Is it wrong to want a Mexican wrestler dress?

I'm a conservative dresser. I don't really do patterns or bright colours. Every Christmas my husband buys me another grey v-neck jumper for my collection.

But having bought some retro car fabric for the planned Car Fest dress I am finding myself drawn to increasingly outrageous fabric. Like this:

I bloody love this. But I think everyone who knows me would think I'd gone totally insane.

I am also hankering after this little number:

I have a longstanding obsession/phobia of sharks.

And finally:

Some intergalactic craziness. Is this a midlife crisis or should I just go for it and see what the reaction is? Fabrics are all by Fancy Moon (www.fancymoon.co.uk) who also have some very nice, tasteful fabrics too!).

In other news, I am knitting what seems to be the world's longest scarf. This is a commission from my brother and I'm hoping to have if finished before the summer!

Sew Over It sulk!

So I haven't blogged for ages. I did some sewing and this resulted in some serious sulking. Having invested in 2 patterns from Sew Over It, I spent ages sewing up the Ultimate Tea Dress. I had to recut the bodice as when I tried it on it was crazily tiny. That meant I had to fudge the skirt panels with really tiny seam allowances and leave out the dart in the back of the skirt. I finished all my seams properly (normally I'm way too lazy).and then when I went to hem it the skirt was really short, so I ended up with a 0.5cm hem.  The finished dress has some issues with the neckline gaping too. 

Anyway, just as I hemmed the dress an email popped into my inbo. Saying that the pattern pieces had been printed too small! Aaaaarrrrggghhhh! 

I have a lot of sympathy with small businesses but I was so cheesed off that I've been in a sewing sulk ever since!

Anyway, here's the finished item:

Next... A retro dress for me and some shirts for The Boy in a car print fabric in preparation for CarFest in the summer! I'm attempting to draft my own Frankenpattern along the lines of the Anna dress that is currently the blogosphere's favourite. It could be a mash-up too far...

Little monsters

It It's been a while since I blogged, but I have been busy making these little monsters for the Boy's classmates:

Each one is made from a single sheet of cheap Hobbycraft felt (50p) plus white and black felt for the features. 

I also made this:

It's a handbag organiser made out of 2 bits of felt and some interfacing. There are pockets for my purse, phone, diary, pens... And when I change bag I can just lift the whole thing out. It's made it so much easier to find my stuff in my capacious bag! If I make another one I will do a little tutorial.

Spend spend spend

Ah, the dangers of a glass of wine and internet access on a Saturday!

So far I have bought a book: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1408170884

Recommended by a friend, apparently it is the answer to all my fitting  problems.

I have also been over to http://sewoverit.co.uk and purchased their wrap dress and the dress pattern. Reckless. And that's not mentioning the luxury holiday to Norway I also booked tonight. Yikes.

The tea dress pattern is for this fabric :

Which is actually slightly lighter blue than it looks in the picture. At £2.50 per metre from Tahim's in coventry, it doesn't matter too much if I mess it up! And I still have some Drape Drape patterns to attempt... Going to be busy. 

I made something that isn't crap!

I haven't blogged much lately because I've been busy turning 40. It's actually fine, although I find it utterly unbelievable that I'm that old. One surprise birthday party and a reunion with the Brighton girls later and I'm ready to just get on with it.

In sewing news, I've abandoned my wrap dress because it's a disaster. But I have made a skirt. I don't really own any skirts and I had a sudden hankering for a denim one. So on my trip to Brighton I picked up some slightly stretchy denim from Fabricland (£4.99/m). The selection was a bit disappointing because it was all getting a bit Halloween in there. But I got my denim and my friend picked up loads of co-ordinating cottons to make bags (I've really got to get my Christmas-present-making arse in gear!)

So, I dug out my Burda magazines and found a pencil skirt pattern. I added a vent at the back because, well, I wanted to be able to walk.

I'm chuffed with the result. The invisible zip went in fine, despite the lack of an invisible zip foot. The skirt is a little snug, but I shall wear my Spanx and wiggle my tush.

So, finally, a sewing non-disaster! I would like to finish the seams though as they are a bit fray-y. I may bind them in some way but I haven't thought how yet... But I'm back in the sewing saddle. Now to tackle Christmas presents!

Burda knotted dress with a fabric shortfall

So my current project is this Burda knotted dress

(I'll have what she's having... I never thought leaning on the tin man's head could result in such ecstasy). 

My problem is that it calls for 3 metres of fabric and I have ... 2 metres. The shortfall is due to the big ties at the end of the wrap. So I've ditched them and tried to turn it into a basic faux wrap dress.But I might stick the wraps back on because I'm having problems with getting the wrap to line up ok at the sides. It's bunching up all wrong because the original fronts wrap over in the middle, while I'm trying to attach them at the sides.

What has gone well is attaching tape to the seams to stabilise them, although my cheap jersey from Birmingham's rag market (£2.50 a metre) is fairly stable. 

So I still have to cut out the sleeves and figure out what to do with the wrap bit.  

When will I learn to just follow the bloody pattern?

And now for something completely different

A rather natty little leopard print number, as requested by The Boy. I made this about a year ago and tonight he suddenly decided he wanted to wear it as pyjamas. Pattern was a major Burda hack from various fancy dress costume patterns. Not my finest work but it has a certain je ne sais quoi.