Attempting to adapt

After a lot of staring at my patterns in to try and figure out what I could make to wear to a wedding I finally decided on New Look 6829

The same pattern used to make my Lily top (view D).  I've chosen this pattern because of the empire line waist and have started to adjust it to accommodate the Monklet. I'll be making view A this time in a gorgeous burgundy heavy crepe to go with my fabulous shoes.  But the wedding is on Saturday and all I've done so far is botchineer the pattern, but in my defense we have spent nearly 2 weeks sorting the house out to get it on the market and now that is done I can get back to this. 

So far for the pattern adaptation I have slashed between the notches for the bust gathers and spread to allow some gathers on the skirt for some more room around the belly

 

 Then I re-drew the hem line and filled in the gaps.

 

Now to attempt a trial run to see if my random adaptation actually works.  I did try to research this online but couldn't find anywhere to show me how to do this so botchineered it had to be.

I think it worked

One Maternity skirt made from Simplicity 2451 - Done

Although I'm not entirely sure it will see me through at least for the time being I can wear something other than bloody trousers.  The skirt is definitely not the best thing I've made but I am still rather chuffed with myself for kind of pulling it off.

I utterly failed to take any notes or make any sort of pattern piece for my adjustments as I kind of botchineered* it. 
(*Totally made up word meaning I did something random but it worked, sort of like engineered but with no knowledge of what the heck you are doing)

But here goes an effort to try and describe what I did...

1. Pinned the waistband pieces together at the seam allowance
2. Pinned to the jersey on the fold
3. Measured how much length I would need (I totally messed this measurement up as you can see below, oopsies)
4. Marked that measurement on the jersey and drew a straight line (A)
5. Attempted to join the pattern to the straight line (A), then decided it would never fit round my waist and angled the back seam line a little
6. Folded the jersey at the straight line (A) and cut.
7. Tried this around me and realised I had failed as it didn't even meet at the back
8. Attempted steps 1-7 again but angled the pattern piece at stage 2 so the center front was not on the fold

That seemed to work however as previously mentioned I botched the measurement for the length I would need and it is far too long... Ah well growing room I suppose

And for a bit of a sneaky dose of leopard print, I used a ribbon as hem tape, ooh this bit makes me smile :)

Boring!

I have become so fed up of wearing the same outfits day in-day out.  It is BORING!  So in a desperate attempt to try and get myself sorted out (and back to the sewing machine) I have been racking my brain for patterns and styles I can adapt to accommodate the current expansion.  I'd not been having much luck but then an epiphany came to me whilst I was sleeping.

I might be able to use this pattern

Source

 Which is the same pattern I used to make my Birds Skirt

I've decided that I can somehow magically make the waist panel out of jersey fabric and the rest of the skirt as normal (omitting the zip of course).  I think that the fact that the skirt already has a curved seam to go under the belly means it may work quite well, or it may just turn into a disaster, who knows at this point. Well I know I have to try something because I'm just wearing trousers trousers trousers...

Now I just need to get cracking and to also figure out what I'm going to be wearing for a wedding in less than four weeks time. One thing I have decided to wear for the wedding are these shoes, which B got for me for Christmas, aren't they lush!

College

What a complete and utter farce! Sorry this is more of a rant post than anything else...

I signed up for a college course to learn how to adapt patterns back in November, and despite paying £180 for the privilege I have been utterly let down with this.  It didn't start very well as when I went for an open day the tutor spent all her time with a gentleman who was not there to learn how to do what the course was there for but to learn how to teach sewing... I should have really taken that as a hint to run away screaming but I was determined to at least have a professional teach me something.

The next let down was the total lack of communication I received from the college, no confirmation to say I had been accepted onto the course even though they saw fit to take my money.  When the start date of the course grew close and I had still received nothing from them I e-mailed for some information, what did I get back - NOTHING! So I decided to call them to be sure the course was still running only for the person at the other end to be utterly unsure with anything and just told me to go to reception before it was due to start and they would tell me what room it was in. Not terribly happy with this I went anyway, after all they had my money I was getting something out of this, I got to reception only to be told that the course might not run as there is not enough people enrolled and was also being held at the other campus 4 miles away!! (Ok so this campus is closer to my house but that is not the point). I went home...

I went back the next week as the tutor called and apologised, not enough really but it was a start, only to find out that she had no course structure in place and was basically winging it by letting us make what we want and she would guide us along the way... Errr WTF! Why have a course description if you are not going to stick with it!  Anyway I went home with my homework, sew lines onto fabric, which I dutifully did despite feeling sick whilst bending to use the sewing machine

Only for the tutor to call me and tell me the course has been cancelled and I would get my money back.  I can't really say I'm not pleased about it because I have been utterly disappointed with the whole process, and the money I paid towards this will now go into Monklett's fund (When I finally get it back!!), minus a few pounds because I treated myself to the new Sewaholic pattern Renfrew and also a Pendrell I'm also thinking that as I'm pregnant I do need the skills that this stupid course was going to teach me so that I can adjust patterns for my growing belly, I may invest in a book about adapting patterns.  If anybody has any recommendations let me know :)

How time flys...

When you're not having fun! My it has been a long time since I posted about anything, but there is a good reason for that, you see I've not really felt like doing much sewing over the past few months because I've been feeling generally rubbish and spending a lot of time either asleep or in the bathroom.  But hopefully I'm getting to that stage where everything is peachy again and I'm also itching to get back to the sewing room.  Now rather than continuing to be cryptic I had better cut to the chase and tell you what has been going on - I'm pregnant!

Yep the reason I've not felt like doing anything is the crazy morning sickness, which has still not decided to disappear but it is getting slightly better, also we had decided to move house this year so the times I have been feeling like doing anything have been spent slowly boxing up our possessions

Now that the bombshell is over with I'll catch you up on a couple of makes

Jersey Top

I started this just after I found out about Monklett (That's what we've called him for now) but have failed to finish it off, all that needs doing to it is the armholes need to be finished but I've never found the energy to finish although this would be a good top to finish because it is stretchy.

Flight bag

I made this for my Mother-in-Law before our wedding to take with her for her hand luggage and she was so pleased with it, her sister also fell in love with it and requested one for her daughter for Christmas, I managed to get it done before I lost the sewjo although I forgot to take pictures of it before sending it down to her.

That's all for now, hopefully Monklett will give me a break soon so I can get back to doing what I love the most.

Snood Ahoy!

Remember when I said I was knitting a snood?  Well I finished it and I am totally in love!

I've been wearing it at every opportunity since I finished it and it really didn't take me that long to do either, probably about 5 hours in total (more since I'm not counting stating again...)  It is made from this pattern on Ravelry, I used two balls of Sirdar Escape Chunky and the only adjustment I did to the pattern was to not hold the yarn doubled since I didn't have enough to do that and make it long enough. 

Now I'm contemplating a cardigan, I may have just approached the crazy train!

The dress of Glitz!

Last Saturday was the day of my work's Christmas party and although I'd started the dress quite early I was still finishing it off on the day, you know how it is "Oh I just need to do the button, that can wait..."  Although I'm a little worried about how well I blend in with the living room wall I'm really impressed with it.

Every seam has been french seamed, yes you read that right EVERY seam, including the armhole! I didn't want any of the lace scratching me at any point so I encased them all and I have to say it worked very well so I say "Ha" in the face of all of the you can't french seam a curve naysayers!

 

This is also my first attempt at a thread made button hole (not the foggyist idea what that is really called), it needs so work but definately served the job it was made for.

After taking the photo's above I decided that I'd made the hem a little shorter than I was actually comfortable with, but nothing a pair of tights didn't cure. All in all a job well done and a good night because my husband actually made it! (He works in a toy shop so never usually makes it to anything Christmas related)

The Lowdown

Pattern: New Look 6068

Material: 1.75m Turquoise Lace £9.10, 1.75m Black Liquid Satin £3.92 (both from Abakhan)

Notions: Black floral button £0.59 Abakhan

Total Cost: £13.61

Time to complete: 5 hours (most of that was cutting the lace)

Modifications made: The placement of the keyhole opening from the front to the back