I Sewed Leggings!

 I am not a sporty girl. In fact back in high school I used to have P.E every Friday afternoon and I used to bunk it off [sorry mum!!!]. Luckily for me the P.E teachers never took the register and I never did enough when I did turn up to make it noticeable when I wasn't there. [Yet again sorry mum!!!]

I actually went through a phase when I thought I might get into running but I only did it twice before I gave up. What can I say? You run somewhere get knackered and then still have to run home! Plus I hate sweating!

That said I do like to try and stay fit. I do yoga when I can because its calming and it strengthens my core and my Big Brother recently took me, Lil Man and his kids rock climbing and I bloody loved it! 

I haven't been rock climbing in years! In fact the manager asked me when the last time I belayed someone [held the rope and made sure they didn't fall to their death] was and I worked out it was about 10 years ago!!!! Which makes me feel hella old! Anyway I was lucky enough that my brother really pushed me to try some difficult routes and now I can't wait to go back! 

Anyway I'm not sure why I ended up with such a hankering to make leggings but what can I say the sewing heart wants what the sewing heart wants! 

I was tempted to try the pattern from the 2nd GBSB book but the idea of all that tracing put me off so instead I found a free pattern on the craftsy website. [Which I think is now known as bluprint!]

The pattern prints onto 16 or so sheets so its not too much of an issue printing costs wise. As usual I cursed my way through sellotaping it together. I have no idea why but My pattern taping always ends up wonky and not matching up its so irritating!!!

Size wise I cut a medium because I thought it would be better for them to be too big and take them in rather than too small. I'm pleased with the way they fit as they don't feel overly restrictive. 

The fabric is from the abakhans fill a bag sale. I picked it up with the intention of making more swimwear but its not quite swimwear material so i decided leggings would be better. 

Word of warning if you do attend a fill a bag sale you can end up just throwing things in your bag without really knowing what they are or what you'll use them for! But that's half the fun!!!! 

The fabric has these cool patterned stripes on it so I had to be a bit more careful with my cutting out. I'm really pleased with how they wrap around my legs at regular intervals!!!! And that I actually managed to get the stripes matching up!

I used elastic on the waistband. First I measured my waist and cut the elastic slightly smaller. Then I overlocked it to the top edge, then I flipped it over and top stitched it several times with a zig zag stitch. It makes for a really secure waistband. 

As proven by my awesome kick below......

Lets all hope I'm never in a fight eh? Because yes I did fall into the wall after pulling this rather fancy move and yes my mum did think it was HILARIOUS! 

Construction wise they are overlocked. I don't think I'd trust a regular sewing machine to make a stitch strong enough to withstand the huge amounts of physical activity these legging will be doing. 

Jokes.... The only way I'll be sweating in these is if I'm not sure I've got enough cash for the pizza delivery man.

All in all I actually really like them. I've seen a few mums rocking active wear on the school run and I might start if I can find some tops long enough to cover my bum. To be honest the only thing I'm not keen on is that they are so tight fitting. They make me feel a bit like a stuffed sausage!! And like my entire bum is on display. 

In other news! 

- My top is from a charity shop, its David Bowie and my mum got it for me. 

- I've got a lot of sewing plans in the works including 2 baby blankets!!!!! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Crop top in Stuart Hillard Kimono Fabric

GUYS!!!! I TOOK BLOG PHOTOS!!! 

Yep today I took a trek to my mums house armed with 13 projects that needed photographing and then I moved her sofa and forced her to take photos of me for an hour and a half. 

And she spent half of the time making me giggle hysterically! 

But onto the make! This is a crop top *well duh Frankie* 

I made it because I only had a teeny piece of  this kimono fabric by Stuart Hillard for the Craft Cotton Company and because I needs a top I could shove on for yoga. 

The print is some adorable flowers and I think combined with the style of the top it all ended up looking a bit 90's which I love. 

My mum spent about five minutes tucking the band of bra under the band of the crop top!

I used the free pattern Noelle from Madalynnes website but made a few changes such as making it a halterneck. Its actually the same pattern that I used for my bikini back in June.  

I did all of the main sewing on my over locker and then just did the top stitching on my regular machine. I pretty much had to drag it through my sewing machine to be honest as it was on the blink so its not the most beautiful top stitching. 

I'm hoping to get both of my machines serviced soon and then they should be back in full working order. At the moment I have one that won't sew and one that won't sew jersey. Realistically I could get my 1950's singer out because shes not scared of anything but I always have a swearing fit when I'm trying to thread it and I'm not sure I need the stress!

Anyway! I love this top! I've worn it loads for mooching about the house and Its sort of become and unofficial bra. You know for the weekends when you want to let the twins hang free but you also don't want to scare the parcel delivery guy.... or the pizza delivery guy! This top gives enough support to be decent without being uncomfortable. 

But in other news!!!! 

- Umm I don't really have much news? I'm enjoying summer and I'm hoping to get some sewing done tomorrow. 

- I'm watching the GBSB and now I want a pair of flares

-  The warmer weather has made me abandon my knitting! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx 

CHSI Stitches 2019

 Hey! Look who's back again... What can I say, I thought I was back into the swing of things and then there was a big hiccup with trying to sort out the Internet and boom! Suddenly no TV and no broadband! And due to the Ariel cable to the telly being a bit ropey me and Lil Man ended up spending a month living like 1970's hippies! Thank god for the record player that's all I can say!

Anyway last week I was fortunate enough to get to the CHSI Stitches show in Birmingham. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it what with Lil man and work and the million other things I have to do. BUT my lucky stars seemed to align and I managed to make it! 

First of all I stopped off at the Craft Cotton Company stand and was greeted with this RIOT of colour!!!!  

This is Stuart Hillards new fabric range called Rainbow etchings. I can't tell you how much I fell in love with these prints! I mean how perfect would they be for a new baby nursery! 

They've also got a range of Dumbo fabrics coming in which are ADORABLE! And with the new Dumbo movie coming out I can see these being a huge hit!

They also have these adoarble animal prints which I think would be perfect for baby quilts! Fun fact did you know that babies can actually see black and white better than colours when there tiny? Plus with them being black and white you could add one bold colour or even use the rainbow etchings range to create something really bold!

And as always they had their usual collection of licensed prints for star wars and marvel! I'm craving fun summer dresses in both of these prints! 

Next I stopped off at the prym stand and took a look at their new knitting and sewing products! Yet again I fell in love with their love "love" range and I can personally vouch for the quality of the items. 

This quilting kit in particular looks brilliant for first time quilters as it contains everything you need to get started. 

As always the Sew Over It stand was one of the chicest there! The new fabrics designed by Lisa Comfort come in a range of prints which are perfect for both autumn and winter and feel beautiful. 

I also had a chance to flick through a few copies of Lisa Comforts magazine and they look absolutely brilliant. Each magazine comes with a printed pattern and the magazine. So really its a sewing pattern with a bonus magazine!

This year sew over it are releasing at least 5 new pdf patterns and 4 new paper releases! I was actually quite shocked to hear that they had 17 printed patterns and 50ish pdf patterns in their whole range! Which I'm sure means you could have a complete sew over it wardrobe if you wanted. 

I loved these cuffs by Albstoffe. They are perfect for finishing sweatshirts and joggers and come in a range of prints and styles! 

They've also got a range of stripe me products which are great for adding a stripe down the sleeves or legs of garments.

I spent a long time at the Sidar stand looking at their ranges, Sidar, DMC and wool and the gang are all part of the same group so their was plenty to look at. 

On the DMC side of things they have a huge range of cross stitch and embroidery kits! And I love what they wrote underneath their interpretation of "the Kiss" 

"From threads with added sparkle, and hundreds of tiny kisses, a work of art is born"

They've also released a range of tiny balls of wool called Happy cotton! These come in a huge range of colours and are perfect from making little tiny crochet critters!!!! I'm totally in love with that bunny so hopefully this will be the year I finally learn how to crochet properly. 

Its also worth mentioning that their are 1000s of free patterns on the Sidar and DMC websites! 

It was lovely to see Mrs H again and admire her beautiful bag patterns! And shes been kind enough to send me a bag pattern to make and review so hopefully soon I'll have the backpack/shoulder bag of my dreams. 

I had a blast on the Kennett and Lindsell stand admiring their beautiful dress forms. Did you know they they provide all of the dress forms for the GBSB? And that they come in a huge range of shapes and styles! The ladies mannequin on the right is actually a 3/4 size dress form and It was so cute and adorable! I can definitely see me putting one of these in my sewing room at some point.  

They were also kind enough to let me spend some time playing with their scissors! Apparently they have around 50+ scissors in their range! I tried some huge ones which I couldn't physically open with my tiny hands but I found the gold ones in the middle to be a good weight and size for me!

Speaking of scissors! These are by Premax and they are scissors with measurements on! they come in both metric and imperial and I'm happy to say that I sniped some fabric and the measurements are accurate. Perfect from when you have to cut a certain length according to a pattern. 

Korbond officially won the award for the coolest stand. It had a sort of coffee bar vibe and was packed with items from their house of textures range. Which consists of all the storage you may need for your sewing or knitting or well anything! I personally have a crafters tote by the side of my sofa and fill it with my current projects , pencil case, notebooks and whatever I'm reading!

They also had their range of sewing tools, most of which can be found in your local tescos and were kind enough to give me two pairs of their scissors to review! So keep your eyes peeled for the post!

I found lots of other cool things as well but I'll save them for another blog post! 

In other news! 

I should be back to regular blogging now! 

I have 13 projects to photograph which I'm going to try and do today and then I can start writing about them. 

I've been watching the GBSB and its really kick started my sew jo! I'm buzzing with ideas of things to make! 

I've started two new knitting projects. They are pretty mindless garter stitch scarves but its nice to have something to do with my hands in the evening! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx