All posts filed under: Work in Progress

Brooklyn Preparation and a BIG ‘Thankyou’

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Remember my photo challenge ‘stitch‘ last week? I happened to mention how I’ve struggled to master the twin needle, to the point that I was planning smuggling a coverstitch machine into the house.  You guys gave me so much advice! Tonight I’ve been experimenting with stitch selection for my next project – The Brooklyn Hoodie from SBCC. I was looking for a stitch to flatten down the seams and give more of a rtw  feel to it. I preferred the left had stitch. Here’s the wrong side – I’d trimmed back the SA back as far as possible. Just as I was pressing a few buttons, I saw IT!!!! You could’ve knocked me down with a feather!!! Where did that come from???? Had it just appeared, or had it been hidden amongst this little lot all the time?? Well that was it. I pressed the button, found a twin needle and another spool and in no time at all I produced this little lot!! How pretty!! And neat!! And easy!! Everything ran smoothly, I just …

When One Thing Leads To Another – The Colette Wren Part 1

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My big sister (older by 10 days short of a year) celebrated her birthday at the end of October.  Two years ago I made her a leather bag and last year I made her a Coco.  This year she said she would like another Coco and chose this sparkly ponte knit from Minerva: It does change colour a little bit depending on the light but this gives a fair idea of the fabric.  It took a bit of tweaking before I was happy with this photo. So onwards and upwards.  I completed her Coco in about 1 1/2 hours (I’ve made a few so can almost do them with my eyes shut, they seem to be our family uniform!). It was just as well that I got a photo of her new Coco on Gertrude as these were the best of the photo shoot in the pub: Anyway, she loved it! I loved it! I wanted to keep it!  But instead I ordered another 5 metres of this gorgeous fabric just for me!  I was thinking …

My First Sewing Lesson – Doing it in style! 

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After 25 years of intermittent sewing (including making my bridesmaids dresses, umpteen pairs of curtains and a whole year worth of clothes as I took part in Goodbye Valentino’s 2014 RTW fast) I finally got round to having my first sewing lesson. Back in February when I was looking for a new sewing machine I stumbled across sewing lessons being advertised on the Janome UK website. Being a fan of the GBSB I was immediately drawn to their Celebrity Sewing Bee Week.  I booked onto Heather Jacks course – successful sewing with silk – as I thought I’d learn more from her class than the others. The others seemed aimed more at beginners.  Though I’d tackled all sorts of fabrics I do have 2 pieces of silk in my stash but I’ve never dared cut into them! So the day finally came and I headed over the Peninnes on the M62.  The M62 is notorious for accidents on this particular stretch so I set off in plenty of time. I was so glad I did …

GBSB Fashion With Fabric – The Drapey Knit Dress

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I wasn’t going to write a blog post about this recent make.   I loved making it, I loved the challenging pattern matching with the strange looking pattern pieces.  I even matched up the inside of the pockets. I used this fabric which I bought when I was in Dewsbury taking photos for a recent Spoolette meet up. When I came to the big try on, just prior to hemming, there was an “oh no!” moment.   I wondered why I’d just wasted 3 or 4 hours of my life!  I don’t know why, but it just felt wrong.  Clothes are supposed to flatter, not make you look fatter!  I know I’m not a 36–24-36.  I feel fairly ‘normal’ for someone approaching their mid-forties, but I just felt huge in this!   My head seemed to shrink whilst my body appeared bigger.  It reminded me of something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!!?? The dress was put aside, then Corinne from Appleby Makes mentioned in a comment that she was thinking of using some fabric purchased …

Lekala 5963 with a touch of Liberty

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Yesterday I really needed to sew! I’ve not made anything since the 30 draw string bags, and before that was the GBSB Drapey dress (unblogged as yet, due to being a failure!). It needed to be something that didn’t require a muslin.  My sewing soul was in need of some fairly instant gratification, so I decided to make up the Valentine dress in some stretch denim I’d bought (originally for the ginger jeans, but seen as my 2 pairs of jeans fit well, and despite printing out the pattern, buying the fabric and notions, the Gingers have been pushed down the list!).  I’d bought 2m of stretch denim online from Minerva.  It has polyester in  it which I think has made it ideal for this dress as it will crease less than if it was your 97% cotton 3% elastine type of denim. But oh no! I tried on the Valentine dress to check the fit and its a bit too big! (Oh yea for shrinking body!)  My measurents haven’t changed since Feb, but I have lost about …

The Osaka from Seamwork Magazine

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Yesterday I created a wish list, and right at the top of it, is the Osaka wrap skirt from the new Seamwork magazine!  So today I gathered some suitable fabric from my stash and got started.  I’m not making a muslin as the shape is really simple so i’m going to fit as I sew – I’ve left out the darts for now, but will add them before I sew the 2 pieces together. Now, this is going to be a quick post with lost of photos and not a lot of writing. I’m too upset to think of much to say tonight….you’ll see why soon. The first fabric I chose was this gorgeous black and white poly/viscose blend coating.  It’s already been a skirt but I’ve only worn it once as it didn’t fit too well, so I can use that plus about 0.7 m which was left. FOr the reverse I had 2 small pieces of 100% wool. one 30cm and one 40cm. This was going to be a tight squeeze! And it was. But …

Valentine Frock – Part 2

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For those of you who regularly read my blog, sorry for the confusion. I’ve not written Part 1 yet! (Part 1 will be about the 2 muslins I made prior to this one – pictures still required, post to follow.) On Valentine’s Night we’re going out with 4 other couples to a dinner dance at the golf club. Dinner dance might sound a bit 80’s ish, but there’ll be great food, a soul singer and a cheap bar! What more could we ask for! …….A new frock of course! After 2 separate muslin failures due to fitting issues I decided to give Lekala another try. I have used them before but not for ages. My fabric is has a large bold pattern so my dress needs to have fairly simple lines. I decided des to do away with the pockets. Maybe a year ago when I was a smoker I would have gone with the pockets for my ciggies, but 16 days it will be a year since I quit!! So, this was my 3rd …

Colette Albion #1

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A few weeks ago I bought a Colette pattern – the albion jacket/coat with the intention of making it for my hubby.  As we sewers do, I spents hours some time looking on the net for ideas.  I couldn’t believe how many versions there were out there for ladies.  This caused me to think that I didn’t want my hubby thinking I was making him a jacket as a practice run for mine, so I decided to make one for myself first! I had some cotton herrinbone twill in my stash, which I bought when I was in Cornwall in August 2013.  Perfect! I bought the accompanying ebook Companion from The Coletterie to help me along, and I soon had all my pieces cut out and a narrow shoulder adjustment made.  (I don’t have narrow shoulders, but I made a one armed muslin and decided I needed to loose a good inch due to it being a man’s pattern.) I even made all my own bias trim!! I didn’t go for the continuous method. I just did it …

Matchmaker – Dahlia meets Mr Zip

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Whilst inserting my zip today into my Dahlia dress I decided to take some photos of how I match everything up when inserting zips, as it can make or break a garment. This is just how I do it.  There might be an easier way out there, but after making 5 Yasmin Yoke Skirts I feel practiced and competent enough to share my way with you. Firstly, buy a decent zip!  I learnt the hard way today: This post will not show you how any special tricks to inserting a concealed zip, there’s loads of fab tutorials out there and even a free craftsy class (I always refer back to this if I’ve not inserted one in a while). Insert one side of the zip. Zip up the zipper and mark the important seams that need to match: Unzip and place where it needs to be.  Pin if you like but it doesn’t make it any more accurate!   Stitch in place – long basting stitches just near the seams that need to match: Now, zip it …