Coming up...

Well I'm sorry to say I haven't had much time for sewing lately.  Or blogging for that matter.  I'm being kept rather busy by these guys -

They're cute, but they make a lot of mess!  I've been itching to sew but I've had to be sensible and do housework.  Blah!

I have got a couple of things in the pipeline.  I have a couple of charity shop refashions to blog about, including my reworking of this delightfully hideous flouncy dress:

 

I couldn't help but strike a pose!  This dress is no more, and the refashion is complete but we just haven't had the weather for me to get outside and take any after photos.  In fact I've been returning to the comfort of my jeans and hoodies!  

On the sewing front I've finally got as far as cutting out the pieces for my Sew Liberated 'Esme Top' and I'm keen to get stuck in.

I went for a tiny floral pattern inspired by Lauren of the Great British Sewing Bee.  Hopefully it will hide any mistakes I make!  So the Esme Top may turn out to be my first proper garment made from a sewing pattern, unless I knock out a quick Sorbetto in the meantime.  I picked up a remnant of fabric from Coventry Market which might just stretch to a Sorbetto:

I've no idea what it is but I loved the colour and the pattern and it's lovely and soft (although it will probably crease like crazy!).  You can also see the denim fabric I bought to make a Miette skirt, another pattern from Tilly and the Buttons.  I think these fabrics look great together, a fact which may encourage me to sort out my differences with the Sorbetto Top pattern in the near future!  

So, watch this space - I'm hoping to return to sewing and blogging really soon!

Who sews Su's clothes....?

Further on from my last post, The Great British Sewing Bee has given me a nudge, not just to get sewing again, but to try my hand at making clothes.  So, I've finally ordered some patterns - how exciting!!

Since this is my first attempt at clothing I'm going to take it slowly, and I'm sure I'll make lots of mistakes!  I have been reading through Tilly's Learn to Sew course on Tilly and the Buttons which is just brilliant, and full of lots of useful information on using patterns and constructing clothes.  Particularly useful was the post on How to select your sewing pattern size which I was reading before I received my Sew Liberated Esme Top pattern, only to discover that the pattern doesn't list any measurements!  Since I have no idea what size I am post baby, and had heard that the pattern comes up large, I got out my tape measure and worked it all out using Tilly's instructions on calculating seam allowance and allowing for ease, etc.  I'm glad I did too, as I will now be making a top 2 sizes smaller than the one I would have picked going on dress sizes!  I hope I've got it right!

Tilly's own pattern - the Mathilde Blouse - comes as a printable download, so I've been having fun fitting it all together.  It's a bit like a giant jigsaw with the 'can-you-guess-what-it-is-yet' factor!

I couldn't resist buying the Vogue pattern [V1799] as well after seeing Karen's version on Did you make that?  It's very like a dress I bought a while ago that I love.  It's very flattering even on 'fat' days!  I had actually been considering drawing round it to try and replicate it, but this should be safer!  I won't be making it for a while though as it's not really compatible with breastfeeding and also I'd like to lose some baby weight before I start attempting dresses.

Having acquired some patterns it followed that I'd also need to do some fabric shopping - what a shame!  Unlike many members of the sewing blog community I have no stash-guilt, as I'm yet to develop much of a stash!  How I long to join in with stash-busting sewalongs and stash swaps!  It does mean though that I am totally justified in making a few purchases! :-)  I have restricted myself to fairly inexpensive fabrics for now as I don't know whether these first few garments are going to be disastrous, in which case I will have to chalk them up to 'experience' and consign them back to the sewing pile never to be worn!  I bought a tiny floral polycotton for the Esme top, and a red and white floral cotton lawn for the Mathilde blouse (which is actually really soft and lovely and which I am a bit afraid of ruining, but hey ho!).  I'm still humming and hawing over which top to start with.  I expect I'll go for the MB as Tilly's instructions are so comprehensive that I expect I'll learn some new techniques/terminology/etc that will come in handy with the Esme too.

All in all I'm excited by the challenge and raring to get going, but as of this moment I have yet to put scissors to fabric or thread to machine!  Come on free evenings, where are you when I need you?!

It's a boy!

He's here!  Actually he's been here a while now - 10 weeks.  It's taken that long for me to find the time to update the blog!  He was nearly two weeks overdue, and weighed a very healthy 10lbs 4oz (ouch!).  He's lovely, and we're all enjoying having him join our family.

Of course, in the weeks following his arrival I had no time at all to do any making.  I put my knitting needles and crochet needles down at the end of February and I haven't picked them up again yet.  So, no progress on the woolly projects.  I'd already abandoned my sewing machine back in January, and I hadn't even been keeping up with the other blogs I read, so I didn't think I'd have much to show for myself on returning to the blog, but.....

Then I watched the Great British Sewing Bee - hooray!  The show was just what I needed to reboot my creative drive and get me thinking about future projects.  I really enjoyed watching the contestants (including Tilly from over at Tilly and the Buttons - surprise!) working through the challenges.  I really liked Lauren's style (if in doubt, flower it out!) but Anne certainly deserved to win.  She's 81 and has been sewing nearly every day for 75 years!  I guess there's no substitute for experience.

So, whilst watching the 'Bee and feeding the boy I browsed the online fabric shops and purchased these beauties from Frumble:

Aren't they lovely?  On delivery of said items I immediately felt the need to sew.  I'm restricted to post-bedtimes at the moment (at least until junior gives in and starts sleeping in  the day!) so I needed some quick and easy projects to get me going.  Also I only bought fat quarters so whatever it was would have to be small.

The Young Whales fabric really lent itself to the wet bag I've been meaning to make for ages.  I used a tutorial I found over at A Lemon Squeezy Home, only I modified it a little by sewing french seams (a la Handmade Jane's wash bag tutorial) instead of making an inner and outer bag.  The main reason I did this was to avoid too much direct contact with the shower curtain material.  It's horrible to work with and I developed a  loathing for it whilst making sponge bags over Christmas.  Next time I will shell out for some decent quality waterproof material instead of trying to net a bargain at IKEA!

I made my wet bag long and thin so that I could fit a fair amount into it but without using up my whole fat quarter.  I also split the strap and added a giant popper so that I can hang it from the buggy if need be.  Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

It's a lot neater and more professional looking than my wash bags - mainly thanks to the gorgeous fabric!  The only problem is, now that I've made it I don't really want to ruin it by putting soiled reusable nappies into it!  I guess I'll just keep it handy for damp clothing instead.


Next up - Kerchief-style dribble bibs!  I've coveted these in the past when I've seen them on other people's children or in fancy shops, but never got around to buying any for mine.  Well it just happens that, being a thumb-sucker, Jacob is quite a dribbly baby making it a well-timed project!  First off I made a practice bib using fabric from an old, stained babygro that I was going to chuck out.  I took the dimensions from this tutorial at Love Me Sew and followed the same basic process.

Once I was happy that my practice bib (does this count as a wearable toile?!!) fit ok I ran up a couple more.

Such a satisfying little make - I can easily run one up within an hour now that I've got the hang of it, and they'd make great presents, so I expect there'll be more of these to come!  And boy, are they cute...!

All together now..."Ahhhh!"