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Sew Up North

Published by Thimberlina

You nearly got Sunday Sevens on time.

Only nearly!

But I’m too excited still about my day yesterday attending Sew Up North, so I just have to tell you about that first.

Sew Up North?

Don’t tell me you don’t know about it. It has even made it to the Foldline’s Sew Reporter news roundup this week!!

Becca from REDWSEWS and Sally from Sew sweet by Sally arranged a northern meet up in Leeds…..and I went!

Yay for Leeds being on my doorstep!

And yay for Becca and Sally!!

So yesterday was an early start. Not because I had a long journey, but because I needed to finish off my Renfrew and colour my roots before I could set off to meet all the sewing lovelies in Leeds at 10 o’clock. Sewing the Renfrew was more of a necessity than the roots although I didn’t want my silver roots to match my top!

At 9:15 I was on the bus with my little liberty bag for the pattern swap. I took a 3 metre piece of satin that I bought from Minerva that nearly became a jumpsuit, and the Coco Top/Dress pattern from Tilly. Well, not from Tilly herself, it was mine, but you know what i mean! From past experience I knew there would be lot’s for the swap so didn’t take too much.

It was a beautiful day for a shopping trip, bright and sunny with just a little nip in the air. And blowing a gale too, but that just gave an excuse for being able to show hand knitted hats and scarfs as well as all sorts of gorgeous handmade garments. It made me want to dust off my knitting needles!

Becca and Sally thought of everything including being serenaded as we went in to Costa to meet everyone.

We all gathered downstairs in Costa, the place was really buzzing. I never counted up how many of us there were but I reckon about 40-50. We all had goodie bags in which amongst other things had badges in. It was really good when we were out and about shopping as we knew if someone was one of the gang!

Becca and Sally gave us the nod that it was time to hit the streets and head for the shops.

We are got wrapped up, many in their own handmade coats and jackets. I recognised the clothes on people as much as their faces!

Everyone split up into smaller groups and got mixed up throughout the day. I headed first to B&Ms. Although I do go into Leeds occasionally I do the main of my fabric shopping in Dewsbury and hadn’t been to the B&M bricks and mortar store before. It was fabulous and I’ll definitely be going back.

I met a lady on the walk to B&M – Sharon. It was her legs that got the conversation going at first – she had fabulous blue leggings on. Sorry no picture – I’d only just met her! We got talking and it turned out she makes active wear to order. And to enable her to hold more stock she also sells the fabric by the metre. And smaller increments too. She had some sample cards of the fabric, it’s really good stuff, and Melissa from Fehr Trade recommends it too. So guess what I’ll be ordering soon! If you want to take a peak she has a FB page called Stretch Nation.

From B&Ms we headed down to the market. Here’s where I bumped into Hila from Saturday Night Stitch (if I were to say I had a favourite blogger, it would be Hila, though everyone’s so lovely I don’t think I could say really!).

This was obviously early on in her shopping spree showing off her 2 little purchases, and before she began hearing voices …”…Anna dress, …Anna dress…..” subconsciously she whipped out her purse and bought 3m of this stunning stretch crepe fabric. And so did I. And so did my niece Lucy. Damm those Voices! Or was it my voice?! Lucy doesn’t even sew (yet) but you might remember her from my post a while back – Lucy’s Lace.

At the point of buying the above fabric I realised I’d lost my purse!!!!! Hila baled me out and bought my fabric and I was going to head back to Costa as that was the last place I’d had it. But then someone remembered that Karen had found one left on a table and knew it must belong to one of us. Phew!!

We headed down to the bottom end of the market and went to a shop I’d never been to before and bought a couple of remnants. The plain white fabric seems to be some sort of fabric suitable for active wear and has a 4 way stretch and is 1.4m long. The blue (almost black) and white fabric is 2.7m long and has a lovely drape. Both together cost just over £7!! Hila heard voices again and made one or two purchases.

Lucy, Hila, Karen and I stopped for a quick lunch at Debenhams en route Fabrication. Shock horror I had soup!! Only because there was the promise of cake later!!

We arrived at Fabrication as the china was just being set out. They must have heard how posh we all are! We were well and truly spoilt with proper coffee and tea leaves and a strainer. And chocolate cake! Thankyou ladies!

Do you like my new coat?? It’s not mine really but I’m going to be having one very similar soon!! It’s Liz’s from so-momma (IG), she used the Vera Venus FREE Cardigan/Kimono Coat pattern. I had to try it on as it only came in one size so needed to know if it would fit. She nearly didn’t get it back!!.

Next to me is Charlotte from Scenes From The Sewing Room who was here with her mum. A lovely pair of ladies, and a new IG and blog for me to follow. I’ve just been admiring her knickers, reading her blog that is! It just sounds so wrong!!

Becca and Sally raised over £200 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance thanks to all the generous sponsors and everyone buying raffle tickets! There were some great prizes but none for me this time.

The big table was filled with china cups, saucers and cake, so the pattern and fabric swap took place on the floor. And there was a lot of stuff!! I refrained but only because I’d already bought fabric and am trying to make an effort to sew the stash not add to it.

More tea Vicar?

The ladies at Fabrication kept us watered for over 2 hours and were so lovely and friendly.

Me & Lucy my little niece who’s 19 today. If your interested in surface pattern design checkout her IG. She just started her degree at Leeds Uni and is soo lucky to be there, and so talented.

It wasn’t just me trying other sewistas coats on.

Here’s Hila trying on Eleanor’s Clare coat from nelnanandnora. Another coat that was hard to give back!

It all went just too fast. A bit like when you’re at a wedding, you just get there and you think you’ve got hours of the day left to celebrate and enjoy yourself but before you know it it’s all done and dusted.

I had to head off earlier than I would have liked as I was going to a bonfire at 5:30 and needed to make a huge pan of chilli to take to it.

Thanks for a wonderful day ladies! Sewing pals are just the best. It was lovely seeing some of the Yorkshire Spoolettes, and meeting some new faces too, though a lot I felt like I already knew.

I hope this is going to be the first of many Sew Up North meet-ups in Leeds. For those of you who are interested (and a few did ask yesterday) I’m going to arrange another get together in Dewsbury in February. Something to look forward to after Christmas. We’re just in a big shake up at work with our rotas at the minute so I don’t know when my weekends off will be in the new year, but as soon as I do I’ll set a date and you’ll be the first to know.

Until then, we’ll just have to whittle away at our stashes to make room room for more!

Cheerio x

Cover Stitch Quest Part 2

Published by Thimberlina

Can I just say a HUGE thanks to all of you who left comments on Part 1. They were all invaluable in helping me come to a decision and the links and suggestions took me to some really useful sites.

The overall feeling I had from everything I’ve read was that almost everyone loves their Janome Coverpro 2000CPX (and earlier models) and everyone loves their Babylocks (any and every model!).

The best write up about the Janome can my found on The Clothing Engineer’s Blog (Thanks Accordion3) She bought the Janome after having a Babylock Evolve – a combination overlock/coverstitch machine for 9 years. So she knows both makes.

In the middle of all the reading up I kept thinking back to when I first watched the You Tube video of the Ovation. How much I dreamed of owning one, and how since I make virtually all my own clothes I could justify buying one. Especially sewing active wear for the gym, and leisure wear for golf, which are both ridiculously expensive to buy.

Thinking of golf, that lead to to think of when I upgraded my first set of golf clubs. My hubby bought me my first set – he really wanted me to get into it, so he could play more! The set I bought were a reasonable priced starter set. A bit like buying an entry level Janome 2060 for £99. After 2 years my handicap was 17 (I’d gotten quite good!), and I’d outgrown my starter set. I really wanted some Pings (the sewing machine equivalent of say a memory craft horizon!), but they were about £500, so instead I bought some others which were cheaper, but slightly better than my starter set.

I was always disappointed and within a year traded them in for the Custom Fit Pings that I’d always wanted. 16 years on I’m still playing with the Pings and have had no need, or desire, to change them! So that was money definitely well spent!

All this thinking and research frazzled my brain somewhat. So I emailed Lucy from Sew Essential with ~~few~~ lots of questions about different machines. She told me I needed to speak to her MIL Angela who was the machine Guru. So I rang her and she was brilliant. After a lengthy conversation my brain was unfrazzled, and my bank balance quite a lot lighter. I ordered the Ovation!

It’s coming today, but I’m playing golf so it’s being delivered to my mum’s. I really don’t think I’m going to be able to concentrate! I don’t think I’ll be stopping for egg and chips afterwards.

……………………………………

Fast forward 9 hours to now. I received a text from cyber mom just before I was about to set off to golf to say my machine had arrived! Golf cancelled – friends ok about it, especially as one is a fellow Spoolette.

Dad brought me up my special delivery up and helped me unpack it!

I’ve played all day and now I’m having to leave it to go the Box 45. My golfing/gym buddy Sue won’t let me skip both!!

I’ll be back soon to let you know how we’re getting on!

#SundaySevens 76

Published by Thimberlina

The week started with my big sister’s birthday. We’re the same age for 10 days once I have mine. This card has been sent to each other and new messages added since she started her podiatry degree 3 years ago. I think this will last for years. LuckilyI only take responsibly of it for 10 days – my sister looks after it for the rest of the year.

A beautiful day for golf. Don’t let Helens layers make you think it was cold she’s wrapped up all year round! I only played in a t shirt with a coco over the top.

The sun being out really lit up the colours in the trees.

A lovely parcel arrived in the post from Fabric Rehab. I just stumbled across them the week before and there was 40% off, so I just bought a few random things. This little lot (and there’s 2m of the london mug poplin) only cost £16.25 inc postage. I’m feeling a bit bad now for not telling you sooner.

Hubby treated himself to some new boots. Check out these bad boys!!

Towards the end of the week I was making a decision about which coverlock machine I was going to buy. To butter the hubby up I cleaned the conservatory windows inside and out – a job we both detest!

Guess where I’d been – obviously I needed to revamp the storage in my sewing room in readiness for the new arrival.

Hello Cruella!

We went to a Halloween Karaoke night, dressed up of course! The top is a sewaholic renfrew with a high neck (I cut out 2 back pieces), bet you’ve not seen one like this before! I’d forgotten how well this fitted and will be making a few more once my new machine arrives.

I had a narrow escape with an evil clown!

Saturday we had a ride to Halfords for some bike bits and pieces. We usually go to Huddersfield but as the England Rugby team were in action there we went to Dewsbury instead.

I baled out at Lucky Fashions and avoided Halfords. I’ve not called in for months – they had so much gorgeous fabric in. I only had a tenner on me so just bought this. I took a few pics of some other fabrics which took my fancy which I show you soon. If you’re thinking of heading over to Fabworks, you need to call here too, but it’s only open on market days – Wednesdays and Saturdays so plan your journey!

There’s a map here which you can download if you need to see where to go, and park etc.

We took advantage of the extra hour everyone else had in bed, and got up early and went for a 17 mile bike ride. My bum bones are sore this morning asiIt’s been a while!

Sunday I made Yorkshire puddings. It’s so long since I’ve done any baking my scales were flat. I had to google converting grams to american cups so I could measure my flour. When I dished up H wondered where the meat was as he didn’t realise we were having Toad In The Hole!

Sunday Sevens – a shortish blog post with Seven/a few/lots of (delete as appropriate) photos from your week, invented by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Cover Stitch Quest Part 1

Published by Thimberlina

For ages and ages I’ve wanted a coverstitch machine and lusted over many a blog post and You Tube video in my dreamy state. Throughout this period of wanting (I’m well into my second year) I’ve read so many reviews and watched umpteen You Tube videos. The ones of lucky owners opening the boxes of their new machines nearly has me wetting my pants with excitement! I’ve even downloaded and read several coverstitch machine manuals.

And then this happened a couple of weeks ago (just to set the scene we were going to be going away for the weekend for my birthday, but MIL was still in hosptial).

HUBBY: Maybe we shouldn’t go away this weekend with my mum still being in hospital…?

ME: That’s fine lovey, at least we’ll be able to go the golf club dinner on Saturday night.

HUBBY: Yea, and with the money we’d have spent you can have that machine thing that you’ve been wanting for ages.

ME: AAAAARRRRRHHHHHHHH!!! ….Yes!! ….Please!!! …..Thankyou!!!!

So you get the picture, I’m a bit excited to say the least.

Before I carry on my ramblings, maybe I should enlighten those of you who aren’t sure what a coverstitch machine is or what it does.

It’s basically a twin or triple sewing machine which stitches hems on knit garments. On the top there can be 1, 2 or 3 rows of stitches and underneath it looks like an overlocker stitch, except that the stitch “covers” the raw edge and encloses it. If you’re wearing a stretch RTW top, check out the hem – that’s what it looks like.

It can also give a decorative finish too when the fabric is stitched upside down, i.e. the stitch that looks like an overlock stitch is on top – this is seen a lot in RTW active wear garments and is often in a contrasting thread.

Some machines are just purely a coverstitch machine, but there’s also overlocking machines which convert to a coverstitch machine.

Just a word of warning, this post might come across as being a bit disjointed. My brain is a bit frazzled at the minute with looking at so many machines and websites. And I’ve just finishing my run of nights this morning.

Also, just to mention, for the links to the machines, some of them are to Sew Essential as I’ve met Lucy at Sewbrum and knows she looks after her customers, and offers competitive prices. I wouldn’t want to direct you to someone I couldn’t vouch for. You can also go there and have a demonstration of the machines. These aren’t affiliated links, and I’m not receiving anything for them being there.

So after hours and hours looking into which cover stitch would make my life complete, here’s a few of my findings.

If money was no object this would be my machine of choice – The Baby Lock Ovation.

But after reading the instruction manual (yes, I’m weird) it is worth every penny with it’s combination of 87 stitches!! It threads with gusts of air which forces the threads through each looper, so no panicking when you need to change stitch or thread.

Everything about it just oozes ease of use, so if you’ve got the money and a cover stitch is what you’re after (with extras), there’s no need to read on!

But for me, our cancelled weekend away was in the Lake District, and not somewhere exotic, so my budget is £500 and doesn’t quite stretch to my dream machine. I’m not complaining though, I know I’m lucky to have that budget at all!

For those of you who subscribe to the Seamwork magazine there’s a great Guide to coverstitch machines HERE written by Melissa of Fehr Trade – The Queen of Lycra! I’m not sure if you’ll be able to view it if you’re not a subscriber to the magazine.

If you’d like to subscribe and follow my link HERE you will receive 1/2 off your first months subscription. (and I get a free month!) As well as reading the magazine you also receive credits each month to download patterns – past and present.

The main piece of advice I took away from Melissa was that unless you can afford a really good combination machine then just buy a stand alone Coverstitch machine.

Apparently a lot of combination machines are difficult to change from overlock to coverlock, and also the quality of the stitch can suffer. This I’ve read elsewhere, not just from Melissa.

For a stand alone machine there was more choice than I anticipated. I started looking at a well known brands that I was familiar with – Janome.

Meet the Janome Cover Pro 2000CPX. It’s in my price range at £479, it’s had lots of positive reviews (and so has it’s predecessors), and there’s so much help on You Tube and within the blogasphere that if I did get stuck I’d find help in no time.

This machine has a free arm for sewing sleeves and the like, which isn’t standard on most coverlock machines.

Then I read up on The Elna Easycover, priced at £499

I’ve not had anything to do with Elna previously but as it’s a Swiss machine I thought it would be worth investigating. The Elna Easycover also has a free arm and had something called Tension Level Control which help it deal with changing from thick to thin fabric easily.

I’ve struggled to find any reviews on it, and on You Tube the only video which might be helpful would require me learning a new language, though I’m not quite sure which one! So I never pursued this machine any further.

My search for a stand alone machine came to an abrupt halt when I discovered the Eastman Tailor CL501 priced at £499 at Sew2Go – a shop in Huddersfield only 25 minutes from where I live. It’s a combined overlock and coverlock machine.

I’d never heard of the brand and was surprised to find a combination machine at that price. As the company that supply this machine is only 10 miles away I thought I’d have a drive over and investigate further, as it did seem a lot of machine for the money.

I was a little bit disappointed at first. Although this company has been about for over 100 years they have specialised in industrial machines and supplying sewing equipment to the industry. They’ve only recently opened a shop to the which is open to the public and there was no one about who could demonstrate the machine to me there and then!

Obviously I was gutted. It was my birthday and I had my hubby with his wallet in tow. I had imagined this machine could be the answer to my prayers!

The staff were lovely and I arranged to go back a couple of days later when there would be an engineer there to show me the machine in more detail.

I went back and the chap showed me how to change it from overlock to coverstitch and I was able to have a play with it. It was all a bit complicated, but then looking back, I thought that 24 years ago when I got an overlocker.

I sat and had a play with it. I read through a lot of the instruction manual. I came away with the promise of a 15% discount and I really really wanted this machine.

The sales assistant was great and not at all pushy. I’m still undecided and am going to go back on Wednesday and have another ‘play’.

Looking into this machine has made me want a machine that does do more than just a cover stitch and hem. Which has lead me to look at the Pfaff 3.0, which is out of my price range at £879. But I’m thinking a few days overtime, plus my birthday money and golf winnings, and it could be mine.

So that’s where I’m at.

Wanting a Babylock Ovation but knowing unless I win the lottery it’s a no-go.
Knowing that a Janome 2000 CPX would do the job just fine for most of my sewing with stretch needs.
Been enticed by an unknown (to me!) brand that there’s no online reviews of, but a lot support if I needed it in person going back to where I bought it.
Wondering if I should just pay the extra money and buy the Pfaff 3.0 which I know I would love.
If I bought the Janome and wanted to upgrade I feel confident it would sell at a reasonable price. Whereas would the Eastman Tailor with it being a lesser known brand?

What to do…..?

I have my hubby’s credit card and could just go crazy and buy whatever. I could blame the moment of madness on lack of sleep and stress after working 3 crazy night shifts, which what I’ve dealt with this weekend makes the London Ambulance program on TV at the minute look tame!

But I won’t. I’ll sleep on it and have a game of golf tomorrow, then I’ll go and have another play on Wednesday at Sew2Go. After all, if this wanting’s gone on for nearly 2 years, what’s another few days!?

Have you got a cover stitch machine? I’d love to hear what you think, or if there’s any reviews which you could recommend and direct me too, I’m sure I couldn’t possible have read them all!! 🙂

#SundaySevens 75

Published by Thimberlina

Gosh it’s Sunday! Time for Sunday Sevens!

I think getting my sewing space in order has done something to me, and helped me get organised and productive in other areas of life too. Or maybe I’m just older and wiser since having a birthday last week!

Quite a random photo…. I’ve been so chuffed with my successful egg poaching this week I just had to share!

We’ve had quite a few sunny spells this week, but it’s been really quite chilly with it. Here’s a planter that cyber-mom bought me for my birthday. Often I look out and see it I think it’s the cat on the patio waiting to come it.

I’ve been out testing a coverlock machine this week. I’ve not made a purchase yet, and I’m thinking I’ll write a blog post to share all my research into buying one, as they’re not something us sewers would dash out and buy without a lot of thought. UPDATE – PART ONE OF COVER STITCH QUEST IS HERE

H has finally mastered doing wheelies which frightens me to death!

A little treat that I bought with some of my birthday money. An ironing mat. I usually have to put the mini ironing board on the table and move my overlocker, or run downstairs to use the proper ironing board. I think I might splash out and buy a separate iron for my sewing room.

Lunch out with cyber mom at a new pub that’s opened within walking distance. Bis Sis’ joined us for a cuppa just as the desserts arrived. My dessert, which is slightly over exposed, is the biggest vanilla slice you’ve ever seen, and cyber-mom had a ~~slab~~ slice of twix cake. We did share them 3 ways and even had some left to take home for cyber-pops.

Before I started my first night shift on Friday the hubby and I had tea out. Somewhere slightly more refined with a lot smaller portions! My chocolate orange bread and butter pudding was very nice, but I could have eaten another!

I missed going to a friend’s 50th birthday party on Saturday night as I was working. I made her an arm knitted scarf and dropped it off on my way to work. The hubby was a very will model, which was rather a shock! I had to change the photo to black and white though as he did look a bit red in the face, so was maybe a little embarrassed.

A couple of links after being prompted by one of my lovely followers. I used King Cole – The Ultimate Super Chunky – 3 strands worked together. (I bought mine fro Leeds market, so for anyone who’s going to Sew Up North you’ll be able to pick some up then). And I followed the video tutorial at Wool and The Gang.

For my first one (I made myself one a year or so ago) I cast on 8 stitches (using the long tail method) but the scarf wasn’t quite big enough to wrap around twice. For this yarn 6 stitches works perfectly. If you just want to have a go to see what happens just use 3 balls of whatever you’ve got knocking about – a thinner yarn will produce a more loopy scarf. Just experiment with different amounts of stitches, and yarn. Just make sure you go to the loo before you start and have anything you might want close to hand!

Sunday Sevens – a short blog post with Seven/a few/lots of (delete as appropriate) photos from your week, invented by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

BHL Holly Jumpsuit – No excuses needed this time

Published by Thimberlina

Last year I made a Holly Jumpsuit in the name of frivolity, also known as Jumping Into June.

This time I didn’t need an excuse. I’d been given a gorgeous pair of shoes which just happened to be the same colour magenta as some of the circles on this silky fabric that I recently bought from Abakhan when I met up with Jenny in Chester. This fabric was just crying out to be a jumpsuit!

The first thing I did was try on my first Jumpsuit. I knew I’d need to modify the pattern pieces to avoid making a modesty panel like in version 1. I’d also lost a few pounds too, so needed to check if any other adjustments were necessary.

I needed to loose 4 inches from the drape at the front.

It’s a bit tricky putting into words what I did to the front bodice piece. Do the photos make sense?

I basically removed the shaded wedge from the top which then created a side dart by cutting into the fabric and making a hinge.

I felt the crotch of the trousers needed raising as it was hanging a bit low.

I’d not marked any shorten/lengthen lines on my traced off pattern piece so checked on the original pattern. There weren’t any either there either!

I measured 4 inches down from the top, perpendicular to the grain line and used that line to reduce the crotch length by an inch. I also trimmed off the areas shaded which I thought would reduce the hips and waist to allow for my slight weight loss.

I whizzed the jumpsuit up in no time, not properly finished, I sewed up the main seams, and checked the fit.

Yay, it fit. Slightly snug on the waist, but wearing heals would suck in the tummy!

The instructions call for bias binding to finish off the top edges of the bodice back and continue to form straps. I made my bias strips, but they wouldn’t press too well and they were driving me a bit crazy, sliding all over the place.

I decided to use it single folded, sewed it to the right side, and applied it like you would a facing to finish the edges. I then made straps and sewed them on separately.

The guts of my jumpsuits aren’t too pretty. My overlocker wasn’t liking this slinky, slippery fabric so I gave up after I finished off the seams next to the zip.

It was weird when I wore the jump suit – all the mega frayed edges were stroking my legs! I think I’ll have to do something about them before I wash it, otherwise it’ll probably fall apart!

A close up,of my less drapey front, and the wider straps which I much prefer.

And here I am at the end of the night – I wore it to the golf clubs presentation night last Saturday. Unfortunately due to bad lighting, lots of dancing and rose wine this was the only photo taken. There was an official one taken with my trophies but I’m not sure when I’ll get a copy of it.

So today I took a few photos before I went to work. There’s no high heals and no make up but you get to see my jumpsuit in all its glory. I’m soooo pleased with it, and felt great wearing it and got loads of compliments.

Chilling in my comfy jumpsuit before I had to dash off to work…..

Were you tempted into buying a jumpsuit pattern last year when Jumping into June was in full swing?

If so, did you make it up, or is it still waiting patiently to reach the top of the to do list? And if not….why not?!?

Linking in with Sew It Chick Monthly – Gray All Day

By the way, I’ve just been adding some links to my post as I was in a bit of a rush when I wrote it yesterday. I’ve checked out the Holly Jumpsuit on the BHL website, and it’s the only one still available in paper format, and is a steal at £7! It’s worth it just for the gorgeous packaging to have it adorning your shelf! Click HERE to be taken to their site – no I’m not on commission!

Do Not Adjust Your Screen – Espresso Leggings

Published by Thimberlina

They really are that bright!!

This colourful fabric, an ITY knit, has been illuminating my stash for over a year. As my gym joining experience has continued and not just been a flash in the pan I thought it was about time I added to my ‘gym wardrobe’ which is over 5 years old, with the exception of the VNA top I made last year.

I’ve made leggings before, but not ones that needed to withstand 6 minutes of squats in a Les Mills Body Pump class. But for starters, and for a speedy make I dug out my TNT Sewing Cake custom made Espresso leggings pattern. I’ve made loads of these, about 7 pairs I think, but not for a couple of years.

In legs than an hour i had them cut out and sewn up except for the waist band:

And then I had a busy couple of days and put them aside. I googled making active wear leggings as the basic elasticated waist wasn’t gonna cut it for these pants. I didn’t want to be hoiking (Yorkshire slang for ‘pulling up with vigour’) them up after each lunge.

I decided they needed a wide band but didn’t think this ITY knit would have enough substance to hold them up.

In my stash I have quite a few solid pieces of lycra, thicker with fab recovery. I cut a rectangle and sewed the short ends together. Pulled it on over my hips and waist. It was tight, but not tight enough, so sewed another row of stitching loosing a good couple of inches.

Another try on, and all was good.

I then pulled on the leggings to see where the band needed to be sewn.

The whole of this only took about 10 minutes and it was done all on my overlocker.

After wearing them at Body Vive and a Box 45 class they’ve stood up really well. My only niggle is the crotch seam – it’s ok but i’m worried it might pop under the strain of all the squats and am going to save this pair just for zumba.

I need to find a pattern with a gusset in the crotch, and I think the pattern with the Seamwork magazine has one.

For now I’ve left them unhemmed as I’m not sure if I want them full length or 3/4, the jury is still out.

Here’s a fun shot whilst we were waiting for our class to commence, there were only 2 other ladies who had arrived, but I think they thought we were crackers!

And if you’re still undecided if you need a pair of lycra leggings in your life, you don’t have to by a crazy gym bunny to wear them.

You can also wear them around the house in high heals and it’ll make doing the housework much more fun and painless! The hubby might even join in too!

Linking in with Sew It Chic, at Gray All Day

#Sunday Sevens 74

Published by Thimberlina

Well blow me! It’s Sunday and a very long time since I’ve actually written my weekly Sunday Sevens post on time!

This week has been a fab one! I’ve been on annual leave all week as it’s been my birthday. When I first started working on the ambulances over 20 years I had a bad day on my birthday and have since always booked it off. Initially it was the day, but then the week! So lots of me time and not very much housework!

Summer has finally gone and the weather has a definite Autumnal feel to it. Sue is no fair weather golfer but braved the weather with a few additional layers.

We had wind, rain and sunshine when we played in the Yorkshire Challenge at Pontefract Golf Club.

Our team won! Sue was a bit of a ringer in our West Yorkshire team as we battled to beat North and South Yorkshire Ambulance in our annual challenge.

So my run of 2nd places finally came to an end, but the 2’s continued to be of significance in my game – in a good way though this time.

As well at competing for the trophy, there were also individual prizes to play for, including £40 in the pot to be shared out amongst those golfers who got a 2. IE got down the hole in 2 shots, which isn’t easy to do! Out of all the 30 players I was the only one to get a 2, plus I won £15 for getting my tee shot nearest to the flag on the 17th hole!. So all in all a good day!! My winnings……think it is destined to be new fabric!

Here’s a shirt I bought from Debenhams a few weeks ago for about £8. It was too big and the belt was missing, but the fabric has a gorgeous heavy drape to it. It’s had a slight refashion – removing the sleeves, taking in the side seams and adding a wide belt. I just love it and it’s fired my up to make more shirt dresses. Hopefully I’ll have some pix soon so I can show you it in it’s after form.

When Sue and I go to our gym classes we travel to different sports centres in our area. On Wednesday it was a trip to Dewsbury for a Body Vive class, with a detour to Fabworks on our way home.

Sue has a new car so I found this piece of fabric to line her boot to protect it from her soggy golf clubs. It’s thicker than a laminated cotton and is more like a textured vinyl flooring. At £5 a metre it was just the trick.

Sue gave me these shoes as they were too high for her. The colour matched this recently purchased fabric (from Abakhan when I met Jenny) so I decided to whip up a Holly Jumpsuit to wear at the Golf Club presentation night.

I won’t drive you made showing you all my birthday pressies, just this one….. how cute is this….

An exciting delivery arrived yesterday. When I attended the Sewbrum meet up I met loads of lovely people, including Lucy from Sew Essential. She’s since been in touch and offered to sponsor a blog post. To say I was over the moon is an understatement. Thanks Lucy! I can’t wait to get started on this! I chose a faux silk dupion to make a evening/going out jacket with a modern sort of take on it.

My jumpsuit…..! Finished an hour before we needed to leave and worn with pride as I collected my trophies at the Presentation evening.

Guess how many I collected. Yup, TWO!! Both won earlier in the season before my luck ran out.

Joining in Natalie’s Sunday Sevens – sharing a little bit of what else goes on.

Good Golly Miss Molly

Published by Thimberlina

Does Molly need any introduction?

I don’t think so. There’s Molly Tops everywhere, all over the internet, and probably in a city near you.

It’s part of Sew Over It’s new capsule wardrobe for a city break. And whilst it’s not the first of their patterns that I’ve bought (I have a paper copy of the Pussy Bow blouse) it’s the first one i’ve made.

I’m a bit of a sucker for buying ‘bundles’ of patterns as even if I only make 1 from the bundle, as a Yorkshire lass I need to have felt like I’ve had value for money.

I’m not here to promote the patterns, but in case you’re wondering, there’s a top, stretch jeans, skirt, shirt/shirtdress and cardigan in the collection. Apart from the cardigan, I can see myself making all the garments. And soon!

So far I’ve made 2 Molly Tops. It requires 1.6m of 140cm wide fabric. I had 60cm of some gorgeous floral jersey and about the same of a coordinating soft grey.

Both were bargain remnants when I last visited Fine Fabrics of Harrogate.

I cut out the front. The fabric wasn’t quite long enough but at this point I just wanted a quick make so thought an inch or 2 lost on the length was no big deal.

Ooops!

After I’d cut out the front, even on this 150cm wide fabric there was no where near enough to cut out the back.

Mmmmm…. what to do? After several deep breaths I cut the sleeves out of the grey fabric. Some colour blocking may be needed, but I had to see how much I had left.

Sleeves cut, there wasn’t quite enough for the back to be grey.

I decided to piece what I had left together until it was big enough to fit the back pattern piece on.

It was all quite random….

As I went along I trimmed edges so they would be square and tried to keep the grainline running in the same direction.

Random photo of my machine to remind me of which stitch I used. I used the super strong, there’s no way you’ll ever unpick me, triple stitch, and my walking foot.

Super neat with no puckering and enough ‘give’ for this stretchy fabric.

Below are the other stitches I auditioned.

Back to the colour blocking……

The last piece was added…..

And now the back piece will fit. Can I just say, I can usually get a T shirt easily out of 1/2 metre of fabric, but it’s those sticky out arms that cause this pattern to be fabric hungry.

Back all cut out…..

But now my big problem was the front looked rather boring.

I decided to add a bit of interest with some fabric that was left and sewed it diagonal….

then pressed it the right way….

And trimmed off the excess……

Much better!!

And before I show you it all finished and me wearing it, here’s Molly number 2. Another Krypton Factor make (for those of you old enough to remember it). I had 1.4m of this fabric and it just wouldn’t fit. But then I turned one of the pieces upside down, and Voila! It fitted, absolutely exactly! I wouldn’t recommend only buying 1.4m to try it out though. I drunk 1 1/2 glasses of wine whilst I sweated over this!

The only thing I did different on this was to top stitch the should seams. I’m still on the fence wether this long shoulder seam needs stabilising? have any of you Molly makers out there stabilised yours?

So now on to the fashion shows. For Molly No 1 it took place in our local shopping centre, on the stairs in Debenhams and in Nandos.

H was chief photographer and mortifield he had to hold my purple phone.

So I’m quite chuffed we got some photos at all never mind half decent ones!

Some close ups….

It was all a bit of a fluke that the seam lines on the arms matching the colour blocking on the back, it looked like it had been done on purpose!

To set the scene for photo shoot number 2 I had a new photographer – Sue my lovely gym, karaoke and golf buddy! It was a bit of a rush after we’d playing golf and were ready to go home, but she took these quickly for me in the ladies locker room:

mmmm, doesn’t look to fit as well across the back, but this fabric isn’t quite as stretchy as Molly No 1.

How amazing that I managed to match those squares. Pat on the back is in order!

And just before I go, my troublesome neckline:

I know we can get a bit picky and unintentionally strive for perfection, but I just wasn’t happy with the collar. The first one was tight enough, just in one section, but it’s quite soft fabric and the colour blocking detracts from the neckline so I wasn’t too bothered.

But for this striped one, the ones I’d seen on the internet seems to lay quite snug but mine stands up a bit. I think maybe for a thicker fabric that the neck band needs to be narrower??

But on a positive note, I think i’ll have loads of these in my wardrobe before so long and will soon master it! Watch this space!!

#SundaySevens 73

Published by Thimberlina

I could really get out of sync with my blogging, I’m dying to spill the beans on my 2 latest finished creations, but Good Golly Miss Molly (hint hint), that will have to wait until tomorrow!

My very messy sewing room. It’s a tiny room, what we call a box room in the UK. And I know I’m lucky, but i just don’t enjoy being in it when it looked like this. And yes I know, the mess is mine, but it doesn’t make me fell any better. Things had gotten out of hand and I had stuff everywhere. And I don’t mean just in this room.

I should do a before and after post as I feel super duper productive as it doesn’t look like this anymore.

My mum in law went in to have a hip replacement. She wasn’t feeling too photogenic, and H is bobbing down, but there’s a lovely view from the window!

Vogue 9082 had another outing. I’ve definitely had my wear out of this frock. I went to the Council Dinner at the golf club, all past captains and current hierarchy. Here’s John – he was the Club Captain when I was the Lady Captain!

I was so very excited when this popped through my letterbox this week!

H played football and scored a goal!!! This is a major rarity as he plays in the goals for his team. But they were winning 4-0 and were given a penalty and H took it and scored!

I came across this newspaper cutting this week when I was sorting through some old stuff. From April 1999, how time flies! I was the baby at our station when this was taken, now I’m one of the old timers!

A curtain shop near the Hospital in Halifax – an apt name don’t you think?

After visiting my MIL on Sunday we called at the Chinese Buffet in Halifax. After 27 courses I was still able to squeeze in a pudding or 4!!

No golf this week in case you’re wondering!

Sunday Sevens, invented by the Lovely Natalie from Threads and Bobbins – sharing a few photos of whats happening outside your usual creative madness!