Whey aye man!

Yesterday, Ally and I spent a beautiful, warm British summer's day visiting Ikea! I must confess that I am a bit of an Ikea fan girl, but I don't often get the chance to wander about looking at things as my boyfriend can't stand the place. He put up with it the weekend before my birthday so that he could buy my most excellent sewing table, but as we went round I didn't get the chance to look at hardly anything as he rushed me round. Apparently this is a normal male reaction to the place!

On this trip I managed to look at lots of things, most importantly the fabric section. I just love their quirky designs but I only came out with two pieces, I'd spent so long deliberating over what i was going to get that even Ally was starting to flag ha ha!

I'm very pleased with what I chose:

I currently have no idea what I'm going to make with them, I just loved the colours and the patterns!

Loving Bloglovin'

I've seen Bloglovin' all over the place for some time now and I don't know why my curiosity hasn't taken me there sooner. I have bookmarks all over the place, and a list of blogs that I follow in Blogger as well as the odd pin in Pinterest. Now I have it all under one roof, on one page for my extra convenience. Love it! I just wish all of the blogs I follow were on there. So if you are reading this and you aren't on there, please, please, pretty please add your blog!

Anyway, I haven't spent the last couple of Weeks stalking my latest blog crush. I've been slowly getting on with my Joel Dewberry meadow spirit skirt. I must say I should have finished it by now, it's simple enough, but life has been getting in the way, especially since the Sun has graced us with its presence!

I made a little bit of mistake with the skirt. I could have finished it last night, but I had previously thought it would be a good idea to use a stiffer interfacing as I always wish I had and now I know why I shouldn't. It turned my hips into a triangle. So this was me last night un-picking the bias binding I used to finish it off so I could rip the interfacing out...

Joel Dewberry Meadow Spirit Part 1

Despite everything that's going on, tonight I've managed to get a couple of hours sewing in. It's too hot, I'm faffing and I've wasted the first 30 mins creating a new playlist on iTunes!

After trying to measure the pattern pieces for the waistband yoke I couldn't work out which size I wanted, so I picked the 12 from the guidelines on the back. I know I shouldn't use these but I'm not in a great concentration mode tonight. I decided to make a toile of the waistband just to check that my estimations were correct. You'll notice I used the scraps from my wrap skirt to make it! Seems to look good, so hopefully I'll get the rest of the pattern traced tomorrow.

Michael Kors inspired

Well this should have been easy! I used Burda pattern 7970, which is my first ever Burda. When I measured the pieces it seemed as though all I needed to adjust was the nape to waist length. I really should have measured the shoulders, which could now do with almost an inch of shortening.

I also had to greatly reduce the waist, this dress looked like a paper bag on me on the first go! I made it in size 14, I was umming and ahhhring which size to make, I should have used the Size 12 for all but the hips, which would have given a much better fit without having to make so many after adjustments.

I was quite lucky with the darts, with them being under my arm I knew they would be hidden, but the stripes almost match up.

It was a very easy pattern, it took maybe 4hrs to make and even then I was taking my time over it as I also managed to make a carrot and coriander soup from scratch within the 4hrs.

I didn't want to put this on today as it's so warm, so here's some pics of it on a hanger:

Simplicity 2594

This was a reasonably easy pattern to follow, there weren't many steps, although I rarely follow a pattern all the way to the end now.

The 'V' was a little troublesome. The first attempt I had to un-pick it and try again. The second attempt worked, but it's not as sharp as it probably should be.

Towards the end of the instructions it tells you to top stitch the 'V', but I didn't. I felt as though if I had it would have looked a little too hand made. The way that I stitched the facing to the neckline enabled it to sit nicely without any requirement for top stitching anyway. I also didn't cut notches out as you would have seen it through the top, I just trimmed it back instead.

I'm quite pleased with the way this top has turned out, even if my boyfriend does think it looks more like a pyjama top!

You will see that my top is modelled on my new assistant - a wonderful birthday present from my Dad and Step Mum, along with my new label...

Too impatient

Joel Dewberry's Meadow Spirit Skirt pattern arrived the other day, thanks to Rainbow Silks in Great Missenden, who appear to be the only UK company to sell the pattern. I keep looking at it longingly, I just can't wait to make it, but the fabric that I have bought to make it with hasn't turned up yet. I then keep looking at my stash, trying to envisage it made from what I have, but it's just not happening for me. So I've picked out the Simplicity pattern of the week from last week and some fabric with boats on that was a bit of an impulse buy from Minerva earlier on in the year...

Least exciting garment

I thought I'd give pj shorts a go. It's warmer weather here and I only have 2 pairs that always seem to be in the wash.

I had an impulse buy of some novelty cotton I bought from Ebay, that I thought would be ideal for these.
The pattern that I used was pattern of the week on the Simplicity-New look website a few weeks ago, 3971.

This was quite a simple pattern, so for comfort I used French seams for all but the waist band. However, twice I made the stupid mistake of stitching the back piece to the other back piece and the same with the front. How could I go so wrong?? It really isn't fun unpicking finished French seams all those times for no reason!

These shorts were also 5 inches too high at the waist, quite obviously designed for Simon Cowell... so I trimmed the pattern a little to ensure a nice hipster fit.

All in all, this wasn't a very interesting pattern, it was a little too easy, so I look forward to making the full PJ's in the winter.