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

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.

Unicorn Sweatshirt! Fabric by Adam Ross

Its no secret that I LOVE unicorns!! I have mugs and scarves and teddies [Fun Fact: When we first got together Rikki won me a Unicorn on hook a duck at the local fair and I still have it. ]

So when Adam Ross asked me if I'd in doing a fabric review on their website I was like YES! And then when I saw that they had unicorns I did a little happy dance because UNICORNS!!!!! 

The fabric itself is a sweatshirt type fabric in a medium weight. It comes in this charcoal grey with pale pink unicorns and white with pink unicorns. FYI the unicorns are glittery!! 

One thing I really like about the website is that underneath the pictures of the fabric it has a list of fabric properties, a list of sewing suggestions and then a list of suggestions of things to make. I've not seen that sort of level of detail on a fabric website before and I'd imagine it would be really useful to someone who doesn't have a lot of experience with sewing or who might want some ideas of what to make with a fabric they love. 

The fabric is £12.49 a metre which is what I sort of expect to pay for a quality sweatshirt material. But I do like that the fabric is sold by the metre very often now fabrics are sold by the half metre and I always end up getting confused and ordering too little. 

I used a prima pattern to make mine but it's very similar to the linden pattern by grainline studios. I added some piping to the shoulder seams to break up the print a bit but stupidly used a fabric that's a bit too thick so my over locker was struggling. I managed to get it through but knew I'd never be able to pipe the cuffs or collar so I skipped them. I did wonder if it might look a bit weird just having the shoulders piped but my mum said it looks okay. 

Construction wise apart from using my over locker I also used my sharpest pins and made sure to double check the pattern pieces were all lying the right way around before I cut it out. I definitely didn't want any upside down unicorns!!!! 

On the above picture you can sort of see the glitter on the unicorns, which is still there after all the washes its had [about 4/5]. 

I actually made the jumper when we had all the snow because I was starting to run out of warm clothes to wear! And now its my go to snuggle jumper. I just makes me smile so much every time I reach to put it on. The inside is very soft as well so its nice to sit and relax in. 

All in all I really love this jumper. I feel like I'm reaching a point where I'm filling gaps in my wardrobe and I was in need of a cosy jumper. I'm also impressed with how well the fabric has been holding up to the constant washing and wearing, which makes me think, maybe I need one in white as well?????

In other news apparently we are going to get more snow this weekend and you know what they say snow day means sew day! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Disclaimer, Adam Ross sent me this fabric for free but all thoughts and views are my own x

Red Waffle Dress - FC The Fabric Studio

Hey guys! Lets take a moment to appreciate the 30 seconds of sunshine we had yesterday! Today however it was gone, and I am still waiting for nice weather because it makes taking blog pictures 1000% easier. 

Anyway I'm here today with possibly my favourite dress that I've ever made thus far. This dress was a serious labour of love and I made sure to try and do everything to the best of my ability.

So lets start from the top! The fabric is from FC FabricStudio who were kind enough to get in touch with me a while ago and ask if I wanted some fabric to blog about. And well Momma didn't raise no fool so naturally I said yes! 

I sent a list of fabric I liked from the website and was sent this awesome red polyester waffle and another red floral jersey. Now because they were both red I pre washed them together with a colour catcher [FYI I now do all of my washing with a colour catcher just because it saves so much heartache]. Now the colour catcher came out red but I'm not sure which fabric ran and neither looked different coming out of the wash. So no harm no foul just something to be aware of. 

The websites easy to navigate and the washing instruction for each fabric are really clear which I love. 

They have just under 300 fabrics on the website and they start from £2.00 and go up to £14.00 which is hardly bank breaking now is it? The other thing I love is that all of the fabrics have a great RTW sort of vibe to them. There's no novelty stuff which is great if you want to have a high street sort of look.

Pattern wise I wanted a really classic dress something that wouldn't look out of place in a restaurant but that I could dress down for assemblies at Lil mans school. Naturally I went for the Princess seam bodice from the second GBSB book because I've altered it to fit me perfectly. I added a waistband and spent a good hour umming and ahhing between having a full circle skirt and a box pleat one. In the end the box pleat won because I knew the fabric would hold the shape beautifully. The box pleat skirt is also from the second GBSB book.   

I made sure to press all of my seams really carefully and I under stitched my facings. Normally I line all of my bodices but because the fabric is thicker than a cotton I thought a lined bodice might be a tad warm and well ummm sweaty..... That said I did line the waistband so the seams from the skirt and the bodice would be tidied away. I just trimmed the seam allowances on the rest because the fabric doesn't fray.

The zip is recycled from an old hoody [I really love an exposed metal zip!] and hurrah it went in first time.

Typically I don't make dresses in plain fabrics but I think the waffle texture adds a good amount of interest to something that could end up being quite dull.

So I;m marking this a GRAND success! I love the look of the dress and I love how RTW it seems! And the colour guys! Its just so beautiful I feel like Chris De Burgh should be following me around singing lady in red! 

And I highly recommend the website for finding beautiful prints that aren't to "out there" I've got my eye on this one and this one next!

I have decided what to do with the floral jersey but the pattern needs printing off so I need to wait until Rikki is out of the house so he's not all like "WHY ARE THEIR 40 PAGES COMING OUT OF THE PRINTER!!! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH INK COSTS!" Its much easier we both just pretend that our printer spontaneously runs out of paper and ink.......

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer - Whilst this fabric was sent to me free of charge are waffle loving goodness is my own! 

Latest Fabricgasms

Okay so it dawned on me that its been a long time since my last Fabricgasms post!

And seen as the weathers been pretty grotty I decided to theme this one around summer!!!!!

Apart from this one! Plain black babylon stretch liquid velvet dress fabric! 

How perfect would this be for a coco dress!!! I mean a velvet coco dress, I might die!

London underground Poly cotton print! 

This is all of the adorable, I have very found memories of travelling around London on the tube with my Mum so a dress in this print would be pretty fabulous!!! 

Tape Measure cotton poplin

It has tape measures on nuff said. I especially like the pink colourway.

Psychedelic Skulls cotton poplin

This has rainbows and skulls and flowers and its pinks. It might be the best print in the world. EVER!!! 

Tiny Bows Poly cotton

These are little tiny bows, its literally the most adorably twee print I've ever seen! It would make the cutest full skirt!

Stars print polycotton

Yet another awesome print, can you imagine strutting around in a star print dress? this comes in 19 colour ways! And I love about 80% of them!

Sewing Machine cotton poplin

It has sewing machines in it....... Do i really need to say anymore?

Floral border print stretch cotton sateen

I think I might have fallen in love with border prints, I love the cutting challenge and this one gives me all the vintage vibes!!!

Hand Printed Floral Batik Cotton

I love the hippy style this has and I just think the Batik looks so pretty! This comes in a few colourways but I think this one might be my favourite!

Bright Floral cotton poplin

This reminds me of some of the beautiful prints that high street fashion brands use. I love the 90's style and the colours are just AWESOME!

So that's my latest fabricgasms! What fabrics are you loving at the moment!!!

Much Love

Frankie

xx

Latest Fabricgasms!

Without further ado here are my latest Fabricgasms! 

https://www.minervacrafts.com/shop/fabric/dress-fabrics/tartan-m-poly-viscose-tartan-dress-fabric?colour=Red

I'd use this to make a classy punk rock pencil skirt!

http://www.plushaddict.co.uk/cotton-fabric/cotton-lawns-42/dressmaking-cotton-lawn-mahoganay-vintage-floral.html

This would make an awesome Blouse!

https://www.minervacrafts.com/shop/fabric/dress-fabrics/csat-blos-m-chinese-satin-blossom-brocade-dress-fabric?colour=Kingfisher

This I would use to make a kickass Birthday dress!

http://www.plushaddict.co.uk/all-fabric/flannel/riley-blake-alpine-fabrics-flannel-plaid-black.html

This would be awesome for a plaid style shirt!!!

http://shop.sewoverit.co.uk/collections/fabric-type-wool/products/wool-zigzag-merlot

This would make a cute delphine skirt!

http://www.craftcotton.com/craft-fabrics/fat-quarters/printed-fat-quarters/

I'm wondering if I'd look like a five year old in a dress made of teal and white polka dots or really cute and summery!

http://www.craftcotton.com/craft-fabrics/fat-quarters/printed-fat-quarters/

And I think these would make the cutest accessories for a sewing room and for making sewing bags and things!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Latest Fabricgasms!

I love fabric...... that's really all I need to say! So here's a collection of fabrics I'm lusting after at the moment!

From http://fabricrehab.co.uk/

Mr Bones - silver and black skulls!

quite simply I like skulls!

In Flight - Cobalt 

I think this would make the worlds prettiest shift dress! simple shape, belt it up and a pair of boots and your good to go!

From http://www.plushaddict.co.uk/

Scandi Love Birds - Festive Red

This would make an awesome Christmas dress!

Michael Miller - Halloween - Bone Head charcoal!

These are the cutest skulls in the entire world!

From https://www.minervacrafts.com

Herringbone weave suiting

I love my wool suit that I made and I think this would make an excellent second version!

Gothic Skulls Nylon Lace Dress Fabric

I love the idea of making a very simple tunic from this fabric and then layering it up with vest tops and jeans!

And that's all for today folks!

What fabrics are you lusting after?

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Ooooo, fabricgasm

For anyone who doesn't know a fabricgasm is....... Actually I'm gonna let you figure it out for yourselves, it involves the word fabric and gasm so I think it's pretty self explanatory. 

Anyway, seen as I'm still rocking my no buying fabric till I've used fabric stuff, my fabricgasm a have been strictly the online kind (I sound full on creepy right now) so I thought I'd share some of my favourites! 

Somebody buy me this Liberty so I can make the worlds prettiest blouse! 

I have a weird relationship with birds, owls=yes, parrots/bugies=no. Pigeons I hate!!! Speaking of which are they getting braver or is it just me? When I was young a well placed clap and the little buggers would go flying, but I practically stood on one yesterday and it didn't even flinch! 

There's still a little freaky goth kid in me somewhere! 

I mean she's really trying to get out!

 

I can practically feel her sharp little black goth nails clawing on the inside of my head! 

Yeah I'm gonna have to let her out soon, please expect some Skeleton makes as soon as my fabric stash allows! 

I love the look and style of retro games, anything in 8 bit is right up my alley.

My sister calls me Frankenstein so this is pretty appropriate. 

My little pony - nuff said

And lastly I'm not sure who this is, but it would make the cutest summer dress! 

Anyway if you want to see more of my fabricgasms follow me on Pinterest! I update my fabricgasm board regularly, usually at 3am when I can't sleep! 

Suddenly just realised that most of my choices are Alexander Hebert which says a huge amount about how seriously awesome his designs are! (At least I'm assuming it's a he? And not just a team of "people"? I'm picturing a cool , friendly guy with round spectacles, a deep love for coffee and a wicked sense of humour, if I find out it's a group of university students working on iPads I might cry!) 

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx

P.s if someone could shed some light on the Alexander Henry thing that would be awesome!