Author: Thimberlina

Inspiration from People Watching – #pictureheavypost!

Published by

One of the pitfalls I find of making my own clothes is feeling a bit ‘our of it’ when it comes to knowing what’s in fashion. Though I don’t see me self as a style guru, I still like to have a look around to see what colours and styles on on the high street and copy some looks that I think would flatter me.  If I’m not careful I could end up looking like an 80’s throwback! So when I went to the Ladies Day at York races yesterday my eyes were out on stalks!  Such amazing colours, styles and hats.  There was even a catwalk should you fancy your chances at winning the best dressed! If you’re attending a big event soon you might want to see just what’s out there, so I’ve taken lots of pics to share with you.             I           Well,  I’ve come to the conclusion that at a big ‘do” like the races, anything goes!  It doesn’t matter if your spotty and …

Belize Skort Hack

Published by

I’ve had loads of compliments this week wearing my different variations of Itch-To-Stitches Belize Shorts and Skorts – both on and off the golf course.  My favourite feature of all the 5 variations is the curved back skirt on the skort version. I thought I’d have a go at making a version with a curved hem at the front as well as the back.  It was really successful so I thought I’d share it with you. First of all I measured the width of the back curved skirt and compared it to the front short pieces – the ones without the pleats.  I couldn’t use the pointy skort pieces as these overlap so I would have be hard to work out the width. Taking the seam allowances into consideration the skort back piece was near enough the same width as the shorts front so I felt able to just use the back piece for the skort front. I compared the shape of waist/hip curve of short piece to my new skort front (i.e. the skort back!). I’ve drawn an …

#SundaySevens 67

Published by

Hello! Hope you’ve all had a lovely week and the weather’s been kind to you wherever you are.  I really don’t know how I did what I did last week.   There’s no way in a month of Sundays than I could narrow it down to just 7 photos for you – so what’s new! Natalie from Threads and Bobbins thought up the Sunday Sevens nearly 2 years ago as a way of posting snippets of your week that maybe wouldn’t warrant a blog post all on their own.  You don’t have to sign your life away to join in – just jump in and out as you please – or go for the long haul like me. Monday I got stuck into making my Belize shorts as a fitting lesson for making the skort. I spent all day and night sewing. It was ace! I made the shorts and almost finished the skort too. Here’s a tip if for any reason you need to stop sewing, for example when sewing the waistbank on the belize …

Getting busy with Belize from Itch-To-Stitch

Published by

Itch To Stitch has just released their latest pattern – the Belize skort and shorts.  She was asking for pattern testers not so long ago and I would have loved to help up but unfortunately the timescale didn’t match up with any free time I had.   I’ve never made a skort before, but have bought quite a few pairs over the years for golf, and they’re usually quite expensive.  In the last couple of years I’ve cheated and I’ve made skirts for golf and worn gym shorts underneath. This week I’ve been on annual leave and has loooooads of free time.  So armed with my new pattern (which I managed to work out how to use layers and just print my size) I set about making the Belize Skort.  This was Monday, and I wanted to wear them on Tuesday for golf! There are 5 views for the skort and shorts: View A: Pleated-front shorts with front pockets View B: Flat-front shorts with front pockets View C: Flat-front shorts with no pocket View D: Skort with …

Oops! Accidentally Adding To The Stash

Published by

A couple of weeks ago the Tall Boy went on a cricket tour to Arundel in the south of England.  We didn’t have to go with him as the whole team went together on a coach.  But the hubby and I went to to watch, took our bikes and golf clubs and expected to make the most of the warmer southern weather that we’d heard about. Unfortunately the only good days weather wise were the day we arrived and the day we left.  So we played no golf, rode zero miles, and only saw 1 hour of cricket. We did however stumble across 3 different fabric shops in 3 different towns!   First up, and totally by chance – Sarah Louise Designs in Arundel   The hubby still doesn’t believe me that I didn’t plan the visit to this shop! How cute is this chicken tea cosy!? I just love this gold spotty cotton! I didn’t buy it but I’m still in 2 minds and might have to buy a couple of metres online as it’s a …

#SundaySevens 66

Published by

A Sunday Sevens Double Bill, on time if you count this one as this weeks and not last weeks, ……..my Sunday Sevens as thought up by the lovely Natalie over at Threads and Bobbins…..   1.  Watching Yorkshire play cricket at Headingley, Leeds. This should have been in my last Sunday sevens post but it got missed.  The sky was too amazing to not share it with you.  I’ve not edited this pic at all, but I think the spot lights have cause a bit of havoc with exposure.  1. Pokemon even at the golf club!  2.  Time for me to touch up cyber mims roots.  Can’t imagine why she was camera shy!  3.   Last year the cricket club was turned into a cafe through the week and it’s a lovely place for lunch, with scrummy homemade cakes.  4. This last academic year I’ve been a  mentor to a first year student paramedic. Here’s Matt on his last shift with me. Next year he’ll be stationed elsewhere – all the best Matt!  5.  Saturday 30th …

Sewing With Raggedy Annie

Published by

Remember THE bag??   The one at the Fabbadashery that i accidentally stumbled upon.   Well, last week i attended a sewing class with Raggedy Annie, the creator of the said bag and learnt how to make my own! (it was last week when I starting writing the blog post, it’s not now!) It was a full day class, from 10am till 4pm and was the best Saturday I’ve had in ages.  It was a scorcher of a day, but the Fabbadashery’s work room has big doors which open right up, so it was cool and airy all day. Annie showed us examples of the squares which make up the bag, and different ways to embellish them. I say ‘squares’ very loosely as there’s not measuring or perfect corners.  If you’re a bit OCD about having everything neatly lining up you may wish to beg your Doctor for some valium before attending this class! And how to stitch them together And all the different things that can be made from the squares – not just bags. …

My First Quilt

Published by

At the start of the year we heard some amazing news – the hubby’s God-Daughter was expecting a baby!  And now I had a real and proper reason now to make my first quilt. I sweated over this for hours, and had sleepless nights and there weren’t even any fitting issues involved.  I did discover when I went shopping that I needed a pattern and couldn’t just buy fabric willy nilly! I came home with these lovely little lot after my Spoolette’s Meet Up at the Fabbadashery:   And 3 months later I had this!   I had quite severe brain ache whilst making this. Not the actual sewing, more of what colours to use:   I finally chose these, and after much googling the pattern of the disappearing 9 square. Then I needed to choose the layout of my squares ones I’d chopped the into quarters: The quilting design: I made myself a piece to practice on And practice I did!   And the binding:   And lastly, the easy bit – embroider her name …

Vogue 9082 – Muslin 1, 2 & 3! Oh, and lining it too!

Published by

I thought I’d share with you the fitting dilemmas of my most recent make – the Vogue 9082, view C.  And also how I omitted the facing and fully lined this special dress when I joined in the BIG Vintage Sewalong. As I eventually intend to make all three views, I traced all views in one big sitting to get it out of the way! Whilst some sewers find the tracing process rather tedious I love it!  Before tracing off I read the instructions all the way through, again.   I say again as I’ve usually already read them as soon as I’ve brought a pattern home, or received it in the post. By reading the instructions and then tracing the individual pieces you can learnt so much about the construction process before you even begin to piece the garment together.   Or you notice things which you’ve not come across before. Such as this piece here….. This is the under collar of the jacket, and it is marked ‘stretch’ along the top piece.  Not sure what that means but …

#Sunday Sevens 65

Published by

It’s a good job there’s no hard and fast rules with Natalie’s Sunday Sevens as I think I’d have well and truly broken them in the last month.  If you want to share snippets of what goes on outside the sewing room, join in too!  Head over to Nat’s blog or her Pinterest Board to see what it’s all about. After being late off and coming home from work starving I whipped up a quick tea – leftover veg, beans and dry fried eggs.  Not everyones cup of tea, but did the trick! Rory’s found a new bed….. Standing by in Salterhebble, Halifax…. I was a bit disappointed with this pic taken at Meltham Golf Club – I was hitting onto the green (where the yellow flag in) and behind it it drops away to a river – a scary shot!  it doesn’t look quite as dramatic here. I finally finished off  my first proper quilt….. it went everywhere with me for about a week until I finished hand stitching the binding. My dad had a …