It's like a tent, a circus tent, only with armholes...

I'll start today off with a list of things I don't want to talk about..

I don't want to talk about the fact I had the most restless nights sleep ever last night,

Or that when I finally managed to get to sleep I missed my alarm and had to get me and lil Knitwit ready in 15 minutes,

Or about the fact my toasters broken, and that in grilling out hot cross buns I burnt them

Or that lil Knitwit is a grump of his very own today.

Or that I'm having to rock my glasses again because my eye is sore. 

I am however prepared to talk about my most recent make. 

This is a variation of the tunic top from the great british sewing bee book no.2, I didn't have enough fabric for the full length dress version (which looks a bit like a nightie in the picture) so I opted for a summer top. 

I used what was left of the material from my lilou dress for the main body and the flowered yoke fabric was from a small peice that I had in my stash! I'm glad I got to use it actually because it's super soft and adorable. (Not sure why I look so grumpy in this picture)

I used a piece of trim on the front and back center seams to hide the fact that the stripes didn't match. If I had worked really hard I probably could have got them lined up, but life is too dammed short! And it's good excuse to use trim! 

All in all I think it's a tent, but it's also kinda cute I guess? It might work with shorts in the summer it's bigger so it could be nice and cool. 

And I definitely like the fact that the tunic style means it's longer at the back, I'm a huge fan of bum coverage ! 

It's nice to have a new top, and it's cool that it's the second garment I've got out of this fabric! 

Right I'm going to find some chocolate to cheer myself up! 

It never rains but it pours!

Much love

Frankie

Xx 

New textured owl!

Ive not made a textured owl in absolutely ages! But today whilst on the phone to my momma I found myself giving it a whirl! 

I can't wait to turn it into a cushion! 

I used peices of lace and a vintage lace doily! As well as other materials from my stash.... Including.... 

Cute lil brass circle bead things! 

And the wings are my from some Indian silk I had left over. 

I think it's adorable! I'm making it into a cushion tommorrow and it will be popping it into my etsy shop not long after !

Now I'm wondering if theirs any other animals that would look cool texturised! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

The Phoenix from the ashes!

I remade my Robert dress! Into a pencil skirt! 

Please prepare yourself for some awkward posing! 

I used the pencil skirt pattern from the second sewing bee book. But added a suede waistband. 

I also added a good couple if inches to the front panels (which I cut separately) so I could make a front button placket! And omitted the zip. (Read: I didn't have a brown zip)

I had to squeeze the pattern peices onto the fabric hence the waistband and the suede panel that I attached to the bottom and topstitched. 

Still not sure have that blooming back vent is supposed to work though! Stupid instructions! I really should google it, anybody have any ideas how the vent for this pattern works? 

This one seems to fit better than my blue version, probably because it's not a stretch fabric. The buttons are vintage, my lovely momma brought me back a big bag of brown buttons from a vintage fair she went to recently. All my buttonholes went in easy bar one, that one is a wonky  mess but seen as I don't plan on wearing this with the buttons undone I don't see it as a major issue, and after unpicking it twice I wasn't going to torture mysf once more for the sake of a bit of wonky ness.

I lined the waistband with a pretty heinous scrap of quilting cotton, it's peeking out though so some top stitching might be required. 

I think I like it, I'm not sure if it reminds me of something of the late eighties early nighties? 

I'm not in love with it but I don't hate it? 

Let's put it this way, I like it much better than what it previously was (Robert dress) but I don't like it as much as my delphine skirt in the same fabric, then again I didn't like that in the beggining! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Summer wardrobe inspiration!

I haven't lay posted recently mainly becuase there's not been a lot to post about , I've made a toile for a jacket and now just need to work out what I want to do fabric wise. 

I've started a summer top but need to finish it (bias binding urgh!) 

And I've been trying to asses my summer wardrobe situation, before I had lil Knitwit my summer wardrobe tended to consist of the smallest pair of shorts I could find and some sort of bikini top, sadly that's no longer appropriate for general shopping and dropping off at nursery! 

So I decided to have a look online at the latest summer styles to try and find some inspiration for a me made summer wardrobe. 

I've screen shotted the web pages so you can see the web address and the price. 

This is super cute! And I'm pretty sure if I can find the right fabric I could use my mimi blouse pattern to create something similar. 

I love play suits! (I do hate the weeing issue though!) I'm using this as my excuse for buying the new great British sewing bee book, so I can use the jumpsuit pattern. 

I love the idea of having a pretty bra top for under big vests and kimonos, but no way I'm I paying near on £13 for one. I doubt theirs £13 quids worth of fabric in five of these! 

Mainly I love the print on this, I think this year I'm going to try and be more confidant with prints! 

This is stupidly classy, I'm putting silky material on my shopping list and I'm going to try and recreate it! 

I've already made one kimono and I'm on the look out for cheap sarongs so I can make some more! 

I like the idea of having a denim skirt that singing quite as mini as I used to wear! The top one is a basic pencil skirt but I think I could recreate the bottom one using the clemence skirt pattern and adding some patch pockets! And I've got a couple if old pairs of jeans ready to be repurposed! 

Quite simply this is adorable! I have no idea how easy the pattern would be to draft but it might be nice to try and learn how to shir (have I spelt that right?) fabric. 

I love this! And I already have a similar one in my wardrobe! Insert smug face here! 

And I think that might be enough to be getting on with, for the moment at least! 

What are your summer sewing plans? 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

Mimi blouse pattern hack!

I'm a great lover if the mimi blouse from love at first stich, so much so that I thought it might make a nice shirt dress.

Now sadly I've got no pictures of the altering process, but I'll definitely take some when I make my next one! 

First a got my pattern pieces and added about a foot and a half in length. 

Then I altered my collar peice so I'd have a round collar not a point one (FYI, I prefer the pointy one) 

Next I cut two pieces of grosgrain to act as belt loops (I sewed these directly into my side seams) 

I used a sheer lace as my yoke, I think it makes me look saucy! Although I did have to topstitch the seams down so they wouldn't peek through! 

I also had to trim my collar placket so it wouldn't peek out. 

Here's me trying to show you the lace and not just give a cleveage shot.

 

For the tie belt I just made a rectangle although I think I might switch it for a proper belt next time. 

All my button holes went in smoothly! which never happens so YAY!

I think it's a good summer dress length although I can see me wearing it in winter with tights and a long sleeved top! 

All in all I love it! Everything came together nicely! Next time I think I might try and flare the extension from the hip for a more 50's feel! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx

The glorified tea towel!

I knitted a blanket! A baby one of course, I followed the honeycomb stroller blanket from raverly. And I'm happy to say not only was it easy as pie to knit (even for a beginner like me!) it turned out super cute too!

 

I didn't have enough of any one colour so I used a selection of blue, green and violet tones from my stash. And I used a fluffy aqua wool as my main colour, I have oodles of this wool but I hate knitting with it because the fibres make my hands sore. 

I'd say it's pretty gender neutral? People don't tend to stick to the whole pink for a girl blue for a boy thing anymore do they? 

The only real problem with it is that it's pretty dinky , probably because I didn't have the right sized needles so I used a smaller pair. I think it's a good baby size (I mean they are pretty small) but mr Knitwit says it tea towel sized. 

As with all matters of the world the male is wrong! 

In fact the pattern is so pretty that I've cast on another one and written out the pattern for mr knitwits nan! 

This time I'm using a colour change yarn, and I've cast on more stitches to make it bigger! I'm using a colour change yarn becuase weaving in all those ends is such a snooze! 

This time I might forgo the border aswell because  I seem to be in solemnly of picking up stitches evenly! 

Much love

Frankie

X

I'll rip it apart and stitch it back together...

Do you know what this is? 

Well do you? No? 

It's the peices of my Robert dress, yes that's right thepieces I ripped it apart yesterday. 

Ripped it apart.

This was only the second actual garment I'd ever made and I was soooooo proud. It had seams and I ironed and I finished everything perfectly. 

It also didn't fit well

Or suit me

Or feel comfortable to wear

And I didn't like wearing it, something I realised during OWOP. 

So I tried to fix it:

I added darts, and a button and more darts.

But it still wasn't right,

I thought about doing a different skirt shape as the box pleats weren't exactly thrilling me (I drafted the skirt myself)

And then I thought what would I do if this was a cheap and nasty fabric and not the material for my grandad Roberts suit? I'd bin it, I'd throw that hot mess straight in the bin. 

I haven't though instead I've carefully unpicked every seam (remember these are the ones I finished) with the intention of making a new better garment. Something to the same standard as the things I've been making recently (full credit to Tilly's book on being such a wonderful tutor) something I'd want to wear! 

So at the minute I'm thinking either a cropped collarless jacket or a pencil skirt (maybe with a bow?) what do you think? 

And stay tuned to see the Phoenix rise from the ashes! 

Much love

Frankie

Xxx