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 

Blue Wool Check Skirt

My Christmas tree is up! I know its early but in my defence Rikki is at work next week so it was either put it up now or have to wait until a week and a half into December and I'd much rather have it up early than late! 

Okay so this skirt came about by complete accident. Basically my friend came over with some curtains that his mum had picked up for me. This check? Is it a check? Is it plaid? Is it tartan? does anyone know the difference? Anyway this pattern was one of the pairs of curtains and I absolutely loved it! 

BUT their wasn't a huge amount of it. Which left me with a dilemma, try and pattern match a plain pencil or a-line skirt which may or may not work due to the scale and repeat of the check and the fabric limitations OR throw pattern matching to the wind, say sod it and just make a slightly punky mismatched wrap skirt. 

The wrap skirt sold it to me because the front panel is cut on a slightly different angle making the checks almost diamonds which I think is a pretty cool look.

The pattern I used is a prima pattern that I have also used here. I love this pattern and I'm going to make a few more for winter. I'd love to make a version in suede and leather for a cool gothic sort of look.

I finished all the edges with homemade bias binding turned to the inside. It makes everything a lot quicker than standard hemming and I think its neater.

As you can see the pattern matching is totally jacked up. I mean its pretty dreadful from a sewing point of view but it doesn't bother me too much. Mainly because I've got a few Vivienne Westwood tartan skirts pinned on pinterest and I don't think they hold to the whole pattern matching thing.

I'm wearing it with a top I got from my Aunty Mary, it did have floofy bits on the ends of the sleeves but I cut them off. I think its meant to be a cardigan but I like to pull it into a cross over wrap top. I just wish it didn't show my belly!

The buttons are recycled and I even remembered to reinforce the button holes and where I sewed the buttons with interfacing. I need to remember to do this more often because it made my buttonholes go a lot smoother and I think they feel more secure. 

Although the button holes on one side are in slightly the wrong place. I got a bit confused because the front panel only has one dart so I marked and sewed them in the wrong place, and I;d cut them over by the time I realised. I don't think you can tell though?

All in all I think this has been one of my favourite makes recently. I love the style and the fit and the way the cutting layout made the plaid look. That said I haven't worn it much because its so pale. Maybe its just me but I sort of feel like winter is a time where I wear darker clothes? I'm not sure how to style this to make it look cute but still be warm. I think a white polo neck would be nice but what would I do for tights? Or maybe a grey polo neck and some grey tights? Thoughts? I'd love some ideas so I don't have to wait until spring to wear it! 

In other news!

I've started the second Jojo Moyes book "after you" Its a sequel to me before you and so far I'm enjoying it. I was trying to read Oliver Twist but I saw this in a charity shop and knew I had to bump it up my reading list. So I'll be going back to Oliver twist later. 

We popped to the Trafford centre on Monday. Lil man was school so we thought it seemed like a nice idea to go out.  Typically we go to Hanley which is 15/20 minutes away or we just stay at home and relax, but sods law the day we are and hour away is the day Lil man falls over at school and bumps his head. My heart sank when we got the phone call asking us to go in and decide if he needed to go to A and E. Luckily Grandad had a day off so he went and picked him up whilst we drove home and lil man was completely fine once he'd got over the shock. We knew he was fine after he conned Grandad out of a McDonalds!!! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Abakhans Brocade Separates

Shopping, tiddly winks, minion game, whot cards, strip jack naked, mouse trap, batman lego and connect four. That's pretty much how my day went, yerp lots of entertaining of a small child. And just to clarify "strip jack naked" is a card game, I wasn't just stood on the street requesting random men named Jack come into my house so I could undress them......... I only do that on the weekends!

Luckily I've already got a lil stack of projects waiting to be written up/photographed for the ole blog. Because god knows sewing is scarce at the moment!

This beauty was actually sewn up a few weeks ago! The brocade was sent to me by the lovely folks at Abakhans and as soon as I saw the the vibrant colours along with the little silver threads that are woven through it I was sold. Love at first sight is a strong word, but if this fabric was sat at the bar on a Friday night I would definitely buy it a drink and put "kiss from the rose" on the juke box. 

  That said it terrifies me for two reasons:

1. It frays like a mother. I mean seriously after two weeks I was still pulling bits of silver out of our dryers lint tray and we all have it on our socks! I would definitely consider sewing/overlocking the edges before pre washing!

2. It is very dressy! Which kind of terrifies me because aside from the school run and the odd wedding I don't get out much! Currently my idea of a meal out involves a big mac and a mcflurry.  

Which is why I opted for separates, because they are 100% more versatile! And as an added bonus they look like a dress when you wear them together! The pattern is from prima magazine [august 2014 ] but you could also use the sleeveless shell top and the box pleat skirt patterns from the GBSB books. Or if you are fancy and go out and stuff go the whole hog and make an awesome dress!

Size wise I measured as a 14 but I cut a size 12 because the prima patterns tend to have a bit too much ease built in for my liking. [My measurements are 36", 27", 38" BTW] I also omitted the waist darts because I wanted a slightly looser finish on the bottom. 

The fabric is fairly heavy weight so its best to opt for something with cleaner lines for example pleats in the skirt not gathers. 

I changed the back from a zip back to a button up back to make it feel it bit more dressy. It also meant I could use these silver buttons I had in my stash [similar here]. I lined the top in a black lining fabric from my stash. This is mainly to keep the insides looking neat and tidy but it also adds a level of comfort. The fabric isn't particularly scratchy but I wasn't prepared to rick any chaffing near my *ahem* nipple area, especially seen as the button back may require me to go braless. 

I like how the three buttons give a little bit of skin without going the full Julia Roberts pretty woman. The button loops were made by hand using thread [the technique for this can be found in the 3rd GBSB book] Originally the top had sleeves as well but it ended up looking a lil bit grandma so I ripped them out and ended up finishing the armholes by hand using a really tiny slip stitch. 

But the best part!!! LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS WITH JEANS! I think I've finally cottoned on to the jeans and a nice top trend all the kids are talking about! Lengthwise I tried it on before I hemmed it because I wanted to go for a classy cropped sort of style. Its the perfect length for wearing with my skinny jeans and the matching skirt as they are both high waisted. You see a lil bit of skin without me feeling like I've got my whole tummy out.

I even think this wouldn't be too OTT for a trip to the cinema or a drink in a nice pub. Lol I'm totally lying I'll definitely be wearing this on the school run because I have no concept of dress codes! 

The skirt is a simple pleated version which is very flattering. I didn't line this but did make sure to finish all of my seams properly. I did two rows of stitching and then pinked them, so far its been through the wash 3 times and it hasn't frayed yet. The main part of the skirt has an invisible zip [This fabric is pretty bulky when layered so a lapped zipper is a no go] and the waistband closes with two press studs. 

I hemmed the whole thing by hand which gives a slightly nicer finish than machine hemming would. It actually means there is no visible stitch lines on this make at all. No top stitching are anything, I tend to think so stitch lines work better on a fabric like this because other wise you can end up looking really over worked.

This is the second attempt of hemming the skirt, the first time I was going for a midi length skirt but then I tried it on and remembered by I don't wear midi length skirts with my short little legs!

Now sadly this fabric isn't currently on the website [it should be soon!] But it is in store as well as some other great brocades! Although for my next version I think I might use a scuba like this one? 

So yeah all in all I love it and I can't wait to wear it to a special occasion! Hopefully we'll be invited to some posh christening/wedding soon! Heck I'd take a birthday party!

Much Love

Frankie

Disclaimer, Whilst Abakhan's sent me this fabric for free all thoughts and ideas are my own! As I always say honesty is the best policy! 

Vintage Linen Slouch Top

The weather is awful today, I've got some lovely fabrics set aside to make some summer dresses but this rain is sapping all of the joy out of me. On the plus side I'm sat in my double trouble jumper watching project runway and I've got a whole packet of chocolate digestives at my disposal....so I guess its not all bad. 

I made this a few weeks ago whilst we were having that hot spell and I was sick of wearing clothes that clung and stuck to me, all I really wanted to do was wonder around naked but sadly that's not appropriate for the school run!

It all started with this embroidered linen pillowcase that came from my Aunty Shelias house. It had a small bit of embroidery on each side [It looks like it may have been done by hand?] but sadly the rest of it was badly damaged so I decided to use the embroidery as a feature on a garment and use a different fabric for the rest of it.

So the embroidery was used for the sleeves and the main body of the top was just made of a light cotton. The weights of the embroidered fabric and the main fabric are slightly different but you can't notice it when I have it on. I also added a piece of lace in a band around the top because the front felt too plain. The lace came from a craft market and is fairly thick. I just attached it using a straight stitch on the top edge, the bottom edge hangs free.  

The pattern for the top is by prima magazine, its just a very basic boxy top with a boxy sleeve. In fact the sleeve is so boxy the sleeve head is practically flat! I've never had an easier time of setting in a sleeve. It does mean that it sits rather low though, you can't really see on the pictures because the white on white photography isn't exactly brilliant for showing details. But the shoulder head reaches the top part of my arm and then the sleeve starts. This kind of goes against all of my fitting knowledge but it looks okay right? So maybe its meant to be like that! 

The prima pattern is really simple, no darts no tucks no pleats just two sleeves a front and a back! I cut a size 14 but I think I may size down next time? 

To add a bit more colour I did the hems using a coloured thread, it just ties the colour of the embroidery to the rest of the top, 

All in all I like it. When I finished it I absolutely hated it, it was just lying on the table all big and shapeless but then I tried it on with my jeans and with a few skirts and I decided that maybe its actually sort of cute in a kind of french way. I'm looking forward to the weather warming up so I can wear it again. And I love that it uses some of my Aunty Shelias stuff and that I managed to cute around the damaged fabric [although there is still a small stain on the top of one of the sleeves, but I live with a small boy so stains are part of my life at the moment!!] 

Much Love 

Frankie 

x

Simple Raglan Top

 I was going to write this in the morning but lo and behold Rikki woke up with a migraine and spent the day spewing up and moaning whilst I tried to occupy a lil boy!

It was fun!

Anyway this top was made out of necessity I needed something to go with this liberty skirt I've made [which fit perfectly when I made it but is now somehow too big on the waist?] And because I'm making an effort to put more solids into my wardrobe!  

Its really wrinkled in these pictures because lolz Frankie hates to iron! The pattern was the same raglan prima pattern that I used for my last raglan top [I'm using it instead of buying the Linden sweater because Frankie = cheap]

The fabric was from the lovely Simona from Sewing Adventures in the Attick, I won it during her de-stash!!! And funnily enough she's Romanian and grew up near where I used to go skiing! Small world eh? Anyway its a very lightweight jersey with sort of raised striped on it and its very slightly see though. So you can't make anything body con with it, hence why I stuck to a looser style! 

The whole thing was whipped up on the over locker and I didn't bother to match the stripes! 

And that's it really!

Now I'm going to try and coax my husband into having something to eat and taking some more migraine tablets!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

   

Simple Wool Skirt

This skirt was a bit soul destroying to make to be honest. I had originally brought the fabric with the intention of making the wrap skirt that I've put on my #makenine board. But Lo and behold I didn't have enough fabric so I had to do for a more simple skirt.

Okay so here's the deal I went to Abakhans the same day that I went to pick up my copy of sew style magazine [because I'm in it!]. Anyway I had already decided to get myself some fabric as a well done to myself but had set myself the princely sum of £5. Yeah I know right this girl really knows how to spoil herself! So I was torn between this wool mix which I;d be able to get one metre of and a cream snake skin shiny thing that was on sale that I could have had two metres of. Long story short I chose this because it looked more practical and then I didn't have enough fabric. FYI the fabric cost me £4.99 for a metre.

Anyway In stead of making a wrap skirt I used the same pattern and just made a simple pencil skirt but with the added extra of having a funky full zip in the back. I decided this would be a sort of wearable toile. And BOY am I glad I did!

1. The skirt comes in three lengths, really long, long and flash your froo froo. Luckily I had already spotted that it was looking a bit on the wee side so I added 4 inches to the length of the mini length.

2.I cut a size fourteen because that corresponded with my measurements, actually I corresponded at a 16 but I knew that Prima patterns do tend to have quite a bit of ease built in, Anyway the dammed thing was huge! [yet another flash your froo froo moment] So I took 1 inch of each of the side seams and half an inch out of the centre back. 

The zip looks way off centre on this picture but I promise its just how I stood. A photographer told me everything is more flattering if you rest all of your weight on one leg but it does make zips look wonky.

That said the skirt went together really quickly the thing that took longest was all of the hand finishing I decided to do. Because of how thick the fabric is I was able to hand stitch down all of my facings and hem it by hand. The hem is practically invisible.

Okay so good points:

I like the style its a classy skirt

I love the long zip at the back because it stops it being too boring. [The zip is recycled from an old hoody by the way.

I love the hand stitching on the inside.

Bad points:

on one side the pattern matching sucks. I'm blaming this on not having quite enough fabric.

I think it makes me look a bit wide at the bottom? I think maybe I need a waistband to help emphasis my waist.

Its a really thick skirt. Which is great in winter but means I won't get a lot of wear out of it in summer. So I dunno if that's a bad thing or not. I mean its a bad thing now because summer is coming [No seriously I had to close the curtains because the sun was making a glare on my laptop screen] But I think when winter rears its ugly head again I'll be glad that I've got a thick skirt to pull out of my wardrobe.

So yeah all in all I like it, I'm still miffed that I didn't get to make my wrap skirt but some fabric arrived this morning that will be perfect for it!

In other news:

I'm pretty much recovered from the CHSI stitches show and have started to write up some of the samples I received.

I tried to make a shirt dress last night and the instructions for the bodice just SUCKED. Anyway I;ve worked out what I need to do now so hopefully that'll be coming soon.

I also had knitting woes last night. The k1 p1 wasn't creating a rib it was just making moss stitch so I had to rip it back and go off the pattern and cast on an even number of stitches instead of the 25 they suggested.

Needless to say I gave up on being creative last night and just had a long bath!

Sometimes its just easier to walk away!