A little adjustment.

I wore my red broderie anglais dress out on Saturday night to the awesome Fat Pug in Leamington (great pizza and crayfish popcorn) and then The Kenilworth - probably the best cocktail bar in the country.

Anyway, the pouchy bit at the front of my dress was annoying me so I decided to bite the bullet and make some changes. I had hoped that I had enough fabric to re-draft the whole skirt or at least the front, but I only had scraps left. So, I unpicked the waistband and the pleats and the front and re-did them as darts. I just eyeballed this bit and the first attempt was still rather pouchy so I extended the darts further.
And the end result is a big improvement. I also took the opportunity to neaten up the hem by folding it over. My first attempt had started to fray, but then I do find hemming dull.

 
The reason for the night out was that my son was at Beaver Camp. He has done me the honour of being the official photographer again today, so forgive the low camera angle and blurry shots!












The other project of the weekend has been my Burda vest top, which I would say is finished but I think I am going to be tinkering with this too. I made the straps out of doubled-up bias binding but I didn't make them long enough and now I haven't got enough left to re-do them. Doh!

So, as you can see the result is a rather demure vest top (apart from when I lean forward). It's ever so comfy though, really nice to have a slouchy vest top rather than a clingy one.

I also managed to snaffle up a copy of The Great British Sewing Bee at my local library. My husband suggested that was purely so that I could ogle the delicious Patrick. As if! No, I shall be paying close attention to hemming techniques and bias binding... (sigh)





Actually, the other half seems to have caught the sewing bug too. He's been sewing badges on our son's camp blanket. I may be from Brighton, but it's not that sort of camp - it's the blanket Scouts take with them to camp. The tradition is to cover it with badges that you've collected or swapped. It belonged to my husband when he was younger, so there are some great badges from all over the world. He says that sewing the badges on reminds him of when his mum used to sew his badges on. I think that's one of the lovely things about sewing: it connects you with the past. Mind you, my mum hated sewing and used to glue my Brownie badges on until Brown Owl told her off!

Stash plans... I'm almost ready to commit

So, I've been thinking more about the Hummingbird jersey fabric I bought in Fabricland. I've decided that if I make it into a dress it will definitely look like a nightie. I have almost decided to make a vest top - this Burda pattern with a gathered neckline:

And then make either some pyjama trousers or pyjama shorts from what's left. I have traced my pattern pieces, but I'm going to miss out the slash in the front. It looks a bit meh in the photo, but I'm hoping that's just because of the rather dull fabric and the weird combination with the skirt.



This is the red fabric I'm planning to make a shift dress out of:

I think this was from Minerva Crafts. It's silky viscose stuff and I can't decide whether it's okay or really horrible. I'm also worried that darts and seams are going to play havoc with pattern matching. But the fabric cost peanuts so I guess it's not a big problem if it's a disaster.

This is the New Look 6123 pattern I'm thinking of turning it into (free with Sew magazine). But maybe the waist seam is going to make it too complicated with the fabric.

So, maybe a Mccalls 2401 might be a better bet. I've made 3 of these before: 1 wearable muslin in a very dull greyish fabric and 2 in Ponte fabric (red and navy). It's quite an easy to put together pattern, in fact it was the first thing I sewed, inspired by blogs by Tilly and the Buttons and Stitch and Witter - check out their cute versions.

So the materials have been washed and are waiting to dry. I think I'll aim for the vest stop first so I can wear it on holiday in a couple of weeks. I'll be taking my broderie anglais dress too (but I'm still wishing I'd done darts instead of pleats in the skirt...)

Serendipity... a Simplicity 2444... and I've got nothing to wear!

So this week I discovered a wardrobe gap. I had a job interview and had night before panic when I went through my wardrobe and couldn't find anything I wanted to wear. My go-to dress from H&M doesn't fit anymore, my wide-legged trouser suit suddenly seemed terribly old-fashioned and I couldn't find a shirt that went with trousers. In the end I plumped for some smart trousers with a plain white t and a grey cardy. It looked better than it sounds, honest!
It was a really hot day and what I was really yearning for was a simple shift dress with short sleeves. But my handmade dresses are either too wintry or too informal.
So, to add to my sewing list is a smart-ish dress that looks good for an interview but won't look out of place in the park.
I'm thinking along the lines of the pattern I got free with Sew magazine this month - New Look K6123.

I'm not one for the flouncy frou-frous but I think the simple faux-wrap dress in view A or view C with view D's sleeves would fit the bill. I've got some patterned red and cream fabric in the stash that I'm thinking of, but I'm not too sure about pattern matching - it could come out a right mess!

Anyway, I got the job so hopefully I won't be needing an interview dress for a while.

Tonight to celebrate we went out to our favourite curry house, Akbar's. My dad was up from Brighton for the weekend and it's his favourite restaurant in the world. I wore my Simplicity 2444 dress, made out of fabric purchased on our anniversary trip to Paris earlier in the year. 

It was from one of the coupon shops and I think it was 10 euros for 2 metres. I think I made the skirt a bit too short and I felt a bit dorky wearing it to start with. I found that wearing it with leggings and a cardy makes it feel a bit less Laura Ashley from the 80s. It's really comfy to wear and the pockets are great. Next time though I would be tempted to do a straight skirt. I'm not sure the full skirt style is quite me.

Walking back from the restaurant took us past The Weaver's House, a restored medieval house. I could see people knitting and they spotted me peering in and beckoned me in. Turned out it was a Friday night stitching club. It's run by a lovely lady who has just opened Coventry Craft Studio next door on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. There are other regular events, including Make Do and Mend Mondays and a Stitch and Bitch group of parents of children with Autism. Awesome stuff, and all on my doorstep! 

When I first moved to Coventry 10 years ago I hated it, but now I am finding more and more pockets of inspiration, creativity and generosity of spirit. Maybe it's not so bad after all!

Sewing-free weekend

No sewing this weekend, just beer festivals, allotment gardening, picnics and bargain-hunting at IKEA. The good news is that the family shoes are now concealed from view in a bargain (£37 reduced from £125) cabinet.

Ooh and I got a massive jar of buttons for £4 in a charity shop, which The Boy and I spent a good while sorting into bags. Some may be destined for clothing (when I overcome my terror of buttonholes) and some may become jewellery (I have never attempted button jewellery - this is just another project for the pile. I reckon I may get round to it in a year or two...)

The bad news is that too much gardening means I look like a 90 year old when I stand up. I have to do it in stages.
So, I'm still no further with working out what to do with the Hummingbird fabric and I really need to do some Uni work this week...

Sewing queue... What's next?

I've just started my final Masters module, so the obvious question is.... What shall I sew? Can't beat sewing as a procrastination aid!
On my recent trip to Fabricland I picked up this Hummingbird t-shirting and this lace jersey (which isn't very stretchy).

As the sun is still shining and it's a month till our UK holiday, I think the Hummingbirds are calling and will be first in the queue. I won't even go into the rest of my fabric stash, which is hidden under the bed.

But what to make? I'm still nervous of stretch fabrics following my sequinned jersey disaster. I don't have a serger (I'm not entirely sure what one is). And my attempts at working out the Phantom Foot Pedal's other stitches have only got as far as zig zag and a very shakey buttonhole.

Anyhoodle, my plans for the hummingbirds are vague. A top, almost certainly. But t-shirt, long vesty tunicy dress thing to wear over leggings? I will have to have a look through the old Burdas and see if anything looks promising. 

Jersey maxi (warning, self-timer picture included)

A sewing with knits success!
After the hideousness of the double disaster sequin T, I cast my fears of jersey aside and plunged into making a maxi skirt. I love maxi skirts for the summer because they hide my freakishly pale legs and knobbly knees.
The jersey was a bargain from Minerva Crafts  but I was a bit worried that it would be too thin when it arrived. Don't you hate it when you realise your jersey leggings are actually more like tights?
Anyway, the jersey was fairly fine but I don't think you can see my knickers through it.
So, another Burda pattern.

Super-easy. One pattern piece that acts as both front and back, then cut a rectangle for the waistband and double it over. This is great because you can hoick the skirt up or down a bit depending on the height of your shoes and the wetness of the terrain.

Foldover waistband

Ta da! Fabulously poor-quality self-timer picture with scary starey eyes. I have realised photography is going to be a problem. I need a backdrop and someone who can actually take a photograph.

The sequin double disaster top

We all make mistakes. I managed to screw this project up not once, but twice, but to be honest it was doomed from the start. Sequinned crinkle jersey. It was never going to end well.
I am just fatally attracted to the occasional bit of sparkle. (There's some lurex in my stash which is going to be surfacing soon). This fabric was cheap and it looks it. It was a nightmare for the poor Phantom Foot Pedal machine. What needle to choose: ballpoint for the jersey or sharp for the sequins? After breaking my entire supply of ballpoints I finally twigged that sharps might be better, but still it was a horrible crunchy then soft sewing experience.
My first idea was to fashion an expensive-looking, drapey neck top. I found a Burda pattern and got stuck in. Very quick to sew given the horribleness of the material.

No photos exist of this first attempt. It looked like I was being eaten by a saggy sequinned snake.

Plan B then. A simple t. I managed to pick up a copy of Sew U Home Stretch in The Works for a couple of quid and attempted the basic crew neck t. No ribbing, no serger, just a wonky zig zag stitch and a lot of cussing.

I am so disgusted with the finished product that I can't even wear it for a photograph. The material is truly hideous. The finish is pathetic. The seams! Puckered to buggery. And just look at that neckline!

Totally unwearable. I'm afraid its for the bin. And the sequins mean it won't even make a good duster. Sigh.