My Summer Sewing Swap Haul!

Whoops – a bit late in getting this up!!

For those of you who don’t know what the Summer Sewing Swap is, the lovely Kerry from Kestrel Finds and Makes arranged a wee sewing swap for any bloggers who fancied signing up. I jumped at the chance and was very lucky to have Dibs from Dibs and the Machine as my swap partner.

After a quick chat via emails we both agreed to surprise each other with our swap gifts. I spent a good time trawling through her old blog posts and tried to get a vibe as to what she would like to find in her parcel. I then turned to the internet to make my purchases and am subsequently still waiting for one final thing to arrive! Epic FAIL! I’ve apologised profusely to Dibs about the very late arrival of her swap parcel, but she has graciously told me not to fret as she is now off on her hols until the 17th August (lucky duck!). Anyway…I hope it will be winging it’s way to her very shortly…and I hope she likes what I’ve got to her.

Dibs was, however, a lot more punctual with her parcel dispatching and I was completely overwhelmed by her amazing generosity. Seriously – this girl went ABOVE and BEYOND the call of the swap. Her reason – she couldn’t decide what I would like so she just sent me a bit of everything thing! Take a look at this pile of goodies:

Holy Moly!!! Ok, let’s break it down into sections. Dibs said she had written a lovely note explaining her choices, but forgot to put it in the envelope before posting, so I shall attempt to guess her thought processes…

Here we have two lengths of gorgeous stretch lace in black and pink, which I’m guessing are for me to make some more knickers with. Plus 3 narrow stretchy elastic (probably for underwear) and some two lengths of very pretty narrow lace!

Two lengths of gorgeous fabric. Both cotton I think. The one on the left has an almost moleskin-like feel to it, while the one on the right has a bit of stretch to it. At the moment I’m thinking nice skirt for work with the left, and I’m going to see if I can squeeze a shift dress out of the blue/black fabric.

This lovely collection was bundled up together, which made me wonder if perhaps Dibs had put together a little project for me. We have a length of really soft pale yellow jersey fabric, a length of light and soft striped cotton, some thick elastic, some pretty decorative lace and some narrow elastic/strap. What would you make out of this? I’m thinking perhaps this is to be made into a vest/camisole and shorts combo? Jersey vest with spaghetti straps and lace detailing, and then stripy elasticated waist shorts (or trousers if I can get the length).

Yep, there’s more!! I honestly can’t believe how much Dibs sent my way…I am so lucky! Ok, so here we have the coolest little book called “Designer’s guide to color”, which basically is filled with loads of colour combining options. It’s a really great inspirational book which will help me think outside the box when it comes to colour combining. Next we have the “Handbook of Crochet Stitches”. I have ‘learn to crochet’ as one of my 12 in 2012, so I’m guessing that was Dibs thinking behind this book. I’m so excited – I haven’t even started to attempt crochet so this will be a little kick up the butt and a lot of help! Finally from this section is the gorgeous Simplicity 2250 by Cynthia Rowley. I don’t think I have mentioned this pattern on my blog, but I have been wanting this for a while…so Dibs must have just read my mind instead!!! Awesome!! I’m thinking it would make a gorgeous Honeymoon day dress in Chambray.

The final lot. This one is a total mix of goodies. some lovely eyelet floral trim, an apple shaped pin cushion, a fabric marker, some sewing machine oil, more elastic, some shirring elastic (which I’ve never even seen before – how do you use this, does anyone know??), 2 packs of green seam binding and finally, a cut of really awesome purple faux snake skin – which is destined to be turned into a fab envelope clutch bag I think (what would you make out of it?)!

So…not too shabby hey?!!! OMG, I cannot believe how many fab things I got!! Thank you so so much Dibs!!

Tartan 'Sewing Class' Dress - FINISHED!

Woo! It feels like so so long since I last posted a finished garment on this blog - I'm so bad at finished projects!!! But I am delighted to say that I have finally completed the dress that I started sewing in my sewing class (see here and here):

(the flower is just a hairclip - it matches in 'real' light, but the flash has made it look a lot lighter!)

McCall's M5923

This was a long and sometimes rather stressful journey - but I learnt a lot. I think the biggest thing I learnt was that my sewing class wasn't teaching me enough fast enough!! I mentioned in another post that I decided not to bother going back to the class because I knew I could spend the two hours at home more productively...and I was right. Now, I'm not saying that I know everything about sewing - far far from it! But the class was unfortunately too basic and everyone was working on a different project, so the teacher was spread to thin.

The next important thing I learnt was that commercial patterns are made with WAY too much ease. You measure your actual body and look at the chart and go by what size they say you should cut, right? - wrong!! This is something I will just never understand. Everyone complains about it, but apparently that's 'just the way it is'. Er...why?!!! I cut a 16 in the skirt and graded up to a 14 in the top for this pattern and here is what it looked like straight from those sizes:

A giant SACK! I took a full inch off each side (that's already sewn seams...so does that not equate to 4 inches off the pattern?) - that's just crazy! Had I not have started this in the sewing class I would have made a muslin and been able to rectify all these sizing issues before cutting my expensive wool fabric, but the teacher told us we wouldn't have enough time to make muslins so I trusted her knowledge in pattern sizing (ah well, I guess you live and learn!). I also had to take in two seams at the back - these were princess seams at the top which I was very nervous about resizing, but I think I did a good enough job. I didn't touch the invisible zip, which I had already sewn in, because I had spent so long ensuring the tartan matched up and I didn't want to ruin that. I was so pleased with my tartan/plaid matching:

Yes - there is a zip down the middle!!!

Anyway, after I dealt with the sizing issue, everything else came together quite quickly. The top is self-faced and I edged it with pretty lilac bias binding (actually my teachers idea, so I definitely give her credit there - it looks really sweet, even if it's only me who sees this.). My final issue was the hem...I am so scared of hems - am I the only one?!! I just hate to see a hem bulging or to see the stitches coming through. This is quite heavy wool so I didn't want to do a doubled up hem. I ended up sewing some of the left over bias binding to the edge, turning it up once and then doing the smallest hand sewing I have every done in my life to secure it in place. I was really pleased with how it turned out. It's so funny, I was so excited making those last few stitches on the hem and clipping the thread - my dress was finally DONE!!! What a feeling!

My next issue is how to style it. I wore it to my Mum's like this: 

With a long black cardi

The shoes go perfectly with it - but they are sky scrapers and its still far too cold for that kind of foot wear so I won't be wearing it like this for a good while yet. I think it works well over thick black tights and a polo neck:

Oh, and the highest accolade of all - my mum was visibly impressed and told me I had created a 'masterpiece' and never thought in a million years when she bought me a sewing machine that I would end up making something this difficult! That is high praise indeed - praise is not given lightly from her, believe me! And you know what felt great, when I showed her the pattern and the fabric she really thought it was going to be too difficult for me....so it was a great feeling to show her I could do it.



Oh dear - I really didn't mean to sound so boastful! Apologies for that!

On another note I made my boyfriend an pair of pj's on Saturday. I needed an 'easy' and 'instant gratification' project after making the dress! I'll post pics of it later in the week. But it will be me wearing them because he has jetted off to Bulgaria this week to go skiing - yes, without me! The cheek! lol.

Oh, and I also made up a quick muslin for a vintage top. Another easy project, or so I thought. It's not quite the right size for me, so I think I may need your help with fitting it!!

Sewing Class....slow slow progress

I lasted posted about my sewing class on the 12th November and as it's now the 8th December you would think I would be near to finishing the dress by now (or by Tasia's speed I'd be on about my 5th dress by now!)...but unfortunately not....

So last time I was telling you that I would be using a 'Pattern Master' to grade my pattern. But what is a 'Pattern Master', I thought...well this is a Pattern Master:

(sorry about these photos - they were taken on my iPhone)

The teacher had to get around the whole class and make sure they were all marking and cutting their fabric properly so she left me to 'stick all my pattern pieces to the dotted pattern paper'. I was a little curious as to why I had to do this....but teacher knows best. This took a long time - this pattern has a lot of pieces!

 Eventually I had finished and I managed to get the teachers attention and she came to assist with the grading. I reminded her that I wanted to grade down from a size 16 in the hips to a size 12 in the bust. 'Ah', She said. Apparently I didn't need to stick my pattern to the paper at all - she thought I was going to be grading up to a bigger size than I had cut out! WAAAAA - I had spent sooooo long doing that...for nothing! Now I had to either try and unstick it all or cut around it all. More time wasting. After I had done that the teacher was back and did show me how to use the Pattern Master to draw a nice curving line from the hips to the smaller bust - and marking it through matching pieces. So at least I did learn something from the whole class. But that's all I did during one 2 hours class!

The next class I spent cutting out my fabric - again quite a slow process as I wanted to make sure the plaid was lined up when I cut through two layers.

The next class I was informed that I needed to serge all the pieces...but the teacher again decided she needed to check everyone else was settled and ok before she helped me thread the serger (on a side note - it's so great to get to use a serger as I don't have my own. The class is held in a college which runs a fashion course so they have a room full of industrial sewing machines and sergers! So cool - I'll try and get some photos for you)! After almost an hour of waiting I started serging...and stayed on after the 2 hour class was up to make sure I got all the pieces serged (there are about 12 in this dress!) before going home as I didn't want to waste any more time in my next class waiting around again! That might sound like I was serging at a snails pace....but as i said, it'd the first time I've used one of those machines and I wanted to do it as neatly as possible (and not cut off half of my fabric - those machines are brutal!!!!!)

And then last night I didn't make it to my class because we had really heavy snow. But I took my project home with me and...wait for it...started sewing!!! So I have sewn my first ever kick-pleat and sewn the two back sides to the back with princess seams. Next up is an invisible back zipper.

Phew! Sorry for the super word-intensive post!! Next up date on the dress will have lots more photos.

A few weeks ago I managed to finally finish off a long over due unfinished project (which I mentioned here) so I'll be blogging about that next week. I'm really pleased with the finished result - I just wish it was warmer so that I could wear it!!!

Sewing Class - my chosen project

As i mentioned in a previous post I have been attending an evening sewing class. Although it was progressing a bit slowly (see what we had achieved in a months worth of classes by following the previous link) the time has finally come for us to choose our own patterns and start working on individual projects. So, although I have just admitted to having far too many projects on the go already, I give you my chosen project for my sewing class:

McCall's 5923

When I showed this pattern to my teacher she winced! Not that she didn't like the dress, she really did, but she couldn't hide that it would be challenging to get it done during class time. I did have my doubts, but I decided to go for a more challenging pattern since I will have a teacher to help me through the hard bits. And yes, I chose a tartan to work with - more challenges! Bring them on I say! I can't see the tartan being too awkward, there aren't actually any seams that require matching up the pattern since the side panels are cut on the bias. By the way, the fabric I have chosen is a lovely wool blend (I wanted to go for a dress and fabric that I could wear in winter, rather than a light summer dress) and is a bit more pinky/purple than the photo shows.

All we have done in class so far is cut out the paper pattern - that took a whole 2hr class if you can believe! I'm a little concerned already because the teacher told me to cut the size that corresponds with my hip size. But I am pear shape and my bust measurement falls between the size 12-14 and my hips fall into the size 16 (why are sewing patterns so cruel?!)!!! I used the tape measure around my bust to see how big the final dress measurements for the 16 would be and I'm sad to say my boobs are going to be SWAMPED in the dress if I keep the measurements as they are! But this is exactly why I'm doing this dress in the class. My teacher is bringing along the Pattern Master (eh? What is this?!) next week and we are going to grade the pattern to fit my measurements better. I'm looking forward to that - it will be the first thing in the class that is completely new to me. But I'm nervous about cutting out the fabric. I'm not doing a muslin first (even though my head is SCREAMING to do so) as we don't have time and this fabric was rather expensive. Keeping my fingers crossed it goes ok!!!!

Check back next week where I'll let you know how the Pattern Master and grading went.

Su Sews So...Little!

I'm back! Boy that was a long time without blogging...I really have been an atrocious blogger the past month (or longer!) but the truth be told, I just haven't had anything sewing related worthy of showing. Everything got really hectic this past month, especially work, and I've had so little free time. I'm hoping though that things have calmed down now and I'll have a little bit more time to focus on two of my favourite things - sewing and blogging! On the amazing side - even though I took a bit of a blogging hiatus, I managed to get a few more followers! So I'm completely touched - hello to you all and welcome.

I mentioned in a few of my other posts that I have started a sewing class. I also mentioned that although I signed up for intermediate, there was a bit of a mix up and my class has both beginners and intermediates in it. This has meant that it has gone very slowly through basic sewing techniques - and although at times that has been good (I learnt how to properly insert an invisible zip and how to sew in facings), I have very little to show for half a terms (aka semester) work....indeed this is as far as we have got:

This is our still unfinished (because I am keeping in time with everyone else in the class) little girls dress.

The back view with the invisible zip

The inside view showing the facing (black thread because you just use whatever thread they have!)

Not much to show for about 5 weeks work really is it!! Ah well, we have to pick our own pattern and bring it in to class on Monday as we are going to start on individual projects - so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm still deciding on which pattern to pick. I have quite a few summery dresses which I would like to make for next year, but then I think I would rather work on something I can wear straight away and not have to pack away for 8 months as soon as I finished it...so as I say, I'm still deciding! I'll definitely post when I make up my mind. It will be fun to see what everyone else picks as well.

On a side note, it was my (30th - eep!) birthday the other week and my lovely gorgeous wonderful boyfriend bought me an amazing digital SLR camera. I was over the moon. The reason for sharing this news - I'm hoping the photos on my blog will now be a touch more professional looking. If nothing else, it will help with taking photos on dark winter days!!!

SSS Week 2

Well another week of Self Stitched September has passed....and I have pretty much run out of 'self stitched' garments! Anyway, here is how last week panned out for me:

Day 6

Top: Mango

Cardi: Too old to remember!

Skirt: Made by me

Brooch: Made by me

Finally, an outfit fit for wearing to work. Really like this look and I do love this skirt, but I don't wear it very often because it rides up when I walk and its creased like crazy after a couple of hours! Perhaps a slip underneath would help.

Day 7

Vest: Too old to remember

Cardi: Primark

Skirt: Made by me!

Boots: Timberland

Yeay - it's cool enough to start wearing boots again - I LIVE in boots during autumn, winter and a lot of spring! I wore this out to a night at the comedy club...and hoped the comedian wouldn't pick up on the fact I was wearing a mans shirt turned into a skirt!!! Was a great night, and luckily I wasn't picked on - phew! These photos were taken when I came home, so the skirt is very creased!

Day 8+9 - er fails! Didn't manage to wear anything handmade. Ah well!

Day 10
Dress: Bought at car boot sale for £1!
Belt: Tesco for £1
Shoes: New Look
Bag: Made by me

I went to a dinner party at my friends house on Friday night. Unfortunately I haven't really made anything suitable so I had to resort to my faithful clutch bag. A great night, and all my friends said they wanted to put in an order for their own clutch!

Day 11 - fail!

Day 12

Dress: Made by me

Cardi: ??

Boots: Timberland

Bag: Pinko

Worn for a day out shopping with mum. I really love this outfit and loved the fact I was wearing a dress made by myself. It makes you take a different view when shopping...I have almost lost my interest in shopping for clothes these days as I just think "I should try and make my own version instead"! Now if only I had the time to sew.....

******

I had my first day at my Dressmaking and Tailoring class last night! Unfortunately, they had a little bit of a mix up when advertising the class and didn't fully explain the difference between beginners and intermediate so apparently this class will be a mix of the two. So last night all we did was get familiar with a few of the sewing machines in the room and learn to wind a bobbin, thread the machine up, sew in a straight line, around a corner and sew to pieces of fabric together! Hmm.....a little basic! But it will get better. Plus it was just great to be in a room full of other people interested in sewing! They all seem so lovely so I'm really looking forward to this class progressing and getting to know everyone a bit better. When I start to learn something a bit more challenging I'll do a better post about the class!