Abakhans Fill A Bag Sale -Thoughts and Fabric Haul Video

Hey folks! How we all doing? I've got two more days of shipping lil man off to school and then its 6 weeks of lie ins so I'm feeling pretty chipper! 

I'm also feeling chipper because I have 32 [I think] pieces of fabric in my dining room and the sun has been shining so I have plenty of opportunities to pre-wash.

So basically on 7th of July I got up at half six in the morning so I'd have enough time to get ready , walk the dog and feed lil man breakfast before heading out to abakhans.

We'd already decided that waiting in line was not fun so decided to get there early. However as it turned out the heat meant that the queues were a lot shorter so we needn't have gotten up early. 

That said getting there early did mean that when we got into the sale room my dad managed to bag the only chair which was pretty useful for when my mum got tired. 

Oh yeah I should have mentioned we went en force!!!! There was a plan of attack from camp knitwits! I went, my momma went, my dad went, my sister went and lil man came too!!! 

As you can see I took the opportunity to have a group selfie. 

It was laid out the same as last time to be honest so there's not much I can say about that. But their were some highlights!

- Lil man shifting through fabric and saying "mummy do you like this?" FYI Mummy did not love everything he picked out..... But he did pick out some cute things.

- falling into the box again.......

- Holding lil man over the box so he could reach the bottom of the box.

- A lady telling me she reads my blog! *waves* HEY LADY! it was nice meeting you let me know what your going to make with that roll of faux fur you brought!

Anyways as I said I got a LOT of fabric , far to much to photograph so I've made a video [spoiler alert Polly our dog makes an appearance] and a bag of 50 zips because this girl is always running out of zips..... Or so I thought until I got home and couldn't get them into my zip jar! 

Now I warn you its a LONG one! So I'd suggest making a brew before you start!

Hope you enjoy!

Frankie 

xxx

Mini Fabric Haul

I have a real struggle with the whole post Christmas post new year thing, Its not that I feel sad I just have no motivation. I kind of juts want to sit in my jammies and binge watch tv series whilst eating chocolates [FYI I've just finished lost and now feel like there's a hole in my soul that no T.V series will ever fill]  

To be honest I've just been letting it run it course, yes I have no motivation to do actual things but I've read two new books that Rikki brought me and I finally bit the bullet and tried crochet again! [But more on that another day] 

Anyway I decided that my fabrics just weren't inspiring me so I went fabric shopping! Now FYI I'm calling this a mini one because I spent less than £50 and it didn't take me all day! I was given money by my mum to go fabric shopping which will be a bigger haul! But this one was to perk me up and give me something to sew up whilst I wait out the last of winter! 

I should probably say this haul comes courtesy or Rikkis Grandad Ron and our friend Steve! 

Anyway I went to abakhans on Friday after dropping lil man off at school, which meant I was completely alone! I took a list and was very vigilant with how much everything was going to cost me! Especially seen as I wouldn't have my mum to pick up any short fall and I only have my Christmas cash on me! Needless to say the staff as always were very helpful! [I feel like I'm rambling.... I'm terrible at writing posts where I've actually spent money after two years of being on a VERY tight budget!] So onto the fabrics!

2.5m of red stretch velvet - £8.40

I'm going to use this to make another GBSB wrap dress because how lush wold a velvet one be? Incidentally lil man helped me pull this out of the dryer after prewashing and I struggled to get it off him, he was all wrapped up in a swath of warm fuzzyness! ADORABLE! but seriously kid get your dirty mitts off my fabric!!! 

Feather/Leaves Poly knit - £4.03 

this was from one of the bins, I'm thinking of using this for some colour blocked raglans! [I have a pattern which is very similar to the Linden sweater but that I was given for free and came from prima magazine! I think its designed for a thinner knit but I think if I cut a size bigger I'll be fine!] 

Red Stripe - 2.5m £3 something per metre

I had this off the roll and now I have no idea if its a polycotton or a cotton. But I did spend ages debeating between the black and the red, The red won because I'm trying to inject some more colour into my wardrobe this year! I'm going to use this the make a [hopefully] wearable toile of a vintage pattern. From what I can remember the bodice has some interesting darts which is why I chose a stripe? That or I'll look like a cheaper version of bananas in pyjamas!

Tie Dye print - some sort of poly thing - £7.33? 

This also came from bin and is destined to be a simple sew wrap dress. I thought it was worth making another because I've had so much wear from the first [as yet unblogged I'll get on that soon!] and its just so versatile! 

Poly Knit Stripe - £7.19 

From one of the cages and destined to be a Coco dress and by destined I mean I cut one out when I go home and I'm wearing it now.......... [Its awesome!]

Tape measure cotton - 2m - £5.94 p metre [I think I got it cheaper because it was on sale!]

I've been eyeing up this print for ever! I mean I love sewing and its got tape measures on it! Could it be more perfect?  Naturally I'm going to make a Lilou dress [Yes I know you think I'm boring but I have a lilou obsession and I am not ashamed!!!!]

Jewel print - poly peachskin?- 3m - £0.75p per metre! [yes your reading that right!!!]

Okay so I'm torn between whether this is the most fabulous fabric I've ever seen or really tacky! but I can't argue with 75p a metre so it came home with me! I think its going to be a long summer dress maybe? If it doesn't look ridiculous!

And thats it!

Wish me happy sewing and lots of motivation!

Frankie 

The hen party dress that wasn't.........

I'm having some serious flip flopping about this dress, at first when I tried it on I thought the bodice was too long and considered taking the waistband out, then I wore it whilst washing up [standard do I like this dress procedure!] and I decided maybe it was okay but not perfect.

and then I though well I only really want perfection, and then I showed it Rikki and he said he didn't think the bodice looked to long [and even remember that this is the fabric from my big haul that he liked best!] 

Okay so the fabric was a spandex jaquard from Abakhan fabrics and cost me £23.70 for 1.5 metres, I actually winced when I typed that because OMG that's a lot of money for fabric!!!!!

So anyway onto the techincal stuff, the bodice is from the third great British sewing book and is the hack from the corset! Its fully lined and I did some top stitching down each seam for a modern vibe. The halter neck is stitched to one side and clips with a button on the other side.

I thought the bodice might be too short which is why I added a waistband, and now I think it too long! sods law eh? 

The skirt is just a basic circle skirt that I cut directly from the fabric! FYI the bloody circle skirt is one of the reasons I didn't wear this to the hen party! The thing stretched and then it stretched some more and then just when I thought it was done I gained an extra centimetre! It took and hour to level it all of and an hour and a half to hem!

The picture above is why Ill be ripping out that waistband later! just look at that bunching!!!! I'm not sure if its my wonky stance or the waistband but either way I'm going to be getting up close and personal with my unpicker!

If I wasn't so darn fussy I think I'd leave it but it just doesn't look quite right?

Much Love

Frankie

xxx