Tilly and Colette

I finally got around to finishing my Colette Sorbetto top the other weekend... I'd made it up as a wearable muslin with fabric leftover from making my sister's bag, and some satin bias tape.  The pattern came together really easily (it's only two pieces!) but when I tried it on the bust darts were in completely the wrong place, so I fudged it! I really couldn't be bothered with unpicking the whole garment so I just unpicked the darts and redid them in a different place.  It's not perfect, but I think it's completely acceptable for a first attempt.

I don't know whats happening with the sticky out hem at the front

The one thing I love is the french seams on the shoulder and side seems, they make it look so professional, so finished.  I'm going to do french seams on everything now! The hem could have been better - the stitching is a bit wonky, but I think it's just a case of more practise required (and patience).  The trouble is that I get to the hemming and know its the last step to finishing so I rush it, where I should be taking more care.

Oh la la!

There is one thing that I might change slightly when I make another one - the armhole is a bit high and crinkles a bit under my arm.  I didn't really notice when wearing it, but when washing/ironing I saw that the binding tape was crumpled at the bottom of the armhole.

The reason that I need it finished was that we actually had summer in the UK that week.  Finally.  So we went round to a neighbor's for a BBQ. And my neighbour (who is slim, slight, strawberry blonde, pretty...) said 'ooh I like your top, where did you get it?'...... Whooohooo!! Get in! Ultimate compliment on the homemade wardrobe!

Unfortunately I didn't get around to taking any photos at the time, so I've delayed posting this until I can get to do a 'photoshoot'. I hate having my photo taken and seeing myself in photos but I realised that my clothes need to be shown to the world with me in them!  So I'm hoping this process does me some good.

And on a similar note, I should post up some pictures of my Miette skirt from Tilly and the Buttons.  I scored a great end of roll from Abakhan for a fiver and was going to use it to make up some bean bags but then I liked the fabric so much that I decided to try a Miette skirt.  It said it was dressmaking fabric on the label, and I guess its some kind of poly mix, I stuck it in the wash at 40 degrees and it came out OK so....  Its quite a good weight (like denim) and a kind of corded structure. And the best bit was that I only used about half for this skirt!

The skirt was really easy to make.  Tilly's helpfully provided two sets of instructions, one for people who know what they're doing and one for the rest of us - online with lots of detail and pictures (I used those!).  Everything came together really well.  Now I don't like raw edges and don't have an overlocker - the fabric was too thick for french seams so I decided to bind the edges. I didn't have any binding or a bias tape maker so I was doing on the fly with the iron.  They were a bit wonky but worked out OK.

I had loads of fabric left over from making my Wiksten Tova top, and the colours matched really well with this fabric so I used it to line the pockets and make the bias tape.  I added tape to the edges of the pockets as well, just because I can!

The other thing I changed was the finish on the hole for the waist tie - the instructions say machine sew around it, but my (small) machine couldn't cope with the thickness of the fabric so I hand sewed blanket stitch around it instead (like a buttonhole).  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Since I've finished them I've been wearing both the Sorbetto and the Miette loads - there's something so satisfying about wearing something you've made, it makes me smile everytime I see them.  I'm definitely going to do more versions of both!

Enough already

I'm bored, I've had enough.  The Snowy Owl quilt is coming along but slowly, mainly because weekends in July were filled with other activities. It looks cool but all those corners mean it takes me ages to quilt.  I've just got bored of it, and want to start doing other things but I really need to get it finished so I'm trying to be strong!! Should I resist the draw of new projects?

Didn't help that today I went to the Festival of Quilts (might get around to blogging/posting photos of that later).  I was very good though.  I only bought a wedge template and equilateral triangle template, some cute 1/8th of Japanese fabric, and 13 FQ's for a baby boy quilt due in November....  I couldn't resist and had to press the fabric, but I will not let myself cut any more until I've done more Snowy Owl quilting!!

Famous!

Wow - look at that http://byhandlondon.com/2013/08/06/victoria-blazer-sewalong-the-round-up-party/ I'm in the gang!!  I'm so chuffed that I'm there, thanks ladies.  I'm pretty new to this blogging and sewing malarky as you can probably work out.

I know my blog looks a bit basic and I have lots of idea's in my head for a redesign, but I just never seem to find the time.... 

My sewing journey began back in school, when I made a few things with help from my Mum.  There's been a big gap since then, but then I decide that I wanted to make a few things for the house (and other peoples - bean bags mainly, and some bunting) and a quilt for the first of my University friends to have offspring.  That was in December.  Since then I've made a few more bean bags, have a few more quilts on the go (I really should finish those), and have hopped on the sewing your own clothes bandwagon - inspired by the BBC's Great British Sewing Bee.

So far, I've made a Wiksten Tova top, a Colette Sorbetto, Tilly's Miette skirt and the beautiful Victoria Blazer.  I've been a bit slack with the photo taking so the Sorbetto and Miette haven't made it to the blog yet, but here's the Tova.

The best thing about getting into sewing, is the discussions I can have with my Mum.  She used to make loads of her own clothes (back in the 70s) but now says she doesn't have the patience and sticks to knitting instead (I swear every child at her Church has a garment she's made!). But she does have a wealth of sewing knowledge and good advice.  I really love being able to talk to her about all of it.  Something I don't get with all of my other hobbies - she's not really into running, bicycles or gardening!

Also, somewhere along the way I seemed to have developed an IPA.....

Independent Pattern Addiction

I blame the interweb, and pinterest.  Is there a self-help group out there?

How sophisticated!

It's finished, and I must say it looks mighty fine!

I had an early morning session earlier in the week and set in the second sleeve (check out those cuffs - how sharp?!), and then sewed on the collar and lapels.  I must have unpicked and re-sewn the lapels three or four times before I was happy with how the lined up, and sat.  But this time I was determined to not rush to get it finished.

I'm kinda happy with the sleeves, I think there's a bit of gather, but I did find it quite challenging to ease them in.  Something that will improve with practise I suspect.

I've pinned the corners of lapels and I'm not sure if I'll do the collar as well. I think I might.  Or wait and see what it looks like when washed and pressed.

So to the details -
Pattern is the Victoria Blazer by the beautiful ladies at By Hand London
Shell is Moss Crepe in Heather Grey, and lining is Vintage Lavender (that's what it said on the label).  It's a really soft cotton (lawn?).  Both came from the Abakhan Mostyn store on one of their 70% sale nights (and yes, £12 per metre lining material was reduced by that much - I win!).
I did a size 10 without any modifications.

Now I hate having photos of myself taken or looking at photos of me, but reading everyone's sewing blogs I realised that I have to actually have photos of the things I make with me in them.  So here goes, don't laugh..... (well, just quietly to yourselves)

That crocosmia has to go, it's completely the wrong colour scheme....

So how do you get the camera expose and focus correctly when using the self timer?

Never mind all that, check out all those the bumble bees on the globe thistles!

Frantic catchup

I've been a bit slack recently, what with trying to get the Snowy Owl quilt done and lots of visitors in the sunny weather, so I'm a bit behind on my participation with the Victoria Blazer sewalong.

Last week I managed to get the fabric cut for the shell (and only used 1.25m result! Might have enough fabric left for a mini skirt!) and started sewing together the front and back.

The 'crazy' front dart thing was fine, not that hard.  But easing the collar bit to the back was a bit more tricky. Looks OK so far don't you think?

Now I've sewn together all the collar, lapel and cuff pieces and finally got around to cutting out the fabric for the lining.  Just need to finish sewing that together, and sort out the sleeves on the shell then I think I've caught up....

Rain dance

Hooray!! Thunder and lightening and rain today. We've had hot and dry weather for what feels like weeks - unusual for the UK in recent years.  We'd just reached the bottom of the water butts around the polytunnel and I wasn't looking forward to carrying water in from the house... So hopefully the wetness will continue and these will fill up...

I'm ridiculously excited about these little beauties.  Sweetcorn is this year's experiment as I haven't grown it before. And at the moment it looks like it's going to be a big success.  I planted two blocks of nine plants with about a month between the block planting, in the hope that it won't all arrive at once....One plant in the first block has just rocketed up and is way ahead of the others, so I think we should have good succession.  I'm so excited that all visitors to the house are not allowed to leave until they've been to the polytunnel to visit the sweetcorn!

 

The tomatoes are doing well (as they always do), there's a variety called Marmalade there which are big beefsteak toms and seem to develop into a more bush like plant.  The companion Marigolds are looking good - so things must be OK.  I love the smell as you brush past them both, reminds me of summer, and my Dad's greenhouse.

The cucumbers are making their own way - their vine like tendrils are grasping hold of the supporting string and climbing up by themselves. I don't even need to tie them in.  We should have a good crop - there are a couple of good sized ones already and tons of tiny ones and flowers all the way up the plants.

The girl is back in town

Yay! Beautiful beast is back from the Sewing machine doctor and singing sweetly.  Big up to Paul Stace Sewing Machines in Wrexham for struggling with over sensitive electronics....

So that means, after a couple of weeks back with the baby machine and only being able to piecing, and making clothes and bean bags, I can finally start quilting!

I think I need one more octagon inside the patterned fabric (about 5'' diameter on the smallest one there), what do you think? 

I'm not quite sure what else to do in the big white area (bottom left) - there will be another vertical line  through the narrow bit above that branches out left and right into the area but I think that will still be too big an area so I might end up doing octagons there to.

I've been marking the lines as I'm going along with tailors chalk but its a bit thick and hard to get it accurate. So after seeing Lee @ Freshlypieced mention the FriXion pens I thought I'd give them a go (and I'm linking up with the WIP Wednesday!).

Biased

I've finished two bean bag liners and they're waiting to be filled - that's a least a two person job though otherwise you get polystyrene beads everywhere, so it'll have to wait for a while.  One of the outers for the bean bags is finished as well... The little machine struggled a bit with the thickness of the fabric and zips etc so I had to force it through.

In more exciting news, the fabric for the Miette skirt is cut and I've started with sewing on the pockets.  I decided I wanted a bias tape edge from leftover fabric for the Tova top, so had a little experiment in making my own.  There's an excellent tutorial on the Colette Patterns website - here.  The only change I made to the instructions was the width of the tape - I decided I wanted a bit more fabric showing on the outside of my pockets so I increased the width of the tape to 1.5''.  I don't own a bias tape maker either so I had to do fiddly things with my iron.  The creases ended up being not that even, but the end result wasn't too bad?!

The plain blue cord like fabric that I'm using for the main part of the skirt is also fairly thick and the little machine struggled a bit with the thickness of the front centre seam with the pockets as well. But we got there in the end.  I'll be so happy when the big machine is back from the Doctor!  In fact, tonight I might even pin the Snowy Owl quilt in preparation.....

Whoops!

I seem to have added another project to the list....  Its not my fault, By Hand are doing a sewalong on their blog. But its OK, I got the fabrics in the Abakhan 70% sale - the grey is the outside, and is a lovely soft crepe (I'm a bit concerned that it's too lightweight, but we'll see how it goes), and the pattern for the lining is a gorgeous cotton lawn that was labeled 'Vintage Lavender'. I'm really kicking myself that I didn't buy more because I absolutely love it!  And you even get a lovely woven label from the girls at By Hand London with your pattern. Isn't that cool?

And in other news, I finished the latest baby quilt top at the weekend - I think I'm going to call it Snowy Owl (there are owls and it's a snowball pattern, so obvious really, right?).

The weather was so dismal here this evening that the only place dry with a bit of light was the polytunnel, so you get lettuce and sweetcorn as well!!  I love the bold fabric patterns in large blocks, and how quickly it all went together (and less cutting!).

I have an idea about the quilting, but I'm not sure I can describe what's in my head.  It's going to be bright threads for a start, and I might use a couple (or maybe three) different colours, and the general trend is going to concentrate on the white fabric in vertical lines, but bulging out into white octagon/snowball bits. Does that make sense?  I did see on Kaffe's quilts that the colour block snowballs were quilted in circles to make them appear more circular but I'm not sure it would work with mine as they've got the sashing/larger white areas.  Hmm....

Editied to link up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation!

Bereft

I am lost.  The beautiful beast is making a worrying sound much like a coffee grinder, and telling me its not going to play because there's something wrong.  And the sewing machine Doctor is on holiday.

I suspect the problem is my lack of maintenance, and the fact that prior to my ownership it was stuck in a room unused for +5 years.

Hopefully its not terminal.

So last week I cut all the fabric for the Snowball quilt, and bought a skirt and blouse pattern (from Tilly).  Then the printer ran out of ink. It's really not going well is it....

At the weekend down at my folks I picked up the old sewing machine, and yesterday I printed out my patterns and started sewing together some of my snowball blocks.  I haven't got any pictures of that, instead you've got a very disappointing phone camera picture of the mess next to the polytunnel.

What should be there is windbreak netting, then a one year old hedge, then a strip of grass, then the tunnel... and tonight I decided to do something about it.  Little mower and hand shears came out and I carefully cut down the weeds/grass and tried to find the hedge plants.  Some I did, some I accidentally chopped, and some have disappeared without a trace.

The problem was that the hedge was planted at the beginning of last year (or maybe the end of 2011) and then it rained. Constantly for the next 12 months.  On heavy clay.  A number of the hedge plants got flooded out and never really took, or couldn't handle the neglect!  I have got a few mature plants in pots, so once I've cleared the area I'll put those in to replace the ones we lost.  Might mean we end up with a buddleja hedge though - least the bees will be happy!

I made some progress then I gave up because I was sneezing and couldn't breathe, and as usual my skin reacted to whatever I was cutting through and my arms went bright red, blotchy and itchy.