Colette 1027 Zinnia

I made this skirt for my bezzer mate as a gift for Christmas. Now that she has this gift I can post it!

This is the first time that I have made anything for anyone else and as you can imagine I was so nervous as I passed the wrapped, final product to her.

This pattern was so simple that I knew it would work as a gift and have a reasonable chance of fitting. You only need your waist size to make it, what could be simpler?

I really sailed through this one. Even though I took my time as I wanted to get it right (and I only had just enough of the fabric to make it once!). 

The fabric that I used was a Linen Cotton/Poly blend from Minerva. I went for the blend as I thought it would be easier to care for than 100% cotton. 

The only hiccup that I encountered was that the skirt was too big for the waistband. However, I remedied this by putting in some extra pleats.

I also made this small elasticated belt to go with it. I wanted to buy one, but I couldn't find anything appropriate in the shops. 

I like this skirt so much, that I think I'll have to make myself one in the not too distant future! It was a dream to sew and honestly it looks better in real life than my photos!

Back to basics with Simplicity 2906

I made this skirt a couple of weeks ago now, but for some reason I've not found the time to share it!

This pattern is part of the 'it's so easy' range from Simplicity and it really was. I think I sewed this one up in maybe 3 hours. But that's not really surprising considering that there's only 1 pattern piece.

I bought this pattern ages ago when I was just starting out, in hindsight I could have drafted my own pattern pieces!

The original pattern has this skirt really long, I guess that's for tall people, but as I'm only 5'4" I had to chop 3 inches from the pattern. This brought it, after the hem allowance, to sit on my knee. The one piece that it has was still massive and didn't quite fit on my table.

I measured this pattern, I measured it twice and I went for size 12, but my measurements were either wrong or there was too much give in the fabric I used because I had to take it in 1.5". It still feels quite loose too.

The fabric was some wool mix that I won (sounds like I got it for free ha ha!) on eBay. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it definitely has some wool in it.

I've since worn the skirt twice and I love it. It feels so feminine and flirty. It has been worn for both work and out to the pub, I can add so many tops to the outfit.

Simplicity 6020

It has been a while, but I've finally got back in to sewing and created a Simplicity 6020. This is possibly the quickest, easiest dress I've ever made.

That's not to say that I made no mistakes. It all got a little confusing when it came to the lining, when I decided to stitch it to the wrong side on the neckline! 

 

The dress is constructed with front and back princess seams that run from the bodice down through the skirt, to make a fit and flare shape.

For some reason the side zip sits funny on the dummy, but it's not too bad when it's on. I went for a lapped zip to make it look neat and I was quite impressed with how it turned out considering it was my first.

The fabric was some that I'd picked up from Pauline's on Darlington Market for about £5 per meter and I lined it with purple anti static lining.

The back is in a lovely 'v' shape, showing a little bit of black.

I love the little flowers and I'm glad I went for purple lining rather than boring old black.

However, the camera on the iPad makes it look like I used black, but it's definitely a Cadbury's shade of purple. 

I wore the dress last night when we went out for a family meal and I felt like such a lady. I'm going to have to make another of these, but next time I'd make some amendments to the bodice, the shoulders were a little wide, so I had a little gaping on the chest neckline.

Habari!

It has been a hectic 2 months, in fact I'd go so far as to say that's an understatement. I've had to put 2 projects on hold that I had been working on. One being a skirt and the other, a pair of cropped jeans.

We bought a new kitchen from Wren and decided that we'd fit it ourselves as it's soooo expensive to get someone to fit it. But since then there has been problem after problem. It has been so exhausting.

Then, on the 6th I decided to go away to Kenya. I've been there ever since and I'm due back home later on this week. Although I've had a thrilling experience, I can see the end now and I'm looking forward to going home!

Apart from all of the late nights drinking, I've been learning a hell of a lot about being a Vehicle Mechanic. Thankfully I'm out here with a good (and patient) group of lads. I even got to work on a quad bike which was different. They are so fiddly as all the parts are teeny tiny compared to Land Rovers.

We visited Sweetwater Safari park last weekend which was an amazing experience. There were loads of animals to see and we were even lucky enough to see Lions and Elephants before we spent 3 hours trying to figure out how to get out of the park. Typical lads refused the map at the beginning! Then it got dark and that's where the adventure really began. We must have visited 3 gates, guards at each would not let us through. But we got back in the end!

Today I was sat by the pool in the local Golf club (oh lahdee dah!) sunning myself until the rain came at midday. Who said this was the dry season?? Now I'm sat in the bar red as a lobster, catching up with a bit of FB and blogging.

Life is bloody marvelous!

Simplicity 1699

Simplicity has a sale on! I had to hold myself back, I have a number of patterns that I would like, however I managed to stick to 4. One of the patterns that I got was Simplicity 1699, it has 4 patterns with it and I chose to make the peplum top in a red polka dot cotton/poly mix.

This was quite a quick pattern to complete considering that it's almost a dress with all the pattern pieces, so I look forward to making the dress at some point.

I didn't quite fancy the short sleeves, so I used the pieces for the longer sleeves from the dress. 

Some of these pics almost make it look like I'm wearing a paper bag, but I swear it doesn't look like that in real life. The top could have done with being a little more snug, but I like to have a bit of ease.

I don't know how the photo's came out so badly, or why I'm not smiling! I would, however, like to point out that we've spent half the day down the pub in front of the sun, so a mixture of Baz being a bit drunk and me being a bit sun sizzled has produced some rather rubbish pics!!!

The detail on the sleeves is lovely, the way the edge is curved, but it confused the heck out of me when I started to created the hem, I just didn't even click when I was cutting out the pieces, but it's a nice finish.

I meant to use the instructions this time, but I got a little carried away and forgot all about them!  The pieces all came together quite neatly, this was quite an easy garment to construct. I think it's time for that challenge that I've been putting off, I think it's time to make those trousers... Watch this space!!!

New Look K6123 wrap dress

So I've finally finished my New Look K6123 faux-wrap dress, that I was intending to wear at my Cousin's wedding on the 4th! Instead I managed to finish it just in time for the Girls night out tonight.

I really liked the material that I made it with, a 2-way stretch with a satin finish. It also wasn't too bad to work with. The pattern however didn't exactly fit on the first go. I traced the size 12, but I wish I'd maybe used the size 8 for the shoulders, moving to a size 10 at the bust and then the 12 towards the waist, so as it worked out it was really baggy and I had a lot of adjusting to do.

Even after all of the adjusting I was still conscious that I was flashing my chest tonight! But I always seem to have that problem with low cut tops.

All in all, I like this dress, but I may pin the two wrap sections together next time I wear it.

Really should have sucked that gut in!

Fabworks, Dewsbury

I've been so busy lately, that I've not done much sewing. So it has taken longer that I'd expect to finish my Joel Dewberry Meadow Spirit Skirt and the dress that I've been on with. Both still need finishing off, both have needed huge adjustments. I know creating a toile would save this, but the tweaks required take less time.

Seeing as I've not finished anything, I thought I'd talk about the fabric shop that I visited this week. I'm not sure that's factually correct, it's more like a warehouse! It's called Fabworks mill shop and is located in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, not far from the local train station. They have all sorts in stock for all of your crafty sewing needs. I felt like I was in a dream, you could easily go in there and lose the contents of your purse within minutes!!

They have a webpage that you can find here.

Here's some pictures that I took:

The front courtyard

Excellent dressmaking fabrics

More dressmaking fabrics

    

Even more dressmaking fabrics

Some of their ribbons, binding etc

Upholstery fabric & leather Scraps

More upholstery fabric

and more...

and more...

more fabric

Buttons and things