Miette Cardigan

I'm going to take the plunge and knit myself a cardigan. No im being serious ive got wool and needles and everything!

Im going to make the miette cardigan by andi Sutterlund Mainly becuase a lot of bloggers have made it, so it seems quite popular, its meant to be fairly easy and its super cute!!!

I did have to get needles and wool though so i used my hobbycraft voucher!

One massive ball of wool! and two scary sets of needles!

Staring with the needles, I didnt have any of these so obviously i had to invest! hopefully ill be able to knit this competently so then i can progress to some of her more complicated patterns, which i think also use this type of needle!

The wool is a womens institute aran thats exclusive to hobbycraft, I was meant to buy the grey [becuase grey goes with everything] but this purple slipped into my basket! and im glad it did! sometimes you just have to take the plunge and inject some colour into your life! theres 1000m in a ball so it should be more than enough! i just hope i dont screw up too badly. althought at 10 pound a ball i didnt think it was too expensive, i mean its not cheap but its a nice wool.

pattern wise its a top down pattern, im still not 100% what that means but i have nanny on standby for any queries!

right im off to cast on before i bottle it!

much love

frankie

x

Catch up time

So i think i can officially say that September has been a hectic month!

so I'll start from the beginning, we had my birthday which was lovely and i was a lucky girl and was given two hobby craft vouchers, i brought several things including a new pair of fabric scissors and some thread as well as this little beauty.

Ive never tried needle felting so I'm looking forward to giving it a go and seeing how i enjoy it. I especially like that there are three of them , like my little family. and at only £3 its an absolute bargain!

Ive also received some gifts from someone who reads my blog and we've become rather good pen pals! Its nice to have someone to talk to about sewing and knitting. She has been kind enough to send some patterns some of which will be making an appearance very soon, a seam allowance tool which i think will come in very handy for pattern drafting and some fabric. One piece has already been cut and is waiting to be sewn and another i know exactly what i want to do with it!

I also photographed my first wedding last weekend, It was a lot fun even if it was a lot of pressure!!! I'm happy with a lot of the pictures Ive got and i did a better job than i thought i would! sadly theres not many pictures of me due to my photographer responsibilities but here's a blurry on of me and Mr knitwit stood together whilst i took pictures!

and the bride and groom gave me these beautiful flowers as a thank you! It was completely unexpected in fact i didn't even have any shoes on when i went to get them!

You can see a few of the photos once they have been approved by the bride! Hopefully she likes them as much as i do. Even if it was a really long day, we got up at seven, little knitwit threw up in the car on the way down (luckily he wasn't in his suit) I had to clear of the car using a combination of wet wipes and an old asda carrier bag that's been in the car since Christmas whilst trying to avoid getting any puke on myself (i was already dressed for the wedding) then i had a whole day of photography ahead of me! I definitely didn't need to be dealing with sick in the morning that's for sure!

But it was all worth it! i felt very privileged to watch the bride get ready on her special day and it was an honour to e trusted with such a huge responsibility.

In other news!!! I have a tutorial up on the craft cotton website!!! Its my first proper tutorial so pop over and have a peruse of their gorgeous fabrics and give it a whirl!!!



I'm very proud of myself and it feels like this is a step in the right direction for what id like to be doing with my future!!!

And theres two more tutorials to go!!! so keep your eyes peeled!

much love

Frankie

x

A craft I don't like.

I've finally found a craft I don't like , in fact I'd go as far to say I didn't enjoy one aspect of the process after the first five minutes. 

I got this little découpage kit in a copy of craftseller magazine ages ago! And I mean months! 

Anyway it came with tissue paper, wooden animals and string and I had an hour to spare so I thought why not. 

I ripped up some tissue paper and go cracking! And that's where the problems started! 

It's fiddly

It's messy

I'm still finding tissue paper now

All in all it just wasn't for me! 

But I preserved and finished 

Yay arnt they pretty, I think your suppose to mix the tissue papers but I thought it looked messy so I kept it to the same. 

Any way i basically hate them and the experience of making them hasn't endeared me to them. Sooooo I think I'm going to offer them to my mum for her Christmas tree. She has a mixture of decorations so I think they'd fit in. 

Anyhow I also got some sewing done recently ! 

Here's me hand hemming the skirt, it was going to be a pretty basic dress blog post but I think I might do something a bit creepy and Halloween based! 

Much love

Frankie 

Beautiful box

It's been a long day today, yesterday I went on a lovely hen do and today my body is screaming from forcing it to wear high heels! Basically I'm knackered but I really enjoyed myself! We went to watch the horse racing ive never been before so it was quite an experience and we were lucky enough to have a box! So we all felt right posh! 

I even received a little gift! I'd helped mr knitwits cousin and his wife when they weren't pleased with their wedding pictures, it wasn't a lot of work and I was glad I could help but they got me this box to say thankyou anyway! 

Isn't it the sweetest thing you've ever seen? I love it! There's a little sewing scene behind some glass and I'm currently using it to store special sewing bits like my grandmas thimble and another thimble my neighbour gave me that I think was her grandmas, as well as some sweet notes from people who have been good enough to send me fabric. 

In other news my new set of French curves have arrived! 

I hope they are the right sort, they were advertised as for sewing and drawing on Amazon so I don't think I've gone too wrong! 

Ive done a few bits on the sewing front but they are a surprise waiting to be properly written up and unveiled! But they are super adorable! 

Mainly I'm just waiting until I finally get some free time! This month has been hectic to say the least and we've still got a wedding to go! I think I'll be spending the first week of October recovering from all the excitement! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Exploring Pattern Drafting Part 2

I've been continuing my research into pattern drafting, and boy does it employ a lot of maths! i mean sweet baby Jesus!

But i think I'm getting somewhere, I've ordered a set of french curves from amazon using my birthday money and I'm sincerely hoping they are the right type. Although i don't know if there is a wrong type to be honest. Although if you want to have a go at pattern making but don't fancy buying the equipment, or your a poor student, or your a poor teacher who's sick of having their classroom equipment stolen then i found this link for a printable french curve. which i think was created by thesewingnotebook.blogspot.com

Next i started googling, i found a wealth of fitting knowledge on the little Tailoresses blog and will definitely be using that for when i have a basic block.

Next i ended up on another website that hinted at some sort of wonderful spreadsheet on the burda website, where you just input your measurements and then it spews out your pattern measurements and you just transfer them onto a grid.

At which point i got very excited! I mean how much easier could it be! However, luckily the link was broken and I'm not sure if the spreadsheet exists anymore. which means i cant cheat and have to learn this properly. Which was my original intention before i saw how much maths was involved! Basically I'm now thinking of it as using a cake mix from a box, yes you've made a cake, but have you actually make a cake?

So i carried on searching, and found this list of 7 beginner tips for flat pattern making from a lovely blog called sky turtle [which is possibly the best blog name ever]

Now a while ago she ran a series of lessons on how the draft flat patterns including the clearest picture of what measurements ill have to take and how to draft a front bodice! 

and theres another set of instructions for creating a back bodice! 

Ive also been recommended some books on pattern drafting so I'm going to pop those on my Christmas list.

This one was recommended by zoe from http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.co.uk

I know a pattern from this was used on the great British sewing bee last year.

I think these are written in Japanese although Ive heard their are a lot of pictures to explain the processes.

Looking on amazon they are all pretty pricey (i tend to buy books from Charity shops so anything over £3 is pricey to me!) Plus a lot of the amazon reviews say that they were brought as textbooks for uni courses which does tend to bump up the price of books. so my plan is to put them on mr knitwits ebay watch list in the hopes he can find them cheaper. I know a lot of students sell their books on afterwards so i might strike lucky. Other than that I'll just have to keep perusing the local charity shops [Ive already checked our local library] and hope for the best!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Exploring making patterns

I've been fascinated for a little while now, with the idea of making my own patterns. Just for myself, but I have to admit most of my knowledge of patterns is of them coming in shiny envelopes and cutting them out.

I remember a friends mum talking about making a "sloper" of her own measurements, and I think my dad might have mentioned my grandma using her own measurements to create clothes [in fact I recently found a whole list of about twenty five measurements in an old pattern of hers so I assume she had a fairly good grasp of fitting]

So I want to make a bodice and skirt block of my measurements. And then according to my 1940's needlework book ill be able to copy all of the latest fashions in the comfort of my own home, it also had something amusing written underneath about only sewing when the house is clean}

But that was all it really said! So Ive been starting to do some research and Ive decided to give it ago! so I'm going to take accurate measurements and make a skirt, bodice and trouser block and then apparently ill be able to create anything. In theory at least.

Ive been pinning away and I'm going to start looking through my sewing books in more detail. And Ive ordered myself a set of french curves which I think are pattern drafting tools, or at least I hope they are.

The reasons I want to learn are pretty silly really
1. I want to wear well fitting clothes
2. I think its going to be one of those skills that dies out, and if a zombie Apocalypse does come I'd like to be able to contribute something to rebuilding society.
3. My sewing budget is pretty limited so I'd much rather spend £9.00 on fabric rather than £9.00 on a pattern.

But if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be wonderful!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Happy Birthday To ME!

So its been a while since I've blogged. It's been a pretty hectic week, ya know with it being my birthday and all. Yeah I'm now the big 23, I'm pretty sure that's grown up territory but boy I cannot wait until I'm 24. I hate being an odd number old.

But enough about my phobia of odd numbers. Here's a small selection of my gifts that are particularly noteworthy, blogwise!

I got small owl print fat quarter's from my mum and dad, they are from the Craft Cotton Company who might just stock the most adorable fabrics in the whole entire world!

I got a wireless remote for my slr camera which hopefully means I'll be able to take better quality outfit pictures. Previously I was using my iphone but unless I took them at precisely the right time they were coming out very grainy.

But it was Mr Knitwit who really made my day (althought it said it was from little knitwit too) with this tablet and keyboard which Im blogging on right now! Its fantastic Ive already realised i can hook up my camera to import pictures aswell as play games and keep up on social media! Really its just a big phone but it makes life a lot easier! Plus I've downloaded a drawing app and I've spent the past two days drawing pretty pictures of things I'd like to make.

And that's it really, I got other lovely gifts too, like two gorgeous jumpsuits and some gift cards aswell as the sparkliest belt I have ever since!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

the worlds comfiest skull print dress!

So I was going to leave this and wait to blog it until I had taken some better pictures. recently I've been using my iPhone and a small wireless remote to take outfit pictures but the quality was getting me down so I've asked for a wireless remote for my camera for my birthday! and I'm hoping and praying I'll get it!

So this will probably be my last ever outfit post using the camera from my iPhone, in future hopefully you can expect some higher quality images!

But onto the matter at hand. On my last trip to abakans my big sister was nice enough to buy this cute skull print fabric for me from one of the price per kg bins.

It has hearts and skulls and bows! I mean what more could you possibly want from a print! I'm pretty sure its in the cotton family fabric wise, but my limited knowledge of fabric can't tell what type, so I'll just say this its super soft and very drapey!

Anyway after seeing the drape and softness of the fabric I quickly decided to make the worlds most comfortable dress!

I used the silk tunic pattern from the second Great British Sewing Bee book, but lengthened the hem by 6 inches, although I shouldn't have bothered because i think i took it up by about 4 and it has a really deep hem, about and inch and a half!
I know that deep hems are a bit of a faux pas in the sewing world, but i find with a drapey fabric i thicker and therefore heavier hem stops you showing your knickers Marilyn style in a strong wind!

Pattern wise its really basic, a front piece a back piece and a should yoke, as well as neck facings. I decided to French seam everything so it took me a bit longer but if you had an over-locker (please santa!) i think you could finish the whole thing in an hour!.

I also added a channel to the waist of the garment and threaded some elastic through. The elastic just gives the garment some shape without being uncomfortable. But you can't see it because of the belt im wearing

All in all I think it's been a pretty successful make. I wanted an easy dress that I could just throw on and now I've got one!.

Please excuse my sleepy face on these pictures, I'd not been feeling terribly well and was sewing to cheer myself up!

In other news!

; Its my birthday next week! Yay! And Mr Knitwit has the whole week off so we've been giving the house a through sorting! How we have so much crap I'll never know!

; I have been steadily working on some tutorials so keep your eyes peeled!

; and Little Knitwit goes back to nursery tomorrow which sucks but he's happy to be back and seeing his friends again!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Finished baby blanket

This project has been on the go for a little while now, I had to put it away for a few days last month, because it went a touch wrong and I ended up unpicking for about three hours.

But this week I decided enough was enough , popped a film on (Marie Antoinette) and cracked on! Mainly I had to pin baste the entire thing! I was going to get a can of basting spray but I was unsure if the fumes would be suitable for a little one? so I in basted, with actual pins, not safety pins, real pins the kind that like to pop out and surprise you! Yeah I would not recommend this method! and for my next quilt I'll be using safety pins for sure! Then i simply quilted it and added binding (that I made myself! insert smug face here!)

A finished baby blanket! The recipients mummy is a fan of Cath Kidston so I went for a country cottage sort of vibe!. I cut each of the squares to about 4 inches and used the edge of my machine foot as the seam allowance, because I'm a rebel without a cause and stuff! And the finished blanket size is...... oops I forgot to measure! Like a metre? It's baby blanket sized! (Oddly enough babies Daddy is not a fan of Cath Kidston as far as I can tell, so I want it on the record your honor that if baby was a boy, the blanket was going to have a cars and rugby theme)

The fabrics are a mixture from my stash, but include some from hobbycraft, a few squares of vintage Laura Ashley, some 1940s vintage florals and some solids I had lying around!

Not pictured: my neighbours trying to work out why I was outside taking pictures of what they assumed to be my washing! Poor lambs, I think they think I've lost the plot for sure this time!

I quilted it along each of the squares and then on a diagonal, its still got a puffy cosy feel. I quilted it like this after Mr Knitwit commented that his blanket which is quite densly quilted is not as snuggly as it could be! Hence why this one is a little easier on the quilting. (I also think Mr Knitwits might have something to do with the thickness of the fabric that was used!

You can see the quilting more easily for the back, I had to piece the back from some super soft pink flannel and some spare blocks, the blocks in the middle ended up slightly wonky but I only realised after I'd quilted the whole dammed thing! Quilting wise I just did it all by eye and I'm pretty pleased with the results!

There's a few puckers here and there put nothing that was going to convince me to get out my unpicker again! On a side note its super hard to get decent pictures of quilts! It was flapping around on my washing line like mad!

Monogrammed, sewn by hand and ready to whip off in case the babies name does change!

It's a nice mixture of prints (should be anyway I spent three hours sat on my living room carpet choosing them!) I went for blues, pinks, purples and greens to give it a really light summery vibe. (seriously hoping that the mummy hasn't now decided she's into leopard print or monochrome!)

I stitched the back of the binding on by machine and then hand stitched the front! which I never thought I'd do, whenever I read about quilters hand sewing the front of the binding I was like "THAT'S WHAT THE MACHINES FOR YOU FOOLS!" however I found it very therapeutic and it gave a really nice finish!

I know a lot of people prefer to use grow bags at night now for babies, but I thought I'd make a quilt anyway because then it can be used for tummy time! I had a few blankets that I used to spread out under little Knitwit whilst he slept or played. I just found them really useful to have around! especially if there were crumbs on the carpet! No momma wants to wake a sleeping baby to hoover!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

knitting and crochet hybrid baby blanket!

So what do you all think of the new blog design? I felt like I needed a change to something a lil bit more grown up! If your sat reading on a mobile device thinking "what blog design change?" then pop yourself onto a computer pronto!

In other news me and Mr Knitwit treated ourselves to a curry last night to celebrate being on track with paying off the wedding and boy am I feeling it today! I mean boy! Trust me I love curry (well I say curry I have a korma) but boy is my stomach sensitive to the spices they use!

Anyhoo sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself gave me a good excuse to finish my latest project!

A diagonal knit baby blanket with a crocheted boarder! Yerp that right I actually crocheted a boarder! And it don't look half bad!

Mr Knitwit doesn't like the wool but I actually think it turned out kinda sweet looking! I especially like the diagonal next to the straight boarder.

And I love my felt flowers I really think they add a lil something to the blanket!

I am so proud of myself for doing a crochet boarder it think its the first time I've ever crocheted something that looks half decent!

Size wise its not a huge blanket because I was running out of wool, but I'd say its juts the right size for a car seat or pram blanket, or even as an emergency changing mat!

I already have a recipient in mind for this, I just hope she likes it!

I made sure I properly secured the buttons on the flowers as well, cos you know babies will destroy things in 20 seconds or less!

I've not include a picture of the back because well its pretty much the same as the front but without the flowers and because its got a personal message sewn to it, and I don't like to share all my secrets on the internet!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx