Wendy Ward Kinder Cardigan in Stuart Hillard Fabric

 Sometimes you make something and you wear it over and over and over again.

But not this time!  I've worn this cardigan approximately 3 times since I made it. [and I made it a WHILE ago]  

In theory I like it. The pattern is simple.

Its the Kinder cardigan from Wendy Wards "sewing with knitted fabrics" which is a sewing book I would HIGHLY recommend. 

And the fit is surprisingly good to say I made zero alterations. Plus its a super quick sew and I love my black version.

I also love the fabric which is a stretch jersey by the craft cotton company and designed by Stuart Hillard.  Its gorgeous to sew with and It's actually the same fabric that I made my peak tshirt dress from. Also a pattern from Wendys book. 

To be honest I'm not sure why it hasn't entered regular rotation into my wardrobe. Maybe I'm just not that much of a cardigan person anymore? In fact thinking about it the main occasions I can remember wearing it it over the top of some pjs in the hopes it makes me look all cool and bohemian....... If cool and bohemian people ate family sized bars of chocolate whilst binge watching doctor who in their jammies. 

I like it in the pictures though. I actually think maybe I needed to see it in pictures to make me want to wear it more! 

This pictures my favourite though. I don't know if you can tell but the glass is my go to glass at my mums house because its shaped like a skull and well that's how I roll. Don't mind me, just over here drinking the blood of those who have wronged me.

Thinking about it..............I might need a bigger cup!

So yeah.

Heres something I made that I don't actually wear that often, and apparently for no good reason! 

In other news!!!

- I finished a crochet blanket and I'm currently knitting another blanket now. MUST HAVE ALL THE BLANKETS! 

- I've been doing some serious sorting and huge shout out the Momma and poppa Knitwit for helping me out! 

- Lil dude is doing well at school and is getting cheekier by the day! 

- I've still been making and selling unique baby clothes on facebook, and have plans to expand my range as soon as I've got time! [if you could give it a like and a share that would be AMAZING!]

- and the new man???? Well hes still lovely! last night he actually taped a sewing pattern together for me whilst I was on the phone and he MIGHT have done a better job than I ever do! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxxxx

Constellation Dress

As promised i'm back trying to blog again. 

This dress is years old, and by years old I actually mean YEARS old!!! 

The fabric was brought at the #sewnorthwest workshop that me and my sister attended ages ago. It was a bit of a treat yo'self moment due to the fact my sister and her husband had decided to treat me to my ticket. [I actually had the money in my purse to pay for her for it and she was like "nah me and Keith have decided to treat you"] So when Fabric magpie set up her pop up shop and I saw this my sister was all like "well you've got the money from your ticket....." and well 1.5m ended up coming home with me. 

Naturally 1.5m doesn't exactly go far. So I opted for the French Navy Now Orla dress pattern which is free to download. 

Oddly whenever I make this dress the fit is slightly different, probably because I spend a lot of time hacking it! For this one I opted for a zip back and kept things really simple. I think this is when I was starting to experiment with slightly less fitted clothes and a more relaxed silhouettes. 

Making this dress perfect for those nights when your trying to eat as much pizza as possible! 

The bodice is lined, but its done BADLY! Just proving that even people who have been sewing for years sometimes say screw it and do a terrible job!!!!!!! However its functional and no one sees it when I take it off so hey ho!

I'm glad I went with a simple pattern so I could really let the print of the fabric do the talking. 

In other news!!!!! 

- Lil dude is learning piano and well by some weird extension I've been giving it a go. I'm pretty sure I'm doing horribly but my ability to read music helps and I think I might book in a appointment to have a quick lesson with my brother in law! Surely I'll sound better on an actual piano rather than a keyboard? right........?

- I've been knitting away. Its yet another diagonal garter stitch blanket but this time I'm using a beautiful colour change yarn from the shop. I'm loving how its turning out but I forgot how much I hate knitting on small needles [chunky all the way!] so its slow progress but I'm getting bits done by keeping it with me as often as I can, turns out waiting in the car at school pick up is the perfect time to do a few rows! 

-I've also been crocheting. Well I say I've been crocheting what I've actually been doing is crocheting a few rounds and then accidentally leaving it in reach of our cat Bandit and then hes been undoing all my hard work! 

And that's it really , plenty of relaxing and cuddling and doing little bits of crafting here and there!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Oh hey.........

Oh hey.........So it's been a while huh? What can I say? Life ?????I ended up taking a sort of unplanned break from blogging not for any particular reason apart from everything just got in the way, work , divorce things,small child, health issues etc. I've still been sewing just not as much, because it feels like every hour of my day is full up. But I do have some makes and I'm gonna try and get back into sewing. At the minute I'm not sure if I'll try and keep blogging or of I'll just be instagramming my makes.So shall we have a little catch up?

I've been spending a lot of time with family which is really lovely and I even managed to get a nice picture of me and my dad which is great because I realised I don't actually have a lot of pictures of me and my dad together. 

I learnt to crochet! FINALLY! I was lucky enough that at work we had a crochet teacher in a work and my manager let me have half an hour to try and learn. Well one thing led to another and now I can make simple projects this lion for example! 

I started my own business selling unique handmade children's clothes. It's called iddy biddy boutique and you can find me on Facebook! 

This lil dude just turned 8 he's doing incredible to say he's had quite a tough year but he's just going from strength to strength and I've never been prouder of him! He actually read the first Harry potter in two days can you believe it?

In the past few months I even picked up 3 new sewing machines! Yes 3!!!! Two from the seventies and a treadle!!! Yes I own a treadle sewing machine!!!! I've wanted one for ages and it seems like a dream that I finally have one!

And um this happened too! This is John and he's my boyfriend , he's sweet and funny and kind. We started off as friends but when I was basically crashing after everything he was the person who rang me every morning to make sure I hadn't slept through my alarm and made me dinner when he knew I wasn't eating and fixed my car so I wouldn't have to take it to the garage. 

And well one thing led to another and now he's one of my absolute favourite people. 

Plus he's got this habit where I sit down to sew and he immediately makes me a brew???? It's bizarre but wonderful! 

Anyway hopefully I'll have another blog post ready soon! 

And hopefully I won't leave it so long again!!! 

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx