Basic White Shirt - Prima Pattern

I love sewing shirts!!!!!! I dunno what it is but I love it! All the top stitching , making a collar its one of my favourite things to make. Although I was struggling to find the perfect pattern until now!!! 

This pattern is from Prima Magazine of all places. I know its not a go to pattern place for most people but in my experience the patterns are always well drafted with clear instructions. Yeah you have to trace them but lets face it, you have to do some sort of tracing on most patterns now days!

The fabric is from the abakhans fill a bag sale. Its a beautiful white cotton with an embroidered pattern. I dread to think how much it would have cost off the roll or as a remnant but I got it in a bag with other fabrics for £10 so it was a bargain!

The instructions were simple to follow but I changed the sleeve plackets because I wasn't happy with how they turned out. They don't look brilliant but I mainly wear it with the sleeves rolled up so its not a huge issue. 

The buttons down the front are from my mums old white trouser suit and make me smile every time I see them. They are little hexagons with a mother of pearl type look. 

I used the button gauge my mum and dad got me for my birthday and I would highly recommend getting one if you ever do button holes. It makes getting them evenly spaced much easier.

The shirt went together really easily even the collar and collar stand. Even the buttons holes went in first time! 

The yoke is lined so you have to use the burrito method to turn it through. Which did make me scratch my head for a second but I got there in the end. 

I missed off the collar buttonhole and the top button hole because I never do them up anyway so whats the point? Plus I didn't have enough buttons....

Next time I make it I might lengthen the pattern a bit. Its not awful now I just think I'd feel better with a few more inches of length.

The only other thing I can say is I didn't have any white interfacing so I used some white cotton instead and its holding up well.

All in all I really love this shirt and I'm chuffed with how it turned out. 

In fact this shirt had its first outing a few months ago when I went bowling with my mates and the Ultra violet light made the stitching on it show up and look really cool. 

oooh I nearly forgot to say the breast pockets are actually pretty useful! The fabric is quite sheer so the breast pockets [which are lined] mean I can wear it with just a bra rather than a bra and a vest top! WINNER! 

As it goes I actually used this pattern to make another version of this shirt almost straight after and I love that one too! 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Houndstooth Check Coat

How ridiculous is it that I made a coat in summer? I mean talk about an unseasonable make. I literally cannot wear this for a few more months but at least that gives me some time to sort out the issues I have with it. 

For starters yes this is a LOT of coat. Its definitely not a coat for the shrink violet kind of person. Luckily I've grown into my weirdness so I love it and I'll wear it with pride. 

The fabric itself is from the Abakhans fill a bag sale and I knew I HAD to make a coat from it as soon as I saw it. There was about 2.5/3m of it and it filled about a third of a bag so it cost around £3/4 for the lot. 

The pattern is by prima and I already used it to make this coat. I extended the pattern by about 30cm because I only wear winter coats if they cover my bum. Mainly because if the coat covers your bum you don't have to worry about if your dress has got stuck to your tights and ridden up because no one can see it anyway.

I added in seam pockets because I like to have somewhere to keep my keys in my coat. They turned out pretty nicely but they do sit better when the coat is open rather than when its closed! 

The coat is fully lined in some cotton that I had in my stash. Truthfully the lining is pulling in a lot of these pictures. I've done some measuring and the lining is slightly longer than the coat so it shouldn't be pulling. However! It is a cotton rather than a slippery fabric [Slippery fabrics are typically used for linings because they are easier to get on and off] and I think the cotton is snagging on the clothes I wear underneath so I either need to detach the lining at the bottom of the coat and leave it open or I need to take out the whole lining and put a new one in.

Here you can see how bag the pulling is. Funnily enough I put it on ten minutes later and there was no pulling. I did put it on a lot more carefully though and putting on a coat carefully is not something I want to be faffing around with.

Its got belt loops and a belt instead of buttons and I really like it however Lil man immediately asked me why I;d made a new dressing gown *sobs*

The material was quite a loose weave so I over locked every single piece before I started sewing. Which yes took bloody ages but was worth it for the piece of mind that it won't just fall apart after one wash or wear. 

I love the really big collar. I think it looks super cool. Rikki however said that the whole coat made me look like Huggy Bear, who I was hoping was going to be a fun Disney character but as it turns out Huggy Bear is a pimp from Starsky and Hutch and was played by Snoop Dog in the remake. Which not gonna lie made me feel a bit better about the comment because Snoop Dog is awesome.  

Also my hair doesn't look like this any more. In fact its back to blonde with a few pink streaks. I'm currently taking suggestions for what to do next with my hair. 

So all in all I really really love this coat I just have no chance to wear it at the moment which sucks. However I'm not complaining about the weather because its been quite nice not to be soggy all the time if you catch my drift? I feel like our winters are so wet and miserable that I spend most of my time trying to dry my coat or shoes and never quite getting them less than damp before I have to wear them again! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

Off the Shoulder Tops

I loves an off the shoulder top. Which is surprising considering you have the whole strapless bra faff and I hate strapless bras.

But I do love the off the shoulder look. Previously I drafted my own pattern straight onto the fabric but it was a bit of a mare trying to work all the maths out and I'd much rather just use a paper pattern.

So when a friend sent me a copy of a prima pattern for an off the shoulder top I was pretty chuffed! Because well half the works done then really isn't it.

I cut my standard prima size which is a 12 but for some reason it still feels a bit snug which sucks.

I mean its wearable but its clear the pattern needs a bit more tweaking. For a start I'm going to add some width to the front to make it more blousey

And I definitely think it will be worth tweaking it to make it perfect because they sew up really fast. And because I've been meaning to make more tops!

The fabric for the first version is just come cotton that I cut off the back of some curtains. It's pretty soft and I like the delicate pattern of leaves the only issue is the cotton is a bit thin so I've had to wear it with a white corset body thing underneath.

For the second version I used a dotted cotton that came from my friend Steves Nans house. Yet again its a bit see through.

For these pictures I tried it not off the shoulder [which kind of defeats the object of making an off the shoulder top but hey ho!] and I think it looks kind of cute? Like a col twist on a tshirt? and it means its a bit less restrictive to wear.

All in all I wouldn't call them hugely successful makes. I might get some wear out of them in the summer but they are far from the perfect off the shoulder tops I was hoping for.

Although in the pictures they don't look too bad so maybe I need to get them out and take a second look to re-evaluate. 

In other news!!! 

- I'm catching up with all of my xmas telly that I recorded. So far I'm catching up with teen mom and I'm not sure I can cope with the drama! 

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

Denim Prima Wrap Skirt

Hey guys! I'm gonna start by saying I put makeup on just so I could take these pictures........ Thats how dedicated I am. 

Anyhoos this is one of my make nine projects for this year! I was sent this prima pattern by my lovely pen friend Jeanette [you can find her on instagram as pin_n_tonic but be warned she binds a lot of the inside seams of her clothes and it will make you feel like an underachiever!] 

Anyway nobody really blogs about Prima patterns which I thinks a huge shame, yes they build loads of ease in and sometimes you have to trace the patterns off but they have some really great simple styles like this awesome wrap skirt. [Plus chances are your Nan/Mum's got a subscription anyway so you can just snaffle the patterns from her!] 

Right so naturally being me I went completely off piste and threw the instructions out the window! For starters I added 4 inches to the shortest skirt length, BUT because I decided I wanted to use the raw hem this ended up being far to long and I think I hacked at least three inches off so that was pretty pointless!

Next I omitted the back zip purely so I could just have a button front. Now I finished my button holes by hand which is a new thing I'm loving because it gives a really awesome finish! but because of spacing there are also two press studs holding the under skirt in place.

The buttons are recycled from an old coat I had before I had Lil man! Funnily enough as soon as I was pregnant with him a lady a hospital told me what a lovely MATERNITY coat it was and I never wore it again because I was convinced it was the coat making me look pregnant and not you know the baby I was growing! Hormones eh? 

I also top stitched all of my seam allowances down to give it a flat felled sort of feel. I was going to do flat felled seams but I had to do some major taking in on the side seams and back seam so this way seemed easier.

I also skipped the facings and just used bias binding to finish it. I think I;d rather have a bias bond finish than a facing because there's less flapping around. And its already hard enough to keep the under and over skirt at the front from getting rucked up on each other. 

That said I do love the wrap front, and I love it in this denim because it has such a contemporary feel to it. Rikki even said this make is "quite nice" which is high praise indeed! The skirt is pretty simple and only has three pattern pieces [Realistically you could create something similar using a standard skirt pattern] this has 3 pattern pieces the back [which you cut two of] the under front [which you cut on the fold] and the overlap which you cut in a single layer. The overlap is also shaped so that it hangs slightly lower and is angled.

The denim was sent to me for free by the craft cotton company to have a play around with.  and its a really nice sort of lighter weight denim. And the best part is it washed so much better than the last lot of denim I had! 

I have been distressing it slightly though using a cheese grater and by leaving all of the edges raw. I just like the grungy feel it gives. Although I am now picturing a nice version in a classy fabric for going out and stuff [ I say and stuff because I genuinely can't remember the last time I went anyway classier than a wacky warehouse or a McDonalds to eat] 

All in all I LOVE it , even if I do keep finding stray denim threads hanging off things! And its really nice to make separates that will go with everything in my wardrobe!

In other news I feel like I should kind of address how my blog has changed over the years. Basically when I started blogging it was because I was a lonely stay at home mum who felt like she'd lost her entire identity because a baby had popped out. That was roughly four years ago and now I'm a stay at home mum/blogger who loves writing about sewing and spending time with her kid which leads me to my next point. You may have noticed I've been doing a lot more reviews and basically getting free stuff than I did in the beginning. 

I just wanted to be straight with you and say yes I do get gifted items and yes sometimes they do ask me to post about them and add links to their sites. But I am always honest because I respect you guys far to much to lie just so I can have something. I also always disclose where things have come from.

I do it because 1. Momma didn't raise no fool and 2. because If I wasn't gifted things I wouldn't be able to review some of the great things that are in the sewing world. Realistically we are a young family and my sewing budget is basically whatever money I might get given for Christmas and birthdays! So I wouldn't be able to afford them.

But please rest assured that it will always be me blogging here and you will always get to here about sewing, general mumming, knitting and whatever other random stories!

I hope that's okay!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer - this fabric was a gift from the craft cotton company but all denim wrap skirt love is my own! 

    

Prima daisy print dress

When I finished this dress I was all like "OMG this is bad"

and then I was like "FRANKIE YOU FOOL YOU'VE WASTED FABRIC!"

and now its like "hmmm maybe its cute?"

And then I realised I'd made a dress for my baby god daughter in the same print and if somebody did a who wore it better she'd definitely win! And then I decided if shes going to upstage me then I'm not sewing for her anymore.

Yeah things went crazy fast!

It all started out with a hankering to try something new, I was going to make a lilou dress out of this cotton daisy print fabric I got from abakhans but then I was just bored withe idea. so I dug through my patterns and found a pattern by prima [which I forgot to photograph before I cut, Woops. But it was from 2014 anyway so Its not like your gonna be able to pick it up.]

The bodice is a simple darted bodice with a scoop neck and cap sleeves, and then the skirt is an a-line. In the image on the pattern the skirt looks bigger so I was a bit gutted when I tried it on and it was less big than I expected.

I shortened the skirt pieces by 3 inches and then had to hack off another 2 when I went to hem it anyway! And I scooped out the back neckline because the idea of having a high neck at the front and back made me feel claustrophobic.

The armholes and neckline is finished with bias binding and I hand hemmed it. The bodice is unlined but I finished all my seams with a second row of stitching and my pinking shears. To be honest I wish I had lined it but that might be a personal preference thing,

I cut out the pattern according to my size but OMG apparently prima patterns just require all of the ease! Its big and that what really got my goat. All i could think was I should have used one of the bodices I spent forever altering instead of rushing in and ending up with something baggy.

That was until I gorged myself on food and was like "oh wait, wheres the uncomfortable I might pop out of my clothes sensation?" I mean this might actually end up as my eating dress. Its kind of nice to be able to reach for more food without worrying I might pop out of my clothes [Prime example being when I wore my african wax print dress to the cinema, the fit is bang on...until you've eaten a tub of popcorn and a bag of smarties as well as guzzling down lovely bloaty coke. Then Its like wearing a straight jacket whilst trying to burp quietly.]

And I feel kind of adorable in it? Like the kind of girl who listens to indie music and has a cat named dog or something super hipster like that. [no word of a lie, I really want to be a hipster but I have no idea whats cool, whats not cool and whats ironically cool. So I'm screwed guess I'll just have to settle for being gawky. Plus I hate cereals and milk and I'm pretty sure eating cereals with milk in a cafe is the most hipster thing you can do]

Its shorter than usual which is a nice change and I think it will work for winter.

So the bad points:

the weird fade line in the fabric which made me want to cry [No idea how it got there, but if its wants to do one that would be awesome]

Its not lined 

I wish the skirt was a fraction fuller

Necklines a bit gapey

good points:

The print is all the 90's goodness rolled into one super cotton bolt!

the length, I'm embracing my legs

Room for a second slice of cake.... nuff said.

Darts hit the right place on the old bosom.

Looks adorable with my granddad cardigans and brogues.

And that's it really, I thought it was a complete flop but its actually not too bad. I think I like it better after seeing it in these pictures,

In other news! 

You may have noticed I been posting less often. I feel like a day on and a day off is a good place for me at the moment. It kind of felt like I was churning posts out just for content and to be honest it was all a bit soul destroying. I want to show you guys awesome stuff I've made that I love, or at least crappy stuff I've made but I can laugh about. Not stupid little projects that I've made for the sake of a post and then chucked in a drawer.

I'm also trying a lot more new techniques now so It is taking me longer to finish things.

I am considering posting throwback links to old blog posts as well. Mainly so I can see how far I've come but also so you guys can see some of the awesome crazy stuff I made when I started this blog! like this!

I think its just about trying to find my groove. 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Simple blue velvet jacket

I was given this jacket pattern a few months ago by my penpal, it was actually in a stack of prima patterns all of which focused on very simple clean designs.

The pattern itself is only three pieces, the front , the sleeve and the back. The instructions say to cut out four front pieces to line your jacket front but the idea of only having the front of the jacket lined felt weird to me so I drafted a collar facing. It's worked pretty well, you can't see a messy inside but you don't have the bulk from two layers of velvet.

And speaking of fabric I used some more of the blue velvet I was given its got a woven underside so it looks okay on the inside of a jacket especially since I used bias binding on all of my seams. I'm not sure if they count as Hong Kong seams becuase I bound both sides together but they look very neat so I'm happy. I made my own binding from a blue and white weird microbe looking cotton I had in my stash. I know il never use it as a dress fabric but I didn't want to throw it away. 

I also made the white binding that runs around the edge of the jacket, I applied this by hand for a nice finish and added beads as i went to make the jacket feel a bit more special.

These photos are awful sorry the spare room is still in pre Christmas chaos and lil knitwit was napping whilst I took these. Bless him he's ended up with another cold and hasn't been his usual self. He went to nursery Monday morning with a sniffle and by afternoon had collected the entire classes germs.

Here's a picture of my seam binding isn't it neat and lovely? I even bound around the pockets so they would look nice too and then I tacked the pocket binding to the front facing binding so they wouldn't flap about. I'm not sure if its the proper way of doing things but its how I did it.

You can wear the collar up or folding down but I think I prefer it up. I think it made the coat look more classy even if I think it could have done with being as bit smaller.

The facing fabric was given to me by a friend , its a great texture but its much too itchy to make a entire garment out of. I think the grey blue and white work nicely together. And I'm quite tempted to make a fully lined version but in a red and black scheme.

Overall im impressed its nice to have another jacket option for going out and I really do think the beads add something even if they did take bleeding ages to apply, luckily I was in a patient mood.

I could have done with taking an inch off the sleeves but it doesn't bother me enough to redo the binding and beading. Although the beading on the cuffs is only on the outside whereas the beading on the main coat is on both sides because the collar flips back.

It all feels very grown up and it basically means that I now have a blue velvet dress suit because of my blue velvet shift dress. The idea of being able to match my dress and jacket makes me feel like the wife of a rich business man in the fifties. You know the kind who doesn't bayt an eyelid when she catches her husband screwing his secretary ( well actually I'd turn fifty shades of crazy but you know what I mean)

A better look at my inside binding and pockets, I used the same material for my pockets as my facing.

And a close up of my labour of love with those pesky beads! Even if it did take less beads bthan I thought it would.

In other news I started another slef drafted project, which is going quite well even if I am having to add nin Godet's becuase I miscalculated my backside measurement.

And I've started the run up to Christmas we went out yesterday and picked up some alcohol and some nuts aswell as a nutcracker, neither of us eat nuts so no think they might end up being more ornamental than anything. But its nice to have them for other people and if all else fails they can go on our bird table.

And I've started to give my wardrobe a proper clear out again. I know I nseem nto do this a lot but making my own stuff means I seem to accumulate a lot of stuff! Itndoesnt help that I'm always happy to take other people's castoffs aswell for refashioning and stuff! This time I didn't get rid of much just a few dresses that after looking at them didn't suit me. Well I nsay get rid of I think I'm going to refashion them into tops which should be cool they have pretty cool prints non and I'm in dire need of some more slouchy tops for the school run.

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx