Madras shirt, take 2

Having previously made a shirt for Eldest that was handed immediately to Middlest, I set about making another last week.

The shirt had been cut out for a while, and was ready to go. This time I cut an age 14 and used smaller seam allowances, therefore making it nearly a size and a half bigger. It was easy to sew and went together much more quickly than the first one, probably because I had done it before.

I got Eldest to try it on for a photo, then she decided that she was going to wear it for the rest of the day, so it hasn't yet got one of my lovely labels!

Mackenzie Frock Stars 2011

This time last year, I entered a competition local to the area we were living in in New Zealand, called Mackenzie Frock Stars, blogged here and here.

So this year I have a title to defend and I believe I am the only international entrant! I received a parcel about a month ago with my dress and all the competition details. Being unable to model the finished piece myself this year, I have made it to fit my friends 10 year old daughter, who has already volunteered to model it for me.

I had the dress on my dress form (nicknamed Lola after my friend and organiser of the Frock Stars comp) for a few days to inspire me and think I now have some ideas...

Here are some details:

and here is Eldest modelling the finished dress (she is the same age and similar size as my friends daughter)

I posted the parcel last week with a week to go before the closing date and managed get it there before some of the local contestants. There was a massive dump of snow recently, which meant several roads were closed and postal services were down - I must have just beaten the snow!

Final judging and the Fashion show is this weekend - can't wait!

Oh my goodness....

Guess who is the most recent particpant in Karen's Ugly Amnesty!!

After a comment from Karen at the Fabric Fandango about needing more victims/participants, for her Ugly Amnesty, I offered up an old make that I had recently rediscovered when unpacking our house...

For full disclosure visit Karen's post here!

Medieval Madness!

Last Friday was our primary school fête, which this year had a Medieval theme. I think this was because the whole school had been looking at the Tudor period for topic work this year.

Husband is one of the school governors and offered to be on 'Ye Olde Whacky the Ratte' stall. No problem.... A couple of weeks before the Fête, posters went up announcing a Medieval themed non-uniform day for the day of the fête, with a fancy dress competition for all at the fête. Again, no problem.... Eldest borrowsed a green top of mine teamed with a pair of leggings for a Robin Hood look, Middlest wore a handmade Queen of Hearts costume that had been given to us a few years ago and Youngest dressed up in a Cinders costume made by Grandma.


Having finished my Sorbetto last week I decided to launch straight in to making a Medieval smock and hat. I bought a cream coloured poly/cotton double sheet from one of the Charity shops in town and started sniping away. I knew I wanted the smock to be quite baggy and I used a raglan sleeved t-shirt of husbands to get the shape of the pieces, adding in extra width to allow for gathering. I used my overlocker to sew and finish the seam at the same time. This worked really well until I ran out of thread on one spool, then spent the best part of an afternoon trying to getting the threading right on my machine......

Having finished the smock I then decided to make a hat. Husband wanted a "round pouffy hat with a brim and a feather", something along the lines of this. However, I thought I would be clever and see what I could find on the ol' internet. I found this website with a whole section on men's hats which was really useful. I did get quite distracted reading all about Medieval hats and clothing ( if I had found this a little earlier Husbands smock would have been a bit different).

Following the instructions, I made a stuffed roll from the legs of an old pair of kids velvet trousers and had enough of my sheet left to make the all-in-one liripipe and cockscomb(!) The hardest part was handsewing the cotton all-in-one piece to the stuffed roll. I had to hold it in quite an awkward position and think I have strained my wrist.

I think he looked great, although the smock was slightly (read: very) oversized, but I think he felt a bit daft, especially when one of the teachers turned up wearing the type of hat that he wanted.