Stella Hoodie

As soon as Tilly Walnes new book came out I knew I wanted to make the stella hoodie and even more luckily when the big pattern swap was happening I saw that someone was getting rid of their free copy that came with simply sewing magazine. 

So I snapped it up immediately! And sewed it very quickly!

So the details!! The main fabric came from the abakhans fill a bag sale. I do have some left and I', debating between making a coco dress do a matching pair of sweat pants, any thoughts????

The fabric for the inside of the hood is an aztec type print and came from an old RTW dress. The dress had done that horrible thing where it becomes baggy and looks a bit naff so I re purposed it for the hood lining. 

I didn't have any cord for the ties so I made my own using the same fabric as for the rest of the hoodie. To be honest I quite like the body that they give to the hood when its up. 

The fabric has a quilted pattern on it and its very snuggly and warm. In fact I took this on our camping trip during the summer and I can confirm that it kept me lovely and toasty. I actually had Rikki take some photos of me on the campsite but he isn't much of a photographer and my eyes were closed on most so I had to scratch them and take some at home. 

Fit wise I cut a size 5. Normally I cut a 4 for tillys patterns but I wanted to make sure it would be big enough to wear lots of layers underneath. 

To be honest I still think the body is a bit short and so are the sleeves so both of those need altering on my next version. I really I think I need at least 3 inches onto the sleeves and about 6 onto the hem for me to feel like it looks right. 

Construction wise, with it being a free pattern it didn't come with any instructions. So I popped myself onto you tube and watched a video of someone making one up whilst I did the washing up so I'd have the gist.

The main parts were sewn on my over locker with just the top stitching and the ties being done of my regular machine. 

I did have to use a walking foot to get it through my machine but I always do for jerseys because it gives a bit more control and stops the fabric stretching weirdly.

I also did the button holes on my regular machine and I had to go over them a few times to get them looking nice. Doing buttonholes in jersey is such a faff but luckily this is a fairly stable one so it wasn't a massive issue I just had to fill in some gaps. 

The only thing I think its missing is a big pocket at the front. I think there is instructions in the book for how to draft one [Or maybes there is a pattern piece] But seen as I don't have the book I'll have to make my own which shouldn't be too hard. 

All in all I'm really pleased with how it turned out even if the sleeves and body are a bit short. I've been wearing it a lot for walking the dog in the evening when its cold and I need as many layers as I can get! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

A Very Lippy Tshirt - New Look K6217

I do have a bit of a reputation in my family as being very loud!!! 

What can I say I grew up in a very very LOUD family!!!!! 

In fact we had a family day this weekend and I had forgotten how much noise we can all make when we are all together!!! That said it was lovely seeing everyone and having a good old catchup!

So onto my make! This has actually been made for months! I've got quite the collection of makes still waiting to be blogged about and an even bigger pile of ones that need to be photographed!!! 

So I got this fabric at the Abakhans fill a bag sale [The first one I went to] and I mainly picked it up because of the print of lips. 

I was hoping there might be enough for a dress but their wasn't so I've had to settle for a top.

This New look K6217 top pattern has become quite a firm favourite with me for smaller pieces of fabric. I don't actually wear them very often but its nice to have a few me made tshirts on hand to pair with skirts and trousers. In fact I'm wearing a spotty one right now with a me made pencil skirt. [Fun fact: I should have added a back vent to the pencil skirt because I'm really struggling to walk anywhere quickly in it! In fact the steps to school were a bit difficult today!!!]

Theres not really a lot I can say about fit because its meant to be quite loose and baggy but I do find it looks better tucked in. The only alteration I might make to the pattern is to lengthen it slightly so its easier to tuck in. 

Construction wise I sewed the side seams and shoulder seams on my over locker and did the back seam and hems on my regular machine so the opening at the back would sit nicely. 

For the hems I went round the edges with my over locker and then folded them over twice. This is a technique I use for all of my hems on floaty fabrics because the overlocked edge give you something stable to turn over and keeps your hem a uniform width.  

In other news!!!! 

I've finally joined the rest of the crowd and watched the crown, which I really enjoyed and now I'm dreaming of tweeds and cardigans for the winter months. 

I've done no more knitting on my miette cardigan and in fact I'm quite tempted to rip the whole thing back and use the wool on something else as I'm not quite loving how its turning out. 

I've done no more on my crochet blanket or my hexy blanket either!!! 

What I have been doing its lots of sewing projects that take time and attention and I'm really enjoying my new bout of slow sewing! Although at the rate I'm going blogging and photographing projects you probably won't see them for another six months!!!! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Peak Tshirt Dress in Stuart Hillard Fabric

My style is really changing at the moment. After years of being really dressed up all the time I'm trying to embrace casual a lot more. Which obviously includes making my own casual clothes. 

I'm trying to work out why I'm so smiley on the picture above? Did someone give me a cookie? Was I two glasses of wine down? Why am I so cheerful?????????

Ahh that's better. My resting bitch face is back. 

So onto the dress!!! The fabric is one of the prints from Stuart Hillards Kimono collection for the craft cotton company. Its a lovely sort of abstract print on a blue background. The craft cotton company were actually kind enough to send me a few prints from his collection but I only had a small amount of this one so I knew I'd need a simple pattern that wasn't too fabric hungry.

I chose to use the Peak tshirt pattern from Wendy Wards book. BUT I opted for the longer dress version. To be completely honest this book has become my go to for jersey patterns. Its got a few basic patterns in it but there's so many variations for every pattern that its definitely worth buying! 

Construction wise I used my over locker for the mainly body of the dress and just used my regular machine with a twin needle and walking foot for the top stitching and hems. I did add a bit of interfacing to my hems to stop them puckering when I used the twin needle and I stabilised the shoulders with some ribbon to stop them stretching out. 

Typically I don't wear tshirt dresses but I really like this one. I actually made it during the summer and it was really comfy to wear but I've worn it with thick tights recently so it should be good for winter too. 

The only problems I have are :

1. the neckline is really high. I've since altered the pattern and the neckband pattern piece to make it a bit lower. 

2. its a slim fitting dress. which means if I'm bloated or I've eaten an entire bag of jam donuts to myself [Obvs I don't actually do this........often] then I don't really wear it because I risk looking a bit pregnant. On the plus side if I'm at home and I'm eating pizza and I don't have to leave the house then the fabric does expand to fit my pepperoni tummy.

All in  all I really really love it. Its so nice to have a more casual dress that I can wear. I actually took this camping with me when we went as well because I like to have a dress option with me and this doesn't crease. 

In other news!!!! 

I still haven't added anymore to my miette cardigan....... I know I know and I'm annoyed with myself because I said I would finish it before I started another project but there's a few patterns that are calling to me! 

My hexy quilt is getting bigger! I'm adding to it every now and again its its definitely progressing. But I knew I was in for the long haul with that one! 

My new crochet quilt isn't getting any bigger either. I'm making granny squares and blocking them but I think its going to be another long project. 

We have however clear out our loft so we can put the train set up their permanently and then the boys can play with it. Obviously I'm most excited about building all the scenery and houses!

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Helping to put Sewing in Schools

Its the day after Halloween but do you want to know whats really scary? 

Facing a room of 6-10 year olds each who are holding a needle and screaming for your attention. 

Yep folks I went into my sons school to teach the kids how to sew on a button and it was a baptism of fire. 

It started off as me asking the head teacher if she had seen that hobbycraft were offering free buttons to schools to encourage children to learn to sew on buttons. I also offered to source some fabric if she needed it. 

HUGE shout out to the craft cotton company who gave a generous box of fabric for the kids to use and who madce sure to include prints that the kids would love including spiderman and star wars to make sure the boys didn't feel left out.  

And as I took the fabric in I was faced with this question....

"so when do you want to come in and do it????"

HUH????? You want me to do it? Seriously? What can I say I thought I was offering supplies but I got roped into actually teaching the session as well! 

The general idea we had was that I would pre make a load of bunting and then the kids would draw on what they were thankful for [we did consider stitching but it looked like it would take far too long!] and sew on a button. Then I would take all the bunting home and attach it to bias binding and make it into long stripes of bunting.

FYI asking kids what their thankful for is HILARIOUS! You get the sweet kids who say "mummy and daddy" and then you get the ones who you know are going to be future hippies who say "trees" and then you get to ones who tell you their thankful for "x-box" BUT then you'll get one ABSOLUTE LEGEND who says he's thankful for "dragons" 

Yes folks 

Dragons!!!!!!

It was wonderful and terrifying at the same time. I was supposed to run four sessions but only ended up doing three because I was in out of hours on the last one with bad chest pains [Nothing to worry about I've just had to change my diet quite drastically]

For starters 30 kids each holding a needle is sweat inducing to say the least. Even if I did make sure to take the bluntest needles I could physically find.

Secondly apparently the actual sewing on of a button is a lot harder than I thought it was! Especially for small kids to get their heads around.  You could definitely see the difference between the kids who had done sewing at home with parents and grandparents and the kids who had never touched a needle and thread in their lives. 

But it was really really lovely to see all of the kids gain confidence in what they were doing and what they'd achieved. But do you want to know what sucks?

 Making kids cry!!!! 

Obviously that wasn't my intention but sewing on buttons is a frustrating business and a few tears were shed mainly because of tangled threads and buttons falling off after they thought they had been attached. I also had tears from a lil lad who desperately wanted to take his home to show his mum but sadly we'd already decided that they would be used to decorate the school and me and the teacher realised if we let one take his home then everyone would want to take home!

All in all I was really glad I went in to do it. Even if the first thing I did when I got home was pour myself a glass of wine to try and relax [Typically I don't drink before 6pm but after 2 hours of 30 small children wanting my attention I needed something to take the edge off.]

And the bunting looks glorious zig zagging the hallway and its so lovely that the kids can see their achievements every day and that hopefully a few of them will have been bitten by the sewing bug!!!!

The down side....

Lil man wants to know when I'm next going in.....

much love 

Frankie

P.S I highly recommend throwing caution to the wind and going into your local school and asking if they want you to go in and do some sewing. Yes its like entering the 7th depth of hell but its also a lot of fun!