Snowcrastination

Happy snowy Sunday! After a failed attempt at preparing for a job interview for next week i decided that i needed a few hours of sewing. I decided to embark on drafting the dress pattern for one of my bridesmaids. The last dress I made was a little small I think for the measurements I had taken although I think I may have gone the other way now! I am using New Look 6776 view D, currently I am on the toile version.

I laid out the dress to photograph and Nala decided to sprawl all over it as I had been ignoring her whilst I sewed!











This is the front of the dress without Nala on it!








And this is the back of the dress.








So now I have finished the toile and need to visit Beka to see whether it fits all I can do now is get back to interview prep. Yawwwnnn.

Oh well I guess I can't sew all day long. Instead I'll sit t my desk with this view :-) trying to articulate why I should have a job I would love, finding relevant examples for the job. I'll keep you posted! Enjoy the snow xx

Shopping Trip

Today I met with Beka to chose her bridesmaid dress pattern and get some calico to make her toile dress.






We chose the New Look 6776 pattern using view D, a V-neck dress with sash. It looks lovely so I can't wait to start sewing. I treated myself to new scissors as mine are as blunt as anything. I bout really posh ones so hopefully they will a pleasure to use. I also bought myself some more oil for my machine as I haven't oiled it since I got it in 2008. I bought some carbon paper as when making toiles I need some coloured carbon paper but on opening it, the sheets are only A4 size... I am gutted! At least I bought 2 packs. Time to edit the pattern....

Location:Nottingham

Wedding....

Doug proposed to me last October and we have decided to get married in August this year as it is quite a turning point in our lives. My contract at work runs out and I need a new job and Doug finishes university. We thought as we have been living together for a while it would be nice to get married this year. I have always wanted to make my own wedding dress but I don't have enough confidence in my sewing skills so think it is best to buy the dress. I was planning on buying my bridesmaid dresses too that was until we went shopping for them! I have two bridesmaids and both a very different shapes and sizes and personalities. So to make dresses which fit both beautifully I thought I might try to sew them. I am meeting Beka today in Nottingham to choose a pattern. First I want to try making the dress in calico or similar then I want to perfect it and eventually I will either make the real thing or make her a summer dress in floral fabric first before going onto the real dress. We shall see how confident I am feeling.

I am really looking forward to choosing the pattern with her. It'll be great fun giving her a dress that fits well. Hopefully she will like it :-)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lavender Wheat Bag

I was looking through my sewing photo album and found this. I made this lavender hot wheat bag at Christmas as a present for Doug's grandma :-) she liked the way I packaged it up with the tag and ribbon so much she refused to untie it!!

I made an inner wheat bag which was made using two rectangles of heavy weight cotton slowly filled at intervals with a mix of lavender, wheat and a few drops of lavender oil. Every few inches I sewed across the rectangular bag to make parcels of the lavender wheat mix. This stopped it moving around too much inside the inner bag. I then made the outer purple case as shown in the pictures with a flap at the back to allow Doug's Grandma to wash it.

Bag Tidy

I have been meaning to make myself a handbag organiser for a while so when Doug was out on Friday night I spent a few hours making this before going out myself.

I used the thick cotton I bought from Lincoln and made a lined IPad case with pockets on one side for my phone and handbag bits and pieces and a pocket for paperwork on the other side. It had been annoying me that when I took my iPad out of my handbag all of my handbag contents fell to the bottom of the bag, this is the solution.

The front...




The back...





The organiser inside my handbag...



I made this by cutting up 4 rectangles with 2cm squares cut out of the bottom two corners. The I made two more similar pieces, one was wider than the rest to allow for the pockets and one was less deep than the rest to make a pocket for papers.

My initial square without the notches taken out of the bottom...




The bag cut up and sewn prior to assembling...




The left pieces made the outer bag and the right hand piece made the lining of the bag.

I then used some straps I had pulled off a rucksack Doug had thrown out a while ago for making little handles for the sides and a key holder. The last pocket was a struggle so I made life easier and sewed pen holders.

I am so pleased with this, not only because I didn't use a pattern but also for coming up with the design, making it neatly and choosing a fabric which worked perfectly. It's strength and weight means it holds itself up without the iPad in it and i think the colour and design are great :-)

My favourite creation so far!

Happy Tuesday to me :-)

I am so excited, on Tuesday I went to Tesco at lunch and they were selling lots of different types of orchids. I decided to buy myself a Cambria Orchid which I named Spider. Meet Spider...

Sail away purse

I decided when I saw this tutorial that I wanted to make myself a purse. I love making useful things like bags, iPod cases etc and find them easier and quicker to make than clothing so this appealed. I had bought some cute boat fabric from Lincoln a few weeks ago. At the time I thought I would use to make myself a beach bag but I'm not sure what I want the bag to look like so in the time being I decided a cute boat purse would be nice.




I like using the fabric's pattern to my advantage, in this case I wanted a boat on one side of my purse and the beach huts on the other.

The front...



The back...





I found it quite simple to make and the tutorial was easy to follow. I didn't use any interfacing in the end as I forgot to use a tea towel when I ironed the interfacing and as a result it stuck to the iron. Opps. So instead I depended on the strength of the fabric. The only things I would change are the alignment of the zip, and less seam allowance so the card pockets are less tight. The top stitching was tough due to the thickness of the fabric and I had to go really slow. I have plans for another purse!

I am really pleased with my purse :-)