Arrggh not The Birds

Ohh no it's attack of the killer birds! Haha

I got around to deciding what to make with my fabulous fabric, a skirt! To me the weight of the fabric was too thick for a top so a skirt it had to be.  Although whilst I was making it I wasn't sure if I would wear it once it was finished.  But I have one thing to say to that... AM I MAD?!? This skirt is freaking awesome, I'm so in love with it! Strangely enough I'm not the only person who loves this pattern Miss Zoe has a bit of crush on the pattern (Simplicity 2451) It is easy to put together, it has pockets and it uses less than a metre of fabric. What is not to like?

Speaking of the less than a metre of fabric, does anybody else wonder what pattern companies are thinking when they give you the cutting guidelines? According to the back of the envelope I needed exactly one metre to make a size 12, Well that is exactly what I had and by not following the guidelines I have this much left over

It does bring up something I have been pondering for a while now and that is - Do you religiously follow the pattern envelope when it comes to buying your fabric or do you try to wing it and see where it gets you?
I followed the envelope for my London dress and ended up with twice the amount of fabric that I needed!

Anyway enough jabbering, more skirt pics

I've still got to sew the facing down on the inside, but did that stop me from wearing the skirt to work today? Hell No!  I hope this is the start of a beautiful love affair with prints :)

The Lowdown:
Pattern: Simplicity 2451 View C 
Material: 1m Birds Cotton Voile £5
Notions: 1 light blue zip £0.79
Total Cost: £5.79 (with left-overs!)

Refashionista

This weeks challenge over at The Sew Weekly is all about re-fashioning, I've been a bit lax with the challenges recently so in determination to complete this one I delved into the box of clothes we had put aside containing things that are no longer worn.  In that box I found these black jeans

I don't really know why I don't wear them anymore but they were in the box so they were getting used!
I knew as soon as I saw them that they were going to have a new lease of life as a denim skirt. So I tootled upstairs grabbed my un-picker and began to take the inside leg seams apart. Once that was finished I had two triangle pieces in the middle where I needed to decide if they should be filled with the surplus denim from the bottom of the trousers or to use a funky fabric as an insert.  Instead of deciding all by myself I asked B for help, he immediately picked the funky fabric option and I'm glad he did, I love how it has turned out.

I also managed to finish the pillowcase challenge - et viola

One pillowcase shirt complete with paisley collar details.  My only regret with this shirt is that I didn't interface the bit for the buttons so it has a tendency to pop open, eek must remember to wear a vest under this as I had serious paranoia all day at work when I wore it last week...

Carry on regardless?

Soo... Your sewing away and your machine starts to make an odd noise and feel a little weird when sewing do you...

A. Carry on regardless and hope that "All is well"
or
B. Immediately stop sewing and check it out. Re-thread the machine and grab a piece of scrap fabric to test it out

If your answer is B well done, your a better person than I think most of us are! :)
If your answer is A then your probably going to end up with something like this

Eeek what a mess, Its a good job that it is on the inside and the top stitching looks fine otherwise I would be screaming right now.

What are you making do I hear you say, well I'm attempting the Sew Weekly Pillowcase challenge, ok I know its late but I had a bit a of faff trying to find some funky pillow cases.  I admitted defeat with this when I found these

EXTRA LARGE!!! Win! So I decided to attempt a shirt out of them (they are humongous!) and I'm a little concerned about how easily they came apart.  I mean I pulled at a thread and it just unraveled on me... Worrying!

Is joining a Sew-Along!

The Ginger Sew-Along to be exact, since I've never made a skirt and I don't know where to even begin with adjustments, and a muslin? What is that?!? Eeekk! My pattern is on order and since its at the picking fabric stage I'm not behind just yet.  It's going to be nice to see what I learn along the way, so far I've learnt that a darker zip/thread is better - I'll take that with me thank you very much :)

In other news:
I've also ordered the Colette Macaron.
I've named my Dress From - She's called Maybell
I've had some me time with Maybell and she's now adjusted to be more like me (including the addition of a bra, Maybell's boobies just aint what they should be)
I've decided on my next project and it includes some Goldenhawk Road fabric!  The pattern is traced, next step fabric cutting!

Now I should really introduce you properly to my Meet Dress:

Sorry for the bathroom pic, its the only place with good light and a big mirror :(

The Facts:
Fabric: 2m Cotton Print £6.60 p/m (ordered 3.5...(Stupid Pattern)) 1m Blue Habutai (Colour Code #35) £2.50p/m both from Quick Fabrics (fab site and free samples, bonus!) Lining - Stash
Pattern: New Look 6699 View E+K+M
Notions: White invisible zip £1.59
First Worn: 14th May 2011!
Wear again?: Yes, most likely at my soon to be sister-in-laws wedding.
Total Cost: £17.29

Close-up shots:

I've made the pattern before so I knew what alterations I needed to make with the dress.  The first being those dang straps!  The first one I made were too big so they fell down at every opportunity, and every non opportunity I swear the last time I wore the first dress I folded them under my bra straps to keep them in place!  The second one was I had issues matching things up in the back so I added an extra bit to the back pattern pieces just incase.  Aside from that it all went together pretty well, the instructions are ok with a few "You want me to do what?" moments but for the most of it I just went with what I felt was right.  I also added extra lining to the dress as it doesn't call for lining in the skirt but as this is a mostly white dress I felt it best to add some (at least enough for butt coverage!)

I'm so happy with the way it turned out and making it the second time around definately helps, hmmm maybe thats what a muslin is all about.... but I'm not sure I want to buy fabric just for that purpose!

Tv Character Challenge

So last weeks Sew Weekly Challenge was all about inspiration from the television.  Awesome, and oddly enough the other half and I have been watching all of the series of How I Met Your Mother recently and in one of the episodes he said "I like that top you should make it" and I said "Me too, I think I will".

Well I think that was a few months ago...  I brought the material for it and it just sat in the pile waiting, and waiting.  So this week I finally got around to making it, Yay!!!  First thing first I needed a pattern for it, so I searched my stash of patterns and this one fit the bill in view D (and 80p from the market, win!)

I've already made one in a different material so the pattern had already been traced, double win!  All that I needed to do was to figure out the lace part.  Well I think I ignored most of the instructions and made it all up as I went along, so I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out.

Sorry no me, stupid phone camera!

I did finish it a little later than I wanted to, life got in the way!, but it was finished yesterday and as it was a bank holiday I'm still classing it as the weekend.

Now this weeks challenge is about making a dress to match a pretty hat, and this is where I fall a little short.  I don't really do hats so I'm finding it a little tricky to be inspired this week.  So in the spirit of spring I've decided to do a spring tidy up and finally move my sewing space from here

Mega tiny space and messy (I'd just finished above top). To the newly (nearly) empty spare bedroom

I can't wait to see how it looks after I've been to the wonderful land of Ikea on Friday!

Sew Weekly Kidding Around Challenge

Last weeks Sew Weekly challenge was all about inspiration from a childhood outfit.  I have been trying to do some stashbusting this week and instantly thought back to a red spotty dress I had when I was a kid

 

And this fabric from my stash 

So inspiration and fabric chosen, next what to make...  After splashing out on some patterns I picked a shirt pattern as the fabric would just not have worked as a dress.  So off I set and after one night of cutting, and a night and part Saturday of sewing my shirt was complete!  Although it didn't go without problems, I nearly ran around in a blind panic because I thought the sewing machine was broken, Arggh!! Turns out shouting at it, flicking some buttons and turning it off and on again was all it needed, at least I'll know for next time!

It did actually start off with a full black yoke but I decided against that idea after sewing the shoulders together, thank god it wasn't after or I would have screamed at the amount of unpicking there would have been to do.

I really like how its turned out, even if it does remind me of a Ten Pin Bowling Shirt... 

One of the lovely sew weekly ladies spotted some subliminal inspiration in it too, she thought the black detail on the front was inspired by the collar.  Amazing!