Planning

It's been a busy couple of days here , mainly taken up by making presents, family days and of course the usual tidying and putting up of decorations that surrounds Christmas! 

All in all I've been feeling pretty good apart from I think I'm getting a cold, lil knitwit caught it from nursery , he gave it daddy, daddy gave it me! I'll probably give it back to daddy and we'll probably carry on like that thought Christmas, well at least that's what we did last year.... 

In other news , my new self drafted item is nearly ready and so far I'm chuffed, it's a bit more complex than what I've drafted before and the finish is looking great. 

And my lovely sister have me this magazine yesterday , 

Basically because she has two subscriptions to magazines (mine and hers) the company offered her a free magazine in hopes of getting her hooked on another one! 

She chose crochet because she knows I've been trying to learn and it came with this super cute calendar! 

Which I'm not going to use!! 

I'm going to save it so I can hang some of the pictures as soon as we move and I have my own sewing space! (Please god let it be soon!) 

This ones my favourite ! So yeah I've already been looking at ways I can store things and tbh I'm just looking forward to having my own space! Provided we can get a house with the extra space! If not I'm guessing I'll be dining room bound again! I guess if that happens the least I can hope for is that it's separate to the living room! 

So yeah I'm crying out for space! Especially since loads of stuff has been piled into the dining room because of Christmas! 

It's worth it though when our fireplace looks so Christmassy!!! 

Much love Frankie

Simple blue velvet jacket

I was given this jacket pattern a few months ago by my penpal, it was actually in a stack of prima patterns all of which focused on very simple clean designs.

The pattern itself is only three pieces, the front , the sleeve and the back. The instructions say to cut out four front pieces to line your jacket front but the idea of only having the front of the jacket lined felt weird to me so I drafted a collar facing. It's worked pretty well, you can't see a messy inside but you don't have the bulk from two layers of velvet.

And speaking of fabric I used some more of the blue velvet I was given its got a woven underside so it looks okay on the inside of a jacket especially since I used bias binding on all of my seams. I'm not sure if they count as Hong Kong seams becuase I bound both sides together but they look very neat so I'm happy. I made my own binding from a blue and white weird microbe looking cotton I had in my stash. I know il never use it as a dress fabric but I didn't want to throw it away. 

I also made the white binding that runs around the edge of the jacket, I applied this by hand for a nice finish and added beads as i went to make the jacket feel a bit more special.

These photos are awful sorry the spare room is still in pre Christmas chaos and lil knitwit was napping whilst I took these. Bless him he's ended up with another cold and hasn't been his usual self. He went to nursery Monday morning with a sniffle and by afternoon had collected the entire classes germs.

Here's a picture of my seam binding isn't it neat and lovely? I even bound around the pockets so they would look nice too and then I tacked the pocket binding to the front facing binding so they wouldn't flap about. I'm not sure if its the proper way of doing things but its how I did it.

You can wear the collar up or folding down but I think I prefer it up. I think it made the coat look more classy even if I think it could have done with being as bit smaller.

The facing fabric was given to me by a friend , its a great texture but its much too itchy to make a entire garment out of. I think the grey blue and white work nicely together. And I'm quite tempted to make a fully lined version but in a red and black scheme.

Overall im impressed its nice to have another jacket option for going out and I really do think the beads add something even if they did take bleeding ages to apply, luckily I was in a patient mood.

I could have done with taking an inch off the sleeves but it doesn't bother me enough to redo the binding and beading. Although the beading on the cuffs is only on the outside whereas the beading on the main coat is on both sides because the collar flips back.

It all feels very grown up and it basically means that I now have a blue velvet dress suit because of my blue velvet shift dress. The idea of being able to match my dress and jacket makes me feel like the wife of a rich business man in the fifties. You know the kind who doesn't bayt an eyelid when she catches her husband screwing his secretary ( well actually I'd turn fifty shades of crazy but you know what I mean)

A better look at my inside binding and pockets, I used the same material for my pockets as my facing.

And a close up of my labour of love with those pesky beads! Even if it did take less beads bthan I thought it would.

In other news I started another slef drafted project, which is going quite well even if I am having to add nin Godet's becuase I miscalculated my backside measurement.

And I've started the run up to Christmas we went out yesterday and picked up some alcohol and some nuts aswell as a nutcracker, neither of us eat nuts so no think they might end up being more ornamental than anything. But its nice to have them for other people and if all else fails they can go on our bird table.

And I've started to give my wardrobe a proper clear out again. I know I nseem nto do this a lot but making my own stuff means I seem to accumulate a lot of stuff! Itndoesnt help that I'm always happy to take other people's castoffs aswell for refashioning and stuff! This time I didn't get rid of much just a few dresses that after looking at them didn't suit me. Well I nsay get rid of I think I'm going to refashion them into tops which should be cool they have pretty cool prints non and I'm in dire need of some more slouchy tops for the school run.

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx

Gingham Cross stitch

I like cross stitching on gingham, I think it gives such a country feel to cross stitch, I free handed this because one day I just fancied doing some simple sewing by hand. I started with the 'F' and just worked outwards from there using two different colours of thread.

Its only small and I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it but it kept my mind occupied for a small amount of time! Ive been toying with the idea of making a matt with some pockets that i can rest my sewing machine on , something like this.

Apart from I think I'd put the pin cushion on the side and maybe make it a little bigger with a few more pockets for feet etc? And hopefully it would reduce some of the noise from my sewing machine and stop it rattling around. One of my sewing machines runs quite smooth but the other is a rattler! And I work on a glass table so I'm terrified that one day the entire thing is going to get so fed up of the stress and the strain that its just going to shatter all over me as I'm sewing!

It might not happen but it still worries me!!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Self drafted blue velvet circle skirt

I made this after drooling over a few different velvet skirts on pinterest. I mean what's more perfect than a velvet skirt in winter?

Now originally I was going to use the Clemence skirt pattern from love at first stitch but after the success of drafting my first circle skirt for my gingham dress, I thought why not ill just crack on and go patternless again. so I drafted my circle skirt based on my measurements again and made a simple waistband by measuring my waist and adding a seam allowance.   

Due to either the stretch of the of the circle skirt or a miscalculation the top of my skirt piece was slightly too big so I had to gather it but it still looks awesome. Also in the spirit of trying new things [ I know I've been very adventurous recently I hope I'm not having a mid life crisis] I put in my first ever lapped zip........Yay? And I've got to say I'm not a lover of the lapped zip, its just not that great to be honest saying that I will be giving it another go but this time I'm going to use a cotton in case it was the thickness of the velvet that's putting me off.

Its a really full skirt but I think its really flattering and I feel kind of awesome in it, like one of those girls who looks all adorable and chic in the winter instead of like a walking poof ball of wool and padding. 

It's got great twirlability too! 

So as a quick project that took me about two hours to make from cutting out to sewing up I'm very pleased, and it was nice to be able to use some more of the velvet I was given.

Now what do we think if the length? I didn't want anything too short but I also didn't want to look like a nun? I think its pretty spot on.

Eurgh I've just realised how rough I look in these photographs, I woke up this morning with the most dreadful stomach cramps and I actually had to get out of bed to heat up my wheat bag, funnily enough it reminded me of before I had lil knitwit when I lived at my mums and I used to wake up with stomach cramps and run a bath a three in the morning and then watch Gavin and Stacey! and naturally my running the bath would wake up my mum so she'd make us hot tea with a dot of brandy [well a couple of dots]

Well now i can't have the brandy because I have a little boy to care for!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx 

What's In My Sewing Box?

I'm nosy by nature, last year I saw two lads stealing bits of the fridge my neighbours had dumped outside and I managed to give them an accurate description, time frame and the make of the vehicle as well as the number plate. I am what is referred to in my family as a net curtain twitcher. I love to be nosy which I think is why I loved housed hunting so much and why I'm always intrigued when people post pictures of their sewing stashes and sewing boxes.

So here's mine:~

So here's what I keep my basic sewing supplies in, these are the things I used every day. The box was my mums I think she had it when she was younger and she mentioned using it to take things to peoples house's for sleepovers, then I think she stored baby clothes in it. 

No idea where the key is, I just push down the lock to open it.

I decorated the lid with some of my favourite postcards.

And here it is all full up!

These are my scissors [yeah I know it seems like over kill]

i have [ from the top]

paper scissors

rotary cutter

pinking shears

large paper scissors

Old metal fabric scissors [sentimental]

Old pinking shears [also sentimental]

flowered fabric scissors

black fabric scissors

small card crimping scissors for doing tags.

Three pin cushions!

My old sylko one [previously my grandmas]

My purple pin cushion bag [made at school]

My tie on wrist one

Voodoo doll [because I'm evil and stuff]

Glue [not sure why I have this? it just appeared]

Craft knife, best way of removing buttons from old shirts!

Clear Tape

Masking Tape [best way of fixing paper patterns because you can draw on it and you can iron it]

Carbon paper, This was recently given to me and I've not had chance to use it yet!

My handmade tailors ham and my flexy curve thingy - this was originally my grandmas.

Machine oil, I've recently been trying to take better care of my machines by oiling them more often. I keep this in a zip lock bag so it doesn't spill everywhere. 

Pens and pencils of various natures.

This is my little bag where I keep all of my smaller sewing bits that might get lost in the chaos of scissors!

In my little bag:

pot of chalk

unpicker

6 screwdrivers

tweezers

black pen

snips

needle book

zubes tin of pins

giant paper clip

four flexible tape measures

small blue paper clip

machine needle book

golf ball shaped metal tape measure

tine of machine needles

seam allowance tool

butterfly pencil and rubber

walking foot

And that's it! all my other supplies are stashed in various other places, so I hope you enjoyed having a nosy around my sewing box! What's in yours?

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx

Pink Chunky knit scarf

This scarf came about from having a drawer full of ends of wool. Not enough to actually make something but too much to just bin. So i picked some corresponding pinks and whtes and started knitting them up on my chunky needles.

I cant decide if its awesome in a granny chic kinda way or if i look like a crazy cat lady! I'm kinda hoping its the chic one, becuase we dont have room for a hoard of cats.

It looks more chic in this picture, and at least its warm and cosy! And i mean really cosy! I'm hoping this will keep me from getting any form of cough or cold this year, i am not prepared to be sick over christmas again. 

Speaking of christmas have you had snow? WE HAVE! It didnt really snow though it stopped and turned into ice pretty quickly, which in turn meant that me and lil knitwit had to abandon our walk to the shops this morning because we were both having trouble staying on our feet, which of course was hilarious but could have stoped being funny pretty fast had one of us gotten really hurt. So we turned around and made banana bread instead.

Much Love

Frankie

x

I shot Bambi's mother shirt

Creepy title right! Yes this is what i did with the fabric that i won from Karen from didyoumakethats facebook page.

My original plan was to make a dress, but to be honest the idea of making something that i had made 100 times bored me to tears. Instead i wanted to stretch myself.

So instead i decided to really test myself and make a shirt, like a proper shirt with a collar and a collar stand and everything.

I used a shirt pattern from a burda style magazine i was given and after i got over the initial shock of seeing the pattern sheet and composed myself long enough to read the instructions five times i got to work and it was much easier to trace than i thought! HOWEVER! i forgot to add seam allowances like a complete moron! I couldn't believe it and better than that i had already cut out my pieces before i realised! So to combat this i used the smallest seam allowance i could manage!

I did however manage to get all of my Bambi's the right way which I'm feeling pretty good about, and the Bambi's on the chest pockets are very nearly pattern matched!

I actually ran two machines for this project my regular janome for all the construction stitching and my other janome hooked up with a double needle for all the top stitching. I love the top stitching on this project it makes me really happy and i think it looks super modern and cool.

Its a little wide at the sides but i prefer it tucked in so it doesn't really bother me. The Bambi fabric was pretty drapey so i think it looks okay tucked in or out. it did mean though that i ended up using two fabrics , basically my interfacing just wasn't going on [note to self; don't buy cheap interfacing] so i backed the collar stand and collar with a quilting cotton, i also put it inside the pockets for a cleaner facing.

Little knitwit likes the shirt anyway.

and we had kisses and stuff!

I did extend the back but I'm think i did it a bit too much, although i do like that if i wear leggings my bum will be covered.

all in all i think i like it, I wasn't sure at first but after living with it i think i kinda like it. I feel like it's one of those things really hip girls in topshop wear, you know the scary ones who have resting bitch face and not one ounce of body fat?

Due to the forgetting the seam allowance thing i had to add some lace on the inside of the neck stand to hide some not great stitching. I also did what i usually do with shirts and added a spare button to the middle of the collar.

i think this is the first time every single one of my button holes went in perfectly each time, which makes me so happy its unreal.

Look at that top stitching! Its almost like its ready to wear!!

Heres the fabric i used to stabilise my collar, because life is better with polka dots and stuff!

and here's my very nearly pattern matched pockets, I actually think I'm glad they are not completely matched though because otherwise i think id lose them and i do think they add a lot to the style of the shirt.

I really do think i love this shirt, its not my usual style but it was nice to step outside of the box and try something new and I'm also really proud of myself because i think this is some of my best stitching, Ive really enjoyed seeing how far Ive come since i decided to start sewing properly.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx