Tools of the trade

A wise man once told me that a workman is only as good as his tools , so I thought I'd let you have a little look at the items which "live" on my sewing table! 

Starting from the top we have:

My tape measure - my grandmothers, one side has inches and cms the other has the calorie content of most foods, I'm assuming that she liked to sew and diet at the same time. I on the other hand like to have a plate of biscuits close by! 

A bobbin and spool of white thread - thread wise I'm fairly boring to be honest I usually use white or black so have two separate bobbins, I only used matching thread if the project really calls for it! 

Metal rular - mr Knitwit picked this little beauty up for me , it's lovely and heavy so it doesn't shift about! 

Rotary cutter - genuinely don't how how I've survived for this long without one! It makes cutting so much quicker! 

Automatic button hole foot - when it not on my sewing table it lives with my buttons! Another item I'm not sure I could live without! 

My whiskey bin! - what can I say I'm a classy bird! Most of my stray thread end up in here , the others transport their way round the house via people's socks. 

My needle tin - also my grandmothers, all my needles live in here machine, darning and handwork varieties as well as a half penny to stop me hurting my fingers! 

Hand seeing thread - I stupidly brought some very cheap thread, it doesn't go through my machine but it works very nicely for handwork! 

My little tub of tailors chalk - I hate the stuff, generally I don't use chalk but every now and again I find that I have to. 

Floral scissors - brought for me by an old friend, scissors are a sewers best friend and I love these bad boys! 

Plastic ruler - for quick bits and pieces

Voodoo pin cushion - for the days when it's either torture an inanimate object or throw my machine out of the window.

Mini sketch book - for those beautiful moments when inspiration strikes, I also keep all my measurements in here! 

And underneath everything is my lovely cutting matt! I love how tidy everything looks on this! 

In other news my kimono got to have an outing with my best friend! 

I had a great night of letting my hair down and putting the world to rights! And I felt surprisingly dressy to say I was wearing an old sarong! 

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx

Not a saggy bottom in sight!

A long time ago I used to go belly dancing and I had the most beautiful pair of velvet trousers to wear for it, baggy and bohemian! However I don't have much call for bohemian trousers now, so they found themselves I the recycling pile!

Until I had a flick through my Great British Sewing Bee book and thought to myself,

Leggings could work, why throw them away when I could just refashion myself a new pair of snazzy leggings ?

So I got a cracking!

I'm so sorry for these first two photos I took them on my phone!

Here's how they started! They had an elasticated waistband with belt loops which fit beautifully so I thought I'd keep the elastic and loops. Then I measured my ankle, which was roughly half the width of the bottom of each leg and marked it with a pin. and them quite simply drew a line from the middle of each bottom leg to the top edge of the waistband, using a plank of wood long ruler.

And boom! Velvet leggings! They do fit really nicely all the way down! (next time I have a warm body at my disposal I'll get them to take a full length picture!)

The only problem I have now is how in hells name do I wear them? They are a dark wine colour, but I was thinking of using them for the nursery run so I don't want them to look to dressy which is hard with velvet!

I kind of like them with my Kimono jacket, but it does make me look very bohemian!

Of course I had to make sure they would pass muster for May and Patrick!

Not a saggy bottom in sight! Although if Patrick wants to come round and check personally I won't mind at all!

Hurrah for refashioning!

Much Love

Frankie!

XXX

Indian Kimono Jacket

Warning : Awkward pictures!

 

I should start by saying that I love jackets! Jackets and cardigans, I get cold easily and always like to have an extra layer! And recently I have been obsessed with kimono jackets like this one from ASOS!

 

 

They just look so comfy and awesome! I've got something similar in wool and it gets worn constantly!

 

First I had a quick look on pinterest to see how easy it would be to replicate!

 

 

Hmmm seems simple enough, although apparently the blog it came from doesn't exist! But if anyone knows who own the image please let me know so I can give credit!

 

Next I need fabric, enter an Indian style sarong I was given for my 18th birthday!

 

 

Really pretty but sadly not used,

 

 

I folded it into quarters, grabbed my ruler and my rotary cutter (It's a gauzy fabric so the rotary cutter meant that the fabric didn't move whilst trying to be accurate!) I took out a massive rectangular wedge, pinned and sewed up the edges that needed to be sewn and Ta Da!

 

 

Bored model pose!

 

 

And here's the back, can you see my tiny little error?

 

 

Only one side has this extra row of pattern! darn it! Oh well you can hardly tell!

 

I love it and I'm so glad I've out my birthday sarong to good use!

 

Much Love

 

Frankie

 

xxx