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

   

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!

Tape Measure Print Skirt

I'm so behind with posting my makes! I actually made this skirt about two weeks ago after a bout of feeling fed up and miserable about my sewing. This project was a quick fix to try and get me out of my funk.

The fabric was what was left over from my Tape measure Lilou dress and came from abakhans.

As far as quick fixes go I think it turned out pretty cute [its a bit long in these pictures but I have since re hemmed it to make it a bit shorter] I didn't use a pattern I just cut a waistband and then gathered my piece of fabric. Its not as full as my usual skirts but it doesn't bother me too much. 

It was a nice and easy project because its cotton so all of the pressing and stitching went in perfectly first time! Even the invisible zip went in okay. I mean its not perfectly lined up at the waistband I think its about 3mm off but I've been wearing it with a waspie belt anyway so you cant even see the waistband! Plus as I said I wasn't about to get my seam ripper out for a quick fix.

That said I did take the time to hand stitch the inside of my waistband but that's only because stitching in the ditch brings me out in a cold sweat. 

The skirt was sort of inspired by the novelty print skirts that were so popular in the 1950's and because I am really trying to incorporate more separates into my wardrobe.

In other news, I have been furiously knitting whilst wearing my double trouble jumper! OMG its so warm! Although Rikki has made a few jokes about me looking as though I've been tangoed.

And this morning I manged to survive another one of Lil mans school assemblies [BTW his school have open assemblies, its not like he was in the assemblies you can just go and watch either the head teacher or the vicar speak] Anyway I survived and I actually spoke to one of the other mums afterwards. So if someone wants to give me some grownup social skill points that would be awesome!

In general I'm feeling a bit more perky!

Much Love

Frankie

x

90s style Tie Dye Dress

This dress felt like flogging a dead horse at times. I originally brought the fabric to make another simple sew kimono dress, but then I laid out the pattern pieces and tried to see it in my minds eye and it just didn't look right. So then I sketched myself a little deign for a halter neck dress with plaited straps and a bare back. I even draped it all on my mannequin and it did look really nice, and then I tried it on me and I remembered that unlike a mannequin my boobs do actually move, and the chances of me ever wearing something without a bra are slim, especially if the fabric is as unstructured as this. 

Luckily the skirt was salvaged and I had enough fabric left to create this slightly more simple dress. The top is from the third GBSB book and is a shortened version of the Cami top [I think I took about 4 inches off the bottom] and then the skirt is just a gathered rectangle.

It has no fastenings due to the loose fit of the bodice which made this is really quick make. In fact I re used some old bra straps for the top so I didn't even have the make straps. In fact I didn't even properly hem the edge I just overlocked the raw edges and left it. I think it adds a cool grungy vibe to it!

I did wonder if it was a bit short but I think its okay with black tights and I've been wearing it with a full slip on underneath anyway! I've also been wearing it belted, I do prefer how it looks with a nipped in waist but its nice to have the slightly looser option as well.

I think it looks pretty 90's personally which is why I've also been wearing it with a tshirt underneath. I think I remember my sister doing this with some of her strappy dress during the 90's and I think it looks pretty cute. And you know extra layers to keep me warm and stuff!

The fabric came from abakhans and is some form of drapey poly thing from one of the remnant bins. It cost £7.33 which seems pretty pricey for a dress but I would have had some left over for a cami top if I hadn't had to cut out the bodice twice. 

All in all I love it, I think it would be really cute for a night out with nude tights and thigh high boots [I have worn the absolute bejeezus out of my thigh high boots this winter. I literally had no idea how warm they would keep my legs and how much sass they would add to an outfit! FYI mine were £20 and came from shoe zone!]

So yeah now I just need an excuse for a night out on the tiles!!!

In other news I made this dress and then it started snowing a bit so I'm guessing that summer isn't quite ready for me yet.

I FINISHED my crochet blanket! a blog post will be coming soon.

Lil man started with a cough last week but seems to have beaten it off! Touch wood [touches all the wood]

I'm halfway through the first game of thrones book, I'm enjoying it but OMG ALL OF THOSE NAMES! 

I went to Lil mans school worship on Friday........ They do an open worship where parents can attend and I've been putting it off because I'm less religious and more of a spiritualist and the school is very religious But Lil man kept asking me to go sooooooooo. That said It was virtually painless and Lil mans smile as he spotted me sat there was worth it! I did however knock over an entire pile of chairs when it was finished and it was time to tidy up, needless to say I didn't stay for coffee.

Much Love 

Frankie

Charcoal Knit Fabric Dress

Okay so this might just go down in history as the most boring dress in history but if you bear with me you'll see why I made it.

So the fabric was given to me by my sewing pen pal, I think she used it to make a Mortimer dress? Now I've never sewn a knit fabric dress before so my patterns and knowledge was a little limited! The fabric has two way stretch but I don't know how much! 

I made the top part of the dress using the princess seam bodice from the second GBSB book but I didn't put a zip in and I used a smaller seam allowance, and I drafted the sleeve myself using my French curves and using another sleeve pattern piece as reference. The skirt is just a large rectangle of fabric that I gathered.

I sewed it all up on my regular machine and didn't encounter too many problems although the top stitching on the neckband is just awful! I think I was trying to stitch through something too thick. I'm putting it don't as a learning moment. The top stitching on the neckline, sleeves and hem was done using my twin needle but I used a ball point needle on everything else.

All in all its a pretty simple dress, the fabric is soft which I like but the waist seam is a little high and id worry that I looked a bit preggers in it.

Know for the important bit! Here's WHY I made it! Some of you may remember the denim bustier I made from the third GBSB book. Now as lovely as it is it doesn't seem to get a lot of wear, mainly because it exposed both bosom and midriff. Not exactly appropriate for the nursery run.

So I made this dress so I can layer my denim top over the top of it!

I got the idea from seeing a picture of celebs in the 90's wearing tshirts under their strappy summer dresses.

All in all I absolutely love how it looks with this top!!! 

And I love that you can see my tattoo from the back! Its very comfortable to wear even with the corset top on top!

So even though it is the most boring dress in the world I'm calling it a great success!! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx