idea what we did wrong!

My mum started to panic, thinkingI'd be really upset- but this happened at the Makery. I learned that all you have to do is take your seams in- so I did that and it looked better- see I do listen to instructions!
My Mum then took in the bust and waist darts- because she's neater, and they had to match!
By the end of 12 hours of combined work, this was the end product:

I still need to hem the bottom edge of the skirt., and I might rouche the shoulder straps because the look a little wide.
Other than that, I'm chuffed to bits!
We made a prom dress!

I'd like to take this moment to direct you attention to my £6 shoes from the PDSA charity shop- they're Clarks, don't you know!

Machine sewing, pattern cutting, Valentines cards and home-made chocolates.

In crafting terms this weekend has been a good start and bit of a washout:

On Saturday I cut some patterns for things I want to try and make with my sewing machine- some from the book I bought last month and some from patterns I'd cut myself.
I'd been waiting to try the book patterns until I had some baking paper to trace them onto- I have no idea if thats standard dress making practice or just my mother eccentricity- but that is what I have done.

I've also cut my fabric, so it's all ready to stitch together.
I can see some flaws with some of my xmas prototypes- one of them certainly looks too small so once I've made it up and seen what it's like finished I'll try to figure out a way to adapt it.

To make space for the sewing machine I've cleared my dressing table of make up- it looks pretty weird having such a clutter free bedroom.
I've even managed to find a plug for the sewing machine- but sadly that means I can't listen to records whilst sewing.
I must choose.

I've also found the instructions for threading my sewing machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7SxLOq6sd4


As somewhere on one of our many house moves I've lost the instruction manual. I have a john lewis mini sewing machine in pale pink- they're pretty good value really for £50- and the needles and bobbins are £1 for a multipack so that makes it even better value! It only does "light" fabric (which is why I don't have a  1950s style cape yet for Hednas, as I'll need to swap sewing machines with someone to make it.).

On Sunday I had fully planned to start sewing- everything was ready! All I needed to do was fill the bobbins with thread and thread the machine up. Instead I've re-read the first 4 Harry Potter books- and started the 5th (The order of the Phoenix). Traff asked me how I can re-read the same books over and over again. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I have an embarrassing schoolgirl crush on the dark and brooding Sirius Black- to the point where I've marked the pages/chapters worth reading more than once (The reason I didn't watch the films was that I didn't think the actor they cast did him justice- In my head, Sirius Black is HOT).
And that has taken up my entire day.

However, this means I've followed doctors orders and kept off my foot and it has remained elevated.It's less puffy so I should probably admit that the man who's studied medicine for 7 years and "practiced it"for as long as I've lived here, if not longer, might be right.
And been bored out of my wits.

On Monday I started out by doing my chores- I had to go and buy an ankle support as I'll be in work tomorrow, and I'm supposed to support my stupid bashed up foot all the time anyway. (I'm finally taking this advise as my ankle feels uncomfortably like it's fizzing... Is that good? or bad?)
I tried boots but the pharmacist just kept telling me all I needed for my "sprain" was a tubigrip. Sometimes I catch my sock elastic on the back of the foot and it makes me vomit a bit in my mouth, I don't want that full time!
I did get a wrap thing for my ankle in TKMaxx- and on the way out, I spotted some seriously reduced Levi jeans. Mine now!

Obviously, I can't show you EVERYTHING I've managed to make as some of this stuff is practice runs for my xmas crafting- but these I can show you (I promise thats not just a cover- I really have done loads today as I'm off "resting" my foot and Traff's on a course):

I made baby bootees (From the slipper instructions I posted in December) and a baby dress (modelled by my hot water bottle cover!) and then a scaled up pair of bootees for Kirstie. :P
I've got some other patterns to try later in the week too.

This was me trying to learn to use all the functions on my sewing machine- that video is really helpful (link posted further up the page) Even if the lady doesn't rate my sewing machine! "you get what you pay for" humph.

And at Brownies we made valentines cards, Chocolates and chocolate boxes- Very cool. We get them back next week in time to give to the beau of our choice.
Or eat them ourselves...

No, I think maybe I'll treat the wife to some chocolates. It is Valentines day, after all.. To be honest, we never celebrate valentines day- we both think it's a bit silly. We love each other 365 days of the year- and I object to paying jumped up prices for something just because it's February!

Also, As part of my procrastination today, I found this video on happiness- I have no idea how you can do this in "real life" without it sounding like you're about to do something either dramatic or stupid, but It's a good idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHv6vTKD6lg&list=PLzvRx_johoA8PC6S5k5S2SszRQOR8oSEa&feature=share&index=1