Wendy Ward Kinder Cardigan in Stuart Hillard Fabric

 Sometimes you make something and you wear it over and over and over again.

But not this time!  I've worn this cardigan approximately 3 times since I made it. [and I made it a WHILE ago]  

In theory I like it. The pattern is simple.

Its the Kinder cardigan from Wendy Wards "sewing with knitted fabrics" which is a sewing book I would HIGHLY recommend. 

And the fit is surprisingly good to say I made zero alterations. Plus its a super quick sew and I love my black version.

I also love the fabric which is a stretch jersey by the craft cotton company and designed by Stuart Hillard.  Its gorgeous to sew with and It's actually the same fabric that I made my peak tshirt dress from. Also a pattern from Wendys book. 

To be honest I'm not sure why it hasn't entered regular rotation into my wardrobe. Maybe I'm just not that much of a cardigan person anymore? In fact thinking about it the main occasions I can remember wearing it it over the top of some pjs in the hopes it makes me look all cool and bohemian....... If cool and bohemian people ate family sized bars of chocolate whilst binge watching doctor who in their jammies. 

I like it in the pictures though. I actually think maybe I needed to see it in pictures to make me want to wear it more! 

This pictures my favourite though. I don't know if you can tell but the glass is my go to glass at my mums house because its shaped like a skull and well that's how I roll. Don't mind me, just over here drinking the blood of those who have wronged me.

Thinking about it..............I might need a bigger cup!

So yeah.

Heres something I made that I don't actually wear that often, and apparently for no good reason! 

In other news!!!

- I finished a crochet blanket and I'm currently knitting another blanket now. MUST HAVE ALL THE BLANKETS! 

- I've been doing some serious sorting and huge shout out the Momma and poppa Knitwit for helping me out! 

- Lil dude is doing well at school and is getting cheekier by the day! 

- I've still been making and selling unique baby clothes on facebook, and have plans to expand my range as soon as I've got time! [if you could give it a like and a share that would be AMAZING!]

- and the new man???? Well hes still lovely! last night he actually taped a sewing pattern together for me whilst I was on the phone and he MIGHT have done a better job than I ever do! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxxxx

Constellation Dress

As promised i'm back trying to blog again. 

This dress is years old, and by years old I actually mean YEARS old!!! 

The fabric was brought at the #sewnorthwest workshop that me and my sister attended ages ago. It was a bit of a treat yo'self moment due to the fact my sister and her husband had decided to treat me to my ticket. [I actually had the money in my purse to pay for her for it and she was like "nah me and Keith have decided to treat you"] So when Fabric magpie set up her pop up shop and I saw this my sister was all like "well you've got the money from your ticket....." and well 1.5m ended up coming home with me. 

Naturally 1.5m doesn't exactly go far. So I opted for the French Navy Now Orla dress pattern which is free to download. 

Oddly whenever I make this dress the fit is slightly different, probably because I spend a lot of time hacking it! For this one I opted for a zip back and kept things really simple. I think this is when I was starting to experiment with slightly less fitted clothes and a more relaxed silhouettes. 

Making this dress perfect for those nights when your trying to eat as much pizza as possible! 

The bodice is lined, but its done BADLY! Just proving that even people who have been sewing for years sometimes say screw it and do a terrible job!!!!!!! However its functional and no one sees it when I take it off so hey ho!

I'm glad I went with a simple pattern so I could really let the print of the fabric do the talking. 

In other news!!!!! 

- Lil dude is learning piano and well by some weird extension I've been giving it a go. I'm pretty sure I'm doing horribly but my ability to read music helps and I think I might book in a appointment to have a quick lesson with my brother in law! Surely I'll sound better on an actual piano rather than a keyboard? right........?

- I've been knitting away. Its yet another diagonal garter stitch blanket but this time I'm using a beautiful colour change yarn from the shop. I'm loving how its turning out but I forgot how much I hate knitting on small needles [chunky all the way!] so its slow progress but I'm getting bits done by keeping it with me as often as I can, turns out waiting in the car at school pick up is the perfect time to do a few rows! 

-I've also been crocheting. Well I say I've been crocheting what I've actually been doing is crocheting a few rounds and then accidentally leaving it in reach of our cat Bandit and then hes been undoing all my hard work! 

And that's it really , plenty of relaxing and cuddling and doing little bits of crafting here and there!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Oh hey.........

Oh hey.........So it's been a while huh? What can I say? Life ?????I ended up taking a sort of unplanned break from blogging not for any particular reason apart from everything just got in the way, work , divorce things,small child, health issues etc. I've still been sewing just not as much, because it feels like every hour of my day is full up. But I do have some makes and I'm gonna try and get back into sewing. At the minute I'm not sure if I'll try and keep blogging or of I'll just be instagramming my makes.So shall we have a little catch up?

I've been spending a lot of time with family which is really lovely and I even managed to get a nice picture of me and my dad which is great because I realised I don't actually have a lot of pictures of me and my dad together. 

I learnt to crochet! FINALLY! I was lucky enough that at work we had a crochet teacher in a work and my manager let me have half an hour to try and learn. Well one thing led to another and now I can make simple projects this lion for example! 

I started my own business selling unique handmade children's clothes. It's called iddy biddy boutique and you can find me on Facebook! 

This lil dude just turned 8 he's doing incredible to say he's had quite a tough year but he's just going from strength to strength and I've never been prouder of him! He actually read the first Harry potter in two days can you believe it?

In the past few months I even picked up 3 new sewing machines! Yes 3!!!! Two from the seventies and a treadle!!! Yes I own a treadle sewing machine!!!! I've wanted one for ages and it seems like a dream that I finally have one!

And um this happened too! This is John and he's my boyfriend , he's sweet and funny and kind. We started off as friends but when I was basically crashing after everything he was the person who rang me every morning to make sure I hadn't slept through my alarm and made me dinner when he knew I wasn't eating and fixed my car so I wouldn't have to take it to the garage. 

And well one thing led to another and now he's one of my absolute favourite people. 

Plus he's got this habit where I sit down to sew and he immediately makes me a brew???? It's bizarre but wonderful! 

Anyway hopefully I'll have another blog post ready soon! 

And hopefully I won't leave it so long again!!! 

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx

Mickey Mouse Raglan Top

Its been a while again huh?

What can I say I've been a busy girl!

Anyway I made this top MONTHS ago!!!

The fabric was from the abakhans fill a bag sale that I went to with my mum, dad, sister and lil man. Its a printed jersey and whilst i it wasn't a huge piece I knew it would be coming home with m because LOL this girl loves her some Disney!!!!!! 

I used my old faithful prima pattern because I know the sizing's good and I do love a raglan. Plus its the sort of thing I can sew in my sleep.

I cut a larger size again because this jersey doesn't have a huge amount of stretch and when it is fully stretched it distorts mickeys face. 

The design wasn't printed on the edge of the fabric for about 4 inches so I used that for the cuffs and the neckband. 

Thinking about it I made this top so long ago that it was before my sewing machine went kaput and decided to stop sewing jersey! And yes I do still need to get it fixed!!!!!!

And that's it really its just a simple top but I've been enjoying wearing it with jeans especially when the weather is cold. 

Much Love Frankie 

Vintage Style Planes Shirt for Dad - McCalls M7206

Every now and again I make things for other people. 

Yes I really am that kind. You do have to meet a special criteria though. 

1. You have to provide the fabric [and I get to keep the leftovers]

2. I have to REALLY love you!

My dad wanted a vintage style shirt for the goodwod revival. He's seen someone wearing one at goodwood and looked online for something similar and found that they retail for about 50$ and would have to be shipped over from america! 

Naturally that seemed a bit excessive for a cotton shirt so he went to abakhans and picked up a sewing pattern and this cool vintage planes fabric and asked me to whip him one up.

The pattern was McCalls m7206 which is a mens bowling style shirt. 

 The front of the shirt is panelled which wasn't going to work with the fabric because you'd end up with most of the planes cut in half. So I hacked at the pattern with my scissors and taped the three panels together to make one shirt front. Luckily mens shirts don't have to have room for boobs so it went together pretty easily with minimal swearing. 

In fact the swearing only started when it came to cutting out. My Dad had been very specific that he wanted as many whole plans on the shirt as possible. Which meant I cut everything out in one layer and did a lot of moving things around trying to get as many planes as possible. There is a whole plane on each shirt sleeve, lots on the back and a few on the front. I even cut the collar in such a way that no matter if its up or down the planes are facing the right way!

 [top tip - if your going to cut things in a single layer to make sure you make the most of your print be sure to flip your pattern pieces so you don't end up with two left sleeves etc.]

I'm particularly pleased with the view from the back and the large plane that is basically central. 

Construction wise I wish I'd ditched off the instructions because they were AWFUL! Either its the pattern or its me but anyway I ended up having to do some creative thinking to keep everything neat and tidy. For example the back collar neckline is bias bound which does actually leave a nice finish. 

Also its really hard to see but I love that some of the writing is on the edge of the collar [each of the planes has its name underneath] 

Dad even chose the buttons himself and I'm pleased to report that every single buttonhole went in perfectly first time! 

So all in all I think it turned out pretty banging and my dad was dead pleased! I love his goofy grin in the last photo! And I think he may be on the hunt for more vintage inspired prints so I can make him a few more!!! 

Unluckily there wasn't enough fabric left over for me to make anything substantial for myself! [all that dammed fussy cutting!!!!]

So instead I'm going to use the scraps to make me and mum some hair accessories. 

In other news!!!! 

I've sewn up a few bits for myself and been working on baby quilts!

I've been climbing again!!! And I'm happy to report that my climbing shoes were incredibly comfortable!!! 

And my brother snapped this photo of me which I LOVE. Okay so I'm not far off the floor [this is the bouldering room so you don't go up that high] But 

1. I made my chalk bag it has penguins on it

 2. LOOK HOW STRONG I LOOK!!!! 

Anyway I absolutely loved climbing again and had big plans to go again this week but I was far too sore!!!! So hopefully I'm going to go next week! 

Much Love Frankie 

xxx

Woven Wrap Dress - Possibly the most out there thing I've ever made!!!!!!!

I often describe my fashion sense as out there , but even I did a lil twitch when  I put this dress on and said to myself "Is this a bit much??????"

I mean that is a fabric and a half. I got it from the abakhans fill a bag sale. 

I found it in the bottom of the box held it up and said to my mum "is this hideous or fabulous" and she said she had no idea so I put it in my bag and took it home. 

The background is stripes and the foreground is HUGE flowers in all different colours!!!!!

Its a bit of a go big or go home sort of print. So I opted to make a maxi dress. I was hoping for the sort of thing that I could wear swanning down a beach in the Maldives, not that I'll be swanning off to the Maldives any time soon! 

The pattern started out life as the bodice for a prima dress. I them hacked it half to death to make it into a wrap bodice and added a long skirt with a curved front hem. 

The bodice is fully lined which is good because wrap dresses can sometimes flap open around the ol boob area. 

The waist tie is from a piece of stash fabric. I decided I needed a solid colour for the tie just to make sure that you could see clearly that it was a wrap dress. Plus I think its helpful to have something break up that crazy riot of colour!!!! 

Fit wise , its okay. It did fit better but I've lost some weight recently so its not as good anymore.

Also I did gathers instead of darts because I thought it might give me the blousey look I was going for but now I'm wondering what it might look like darted instead. 

I love the length but I wish the curved front hem was a bit more obvious and it showed more leg when I'm stood still. at the minute this looks fabulous walking but you can't even see my legs if I stand still. 

I do love that I can wear it with my brown wedges though!!!!! 

To be honest whilst the idea of unpicking it all makes me want to cry, I do think its the best thing to do because there's a lot of things I'd like to tweak on it. 

I suppose that's the only downside of hacking a pattern , very often its not quite perfect and you have to keep going until you get it right!!!! 

Construction wise all of the inside seams were done on my over locker and I just used my regular sewing machine for the hems and for top stitching around the neckline.

All in all I really like the dress. Its one of those items that just makes me happy wearing it. I mean how could I not be happy when I'm wearing that many colours!!!!!! 

There's a bit more work to do to it and even if I do get it close to perfect I'm not sure I'll ever have anywhere suitable to wear it...... But HEY HO! I love it so I know I'll end up wearing it at some point. Even if its just for a trip to home and bargains in the summer! 

In other news!!!!! 

I've been busy with work and looking after lil man!

I've been out in the garden and I'm hoping to have it looking respectable soon. At least if this awful weather ever lets up. 

My sketch book arrived!! And I started doing some work in it only to find the paper is more suited to pencils rather than mixed media. Long story short I have a new one on order and yet again I can't wait to get started!!!!

I have been sewing but I seen to be slowing down a bit with my makes recently and only working on things I know I'll love and wear to death!!!

Much Love

Frankie 

Kwik Sew K3489 - Stuart Hillard Jersey

I loves a wrap dress.

I'm not sure why?

Actually I am. I like skirts and tops and dresses that wrap because you can loosen them off if they get too tight. i.e If you've eaten an entire pizza. 

In fact I went to a wedding yesterday and in a tactical move I wore a wrap circle skirt, which I loosened after the trio of desserts came out!!!! 

This pattern is Kwik Sew k3489 and I got it during the big pattern swap. At the time I thought it was a woven dress pattern but lo and behold it arrived and it was a jersey pattern!

Although I did shorten the sleeves to 3/4 quarter length because I prefer them to full length wrap sleeves on a dress. 

Luckily for me the Craft Cotton Company had sent me some samples of Stuart Hillards "kimono" jersey collection.

I love this print its my favourite in the collection and I know have three items made out of it! This wrap dress, a cardigan and a tshirt dress.

The fabric sewed up beautifully I used my over locker for most of the construction and just used my regular machine for the hems and for putting a button hole in the side to thread the ties through. 

I used white thread and I really like the way it stands out against the navy blue.

Fit wise its jersey so I didn't make any changes I just sort of winged it. I might shorten the skirt by a few inches next time I make it though. 

I ignored the facings that came with the pattern and just hemmed all the edges instead. I hate facings on jersey makes because I just find they flap around and they never sit flat which I find super irritating. 

I also just knotted the end of the ties instead of hemming them properly. T o be honest I wasn't sure I was going to even like the dress when I was halfway through sewing it. So I did sort of rush through some of the finishing. 

As it goes I LOVE the dress. Its a nice level of smart looking without being too much. The length is suitable for most situations and I just find wrap dresses really flattering. Plus as I mentioned before you can always loosen them off if they start to get uncomfortable. Ideally I'd like the make another one but I need to find another jersey that I love.

In other news!!!! 

As I said we had a wedding yesterday! I wore a me made skirt and top and lil man wore a waistcoat I made. 

The wedding was really really lovely and I had a great night dancing with my friends.

I've been making more sewing plans and I can't wait to get cracking. Its just a matter of finding the time! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx