Monday 28 August 2017

Caron Cake Scarf

A while ago the crafting community went crazy for Caron cakes. I actually knew this was going to happen. No I'm not clairvoyant, it just so happened that a few weeks before I;d been at the CHSI stitches show and spoken to one of their representatives [whilst he fed me a Caron cake.....not actually fed me, it wasn't like a roman slave thing....he just gave me a cake to eat]  Anyway he used the words "these are going to be huge" and I was like "oh alright Hun, may I have another cake for on the train?" 

And then they launched.

And before you could say knitting needles Hobbycraft had sold out, and on line had sold out [I mean who knew the INTERNET could sell out?] I actually saw a picture of a lady walking out of Hobbycraft with 10 of them! I MEAN TEN!

Luckily for me I snapped one up a few weeks later when the drama had died down! This was during Rikki's why don't you spoil yourself and get a hobbycraft order moment...... I'm still not 100% what he's broken. 


I chose the "Funfetti" colourway which is no longer available on the hobbycraft website [insert sad emojis] I'm not sure why I picked that one, apart from I was two glasses of wine down and the title Funfetti just seemed hilarious! I already knew I wanted to knit a new winter scarf and who does want to swath themselves in Funfetti? 


I believe it comes under the title of a colour change wool, well because the colour changes but its not in  your typical fade style. Instead you get set blocks of colour, all of which I think are roughly the same length [its hard to tell when its knitted up because of gauge and stuff] Now because of these solid blocks of colour I decided to alternate my stitches so for example I started knitting in garter stitch and then when the colour changed I switched to moss stitch! I kept going like this until the end, It worked out quite nicely because it gave me a break from the moss stitch which I am really really slow at. Plus it gives the scarf a bit more texture.

I cast on 31 stitches because you need an odd number to create moss stitch and knitted the whole ball of wool. I knitted it up on 7.00mm prym ergonomic knitting needles. The clip ends on the needles came in very handy for this project as they stopped my knitting slipping off and coming undone! In fact they worked so well that this scarf survived camping without dropping a single stitch! 


Isn't moss stitch pretty? Its so underrated!


And here's my personal favourite garter stitch! Fun Fact : I can knit garter stitch without looking at it. this makes it perfect for watching films for "mindless knitting"


The ball of wool cost me £10 which I think might be the most I've ever spent on a 200g ball of wool but I used the lot! Its worth it though to have such a long scarf! Shops never make scarves long enough to wrap around twice or do a loop with. [ Although my Mother has informed me the best way to where a scarf is to cross it over your chest and across your tummy to keep the cold out.] 


It actually turned out pretty cute as my new winter scarf I like all the colours and the length is a definite bonus but the best bit is the content of the wool, Its 20% wool and 80% acrylic which means its soft enough that it won't scratch but that its hard wearing enough to go through the wash a few times! I'm not sure what it is a about winter that makes clothes so grimy but it sure does! 


In fact the only quibble I have is that the end colours of my ball of wool were a bit mottled. Ever other colour had been perfectly even but the last two were very splotchy and well messy looking. I'm not sure if mine was just a bad lot but it did irk me a bit. Especially seen as £10 for a ball of wool isn't exactly cheap. 

Its not enough to stop me buying more Caron cakes though! I'm lusting after "bumbleberry" at the moment! 

In other news!

-The boys are more than pleased with the latest Liverpool result all I can hear every now and again is shouting!

 - We have brought a new rug for the living room and its shedding like a Yeti! I'm genuinely worried wee are going to have no rug left. But Rikki assures me that its just because its new and that it should stop soon. I will have to hoover though which is gutting!!!

- We are still surviving the summer holidays but we seem to have found out groove a bit more this week. So far we've been to see the monkeys, played mini golf with dinosaurs and learnt some sewing skills! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx









Saturday 26 August 2017

Freesewing.org - Review

Sometimes I think the hardest part of sewing is the fitting. Very often people will tell me they tried sewing but that the fit was just so awful that they gave up. We've all been there, after carefully cutting out the right size according to the sizing chart finding both your boobs are falling out can be a bit soul destroying. But imagine if you could have patterns drafted for your size! Wonderful right? Now imagine it was all for FREE! BLOODY WONDERFUL!

Ladies and gentlemen I would like you introduce you to freesewing.org


Okay so here's the details.

The site is completely free [you are free to make a donation though] you just set up an account using your email and a password and your good to go. You can then create models, you enter a whole bunch of measurements lots more than the standard sewing pattern asks for and then you can choose a pattern and start "drafting your own".


Currently there are 12 patterns available but the "drafting" process means you can alter them to fit with your vision. For example you can raise and lower neckline and hems, add ease and just generally foof around. [I'm currently imagining the hoodie above as a dress!]

Now some of the patterns don't have full instructions, some just have a list of bullet points or a link to something similar however I don't think its anything someone with a bit of sewing experience couldn't handle! 


Hands down the most important part of using the website is making your you enter your measurements correctly. Each measurement has a "help" feature which tells you what you are actually measuring but I highly recommend getting a friend to help you measure for accuracy. I've already added all the measurements for lil man so if I need to whip him something up they are all there. 

Now in honour of their official launch I asked creator Joost a few questions!

1. Who's behind freesewing.org?

I am :)

My name is Joost De Cock. I live in Antwerp and in my spare time I enjoy making things.
There's a number of people who've been supportive, given feedback, or helped me out (I thanked a bunch of them in my announcement blog post) but at the end of the day, it's a one-man show.

At least for now. I don't want it to be/stay that way which is part of the reason that I started building freesewing.

2. When did you learn how to sew? 

When I was young, my mother would mend my clothes. But she never enjoyed sewing, and so she didn't really care too much about matching thread colours, or avoiding wrinkles and whatnot.
As a growing up teenager, I was mortified every time she would mend my jeans with pink thread or something, so one day I decided I would do it myself.

That's when I learned, but I didn't really make anything. I knew how to fix/repair things and that was enough for me.
As I grew older and moved out of my parents' house, I bought a sewing machine and I did use it to make curtains and bed linens and other simple things, but still no garment sewing.

That  changed about 6 years ago when I was home sick for a couple of weeks with mononucleosis.
I was bored to death, but didn't really have the energy to do much physical activity.
So, somewhat out of the blue, I decided I would try making trousers. I bought a Burda pattern and some fabric and went to work.
The trousers were, in retrospect, a complete disaster, but I really enjoyed the process.
This was sometime in December, so that new year, I made it my new year's resolution to no longer buy clothes. Instead I would make everything myself.

I'm still doing that, and thankfully I've gotten a bit better at it :)

3. How did you come up with the idea fir the site? 

As a 6 foot 6 (198cm) man, sewing patterns are problematic.
First up, there's far fewer choice for men than there is for women, and in addition, I don't exactly fit in the standard sizes.
So much like the clothes you buy in the store, the patterns never worked for me and needed alterations.
Alterations that aren't that obvious to a beginning sewist.

So one day I bought a book on pattern design. Winifred Aldrich's book for menswear.
I got to work with paper and pencil, and almost immediately felt like "This would make a lot more sense on computer".

So I tried building something that would draft the pattern for me.
When I got that to work, I tried to make it so that I could put in different measurements, and the pattern would adapt.
I got a few people to try it and received positive feedback, so I decided to try and build a real website that would offer that service.
That was makemypattern.com version 1. Which I later rewrote completely to version 2, which I then rewrote completely again and that is now freesewing.org.

So while freesewing is new, it's actually the fourth generation of a idea that stretches back about 6 years.


4. Which is your favourite pattern on the site? 

Gosh, that tends to change. As in, whenever I make a new pattern, I try to make it better than all other patterns :)
But from a maker point of view, I really like the Wahid waistcoat pattern because I think waistcoats are a nice look, and it's a pattern that is relatively quick to make yet look super stylish.

5. Are you going to add more patterns? 

Oh for sure. I have 3 on the go at the moment that I hope to add before the end of the year.
I want to sort of 'complete' my menswear offer so that all the basics are covered, but I also plan to branch out into womenswear.

When I started doing this, I did it sort of for myself, and happened to share my work.
But now that I've gotten a bit better at things, I'm looking forward to design for women because it's more challenging.
Those curves take more work :)

6. What's next for freesewing.org

I'm going to keep on adding patterns to the site, so in that regard, it's more of the same.
However, there's a big difference between freesewing.org and makemypattern.com and that is that it's an open source project now.
Which means that people can jump in and help out (please do) or add their own patterns.

But it also means that anyone can take this code and run it themselves.
I think it makes a lot of sense for a pattern business to provide made-to-measure patterns instead of standard-sized patterns.
So if you were starting a pattern business today, you could build it on top of the freesewing code.

In addition, there's a lot of information on pattern design and drafting that is buried in old books that are hard to get or expensive.
I think it would be a valuable sort of archiving effort to translate those time-honoured drafting instructions into code and have them available on the site.
I mean, we shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time somebody wants to make a pattern. The basics have been covered and it seems like a good idea to bring them into the modern era this way.

A huge thanks to Joost for taking the time to answer my questions! I can't wait to see where his project goes and I look forward to a future of free sewing patterns! 


So far I've printed off the Trayvon tie pattern in a size suitable for little man [so much easier than trying to size down a pattern] and he helped to sew it up this morning! Its our first time sewing together so we made a tie for him and used a pattern I already had to make Rikki a matching one [Spoiler alert : I liked the free sewing pattern better!] [Double spoiler alert : we made both the ties from the same fabric as a dress I have, so we're basically the von traps] 

So yes! Sign up for free sewing and let me know what you think!

Much Love 

Frankie 

 P.S I wasn't asked to write a review about the website I just thought you guys would want to read about free patterns!!!!!!!!!!!!




Thursday 24 August 2017

Days By the Sea Dress - Simplicity K1418

Today is Rikki's birthday and like an absolute trooper he's still gone into work. Apparently he didn't have enough holidays to take my birthday and his off and he decided mine was more important...... AWWWWWWW! But seriously though he's not that bothered about his birthday really? In fact seen as he gets up at half four in the morning we actually did his presents last night so today he just has his cake to look forward too. He's weird but he'd rather no fuss than lots of fuss. [Me? I like a fuss! which is why I'll be starting my birthday countdown in September!!] 


But you didn't come here to listen to me talk about birthdays did ya? This is another of those dresses that has been made for quite a while . In fact this dress has already been "out" for the day when we went to Barmouth. And yes I wore my "days by the sea" dress by the sea! The irony was not lost! The fabric itself is by the Craft Cotton Company [this is the same collection I used for my days by the sea quilt] Its a really lovely quality cotton so if your searching for some fun nautical prints check them out! 


I really really took my time pattern matching those stripes!! They match along the back and side seams but for some reason they go a bit funny around the box pleats? I'm not sure why but its not the sort of thing that's going to bother me! They don't look too bad in these photos but its definitely something I'd notice. 


The pattern was simplicity K1418 which I used for my gingham dress, only this time I went for the strappy version not the off the shoulder version!

The fit of the bodice is pretty bang on. I did have to take 2cm out of the center back seam and shorten the straps but other than that its pretty good. I think it could do with being shortened at the waist by about an inch though because when I wore it all day at the beach I noticed it was tucking itself up and not sitting right. 

I do love this neckline though its so lovely and flattering. BUT it hates all of my bras! It's such a pain in the bum! Why do all the pretty necklines require certain bras? Why can't I just wear it with any old bra? and why oh why does it have to be a strapless one?


The skirts a good compromise between being an a line [which I don't like] and being a fully gathered poofy skirt [which I love!!!] Its enough to feel girly but it doesn't get in the way. 

Length wise its on the longer side. Typically I like my dresses short but with having to put lil man in and out of the car and bend down and well just all the other crap I do day to day the short dresses were not practical and I was spending a good amount of time flashing my knickers!


Here you can see the print a bit more clearly. That row row with the blue anchors was what made pattern matching so hard! I couldn't just match the background colour I had to match the anchors too.


The facing's work really nicely on this dress. I always like using facings for cotton dresses because they press so nicely.


All in all I love the dress. I always forget how much I love a novelty print dress until I'm actually wearing one! The pattern needs a few more tweaks before its perfect and I think the back zip could do with a big press but other than that I think this has turned out really well!

In other news!

I had a great Charity shop haul today! Basically our local charity shop is having its yearly sale where they try and clear as much stock as possible. Anyway that had brand new in the box shoes for £2.00 each! I went along with the intention of buying two pairs but when I got to the till they lady offered me a 3rd pair and said she'd do it for half price. Now I only had four quid on me which I told her and she said "No I'll do the lot for half price... So three quid, the boxes are taking up loads of room we want them gone..." I dammed near bit her entire arm off! Three brand new pairs of shoes for £3!!!!!! I can see why they were struggling to sell them though, they are 7/8inch platform wedge shoe boots, which I'm not sure appeals to most people!!! 

They are pretty comfy though!

Much Love

Frankie 


disclaimer - whilst the craft cotton company sent me this fabric for free all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Monday 21 August 2017

My Minerva Crafts Lucky Dip Bag Review!

Just in case you missed it I recently reviewed minerva crafts lucky dip bags for their blog and you can read it here! 


The fabric came in my lucky dip bag and the pattern is my dress hack of the Cami top from the 3rd GBSB book! 

Much Love

Frankie 

x

Disclaimer - whilst the lucky bag was provided for free all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Saturday 19 August 2017

Knitted Diagonal Blanket - Yarn by Craft Cotton Company

Its always nice to have a lil stash of blankets ready to go and this one is just so simple to knit up!


I used three different colours of wool by the craft cotton company. They actually picked out the colours for me and I;m glad they did because I would have gone for something more babyish like pale pink and white but I actually love how modern the grey and blue look with the white. It give the blanket a longer life for more use and as every mother knows dark colours are 10000% better for hiding stains! 


The wool is acrylic which means it can stand up to the battering that all baby items take in the washing machine. I mean seriously all I seemed to do when Lil man was lil was wash puke stains out of things people had lovingly knitted for him.


Construction wise its so simple!

You cast on 3 stitches

Then you knit 200 rows and increase 1 stitch at the end of every row. [or you can just go on until you get the size you like. But 200 rows makes a 1 metre square blanket]

Then you knit another 200 rows but this time you decrease one stitch at the end of every row until you have 3 stitches left then you cast off. 

For the colour changes you just knit two rows in each colour. 

Then as an optional extra you can add a cute crochet trim!

[I used 2 100g ball of each colour so six balls in total]


I knitted mine up on size 4mm prym ergonomic knitting needles, and it honestly felt like it took forever but I did a lot of it whilst watching t.v and just generally relaxing. The wool was really nice to knit with and I had no issues with it splitting or fraying. I did have to keep cutting it and re tying it on though because I was getting the three colours tangled up!


I used garter stitch because it means I don't have to concentrate so hard and I like the texture but it would also look really cute in moss stitch!


Now typically I put these into a draw ready for the next baby that's born BUT I'm squirrelling this one away into our airing cupboard so Its ready for them we get a dog! Now we're not getting one just yet but I'm definitely wearing Rikki down! We don't have a wedding to save for anymore so he can;t use that as an excuse and I've been making a really big effort to keep the house tidy. All of which has been noticed! So fingers crossed maybe next year I'll have a little bundle of fur to destroy the house! 

Much Love

Frankie 


disclaimer - whilst the wool for this project was provided for free all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Thursday 17 August 2017

#ettaquiltproject - Square in a Square Block

So here's the latest installment of the #ettaquiltproject. 

Now my Grandma had this labeled as an "all american star" [Luckily she had labeled all of her templates which made this project a bunch easier, it also showed me where my big sister gets her organisational skills from!] But looking on the internet I could only see one example that looked this this under the title of "all american star" [Lets all just give a minutes thanks to the google gods who put all of the knowledge of the world at our finger tips!] 

Anyway after struggling to find a template for you guys to use, I asked on a Facebook quilting group what they thought this might be called and the general consensus seemed to be that its actually called a square in a square quilt block! althought the 


Because I still thought it was called a all american star when I made this up I thought it was only fitting to go for the good old red white and blue! The red plaid is from the lady at the car boot and the blue is an off cut from one of my Aunty Shelias table cloths. 

You can find a template here!  [the template has one less square than I used but if your good at maths you could probably sort that out]

History wise I couldn't find much information apart from it's generally featured in lots of quilts to add interest to patterns, and that its sort of a go to block in a quilters arsenal! I also saw mentioned that it can look really cool when alternated with a basic nice patch for a simple quilt that looks really cool!

And speaking of cool!


How AWESOME is my sister doing with this! Shes just finished her first block and I couldn't be more proud of her! I also love that shes used tartan to commemorate our Scottish born Grandma!


Shes also just picked out the fabric for her shoo fly block!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx





Monday 14 August 2017

The Purple Jackie O Dress

I feel like every time I re read the pink suit I end up making something very Jackie O inspired! And its one of my favourite books so I re read it a lot [Rikki thinks this is bizarre by the way! He says why would you re read something you've already read because you know how it ends? In fact he doesn't even re watch films unless they happen to be on and theirs nothing else on!]  So yeah that's where the idea for this dress came from and it paired nicely with me actually needing some sensible grown up clothes in my wardrobe as well as novelty print dresses!


Isn't that purple bright? I literally don't think I have ever made anything this bright in a plain colour before! The fabric was from the lady at the carboot and well I'm not 100% what it is? Its definitely a type of knit but it has no stretch. Its not a woven, which I could tell from the fabric structure. It has a goods amount of "bounce" and it was very difficult to press in fact the whole thing had to be done on the lowest setting under a pressing cloth [LOL I don't have a pressing cloth I just use a clean hankie!] 

It also hated my machine, It kept getting jammed and I had to use my walking foot in the end!  

I only had about a metre and a half of fabric which is why I did the pencil skirt option rather than my favourite box pleat version.


The pattern is..... Do I even need to say it or have we seen it so many times its second nature? The whole thing is from the second GBSB book, But I added a waistband because the pattern is far more empire than it looks on the model [I'm still not sure how they managed this? The sample picture and the actual pattern are completely different!]

Related image

I've pretty much perfected the bodice on this now, but back in the day before I tweaked it I cut a size 12 and my measurements are 36" - 27" - 38". 

The waistband is about 3 inches fit and I just cut it to the same length as my bodice. 


The zip is a bit jacked up. I'm not sure if It needs an iron or if it just needs ripping out and the zip seam interfacing to give it more structure? Its just come through the wash so I think I'll try a good press first. The zip itself came out a £1 mixed bag from abakhans. It has a little "p" at the top which is weird? I;m not sure where it's from? I did ask Rikki to cut off the middle bit and make it an "f" but he said something about tools and structures and it not being possible so I guess the "p" will have to stand for "princess"!.


The waistband is lined and the neck and arms are faced. I line the waistband by cutting two waistbands and then constructing the dress normally including inserting the zip. Then I take the second waistband, turn down a 1.5cm seam allowance and press, then pink on top of the actual waistband and hand stitch into place all the way around. There is probably a better way of doing it but that's how I do it! 


Its not too bad I suppose, Its just a bit bubbly above my bum area.


Here's a cheeky shot of my label inside, I put it on the inside waistband which makes it difficult to show people but does mean it won't flip out. You can also see the slip stitched waistband lining. The only other finishing I did was pinking the princess seams which I always do because I think it makes the curve sit nicer. 


I also pinked the facings, I always have to cut them down loads! I'm not sure why the pattern has them drafted so wide? Maybe your suppose to do a double turned hem on them? But who has time for that?


All in all I kind of like it? Its a bit of a variation away from my usual style, although to be honest I'm not 100% what my style is? Sometimes I'm punky sometimes I'm prissy! And at thew ripe of age of 24 I am wondering if I should have an actual style? But then I think to myself the best part of getting dressed every day is DRESSING UP! So I'll probably just keep wearing a crazy mix of clothes until I;m sat in my nursing home teaching my grandchildren all the good curse words. Oh yes I plan on being that kind of Grandma!  

In other news! 

- I've still not been sewing much what with both Rikki and lil man being off but I have nearly finished my new winter scarf so hopefully I'll be blogging that soon. 

- And I have an idea for a crochet jumper that I am itching to get started on! 

- We've also been talking about when we might be able to next go camping, mainly were trying to work out if there is anything else we need [a chair for lil man and some wellies for me!] And how we can save room in the car i.e convince Marcus he doesn't need to take all TEN of his bedtime teddies and pack the contents of the picnic basket into another box! I also have plans to sew a lil windbreak for our stove, just something to keep the wind away from the flame and to keep lil man away from it!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx















#

Friday 11 August 2017

Simplicity K1418 - A Project Runway Pattern in Gingham!

There's a tent drying in my kitchen. Its currently strung across a clothes horse the ironing board and some is on the floor. We didn't think we'd put it away wet but after reading a few camping blogs it became apparent that it needed to go away bone dry! And I'm not sure I trust putting it on the washing line. My kitchen floor is now also covered in mud!


Anyway this make started with this pattern Simplicity K1418 which is a pattern that's inspired by project runway. Now I'll start by saying I am a HUGE project runway fan! And I ain't never seen them make anything this simple in all of the times I've watched it. 

This particular pattern was brought form our local carboot for £1 and although I'm pretty sure it was originally a freebie in a magazine that's still pretty reasonable for a sewing pattern. 

It comes with a few different views including some sort of lace up back thing. But I decided to go for the off the shoulder version which is view b. I measured as a size 14 but knowing that simplicity patterns come with a metric tonne of ease I decided to cut a size 12.


The fabric I used is a rose and hubble cotton gingham from Minerva fabrics. You can see their wide selection of ginghams here! I am a sucker for a gingham dress I think this one is number four maybe?  And I definitely want to make others! 


One change I did make was to sway the side zip for a center back zip. I hate side zips and it was a pretty easy change! I even think it looks a bit better? Or I could just think that because I like things to be symmetrical? Although the first zip I put in this was far too short and I got a bit *ahem* stuck, and this was being made when lil man was still at school and we were running dangerously close to school pickup time so things got a bit dicey to say the least. In the end I escaped by ripping out the back seam.


Construction wise the skirt is box pleated with a slight a-line so you get the flare but the whole thing doesn't blow up at every opportunity. 

The bodice is a princess seamed, with long waist darts in the back bodice. The little cap sleeves are set inbetween the bodice and the facing and have come concealed elastic to keep them up. [Although I think I may still need to reduce the length of mine by 1.5cm or so.


Here you can see the elastic in its casing, I had to slip stitch mine to the sleeves to get a clean finish [the pattern doesn't call for the slip stitching but I'm not sure how'd you'd make the sleeves look tidy without it?]. I really liked the facing method for keeping everything tidy on the inside.

Instruction wise things are a bit unclear. There's so many variations in one pattern that I got quite muddled at some points and wasn't sure what I should be doing! None of this was helped by my reluctance to read instructions anyway. 


I was pretty proud of this make so naturally I added a label! 


For the zip I did a lapped zip because that's my favourite method. The pattern calls for an invisible zip because its going into a side seam. 


Here you can see the check properly, its a really small gingham in sort of an apple green colourway? I don't normally do green but I don't think this looks too bad. And one of the mums at football said I looked really nice so that was cool.


There's a few changes I need to make to the pattern to make it perfect! 

-reduce the width of the cap sleeve
- take an inch out of the length of the bodice
- try and remove some excess from the front bodice where there is some gaping. I'm not sure if this is down to the straps though? it sits perfectly flat when I stand put if I lean forward it gapes?

Al in all I think its a really lovely summer dress, although it does need a strapless bra underneath which sort of limits its wearability [is that a word? I'm sure its a word?]

Much Love

Frankie 

x




Wednesday 9 August 2017

Camping Catastrophes! and some fun too!

I've not posted for nearly a week! Have you missed me?


Well this is what my view looked like recently! Yep we ventured to Wales for a few days to take lil man on his first ever camping trip !  However it wasn't without its problems! In fact the whole trip seemed to be a bit cursed!

- the first time we tried to go Rikki was struck down with a migraine and spent the day in bed
- Then when we did decide to go we had to brake sharply [because the driver in front was a moron] and lil man got hit in the head by the wooden games compendium flying across the car!
- then when we had gotten to the campsite and pitched up we decided to take a walk along the beach and lo and behold my phone fell out of my handbag at some point and is now a the bottom of the deep blue! I hadn't even noticed it was missing! I had been thinking about how wonderful and relaxed I was feeling paddling my feet in the waves, and then lil man was bringing me shells and I thought ooh I might instagram this and oops wheres my phone? So I'm now phone less until I sort a replacement #prayforfrankie

But luckily the rest of the trip went really well until Rikki broke the bottle of milk on the doorstep when we got home [insert pun about crying over spilt milk here]


We visited Harlech Castle which was nice especially for lil man because its very similar to what it would have looked like back in the day! 



I wore my as yet unblogged days by the sea dress to visit the castle and for a walk on the beach! [i also realised I need to shorten the bodice by an inch!

An I even managed to finish our tent carpet just in the nick of time so we could use it!!

The stars and hexagons are english paper pieced and then appliqued on, and the loops are bias binding sewn down! The backing is some sort of lovely thick fleece back jersey stuff that my friend Helen gave me! I'm not sure how you would describe it but its lovely and thick for stepping on in the morning especially when its cold! 



Lil man even made up a game with the colours in the star! I'm not sure I quite understood the rules but he enjoyed himself so that's a win!


Here it is in situ in our very messy tent! 

Its held in place by four pieces of ribbon that tie onto the actual groundsheet! 

So yeah a fairly practical make that saved us about £40 on a tent carpet!

some other highlights include!

- lil man jumping over waves and just generally having the best time in the sea!
- Rikki trying to find me the best sea shells on the beach to take home!
- Ice creams!
- Fish and chips by the sea!
- Playing with my new camping stove kettle and toasting rack!
- Having the coolest camping neighbours! 1, they had a dog! 2. the man was doing a cross stitch! 3. they had a kid with them about lil mans age! and 4. The lady and her daughter did quilting!!!! which meant I got to talk about quilts! and SEWING!
- Seeing everyone bundled up under things I had made! We took 8 blankets with us! all made by me and it was so nice seeing the boys snuggled under them!

Much Love

Frankie 

P.S needless to say I cant wait to go again!!!