DIY Tailors Ham and Sleeve Roll

A while ago I posted a question on instagram asking whether I should make my own tailors ham or buy one. 

And the response was mixed to say the least. No literally the replies were split down the middle which makes me think a lot is personal preference. The pros of making one were that I could choose whatever fabric I liked [ie. make it personal] And that its cheaper than buying one and the pros of buying one was that I could save a lot of time! 

At the time funds were low so I decided to make my own. I didn't even spend anything! I used a free pattern from craftsy and we already keep sawdust in the house for the guinea pig so I didn't need to buy any of that to stuff it with. [You can also use fabric scraps if you don't like the sound of using sawdust although traditionally that is whats used and the wood does something magic with the heat of your iron meaning the seams press better. I'm sure theirs a science explanation but *magic* sounds better.]

I made both the tailors ham and sleeve roll at the same time and they only took about 30 mins to print off, tape together, cut out and sew. In fact the majority of the time spent on these was for stuffing the bloody things! 

WARNING to anyone who's thinking of making one using sawdust, Its blooming messy. We had sawdust across the house for ages and it sticks to everything. You see you have to really cram it in to make it nice and firm for ironing your seams. In the end I enlisted Rikkis help and things went like this:

-I'd sit and spend 30/40 minutes cramming sawdust in through the little gap I'd left.

- I'd say I think its done....

-Rikki would come over and cram all the stuffing down, compacting it and inevitability leaving me with a gap to fill with yet more stuffing! 

Lets just say it took at lot longer than I thought and I used a lot more saw dust than I thought, and I was glad I had Rikki on hand to "punch" it down so to speak.

Fabric wise I used a cotton fat quarter from Minerva crafts for the front and some spare boiled wool for the back. I sewed the seams using a small stitch on my machine and then over locked them for security. The gap I left for stuffing was sewn shut by hand [ if your making your own I suggest leaving a fairly large gap as it makes it easier to stuff. I started off with a little gap and ended up throwing a tantrum] 

 I think my favourite part of this make might be the fabric I used. It was nice to use up some of the left over boiled wool and I really liked using up a sewing themed fat quarter for a sewing themed project! I can't find the fabric I used on the website but I think it would also be cute made up in this. 

Now the funny thing is the morning I finished these I received a gift in the post from Prym and lo and behold it was their tailors ham and sleeve roll! Which is kind of hilarious but also gives me a good opportunity to compare the two so look out for a post soon that compares my handmade tailors ham with the real deal! 

In other news! 

- I'm tired, It sounds stupid but I haven't been sleeping well so if anyone has any ideas of how I can get a decent nights sleep I'd really appreciate it. But preferably with lavender as it brings Rikki out in a rash and as much as I'd like a good nights sleep him next to me whimpering that his skin hurts won't help! 

- Lil mans nose is much better. A cotton pad, a warm bath and a lot of patience helped to get all of the dried blood off his nose and he was really brave whilst I cleaned it up. Its still swollen and he says it still hurts a bit but its not bleeding as much and a lot of the bruising has gone so that's good. 

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Knitted Baby Booties and Hat

I was supposed to be putting this post up earlier, but lo and behold I ended up taking Lil man to the out of hours clinic with Rikkis Dad because he fell over and bashed his nose at school and made it bleed and I was worried it might be broken. 

It was a long wait which was made slightly longer by the fire alarm going off, but its worth it for peace of mind and I can't fault any of the NHS staff or nurses because they were fantastic with him. He actually ended up having 3 nurses look at his nose because they wanted to make sure it was definitely okay. 

So naturally we got home late and I didn't have time to post until now! 

So this is a little baby set I knitted up a while ago because its useful to have one to hand. I used some nice soft baby yarn that I was given by someone, I have absolutely no clue who though so if it was you please feel free to shout up. 

I used an old knitting pattern that I borrowed from Rikkis Nan. It knitted up fairly quickly which is nice because I fit it between other projects.

The booties are a mixture of stocking stitch and garter stitch so they look quite textured. The instructions said to thread Ribbon through the holes to tie them but I made twists from wool instead. 

The hat was from the same pattern but I;m not as pleased with that as I think it looks a bit lumpy at the top. I wanted to knit a helmet type hat but I've made one of those before and babies don't tend to wear that type of style anymore. 

I've popped the set in the drawer ready for the next baby to be born. Luckily as their a light sort of turquoise I think they'll do for a girl or for a boy. 

Right I'm off to bed today ended up being a lot more stressful than I thought it would be!!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Me Made May Week 1

Well the first week of Mays been a bit of a mare hasn't it? I think we've seen most of the seasons and a lot of different types of weather! So without further ado here's what I wore for the first week!

P.s I tend to do these roundups so I can see the issues with my me made wardrobe and for those of you who don't have instagram! Also all pictures are mirror selfies using my digital camera because my phone camera is naff.

Day 1

Dress pattern - newlook 6390

fabric - craft cotton company

I really really love this dress and I feel all kinds of fabulous in it but BOY! Did I miss judge the weather on this day!!!  It looked this it was going to be a sunny toasty day so I did the school run only wearing a cardigan and I was FREEZING! So glad I had tights on at least.

Day 2

Jumper pattern , prima magazine

fabric , adam ross fabrics

This was the day we had awful rain, and one of our brollies broke as we left the house. Needless to say the walk to school left me soaked and I couldn't get warm all day! The next day I 

ended up with a sore throat and a snotty nose.

Day 3

Jumper pattern - tilly and the buttons coco top

jumper fabric minerva crafts

I felt so rotten on this day. I was pretty impressed I stuck to my pledge and didn't just end up wearing a onesie. I still had a nice day though because my sister and brother in law popped over to see us before they went off on their big American adventure!

Day 4

Dress pattern - tilly and the buttons lilou dress

Fabric - abakhans 

This was another pretty cold day so I wore my tape measure dress with tights and a cardigan to keep me warm. I love this fabric and I really want to use one of the other colourways to make another dress. 

Day 5

Dress pattern - simplicity k1418

Fabric - Carboot

This was our first proper sunny day. I've been trying to help lil man gain confidence on his bike so this dress ran up and down our road a few times! Its a great dress and one of those rare occasions where I hemmed it to the right length. The thick hem also means that the hem is heavy so it doesn't blow up.

Day 6

dress pattern - bodice from 2nd gbsb book with circle skirt.

Fabric - gift from friend pin_n_tonic [similar here]

This dress is one of my oldest makes and its starting to show. A lot of the lace is starting to rip but I still love it!!! Note to self make another! 

This dress was worn for yet more bike riding practise and Rikkis Nan and Grandad coming over. By this point I'm already sick of the warm weather ! ITS TOO HOT!

Day 7 

Dress pattern Lilou Bodice with box pleat skirt

Fabric craft cotton company

I wore this for a day in the sun at Rikkis Mum and Dads where I spent most of my time sat in the shade drinking lots of water trying to stay hydrated! We had a lot of fun playing in the garden and Rikki proved himself to be quite the hula hoop master!!! I didn't burn apart from on my back a lil smidge so I'm counting that as a win. I did wonder if the dress was a bit short but I wore it with a slip and I soon got used to having my legs out. I love the fabric and it makes me want to have a wardrobe full of Hawaiian print dresses.  

And that's it for week one! 

As much as I love the sun I'd forgotten how much it makes me struggle with my hay fever and sleeping at night. 

With regards to me me made's I'm finding that I do wear lots of them but I still have a few rtw items that I fall back on and should probably try and recreate. For example my black cardigan. 

How are you doing with me made may?

And how are you coping with the weather!!!?

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Worry Monster

I'm a worrier, I worry about just about everything. In fact for the past week I've been waking up at 6.00am every morning worrying that my alarm hasn't gone off and we are going to be late for school. 

Even though we haven't been late to school at all [Yet, touch wood] not even on the day when the alarm actually didn't go off and we didn't get out of bed until 8am. And considering my son has two clocks in his room and can tell the time so knows when we need to be out of bed, its not something I really need to worry about. 

But still I do.

But funnily enough this worry monster isn't for me [Although I might make myself one] This one is for my cousins lil boy, he's not been very well over the past couple of years which fully sucks for a kid. And as a result he's started to worry. 

I happened to notice my cousin had tagged her husband in a post of kids worrying and offered to make him a worry monster. 

Okay so the way it works is, you write your worry on a piece of paper, pop it into the worry monsters mouth and zip the mouth up so he "eats it". I think its based on the "a problem shared is a problem halved" idea. 

But the main bonus is that as a parent you can look and see what your kid is actually worried about without having to have an awkward conversation with your kid [not that I think you should not talk to your children but we all know the older they get the less they like to verbalise their feelings.]

Its pretty easy to make one up but if anyone's interested I can write a tutorial?

I used felt to applique the eyes and the zip mouth has a pocket bag behind it. I'm not sure what this kind of pocket is but it was nice to stretch my skills on a project for a change. This kind of zip pocket should transfer over to my dress making as well. 

The whole thing is stuffed with kid friendly stuffing and is nice and squishy. I tried not to make it too babyish because the boy who is going to is growing up fast and I didn't want it to become obsolete too quickly. 

All in all I'm really pleased with how it turned out I just hope it does him some good. 

In other news!

- I'm enjoying me made may! I just wish the weather would pick up a bit. 

- I have a cold, I got absolutely soaked on Tuesday morning [after wearing a summer dress on Monday!!!] And I think I ended up with a cold because of it. It doesn't feel like hay fever and my throat hurts so if anyone has an cold remedies hit me up. 

 - I had a visit from my sister and brother in law last night and it was lovely, lots of laughs to be had!! 

- My camera has thrown yet another hissy fit, II think its down to the lense not the actual camera body but I need to have it checked out at a proper shop soon so I can test my theory. In the meantime it means I'm struggling to take outfit pictures! BOO! Luckily I've got a back log of posts to write so their shouldn't be any interruptions to regular blogging. 

Hope your all enjoying me made may! 

Much love Frankie 

xxx

- 

Personal Style - Am I just playing dress up?????

As a kid I loved dressing up. I think most of that stemmed from me living in my own little world. 

But recently I filled in an online survey and it asked me to describe my personal style.

Am I? 

-modern

-vintage

-trendy

.....

...

..

. 

The list went on and I found that I couldn't find a category I fit into. And with me made may starting I began thinking more and more about what I wear. 

Which worried me a bit. Surely at the age of twenty five I should have a "style"? Instead I think I'm still playing dress up, sometimes I wear vintage inspired looks, sometimes I'm in something rock and roll and a bit goth. And at least 80% of the time I'm in some sort of jumper and jeans combo trying desperately to stay warm on the school run. 

This tutu is a prime example of how I change my clothes from day to day. One day I might be in a tutu and heels the next day I might be in jeans and one of my raglan jumpers.

In fact the only constant seems to be that my clothes are always handmade!

So maybe that's my style? Me made????? 

On the plus side at least I'm not keeping up with the trends and putting mountains of clothes in landfill. And I seriously doubt I'm ever going to get stuck in a style rut!

So do you have a style?

Do you want a signature style?

Or do you just like playing dress up?

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Crochet Hexagon Blanket

The weathers still a bit naff isn't it? I ironed all of my summer dresses last week and only had the chance to wear one. 

On the plus side there's been lots of good too, I picked up a load of vintage sewing patterns at the carboot this weekend and the washer and dryer have finally been taken out of the house so now I have the spare room back for taking outfit pictures! And me made may starts tomorrow which is always nice because I love seeing what the rest of the sewing world is wearing day to day.

Anyway I made this blanket ages ago. I've been trying to experiment with new crochet techniques recently. This is the basic granny square but done as a hexagon. So its not a huge step but at least I tried something different eh? 

Its only a small blanket and I'm not mad on the colour scheme but it did use up a lot of odds and sods of wool so I guess that's good. 

Size wise its not very big. Big enough for a baby or a small dog???? Yep I'm still trying to wear Rikki down to get me a dog of my own. I figure at some point he'll just get sick of me asking and whinging on.

For now its living in the cupboard. 

In other news! 

Ill be spending the rest of today taking pictures for blog posts! 

Apart from when I'm hoovering! 

Then I'll be editing my next you tube video! This ones about the vintage patterns I picked up at he carboot! Now I just need to get lots of nice fabrics so I can sew them up! 

One issue I;m having with the vintage patterns is that they smell a bit musty? So if anyone knows how to make them smell less musty please let me know!!! 

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx

Quilts for kindness - why you should be giving quilty hugs.

I once heard someone say that when you give a quilt your not actually giving someone something to sleep under instead your giving someone a big quilty hug. 

Which is kind of wonderful really isn't it?

I made this quilt for my friends at the craft cotton company and its going to a little boy who's poorly. All of the fabrics were from them and I especially like the spiderman print. 

I came up with the pattern myself and decided to keep things quite simple. These half square triangles work really nicely and sew up fast. It took a little while to make sure they were all pointing in the right direction though. 

The middle square has the young boys initial appliqued onto it. I used a wide zig zag to sew it on and I went over it twice to make sure its on securely. I'm really chuffed with how neat it turned out. Especially seen as I drew the B free hand because our printer wouldn't print the template I had fine.  

Its backed with a minky fabric that is the stuff of dreams. I just want to wrap myself up in it, have a cup of tea and nap the day away. Its so soft and squishy perfect for babies, or kids or......Grownups?

Quilting wise I kept things simple and just did the diagonals. To say this is the biggest quilt I've ever made it was actually the easiest to quilt. Bizarre huh?

I've got to say I really enjoyed doing this project. Its so nice to make a quilt for someone else and hopefully make them feel a bit better when their having a crappy time of it. 

Which leads me to my next bit. See here's the deal, a lot of people I know love quilting but truth be told there's only so many quilts one person/family can have. Which is why I'm suggesting that you keep quilting but try giving them away? 

There's lots of places and people who could probably do with a big quilty hug of their very own, but here's a few suggestions.

- Local hospitals. Its best checking their particular rules but our local hospital did except quilts especially in the neonatal ward. [Typically the neonatal ward looses a lot of their quilts because if a baby passes away the quilts etc are given to the family in a memory box]

- An elderly relative or neighbour. In England 22% of men and 28% of men aged 65 and over suffer from depression, imagine how lovely it would be to give them a quilt and let them know your thinking of them [You could also donate a quilt to your local care home]

- New born babies. This is something I personally do [and will be writing a proper blog post on soon]. 

- Project Linus. Project Linus are a group who donate quilts to sick children. They also donated a huge number of quilts to the victims of the Grenfell tower fire. To date they have donated 348,542 quilts to people who need them. 

And starting in issue 11 of sew inspired magazine they will be giving instructions to make a simple quilt with the hopes that people will donate it. This initiative is called quilts for kindness, the instructions will be simple enough for even beginner quilters to understand so everyone is welcome to take part.

So hopefully I've given you some ideas if you love quilting but are running out of room!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx