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!!!

Mode Mondays

I'm introducing a couple of theme days to my blog in the hopes that it will induce more regular blogging from me - something I have been hideously bad at!!!

So to kick it off welcome to the first (of hopefully many) Mode Mondays! On Mode Monday's I'll be sharing little snippets of fashion which are inspiring me at the moment. Make no mistake, I am no fashionista, and I'm not one for following a trend. In fact, the less people sporting the same 'trend' as me the better I say - be individual and have your own style! That being said, I love browsing through fashion blogs, sites and magazines and getting inspiration from them!

Today's theme is Plaid, which falls in nicely with the dress I am (slowly) making in my sewing class.

There is something about Plaid and Tartan that evokes Autumnal days (hmm...it's more Winter than Autumn now...ah well!), they just work so well together.

Click the photos for their links:

 Grey plaid dress from Anthropology

 Purple and green plaid dress from Urban Outfitters

 Orange and blue plaid skirt from Anthropology - love the curved multi-layer hem

Red and black plaid skirt from Urban Outfitters - this looks like an easy style to copy

 (whoops - this skirt has now sold out - but it was from http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/ )

And finally a glimpse of vintage plaid! Love the big collar

Check back on Friday for another theme day - related to this post.

And I'll post a bit more about how I'm getting on with my sewing class dress soon too - although don't get too excited...it's a slooooowww process!!

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.

Confessions of a distracted seamstress...

...if I can even call myself a seamstress!

So I have discovered that I have a terrible habit. I LOVE planning what project I should make next. I love looking through pattern books, surfing ebay and etsy for vintage patterns, browsing and fondling fabric, making sketches in my little note book that sits snug in my handbag...you get the idea. But it seems that once I go out and finally buy the pattern, fabric and required notions, sit down and start to sew...I get distracted. Daydreams come into my head of other wonderful things I could make and I end up planning something else and my old project sits rejected and lonely on my (rather messy) sewing table.

If you don't believe me, I refer you to the following exhibits:

Exhibit 1: New Look 6895

I started this way back in June or July when it was still nice and hot (hmm...hot by N.I. standards...reaching a balmy 17 degrees C on a good day!). All I have left to do is bind the sleeves and hem it...but I keep putting it off. That material has a mind of its own and I know that the binding is going to be a real pain! So it sits, waiting....

Exhibit 2: New Look 6902 muslin

Mysterious photo right? I made a muslin ages ago for New Look 6902 and progressed to making the dress up in purple and red, but I always thought that the dress looked really nice in the cream, with a quirky raw aspect to it. I had a brainwave to try out a new technique with it and I have to say it turned out brilliant. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. But I wanted to add a black band to the hem...and it's still sitting at the moment to be finished!!! This will definitely be dealt with soon because i really want to share this project with you!!

Exhibit 3: Matching bag for the muslin dress

I'm a little bit sad about this project. I started off super excited to make a matching bag to my muslin dress (exhibit 2) and I used the curvy clutch pattern that I used for my Queen of Hearts bag. The first time I made this bag it turned out really well, but for some reason the lining of this one didn't sit flat. I was really disappointed because i had been beavering away at this with the plan to wear the dress and bag out for my 30th birthday, but once I got to the lining problem I knew I didn't have enough free time to fix it before the big day, so it sits waiting.....

Exhibit 4: Butterick 5353

I mentioned in an earlier post about my plans to make this dress. Well here is a shot of my progress with the muslin! I decided to make the muslin in this nice Ikea fabric in the hopes that if it turns out well I will have a wearable dress out of it. But so far I have just sewn the two front princess seams in the main fabric. The next stage is to sew the princess seams in the lining...and it's so slippery and unfriendly that I'm a bit nervous to start it. So it sits waiting....

Exhibit 5: Straight skirt from Burda Magazine

Oh dear, I don't even want to talk about this one! From the same post as before I foolishly announced to the interweb my intentions to make this nice straight skirt from Burda Magazine out of this navy check. I worked away at this and kept trying it on along the way and all looked well. Then I sewed on the waistband and sewed in a really lovely invisible zip, even if I do say so myself. I was feeling rather pleased with myself. Then I tried it on...what the heck?!!! The waistband was massive and the skirt sat in the wrong place on my waist/hips. Waaaa. And to make matters worse I learnt a valuable lesson about working with lines....don't trust them!!! I 'straighted' up the hem prior to hemming and discovered I had made it soooooo much worse and the skirt was now way too short to fix. So this project has turned into what the sewing world seems to call 'wadder'. I could try and tackle the waistband again, but to be honest I can't bring myself to look at it yet!!! So it sits waiting...

Exhibit 6 (yes 6!!!): Secret Project

Ooooo another mysterious one! Well the only reason this one is mysterious is because it's nearly finished and I have a horrible feeling that I'm not going to like the end result!!!! Keeping my fingers crossed that it will all come together at the end, and with a little bit of accessorizing it will be great, if perhaps a tad eccentric!

So there you have it - is that enough proof of my problem?!! Does anyone else suffer from this terrible disease? Does anyone have any solutions or remedies? Will I ever finish another project again?!

And do you know what...I have two NEW projects I'm about to start - I'll post about them next!

Su KNITS So-So

So not so much sewing going on lately, as I mentioned in my last post, but I randomly decided I wanted to try my hand at knitting a bright red scarf! I've never really done any knitting so I've been taking direction from my mum. Unfortunately I'm pretty hopeless at the moment! I'm hoping by the end of the scarf I might have mastered the ol' knit two, pearl two melarchy!!