Simple knit chunky scarf!!

So I've been busy! Nothing that's really portable right now but busy,! I've still not photographed my finished dress so I'll Robby do that tomorrow. I've prepped a knitting project for next week and I've started a new one today.

It's going to be a chunky knit scarf I've cast on 25 stitches and I'm just working in garter stitch on my biggest set of needles. 

I'm using my scrap chunky wools, in various colours and stuff the colours are pretty different but I think they look cute together.

I'm going for a chunky kind of slouchy look, and warm! It must be warm! 

In other news I knackeredso my night is knitting this and watching trashy tv. I might trace a few patterns tomorrow so I can get sewing next week! 

Much love 

Frankie

X

Technique Tuesday : finishing seams

I'd like to introduce you to a new feature on my blog! 

Hopefully this will give me an opportunity to try some new sewing techniques and expand my knowledge! 

So without further ado here's my first feature : finishing seams 

I confess , finishing seams is a bug bear of mine, probably because without purchasing an overlocker my seams will never look like the ones inside ready to wear clothing! 

By the way these are not the only ways of finishing seams these are just in my opinion the four simplest and quickest! I'll be covering the other types in other posts! 

So....... 

Zig zag finished seams, you can either zig zag the seam allowance together like this or you can zig zag each side separately.  

The turn under method, here you add a small hem to each side of you Seam allowance, this is a very neat way of finishing seams, especially if your making an item where the inside might be seen for example on a coat or jacket. It's also a similar idea to Hong Kong seams which I'll be covering at a later date.

Pinked seams! I love this method and it's probably the quickest! Quite simply you use pinking shears (zig zag scissors) to trim the seam allowance. This works beautifully for lots of projects and all you need is scissors! (I got mine from Amazon and they were the cheapest option) 

Faux overlock, here I used a zig zag stitch right on the edge of my seam allowance (you can also used a special faux overlock foot that has a little brush on one side)

This is by far my favourite way of finishing seams, mainly because it gives you the security of another row of stitching and because it looks so neat! 

Another simple way of finishing seams is to run a parallel line of stitching next to your seam stitching, and then trimming the rest of the allowance away! 

And that's it! 

So what do you think of my new blog feature? Is there anything you can think of that might be worth learning to do? 

In other news! 

I've made another dress and I'm really pleased with it, I've started knitting another bear (sadly this means my miette has been neglected again) and I have plans to make some more clothes next week. Including some warmer things now the chill is setting in! 

I've also been catching up on all the housework that builds up when lil knitwit is off nursery! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

skull print pj bottoms

I needed a new pair of pj bottoms, and that's all I can really say about this project, I saw a need and I filled the need!

I used the Tilly and the buttons Margot pj bottom pattern from love at first stitch. Mainly because I don't have another pyjama bottom pattern and I don't really see a need for another one? I mean a pyjamas a pyjama?

So anyway I used the last of my skull print fabric the same fabric that i used for my comfy dress, which is no longer in commission due to an unfortunate incident with a bottle of bleach. however due to the softness of the material I knew it would be perfect for pjs!

Anyway if you've forgotten the fabric here it is.

There not much to say really, they fit great they are very snuggly and all in all I'm super happy!

I think they took about two hours to sew together? but I did sew one leg inside out and took time to finish my seams.

I'm sorry about the quality of the pictures the man cave is stuffed full of boxes at the moment so I had to use the limited room in our upstairs hallway. Fun Fact : on the wall to my right we have a framed film cell from the second saw movie, its the scene where she falls into the hole full of needles.

This is me demonstrating how comfy they are you could actually do yoga in these! 

and this is me demonstrating how I kick Mr Knitwit onto his side of the bed during the night. Bad ass skull style!

and this is the tie which you completely cant see, although there's not much to see as its a tube of fabric threaded through a channel.

So these are a success although I'm not completely sure if they are blog worthy? Its the fourth time I've used this pattern so I didn't discover anything ground breaking or make any changes. In fact it was quite nice to do some mindless sewing whilst watching some mindless telly.

The more vigilant of you might be asking where my lovely face is on these pictures? well I didn't have any make-up on and I wasn't going to put it on for a quick blog post so I just chopped my head off.

Yes I know I should love my natural face but you didn't see my face this morning.

In other news I finished a dress yesterday, its awesome and will be photographed as soon as I get chance, and I might even include my head.

I've started another knitted bear.

And that's it really I have some more sewing plans in the works and Mr Knitwits grandparents came over today and dropped off some newspapers for me to copy patterns onto so hopefully I can crack on with those. Yes I'm using newspaper , tissue paper is just not cost effective for the amount of patterns I trace and hack into!!!

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx 

Keepsake bear

What do you buy a child for a christening? It was a question we asked ourselves before little knitwits christening and now we're asking it again. Yes there's money boxes and engraved glasses but i tend to think everybody thinks of those. So when we were invited to a christening we decided to settle on a nice book of nursery rhymes and agreed that I would make a special bear of some sort, well I said should I make something and Mr knitwit said yes and then I just went my own way! 

This is christening bear, he's hand knitted from a Debbie bliss pattern. The same one I used for my last bear (I think the patchwork effect is quite charming don't you? )

He has a heart on his nose, and one on his bum!!! 

And he has his very own blanket that has the name of the child, the date and the church stitched on. 

Obviously for privacy reasons I've not shown the whole thing! 

All in all I think he's pretty sweet ! And a perfect addition to our book! I finished him yesterday which is bad considering the christening was Sunday! However we couldn't make it in the end so I was glad to have the extra time to add some extra touches! And it can be sent along with various family members so I'm sure the little one will receive it , even if it's a bit late! 

Although it did just dawn on me that this post might ruin the surprise! Should one of the parents read it! DOH! 

In other news a cracking headache stopped me blogging this last night but I have plans to get back into the swing of things this evening. I'm in dire need of another pair of pj bottoms so they are first on the agenda then I thought I might trace some patterns and try and get some cutting out done! I find if things are ready to go im more inspired to sew! HEY! That's practically a limerick! 

Much love

Frankie xxx

Disappearing 9 patch quilt top

So Ive been feeling a little under the weather today , i think its a combination of the weather changing and being very tired. so I'm putting my grumpy glumness down to the winter blues.

So today i needed an easy finish to perk me up, Ive had this squares cut for the past few days with the intention of doing a basic nine patch quilt. However the idea of doing another square quilt bored me to tears so i sewed them up in blocks of nice and then turned them into a disappearing nine patch block. Ive got to admit its not my favourite quilting techniques but Ive never used it before so i guess it was an experience.

I had to add the sashing in to make it look more cohesive, luckily i had just enough fabric in my stash, that was also in a corresponding colour.

Isn't the owl fabric adorable? i got it for my birthday and its by the craft cotton company. 

The idea of this project was to always have a boys and girls quilt top in the house ready for any babies that might pop out [not ours obviously]. and since my girls one was already done i thought i better crack on with this one.

All in all i think its cute, I'm not sure ill do a disappearing nine patch again. But i like that i was able to stretch my quilting ability. I think the disappearing nine patch might look better if you just used 3 fabrics rather than a mixture like i did. In fact i might try that at some point but on a smaller scale.

 

In other news, my knitted bear is coming along nicely, I'm hoping to finish that tonight and I'm finally managing to get my head around the way that the burda style magazine and pattern sheets work. Ive got a couple of ideas of things id like to make including a new pair of pj bottoms. I like to have a few pairs of PJ's bottoms in my draw, mainly because i own a small child and therefore i get snotted on/ sneezed on/ spilled on multiple times a day.

I'm also thinking of biting the bullet and trying to make my Velvet suit soon although there is a princess seamed dress i want to make, so it might have to wait a little while. Ive also still got to schedule my fabric shopping trip with my mum although it might have to wait until I'm feeling a little better. 

In slightly bigger news Ive joined the fold line which from what i can gather is a sort of sewing based twitter/facebook/instagram and blogger all rolled into one delicious package. So if your also a member of the fold line ! Hit me up with a Friend request!!!  I'm also looking forward to seeing how the pattern review feature is going to work, especially since i have it on good authority that they are planning on adding pattern books like the gbsb at some point in the future.

Much Love

Frankie

Blue velvet GBSB Shift dress

After the success of my first GBSB Shift dress I decided to make another and finally cut into my blue velvet!

Okay so my pictures came out in a weird order and I'm far to lazy to fix it, so here's the back I used a shorter zip than the pattern called for so its half zip and half cool button feature. I think it looks cute I made my loops using a needle and thread technique that's also used on the basic shell top. The only down side is you can see my bra but it doesn't bother me a huge amount . Although I did remove it for the purpose of this post.

I still like the shape and I think the hem length on this is good, i could go a little shorter but I'm not a huge fan of showing my pants anymore.

I faced the neckline using scraps from my Halloween dress which means the inside has a secret creepy agenda which is awesome in so many ways! i also stitched the facings to the seams where i could to stop them flicking up. usually i just top stitch and be done with it but i wanted a really RTW finish.

Here's the back again, the buttons are vintage and either came from my mum via a charity shop or my neighbour? I'm not sure but i like the vintage feel they give to the garment.

Fabric wise i used some of my blue velvet, it was a good project to see how the fabric works, i learnt that it sheds like a mother and frays on the edges and shifts faster than usian bolt. i think its something to do with the nap of the fabric because it only did it on certain angles, in fact the princess seams were easier to do than the back seam. But i used my new walking foot and although its really loud it seemed to help with the shifting problem [I'm now really looking forward to using it for quilting!]

Incidentally for those who haven't gathered this is the dress i got stuck in in this post.

All in all I'm very pleased with how its turned out, It fits well and i find it very flattering. And I like that the skirt isn't overall fitted the slight Aline makes it more comfotable.

I actually wore this on Thursday for taking lil knitwit to nursery and then going to swimming and MacDonald's as a special treat. Lil knitwit has been very well behaved this week so we thought he deserved some spoiling.

In other news Lil knitwit is now the very proud owner of his own fish tank as a reward for doing so well with his toilet training. would you belive that he now goes for his nap without a pull up on? and he gets a sticker if he wakes up dry! or trys a new food! basically stickers are like crack in our house!

Annnnnnnd today we adopted a hamster, Sandy is a small syrian hamster who hadn't been sold so had been put up for adoption and surprisingly enough it wasn't me who fell In love with her it was mr knitwit!

Soft git

Much love

Frankie

P.s yes this does now bring our animal count to 

1 hamster

1 rabbit

tropical fish

2 guinea pigs

Preparing For Halloween

I'm a firm believe that you should start talking about Christmas until Halloween is over. And i love Halloween! No seriously i think i trick or treated until i was about 13 and after that i took my niece and nephew and now i take lil knitwit. In fact i love Halloween so much we considered having a Halloween wedding, complete with red roses and scary movie centre pieces. However i read somewhere that if you marry of all hallows eve your marriage will be plagued by the ghosts of your mistakes.

and trust me i don't want none of my mistakes following me around.

But anyway i love Halloween and i love dressing up, so this year i decided to make myself a Halloween dress to go trick or treating in! [lil knitwit is going to be a vampire!]

So without further ado! [by the i know this is super early but i think this kind of dress is perfect for people who want to wear something halloweeny bu don't necessarily want to dress up.]

So the dress is the lilou pattern from love at first stitch, which i can nearly make in my sleep. Theres not really much to say about it that Ive not already said, I love the pattern and i think its perfect for displaying fun prints and fabrics.

a quick word on the zip, I used the same technique i used for my grown up dress and it turned out pretty good even if i did have to unpick and re stitch the lining twice because my stitches were getting trapped in the zip.

Skirt wise i was tempted to do a gathered one again, but the idea of gathering all that fabric made me want to scream so instead i did a series of pleats about an inch and a half wide [which i didn't measure, at all, because I'm a rebel and stuff]

By the way , like my makeup? i thought id get into the Halloween spirit of this post by making myself look like a sugar skull. it took about 15 minutes to do and about an hour to take off. in fact i did my makeup before dinner and Mr knitwit was crying with laughter when i had to eat my dinner wearing it!

I got the fabric for this dress from abakhans, and was reliably informed by the girl on the till that it was very popular that day, in fact she'd brought some herself. The print is by Alexander Henry and is called "crafty cavalearas" or something like that.

The print includes fun things like sugar skull pumpkins and skeletons and skulls and stuff. Its a very Gothic and fun print. and because of the scale and the busyness of the print i didn't bother pattern matching.

 

its actually this print but in a plum colour.

All in all i love it! and although i said its for Halloween i can see myself wearing it a lot!!!

However i might tone down the makeup for Halloween i don't want to make lil knitwit cry or big knitwit for that matter!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Soft baby toys tutorial

I've got a new tutorial up on the craft cotton company website! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3W6ct5H1sa7Z1owTHMweFF4eGc/view?pli=1

That's the link to take you to the pdf! 

These really are a lovely simple project for people who are new to sewing! And I really am loving all the wonderful opportunities in getting at the moment. 

In other news I got stuck in a dress I made yesterday and it was hilarious in an omg I might have to spend the rest of my life sort of way. Basically I was stubborn and used the wrong size zip, and then I was stubborn trying to get the dammed thing on and then I felt like a massive idiot when it got stuck. Anyway to cut a long story straight I had to whip off my bra (through the sleeve style) and squeeze myself out , luckily the "girls" aren't quite as big as they used to be, otherwise I might have had to call the fire brigade! 

Anyway I fixed the problem so expect a dress post as soon as I've photographed it! 

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx

Bargain pinking shears

I've been looking for a new pair of pinking shears for a while now. I do already own a pair but they were my grandmas and over time they've gotten pretty blunt (it may or may not be the fault of a very young Frankie who might have used them on paper once, or twice )

Also they were weighty and I mean it hurt to use them! So I decided to put my birthday money to good use and buy myself a pair. 

I'm not gonna lie they were cheap , I mean £3.17 is pretty darn good. I ordered from Amazon and I was worried they were going to be awful but I was so surprised when they turned out to be brilliant! I mean seriously it's like cutting butter! Not that I would ever put my precious fabric scissors near butter. 

I could link to the item on my phone so I've done a screen grab. 

Here they are next to my old hefty ones, which I'm still going to keep because I'm a sentimental fool. 

In other news little knitwit has developed yet another cough. I'm not quite sure how he does it ? He's been wearing a vest since the end of September and I always make him eat his vegetables. I think the next step is a trip to the doctors to see if it's asthma related. Although the idea of having to try and book an appointment brings me out in hives! Is anyone else's doctor harder to cath than smoke? Mines always bloody busy "Would you like an appointment in two weeks?" - "no id like one now whilst I am actually ill " 

But I think that's enough grumbling for one day.... 

Much love 

Frankie

Xx

Taking a knitting break

I'm slightly weird when I take a break from my serious knitting, I usually cast on something else. 

This week I've put down my pretty labour intensive miette cardigan (my phone kept a writing mistress then, not sure why? I'm don't think dominatrix wear cardigans) in favour of something lighter. I was getting to the point where all I could see were letters and they made no sense. so time to stop , but I know I'll pick it back up when I've finished my new project. 

I'm making a colour blocked knitted bear out of some stray wools I have, and I even have a recipient in mind. Assuming that is that I can get it finished. 

Heres a small drawing I did of how I want him to look. I'm so glad my art a level hasn't been wasted. 

Luckily it's coming together quite nicely the first time I made this bear was when I was reviewing the wool from little lamb wool. From what I can remember I finished it pretty fast and it turned out super cute. 

So far I've knit both of the body pieces and made a start on the head which isn't too bad to say I was also watching keeping up with the kardashians. Don't judge me I love trashy telly! And you just don't get awesome comments like these from intellectual documentaries!

 

I love kris Jenner I have no idea why because as a person she seems pretty deplorable, in fact I'd say most of them have questionable morals.... But.... They do wear fabulous clothes! 

I feel like I might NEED a pleated leather skirt in my life...

Much love

Frankie