The Origami Dress - New Look K8144 - In linen

I made this ages ago. and by ages I mean I took these pictures on my old camera before my hair was pink. 

so yeah they are old. 

The pattern is K8144 by new look. Its one of those patterns where the cover art is just baffling. 

I dunno maybe its just me but I think the dress is really really bright! 

It originally came free with a copy of sew magazine but I got my copy from my mums friend sue. 

After looking at the pattern drawings I realised that I really like the front pleated section and thought it might be nice to make it up in some of this blue linen I had lying around. 

As it goes I didn't have quite enough of the blue linen so I had to use some left of black for the belt, shoulder sections and the facings. 

I didn't like the belt that came with the pattern so I add some waist ties into the side seams. I made them quite long to create a sort of obi effect. I think it worked really nicely and I much prefer my belt to the one on the pattern.

Fit wise the top half okay but it is a bit tight on the hips. Annoyingly is not so tight that I'll rip open the side seams for more wiggle room. Instead its just tight enough that if I cut out the donuts then it will probably fit better..... I don't want to cut out the donuts though so *shrugs* . [actually thinking about it I made this dress before we even had Polly so at least four months ago and I have been going on a walk twice a day since getting her so I may have slimmed my hips down a bit! I'll have to try it one.] 

The origami bit at the front is created by cutting and folding the fabric. Which took me quite a while to get my head around and made me a bit tense. Well its not very often you cut directly into the front of your dress is it.

Because of the folded detail the entire front is cut flat instead of on the fold. This did mean I had to do a bit of pattern jigsawing to get everything to fit.  

Note to self - linen likes to wrinkle. Which I did know but sweet Jesus it really does like to wrinkle up doesn't it! I have a black dress in linen that I absolutely love but if I'm going somewhere in the car I have to hitch my skirts right up to keep them as flat as possible so I don't look messy when I get to where ever I'm going. [she says like she goes anywhere more interesting than mcdonalds and Lil mans school]

On this picture you can see how tight it is across the hips. I'm hoping this was just because I was full of Easter chocolate. I really really don't want to have to unpick the side seams.  

I like the fact that I can tie it at the front and the back but I think I prefer it with the ties at the front because they shield any muffin top issues I may be having. 

To add them in I just cut four long rectangles, sewed them into tube and then inserted them into the side seams.

I actually don't hate this picture of my bum to be honest. 

So I guess I'm off to try this on to see if I need to let out the side seams and amend my pattern pieces or if I just need to get some spanx! 

Much Love Frankie 

x

70's Style Dress in Adam Ross Fabric

Do you ever just pick a fabric because you think its pretty but not actually have any idea what to do with it?

That's what I did when Adam Ross asked me what my blogger pick fabric would be. I was like "oooooh stars! pretty". It instantly took me back to being younger when star prints were MASSIVELY in fashion and searching through the topshop rails trying to find something that might fit and cover at least three inches of my bum. [FYI I never found anything in top shop as a teenager ever! It was always too small! Do they even stock clothes over a size ten?]

Anyway naturally because I had no idea what I wanted to do with the fabric I left it to the kind people of instagram to decide. The first two patterns are vintage and the last one is a Gertie pattern that came free with an issue of love sewing. 

And instagram chose..........

Pattern number two! Which apart from being a "style" pattern I have no other information about because LOL that's literally the only part of the pattern envelop that's fallen off! [BTW I would highly recommend using Instagram as a way of deciding what patterns etc to use.]

I think the dress turned out super cute [Ignore my miserable face on the pictures I'm having trouble with the shutter remote on my digital camera]

The fabric is very floaty and frays a little bit so I decided to over lock all of my seams before I started to sew. Its a complete faff but its worth it to make sure that your dress lasts and it makes the insides look really neat. 

The actual construction was done on my regular machine though. Sadly you can't see a lot of the details because of how busy the print is. For example you can't see the pin tucks on the front bodice and you can't really see the collar! I do recommend using sharp pins on a fabric like this though because you don't want it to pull. 

What you can see however is those FABULOUS sleeves!!!! I had forgotten how much I love a 70's style sleeve! I have no idea what kind of sleeve it is? Bishop maybe? But I like it and I even manged to get just the right amount of tightness on the elastic in the cuffs. Normally If I have to add elastic to anything I make it so tight that my blood circulation gets cut off and my hand turns blue............

I'm not keen on the back seam so I might later the pattern to take that out. I just can't really work out why its there. It also needs another good press, I had to be really careful pressing the fabric because I was terrified of burning a hole right in the middle of the fabric. As it goes I managed to avoid all ironing related disasters but I was being really really careful! I used a pressing cloth and kept my iron on a really low setting.  

The collar is the only thing on the dress that's interfaced so the whole dress swishes really nicely. Its one of those dress that when you wear it you just parade yourself around the house swishing and swirling and just generally making a bit of a muppet of yourself, whilst feeling very proud. 

I'm wearing a slip underneath but I think if this was just a top I wouldn't need it. Really the only reason I have a slip on is just in case but really the fabric is quite opaque for such a delicate fabric. 

I didn't make any major changes to the pattern apart from taking quite a lot of the length and lowering the neckline slightly. Because I'm a bit more saucy than those 70's women [although if history teaches us anything its that the 70's were a pretty free and easy time!] 

As you can see from the picture above I do have to belt the dress because its a bit of a tent but I like the loose fit and I think it might be good for wearing as a cover up on the beach. 

I'm actually hoping that the weather might cool a bit soon just so I can get chance to wear it! I can't be doing with long sleeves in hot weather. 

Or is that a bit selfish of me?

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

discalimer - whilst Adam Ross sent me this fabric all thought and views are my own.

Dungaree Dress - Free Pattern

It's no secret that dungaree dresses are super popular now in both the sewing world and the fashion world. 

I personally am on the fence about the whole dungarees thing, on the one hand its easy to throw on and wear but on the other hand it kind of makes me feel like an over grown child, plus peeing in trouser dungarees is not the one! But I still wanted to make myself some.

Now as you know I'm a bit of a spendthrift when it comes to sewing! I blame it on being on a pretty tight budget for two years whilst we payed for our wedding. Plus I always think I'd rather spend my money on fabric! 

So whilst there is a very popular dungaree dress pattern out there [Which I've heard very good things about BTW] I didn't want to spend my pennies on it. Especially seen as dungarees are such a simple silhouette that I could probably draft one myself. 

As it goes I didn't have too! Whilst perusing Pinterest I found a link to Pootle and Makes blog and saw she'd made some dungarees from a free pattern by Sew Now Mag! [the templates are available here]  

Naturally as soon as I wanted to print the dammed pattern my printer decided to throw a hissy fit and generally faff around. That thing hates me, yesterday it printed something two hours after I wanted it too......I was sat alone watching American crime story so I think you can imagine how much I jumped when the printer started up!

Because I only printed the templates and didn't have a copy of the magazine, that meant I didn't have the instructions. Which isn't a huge deal because its fairly simple construction wise but it did mean I have to message pootle and make to get her views on how the sizing is. In the end I went for a size 12. The fit is okay but I think I would like a bit more ease in the hip area.

The pattern originally had patch pockets to put on the front of your hips but I didn't like those so I went traditional and drafted this front patch pocket. I also added in a centre and back seam because I wanted the traditional look. Thinking about it I didn't add in any seam allowance for these so that might be why I need more ease in the hips!

I was going to do flat felled seams but I couldn't work out how to do it and get it central and I knew if the seam was off centre it would give me some serious twitchy eye. so In the end I sewed the seam normally and then stitched up either side of the seam line. I'm not sure what this technique is called but I want to say "french stitching"? although I could be wrong. As a bonus this way also secures the seam allowances down.  

I didn't have any dungaree clips so I just used buttons from my stash! [The buttons were also recycled from an old coat]

There is a deep front and back facing that lines the top portion of the dress and leaves a really clean finish. For the facing I use a cotton that I got from a carboot. Its not a print I love so its nice to use it up on a facing.

I did a lot of white top stitching on this to bring out the white flecks in the fabric. Speaking of the fabric I have zero idea what it is, I brought it at a car boot on a whim [I think there is like 3m of it and I paid 50p?] Anyway I though it was a cotton but its a bit harder? Which makes me think its upholstery fabric? The other thing that makes me think its upholstery fabric is that you can't set fire to it, so I think its one of those fire resistant ones.

But I think it looks a bit like denim and as a bonus if i do end up on fire it'll go out very quickly. Every cloud eh?

All in all I do like it and I think its a great pattern especially seen as its free!!!! 

And I'm hoping that it will transition from winter to summer just by changing what top I wear under it. 

Speaking of summer I CANNOT wait to wear all of my summer dresses again!! I'm buzzing! Although it does make me wonder if I should start packing up half of my wardrobe and changing it over? 

Does anyone else change over their wardrobe? How do you like it and where do you store the out of season clothes?

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

Paisley Print Dress - Simplicity K1418

Sometimes I find a fabric that I LOVE but I just have no idea how to use it. 

This fabric was one of those times. I love a good paisley print. In fact back when I was 14 I spent a good portion of my time wearing a men's paisley print shirt with a waistcoat and a pair of skinny jeans so it became all puffed up! Sort of like Adam Ant but with more black accessories! 

This paisley print threw me though, because 1. Its a very small print and 2. It kind of looks like old man pyjama fabric. 

I let it sit in my fabric cupboard for a while but then I bit the bullet and decided it might work for Simplicity K1418 which is a project runway pattern.

I decided to do the strappy view but I knew I wouldn't have enough fabric for the box pleat skirt so I went for a gathered one instead. I did bias bind the seam that joins the gathered skirt to the bodice though just to make it look neat and I'm definitely going to do that again as it gives an added level of security as well as keeping things tidy.

I've already made this pattern twice before here and here. So I knew I needed to take 3cm off the length of the bodice so it would sit on my natural waist. Now the waist sits a lot more naturally however I am going to have to take a bit off the back seam of the pattern and I've got some gaping in the front of the bodice above my boobs so I'm going to try and remove a wedge so it sits flatter to the chest. 

Its a looser fit than my nautical version but its a more casual dress so I'm not sure that's a problem. 

Although if it does start to bother me I'll just adjust the back seam. The zip is recycled from either an old coat or an old hoody. Lucky I love the look of a metal zip and they are so hard wearing you can recycle them quite a few times. 

The bodice has facings which I don't love I wish I had gone to the extra effort and just done a full lining. I also wish I had put the straps where I wanted them rather than following the pattern instructions as they don't sit quite right.

The fabric itself is a lovely cotton that I was given by the lady at the car-boot. There was only a metre and a half so I had to play some serious pattern tetris. Luckily it isn't a directional print so I got away with it. 

All in all I love it I just need to keep tweaking the fit until I've got it perfect, by which point I'll have decided I'm bored with it and move on to another pattern. 

I think my favourite part of the dress is how versatile it is. Its great for summer but it doesn't look out of place with thick tights and a big cardigan. 

In other news!! 

We are plugging away with Christmas shopping. Ideally I want it all done before December because I CANNOT cope with Christmas shoppers!!! 

I went to a life celebration yesterday which is sort of like a funeral. It was for a lovely, funny man who I'd known for a few years. It sounds weird but it was the nicest "funeral" I've ever been too. There was a lot of singing and people talking about his life and his achievements and reading his poetry. There were even a few jokes cracked! It was really really nice to see it as a celebration and to hear people talk about how much they loved him. 

I got highly commended in the dressmaker category of the the simplicity sewing challenge! I know it says Frankie Knits but if you click on the link its definitely a picture of lil ole me! 

I've finished some more books! I FINALLY finished "eat love pray"! Which I can safely say I don't think I will ever read again!!! Then I read "the couple next door" which I would highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed "girl on the train" or "gone girl". Then I read "me before you" I'd watched the film on the way to Las Vegas [well most of it I couldn't make it too the end because I don't want to ugly cry on the plane], The films okay but the book is much better and I really enjoyed it!

And now I'm starting "the fault in our stars" which I've read before. I am annoyed though, I brought the book from a charity shop ages ago and the bloody idiot who owned it before has only gone and written in every available free space!!!  And I mean every space! The front pages, the back pages, the margins, the gaps above the chapters!!! Its infuriating! and do you want to know whats shes written? 

HER NAME! 

HER ACTUAL NAME OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! 

Nothing else just her name!

I mean seriously? Because what? You might forget it?

Much Love

Frankie 

x

Mr Men Orla Dress

I often get asked why I sew. Yes its cheaper to buy clothes and its less time consuming.

BUT 

It does mean I get to make myself a Mr Men dress!

Mr Men guys! MR MEN! The fabric for this dress came from my friend Steve during his loft clear out. There was about a metre and a half? Which meant I had to be careful what pattern I chose. I was tempted by the Lilou pattern but I;m trying to get a few different dresses in my wardrobe so I opted for the Orla Pattern by French navy Now [You can down load it for free here]  

The Orla dress only has waist darts so its pretty perfect for making sure you don't spilt up busy patterns like this one. 

Pattern placement wise, I tried to make sure I didn't have a Mr Man on my boob but other than that I just tried to get all of the pattern pieces out of the limited fabric I had. Although the sleeves are cut on this opposite grain due to shortage. You can't really notice tit when its on though. 

I did ignore the instructions though as I chose to fully line the bodice. I think the actual instructions call for bias binding on the neckline but I'd rather have everything tucked and tidied away. 

I also swapped out the zip in the back for some buttons. I think I'll do this the next time I make it too.

Unlike my first version this one is a lot looser due to me using the 1cm seam allowance rather than trying to ramrod a 1.5cm seam allowance in there. [You wouldn't think that 0.5cm would make that much difference but it does!] This dress is cut in a size XL, which I confess I'm struggling not to let bother me. I know size doesn't matter and realistically looking at this I could go down a size but The XL label is just...... I dunno maybe this a throwback from all my days of shopping and how having to size up could seriously put a downer on my day. 

On the plus side though the XL size and the button back means I only have to undo one button at the waist to get in and out! Which is a huge bonus because it means I don't have to ask Rikki to do up the back buttons whenever I want to wear it. 

Incidentally the buttons also came from Steve's house, I think they were his mums? [Who's also an absolute babe!]

It turned out to be a pretty quick make, I even hemmed the sleeves and hems by machine rather than hand stitching them down. 

So all in all I LOVE THIS DRESS! And little man thinks its hilarious that mummy has a Mr Men dress because he loves the books! He likes Mr Bump but I like Mr Chatterbox because I find him very similar to myself...... No seriously if we ever have to good fortune to meet in person you will see that I can talk for England, hell I could probably throw in Ireland , Scotland and Wales in for good measure too!  

In other news! 

Its freezing - I've invested in some thick tights for the school run but its still chilly!

I've been reading Eat pray love and I'm just not into it. I dunno why but I'm just not relating to the lead character at the moment. I might try a few more chapters but so far its loving like a might have to ditch it off in favour of something else.  

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

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

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