Striped Dress

One day I'll stop posting princess seam dresses made using the pattern form the GBSB book. But today is not that day.

I know I know, at this point I'm even boring myself! But seriously how CUTE is this dress!

So yes the pattern is the princess seam bodice and box pleat skirt from the second GBSB book, but as per usual I've added a waistband in.

You can find this dress in other fabrics here, here, here.

It all started with this striped cotton that I was given by the lady at the car boot. At a guess I'd say there was about a metre and a half? If that? I had to do some proper tetris cutting to get all of the pieces out of it. 

The waistband is some mesh type fabric that the lady also gave me, I made sure to press the seam allowances on the skirt and bodice away from the mesh as its slightly see through. The neck and armholes are faced and then top stitched in place. The zip is recycled from one of lil mans old hoodies but it does means I have to put the dress over my head rather than step into it.

There was no way I was going to be able to match my seams due to the shortage of fabric so I just did my best to keep the lines straight. 

It was a super quick make I think it maybe took an evening? I even hemmed it by machine to save time, I did opt to use one of the fancy looking stitches on my machine though instead of using a plain straight stitch and I've got to say I quite like the effect.

All in all I love this dress! Its super cute and flirty for the summer, although I do wonder if its a bit short? I wore it to my mums over me made may and she mentioned that she could see my bum at one point and not to bend at the waist when putting Lil man in his car seat. Looking at these pictures it doesn't look too short? So maybe I just need to be more ladylike in general???

in other news!!

: good god its hot! I spent more of the day with a rather attractive pink sweaty tinge to my face!

: My sister sent me a copy of "the handmaidens tale" by Margret Attwood! Basically since the series started on channel four me and my sister have been having weekly discussions about the episodes and stuff [we even tweeted Attwood to ask a question but she didn't reply :( ], anyways I had asked to borrow her copy of the book when she had finished re reading it and well she only went and got me one of my own! I've already started reading it and have brought a stack on post its so I can make notes! Shes my favourite person to discuss books with and its like sitting in my English lit classes all over again! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

P.S Happy Fathers day to all the days out there! The biological ones, the step ones, the adopted ones and the mums who are doing the jobs of fathers! 

xx 

Gleener Ultimate Fuzzball Remover - Review

I hate throwing clothes away, especially when its one of my favourite items. Which is why when I went to the CHSI Stitches show in Birmingham I was really impressed when I met the people from Gleener! And even chirpier when they offered me one of their fuzzball removers to review! Personally I think they just took pity on me because the cardigan I was wearing had a LOT of fuzzballs and lint and pilling! 

So basically the fuzzball remover helps you remove the fuzz from your knitwear [Although me and my mum tried it on her leggings and it worked their as well!]

The fuzz ball remover is double ended. The first end allows you to clip on and off various heads depending on the type of knit you are working with, for example for delicate knits you use the least rough head. Although Gleener recommend that you start with the smoothest head and work your way up so as not to damage your knits! And to make sure you do a test somewhere that's not visible, I.e the inside or in the armpit. 

The second end is a padded lint brush that picks up any lint or fuzz balls you may have missed.

These are the three heads that come with the de-fuzzer, the top is for delicate knits and is what we used on my mums leggings, the middle is for medium knits, I used this on a few of Lil mans baby blankets before I put them into storage. And the bottom one is is the heavy duty one! I've been using this on some of Hubby's older jumpers and its the head I used for this test! 

In the interest of fair testing I used it on my awfully old and bobbly cardigan. Its also my absolute favourite and I have yet to find a cardigan I love as much! 

Its best done on a flat surface so I opted for my ironing board, I also put a towel down to stop things slipping around. Basically you drag the de fuzzer along the fabric effectively scraping your bobbles away! T-hen you go over the same patch with the de linter end! My only issue with it was that the button to switch the heads is right where my finger wants to rest when I'm using it so the heads kept popping off!

 It takes a little while to do a good job the first time but since then I've just been doing it every time it comes out of the wash and it only takes five minutes to do a top me up!

This is the amount of fuzz and lint off one sleeve *hangs head in shame!* 

And here's the finished sleeve all lovely and smooth and nice looking!!! 

Now when I showed Hubby how it worked his first question was "why wouldn't you just buy a new jumper?" so if you tend to replace your clothes often then its probably not for you however if you like to take care of your clothes or buy expensive clothes then this will be right up your street! I used it a LOT during our year of no spending leading up to our wedding and it saved a lot of our clothes. I used it on everything, t shirts, jumpers, cardigans, blankets lil mans clothes! It really did save us a fortune! It was also a hit with lots of my hand knit jumpers which had taken quite the battering after going through the washer and dryer. 

 So I would give this a huge thumbs up! Its definitely been used a lot in our house! 

If you'd like your own you can find them here  

And here's a cheeky lil 15% discount code for ya! 

KNITWITS

And it works on amazon too

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Disclaimer - whilst I was given this product for free all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Striped Pencil Skirt

Its Sunday, and what can I say I'm already facing the Monday blues. I've just eaten a huge pizza and I'm trying to convince Rikki to pop to McDonalds and get me a Mcflurry. It's not going well, apparently he wants to watch the F1 and he's just asked me if I've done the ironing and if he has work shirts and Lil man has school tops.......FYI they don't .

Mainly I'm just feeling a bit meh? Which seems ridiculous but its true, I've cleaned the house today so I'm hoping some sewing tomorrow evening will chirp me up. 

But here's a thing I made recently! [i.e possibly the start of may?] I got this striped fabric from the lady at the carboot, It's some sort of waffle fabric with no stretch. First of all I wanted to make a box pleat skirt but opening up the fabric revealed that it was just a very thin strip. So I had to skip my plan and make a pencil skirt instead. I also had to give p any idea of matching the stripes across the side seams.

I did however managed to squeeze out enough to try and make a "bow back" Which actually turned out pretty awful, I should have realised that this fabric was to still to make a beautiful draped bow. So far I've been wearing it tucked into the skirt so you can't see it. I also cut the waistband/bow on the other grain so these stripes are vertical.

But if you do want to make your own bow tie all you do is cut your waistband longer than you need and then whip stitch the edges closed, I also recommend using a fabric with a give of drape.

  

Here you can see the awful pattern matching, the annoying thing is whilst one side is pretty much matched the other side is a hot mess. The perils of working with less fabric than you need eh?

I;m trying to remember if its horizontal or vertical stripes that are meant to be flattering? 

The pattern is the pencil skirt from the 2nd great British sewing bee book.

Here's how it ties at the top, its actually a cut variation on having a button tab. I am wondering if maybe it would work better if the waistband were wider? so the bow would be bigger? Kind of like the "Jojo bows" all the lil girls at school are wearing? If you don't know what the "Jojo bow" trend is just picture a small girl [under the age of 13] with a MAHOOSIVE bow on her head, these bows are typically a bright colour and are cover in glitter or diamante. Yes they are hugely tacky, and yes I am trying to work out if I'm too old to wear one......... 

Apart from the bow the skirt also closes with a bad ass lapped zip. I mean this thing is beautiful, its definitely one of my neatest lapped zips and it went in first time! Any I think I've finally worked out how to make sure the actual zip is concealed under the lap as well.

In other news!

We are fast approaching the summer holidays! I'm looking forward to spend time with lil man but I know my sewing and "me time" is going to take a pretty big hit! On the plus side we also have a wedding coming up in August and I'm really looking forward to that.

 Rikki also won a Hoverboard this week! 

We popped to our local Holdcroft Renault so Lil man could see a F1 car they had displayed there and they had a racing simulator and said that you got to do two laps and your fastest time went p on the board and the fastest overall won a prize. Anyway because Rikki is Mr videogame he was gagging to have a go! I decided not to because simulators tend to make me feel a bit queasy at best. In fact watching Rikki made me feel a bit woozy!

But long story short he had the fastest time of the day and won!

He's already pretty good on the over hoverboard [which is kind of like a segway but without anything to hang onto] I on the other hand have no sense of balance and it took me agggesssss to get it and even now I'm not brilliant!!!!

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx

The Half Finished Jacket Part 1

Okay so this jacket was given to me by an old friend, I used to go to school with her daughter and then I used to serve here in the pub! [Stella shandy, half and half, the fact that I can still remember drinks orders like this but don't know where my slippers are is highly amusing] 

Anyways she was moving and she started this jacket when she was in college [which was a little while ago, I ain't going to start divulging peoples ages!] and she offered it to me! As well as an awesome sewing box that folds out! 

P.S This is my first finished jacket so prepare yourself for a long post! 

The jacket was already cut out and all of the pieces had the interfacing attached and the pad stitching had already been done! The pattern was vogue 1446 , which as you can see is VERY 80's!!!! The jacket that was cut out was the middle one [view B] and a good portion of the work had already been done. 

Here's a list of what had been done:

Cutting out

Pad stitching

Pockets attached to front pieces

Fronts and backs of sleeves sewn together [They are in two parts]

Sewn side seams [As it goes I undid the side seams and sleeve seams and re sewed them because I know how seam allowances can vary from person to person]

Anyways I finished it!!!! Woop woop! I had actually forgotten just how good vogue instructions are!

I had to attach the collar which went in easy and attach the sleeves which was less fun, vogue has you set then in with the side seams sewn up and I scratched up my arms because of all the pins I had to wrangle around my sewing machine!

Then I had to sew and attach the lining, I sewed most of the lining to the front facing by machine but the neck area was stitched by hand just so I'd have more control and be able to achieve a neater finish.

I love how this turned out because you can barely see the stitches!

I hemmed the sleeves by hand as well.

The fabric was a British made wool and is LUSH! its like the most beautiful fabric in the world and I think I fell in love with it! Surprisingly it pressed really really well! Although I did use a pressing cloth so I wouldn't scorch it. The lining is just a typical lining fabric. The combination of the two makes a lovely snuggly coat!

I finished the hem using the "taped hem" method [At least that's what Jamie from male Devon sewing calls it!] Basically I turned up the hem once and whip stitched it down and them I covered the raw edges and the whip stitching with a strip of ribbon and some very neat stitches!

Then I top stitched around the edge of the whole coat, at this point I'd given up with the instructions and was just going my own way! I also left the buttons off because I just wasn't feeling it!

Okay so here's the deal , whilst I had a blast sewing this up and I love the fabric and I do genuinely think its some of my best sewing....... It is very 80's. I mean very 80's it has shoulder pads for gods sake! Now I know this slouchy style is very on trend however I think this might be a bit too slouchy for me [The lady who gave me this would have looked fab in it, shes very tall and by here own admission has the shoulders to carry it!] I however am quite short and have very little shoulders so It sort of drowns me, which is why..............

I have altered the living shenanigans out of it!!! Haha yep I went on a full hacking spree on this bad boy and now its bad-ass! But you'll have to wait for this until part 2!!!

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx

P.S if you made it to the end I'll be well impressed because this was a well long post! 

  

Vertical Stripe Jumper

When I started this blog I swore that I would try and document all of my sewing projects the good the bad and the ugly. However I'm not sure if this falls into the bad or ugly category? The sewing isn't bad so I'm going to say its the ugly.

I look like a 70's referee. The vertical stripes did not work at all. There wasn't really a thought process behind this, more of a look I have some weird shaped fabric off cuts lets see what I can make from them. I didn't even have enough for the bands! So I used some turquoise jersey from sew essential. The stripe itself is from abakhans, I found it in one of the bargain bins! 

I used the threadcount wardrobe builder cardigan pattern but cut the front on the fold. I can't even remember what the pattern number is and I refuse to stand up and walk across the room to look. This project does not deserve a walk across the room. [I just looked in my notebook and apparently its threadcount 1607] 

Construction wise the main stuff was done on my over locker and the top stitching was done on my regular machine. It took no time at all to sew, but still turned out hideous!!! 

All in all its a pretty god awful jumper isn't it? That said I'll probably still wear it when its winter and I;m freezing my bum off on the walk to school. Plus I had no wasted fabrics so that's a bonus? Although now I'm wondering if I should just start binning my weird off cuts? or donating them to my sons school! 

So yeah that's today's make,

In other news I'm planning my next quilt. We don't need another quilt but I seem to have amassed quite the collection of fabric scraps so I guess its going to happen!!!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Me Made May 17 - The end and what I learnt

Yet again I left posting my last week of me made may really late and yet again someone decided to try and invoke terror into the hearts of the British people. My heart is with the people of London right now and I hope that at some point all this will stop.

So here's my last week of Me Made May, this ones for the colourful spirited people of London!

Day 22 - Raglan Top

Pattern - Prima 

Fabric - Simona 

No idea what I did on this day but it definitely involved me snuggling under at blanket at some point!

Day 23 - Kimono Cardigan

Pattern - None

Fabric - Old sarong

I wore this for sports day at lil mans school, luckily someone had warned me that the parents races were obstacle races and recommended I didn't wear a dress! Rikki came 3rd in his race and I well didn't come anywhere? But I was pleased to take part and the absolute highlight was the lady next to me muttering "I knew I should have put a tenor lady in" Just before we started running!!!! Anyways the jacket held up well for the mixture of sunshine and wind we were experiencing and I felt like I looked okay for sports day!

Day 24 - Wrap Skirt

pattern - none

Fabric - up-cycled form dress

Okay so this was from the day I woke up and lil man had no voice! Like actually none! It was hilarious! But other than the inability to talk he was fine, he was eating well, he had no fever and he said nothing hurt! It just couldn't talk, needless to say it was a very peaceful day!

Day 25 - I forgot to take a picture

and  have no idea what I was wearing.

Day 26 - African Wax Print dress

Pattern - GBSB book 2

Fabric - abakhans 

I need to get my hands on some more wax cotton so I can make more of these dresses!!! I love how the box pleat skirt and the stiffer fabric means its less likely to blow up in the wind! The only thing I dislike is how prone it is the wrinkling, I literally have to iron it before I wear it.

Day 27 - Unblogged summer dress

Pattern - Hacked GBSB Cami top

Fabric - Minerva crafts

This dress is on my to be blogged list, I actually got around to photographing it today which is a bonus because its been hanging on my door for days waiting!

Day 28 - Wrap Dress

Pattern - GBSB book 2

Fabric - Abakhans 

I love this dress! I need to make more wrap dresses because they are just so easy to throw on! Anyways I wore this to our local car boot. Sadly the fabric ladies weren't there but I did managed to get myself a stepper for exercising and 4 patterns. The patterns were £1 each , which I actually felt was a bit steep for a car boot? But they were all uncut so I guess its not awful its just most of them were free with magazines so..........

Day 29 - Unblogged Striped summer dress

Pattern - GBSB book 2

Fabric - Car boot

I wore this dress to spend the day at my mum and dads and as a happy coincidence my sister and her hubby went over too! We had a great time even if most of their floor was ripped up at the time! Anyways I do like this dress I'm just wondering if its a wee bit short? I don't think its too bad maybe I just need to learn how to sit in a more ladylike manner! 

Day 30 - Forgot to take photo

I can't remember what I wore either!

Day 31- Unblogged vintage dress

Pattern - Butterick 3596

Fabric - Craft Cotton Company

I'd finished this dress the night before and wasn't planning on wearing it, However it was the only item of clothing I had downstairs. To cut a long story short Rikki had a belting migraine and spent most of the day in bed sleeping/throwing up. It was great............

And yeah that's my finished me made may!

So here's my thoughts on my current wardrobe:

- I need more tops.

- My style doesn't tend to change from winter to summer I just change how may layers I wear

- I need a me made coat [this may have already been amended!!!]

- I'm definitely more on board with colour than I was a few years ago!

- I have a great collections of tried and tested patterns but maybe its time to step outside of the box?

- I want to try and do some knock off designer stuff this year!

And that's it really I've thrown a few things out that I know I will never wear, which is a shame because I spent time sewing them. But if they are not going to be worn then I might as well stop them taking up room in my wardrobe.

I've also got a lot of stuff planned to make which is cool!

Anyways much love to the people of London and to the rest of the world!

And I hope all of the lovely sewists who live in London are safe!

Much Love

Frankie 

xx

Simple Raglan Top

 I was going to write this in the morning but lo and behold Rikki woke up with a migraine and spent the day spewing up and moaning whilst I tried to occupy a lil boy!

It was fun!

Anyway this top was made out of necessity I needed something to go with this liberty skirt I've made [which fit perfectly when I made it but is now somehow too big on the waist?] And because I'm making an effort to put more solids into my wardrobe!  

Its really wrinkled in these pictures because lolz Frankie hates to iron! The pattern was the same raglan prima pattern that I used for my last raglan top [I'm using it instead of buying the Linden sweater because Frankie = cheap]

The fabric was from the lovely Simona from Sewing Adventures in the Attick, I won it during her de-stash!!! And funnily enough she's Romanian and grew up near where I used to go skiing! Small world eh? Anyway its a very lightweight jersey with sort of raised striped on it and its very slightly see though. So you can't make anything body con with it, hence why I stuck to a looser style! 

The whole thing was whipped up on the over locker and I didn't bother to match the stripes! 

And that's it really!

Now I'm going to try and coax my husband into having something to eat and taking some more migraine tablets!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx