The post of meh...

I realised earlier that I have only been showing you my successes in the sewing world recently and zero of the mishaps/items i don't actually like.  Well that is about to change, be prepared for some things I have not been feeling like raving about...

Goldenhawk fabric top I mentioned I was starting back in this post. This top was meant to be a shortened version of view B since I thought that it was far far too long for me. 

Ignore the bright red bra, Maybell's boobies are just far to small

Hmmm I thought it doesn't look too bad on Maybell, save the weird gathers half-way up the neckline (that you can't even see in the picture!)  Then before I hemmed and bias taped the armholes I went and tried it on.  Holy crap it looked like a tent! I'm guessing the extra length was there for a reason so that the top held some shape.  I'm saving you the horror of me in this but the next pic is what it looked like at the sides when I tried it on, enormous! (ok maybe exaggerating ever so slightly) This top has now started my UFO pile and I have absolutely no intentions of finishing it.

Next up is a recent make (about 2 weeks ago)  I scored some jersey whilst visiting London in a gorgeous shade of purple and decided it would be great as a dress, a Simplicity 2369 dress in view A with B's length. 

 It is almost finished but after I tried it on and found it made me look like frumpy the frump-mistress I gave up on it. There is bugger all shape to it. The sleeves look sad and drab not gorgeous and puffy like the pattern picture. So this is another one that is banished to the UFO pile, but I hope to resurrect this one at some point since I love the colour and the fabric feels lovely. Just not now

Grumpy because of the frumpyness

Last on the not feeling like raving about pile is my Sorbetto.  After I posted about it midway through here I did finish the top. But I'm just not feeling it... I'm not really that enthralled by the colour combo although I do really like the blue. I don't think this light viscose fabric works for the top, the pleat is wonky and wobbles all the way down.

 I did however learn that I need 2 bust darts otherwise the armhole gapes (as shown by the lovely green stitches because I thought it was cool was too lazy to change the thread.)  I did french seam the whole top so the inside looks fab, just a shame it is now relegated to the wearable around the house muslin pile.

 Ah well you win some you lose some.

Wedding bags

As you may have guessed by now I've been a little busy round these parts making some bags for my soon to be sister-in-law's wedding (still soon to be as she is B's sister). The wedding was on Friday, it was a great success, and I wanted to share with you a couple of the bags I managed to get shots of on the day (I was too busy enjoying myself to get more, but I'm assured there are some in the official pics, yay!)

Silver Clutch bag for the adult bridesmaids

Brides bag with butterfly to match the young bridesmaids dresses

Now I'm off to get cracking with this fabric, the colour of it reminds me of Debi's 1943 dress, which I didn't realise until after I brought it on sale at the fabric shop about a month ago for about £1.50 a metre

Knock Knock!

Happy belated birthday to the fabulous Miss Oona! I've come a knocking on your virtual door for a partay! What do you mean you expected me yesterday? Did you not see me at your shindiz?  Hmm I must have knocked on the wrong door and ended up at a wedding! I'm sure all of the virtual people were there too or was that just because of all of the wine... oops.  We had a rocking time wearing my London Dress and I even got the DJ to play Foo Fighters (That is a major win for a wedding).  For some reason though I am utterly bad at getting pictures of myself when I'm out so I have none, there are some pictures of me somewhere in my dress yesterday and I'll post them when I get wind of them.  But for now I will just have to show you the bag I made for the occasion

(Sorry Oona I went matchy matchy on the bag with my dress, please don't eject me from the partay! I brought wine and a mini cthulhu)

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!)

Challenge canonical?

This weeks theme at The Sew Weekly is about Hitchcock films, which all of the other ladies seem to be really ecstatic about. However as the only Hitchcock film I have seen is The Birds I'm finding this challenge a bit, well, challenging... I have been scouring the old brain for ideas, and the only thing that has come out of it was

Brain - Ermm... Kirsty don't you have that fabric you got from London
Kirsty - Which one are you on about Brain?
Brain - This one you idiot!

Kirsty - Oh yes the one with the birds on it, and less of the idiot you!


So after that brief insight to my inner-monologue I have some birds fabric which I would love to use however I cannot decide what to make.  It is a thick cotton lawn, there is 1 meter of it and the gold is shiny, but my brain is stumped! (I blame it on work!) Any ideas?

P.S. Don't leave the iron on the floor and then walk into it, it hurts!

Busy Busy

Wow, I just can't believe how busy I've been over the past week, its been crazy!  So what have I been up to?

I've started my Sorbetto, not sure about it at the moment but I'll reserve judgement until it is finished, here is is so far

Also my soon to be Sister-in-Law has asked me to make some bags for her wedding so quite a lot of my time this past week or so has been dedicated to that. She's asked me for 4 clutch bags, 1 for her and 3 for her adult bridesmaids and also 2 drawstring bags for her young daughters.  The clutch bags are very nearly done , just a few finishing touches to go but I'll treat you all with some sneak peeks.  They are my own design based on the lines of the bridesmaids dresses and incorporating the butterfly theme for the wedding.  The butterfly embroidery on the ivory bag mimics the butterflies on the girls dresses.

I'm really pleased with how they have turned out so far, hopefully I'll be able to get some action shots on the day :)

Jumping on the bandwagon

I'm sure you've probably all seen or heard about Colette Patterns fantastic free pattern Sorbetto by now as there are so many popping up all over the blog-o-sphere right now.  I have been loving everyone elses versions and ravings about the top but have been unable to make it as I don't own a printer (and I won't use the work one for such things).  But today I have been to my parents house for lunch (Dad does the most fantastic Sunday lunch EVER!) and stole their printer for five minutes to print out the pattern so I can jump on the Sorbetto bandwagon.    

I'm off to go and see if it lives up to its reputation

Also after a discussion on The Sew Weekly I've been chatting to my mum about natural dying, and guess what?  She has a book about it (I should have known really), I've borrowed it and may be experimenting at some point in the future