The happy little hippy dress

Let's just pretend were back in June, England's still got a chance in the world cup , love islands on and we are still having a glorious heatwave...

Working?

Nah? 

In which case let me introduce you to the dress I probably won't wear until next summer. 

Yep I made this during one of those good god its hot sort of days when everything in my wardrobe felt too warm or too constricting. 

The main idea of the dress was based around this panel print I got from the first fill a bag sale my local abakhans had. Originally I wanted to make a kimono dress but the pattern consisted of two large squares and some twiddy pattern bits and I just couldn't figure out the placement so I gave up and chucked the fabric in a pile. 

Naturally I didn't take a picture of the actual fabric because I'm a TERRIBLE blogger.

As it goes the print worked nicely for this dress , I used the two square pieces for the front and back of my skirt. I didn't even cut them on the fold I literally just cut around the square. And then used the extra twiddly bits on the straps , facings and bodice. 

The bodice itself is the Cami top from the gbsb (3rd) book. I cropped mine to hit my belly button and took some ease out of the back because of gaping. (I also used this pattern here and its one of my favourite party dresses)  and then added a simple gathered skirt.

The print isn't identical on the front and back of the bodice but I was working with fabric restrictions so it ended up being a bit of a hey ho moment. 

One issue I am having is that the skirt feels really long. I am trying to get on bored with longer skirts because in reality they are so much more practical. But every time I make something I'm still tempted the reach for the scissors and make it mid thigh length .

However I can't with this one because it will ruin the printed panel on the skirt.

And there are two more issues . 

1, the back is still gaping , I'm working on fixing this but I'm conscious that if I go too fitted I might no be able to pull it on over my head and one of the beauties of this dress is that theirs no fastenings (yes it makes it a really quick and satisfying sew)

2, its a about half a degree of being maternity wear. I could belt it but that sort of defeats the object of it being a really loose dress for hot days. On the plus side I can confirm that you can fit a large pizza under this dress and no one  will know. (Not a physical large pizza , you can eat one and no one will notice. I haven't tested if you can hide actual pizza down it )

Naturally I love it because it makes me feel like a happy little hippy who wants to dance around bare foot and preach love and peace. In fact as soon as I'd made it I played Fleetwood Mac and pretended to be Stevie Nick's for a bit. Not ashamed at all. 

All in all I think its really successful even if I won't get to wear it much now the winter nights are drawing in. 

In other news! 

I've still not been sewing, boooooooo. But I'm planning to crack right on when lil man goes back to school. I know traditionally I give the house a good clean on the first day. But screw that this time I'm sewing. 

I've added a few more hexagons to my EPP , its not growing very quickly but I enjoy the process. 

I had a day at the dog track!!!! And guess who won 3 times? ME! And guess who won 4? LIL MAN! And guess who didn't win at all??????? Rikki! much to my amusement and his disgust.

And I think that's all!

Much love

 Frankie 

A Failed GBSB Jumper

I feel like I'm showing you more and more projects are are failures. 

Maybe it's because I'm getting more experimental with my pattern choices in my old age. 

I made this jumper to use up the last bits of this safety pin fabric I had from sewalicious. But I didn't have enough for the sleeves so I decided to use this tartan ponte that I recycled from an old dress and have some other pits of the safety pin fabric as the cuffs. 

The pattern is the Breton top from the fourth gbsb book. Its actually only the second pattern I've made from this book this first being my asymmetric skirt.....which um also failed.  

The patterns quick enough to put together [It doesn't have the  cuffs I added then in myself] But I'm not in love with it. Maybe its my fabric choices [I though the safety pins and the tartan was a nice nod to punk rock] or that its such a loose fit. But I kind of wish I'd just tried to squeeze out another raglan jumper.

Oh that's an attractive face. That my how much do I hate this is it worth binning or shall I just save it for slogging about in?

I made it on my overlocker so it took about an hour so Its not like I've lost a whole day of sewing to something I hate. 

I posted it on instagram and a few people said they thought it was okay. So maybe I'm just being overly critical? 

That said I can't really see myself wearing it a lot. But I have no idea what I could do to refashion it?

I did try taking a photo with the cuff tucked up. I added the cuffs because I couldn't get the whole length of the sleeves from my recycled fabric so I thought I'd need to add some extra on......But LOLZ I have short arms so apparently not. 

Son which do you prefer with or without the cuffs?

Much Love 

Frankie 

A Failed GBSB Asymmetric Skirt

When I started writing about my sewing journey I told myself I'd share everything, the good the bad and the ugly.

I made this decision because I was sick of seeing people crank out perfection every week without talking about their struggles. 

Well cards on the table..... this skirt made me cry. Not cute cry either, hysterical, sobbing, snot on face crying. [Part might have been PMS but the skirt started it.]

Right so the pictures don't really show it clearly but this is meant to be the asymmetric skirt from the 3rd GBSB book. When they made it on the show it was described as being a very tricky make but I thought I'd give it a whirl. But what I ended up with was a lumpy bumpy mess.

Its supposed to look like this. 

Ya know lovely and swooshy and fabulous.

But instead mine was a hot mess. Now the reason I began to cry was because I felt like a bit of a failure, I'd read the instructions, I'd done everything to the best of my ability and I'd still messed it up! And because I'd actually applied for this series of the sewing bee and had an interview and everything, which meant that chances are I wouldn't have been able to do it then either. 

And that folks is what made me cry. [that and PMS] 

So I ate more chocolate than necessary and watched a few episode of project runway and decided to have my own make it work moment because god knows I did not want to have to throw the beautiful boiled wool away!

Luckily I'd stitched the back seam so I just had to unpick the top from the bottom. The I decided to get rid of the wavy edge part by levelling the whole thing off. I did that by measuring from the waistband down and marking it and from the bottom up on the lower section.

Next I pinned the bottom half to the top half , pleating the fabric to make it fit. Originally they were pinned as inverted box pleats but I found myself liking the wrong side better so I repinned them the right way around.

Fabric wise I used this boiled wool from abakhan's and whilst it was beautiful it was tricky to get the seams to lie flat. I used a lot of heat and ended up cobbling together a clapper from some stray bits of wood in our shed.

Then I did some top stitching and popped in a Zip.

Then I spent about another half an hour battling the seams into submission. I even ended up cutting the darts open to make them sit flatter. I also used a tailors ham and sleeve roll to help with the pressing. 

And voila! A catastrophe made into something nicer. As gutted as I was to fail I actually like this skirt and I think it suits my wardrobe. Plus its lovely and swishy!

Now I am hoping to revisit the GBSB pattern at some point but for the moment I'm just going to take pleasure in this skirt. 

And try and get some more wear out of it before summer gets here! If it ever arrives! 

In other news! 

I have a poorly baby boy! Hes in bed recuperating and hopefully he'll start to feel better soon! It breaks my heart when hes ill.

And I've uploaded a new video to my you tube channel!

Hope you enjoy 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Guitar Crop Top

I love a crop top. Mainly because they are so versatile for layering under jumpers and vest tops, but also because of how little fabric they take. 

This fabric was a gift from @quiltygal on instagram. She posted a picture of the fabric and I mentioned how awesome I thought it was and she was kind enough to send it to me. 

It was only a small amount so I thought I might have to be put into a quilting project of some sort. Which I was gutted about, because this fabric needed to be on my body! 

Then I remembered that the Corset top from the 3rd GBSB book takes hardly any fabric. 

I promise the strap isn't sewn in twisted it would just appear that I struggle to dress myself. Originally I wanted the front to lace up with ribbon and eyelets because I thought that would mesh nicely with the guitar theme of the fabric. 

BUT

The eyelet puncher thing I brought from home and bargains for a measly £2 something was absolute and utter rubbish. I mean seriously if your looking for a cheap eyelet tool don't buy that one because you'll only end up binning it in a fit of rage. Instead get a decent one like this one by Prym.

Luckily I'd had the brains to test how to use the bloody thing on a piece of scrap fabric first so I didn't wreck the constructed top. I was pretty gutted though because I had my heart set on a lace up version and now it just closes with standard press studs. 

The fits pretty good but I really ought to tweak the pattern so its a bit longer as it will make it a bit more wearable. Its fully lined with some scrap cotton. I did realise afterwards that If I'd been a bit neater sewing on the press studs then the top would be reversible. 

I didn't try and pattern match because I didn't have enough fabric. Plus matching little tiny guitars is not my jam! Instead I just tried to position the pattern pieces so as many guitars were whole as possible. I think I did an okay job, you can definitely see that its a pattern of guitars at least. 

All in all I really like it. I've been wearing it a lot under some big loose vest tops that I have and it makes sure that the "girls" are covered up quite nicely.

In other news! 

More snow! Yay or well not? I'm actually ready for spring now and I'd like to start wearing my summer dresses please.

Pretty please???

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Floral Scuba Dress

How has everyone's holiday season been? Did you all have a banging Christmas and New Year? 

I did! In fact I stayed up so late on New Year that New Years day was basically a write off and I spent the whole day in my jammies. 

Today is lil mans first day back at school and the weather is fairly darn miserable! So lets have a completely inappropriate summery make shall we? 

This fabric was given to me by the lovely Jeanette [IG . pin_n_tonic] I think she made a skirt/dress from it and was kind enough to send me what was left. 

I've never sewn with scuba before but I LOVE it! I'm a complete convert. Its easy to cut, it doesn't fray and its easy to sew. 

In fact the only thing I did differently to sewing a regular fabric was to use my walking foot. It just gave me a bit more control and made sure that no stitches were skipped. 

Pattern wise the bodice is the same as this one by prima patterns. Luckily because the scuba has a slight stretch this bodice isn't as tight as the first version I made. I also decided to just do simple straps on this dress and not to cross them over like I did on my previous version. 

The skirt is the GBSB box pleat skirt and to be completely honest its a touch on the short side. I'm considering trying to find some lace so I can add a lace trim to the bottom and hopefully make it cover a bit more. 

The zip is just a simple exposed metal zip and it went in perfectly first time. 

I did line the bodice in cotton but it threw everything off. I'm guessing to cotton and scuba combined didn't really mesh. So I cut it all out and the lining sort of turned into a mini facing/binding type thing. It looks clean enough though so I'm pleased.

Its a bit weird to be writing about something so summery looking when I'm wearing a jumper, a cardigan and I have the heating on. 

I think I like it though, I wasn't too sure about the colours but Rikki said it looks nice. And its always nice to have another summer dress in the wardrobe! And I guess in the summer I might not mind that its a bit short? 

In other news! 

Both boys are back at school/work.

- I'm getting a cold which royally sucks! 

- My tumble dryer broke this morning! YAY! [insert copious sarcasm here] this is made more fun by the fact I just did a wash with all of my jeans in and I can't dry them outside because its raining #prayforfrankie

- I went and got a mini ironing board this morning to go with my mini iron from minerva craft [keep your eyes peeled for when my review goes up on their website] I shouldn't be so excited by a mini ironing board but it means I can set up an ironing station where I sew rather than having to lug the big ironing board around and keep going into the kitchen to press darts etc! 

- My sister got me a Bullet Journal for Xmas and I've been filling it in. I am completely obsessed at this point and I'm hoping this is the year I'm organised.

and I think that's about it?

I'm off to cut out a sewing project so I can actually get some SEWING done!!! Woop woop! It feels like its been ages.

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

90's Style Dress

Today turned out to be such a bust, I was going to be all productive and stuff. Ya know take blog photos, sew some stuff, finish my bladdy winter jumper which seems to be taking FOREVER!

Instead I drank copious amounts of tea, snuggled under the piece of fabric I was suppose to be cutting out and watched teen mom two [FYI don't judge me its well better than Eastenders] 

And then I watched Bridget Jones' Baby, which was just as hilarious as the first two BUT [SPOILER ALERT!] You don't actually learn who the father of Bridget's baby is? I mean there's a moment when your like okay so its definitely the other guy, and then Mark Darcy is all like "I'll love it anyway", and then they do the test, and then its a year on and you DEFINITELY think its the other guys and THEN! Mark Darcy says something and your like wait? Is it actually yours? 

Anyway I found it very frustrating. I've sat through all three of the Bridget Jones movies now and I feel emotionally invested in her relationship with Darcy and I think I deserve to know for sure, who the baby daddy is. I mean for gods sake is a DNA too much to ask for? Or a birth certificate? JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING CONCRETE!

But anyway I did actually do some sewing a while ago not just stare at the telly and rant about movies!

This dress is based off this Tie dye dress which I love to bits!  In fact the only thing I dislike about that dress is the length as a its a tad short for day to day use which pretty much just leaves it as a going out dress and LOLZ as you may have gathered from my Bridget Jones rant I DO NOT get out much!

The pattern is a bit of a Frankenstein, although I have copied it all out nicely and it has its own lil envelope now so I guess it counts as an actual pattern. The bodice is the GBSB Cami top but with about 10cm taken off the bottom and the skirt is just a gathered rectangle. Its a very simple dress but I love the style Especially when its worn with a belt.

Oddly enough I'm going to re hem this one because I think its a bit long, I swear getting the length right on handmade things is my nemesis. I'm starting to wonder how RTW shops judge the length? Everyone's legs are different lengths? How on earth do they decide?

I didn't have a lot of fabric because this was one of the pieces from the lady at the carboot but I had just enough for the bodice and for a slightly gathered skirt. Ideally I think more gathers would look better, but I worked with what I had and I don';t think it looks too bad.

Its not lined its just faced so I did the majority of the construction on my overlocker apart from the top stitching which I did on my regular machine and I was so lazy I didn't even change the thread I just used what was in there. Luckily its an okay match.

All in all I think its okay. I mean its a cute summery dress but I don't love it half as much as my tie dye version. The prints okay, I thought it might be a bit twee but its not too bad from a distance and I;m sure as soon as I've had chance to take up the hem a little I'll like it a lot more.

In other news!

Rikki is settling into his new job nicely.

Lil man is tired from school and cannot wait for half term. In fact I'd say we both need a good rest!

I;m looking forward to doing my demo at Abakhans Hanley on Sew Saturday, but I am absolutely bricking it! Which Rikki thinks is hilarious considering he went out for an hour and came home to about 5 of the dogs I'm demoing made up "How on earth are you nervous if you can sew them that fast?".....Haha Maybe he has a point! 

Much Love

Frankie

And if your in the area this Saturday pop over and say helloooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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!]

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

#

Cami Top from a Pillow Case

Sometimes the sewing works and sometimes it doesn't. Yes this is a nice enough cami top but for some bizarre reason it turned out HUGE! compared to the other times I've used this pattern.

The pattern is the cami top from the 3rd GBSB book, but without the ruffle because well putting a ruffle on my boobs would just be overkill.  

Its the back that seams big? maybe I should put a little box pleat in or something? In this picture I have the back of my bra pulled right the way down so you don't see it. So maybe that means the strapos are whats too long? [do you like my tan lines? I took these pictures the day after I got sunburnt which was ages ago! safe to say I'm now back to my milky white colouring]

That said if I don't alter it I'm sure I'll still use it for layering under tops and if all else fails I'll just wear it to bed.

Construction wise it took no time at all to cut out or sew. It was however sat on my chair for about a week after cut out waiting to be sewn because new shiny projects kept distracting me! 

The fabric is an old pillowcase and came from my Aunty Shelia and Uncle Gordon's house. There was only one otherwise I might have tried to make a little pj set. I love the delicate flowers and the lightweight fabric. I'm gonna guess that its vintage? 

It looks 100% better tucked in!

Their wasn't quite enough fabric to cut the facings as well so they have been done from a plain white fabric. 

All in all its a really nice make and its always nice to make some more practical items that will get lots of wear. Especially when the weather turns colder and I'm looking for an extra layer to keep me toasty. The only issue is its a little bit on the sheer side so I have to be careful how I wear it.

In other news, 

The summer holidays are going okay I'm not ready to kill lil man just yet......

We are still playing lots of games and trying to get outside whenever the weather lets us. We have high hopes for a big bike ride but I'm not sure how realistic that is!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

The Curtain Dress

When I make a new dress the first thing I do is take it on a "Test Drive" This is to make sure that the dress can hold up to everyday life and helps me sort out things like too short hems and dodgy zips. Typically we go on the weekly shop, mainly because it requires a whole range of movements and lots of walking but it also shows me how badly the fabric will crease when I'm sat down in the car. Now typically I spend most of these test drives wondering if anybody has noticed the step in the waistband or if they can see I've hemmed it a touch on the short side. 

But this time, Well this time I was worried they'd notice it was curtains! 

Yep this dress was once a pair of chintzy floral curtains hanging in my Aunty Shelia and Uncle Gordons house. Now I'm not silly I know they look like curtains but that said I really really loved the big floral print which meant I had to work really hard to make them not look like curtains. Plus we've met me right? I loves an upcycle/free project!

First off all the more pieces the better [well in  my head at least] that would give me a chance to make sure there were no huge chunks of pattern, so for the top I opted for the GBSB corset top from the third book. That meant the bodice was made up of 12? pieces [I have no idea I think there's 6 pattern pieces for the bodice which would make 12 sections but my book is all the way over the other side of the room and would require me moving to check and EURGH movement!] Anyways to try and make the print look a bit more rtw I also decided to do flat felled seams and to use purple thread and a triple stitch. [triple stitch is where your machine goes over each stitch three times, Its very sturdy and shows up well for top stitching but it takes three times as long!]

Mines a bit wobbly, I'm not sure I'm patient enough for triple stitch and going around those curves was hard!!! The bodice is also lined to make it more comfortable it also makes it easier to get a nice finish on the inside and of the straps.

The skirt was a box pleat skirt from the 2nd GBSB book, I liked how the pleats looked with the style of top like a modern dress that you might find in topshop! 

The zip was recycled from an old onesie. I love the bright purple I really think it brings out some of the other colours in the print and it looks good with the top stitching too. It also reaches the whole way down the dress. I love this feature because it feels a bit saucy! Like you can completely zip me out of this dress! Which I was very grateful for after a day of wearing it in the baking sun we had a few weeks ago! Pulling a sweaty dress over your head is not the one. [Not that I sweat, I perspire like a lady]   

Speaking of saucy can we take a moment for the back! I was a complete dolt and placed my straps in the wrong place and then tried it on and was like "OMGOSH my whole back is out! That's kind of cool!" I love love love an open back! I mean granted it means this dress now has to be worn with a strapless bra but its definitely worth it! Next time though I think I need to take a bit off the straps because they were slipping off my shoulders and the idea of them slipping to far and a boob falling out fills me with a horror I can't describe.   

All in all I LOVE THIS DRESS! it just feels so nice to wear! It makes me feel a bit a dressed up but in a casual way! I am definitely going to make another version as well and I'm going to make the same mistake with the straps. In fact I'm wondering how this would look in a dressy scuba as a going out dress? I mean I don't get out much but a girl can dream eh?

In other news!!!!!

I'm actually managing to keep on top of the housework! I mean not the washing and ironing but the other stuff like not having a sink full of dishes and making the beds and hoovering and stuff! I mean you can't have everything right!

I've also officially cracked my sewing and not ironing problem! I listed not pressing my seam as one of my sewing bad habits a while ago and touch wood I've been doing really well! I guess pressing does make a difference after all ! And after reading a fairly terrifying article about a lady inhaling a pin I've officially stopped putting those in my mouth too! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx