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

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 Jumpsuit That Wasn't

This project nearly became a total fail, as in I nearly cried and swore myself off sewing for life, but I persevered and got something wearable in the end.

So hears my tale of woe [you can skip this bit if you want and just go and look at the pretty pictures, but I warn you I am going to be pretty hilarious, and you don't want to miss that]

Now it all started when lovely pen friend gave me a length of orange black and white fabric in sort of a block printed geometric design [yes I should have took a picture] Anyway as soon as I saw it I thought, Jumpsuit or even better playsuit! One like the brightly patterned ones that you see in the high street, something cool and wearable that would look casual and relaxed for the summer.

So I jumped straight in head first, and traced the jumpsuit pattern from the Great British Sewing Bee book, however I shortened the legs to make it a play suit and changed the neckline slightly, I lowered it and omitted the frill. So far all was going well. Now for the cutting, I had originally wanted to cut the shorts part from the darker panel section of the fabric, but it wasn't wide enough so I had to cut the shorts from the orange and white part and the top from the black and orange part. [traditionally its considered more slimming to wear the darker colour on your bottom half, or at least that was my thinking]

Anyway I sewed it up and experienced no problems until I came to put it on, it was tight, I mean really tight. So I decided to do a quick fix job and added a waistband to give me some more length in the torso. But it didn't work.... At all.  I actually have pictures of me on it, but I'm not posting them on-line because its just a mess, and I look a mess and even for the sake of honest blogging I am not posting that crap on the internet. I have no intention of being a meme at any point in my life. And if I post those pictures I will become one. It was just awful! It was baggy around the top and tight around the legs and the shorts were too long and it actually looked like my crotch was eating the fabric , seriously it was like a scene from "teeth". Now I'm not sure what happened but I showed my mum and we concluded that it was the combination of my long torso and large posterior that led to the hideous fit issues. 

Naturally though I didn't give up because I'm a trooper and I love the fabric!!! So I added lace! seventies style lace. They say you can't polish a turd...... But you can roll it in glitter! No I'm joking it still looked like crap so I ripped off all the lace, cursed my mothers family genes that meant my bottom made the crotch look like the camel scene from Lawrence of Arabia, cut the top off and ended up with this.

Which is pretty cute huh? [you can also see in this picture that my bum might not have been the only culprit, I think my hips threw in their own crotch distorting wizardry, GOD DAMM YOU WOMANLY CURVES ]

But yeah my bum does pack some punch! But back to the top, its cute and I really love it, its great for chucking on with jeans and skirts and I see many more in my future. Its very wearable to say its made from a woven fabric.

That my phone in my pocket, I don't have a rectangular cheek I promise.

I like it better tucked in, but I think the pattern placement is pretty even, especially seen as I was working with minimal fabric.

Now I just have to decided what to do with the shorts portion? Voodoo, ritual sacrifice? Answers on a postcard people! [I really do wish I had the courage to show you the pictures because MY GOD! Did I look like a sack of poop! That's the polite way of putting it, my mother uses slightly more vulgar wording for that expression, but I'm a lady, A lady with a crotch that engulfs fabric..........]

So from failure to success! I can't believe after the amount of sewing hours I put into this all I have to show for it is a cami top ! Aww well at least I love it!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx