FO - Gerties pencil skirt (again !)

But this is the last one for a while....

Unfortunately I don't wear it !

In the fabric shop the colour of the fabric was a beautiful teal. When I sewed it up its was bottle green and looks like a school skirt ! How the heck does that happen ?!?

Plus I usually like natural fabrics, but this baby is definitely flammable. I was forced into buying it for its beautiful colour. Which then turned somehow into a school skirt.

Epic FAIL.

Ah well you live and learn.

I learnt for the second time how to hand sew a button hole. I also learnt how to perfectly match a button.
I continued to hone my hand picked zipper application.

Ugh ! Its hurting my eyes.

FO - Yellow floral Banksia top

Hiiiiii

So, I finished this Banksia top. I will certainly be making more of these for sure, it is such an easy top to wear. And I like that its made in woven fabric as I am still yet to try and sew with a knit fabric. I feel scared for some reason ! More to do with the effects of the fabric on size, rather than a fear of actually sewing with the fabric.

I must admit I don't wear this one quite so much as the star print banksia that I made, as it does not seem to go with much in my wardrobe. I'm looking forward to my next version, which will be white and will therefore be a perfect match for almost anything :-)

The skirt is one I made previously. Its faded LOADS, because I wear it alllllll the time !!

Cheerio,

K xx

FO - Gertie pencil skirt in denim

Hiiiiii

So both of the 'works in progress' are now finished and are taking a spin in the washer. I LOVE them and promise to try and snap them for the old blog-a-log soooon. It may not be for a week or 10 days though as I am off to Shropshire for a Uni residential on Thursday to mess around with soils !! Oh what fun :-)

So here is a different finished object - its the Gertie pencil skirt made with a slightly stretchy indigo denim. I had to take the side seams in by a fair amount to get this to fit perfectly.

Nothing much to report regarding the interior - this was a quick make ! Made to fill a gap and in no time at all. A good one to work on if you had lost your mojo, as its a quick and dirty make, with a very satisfying end point.

I think this may be the 4th make using this exact denim ! I proper love it. I think this time though, as it starts to fade, I will dye it indigo again. The previous makes I have left as is, but they look pretty washed out these days, especially the skirt I made here, which I wear ALL THE TIME.

Anyways, I better get gone ! I hope you are all having a very happy Monday, whatever you may be doing :-)

Cheerio

K xxx

FO - Gertie/Elisalex mash up 2

Hiiiii

Just a quick stop to show you version number 2 of this dress, (its been a shitty day and this is a cheery dress all right)
Lots of changes made to both pattern, and method of sewing after sewing the previous version. This one looks a million times better than the previous one, which will only ever be worn with a cardigan. A long one at that :-)

I just want to make a quick note. The second version is made of quilting / decorating fabric, and I much prefer it for this dress. It does not wrinkle so bad and the support it gives in structured bodice is awesome. Lined with cotton and bemberg it makes for an easy dress to wear during one of these unheard of days of 'summer'.

I must also point out that I have not used a zipper in either version of these dresses. It fits over my head so I didn't bother. Plus I have LOADS of shop bought dresses with zips and I have not once needed to use their zips. So I saved myself the hassle.   :-)

I also gathered the skirt lining to the bodice, and its shorter so I dont need to worry about how to finish the bottom. In fact this lining is so easy, I tore a suitable length of lining fabric, gathered and attached to the bodice, and finished using a rolled seam finish on my serger.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Also I noticed that there was plenty of room at the waist, and so I rectified by that for my third (and favorite) version, my eyeballing and cutting of small sections of tissue at the waist. I think it worked out - phew !!

Well - I do like a pretty inside :-)

Cheerio for now,

K xxx

FO - Elisalex/Gertie mash up

Hiiiiiii

Yet another beautiful day here in Devon !!

Yesterday I was a little hungover (as you might imagine after drinking a whole bottle of champagne on Friday night :-) )and set up all my sewing stuff in the garden and sewed to my heats content under the shade of a parasol. Man I am so jelly of you folks with designated sewing spaces ! Such a difference in having everything set up in one place. No having to set up sewing machine, then deconstructing to set up serger. Back and forth, back and forth like that ! No wonder it seems to take ages to sew anything.

What a treat to have it all set up and raring to go. I made the most beautiful dress (I think !) in just half a day, including various moochings to the cooler inside of my house, and a frosty drink :-)

This dress is the predecessor to yesterday. Its the (heavily modified to fit) bodice of the Elisalex, mixed with Gerties (heavily modified to fit) pencil skirt.

I not only had to make the individual sections fit in themselves (full bust adjustment anyone ?), but then join them all to make a dress. I had to match up seam lines, darts to princess seams, you get the picture.

And I don't know if its just me, but I had to make changes to the top of the skirt (which fitted perfectly as a skirt !?!) in order to make it fit me round the waist when used in a dress. I am going to document those changes at some stage here to remember what I did for future pattern mash ups.

Anyway here is the first version of this mash up. Created with work in mind, particularly for those days when I have to work in the courts.

Excuse the wrinkles ! You wouldn't believe its freshly ironed !! I made this in apparel fabric, and I am going to do a post soon on my thoughts of sewing apparel fabric .v. quilting (decorating) fabrics.

Its cotton, lined in green cotton voile and navy bemberg.

No pretty hem on this on as I wanted to try a new technique and used my machine blind hem foot for the first time.

This version wasn't perfect by any stretch (um will you check out those back bodice wrinkles !!), but I will only wear it with this cardigan while at work, and I think they look made for each other :-) 

I have made 2 more versions since, including yesterdays, and after lots more pattern adjusting after making the above version I think it now pretty much fits me perfectly. Which I am stoked about because in my earlier days of sewing I found it painfully hard to try and fit a dress to my body, and after hours of flat pattern adjusting and muslin's I gave up, crying with defeat.

ooooo man this post is long. If you made it this far, well done !!

I am off to sit in the garden.

Cheerio

K xxx

FO - Gerties 'Meadow' pencil skirt.

Hiiiiii

So we are almost mid week !!  Yay !! and I have most of next week off work, and the sun is STILL shining !! Whats not to like ?!?

Anyway I wanted to get this skirt posted up !

I love it sooooo much. I created it out of extra heavy duty thick curtain fabric
(ooooh the shame !! :-))  )
and I underlined it in white cotton, and then added a white bemberg (I love this stuff !!) lining.

I made it back along when the weather was still so wintry and I wanted a skirt that was winter appropriate in terms of warmth, but stuck 2 fingers up at the whole extended winter thing we had going on. This with all its layers and thickness but cheery visage did just the trick !!

I had to hand sew the button hole (again) as my Singer was not up for the job (I sense a trend !!). The zipper I hand picked. I didn't use any trim on this hem as its heavy enough and didn't really need it.

As the fabric was a remnant I had less than a meter to play with, so no choice on pattern placement, but I care not for I love the vision of a summer meadow so ! I needed to use a coordinating colour fabric from my stash as I didn't have enough to make a waistband. I used every last millimeter of that fabric.

Not a great deal more to say about the pattern, other than I love it !! I will be making many, many, many more of these !!  You must make one too !! I insist !!  And then share with me :-))

Cheerio

K xxx

FO x 2. Gerties pencil skirt and Banksia top

Hiiiii

So another couple of finished objects.

The skirt is navy cotton, and collects fluff like no ones business ! Its Gerties pencil skirt from her book, except I made a much thinner waistband. It is underlined in green cotton voile and  lined (my first attempt at lining) with navy bemberg. I used a button instead of a snap this time and hand sewed the button hole. My Singer is useless at buttonholes !! I also used my favorite zipper insertion method, and picked it in by hand.

I love this skirt pattern ! Of course its been adjusted, but its almost perfect now. I find that 2 darts give a much more flattering look than the 1 dart look on the Frankenstein skirts.

The banksia  top is made with star print cotton. I love this top and am going to make several more. I had to grade the pattern (of course ! never easy !!) Since making and wearing the shirt, I have added a smidge of a full bust adjustment and added a little more room in the shoulder area.  I'm looking forward to seeing these changes in the next version I sew up (in white silk crepe in case you are interested).

I didn't have enough fabric to make this one with front and back pieces cut on the fold, so I added a seam allowance to the back piece, and cut 2.

I did make muslins for both of these items.I had to move the darts quite a bit on the banksia. But I find that I do continue to tweak the pattern until it is just so. Isn't that the cool thing about sewing ? That you can make changes each time to make the fit perfect.

So without further ado....

Some close ups....

I must admit that I wear the shirt more than I wear the skirt - but that's due to the magnetic attraction this skirt seems to have for any dust or sh1t floating around. And the fabric wrinkles like a bitch. Very irritating !!  :-)

But check out the little foxes. Awesome. grrrrrrr

Cheerio

K xxx

FO - 'The grass is greener' skirt

Hiiiiii

So my friends, I only did what I promised (for a change) and snapped some pix of some makes :-)

This skirt has been made now for a fair while to be honest, and it is on constant rotation in my wardrobe. It was made with the Frankenstein skirt ('s a'plenty) pattern (I have moved on from that one now, I promise !)

I must admit that I bought the fabric as green is my favorite colour and I thought this green just beautiful. Add to that crisp white polka dots and I thought that this was a very fabulous fabric indeed.

Once I got it home I thought I had bought a potential wardrobe 'orphan', but you know what - this skirt has more willing partners then I had anticipated, so I get to wear it often :-)

Anyways, moving on - you wanna see the goods - amirite ??

(Please excuse the photos, I cant bear having my picture taken !
AND I had a face like a well smacked arse in most of them !
It almost made me weep going through them - 'delete, delete, delete', errr yea that ones a delete too. oh ! and that one !! and so it went on lol !!)

Luckily for the sake of posterity a few of em made it  :-)

And of course some shots of pretty hems and happy insides :-)

And I can happily say grass is greener (on the other side of the kitchen wall, lol !! ) Did y'all notice my first venture outside when taking these snaps ?!? the things I do for you - geeeeeeeeeeeeeez  :-)))))

Anyways I am off outside to sit in the garden and enjoy the beautiful sunny day that I have been blessed with.

I hope you are doing something that makes you happy too x

Cheerio,

K xxx

http://www.sewcountrychick.com/2013/07/sew-tell-saturday-july-6-2013.html

I got the blues

Hello !

So, I snapped some pics of my latest make, let me introduce the 'I got the blues' skirt ! (BTW I don't have the blues, but I could not think of another natty title containing the word 'blue'     :-)

Drumroll please, its Frankenstein skirt version 5 ! (I REALLY  need to start sewing something different, but I wear these skirts pretty much every day).

Oh Dear
Another  'smug'   look
I cant help it !
I LOVE this skirt

I have inadvertently 'stash busted' in the making of this skirt, using a dark indigo denim with a bit of 'give' in it. I bought the fabric when I first started to sew clothing and bought FAR TOO MUCH. Like 5 meters or something else equally ridiculous. I have made this skirt, and a dress with it, and sill have enough to make the same again.

Thank god I learned how much fabric I actually need for a project, otherwise this sewing marlarky would have bankrupted me !

This skirt is much more tapered at the side seams than previous versions to give more of a classic pencil shape (with NO room to walk), and as such I had to add a vent. I used Sunni's excellent tutorial to add a vent to my un-vented pattern piece and I must say that I am super pleased with the result, but I think next time I may make a longer vent. I am such a hussy.

This vent helps
when I am trying to climb up
into the cab of my campervan

I did not line this denim in any way as it didn't need it. I also didn't pretty up the hem. This was a fast and dirty make. I even machine sewed in the zip.

I used a fabulous method, I basically used sellotape to mark out totally straight lines the same width apart from the zipper. Using these as a guide I top-stitched the zip on.

I did catch stitch the hem, but this type of hand sewing never feels a chore to me.

In other news I have not progressed with my pyjamas as I hate the fabric so ! I may look at them again in the next couple of days, but I am considering starting over and using cotton. In fact I am just sat here thinking brushed cotton now, rather than silk !

I hope you have all had a wonderful week so far.

I ask myself if I should be making another Frankenstein skirt - now where is that Babooshka fabric ?

Love,

K xxx

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hello friends,

As promised I can FINALLY show you some pics of my recent addition to the Frankenstein skirt collection. I think this may be version 4 ?! WOWSERS !!

I forewarn you that this post is picture heavy as I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this skirt !

I don't think I could feel any more smug !

This was the curtain fabric I purchased with skirts on my mind; when Mr P saw it he wanted it for blinds ! But I could not be swayed ! I had a vision in my mind and this is my favourite make so far.

Working it !!
It is amazing what a difference clothes can make to a picture
I guess its cos this skirt makes me feel good
It actually makes me better friends with the camera !

The fabric really reminds me of the book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', it's such fun !

I have not added any vents or slits to these skirts so far, but that all changes in the next skirt I made, which I will share with you later. I used Sunni's tutorial to add a back vent and it worked like a dream. More on that another time.

I only had a remnant of this apple fabric, and as you can see there are large apples on the fabric. Friends I did not wish to look like Eve with an apply lady garden and neither did I want 2 big apples, one planted smack bang in the middle of each butt cheek !

This was an exercise in careful pattern placement with limited fabric, and an exercise which I feel was successful !  Yay !

No big red backside
YAY !

I cant tell you how pleased I am with this skirt, and it fits a dream.
Each time I have Frankensteined the pattern a little more, and now I have it exactly as I like it !

Channelling my inner Clint Eastwood

I even like it sans cardigan ! And boy is that is saying something for me !!

Braver....
but slightly more chilly !

As usual I underlined the skirt, and prettied up the inside...

Unfortunately I did not wash the trim before application
it slightly shrank in the wash
Lesson learned

And I used my favourite hand picked insertion of the zipper.

This looks more obvious in the photo than in real life.

So, as you can probably tell I am overjoyed with my new skirt !


I cant tell you how many people have asked where I got this skirt from ! Ha ! Take that mass production !

In other news Mr P's brother and his wife just had a babba and we are off to visit tomorrow ! Yay ! I cant wait to meet her.

Happy Saturday people,

Love

K xxx