Kwik Sew K3489 - Stuart Hillard Jersey

I loves a wrap dress.

I'm not sure why?

Actually I am. I like skirts and tops and dresses that wrap because you can loosen them off if they get too tight. i.e If you've eaten an entire pizza. 

In fact I went to a wedding yesterday and in a tactical move I wore a wrap circle skirt, which I loosened after the trio of desserts came out!!!! 

This pattern is Kwik Sew k3489 and I got it during the big pattern swap. At the time I thought it was a woven dress pattern but lo and behold it arrived and it was a jersey pattern!

Although I did shorten the sleeves to 3/4 quarter length because I prefer them to full length wrap sleeves on a dress. 

Luckily for me the Craft Cotton Company had sent me some samples of Stuart Hillards "kimono" jersey collection.

I love this print its my favourite in the collection and I know have three items made out of it! This wrap dress, a cardigan and a tshirt dress.

The fabric sewed up beautifully I used my over locker for most of the construction and just used my regular machine for the hems and for putting a button hole in the side to thread the ties through. 

I used white thread and I really like the way it stands out against the navy blue.

Fit wise its jersey so I didn't make any changes I just sort of winged it. I might shorten the skirt by a few inches next time I make it though. 

I ignored the facings that came with the pattern and just hemmed all the edges instead. I hate facings on jersey makes because I just find they flap around and they never sit flat which I find super irritating. 

I also just knotted the end of the ties instead of hemming them properly. T o be honest I wasn't sure I was going to even like the dress when I was halfway through sewing it. So I did sort of rush through some of the finishing. 

As it goes I LOVE the dress. Its a nice level of smart looking without being too much. The length is suitable for most situations and I just find wrap dresses really flattering. Plus as I mentioned before you can always loosen them off if they start to get uncomfortable. Ideally I'd like the make another one but I need to find another jersey that I love.

In other news!!!! 

As I said we had a wedding yesterday! I wore a me made skirt and top and lil man wore a waistcoat I made. 

The wedding was really really lovely and I had a great night dancing with my friends.

I've been making more sewing plans and I can't wait to get cracking. Its just a matter of finding the time! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Peak Tshirt Dress in Stuart Hillard Fabric

My style is really changing at the moment. After years of being really dressed up all the time I'm trying to embrace casual a lot more. Which obviously includes making my own casual clothes. 

I'm trying to work out why I'm so smiley on the picture above? Did someone give me a cookie? Was I two glasses of wine down? Why am I so cheerful?????????

Ahh that's better. My resting bitch face is back. 

So onto the dress!!! The fabric is one of the prints from Stuart Hillards Kimono collection for the craft cotton company. Its a lovely sort of abstract print on a blue background. The craft cotton company were actually kind enough to send me a few prints from his collection but I only had a small amount of this one so I knew I'd need a simple pattern that wasn't too fabric hungry.

I chose to use the Peak tshirt pattern from Wendy Wards book. BUT I opted for the longer dress version. To be completely honest this book has become my go to for jersey patterns. Its got a few basic patterns in it but there's so many variations for every pattern that its definitely worth buying! 

Construction wise I used my over locker for the mainly body of the dress and just used my regular machine with a twin needle and walking foot for the top stitching and hems. I did add a bit of interfacing to my hems to stop them puckering when I used the twin needle and I stabilised the shoulders with some ribbon to stop them stretching out. 

Typically I don't wear tshirt dresses but I really like this one. I actually made it during the summer and it was really comfy to wear but I've worn it with thick tights recently so it should be good for winter too. 

The only problems I have are :

1. the neckline is really high. I've since altered the pattern and the neckband pattern piece to make it a bit lower. 

2. its a slim fitting dress. which means if I'm bloated or I've eaten an entire bag of jam donuts to myself [Obvs I don't actually do this........often] then I don't really wear it because I risk looking a bit pregnant. On the plus side if I'm at home and I'm eating pizza and I don't have to leave the house then the fabric does expand to fit my pepperoni tummy.

All in  all I really really love it. Its so nice to have a more casual dress that I can wear. I actually took this camping with me when we went as well because I like to have a dress option with me and this doesn't crease. 

In other news!!!! 

I still haven't added anymore to my miette cardigan....... I know I know and I'm annoyed with myself because I said I would finish it before I started another project but there's a few patterns that are calling to me! 

My hexy quilt is getting bigger! I'm adding to it every now and again its its definitely progressing. But I knew I was in for the long haul with that one! 

My new crochet quilt isn't getting any bigger either. I'm making granny squares and blocking them but I think its going to be another long project. 

We have however clear out our loft so we can put the train set up their permanently and then the boys can play with it. Obviously I'm most excited about building all the scenery and houses!

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Polka Dot Tshirt - Newlook K6217

I just had politicians at my door and couldn't make them go away, made even more awkward by the fact I'm already in my pjs because #lazygirl.

Okay so this top is part of my conscious effort to try and make more of my tops and stop relying on RTW. 

The pattern is from new look k6217, is one of those multi pack patterns and has a top, trousers, skirt and kimono jacket in it. I got mine from the charity shop for 25p but you can also find it here.

So far the top is the only one I've tried and I doubt I'll make any of the others but for 25p I think I've got my monies worth. The thing that mainly drew me to the pattern was that the top is made up in woven fabric which means I can use some of the smaller pieces in my stash.

I did most of the construction on my over locker apart from the hems and the back seam. Because of the keyhole detail at the back I had to sew that on my regular machine. I actually really like the little open bit at the back and its a good excuse to use up all those pretty odd buttons I have floating around. 

The fabric was a polka dot crepe that I got from abakhans during the fill a bag sale. It sewed really nicely and O only had a small amount so it was perfect for this pattern.

The top has a grown on? [I'm pretty sure that is what you call it?] sleeve so its really easy to sew up and you don't have to faff around setting in sleeves. Perfect for a quick pattern for making up some day to day tshirts. 

I sewed the hems by over locking the edge and then folding it over twice. It turned out really neat so I'll definitely do that again. To be honest I have no idea how the instructions have you finish them because I didn't even open them!

Fit wise I cut out a size 12 and the fit is pretty good. I measured as a 14 but I always size down on the big four patterns. Technically the bust size for the size 12 is 34inches and mine is 36 but as you can see its not straining or anything.

I much prefer it tucked in! But I tend to prefer everything tucked in because it gives me a bit more a shape. 

So yeah I'd have to say this make was very successful and I think I've finally found a woven tshirt pattern that I love! 

In other news!!! 

- The washer is finally in! The man who came said the other guys must have been a load of cowboys. But more importantly my faith in my measuring skills has been restored. And I'm nearly caught up on the washing.

- Lil man bumped his head today and I'm in full panic mode checking on him every ten minutes in case he has a concussion! He's been fine all day but that never stops me panicking about him. Not helped by the fact I can hear kids shouting outside and I keep thinking its him! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

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 

Saftey Pin Sweatshirt

I've had a fairly crappy day. In fact I'd say today was the grand finale of several crappy days all strung together.

I'll start with the sewing first because that's what your all here for but if you want to find out why I was sat in my kitchen crying at 1.30pm today then be sure to read on afterwards. 

But sewing first eh? 

I made this jumper from this sweatshirting fabric from sewalicious. I recieved the fabric free as a thank you for writing sewalcious a blog post on sewing the trends!

Its a gorgeous fabric, its soft and snuggly and I thought the safety pins fit nicely with my love for sewing. I must use hundreds of these every time I baste a quilt. 

Like with my unicorn sweatshirt I used an old prima pattern that I had. I actually sized this pattern up for making big cosy jumpers so this size is the 16. 

I decided to size up to make sure their wasn't too must strain on the jumpers stretchiness and make it bag out of shape. I used to have some great band hoodies but the constant strain across my boobs meant that they became quite misshapen in that area. 

I sewed the majority up on my over locker and only did the top stitching on my regular machine. 

I also used little binding clips from holding the seams together instead of pins. I've had a few close calls with nearly sewing over pins on my over locker [Knits just hide pins so bloody well!] and whilst I can fix my sewing machine myself I wouldn't know where to start with my over locker. 

Anyway because these clips are bigger and brighter your less likely to accidentally sew over them. 

Its also easier to clip the seams together rather than pin on thicker seams like the neck band and the cuffs. 

Print wise I didn't think it was directional but now I look at it most of my safety pins are the wrong way up. Although saying that is their a right way up to a safety pin? 

I love big snuggly jumpers like this and wear them all the time. This one saw quite a few mornings on the school run and it fits under my coat nicely. I'm hoping it will do just as well when we start camping again in the summer. 

Its basically like wearing a secret pair of pjs! 

For some reason the bottom cuff is really sticky out? I'm wondering if it needs a good iron? Or maybe I just cut it a bit big because it wasn't an actual pattern piece.

All in all I really love it. I think its a cute jumper and its really nice to wear something handmade with my collection of jeans! Although I have seen a lot of fashion bloggers wearing jumpers like this tucked in to gathered skirts and they look pretty cool so I might give that whirl one day! 

So onto my day.

Basically at the start of the month out washing machine decided to break, so we ordered a new one to delivered the next week [closest date they had].

 Then they cancelled delivery because of the snow [actually all the snow had gone the day they were meant to deliver but hey ho] and rescheduled for a week after that. 

Then on that delivery date the freezer we had ordered came but no washer!!!! By this point we'd had no washer for 2 weeks and lil man had decided to get sick. 

So I got on the phone and it turned out it was out of stock and they organised to deliver a week later. 

Which was today.

Now the washer arrived but even though I had carefully measured the gap and compared it to previous washers we'd had the man couldn't push it all the way back. First he blamed the lino, then he blamed the pipes [which is odd because Rikki and his best mate struggled to get a washer in their last year and they managed] then he knocked something and water started leaking onto the floor. Then he tried washing up liquid to get it in and took the cupboard door off. 

And long story short somehow they bamboozled me and ended up leaving it as it was even though I'd said either they put it in properly or they took it back. I know it sounds wussy but this is the first time I've had a delivery like this and having men in the house when I'm by myself made me feel really uncomfortable. [The previous two deliveries had been scheduled for when Rikki was home but we needed to washer ASAP after three weeks without]

Anyway the long and short is I ended up with a cupboard door off its hinges, a washer that sticks out three inches and water and washing up liquid all over the floor [They had used washing up liquid to try and slide it in.]

I hadn't noticed the washing up liquid/water mess that they'd left and slipped on it.

And that folks is how I ended up sat on the floor crying....... Its getting sorted now but it was a fairly emotional day to say the least!!! 

And I'm never ordering white goods again!!!

Much Love Frankie 

A Softer Coco Dress

Its September!!! Which means it's my birthday this month! Which means I'll be 25..... which is slightly terrifying because 25 is halfway to 50....and 50 is halfway to 100.....and where has my life gone exactly?

Anyway I like to think I'm growing into my age. Some things have definitely changed, I no longer tank a whole bottle of wine just for 'funsies' and last week I got rid of most of my short shorts. In fact I've only got two pairs left and they are for if we go on holiday and I need something to wear to the pool.

 The main thing that's changed is my thoughts on whats comfortable. I mean honestly I have a pair of slippers that you can microwave to keep your toes cosy and guys they are the bomb! If I had a choice between saving Rikki or the slippers in a house fire I think I might choose the slippers! 

 This dress is all about comfort!

Lets ignore the knitted doll in the background shall we? Apparently I hadn't tidied as well as I thought I had! But the dress! Now some of you may be sat their thinking 'Frankie don't you already have this dress?' and well your kind of right! What I actually made was this dress which is a lot more body con and whilst its lovely it really has a two slices of cake limit. 

This dress however is the coco dress so it flares for the waist which means I can probably have four slices of cake before I look preggers! The coco dress is by Tilly and the buttons by the way and is definitely worth a buy! 

I went for the long sleeve version because I'll probably scrunch them up anyway but at least this way I have to option of keeping them long if its cold. Funnily enough I've worn this dress a few times and I have been keeping the sleeves long and just forgoing a cardigan. 

Hey guys meet the less comfortable section of this dress! MY SHOES!!! yep those are a 7inch platform wedges and they are surprisingly comfortable! In fact I wore these to Next to pick up our new rug and I think I walked okay... It would have been better if Rikki and little man had kept pace with me, but they looked fabulous when I was stood still! [In hindsight this is more a sitting shoe than a walking shoe which seems a bit silly considering its a shoe....but still fabulous!] Anyway these are one of my £1 pairs of shoes!

Back to the dress! The jersey fabric is from FCfabricstudio which still have a cracking selection of fabrics are really reasonable prices! [In fact I just lost half an hour adding things to an imaginary basket oops] I only had a small amount of fabric which is why I went for the coco dress originally I wanted to make a wrap dress but there just wasn't enough fabric. 

I sewed the body of the dress on my over locker and just hemmed it by regular machine. Honestly the whole thing including cutting out took me less than a hour. And to say I've not had it off my body since that makes it a good use of an hour! 

So all in all this is a great addition to my wardrobe! although to be completely honest I don;t actually need to be adding to my wardrobe because it is choker block! Literally can't fit anything else in there! I think I may need to do a huge wardrobe cull and ditch anything I don't wear but I have no idea how to start?

Any ideas?

Much Love

Frankie 

x

French Navy - An Orla Affair

I am so late to the Orla party most people have gone home apart from the guy who's drunk in the corner! 

The Orla dress is a pattern by French Navy and get this guys its FREE! Yep as its her first PDF pattern the lovely Sarah has decided to give it out for free and well you guys know how I love a free PDF. Even if I do hate taping together all of those blooming sheets of paper! And as an added bonus me and my printer had a row again [Seriously considering couples counselling for me and that bloody thing] So it probably took me about an hour just to get the flaming thing to print!  

 

But less on me and my printers marital issues and onto the dress! The pattern comes in sizes xs, s, m, l, xl, which is a bit of a change from the standard numbered measurements. Now the pattern is drafted with a 1cm seam allowance which is clearly stated in the instructions. Typically I use a 1.5cm seam allowance and I was tempted to add on the extra 0.5cm but I'm lazy so instead I just decided to cut a bigger size. Now I measured as a 14 which is a L so that left me cutting a size XL, using a 1.5cm seam allowance and hoping for the best!  

It did not work! The bodice is meant to be quite loose fitting and well mine fits pretty darn snugly! So next time I'm going to stick with this size but use the 1cm seam allowance and see how that goes! Although part of me does wonder if some of the snugness is down to the fact I decided to over lock the whole dress and I had to cut off my side seams and re over lock them because I'm an idiot! Long story short I had already decided to set my sleeves in flat but sort of forgot....? because as I said idiot!    

I also didn't have a 40cm zip like the pattern says you need so instead I improvised and went for a keyhole back and shorter zip. The neckline closes with a small button and loop. Which is actually quite nice for using up odd buttons!

This one was a lil faux mother of pearl button. I have no idea where its from, probably one my mum found in a charity shop or a friend gave me.

I also didn't use bias binding for the neckline instead I just overlocked it and folded it over. It looks neat and it lays flat so it works for me! 

Here you can see the overlocked insides, which look all pretty and tidy! 

Bodice wise its got front and back waist darts but no bust darts. Its got cute lil cap sleeves and a gathered skirt. One thing I do really like is that the skirts not too full. Its enough to create a slimming silhouette but not enough that you need yards and yards of fabric, 

The fabric is the same drapey viscose that I used for my Blitz dress I think it works for this type of dress but I am a bit worried the the strain on the seams might mean it falls apart quite quickly!

So yeah all in all I love the dress and its a brilliant free pattern [which you can find here]

In other news!

The weather is messing up the TV signal and I'm half way through "a street cat named bob" Which I'm a bit too invested in to turn off but I'm not sure if I can cope with the jumping and stuttering.

Lil man has yet another cough and can't get to sleep bless him.

And I'm pretty sure I've broken my lil toe. Basically I stubbed it on the ironing board [which just goes to show that no good can come from ironing!!!!] and now it hurts like the dickens and is turning a lovely shade of purpley blackish blue. So yeah that's fun!

Anyways Much Love

Frankie x    

Vertical Stripe Jumper

When I started this blog I swore that I would try and document all of my sewing projects the good the bad and the ugly. However I'm not sure if this falls into the bad or ugly category? The sewing isn't bad so I'm going to say its the ugly.

I look like a 70's referee. The vertical stripes did not work at all. There wasn't really a thought process behind this, more of a look I have some weird shaped fabric off cuts lets see what I can make from them. I didn't even have enough for the bands! So I used some turquoise jersey from sew essential. The stripe itself is from abakhans, I found it in one of the bargain bins! 

I used the threadcount wardrobe builder cardigan pattern but cut the front on the fold. I can't even remember what the pattern number is and I refuse to stand up and walk across the room to look. This project does not deserve a walk across the room. [I just looked in my notebook and apparently its threadcount 1607] 

Construction wise the main stuff was done on my over locker and the top stitching was done on my regular machine. It took no time at all to sew, but still turned out hideous!!! 

All in all its a pretty god awful jumper isn't it? That said I'll probably still wear it when its winter and I;m freezing my bum off on the walk to school. Plus I had no wasted fabrics so that's a bonus? Although now I'm wondering if I should just start binning my weird off cuts? or donating them to my sons school! 

So yeah that's today's make,

In other news I'm planning my next quilt. We don't need another quilt but I seem to have amassed quite the collection of fabric scraps so I guess its going to happen!!!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Sew Style Essentials, Jersey Dress

I'm all about comfort at the moment. Seriously I brought 2 sensible bras and a two packs of sensible pants last week [You know the kind, the ones that don't give you panty lines and are basically seamless]. So yeah I am all about comfort and this dress pretty much sums up my style five days of the week. You see I'm not a morning person, so when I get up with lil man for school some days I struggle to dress myself. 

This is the perfect dress for me though because all I need is underwear, tights and a belt and I am good to go!

So lets get down to the knitty gritty. The pattern came from Sew Style Essential magazine and was one of those "enlarge by 200%" monstrosities. Now I normally ignore these because LOL I have zero idea how to enlarge anything using my printer! But luckily for me it also came with a download version which you can find here. Now don't panic I know its got every single pattern from the magazine in it BUT there is a magical way just to print the pages you need. I mean I don't know how to do it, but I have a husband who does..... [It prints on 16 sheets of paper btw!] 

Anyway Its a stupidly simple pattern designed for jersey fabrics, Its three pattern pieces and I did most of it on my over-locker in about an hour [Including cutting out] The only thing I had trouble with was that my pattern only printed one size? But that could be my printer, as you may have grasped I'm pretty printer illiterate. I measured the pieces and took a punt that it might fit me. To put it into perspective I'm a RTW size 12 on the bottom and either a 10/12 on the top depending on whether I'm having a good boob day. The only part that's tight is on the arms, so I've marked that pattern piece to use a smaller seam allowance. 

My fabric is a jersey from FC Fabric Studios, It has two way stretch and washes like a dream! I've had this through the wash umpteen times and so far no issues. Its a lightweight jersey, sort of like a t-shirt fabric but its not primark t-shirt fabric thin! Sadly I can't find it on the website now but they have some other cool prints. I'm already coveting this and this for two more comfy dresses!

Okay so all in all , I love it. I mean its not the sort of make that's going to set the world on fire but I love how the clean lines really showcase what to be honest could be a bit of a difficult print. Anything too fussy and this fabric would have drowned it but I think the dress keeps things simple and chic. I even like the higher neckline, typically I tend to prefer to show a bit more chest [flaunt what yo momma gave ya] but I think this combination of a high neck and not too much leg looks very classy. In fact it kind of makes me gutted that I don't work in an office because then I could wear these everyday.  

In other news I've nearly finished my knitted blanket! Yay!

And I've started a cross stitch , the less said on that the better!

I didn't really do a huge amount over the weekend. Lil man had football practise on Saturday morning so spent Sunday morning in bed watching films and eating brioche! And then Mummy did some knitting whilst lil man watched the football! 

I think its nice to have a lazy day especially seen as we had to be up and dressed so early on the Saturday. And it was the first time I stayed and watched and it was fairly entertaining and I became quite the source of amusement to the coaches , mainly because I flinch whenever the ball comes near me! 

Much Love

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Frankie 

xxx

Disclaimer - Whilst FC fabric studios sent me this fabric for free all comfy/jersey dress love is my own!