Foxy Lady!

I’m catching up on blog posts right now so here’s a quick post of my Tilly and the Buttons Rosa dress.

The foxy fabric was picked up on Leicester market during a recent visit home (fabric shopping is one of the things I miss living here in the Highlands). I already had the pattern having bought it in a whim after seeing @Charlottesews version of the dress. 

I’ve not seen a Tilly pattern since I downloaded the Meitte skirt many years ago. This was a joy to work with. I cut out the largest version (yes, life’s too short for tracing patterns​) and didn’t need to make any adjustments. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. 

It was my first attempt at mock felled seams and I’m very pleased with the result. There’s a lot of top stitching involved so it was a great opportunity to get to know the measuring lines on my machine!

It didn’t take long to sew it up and I’m extremely pleased with the results. I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of these in my wardrobe before too long! 

A Crazy Crafternoon!

Last Saturday I helped to organise and host a ‘Crafternoon’ in aid of Comic Relief. The idea came about after seeing the Mollie Makes Crafternoon book talked about on Instagram. I bought the book immediately and after sharing details of my purchase on social media became aware of how interested people were in supporting such an event.

Once the book arrived it became apparent that I’d misunderstood the concept: Mollie Makes suggested making the objects to sell to raise money. This didn’t appeal nearly so much so I got together with our local sewing guru and we made the event suit our interpretation.

Our plan was to have a crafting, coffee and cake afternoon. People could come along and sample new crafts or bring along a personal project to work on in company while partaking in beverages and food. Jane and I raided our stashes of fabric and yarn and made examples of things people might like to try (including from the Crafternoon book).

Our event was well supported, provided many locals the chance to craft alongside like minded individuals, was a space for local crafters to meet old friends and make new ones, a great way to spend a rainy afternoon and raised £330!

Liking a Lutterloh

Today I whisked up a quick dress thanks to the Lutterloh pattern system I bought about 18 months ago.

The Lutterloh pack

For those yet to come across this system, it’s a little book of tiny patterns that you transpose to pattern paper using only your bust and hip measurements. I’ve made a couple things from it now and the fit has been surprising good.

Dress pattern 171

This was a dress I’ve made before so I already had the muslin/pattern pieces I needed, with any post production changes marked up ready.

My previous make using Liberty fabric from Standfast and Barracks

 I used a leftover fabric from my stash so within a very short time I was good to go. The only change I made from last time was too leave the zip out altogether as I rarely use it on my existing dress. This could well become my go-to pattern.

The finished dress

M is for Moneta

Some time ago I attended a Moneta dressmaking workshop at the Sewing Cafe in Hinckley. I had a great day putting together a lovely dress that is easy to make and comfortable to wear.

Sometime after that I attended the Sew Brum meet up in 2015 and bought some gorgeous green jersey from Guthrie & Ghani, where we spent a lovely afternoon.

Fast forward to 2017 and it was time to put the two together.

Since I made my last Moneta I have gained a little weight so my first job was to stick the pattern back together and, as I wanted quite a baggy dress, I cut out the largest size. After cutting out and re-threading my over-locker (I’m getting quite good at that now!) I was ready to go.

It hardly takes a minute to whip it all together however there was a problem – it was way too big! I spent the next couple of days trimming off bits here and there, ending up with quite a fitted number after all (the quote from my OH was “You’ve got a figure, show it off!”).

And so my second Moneta is complete!

 

 

Seeing Spots

Last week I finally got around to a job I’ve been meaning to do for ages. We have some rather old and tatty write basket drawers in our utility and I have been planning to line them for some time. I had a bit of oil cloth hanging around so sweet to work on the first one.

I had to draft my own pattern, but it was only a case of measuring and adding a seam allowance. Before sewing I cut the corners and I only stitches along the stitching line to avoid bulk at the corners.

After attending a couple of oil cloth workshops at the Sewing Cafe in Hinckley I had invested in a Teflon foot for my machine which helped to manage the slippery fabric.

After the first one was complete I needed to order some more fabric and finally got them completed by the weekend. 

That’s another one ticked off the list.

Improvers class!

My latest crochet project has been another fairly simple pattern, this time a hat. I have to tell you I’m pretty addicted to crochet right now and can hardly finish a project without starting something new! Mind you I want helped this week when I was gifted a whole stash of yarn.

Anyhow, back to the hat. It was a fairly simple crochet in the round pattern. I still find the getting started and first couple of rounds the hardest and, in this pattern, I had to combine stitches to make the trim. The pattern was from a magazine that must be published in America as it referred to double crochet as single, but with a glossary at the back of the magazine that wasn’t too difficult to decode. 

This was my first project using a bigger hook (5mm) and that also helped. I still have issues with keeping on track of the correct number of stitches, but got better as the hat developed. I added an extra couple of rounds for a slightly lower brim, but I wouldn’t do that again. I used some cotton rich Aran yarn that I bought in the Hobbycraft sale. I used some of the yarn to make a pair of dish cloths.

 I have enough yarn left to make another hat. What do you think? 

In the dog house

After a year of procrastinating I finally got around to making a new dog bed. It was never going to be hard as the fabric for the top was already cut; I bought a set of pre-cut cut rectangles form Skye Batiks almost two years ago! 

I spent yesterday afternoon hand stitching several old cushions together then seeing them inside a good strong lining fabric to make up the cushioning for the bed. I then set to work measuring and cutting out fabric for a removable cover. Today all I had to do was south it together. 

Ta dah! 

Not sure the dog is completely sold on it yet.