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#SundaySevens 72

Published by Thimberlina

As usual it’s not Sunday and there’s not Seven photos!

A gorgeous Sunrise started the week. At least with the darker mornings it’s not just the early birds that can enjoy these amazing skies.

H made tea for the first time. He’s made omelettes and easy things but this was his first time co-ordinating and cooking a proper meal. As you can see I emptied my plate, he did a great job and was overly enthusiastic about doing it again.

A trip into Brighouse for H to get his hair cut.

We played our end of season competition. Everyone brings a prize for about £5. The winner gets first pick, then 2nd, 3rd etc. You guessed, I kept up my almost winning streak with 2nd place!

Inspired by The Material Lady who’s just run a half marathon I got off my butt and went for my first ‘run’ since April, and managed 5k in just under 39 minutes. Even though I’m trying to get fit at the gym i was surprised how much slower I was. I’ll blame the 10 hour shift I’d just done!

What a view!

Sticking with the body pump despite my gym budding being on holiday, again!

A little shopping trip into Leeds with H and lunch in Nandos. I was wearing my new Molly Top, 2 ladies in the queue asked my where I bought my top!! Proud moment!

I then put my foot in it when I asked if they were sisters. Err, no. They were mother and daughter!

Then we saw them in Clarks shoe shop. “Daughter” asked how old H was. I said 14. She said, gosh, your husband must be tall. Me… ‘are you saying I’m short??!! You wouldn’t have asked me that if I was 5 foot 10!’

She got her own back, and we both fell about laughing!

A bike was left at the end of our drive. I put a message on our villages local FB page, and the owner was found. In the olden days we’d have had to put a note in the paper shop window!

Last Sunday I played in the Evening League Individual Championship. I would have loved to have come 2nd but the only prize I picked up was in the raffle. I saved it until later but it would have washed down the chip buttie very nicely!

Sunday Sevens – the brain child of Natalie from Threads and Bobbins. Want to join in or find out more? Head over to her blog and join in the fun!

Sewbrum 2016

Published by Thimberlina

Back in March Charlotte from English Girl At Home revealed the date for Sewbrum 2016. I was so giddy when I checked my shift planner – it was my week end off I and could go!!

For those of you who haven’t heard of Sewbrum, and that can’t be many, even my mum’s heard of Sewbrum, it’s a day out socialising, shopping and eating cake with lovely like minded people.

I had been gutted to miss Sewbrum 2014 and 2015 as the dates just didn’t work for me, but this year it was 3rd time lucky!

I’d never been to a meet up before, well only the little Yorkshire Spoolette ones I had organised earlier this year and last year. And none of the other Yorkshire Spoolettes were going so I was going to be going on my own.

And then Becca from Redwsew said she was going so we booked on the same trains. I’d met Becca in real life earlier this year at the Fabbadashery so it wasn’t too scary as I wasn’t going to feel too alone.

It was all very exciting on the run up to the date. Sewbrum mentions kept popping up on IG, and there was talk of some great raffle prizes too – so not only could we buy amazing stuff, we could win some amazing stuff too and raise money for The Eve Appeal!

The day finally came, and after much deliberation I decided to wear my Morris Blazer with one of my Sorbettos, and my jeans.

The weather was unseasonably warm and was forecast to reach 20 degrees. I would have loved to have worn a dress (there were many to admire) but I felt the need to wear my flight socks! I imagined a 2 1/2 train ride wouldn’t do my poor circulation any good and I didn’t fancy risking a DVT!

So Becca and I caught the train at just after 7 am from Leeds Station.

Not this one!

We passed this little beauty in one of the stations en route. A Pullman I believe. Maybe we can travel in style another time.

We arrived at Birmingham New Street just before 9:30am and headed for Starbucks to meet some ladies before we headed to the tea room.

I’ll just mention that I don’t have photos of ‘everything’. Although I’m not known for being shy amongst friends, especially with the camera, I didn’t want to appear papparazi-like so wasn’t quite as snap happy as I would have liked to have been.

I think there was about a dozen of us – some new each other and had attended sewbrum previously, and we all exchanged names, and then forgot them! Only kidding! I remember some, but I think name badges would be a good idea. We headed up to the Gallery in time for the big meet up at 10am.

As we approached the Museum and Art Gallery I could see quite a gathering of ladies. I recognised quite a few faces, and quite a few items of clothing too!

The Edwardian Tearoom opened at 10am and by 10:15 it was packed to the rafters. I initially sat with a couple of ladies who I’d never ‘met’ before. Janet from DIY Wardrobe and Julie from the Sewing Directory. The three of us were newbies to Sewbrum but were soon chattering away like we’d known each other for yonks.

Julie needed to get off to meet her partner in crime from the Sewing Directory, so Janet and I joined a bigger group of ladies. Some faces were new and some I already followed on IG or followed their blogs. By the end of the day I’d exchanged quite a few IG names with lots of lovely ladies.

People starting leaving in small and big groups. Lots of people had come on their own but looked to settle in to groups and everyone was chatting and smiling. So if you’re thinking of coming next year, or to another meet up, don’t worry about coming on your own, there’ll be others in the same boat as you and everyone is so friendly.

We headed across town. Becca and I tagged along with seasoned SewBrummers so we didn’t get lost!

We headed off across town to the Rag market. I wasn’t sure what to expect here. No rags in site, but there was a huge market, maybe 2. I usually have a good sense of direction, but in my sheep like state I soon got disorientated!

Here’s the lovely lady who quite a few of us bought our African Waxed prints from. Either £15 or £20 for 6 m of amazing fabric. Bargain!!

Stalls full of really cheap and wonderful trim and all sorts of haberdashery.

Gorgeous lace….

And a trip to the Fancy Silk Store. Here’s Becca and Vicky posing!

There were 3 floors of so much fabric I’d have needed a week to have a proper look round.

By mid afternoon we were ready to head to Guthrie and Ghani who had tea, coffee and cake waiting for us and also selling raffles. There was also more temptation to buy scrumptious fabric and patterns! And a pub nearby to buy lunch and wine!

We caught the bus. I imagine a queue of 120 ladies waiting patiently to catch the bus, but as we’d split up into smaller groups people made their way there as they were ready.

We were greeted at the door and given a sticker Ben! Even big kids like stickers!

And Elizebeth made sure we were suitably refreshed with coffee and cake.

Please can whoever made those big bakewell buns with the jam in the middle send me the recipe!!??

It was a lovely warm afternoon and we were able to dine alfresco outside the pub.

What a lovely bunch of ladies who I had lunch with!

At half 3 we headed back as it was time for the raffle to be drawn!

There were too many ladies to fit everyone upstairs, so a lot were downstairs in the shop.

Lauren was in contact with downstairs by telephone to relay the winning ticket numbers.

I won a sewing box with some Prym goodies inside and cyber-mom won Tillys Coco pattern and some grey ponte knit fabric.

Ooops – don’t hink Becca was quite ready for this! Hello to Abigail from Sew Abigail and Lucy from Sew Essential! Sorry Lucy for spoiling a couple of your photos, the excitement just got to me and I couldn’t help myself with the photo bombing!

Me & Charlotte – how amazing that she organised such a fabulous day 3 years running!!

Still smiling at we head home to Leeds.

I was really quite restrained with my purchases, only buying 2 pieces of fabric. I didn’t go with a shopping list, or anything in mind , but thought I’d buy if anything jumped out at me.

This african was print leapt of the shelf!

And 2m of this argyle patterned fleece which I’m going to make a jacket or gillet for golf.

And my 3rd piece was from the swap. This is a gorgeous soft fabric, about 50-100 cm long (i’ve not measured it). I’m not sure of the content but it looks and feels expensive.

And another swap item…..

More swap goodies….. I was like a magpie when I spotted these shiny buttons

And By Hand Anna from Becca….I’ve been hunting out a hard copy of this for months, so Thanks Becca! (this was pre-planned and not from the swap!)

And a freebie for everyone……

My african wax….I’m thinking an Anna maxi dress for next summer, what do you think?

So there you go, my amazing day at the 3rd Sewbrum meet up! I can’t wait until next year!

Luckily though I won’t have to wait too long before I meet up with some more lovely sewers, and won’t have to travel too far either.

On 5th November Becca and Sew Sweet Sally are organising a norther meet up – Sew Up North. Head over and to their blogs to find out more, and hopefully I might see you there!

Cheerio x

UPDATE

Charlotte has written a round up post including a Vlog and links to other attendees. Click HERE to hear more of what went on on the day!

#SundaySevens 71

Published by Thimberlina

What a week!

It was a good job I only had to work 1 shift, and I had to swap that as it clashed with one of the 3 games of golf I had to play.

It was quite a week for cyber mom too. She had difficulty breathing at 3am one morning so dad rushed her to A&E – didn’t like to ring 999 despite both daughters being paramedics!!! She wasn’t sure if it was a real emergency! After a 2 night stay they diagnosed her with asthma and she’s got some inhalers and whatavyer, and is back firing on all cylinders. Phew!

As well as golf I also had a day out in Birmingham when I attended Sewbrum No 3 which was just the best day ever – separate blog post with lots of pics to follow!

About the golf. 3 games and a bridesmaid every time. Monday I played in the final of the mixed knockout and we lost 😦 Tuesday I came 2nd in the ladies weekly competition 😦 And Thursday is was the 2s final – for all the ladies who’ve had a 2 in the last year (not easy to get!). Guess what? Yup I came second 😦

I suppose on a positive note I couldn’t get in the top 3 at all last year so things are improving, it would just be nice to win one of these days.

I squeezed in a trip so the hairdressers for a trim and my colour toning down – it had gotten quite blond with all the sunshine on the golf course.

I also squeezed in a trip to my sister’s clinic for H’s feet ‘doing’. Whatever she does he loves it, and says it’s like walking on air afterwards. She’s the one who is a paramedic too – very clever and multi talented with bodies, not fabric!

My mum offered to lend my these for Sewbrum – I was wishing I’d taken her up on her offer by the end of the day!

The sunrise as the Hubby drove me into Leeds for my train early on Saturday morning. Yes, he is a sweetie!

Healthy brekkie on Sunday morning before I went with Sue to our Kettlebells class. It was a killer! We’d already done a Zumba and Body Pump class earlier in the week.

Straight to footie after Kettlebells. H’s first match was 2 weeks ago but this is the first match I’ve been able to get to as I’ve been working.

One of the reason’s I go to fitness class is I have a HUGE appetite, or maybe I’m just plain greedy. We have a new pub opened nearby which has a fabulous carvery.

My eyes were bigger than my belly. I couldn’t finish my pudding, but gave it a good go!

Maybe if I didn’t eat so much I might loose the 7 lbs that currently won’t shift!

Sunday Sevens is the brain child of Natalie at Threads and Bobbins. Share a few photos from your week and let us know what you get up to when you’re not in your crafty corner!

The BIG Vintage Sewalong – Vogue 9082 & Sonja Dress Hack

Published by Thimberlina

What do you do when you’re too excited to sit still and watch TV, not that I’m good at sitting still anyway?! Well, for me I’m going to drink Rose wine and tell you about a frock I finished a couple or 3 weeks ago.

Why am I excited?! It’s Sewbrum tomorrow!

EEEK!! I’ve wanted to go to Sewbrum for the last 2 years but the dates just didn’t agree with me. But this year it’s fallen on my weekend off so I’ve bought my train ticket, and I’m good to go!

My first Vogue 9082 which I’ve worn 3 times already and had loads of compliments when wearing was only supposed to be a practice for my niece’s wedding. It was no way a muslin, I’d already made 3 of them so I knew it was going to fit when I finally cut into the stunning chosen fabric. It was to wear to Ripon races back in June.

So the plan was to make another in different fabric.

I bought this stretch cotton sateen when I was on holiday down in Arundel:

This photo doesn’t do it justice – it reminds me of sick!!

But then the day after I fell in love with this and bought 2m of it, together with a gold linen with a shiny finish to it.

So I was confused.

I didn’t think the striped organza would suit the straight style of the Vogue 9082 and stumbled across this free dress pattern from Salme Patterns:

The Sonja Dress can be downloaded free on the Burdastyle website.

I’d also seen this skirt in the Ted Baker shop for £169 (ouch!!)

I thought I could adapt the Vogue 9082 into something similar – with the striped fabric as the skirt and the linen as the bodice. (glad i didn’t buy this skirt – not that I’d spend so much on a skirt – but someone was wearing the very same one at the wedding!!).

I didn’t want to cut into the striped fabric so decided to make up the pattern hack using the pink cotton ~~sick~~ sateen.

The PDF pieces went together really easily with no issues. I lengthened the skirt by loads – can’t remember exactly how much but I wasn’t sure how long I wanted my finished dress to be, and the Sonja was a little bit short for my liking.

I altered the pattern pieces of the bodice to accommodate a centre back zip, that way I could adjust the fit more easily. I also had to create a centre back seam in the back skirt piece.

In almost no time at all I nearly had a frock. Yay for all the previous fitting I’d done!

I wasn’t planning on lining this dress so only had 10 darts to sew on the bodice! If I’d have been lining it there would be another 10!! (there’s 8 in the original pattern piece but after tweaking the fit I needed another side bust darts).

After I had pressed and basted the pleats of the skirt in place I applied some iron on interfacing to help them keep their box shape whilst finishing the dress and during wearing.

After sewing one of the back bodice pieces to the skirt piece I couldn’t work out what I had done wrong:

Ooops! I don’t think there should be a dart coming from the centre back seam!!

It was soon unpicked and in the correct position, thank goodness for the stitch ripper!

As you can see above I interfaced the side seams and also the centre back seam so strengthen the seams from any heavy strain, such as when I’m not able to resist a pudding or two!

I added a normal lapped zipped after much messing about. It was more taffy than inserting an invisible one.

Then I unpicked it after I bought a pink invisible one! Read here how I insert my zip and align my seams.

Then everything came to a grinding halt 10 days before the wedding. I went on strike one night after work, left the family to make their own tea, and went to our local shopping centre for some late night shopping and some tea.

Several bargains were purchased, including a frock for the wedding and a fascinator that I can’t believe I paid £49 for (in the sale)! But I liked it and it cheered me up!

So the sewing came to abrupt halt, and the pattern hack was pushed aside.

Until 3 days before the wedding. MIL was talking to sister in law, and very quickly MIL worked out that SIL and my good self had only gone and bought the same bloody dress!

As SIL was the step mother of the Bride to Be I didn’t think it should be her who changed her outfit so graciously said “no problem! I’ve another dress I can wear”

I thought the pink sick dress might come to the rescue and would go with the new fascinator:

It was ok, but I wasn’t sure. So the next morning I went in search of a different hat to go with either this unfinished dress, or my original Vogue 9082.

Phew… I was spoilt for choice:

And found this which was just perfect for the back and cream V9082:

So problem solved, but I still felt I should finish the pink dress as I might want a change for the night do. So the day before the wedding I went into sewing overdrive and got it finished!

It was only supposed to be a practice for the striped gold fabric (which is still in the carrier bag!) but it turned how so well and I really enjoyed wearing the hack of V9082.

So here’s a couple of pics. First up our little family all dressed up and ready to go! (apologies if you follow my sunday sevens you’ve seen this already)

And then after a very long day and evening, me not looking so bad at 1 o’clock in the morning:

I’d changed my frock for the night do but not my shoes – these were just too comfy to dare take off my feet! Not sure if it’s my posture or if there’s a excess fabric in the back – I will investigate!

In the meantime here’s some shots of Gertrude wearing her new dressed which she’s really chuffed about!

I had to take the side seams in quite a lot – particularly at the hips. I left the excess fabric in place in case I ever put on a few pounds or if anyone else a different size wants to borrow it.

So, lesson learnt! Don’t go buying a frock for an important event!

One of my other nieces hit the nail on the head when she said, “it’s ok auntie Ali, you’ll look like bridesmaids!”

#SundaySeven 70

Published by Thimberlina

I’ve just been looking back through my Sunday Sevens folder of photos on my Mac, going back to the beginning when I started in March ’15. I think it’s one of the best things I ever did – joining in Natalie’s Sunday Sevens. It’s the diary I would always liked to have kept, but wouldn’t have kept up to. All the photos remind my of little moments which would otherwise have been forgotten.

Last week started with our final Works Golf Society outing of the years. The fellas tend to hit the ball further but a bit wilder than the ladies so a lot of time is spent looking for balls. On a positive note the blackberries were ripe so when we deviated from the fairway I was able to pick and eat them.

This is an old pic of my car (from a previous SS post). My car went in for it’s MOT and I’ve not seen it since. It’s 14 years old and failed miserably. It’s been sold and I’m in the process of trying to sort out a new car. One thing is for sure, it won’t be another Merc! I never even got chance to say bye 😦

My stethoscope pouch in action – Thanks Jen! Not it’s intended use when she made it but the best thing in my rucksack at work.

Apart from golf, gym classes (we tried Zumba – such a laugh but no photos!) and work the week was fairly unphotoworthy. Until Saturday.

We weren’t sure what to do with ourselves. What do normal families when they aren’t into cricket? The season had finished and we were at a loose end.

We decided to have a ride out to Salts Mill in Saltaire, Shipley.

Up until 1986 cloth was produced there but now it a place for art, dining and shopping. Hubby recently bought a bike from the bike shop there and it needed to back for a mini service.

It was so busy. The car parks even had attendants guiding everyone where to park. When we asked why it was so busy we found out it was Saltaire Festival. A huge annual event that started in 2003 to commemorate 150 years since Sir Titus Salt created Saltaire.

Inside the huge mill there was the strongest smell of lilies I’ve ever smelt. Huge vases were on every table.

On the 2nd floor I found a section selling dressmaking books, but managed to abstain from buying any.

Outside there were quite a few people dressed up. I need to have a read of the festival website to find out what that’s all about, and haven’t had chance yet.

The chap below looked a bit sinister! The one in the hat – not H in the background!

At one side of the mill is the train track, and at the other the canal.

Beyond the canal is the river, with a pub in between. So of course we had to stop for refreshments. Unfortunately this is the only photo showing beyond the river where there was a stage and music playing.

Sunday night we did what normal families do, hence no Sunday Sevens post on time. We watched X Factor. We are unashamedly X Factors biggest fans!

Enjoy york week! I’ve a busy one coming up, including Sewbrum on Saturday – I can’t wait!! Are you going?

#SundaySevens 69

Published by Thimberlina

I used to be good at posting my Sunday Sevens every week, not necessarily on a Sunday, but every week nonetheless. Oh well! Not any more!

The cricket season sadly came to an end last Saturday. But the photo below is from about 2 weeks ago when H was asked to help out and play for the Yorkshire Under 14 B team. Blue skies but I watched from inside as it was a bit chilly!

I’ve been on a bit of a winning streak at golf lately! Hope it continues as I’m playing with the President in the final of the mixed knock out competition on Monday.

What is it with animals? They always think our chairs and beds are theirs!

I won 2m of jersey gingham in Karen from Did you make that‘s Ginghamalong Prize Draw I’ve made a top which you may have seen on my IG, but i’ll be blogging about it soon. There’s lots more ginghammy goodness on her blog if you want to take a look!

Chilli lasagne before it went in the oven – yum yum…it’s making me quite peckish looking a this again!

I’d been missing my gym buddy as she’s been on holiday, and I ended up not going to the gym for 2 weeks! It’s not the same on my own. Here we are a bit red faced after a spin classs.

I’ll never be slim whilst these are sold at a shop on the door step to the hospital, that is open 7 days a week!

Having a sort out of my magazines…. I subscribe to Love Sewing and also Sew Direct. All the supplements for love sewing had gotten mixed up. I spent ages trying to sort them out before I realised that there is a square that tells you which issue it’s from – I’d been scouring through the magazines trying to find various patterns to match the magazines. Doh!

Our last Family BBQ of the summer… but i cooked the burgers and sausages in the oven. I thought the smoke from the BBQ would attract rain clouds.

Chocolate brownie pizza – whatever next!

Crazy workman next door had been sawing a piece of wood on his van roof! I had to look away and was glad when he was safely on the ground.

Me and my GB tried out a new class Clubbercise which involved a dark room, loud music and glow sticks. We had brain ache as we struggled to keep up with the moves, but it was great fun!

3 Days before my nieces posh wedding I discovered the dress I bought (yup bought!!) accidentally when out shopping, along with a matching hat, was exactly the same dress that my sister in law had bought – hubby’s brother’s wife! Disaster! So I decided to wear my Vintage Sewalong dress that had been to the races twice, but I needed something new for my head.

I fell in love with this and the cream colour went perfect with my dress.

The Tall Boy, no I’m not sat down!

The sun setting at Headingley when we watched England beat Pakistan in the last One Day International.

All dressed up and somewhere to go!

The dessert at the wedding, almost too good to eat.

This is Lorraine from the golf club. Those who went on the mini meet up in Halifax will recognise her. Do you recognise the fabric too? She made this very cute dress which fabric bought on the day.

Ooops! I had an emergency on the golf course last week. I’d not stitched the elastic down properly at one side of my skort so it almost fell down when it came undone. Luckily my hair bobble saved me from an embarrassing moment.

This is Leonard. He was a patient of mine around 12 years ago when he fell 30 feet off some scaffolding on a building site and sustained a severe head injury. He’s lost a huge chunk of his memory, and has a severe right sided weakness. It took him a long time to reach a point when he was able to be well enough to try and track down who helped him, it was especially difficult as he couldn’t remember anything about it. It was an emotional time and was lovely to meet him.

(I told him about my Sunday Sevens and he was happy to for me to share this with you).

Changing landscapes below as the fire station is demolished.

A funny one to finish – can you make out the bras stuffed with plants on the railings!!??

Want to join in or wondering what Sunday Sevens is all about?? Head over to the lovely Natalie’s blog – Threads and Bobbins to find out more!

When Jenny Met Ali

Published by Thimberlina

I’ve 3 blog post on my to-do list and half an hour to spare. So first up and straight to the top of the list and bypassing my belated Sunday Sevens is when Harry met Sally, oops I mean when Jenny met Ali! It has a similar ring to it though don’t you think!

The whole blogging and sewcial media scene has changing my lonely hobby into something really exciting, and I’ve friendships blossoming all over the world. I’ve already met some of my new sewing buddies in real life but the chances of meeting those from outside of the UK are pretty slim.

But then Jen – from Let The Sewing Begin -mentioned she was going to be holidaying in South Wales. Not anywhere near Yorkshire, but we just HAD to meet up. I checked out where Jenny was staying and tried to find somewhere in the middle which would be easy for us both to get to. We eventually decided on Chester – it was about 2 1/2 hours each by train AND it had a Abakan which i really wanted to visit!

It was an early start, hubby dropped us off at Huddersfield train station where we were to catch our first train which would take us to Manchester.

We went through some gorgeous countryside as we headed through Yorkshire in Lancashire.

Once inside Manchester Picadilly we managed to get on the wrong train. I was in the loo when the guard came to empty the train and point us in the right direction. Luckily I heard the commotion and didn’t get left behind!

We arrived unscathed in Chester. Did I tell you cyber-mom came too? Chance for a few selfies outside the train station whilst we waited for Jenny’s train to come in.

This is the view from the front entrance of Chester train station. There are 2 ways you can walk into the town centre. If you plan to go and haven’t been before don’t go straight ahead as people will tell you to. Instead come out and turn right. After about 200 yds the road will swing round to the left. Follow your nose and you will come across Abakhan on your right as you walk into town as you go over a little round about and over a bridge. (I wish we’d have know this!)

Jenny arrived, and after lots of hugs and hellos we headed off into town. Sorry no pics of this, we were too busy hugging!

First stop was a coffee at M&S and time to natter. We got on so well, chatting away and didn’t feel like strangers at all.

Jenny brought me a gift!!

She made me a draw string pouch, a perfect size for my golf shoes.

Unfortunately time was rushing away and we didn’t have chance to look around Chester and it’s beautiful buildings, so headed straight for Abakan.

Oh my goodness! So much fabric (and aparantly this is their smallest store!!).

As well as selling fabric by the metre they sell it by the kilogram too. Fabric remnants are organised into baskets by fabric type and price. Most of the pieces are quite big, at least 3 metres which was too much for us to buy. Then we got talking to the lovely ladies who work there and they told us we could buy just the amount we needed, a minimum of 0.2 metres as long as there was at least 1 metre left of the piece. How good is that!

As well as a couple of remnants I bought 3 metres of this silky poly charmeuse with ovals shapes on it. I’m thinking I’ll make another Holly jumpsuit to wear at the Presentation night at the golf club next month.

Here’s what else I bought. The pink plaid for a golf skort, the zig zag fabric just because I liked it, and the jersey under the circles I’m not sure but maybe some leggings – it has a great 4 way stretch.

And here’s Jen with her purchases…

And both of us – Happy Fabric ~~Hoarders~~ Shoppers!

Before we knew it, we only had 90 minutes before Jenny had to catch her train, and we’d not even eaten lunch. We decided to head to the train station and try and find somewhere on the way, and if not there was always the cafe at the station.

We stumbled across a cheap and cheerful cafe. Not quite Betty’s Tea Rooms but it did the job!

Big hugs and goodbyes before we headed into the station.

Bye bye Jen……….was lovely meeting you, hopefully we meet again, and you never know one day I might venture to the other side of the pond!

I’m going to Chester!

Published by Thimberlina

This Friday I’m hopping on a train with Cyber-Mom and heading to Chester to meet Jenny from Let The Sewing Begin. She’s heading over to the UK, across the pond from New York, and after several emails back and forth we’ve managed to arrange a meet up!

I’m not familiar with Chester and neither is Jen but there’s an Abakhan Store within walking distance from the train station so we might not get any further than that!

If you’re free and would like to join us – the more the merrier! Or, if you can recommend somewhere we could have lunch or any other shops or places of interest that you think are worth a visit, that would be fab!

An Invisible Invisible Zipper Tutorial

Published by Thimberlina

Because not all invisible zips are invisible.

SewPhotoHop from Rachel of House of Pinheiro is back!

It’s day 2 which is “Your Favourite Skill”. Knowingly or unknowingly we’re all quite a skilled bunch out there and a lot of them skills we don’t know we have. We’re also a generous bunch too who like to share our skills with other lovely sewists out there.

Over on IG i’ve posted that my favourite skill is inserting invisible zips, or zippers depending where you are in the world. I also mentioned I could share how I do it as it works a treat every time with no pins and no tears. As there were quite a few who wanted me to show you, here we are.

2 things for me when inserting an invisible zip are important.

it’s invisible
any seams match up

So here’s how I do it.

Gather your supplies:

an invisible zip
a pencil
iron on interfacing if your fabric is anything other than denim or a robust fabric.
a normal zipper foot

1 Open up your zip and with a warm (not hot you’ll melt the plastic!) iron the zip to open coils.

2 Add a 2cm strip of iron interfacing to where the zip will be inserted – on the wrong side of the fabric. Also finish any raw edges BEFORE inserting the zip.

3. Stitch one side of the zip in place starting from the top of the garment, and use a long stitch. I have mine set to 5. It doesn’t have to be stitched close to the teeth of the zip for this first row of stitching.

4. Close the zip, and with a pencil mark an area where it is important that it matches – just a seam as shown below.

5. Unzip the zip, and line up the pencil mark with the seam.

Stitch 1-2 cm either side of the pencil mark.

I’ve tried to highlight just the few stitches I made below.

They didn’t show too well, so i stitched another row.

6. Close your zip and check the seams are aligned. If they’re not, but i bet they are!, unpick the last few stitches you made and do it again.

7. Now you need to stitch the full length of the zip. Do it in 2 goes, starting from the seam sewing up, and the matched seam sewing down. This way you won’t get any puckering. Sorry for blurred photo!

8. Zip up your zipper. At this point it won’t be invisible.

Now all you need to do is get close to those teeth with a row of stitching using a regular stitch length.

The ironing that you did earlier on will help the teeth be pushed flat so you can get close. You can push it down with your finger (i do but be careful!) or you can use a pencil, take it slow. Move the needle position as far over as you can.

Sew both sides. Depending how close you get you might have something like this. If you’ve gotten too close to the teeth you might have hit the plastic. I do sometimes. Just unpick the one of 2 stitching and restitch.

If you have a concealed sipper foot for this part you can use it!

Bulky seam areas are always a bit tricky, but you can go over it again – just the bit that’s not quite invisible, not everything.

And then, Ta-Da! An invisible zip with a normal zipper foot.

You can see below here’s my extra row of stitching. It may seem tedious to some having to sew 2 rows, but with the how quick and easy it is to get it in position the extra row of stitching takes hardly any time. You can also see where I trimmed any some of the bulk so make opening and closing the zip over the seam easier.

If you really pull it apart at he seam you can see the zip:

But then check this out on a dress I bought last week, this is visible without any tension on the zip at all!

If you’ve got any zips on garments you’ve already made and you’re not happy with the invisible-ness go get them and add another row of stitching!

To finish the seam where the zip is inserted I use a method which I learnt on this free mini class on Craftsy.

Hope that’s all made sense.

I did venture out onto the internet and treated myself to an invisible zipper foot for my Janome, but bought the wrong one. I’d had it ages before I realised so couldn’t send it back.

So if anyone out there has a standard Janome and doesn’t like my way and needs a proper concealed zipper foot let me know in the comments and I’ll send it to you – anywhere! If there’s more than one, which I expect there might be, I’ll do a draw. Not sure when, but in a week or so, depending what I’m up to!

It states on the packet that it’s for Horizontal Rotary Hook models – the ones where they just snap on. It won’t fit a machine which can make a 9mm wide stitch like mine.

Happy sewing!

#SundaySevens 68

Published by Thimberlina

Oops a bit late! The weekend was a bit hectic and yesterday I was in bed for 7pm so finally finding time to share my antics of last weeks.

There’s not much variety this week. I played a lot of golf (4 rounds!) so not much time for anything else on those days.

Monday was our Lady Captains Trip. We didn’t venture far, only to Bradford Golf club which is a fantastic course who looked after us and fed us very well. My team came a close 2nd and we each won a lovely toiletries bag with 2 other matching smaller zipper bags. In golf if you have the same score as another person or team the one with the best back 9 wins. Unfortunately we didn’t have the best back 9.

Tuesday more golf. H joined in the ladies comp.

Ripped out the naff zip on my dress and added an invisible one, thinking I was going to be wearing it for the races on Thursday.

Wednesday – more golf. H bet me for the 1st time every!

Thursday – Ladies Day at the Ebor Festival, York races. We didn’t pick a winner between us all day but still had a great time nonetheless. As you can see I didn’t finish the pink dress (and still haven’t).

Friday – took H to Tadcaster for a one-to-one coaching session as he’d been asked to play for Yorkshire the following Monday.

A 30 minute journey home took 2 hours as there was an accident on the Motorway. Driving conditions were atrocious. At least we had a empty coffee cup for little Charlie to have a tinkle in!

Friday – I took the hubby out for our anniversary to a retirement do. It was great to see many old faces, and some not so old that I’d not seen for ages.

Anniversary flowers from the hubby – 16 years…seems like only yesterday!

Saturday at 4pm I was back at work after 12 days off. A slight shock to the system. Then on Sunday I had to be up earlier than I would have liked to play in the semi finals of the club mixed knock out competition. Her I am with my partner, the Club President, enjoying a celebratory meal before I headed off to work.

………..Sunday Sevens is the brain child of Natalie from Threads and Bobbins. If you’d like to link up with her too you can – it’s easy! Just share 7 ish photo’s from your week that don’t necessarily warrant a blog post of their own.

Cheerio for now x