All posts tagged: fp

Vogue 8805

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“Why oh why did I leave it so long!!??” We’ve all said it. More than once. But we never learn. It’s not that often is it that we unearth a UFO, finish it and aren’t please.  I mean, if it was that bad in the first place it would’ve ended up in the bin not chucked in the corner. So a while ago I borrowed V8805 of my real life sewing buddy Jeanie. Jeanie’s the one who got me going again, so to speak.  She’s made umpteen versions of these. For my first I used up some left over denim.  The dark blue was from my GBSB capri pants and the raspberry was from my Mexican dress and also a peg bag.   You might even recognise pinky red denim from other blogs – I’ve seen Jeans on The Prolific Project Starters blog and also a cute little dress only a couple of weeks ago on Making and Markings blog.  (I’ve just looked and Minerva still have it in stock).  In fact it was Camilla’s recent post that reminded …

The Brooklyn Hoodie by SBCC

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In January I took park in a Giveaway on Instagram hosted by Skinny Bitch Curvy Chick to win their latest pattern – The Brooklyn Hoodie. I’m a big fan of their patterns so was over the moon when I discovered I’d won.   It did take a few days for me to notice the PM in Instagram as I’d never had one before! Their patterns are drafted for petites. At 5’4″ I always feels I’m somewhere in between – not quite a petite but not tall either. Previously I’m made their Lemoncello Cardigan (unblogged for some crazy unknown reason) so here it is at a Presentation Night when I was Lady Captain (the second time!): I’ve also made the Manhattan Pants and the Cabernet Cardigan.  Oh, and I’ve made a few of their free tonic t shirts too!   All the other patterns I’ve bought (except the free one of course!!).  The paper patterns come printed on proper paper in a plastic A4 folder which is really neat. As soon as I won the hoodie pattern …

Style Arc Misty Pull On Jeans - aka Jeggings!

#JeansJanuary -Style Arc Misty Pull On Jeans

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I thought it was about time I wrote a post about something I’ve made.  Lately it’s all just been about what I’ve been up to in my Sunday Sevens and what I’ve got planned for the 6th February! Before I waffle on about my new trousers (which are almost jeans), I need to let you into a little secret!!  As Fabworks are now online I asked them if they would like to sponsor a little giveaway/competition on my blog for those of you who won’t be able to come to the Yorkshire Spoolette Meet Up. And they said YES!!  So it’s not all doom and gloom for those who can’t make it! Watch out for a post all about it soon! So what’s all this about?  Jeans January?  Last January I rushed out and bought a pair.  Well 2 pairs actually.  They were the first things I bought when my 2014 RTW Fast was over.  And now a year later I’m considering making a pair. All thanks to Chris over at Said & Done – Handmade my Chris . …

The Octopus Scarf

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You’ll just have to humour me.  I know they have 8 tentacles and my scarf has a lot more but it still does remind me of one!   A few of you were interested in how I made Mo’s scarf in last week’s Sunday Sevens so I thought I’d buy some wool and make another, taking a few pics along the way. I’ve only been crocheting a couple of years and I think I’m somewhere between a novice and an intermediate sort of crocheter. I’m hoping this makes sense! I much prefer to crochet and knit with variegated yarn (stripy!) as I find it exciting to see what’s coming next! And with this scarf it also makes the tentacles different colours or shades depending on the subtlety of the colour change. This yarn was also different thicknesses.  I wasn’t sure how it would turn on so it was kind of an experiment.  Click HERE to see it on the Sirdar website – there’s some gorgeous colours.  2 50g balls cost me less than £6. The label recommended a …

Grainline Archer – At last!

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One of the first things I lusted over noticed everywhere when I discovered sewing blogs was the Grainline Archer. They really were everywhere and I really wanted one.  I’m fairly certain that most of you seasoned bloggers will have seen them about, but here’s a couple of my favourites……  Click on the photo to be taken to the owners blog post…please! Carolyn from Allspice Abounds is to me the Queen of the Archers!  Her attention to detail is just second to none.  Overtime she made another and I read her blog post I’d want one even more!   Rachel from Sew South London made a gorgeous Chambray Archer which really showed off her stunning topstitching!  And it was her post that lead me to a different way to attach the collar – which worked really well! Thanks Rachel! I couldn’t bring myself to buy the pdf version, not with all those pieces. So when they announced they were selling a paper version I snapped one up immediately!  Not sure now what all the rush was about. …

The Colette Wren at The Yorkshire White Rose Awards

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On Monday we attended the White Rose Awards at the Leeds Arena.  It is the largest celebration of tourism excellence in the UK.  The dress code was black tie.  I didn’t need any more encouragement than that to fire up my creative juices and make a new frock! I’ve already written a post about my first and second muslin of the new Wren dress pattern from Colette.  I had 5m of this sparkly silvery ponte knit from Minerva.  I originally bought 2m to make my sister a coco for her birthday but then couldn’t resist and had to buy some more for me. I intend to write a full post later about the nitty gritty of the other changes I wanted and also needed to make to the pattern so it would be perfect for my chosen fabric and the occasion! This post is all about the finished dress and the awards ceremony. All dressed up and somewhere to go!!  Hubby scrubs up well too, don’t you think?! Wahay! Look at that thigh high spit! …

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 …

Elephants and Indians

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Gosh!  Where’s the time gone?! I’ve had a whole month to rustle something up to fulfil my pledge for the Made Up Initiative which is raising money for the National Literacy Trust. My mum bought this elephant and indian crepe, slightly sheer with a tiny amount of stretch for me a few months ago.  I’ve been umming and arrhing for ages what to make with it so thought if I pledge to make something up with it I’d have a deadline and would do it. And I did!  And I love it! I had a few suggestions on my Sunday Sevens when I was first gifted this fabric.  Sheila from Sewchet thought maybe a baby doll set for the boudoir, but Indians being ridden by elephants…… not sure if that’s an image I’d like to portray in the bedroom! I decided to make the Dimpsy T from Laura After Midnight.  I’d made a hack of this before in a jersey fabric without the collar but thought it was time to stand up to my fear of making …

Emily Culottes – The Jury’s Still Out

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I wore culottes in the 80’s.  I also wore bright yellow full length pencil skirts and goth make up for a short time (not together, I hasten to add), but it doesn’t mean I’m going to do it all again now I’m approaching my mid 40’s. Or does it!? Whilst browsing the blogasphere, which I’m currently spending more time doing than actually sewing, I stumbled across Maris’s post (over at Sew Maris) declaring she was going to host a sewalong to make Itch to Stitch’s Emily Culottes. I can’t recall at what point I decided to join in, but that’s not important.  What is important is that I did and I made them and now I’m wearing them!! TWO days in a row!  But I’m still not sure. A few of you might have heard of Itch To Stitch Patterns.   There’s quite a few Lindy Petal Skirts floating about on the net – it’s their free pattern and is really lovely and easy and on my to-do list. The Culottes.  That’s why your here isn’t …

The Denim and Jersey Aurora Tank By Seamwork

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Back in June I printed off one of the latest patterns (then it was!) by Seamwork – The Aurora Tank. I was inspired by Helena from GrayAllDay patterns to make one.  She made one every day for a week and came up with some fab colour combos, and she also discovered that the yoke could be make in a woven as well as a jersey. I traced the pattern off back then, but it wasn’t until a couple of days before our trip to Taunton in July that I got round to whipping one up.  Not sure if it took me 2 hours – I did cut some corners. I used a remnant of a jersey from my stash, and for the yoke I had some of the stretch denim from my recently made capri pants. I thought the denim would be too thick for the inside of the yoke so i was going to use an old black viscose top. After I’d cut it out I got lazy and decided the yoke didn’t need an inside …