Hobbycraft Haul!

It's always suspicious when your Husband says why don't you buy yourself some things from hobbycraft. But as it goes he genuinely just wanted to spoil me..... Or at least I've not found anything broken yet!

Okay so here's what I got!!!

Pins £1.00

I recently read that every time you find a blunt pin you should bin it and well lets just say my pin tray as been dwindling! 

A Hemline Sewing Gauge - £2.00

Okay so confession time, I eyeball my hems. I never measure them and I never iron them. Its a terrible habit but I think it stems from having the most tedious textiles lesson where all we did was measure and press our hems.....for about an hour and a half! But hopefully this little tool will help me to be more precise! 

Tailors Chalk - £2.00

My last lot of tailors chalk was from a market stall and it was quite frankly awful! It didn't transfer onto fabric and nearly put me off chalk for life! Hopefully these will be a lot better! 

Value Dressmaking Scissors - £1.50

Its a good job my fellas good looking because he cannot grasp that some pairs of scissors are only for cutting fabric! So I generally only buy cheap scissors and these value ones are some of my favourites! I mean their not the best in the world but until I've got him fully trained they do quite nicely!

Hayfield Bonus Chunky in Sandstorm - £2.30 per ball - 5 balls

This is for another wool and the gang double trouble jumper. I knew I wanted a pale colour but I love that this has little flecks of black and copper in it too!

Jelly Roll - £12.00

I've never had a jelly roll before so I was pretty intrigued and so far all I can say is that its smaller than I thought? I'm hoping to make a quilt using this [and some stash fabrics too!] for our living room. My idea is to have a handmade quilt in every room of the house and these are the colours I want in the living room.  

Caron Cake -  Funfetti - £10.00

I first saw these on the stand at the CHSI stitches stand they said they were huge in America and that they think they are going to be huge over here too! Now its hard not to be biased because they also gave me a cake whilst I was chatting to them but I can confirm that its super squishy and that the colours are very vibrant! Now I just need to see how it knits up! 

And that's it! I can't wait to start making things! 

and if you've used any of these products please let me know! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

V8974 - Toile

Eurgh , just ERUGH! 

Okay so here's my issue, I love this pattern. Its a vintage vogue reproduction of a pattern from the 1949 design and I won it for free! And its beautiful!

I mean look at it! All that vintage sass, those interesting darts, a cross over back! What is not to love! But I do have a major issue with this pattern and lots more patterns in fact!

Don't ask me to measure myself and then have it NOT fit me at all!

I am getting sick and tired of measuring myself [which I do accurately! And ever few months I have my mum re measure me to check I'm being accurate] Look and see where my size corresponds, cut that size and then have it turn out HUGE! I'm having to faff around with measuring pattern pieces now and making toiles and its making a very grumpy Frankie! Anyway rant over!

Okay so down to the make, I cut a size 14 because LOL those were my actual measurements. I sewed it up and tried it on to get the perfect length on the straps and then I pinned the back and oh hello! My boobs are going to fall out! So I took in an inch either side of the centre back because, you can't take anything out of the side seams or it throws the sloped back out of proportion! [I also had to take some out of the waist as well because that was big! 

After I took some out of the back it fits better but I'm definitely cutting a size 12 next time! [FYI I just made one in a size 12 and I'm still having issues but that might be the fabric!]

But I guess this is why we toile! My fabric is from abakhans BTW its a really cheap and cheerful poly-cotton. And the instructions for the pattern are actually really clear! The only thing I did differently was to add a centre back zip instead of a side zip. I hate side zips, Side zips are evil!

Here's a nice picture of me demonstrating the boob gape! You can fit two hands down there....[Which may or may not be your thing!!!]

Okay so here's a list of alterations I made to the pattern:

 - Put in a centre back zip instead of a side one

- took a good 2 inches out of the centre back.

-took about 15 cm off the length of the skirt. [personal preference, longer skirts do not suit my stumpy legs]

things I liked about the pattern:

- Clear instructions

- each bodice size is printed separately [not nested] so it makes it really easy to toile different sizes.

-The way the bodice is constructed

Thing to change next time:

- Try a smaller size in bodice.

- Make the skirt fuller, I'm not keen on the aline style of the skirt. I think it might look fuller in the pattern illustration? 

- Omit centre front seam on skirt unless I'm using a striped fabric. [Because then you get a cool chevron effect!]

But I still love to pattern and I'm really looking forward to challenging myself with trying to get it to fit! This is the first time I;ve ever had any really major issues with trying a new pattern! I've even got plans to have my Nan [from my mums side] take a look at it when shes next down. Shes pretty good with a sewing machine so I;m hoping that if me her and my mum look we will be able to iron out any issues!

And if all else fails my Mum lives across the road from an ex seamstress so I can ask her!

In other news!

I hope you all had a wonderful mothers day and were spoiled rotten! I spent the morning at my mums. Then met Rikki's mum for lunch and we both took lil man to the park. Then I came home saw Rikki off to work put lil man to bad and got sewing!!! 

So all in all a wonderful day! 

Today however I feel a bit grotty, I'm pretty sure my lovely son has given me his cold germs.  

Much Love

and if you have made this pattern and have any tips please let me know!!!

Frankie

xxx 

Knitting Needle Roll

This post was suppose to be written on Tuesday but we ended up watching the new beauty and the beast and after eating my weight in popcorn I was fit for no purpose other than having a long bath!

Then I said I'd write it on Wednesday but Lil man had a pretty awful cough and ended up having the day off school after he coughed himself sick all over our bed. Funnily enough he was a lot better after his sick so we think it got a lot of the snot off his chest and I even felt comfortable enough to take Rikkis Nan to Abakhans to buy some fabric for some skirts shes making [Yes I brought fabric too but I was very restrained, and it was my "treat" for doing good housework recently!]

Anyway I thought I might write it after we'd been fabric shopping BUT then my phone beeped to tell me a dear friend had marked himself as safe on Facebook and I was like "safe from what?" and then we turned on the news.

There's not much I can say about the attack in London. I have no idea what would prompt somebody to do something so awful but my heart is with the victims and the people affected by this tragedy.

But onto the crafting because as a Brit I like nothing better than marching forward without fear!

Okay so as you might know already Prym sent me a big ol box of knitting goodies to try out because they have brought out new ergonomic knitting needles [You can read my review here]

Anyway I'm ashamed to say that box spent the next week or so on my living room floor. Mainly so I could show anyone who walked in my knew goodies whether they wanted to see them or not! But also tripping us up and generally being an eyesore. So I made myself a knitting roll! Well I saying knitting roll it also has spaces for crochet hooks! 

I used some fat quarters my lovely sister sent me ages ago! She sent them in the post and they happened to come on a day when I was feeling pretty grimm so they cheered me right up! They are Paris themed! They are also by the craft cotton company! 

Now mine was very spur of the moment but I think I'm going to write this up as a tutorial at some point because it was pretty simple!! 

First of all I worked out what I wanted in it. I knew I needed slots for knitting needles, crochet hooks and DPNs [which I'm hoping Rikkis Nan will give me a lesson in how to use!] But I also knew I wanted a loop to store my stitch holders on, a large pocket for bits, a place to put my needle gauge and somewhere or my sewing needles [the botanical print I used for my needle holder is by craft yourself silly! They do custom fabric printing and this is a sample they were kind enough to give me! Well its a small part of a sample they gave me!]

As it goes the length of my longest needles just corresponded with the width of the fat quarter. If that's not luck I don't know what is!

And I think I managed to cram everything in! It feels very neat and tidy and I love that I have a special place for my "Posh" Knitting needles! Even lil man has twigged these are new and posh needles! He loves clipping and un-clipping them!

It also closes with ties so you can make it nice and compact without damaging your needles or you can lie them out flat!

So yeah I grand success in my opinion! 

Much Love 

Frankie

xx

Sew Style Essentials, Jersey Dress

I'm all about comfort at the moment. Seriously I brought 2 sensible bras and a two packs of sensible pants last week [You know the kind, the ones that don't give you panty lines and are basically seamless]. So yeah I am all about comfort and this dress pretty much sums up my style five days of the week. You see I'm not a morning person, so when I get up with lil man for school some days I struggle to dress myself. 

This is the perfect dress for me though because all I need is underwear, tights and a belt and I am good to go!

So lets get down to the knitty gritty. The pattern came from Sew Style Essential magazine and was one of those "enlarge by 200%" monstrosities. Now I normally ignore these because LOL I have zero idea how to enlarge anything using my printer! But luckily for me it also came with a download version which you can find here. Now don't panic I know its got every single pattern from the magazine in it BUT there is a magical way just to print the pages you need. I mean I don't know how to do it, but I have a husband who does..... [It prints on 16 sheets of paper btw!] 

Anyway Its a stupidly simple pattern designed for jersey fabrics, Its three pattern pieces and I did most of it on my over-locker in about an hour [Including cutting out] The only thing I had trouble with was that my pattern only printed one size? But that could be my printer, as you may have grasped I'm pretty printer illiterate. I measured the pieces and took a punt that it might fit me. To put it into perspective I'm a RTW size 12 on the bottom and either a 10/12 on the top depending on whether I'm having a good boob day. The only part that's tight is on the arms, so I've marked that pattern piece to use a smaller seam allowance. 

My fabric is a jersey from FC Fabric Studios, It has two way stretch and washes like a dream! I've had this through the wash umpteen times and so far no issues. Its a lightweight jersey, sort of like a t-shirt fabric but its not primark t-shirt fabric thin! Sadly I can't find it on the website now but they have some other cool prints. I'm already coveting this and this for two more comfy dresses!

Okay so all in all , I love it. I mean its not the sort of make that's going to set the world on fire but I love how the clean lines really showcase what to be honest could be a bit of a difficult print. Anything too fussy and this fabric would have drowned it but I think the dress keeps things simple and chic. I even like the higher neckline, typically I tend to prefer to show a bit more chest [flaunt what yo momma gave ya] but I think this combination of a high neck and not too much leg looks very classy. In fact it kind of makes me gutted that I don't work in an office because then I could wear these everyday.  

In other news I've nearly finished my knitted blanket! Yay!

And I've started a cross stitch , the less said on that the better!

I didn't really do a huge amount over the weekend. Lil man had football practise on Saturday morning so spent Sunday morning in bed watching films and eating brioche! And then Mummy did some knitting whilst lil man watched the football! 

I think its nice to have a lazy day especially seen as we had to be up and dressed so early on the Saturday. And it was the first time I stayed and watched and it was fairly entertaining and I became quite the source of amusement to the coaches , mainly because I flinch whenever the ball comes near me! 

Much Love

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Frankie 

xxx

Disclaimer - Whilst FC fabric studios sent me this fabric for free all comfy/jersey dress love is my own!

Prym Ergonomics Knitting Needles

The future of knitting is here! I'm not even joking that's the tag line for Prym's new ergonomic knitting needles. Now I first heard about these needles at the CHSI show in Birmingham and being stubborn I saw them and was like "Yeah well that's not going to take off at all *scoffs*" and then the lady gave me a pair to try on the stand and I firmly had to eat my words!

Fast forward to a week after the show and the lovely people at Prym said they'd send me a pair to try! What they actually sent me was a HUGE box full of knitting and crochet goodies that made me cry [just a little bit, okay more than a bit but it was just so nice of them! If you check out my Instagram you'll see what I mean , and if you don't have Instagram you'll have to wait until I blog the knitting roll I've made to store them all in!] 

Naturally I wanted to give them a thorough test drive so I got every single scrap of wool I had in a blue/black/grey/white/green/purple colour way and cast on a diagonal garter stitch blanket using size 5.00mm needles in the 40cm length! 

And luckily for me they came the week the new Nintendo Switch came out so I had a lot of time to knit whilst the boys enjoyed their new toy.

So.........

LIKES!

The hook tip - Basically normal knitting needles have a tapered end but these have a little nubbin on the end. [they call it a Hook Tip]. Now this is actually there to stop your stitches coming off the needle as you knit and to make it easier to hook them. But I also found that it stopped me getting an ache in my finger as I pushed the needle down [the way I knit means I used one of my fingers to push the needle down as I make a stitch.....Yeah I know my Nan thinks its weird too!] 

The clip ends - This is a complete "HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THAT!" moment for me. I mean the ends clip to the needles so you don't loose your stitches! It seems so obviously! And they really do keep them clipped in! In the interest of testing I gave my five year old the needles with some stitches cast on and asked him to try and get the stitches off and he couldn't, he did however work out how to unclip them but they should be safe with anything under the age of 3!!

The triangle shape - It fits really nicely in the hand. 

Lightweight - Okay so since the Nintendo switch came out I've basically been abandoned by the two men in my life for the last week. That means a lot of knitting. In fact I clocked myself doing an hour of straight knitting one day, no breaks, no stopping and more importantly no arm ache. Its a miracle people!  

DISLIKES

Okay so there are less of these but there are still a few things that niggle me a lil!

The colour - Okay so they are a nice clean modern looking white colour, but I kind of wish they came in fun colours too? I think they might appeal to kids a bit better that way, for example my first pair of knitting needles were pink.

The thinness - Okay so this was something that really bothered me in the beginning. The smaller sizes of needles feel a bit floppy. Now when I first saw them I was like ew I do not like that. But after knitting with them it doesn't really bother me. So its not really a complaint is it? More a warning to persevere because it grows on you!

The ends - whilst I like the hook tips I wish the whole end was a bit smoother. They seem to be made from a slightly difference type of plastic to whats on the end of the new ergonomic crochet hooks. And the crochet hooks seem to be a lot smoother. It doesn't effect the way they knit but if you try the crochet hook as well then you can definitely see/feel the difference. 

So yeah that's it! my review of the new Prym ergonomic knitting needles and if yo want to see me un-boxing them and my initial thoughts then there's a little video!

  

And that's a really attractive still of my face!

Also if you want to get your mitts on your very own pair you can buy them from Minerva Crafts!  And hopefully my blanket will be finished soon and ready to show you!

Much Love 

Frankie

xx

Disclaimer - whilst Prym sent me the box of goodies for free all knitty love is my own!

Denim Prima Wrap Skirt

Hey guys! I'm gonna start by saying I put makeup on just so I could take these pictures........ Thats how dedicated I am. 

Anyhoos this is one of my make nine projects for this year! I was sent this prima pattern by my lovely pen friend Jeanette [you can find her on instagram as pin_n_tonic but be warned she binds a lot of the inside seams of her clothes and it will make you feel like an underachiever!] 

Anyway nobody really blogs about Prima patterns which I thinks a huge shame, yes they build loads of ease in and sometimes you have to trace the patterns off but they have some really great simple styles like this awesome wrap skirt. [Plus chances are your Nan/Mum's got a subscription anyway so you can just snaffle the patterns from her!] 

Right so naturally being me I went completely off piste and threw the instructions out the window! For starters I added 4 inches to the shortest skirt length, BUT because I decided I wanted to use the raw hem this ended up being far to long and I think I hacked at least three inches off so that was pretty pointless!

Next I omitted the back zip purely so I could just have a button front. Now I finished my button holes by hand which is a new thing I'm loving because it gives a really awesome finish! but because of spacing there are also two press studs holding the under skirt in place.

The buttons are recycled from an old coat I had before I had Lil man! Funnily enough as soon as I was pregnant with him a lady a hospital told me what a lovely MATERNITY coat it was and I never wore it again because I was convinced it was the coat making me look pregnant and not you know the baby I was growing! Hormones eh? 

I also top stitched all of my seam allowances down to give it a flat felled sort of feel. I was going to do flat felled seams but I had to do some major taking in on the side seams and back seam so this way seemed easier.

I also skipped the facings and just used bias binding to finish it. I think I;d rather have a bias bond finish than a facing because there's less flapping around. And its already hard enough to keep the under and over skirt at the front from getting rucked up on each other. 

That said I do love the wrap front, and I love it in this denim because it has such a contemporary feel to it. Rikki even said this make is "quite nice" which is high praise indeed! The skirt is pretty simple and only has three pattern pieces [Realistically you could create something similar using a standard skirt pattern] this has 3 pattern pieces the back [which you cut two of] the under front [which you cut on the fold] and the overlap which you cut in a single layer. The overlap is also shaped so that it hangs slightly lower and is angled.

The denim was sent to me for free by the craft cotton company to have a play around with.  and its a really nice sort of lighter weight denim. And the best part is it washed so much better than the last lot of denim I had! 

I have been distressing it slightly though using a cheese grater and by leaving all of the edges raw. I just like the grungy feel it gives. Although I am now picturing a nice version in a classy fabric for going out and stuff [ I say and stuff because I genuinely can't remember the last time I went anyway classier than a wacky warehouse or a McDonalds to eat] 

All in all I LOVE it , even if I do keep finding stray denim threads hanging off things! And its really nice to make separates that will go with everything in my wardrobe!

In other news I feel like I should kind of address how my blog has changed over the years. Basically when I started blogging it was because I was a lonely stay at home mum who felt like she'd lost her entire identity because a baby had popped out. That was roughly four years ago and now I'm a stay at home mum/blogger who loves writing about sewing and spending time with her kid which leads me to my next point. You may have noticed I've been doing a lot more reviews and basically getting free stuff than I did in the beginning. 

I just wanted to be straight with you and say yes I do get gifted items and yes sometimes they do ask me to post about them and add links to their sites. But I am always honest because I respect you guys far to much to lie just so I can have something. I also always disclose where things have come from.

I do it because 1. Momma didn't raise no fool and 2. because If I wasn't gifted things I wouldn't be able to review some of the great things that are in the sewing world. Realistically we are a young family and my sewing budget is basically whatever money I might get given for Christmas and birthdays! So I wouldn't be able to afford them.

But please rest assured that it will always be me blogging here and you will always get to here about sewing, general mumming, knitting and whatever other random stories!

I hope that's okay!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer - this fabric was a gift from the craft cotton company but all denim wrap skirt love is my own! 

    

Leather Key Ring - Tandy Leather

Okay so I know its not sewing or knitting but I just had to show you! I made this at the CHSI stitches show that I went to in February. Basically they had a stall completely dedicated to leather craft byt Tandy Leather and the first time I went to it I had a good peruse but the man was busy talking to someone else *insert sad face* Anyway the next time I walked past he mentioned he'd seen me hovering around and offered to let me give it a go!

Guys I made a key ring!!!! 

Well me and the man made it together, he held the stamper thing and I held the hammer! It was his idea to put the owl on after reading my blog name on my press pass. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You basically get a piece of leather [this was already a key ring shape] then he sprayed it and then we used a metal stamp to hammer an indentation onto it. The whole thing couldn't have taken longer than five minutes. And that's including me making him promise not to sue me if I accidentally hit his hand with the hammer. Then the man put the rivet and the hoop on!

It was really nice to try something new and the guys were so lovely. They even showed me some more leather techniques and let me have a good look at all the examples they had brought with them! They were some of the nicest people I met that day and they definitely got me thinking about leather crafting! Might have to put a starter set on my Christmas List! [FYI if you do want to start leather crafting they have a whole load of support videos on their you tube channel! its a great resource for those wanting to learn!]

Anyway now I'm going to go and pop this back onto my keys where it takes pride of place next to the Mcdonalds Furby Lil man gave me! 

Much Love

Frankie

x

Disclaimer - Whilst I did make this for free I did not say I would review it or my experience and I am in no way affiliated with them. I just thought you guys might be interested!

Tape Measure Print Skirt

I'm so behind with posting my makes! I actually made this skirt about two weeks ago after a bout of feeling fed up and miserable about my sewing. This project was a quick fix to try and get me out of my funk.

The fabric was what was left over from my Tape measure Lilou dress and came from abakhans.

As far as quick fixes go I think it turned out pretty cute [its a bit long in these pictures but I have since re hemmed it to make it a bit shorter] I didn't use a pattern I just cut a waistband and then gathered my piece of fabric. Its not as full as my usual skirts but it doesn't bother me too much. 

It was a nice and easy project because its cotton so all of the pressing and stitching went in perfectly first time! Even the invisible zip went in okay. I mean its not perfectly lined up at the waistband I think its about 3mm off but I've been wearing it with a waspie belt anyway so you cant even see the waistband! Plus as I said I wasn't about to get my seam ripper out for a quick fix.

That said I did take the time to hand stitch the inside of my waistband but that's only because stitching in the ditch brings me out in a cold sweat. 

The skirt was sort of inspired by the novelty print skirts that were so popular in the 1950's and because I am really trying to incorporate more separates into my wardrobe.

In other news, I have been furiously knitting whilst wearing my double trouble jumper! OMG its so warm! Although Rikki has made a few jokes about me looking as though I've been tangoed.

And this morning I manged to survive another one of Lil mans school assemblies [BTW his school have open assemblies, its not like he was in the assemblies you can just go and watch either the head teacher or the vicar speak] Anyway I survived and I actually spoke to one of the other mums afterwards. So if someone wants to give me some grownup social skill points that would be awesome!

In general I'm feeling a bit more perky!

Much Love

Frankie

x

Wool and the Gang - #doubletroublejumper

Okay so I've reached the point where I think its impossible to hate something you've spent HOURS knitting. I mean after putting all that effort in only to decide something is hideous seems a bit like sacrilege really doesn't it?

That's the journey I had with this jumper. My problems started when the Hayfield Bonus chunky I ordered from Hobbycraft was a bit more orange than I was expecting. The name Paprika should have given it away but in my defence it did look red on the website.

 

The pattern I chose was the double trouble jumper by wool and the gang. Its a free pattern which to be honest is pretty much how I like my knitting patterns to be! [BTW they actually have quite a few free patterns on their site so its definitely worth a look] I didn't use their recommended wool "wool me tender" because I had a voucher for hobbycraft so it made sense to use the equivalent weight from their.  

I started it on valentines day and finished it in bed last week when I was feeling poorly. Because of the chunky wool and the size 8mm needles the whole thing knits up pretty quick which is very satisfying.

Knitting up wise it was an absolute breeze, there was no complicated instructions and the only trouble I ran into was when I went to cast on the sleeves. They tell you to cast on 25 stitches and knit the rib pattern but I kept getting moss stitch, In the end I just cast on 26 stitches and decided I;d fix any problems with the stitch count afterwards. 

The other issue I had was that after I'd shaped the sleeves it says to knit another 50/60 [I can;t quite remember] rows and well that just seemed like a lot! I think I did about 15 and then cast off and well as you can see the sleeves are pretty long! I'm not sure if this is a pattern error or just because I didn't use the recommended wool but either way if you do make it its worth taking a look at your sleeve length as you go.  

The same applies to the fit as you can see its pretty slouchy on me [More room for cake] and I knit the smallest size so I'm not sure if its because of my wool choice. Naturally I didn't do a swatch test!

This is the best part of the pattern, whilst its simple in the front it is PARTY in the back! I love this detail! Although I would recommend wearing a crop top or a bralette underneath because when you bend forward it does gape quite a lot.

I can see it being the perfect jumper to fly with though because the open back means its really really easy to get on and off meaning you won't disturb your possibly sleeping neighbours too much!

The other thing I did differently was to crochet the collar and not knit it by picking up stitches. Picking up stitches it a pet hate of mine and I'm lazy so I just crocheted one.

All in all I kind of like it? At first I hated the collar and the whole thing just hung so stiff but after I popped it in the wash it softened up got a great slouchy vibe. I'm definitely going to make myself another one in a cream colour or a grey because its super duper warm and cosy!!! And surprisingly I actually really enjoyed knitting it! 

In other news me and Rikki went on a date to Alton towers water park yesterday. It was so nice to spend a day just the two of us and as we are both big kids we really enjoyed it!!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx 

Red Waffle Dress - FC The Fabric Studio

Hey guys! Lets take a moment to appreciate the 30 seconds of sunshine we had yesterday! Today however it was gone, and I am still waiting for nice weather because it makes taking blog pictures 1000% easier. 

Anyway I'm here today with possibly my favourite dress that I've ever made thus far. This dress was a serious labour of love and I made sure to try and do everything to the best of my ability.

So lets start from the top! The fabric is from FC FabricStudio who were kind enough to get in touch with me a while ago and ask if I wanted some fabric to blog about. And well Momma didn't raise no fool so naturally I said yes! 

I sent a list of fabric I liked from the website and was sent this awesome red polyester waffle and another red floral jersey. Now because they were both red I pre washed them together with a colour catcher [FYI I now do all of my washing with a colour catcher just because it saves so much heartache]. Now the colour catcher came out red but I'm not sure which fabric ran and neither looked different coming out of the wash. So no harm no foul just something to be aware of. 

The websites easy to navigate and the washing instruction for each fabric are really clear which I love. 

They have just under 300 fabrics on the website and they start from £2.00 and go up to £14.00 which is hardly bank breaking now is it? The other thing I love is that all of the fabrics have a great RTW sort of vibe to them. There's no novelty stuff which is great if you want to have a high street sort of look.

Pattern wise I wanted a really classic dress something that wouldn't look out of place in a restaurant but that I could dress down for assemblies at Lil mans school. Naturally I went for the Princess seam bodice from the second GBSB book because I've altered it to fit me perfectly. I added a waistband and spent a good hour umming and ahhing between having a full circle skirt and a box pleat one. In the end the box pleat won because I knew the fabric would hold the shape beautifully. The box pleat skirt is also from the second GBSB book.   

I made sure to press all of my seams really carefully and I under stitched my facings. Normally I line all of my bodices but because the fabric is thicker than a cotton I thought a lined bodice might be a tad warm and well ummm sweaty..... That said I did line the waistband so the seams from the skirt and the bodice would be tidied away. I just trimmed the seam allowances on the rest because the fabric doesn't fray.

The zip is recycled from an old hoody [I really love an exposed metal zip!] and hurrah it went in first time.

Typically I don't make dresses in plain fabrics but I think the waffle texture adds a good amount of interest to something that could end up being quite dull.

So I;m marking this a GRAND success! I love the look of the dress and I love how RTW it seems! And the colour guys! Its just so beautiful I feel like Chris De Burgh should be following me around singing lady in red! 

And I highly recommend the website for finding beautiful prints that aren't to "out there" I've got my eye on this one and this one next!

I have decided what to do with the floral jersey but the pattern needs printing off so I need to wait until Rikki is out of the house so he's not all like "WHY ARE THEIR 40 PAGES COMING OUT OF THE PRINTER!!! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH INK COSTS!" Its much easier we both just pretend that our printer spontaneously runs out of paper and ink.......

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer - Whilst this fabric was sent to me free of charge are waffle loving goodness is my own! 

World Book Day 2017

World book day folks! and the usual collective groans have been coming from the parents at my sons school for the past few weeks. I actually don't mind the dressing up providing I don't have to spend money. I hate spending money on costumes because they are never worn again. So instead I tend to work with what we have.

So this year I gave Lil man the choice between being the mad hatter, a pirate, a cowboy, the cat in the hat or the white rabbit. [you'll notice that each of those costumes can be pulled together from what we have at home.] Anyway the white rabbit won!

Okay so the breakdown, He has on his suit trousers [which happen to be grey but I'd have used school trousers otherwise] the waistcoat from a different suit that he had for his christening. an old shirt, this ones actually a bit small but all of his other shirts were really dark. Bunny ears I'm pretty sure these were from a bag my mum, sister and aunty Debbie gave me for my hen party. But if not they are one of the pairs we wear at Easter [Yes we wear bunny ears for our Easter egg hunt, stop judging]

The face paints we had from Halloween, and the bow tie is made from one of Rikkis old tshirts. Its basically two rectangles tied in the middle with another strip and then I threaded elastic through. 

The pocket watch is made from an embroidery hoop with a clock face appliqued on. [Genuinely think this is the best part of the outfit!] And its on a wool chain that I made from doing a crochet chain stitch.

And then off course there is a cotton tail! Which I made using my biggest pompom maker! 

All in all I think pulling the whole thing together took me maybe half an hour? I didn't use my sewing machine just lots of hand stitching!

In other news i'm in bed feeling rough as hell. As usual we are putting it down to stress [not that that stops me feeling any less ill] My Uncle Gordon died last week, and I think I decided that rather than dealing with it I'd just keep telling myself that he was old and now he'd be more comfortable and that he'd be happy because he'd be with Aunty Shelia again. [ He was by the way one of the nicest men I have ever met, he kept a beautiful garden and spent the last 7 years or so caring for my Aunty Shelia before she dies with a huge amount of dedication. His patience with her even in the end is a huge testament to the love they shared] 

So I had done my typical putting it in a box method and then last night our Gizmo our guinea pig started squeaking and it became apparent they he was letting us know that his brother Nibbler was dying. So I took him out of the cage and wrapped him in a towel and cuddled him until he passed on. And then it was all of the tears, tears for Uncle Gordon, and my Grandad and Nibbler. And well now its all out. 

It pretty much sucks, which is why I'm in my jammies trying to stop myself feeling so poorly!

Gosh this blog post took a bad turn, we went from cute bunny rabbit to some big emotions.

Much Love

Frankie

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