Showing posts with label tired. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tired. Show all posts

Saturday, 23 April 2016

Toile and Error

I love experimenting with patterns, mainly because I don't buy patterns very often [read at all] because I'd rather spend money on fabric. So I tend to give then a good chop and change every now and again!

This toile is yet another variation of my princess seam bodice from the great british sewing be book.


Alterations wise I added a inch and a half to the bottom of all the bodice pieces and raised the neckline. After years of showing huge amounts of flesh I've now realised that less is more in the sexy stakes!

Which mean the flesh is in the back [again I know it tend to do a lot of back bearing things but I think it might be my favourite part of my body. I'd rather expose my entire back than expose my midriff!]


The back is in a racer back style which I love. Simply put I copied my pattern pieces onto paper [I use this bodice so often that my pattern pieces are card so easy to draw around] And then scooped out the armhole until I had a racer back. Its not perfect but that what the toile was for!   


Although as you can clearly see this toile was a huge fail. I had wanted it to be a wearable toile but the pulling of the back bodice through the straps [Its a fully lined bodice] put too much strain on the seams and it frayed like a [insert naughty word here]. Which really hacked me off because it took an hour to turn them both through and I'd trimmed down most of the bulk.

Anyway it jacked up the whole of the neckline and whilst I considered finishing it with the skirt I'd cut out and stuff it would have been a waste of time and zip, because I just wouldn't have worn it! 

  I'm making mark two tonight and I'm hoping that same thing doesn't happen again, I'm going to use a dainty seam allowance and the fabric is a lot thinner so fingers crossed wont be a problem.


I'm pretty annoyed that I'm going to throw this one out through because my print placement was pretty nice and I'd eased the princess seams really well too [at least in my opinion] and I love the back!

At some point I'll do a series on altering your favourite bodice blocks in simple ways but for the moment I just don't seem to have any time! 

In other news I forced myself to do some more on my miette cardigan last night whilst the boys played video games and I'm hoping to get my first sleeve finished tonight.... hopefully. I don't hate it yet but I'm getting close. I am pleased I've stuck with it for so long though! I never thought I'd be the type to try and hand knit a cardigan!

To be honest my entire crafting games been off again this week and I'm blaming Mother Nature! Not helped by my grumpy son who likes to get up at half six and then be miserable for the whole day!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx







Friday, 4 March 2016

Slow Sewing

I had big plans for today, little man was at nursery till 2.30 so i was going to sew all day, I had a shirt cut out and i was ready to really take my time!

That was until I had a sucky nights sleep topped off by a sore throat and a small child deciding to get up at 6.15am , a whole hour before the alarm goes off for nursery. So I was not amused and I was tired. And I had to walk in the snow.

So I had to ditch my plans to sew my shirt because I wouldn't have the brain power for construction let alone top stitching. So instead I decided to have a few cups of tea, watch project runway and then do some slow sewing. As it goes I finished off two unfinished projects. And then spent a while waiting for the rain/snow to stop so I could take them outside to photographs before I lost the light. Which didn't happen so here's some pictures of the process. [ I'll do the proper pictures as soon as the weather decides to stop being a pain in the ass!]


I've got two baby quilts to finish and luckily managed to pick up some backing fabric a few days ago. Confession time, I didnt even use wadding for these, i just used squishy fleece fabric!, It's quicker and so much easier to baste them!!!


I've quilted both of them and hand sewn the front of the binding.


The finishing didn't take as long as I thought they would, I'd say the quilting took the most amount of time, Boy would I give my right arm for long arm quilter! Its pretty tough going doing it on my regular machine.

So yeah it was a productive day, but not as productive as I wanted it to be, Luckily I've got Saturday and Sunday night to sew as well. And maybe then I'll have had a bit more sleep!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx