Squares before my eyes

Not long before Christmas I bought this lovely wool blend jersey from Geoff Rosenberg at Trumpingon village hall:

I don't often buy without a plan, but this was lovely and I knew I would be annoyed if I didn't get it.  I got it home and draped it around my dress form for ideas.

There is enough to make a simple dress along the lines of the beige dress I finished the other week. Or another Lady Skater dress with a slightly slimmer skirt. I love the idea of dresses, they seem very practical, just one thing to put on and you're done. However, apart from the beige dress, I don't often wear the dresses I have. I like to be warm, so I would have to layer up with something underneath if I didn't want to put something over the top.

Another thought was to make a biggish drapey top, possibly using the Burda Young pattern that I used for one of my magpie tops. A top would get a lot of wear, but the fabric doesn't actually go with much in my wardrobe so I would pretty much only wear it with skinny jeans (which I appear to be living in at the moment.

Or, a nice warm cowl necked Renfrew - nice and simple and I have made it a few times before. Too many ideas. What to do, what to do?

Then...

I went shopping with a friend of mine.We went into Cos where I saw this dress:

Image from Cos website.

and I tried it on:

My friend tried to persuade me to buy it, but the fit was a bit off - bit big on the shoulders, the sleeves are a strange length and the waist gathering was a bit high on me.

I love the way the pattern goes up the bodice and down the skirt and I am now trying to work out how I can do something similar to this, with my material.

I would really like to get the squares in the pattern going up the bodice and down the skirt like the Cos dress, but am quite concerned that this might reduce the amount of fabric I would have to work with. To do that would I have to cut fabric at the straight edge of the squares to the left of the top photo, cut the grey strip from the straight edge of the squares to the right of the photo, then spin the right hand side of the fabric round so that the two straight edges meet? Or cut a bodice one way up and a skirt the other way up? I think if I made a dress I might have to line it as the fabric is quite fine.

I could be over thinking this.

I am using this post to try to solidify my ideas for this fabric, but I can't decide and can only see problems at the moment - living up to my self-proclaimed title of Queen of Procrastination!

Having recently spoken to the friend I went shopping with and discussed the merits of dresses versus tops and what would be most likely to be worn, I am veering towards a top. Which makes most of the above unnecessary any way!

Queen of Procrastination

I am the Queen of Procrastination at the moment.  I have lots of lovely fabric, most of it bought with a plan in mind. The trouble is I really like the original plan, then think up new plans (usually plural) and end up being so paralyzed by indecision that I don't do anything.


Some of my fabric:
 
a very soft corduroy bought from the local market for £3.00 a metre:

Wool jersey bought from Geoff Rosenberg at Trumpington village hall:

patterned silk from the remnant bin at John Lewis:

Teal wool blend bought from Geoff Rosenberg just because I liked it. The current plan is a Sewaholic Minoru, or a skirt from my pattern cutting class:

middle fabric (need to do something with the other two as well)

Teal linen/cotton blend, bought in New Zealand 4 years ago bought to make a Hot Pattern shirt dress that I muslined and lost heart with. Could also be a Simplicity 2451 with lots left over:

Very drapey jersey, again from Geoff Rosenberg, bought to recreate a Boden Tunic that has been worn to death (could also be wrap dress or renfrew/burda raglan:

Corduroy bought in Goldhawk Road 18months ago to make a Beignet:

top fabric (bottom one already used)

Knobbly blue/grey fabric from one of the ladies at my pattern cutting class - for a sloppy top/Laurel style dress (from my dress block):

Numerous jerseys for renfrews, burda raglan tops and other t-shirt type tops:

Linen for summer skirts or trousers:

Quite large ponti remnants from other makes:

Am I the only one this happens to?! Maybe I will continue the procrastination by rearranging fabric by type, rather than colour...

Unblogged makes from 2013

Here is the catch-up of all of my un-blogged makes from 2013. Here's to getting things up here a bit more promptly! 

Bridesmaid dress(es)

it was very cold and windy!

I used Newlook 6749 to make this. I realise writing this that I had started to draft a blog post about this but I ran out of steam half way through! Initially I said that I didn't want to make the bridesmaid dresses as well as the brides dress. Fortunately my mother-in-law is a very good seamstress and had offered to any sewing that my sister wanted doing. Seems an odd arrangement but my m-i-l actually met my brother-in-law sometime before I did! My sister and I had decided that the 2 older girls would wear the same style dress as me and Youngest would wear a sparkly number from a shop to match with the other little dot who was the last bridesmaid. 

I traced off a size 6 for Eldest thinking I would do a tissue fit.  Which I duly did.... and it was too small.  I ended up doing the tissue fit again on Middlest which worked out fine, if a little long and a bit big in the chest department. I ended up tracing off a size 10 for Eldest. Having done all this, and having quite a lot of floor space, I offered to cut out all the dresses and mark them up for my m-i-l.  Having reached a hiatus in the Wedding Dress, I then decided to make my dress, so that m-i-l only had 2 to make. 

At a fitting session!

The dress was silk dupioni with a nice slubby texture and was great to sew. It was also great at fraying and instead of following my own advice to overlock all the edges before I started sewing (which m-i-l did) I carried on regardless. This meant that a couple of pieces were a little smaller than they should have been, but it wasn't too disastrous. I think I made a couple of small adjustments to the bodice around the sleeve and neckline. The dress would have fallen off my shoulders due to the extremely wide neckline, otherwise. M-i-l had to do the same for the girls.

Simplicity 2451

Easily my favourite of 2013, not to mention many of the sewing blogosphere.  I have had the pattern for well over a year, and I bought the fabric this time last year, going by my photo records. The material is from Ikea and I bought it with the plan to make a Sewaholic Cambi (which I did...) I cut both out at the back end of the summer and finished the skirt in mid to late October.  I wanted it to be wearable for as much of the year as possible so winged lining it. Only one major mistake - can you spot it? I have, as I hoped, worn this a lot, but failed to get a photo of me wearing it. It goes with many of my tops which makes a seemingly garish skirt quite versatile. I often wear it on miserable days just to have something jolly to look at!

Sewaholic Cambie

working out cutting layout for skirt and dress

Made from the same material as the above skirt. I was very patient with this make - I even made a muslin which seemed to fit fine. The construction took for ever. I made it in fits and starts, had to wait for a zip to arrive (I ordered 3 as I couldn't find a proper match just going on the computer screen colour).

waiting for Husband to pin hem..

I have only worn this once so far, out to dinner at Launceston Place, for my wedding anniversary.  

Unfortunately it is just fractionally too big. Enough to be noticeable and slightly distracting when wearing it. It is too cold and inclement to wear it at the moment, and I may get round to tweaking the fit. It is too big under the arms and in the bodice, which means it shifts around slightly and gapes at the bust.  I also feel slightly twee in it. I'll see how I get on in the summer.

Sewaholic Renfew

An exact remake of the top I made for Eldest for Christmas2012. As predicted, she grew out of it almost immediately. I bought the same material and promised to make at some during the year. It ended up as a Christmas present for 2013 and the same size as I would make for myself. No picture of the current version.

Husband's Christmas shirt #3

In the run up to Christmas, I made Husband a Stratconna Henley blogged here, which looks good but is a bit too snug for his liking.  We already have fabric another that is washed and waiting to go, but I wanted to make him another shirt. I read something the other day that said if you do something 3 years in a row it becomes a tradition, so I think this might be my tradition. I bought the fabric at the traveling Geoff Rosenberg fabric sale that comes to Trumpington village hall every month. It is 100% cotton, very fine and I think it might be lawn. Husband says that it almost feels like he is not wearing it.

I used the McCalls 6044 again with the adjustments from last year (smaller size and 5cm longer). The fabric was a dream to sew. I had hoped to follow Carolyn's flat fell tutorial for the sleeve this time round.  I found the tutorial, had it open on the tablet next to me, read it through and thought I knew what I was doing, then promptly trimmed the wrong side of the seam allowance - duh.  I also got completely confused when doing the cuffs and got the buttonhole on the wrong side.  Husband came up with the solution to put another buttonhole in the RIGHT place so that he could wear it with cuff links, which he doesn't get the chance wear very often.

Little girls's outfit

One of my friends has a very sweet daughter who is rising 4, and reminds me very much of Middlest when she was a similar age. For some reason I decided to make her a little outfit as a Christmas present. I made a denim skirt with a patch pocket, and a little long sleeved top using Simplicity 9603 (which is no longer available) as the basis, all from scraps from previous projects. the top was not what I had when I started at all, but was the best way to use the fabric I had.

Sewing Kit x 2

Sewing bag, needle case, pin cushion & scissor case using denim and and scraps from stash.  This set was for  Eldest as a Christmas present. I made another for my friends elder daughter.

Don't forget I will be giving away the Burdastyle Sewing Handbook very soon. To enter the giveaway please comment on the original post here and I will put names in a hat on Friday 24th January.  Good luck!

FO: In the Navy - Fleece Renfrew

This is the first of several catch-up posts. This top first saw the light of day in MMM13.

 

I had seen earlier in the year that Winnie of ScruffyBadger had made a fleece cowl neck Renfrew and I mentally filed that away as 'something to think about'. May was pretty chilly I seem to remember, and our local market has a fabric stall at the Tuesday market selling fleece at £3.99 a metre. This seemed pretty reasonable and I think I bought a metre and a half. I squeezed a three quarter sleeve top out of it with minimal scraps.  I have a RTW jumper that is navy with three quarter sleeves which I was trying to copy sorry, use as inspiration.

It is not the most successful top I have made. I didn't take into account that the fleece has hardly any stretch. I made the same size as my Autumnal Renfrew, but after getting trapped in my top the first time I tried it on and having to get Middlest to peel it off me, I unpicked the side seams and sewed again with minimal seam allowances. Unpicking navy stitching in a navy fabric that the stitches just seem to disappear in... not recommended.  I also made the rooky error of not checking the length of the three quarter sleeves. Guess what? they are too short. The cuff seam lands right at the crook of my elbow which is really uncomfortable - mid forearm would have been ideal. 

cuff seam at elbow

 And lastly, the stitching round the neck band - which is really necessary in this fleece to hold the seam allowance down - is too tight:

Strange wrinkles from neck to armhole

It pulls the fabric in somehow and makes it look a bit odd. I really must unpick it and either try a different stitch tension or try hand sewing it down, but given the comment above, I am not super keen to do that!

Close up of strange wrinkles

 It is wearable, but in a 'pottering about the house' kind of way rather than 'out in public' kind of way. Oh well, not everything is as successful as I'd like and at least I know what not to do next time!

Me-Made-May round up #5

The last round up of  MMM 2013!

May 28th:

Fleece Renfrew.  Miserable day weatherwise. Top worn all day to include family trip to the cinema. Husband and I saw the new Star Trek film and the girls saw Epic. The afternoon included a fab coffee at South Street Pantry, and a pretty dismal chinese buffet.

May 29th:

Fleece Renfrew (no picture). For the evening I changed into a new un-blogged make to go to a Private View of an exhibition at Mall Galleries.  Thomas' cousin Barley, and his girlfriend Ellie graduated from Wimbledon College of Art last summer, but this is the first exhibition we have manged to see apart from his degree show. It was fantastic to see their work in a proper gallery space. We went armed with a cheque book, but all the ones we liked were already sold! After the gallery we went for dinner at a small tapas place called Andalucia, on Panton Street.  Many (ok, 16) years ago this was the wine bar where Husband and I met!

May 31st

Stripey Lydia top (no picture). In fact I wore the same outfit as May 9th, minus bright red accessories.  Worn to lounge around and relax at my sister-in-law's amazing house on the north Norfolk coast.

 I have no major thoughts on the month really. I realised that I wear my me-mades quite regularly anyway, without out having to think too hard about it. I have made a lot of tops over the last couple of years which has held me in good stead and if the weather had been better there would have been more variety!  I love looking at other peoples pretty dresses, but to be honest for my lifestyle of being a busy SAHM my wardrobe needs to be more on the practical side, and that seems to be what I have made - so far! I stuck to my pledge of 3 items a week - the hardest thing was remembering to take the photos. Thank you Zoe, for organizing these months - it has been great fun and I have enjoyed following your own challenge this time round. How I wish I sewed when I was pregnant!

I also realised that I am very behind in blogging my makes recently - I have at least three if not more items to blog about fully, which I shall endeavour to do in the next couple of weeks.

Me-Made-May round up #4

I have been a little better this week at documenting stuff:

May 22nd:

Still  unblogged Burda top, worn with a skirt I bought in NZ. It was made by the sister of one of my friends. She was starting a business selling skirts, so I thought I would support her endeavors. The skirt is a little big now, so am thinking I might change it some how - maybe shorten it and /or straighten it and take the waist in.Worn all day, then to pub quiz in evening.

May 25th:

Still unblogged fleece Renfrew worn with in Pebble skirt (pre-blog).  The last time I wore this skirt was last Me-Made-May.  I was unsure about it then as it was too big and I didn't like the whole look of the ensemble I wore. However, since then I have washed the skirt (It is made out of upholstery fabric and had only been dry-cleaned. A bit of a pain for and everyday skirt) and it has shrunk slightly, both in the waist and the length - this is good so far, but I need to be careful in the future if it continues to shrink! Saturday shopping and last minute present buying for Husband's birthday.

May 26th:

Denim Portfolio dress. Worn to go to the Henry Moore Foundation for my Mother-in-law's birthday treat.  Lovely day although a little hot given that I had 2 layers on on underneath and had taken a merino cardi as well! (It had been hailing two days previous to this!)

The weather like last year, is not conducive to summer wear so quite a lot of my me-mades are still in the drawer under the bed waiting until the weather improves. I made a conscious effort to wear the skirts this week, as I felt looking at my previous round-ups that I was living in my jeans and getting a bit dull,What am I wearing today?... jeans and a top....

Only a few more days to go!

Me-Made-May round up #3

I haven't done so well on documenting this last lot:

May 15th:

Dodgy neckline

New unblogged fleece Renfrew in Navy. I made the three quarter sleeves in an attempt to copy a RTW navy jumper that is slowly dying. It is not great, there is something wrong with the neck.  I think is is the top stitching for the neck band being a bit tight. Also the three quarter sleeves are not long enough - the top of the arm band seam hit just on my elbow and is just the wrong length, therefore somewhat annoying. Worn for everyday stuff, and then to pub quiz in the evening.

May 17th:

Refashioned dress worn for Husband's Grandmother's funeral.  We were told not to be too sombre, so I decided to finally get round to modifying this dress that I have had for some years:

Bought in late '90's, love the material, not the style anymore!

I shortened it and changed the neck. I may do a separate post on it. This is the only picture I have at the moment:

Lovely meal after funeral with Husbands cousins

I know I wore something else that week, but I have no idea what or when! (I think I may have missed something out from my previous round up and put the green Renfrew in the wrong round up  - Hey ho!)

I'm very glad I am not doing this every day - I'm really not sure I would be still going at this stage if I were....

Me-Made-May round up #2

Here is the second installment of my Me-Made May round ups.  The weather is still pretty inclement and changeable which makes MMM a little tricky.  I realise that so far most of my me-made items are tops that I generally wear with jeans and because of the weather, most of them cannot be seen as I am swathed in cardi's to keep warm...

May 9th: Stripey Lydia top.  This is too big and a bit stretchy. I am am still considering the hack job I mentioned in my post about this top! I started off wearing it with a belt, as you can see in this picture. Unfortunately this made the bottom flare out in a rather unflattering way, so I ditched the belt part way though the day. Worn to have a hair cut, then spent the rest of the day emptying out the PTA cupboard at school, sorting everything out and then putting most of it back in again - but at least we now know what is in there and can get to it!

May 10th: Myimage cowl top.  Worn with my lovely new Fly shoes that give the appearance of being in heels but feel like they are flats - best of both worlds! A general being at home getting everything done kind of day.  I altered this top slightly after I had made my Renfrew last year.  When I made this I wasn't sure how to finish the hems so I just overlocked them. After making the Renfrew with it's hem bands, I thought I could used them to finish this off better. I found just enough jersey off cuts to make narrow bands for this top, which make it look better and stop the hems from rolling up.

May 13th: Autumnal Renfrew: Worn with jeans - again. Worn to my pattern making class and shown here with my daughter-made apron that Eldest made for me for Christmas.

Here's hoping the weather improves - the sun is out, lets hope it warms up too!

Hello...

Hello, long time no see....

A quick post to show I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

I did not finish the leopard tunic in time for Pretty Grievances Jungle January. It is in a heap in my sewing room waiting for a hem and a waist tie...

However I have been doing some very special sewing for my sister which I am very pleased with so far. I am about to cut out a second special item relating to the first.... and will show more in a later post.

rubbish late evening shot!

When I have finished these I have another purple Renfew to make for Eldest. She has, as predicted, grown out of her Christmas present already, but is not prepared to surrender it to Middlest until her replacement is ready! I also have my eye on a very popular top from the February Burda magazine for me.

Better crack on - I have been putting off cutting out for long enough!

FO: Green for Halloween - an Autumnal Renfrew

I have made a Sewaholic Renfrew!

Possibley the last person in the "sewosphere" to tackle it, I bought the pattern some months ago, I think from The Village Haberdashery. There have been many Renfrews around but the ones that I have liked most were by ScruffyBadger, Lladybird, and Marie from A Stitching Odyssey, Karen from Did you make that? was a pattern tester as was Handemade Jane.

I have to say  - I love this top! I love the colour, the length of the sleeves, the neck, and the variations available from the the pattern. I am thinking of making the scoop neck version next, but still with the long sleeves - practical for the winter months.
 



I bought the fabric from Cally Co in Cambridge at the beginning of the year, thinking that I might make a Burdastyle Lydia. It languished in the stash for sometime, then I got to thinking about the Renfrew. I had a brief play with the pattern pieces and layouts and came to the conclusion that I needed more fabric. By this time of course, Cally Co didn't have it anymore (or not on the day I went anyway) so it languished some more!  Quite by chance I went into our new craft shop (1 year old last week) and there was my fabric - hurrah! Of course I couldn't remember how much extra fabric I needed, but knew it was less than a metre so bought 70cms - it is very wide.

As noted by other sewists, it is a quick make.  I think it took me three evenings of not giving it my full attention, which is fast for me.  I'm sure if I knuckled down and stopped reading about other people's sewing, I would be able to make it much quicker. Tasia of Sewaholic puts a lot of effort into sew-alongs and tutorials to accompany her patterns, on her blog, and she is, at the time of writing, doing a series of posts about the Renfrew.  I made it all on my sewing machine with a zigzag stitch to maintain stretch, but when I make this again I will definately try it on my overlocker. It was finished in time for Halloween, so it first outing was at our Haloween Party. 

My friend's Witches hat matched perfectly!

This was the first time we have ever made an effort for Halloween, because it is also our wedding anniversary and Husband and I are normally enjoying a lovely evening out. We all had great fun carving pumpkins and the party was a huge success - phew!

There are a few wrinkles at the top of my bust, something that ScruffyBadger noticed in her first makes.  I'm not sure what to do about this - it may well be something to do with the vest/cami I am wearing underneath.  This may also be the cause of the wrinkles at my lower back, but I know (from my pattern cutting class) that I have a sway back.

wrinkley back

With a neck this big there is great potential for silliness: