Giant flowers, stamping magpies and a new dress

I've been busy making paper flowers for the wedding venue, still no date folks, but we're going to see the registrar next week to register and will go see the caterer we have in mind and look round the few venues we've thought of or been recommended.

Sitting in work making paper flowers has turned into something of a revolution as so many people have been asking how to make them or telling me how pretty they are.  I'm in awe of their simplicity and beauty and can't wait to get them all together and see what they look like as a group.

Here's a few quick pictures taken on my phone and camera of the small flowers

Oranges, hot pinks and purple ruffle tissue paper flowers

Shades of green tissue paper ruffle flowers

Pastel coloured ruffle tissue paper flowers

I've decided now that it's probably best to just fold, cut and secure the flowers but not ruffle them as I'm going to run out of storage space fast due to this little furry wonder

'I'm so cute I won't hurt your flowers' says Fizz

I've taken over the high shelving in J's music room to make sure Fizz doesn't take her sharp little claws and teeth to my hard work.  Just as with fabric, whenever I lay out some card or tissue paper to cut out flowers she's there to sit on it!

I've made quite a few card flowers now too, there's still some to finish off but I've made some giant tissue paper flowers whilst these have been drying out.

Giant card daffodil type flower in blue and pink

Smaller tendril like flower in pink, blue and yellow

Giant yellow flower with pink, green and blue tendril centre

Giant blue flower with yellow centre that I was working on in the last post

I've had fun with these, I really have.  I'm sure I'm supposed to me more stressed out about a wedding but I'm loving making things and seeing people's eyes widen when I tell them what I'm making and what it's for!  The funny looks and comments I've had in work are hysterical!

Here's the giant tissue paper flowers...it's getting a bit floral around here isn't it?  Sorry about that...

Trio of tissue paper flowers, one blue two pink, they're on my attic stairs, they're that big.

Close up of pink flower with lighter outer petals

Close up of blue flower

Close up of pink flower with darker outer petals

One last wedding related photos for this post I promise!  These are the cards I've stamped for the invites and thank you cards for the presents we've received.  This took FOREVER and by the end I was beginning to think I couldn't spell 'save' or 'date' as I'd stamped them that many times that I thought it looked wrong...I'm warning you people, anyone who wants to mass produce cards for anything beware over exposure to stamping the same words over and over and over again!

Save the date invite cards with my lino cut magpies

Thank you cards with my lino cut magpies

And just to keep all of you who like to look at clothes happy I'll show you a dress!  It's not my wedding dress but it's a modern take on a 1940s dress.  I got it from the same shop as my wedding dress and love it!

Red with white polka dots 1940s style tea dress

So my idea at the moment is to have the flowers either on a wall so that we can have photos taken against them or to get an arch and put them all round it and put streamers at the back so that can be the back drop for photos.  I'm probably going to fill the house with flowers before the big day and then worry how on earth I'm going to get them all to the venue in one piece, but hey ho!  I'm carrying on regardless as it's keeping me happy.

I have promised a certain someone, Medha, a 'how to' on the ruffle flowers and I will do soon but my arms are hurting now as I've been making things all day, sorry!  If anyone wants me to show you how to make any of the other flowers let me know and I'll get photos done as I go along to show you all.   Hope I haven't bored you all too much with wedding talk, I'm getting really really excited now whenever I look at the flowers!

Ta Da! Sewing!

So it's been a little while but I've got a couple of things to show off to you about, so hopefully it'll have been worth the wait!  First of all I've joined Facebook, I know I know it's been around for ages and I should have done it sooner yadda yadda yadda but I've done it now.  There's a linky button thingy on the right there, go and have a look.  Oh, and do you like my little birdies?  I picked them up in a little boutique in Bath yesterday along with a beautiful faux leather gold obi style belt that I'm hoping to show off later this week with something.  It may not be a handmade something but I'll try my best to make sure it is.

I've also been busy sewing, I've made a top and a skirt and have nearly finished another skirt too.  My crafting mojo went out of the window due to a very unfortunate event that I can't talk about here.  I have an in action shot of the top for you:

Peach crepe Sorbetto with pink ribbon belt and Monsoon skirt, I like that we've captured a seagull in the background too

I found some lovely peach crepe at the market the other day and couldn't resist it as it was the exact colour I wanted as a top to go with the skirt I haven't finished making, don't ask me how this got finished before the skirt - I don't understand it either!  I lowered the neckline and widened the straps and put the neckline in the back higher as wanted more towards the nape of my neck.  I put pink bias binding on the armholes as didn't have enough fabric to make self binding and didn't have binding in peach but think the pink works well.  I put facings on the neck as the fabric is quite prone to fraying but have since realised the interfacing was a little too thick and does stand out a little.  I'm hoping that after a wash or two it'll settle down and in the meantime I just need to be careful of the undergarments I wear with it as some make it more noticeable than others.

The pictures of the skirt are not 'in action' pictures I'm sorry and it's a little creased as I forgot to take a photo of it on me and now it's not and I'm not recreating the outfit sorry!  I'm a little concerned about the length of it, I'd forgotten I'd lengthened the pattern the last time I sewed it which will teach me to look back on my blog posts about garments won't it?  Tut tut.  I do love the fabric though, it cheered me up no end making this.  I'm even impressed with my button holes!  Tee hee!

Front of very floral pleat skirt

Back of very floral pleat skirt

This is a Joel Dewberry print I do believe, I picked it up on sale at John Lewis for half price so couldn't resist it.  I already had the buttons and the zip in my stash.  It was a bit of a quick and dirty make as I needed something to occupy my mind rather than the thing I can't talk about and this occupied me quite nicely for an hour or two.  I have some fabric left and am hankering for a clutch bag for some reason so I may make one out of this.  I think it will need a velvet bow on it too, one of those really oversized ones, you know?

I have been off work this week and last week on my holidays but won't bore you with pictures, well, not on this post anyway!  I do have some pretty purchases to show you too but I'd be spoiling you all giving you all the pretty things in one go wouldn't I?  So tune in next time for some more exciting sewing!  It's exciting as I haven't done any in ages ok?  Ok.

Planning and shopping my stash

I was browsing through Etsy the other day in their wedding section as they have a whole dedicated part of the site and wanted to see what all the fuss was about as it's ruffled a few feathers and I discovered a whole load of tutorials and advice.  I homed in on the dress section as they were doing a 'dress style for your shape' kind of thing and saw this beauty:

Original source here

I think it's sometimes easier to see how a dress is made when it's in a block colour and especially when it's white/ivory and I found this dress and it was being modelled by a lady about the same size and shape as me and I LOVE it!

The top is made from lace and v neck, the waist is a wide band that nips in the waist and then there's a full 50's style skirt with tulle poking out the bottom and it's tea length.  It looks beautiful and I discovered I have almost everything in my stash in order to make it.  I have an abundance of navy blue lace courtesy of a lady in sewing class as she was given a black bag full of lace from a friend who used to work at the Gossard underwear factory before it closed and she gave me a whole bundle of it.  Aren't I lucky!  I have some royal blue dupion silk which was a remnant I picked up in John Lewis' remnant bin for a song but wasn't sure what I was going to use it for as it was a bit small to make a top and I have some dark midnight blue satin which I had from my sewing class teacher as she didn't want it any more!  So all I need is a zip and some navy blue tulle/net whatever you want to call it and I've got myself a dress that is retailing on Etsy for a few hundred pounds for under a tenner I expect!  I know I'm going to love this dress, but it's going to take a lot of time to put the bodice together, the rest will be a cinch as the skirt is just like the skirt on the Burda style dresses I've worn this month for Me Made May and the waist band should be pretty easy as I'll just cut the silk to the right length, but if I'm not convinced I can always use the satin instead so there's only two shades of blue I suppose.  I had thought of pleating the waist band to add more interest but I'm worrying now that it will add bulk where I don't need it.  I'm going to skip the buttons down the back as number one I'm lazy and number two I don't want them digging in my back when I sit down and number three I'm not getting married.  Yeah, before anyone gets too excited and starts buying a hat or anything, this is just me looking at a dress that's all pretty and thinking 'maybe I can make that'!

I do have a few concerns that I would like some advice on if anyone knows, how do you sew with lace?  Is it best to sew by hand?  The lace I have is rather wide, about 3 inches so I'm going to have to piece it together to make the front bodice which I don't mind as it may give it a better shape than me trying to wrestle with lace by the metre, but it's obviously see through so how easy is it to line and what would be the best thing to line it with?  I'm changing the back of the dress which is the other reason for not having the buttons as I have limited lace so may be a v shaped back too so am wondering whether to put the zip in the side rather than the back because of this.  I also noted in the dresses description that pockets can be added, this may be something that I will do, as long as I remember as I love pockets in skirts and dresses, well, with such a big skirt you're not going to spoil the lines of it by having pockets or by putting your hands in them.  All suggestions greatly welcomed!

I'm off to pin some lace to Mabel the Mannequin and see how it looks!

Finished Taffy

Hurray!  After waiting what seemed like aaaaages to be able to go somewhere to get bias binding I managed to finish the Taffy blouse...and promptly hated it.  I thought all I needed was a pair of castanets as the sleeves looked like something you'd wear for flamenco dancing as the bias binding had made the sleeve edges really stiff.  I was on the verge of tears and taking pinking shears to it as nothing seemed to go with it.  You should have seen my bedroom it was like a whirlwind had hit it there were so many clothes thrown across the bed in desperation they were falling on the floor.  I tried it with just about every skirt in my wardrobe and it didn't look right with anything. 

It was too long for the skirts to be untucked but when it was tucked in it was too poofy and this is where I started getting really frustrated.  I tried some of the belts that I have that I thought would be good but nothing looked right.  I then remembered some thick pink satin ribbon in my stash and thought this would work as a temporary obi belt as knew it was so long it would go round me a few times.  This helped the whole poofy thing but not what to wear on the bottom.  I tried it with jeans untucked but was not sure on this either and then J came to my aid.  My knight in shining armour.  He picked up one of my discarded skirts that I hadn't even put on as thought it would look stupid and told me to try that as it would pick up on one of the colours in the top pattern (I know, I am SO lucky) and what do you know it looked good! 

So meltdown over I was ready to go and meet our friend for lunch!

Taffy blouse in purple voile fabric with flower pattern in teal and pink with bright pink satin ribbon as belt and teal linen skirt, purple tights and grey boots

I think the sleeves have calmed down a bit after being under my coat so don't think they look too flamenco dancer any more.  The neck is still standing a bit proud so I think a better pressing is in order.  I think if I make this top again I will shorten it at the waist, put in front and back darts and a side zip as need to wear things that are more fitted.  I love this top on other people but have noticed they are slimmer and have a smaller bust than I do.  This causes me a little concern about the Licorice dress as I love the look of it but fear that it would look like a sack on me.  I shall have to make a muslin before using any fabric that I love on it as don't want it to end in tears.

My hair is a little windswept as we went for a walk down the wetlands today and to say the wind was bracing would be putting it mildly!  I got some pretty photos with my camera though.

view of the track on the way into the wetlands with the sun direct ahead

the lighthouse is in the distance with viewing ports through the fences on either side of the track to view the birds on the lakes

The lighthouse

View of a swan in the distance taken through one of the viewing ports

Looking out to sea over the mudflats

Amazing rippled mud flats

Water reeds with sunlight shining through

I do love going to the wetlands, although it's a lot more popular and therefore busy now which although is good for the charity and therefore the birds and other wildlife, I liked it better when it was quieter...I'm just selfish.  I have been left feeling more refreshed though to get on with my other sewing tasks.  Hurray!

Taffy blouse

There seems to be a sweetie theme to today's posts!  I thought I'd try my hand at the Taffy blouse from the Colette Sewing Handbook as I need more me made tops and thought a quick project would be good as haven't sewn any clothes for myself in quite some time.  Well, I started off with the idea that I'd photograph everything as I went with a view of possibly doing a sew along sometime in the future and taking the handbook's advice with starting mise on piece:

All the essentials, cup of tea, book, tracing paper, fabric, pencil, cutting implements and weights and pins and on the bench the cutting mat

Action shot of pattern being traced

And this is when I had to change the fabric from the yellow one in the top photo to the purple one shown here being cut out

 I had to change the fabric as I didn't have quite enough for the pattern, boo hiss, so I've used this purple voile I picked up on the London meet up in May.  Well, it's about time it got used for something!

Me looking a little pensive as not sure I like this top.

 This is the top so far, I haven't finished it as need about 10 million metres of bias binding which I don't have.  I'm contemplating making my own from the left over fabric but it's just too late in the day to do that now.  I did think of using some lovely purple satin bias I have ready made but there's just not enough of it.  The sleeves just eat up the binding and you need it for the neckline as well.  I've omitted the waist ties as they weren't on my waist and wasn't happy with them anyway as thought they looked to skinny and puny.

Side on view.

 This is a pull on top, there are no fastenings and I'm wondering whether this is a mistake for me as I need something to define my waist.  Maybe I will put some waist ties in after all on my waistline instead of the one on the pattern, which would be much more sensible and which I should have checked in the first place.  Silly me.

Back view of top.

Now I'd love to put some darts in and make it sit nicely but then I'm going to have to open up the side seam and put in a zip to get in and out and while I'm at it I may as well put some darts in the front as well and get a really fitted top.  Then however, it would be a completely different top and there's the slight problem of the fabric not being the most robust and it doesn't like being unpicked once sewn as nearly had some very large holes after having to unpick a dart miss sewn.  Urgh.

I do like the sleeves though, they're really pretty, I'm just not certain this is the right shape top for me.  I'll have a think on it and see what jumps out at me!

A quick litte refashion

I saved this sad lonely blue cardigan as it was soft and light and good for layering but was slightly in the wars.  The neckline was coming apart and there were a few holes as it is so thin and delicate it holes easily (I found that to my peril trying to remove the tag on the neck!).   So it went from this boring plain blue:

Blue short length cardigan with blue buttons

Using these added extras:

Six pink heart shape buttons and pink velour ribbon (it's actually elasticated shhh don't tell anyone!)

Close up of the six pink heart shape buttons

To this far more exciting cardigan!

Finished cardigan with the ribbon round the neck and the pink heart buttons in place of the boring round blue ones

I realise cardigans aren't always exciting and nor do they need to be, but since this one needed some TLC I thought I'd give it a lift!

Happy Sewing!

Progress report

Been feeling poorly bard as they say in these parts so not much sewing going on but have managed to make a start on one of the patterns I picked up at the charity shop the other day thanks to a speedily posted fabric purchase care of M is for Make.  I keep forgetting to take a picture of the fabric when it arrives as it's so prettily packaged in two tone blue butcher's style twine with luggage tag printed thank you note...but the fabric is soooo gooooood I have to take it out and caress it!  I bought 3m of Anna Maria Horner voile in Shattered and you know how I love voile, it's just so soft and drapes so beautifully.

Thus far I've almost finished the bodice of the dress and will need to put in a zip and add the skirt, which won't be quite as full as the pattern dictates partly due to miscalculating the difference between yards and metres and partly due to me deciding I didn't want acres of fabric in the skirt.

Sneaky peak of bodice

What has really fascinated me with this pattern has been the little discoveries I've made along the way, namely the seam tape I found from the original owner of the pattern tucked inside the pattern pieces in a little paper bag.  It made me all misty eyed to find it as it felt like a link to the past together with the little notes written on the pattern packet.  It's also a little strange to me that the lady who owned this pattern only ever made view A and never B or C as the pattern pieces were uncut.  I find it strange as I think all the patterns I picked up were from the same owner as they were all the same era and those that have notes on are all in the same handwriting and there were dresses that were similar that she must have made, but maybe that's it, she had those type of patterns already.  I wonder in years to come when I pass on my patterns what someone else will think of how I've used them.

The left over seam tape, wonder what the dress looked like?

The other interesting thing I found about the pattern is the fact that when it was new you could iron the pattern onto the fabric much like Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns and could be used upto 3 times, neat eh?  Assume it didn't work so well as don't think there are clothes patterns you can iron on nowadays, correct me if you know better!

Instructions on how to use the 'Easy Mark' pattern

I also love the early 60's style advertising!  Pattern is from 1962.

Ah, if only you could get 7 issues of a pattern magazine for $1.96 nowadays...*sigh*

Love the stylish silhouette of the sassy seamstress!

And since I'm a bit behind, here's some other fabric I picked up when I was only supposed to be getting some thread and a zip for the voile dress...naughty naughty

Turquoise jersey

Pink and purple flower print

The jersey will hopefully become a dress, I'm thinking of using an existing crossover front jersey top as the pattern for the bodice and then winging it with the skirt!  I want a dress I can just pull on with no fastenings and thought this would be perfect...we shall see if these are my famous last words.  The floral print will be a sleeveless 60s style dress that I think this print lends itself to naturally.  The pattern is one I picked up in the same haul as the one on the go now.  I initially thought this was a notion less pattern too but sadly not. 

Thankfully I've started to make a list matching patterns to fabric in order to get a hold on my spending and use up my stash.  I'm not going to transpose this list to here as it's all a bit 'if I've got enough fabric or maybe this fabric for this pattern or this pattern' as it was done whilst feeling too poorly bard to go measure anything and just from memory.

It does go onto the other page...this is how naughty I've been buying fabric and hoarding patterns

So here's hoping I get some new items of clothing to show off in Me Made June as I'm feeling a little under prepared as before...whoops!

Getting some clothes ready for Me Made June

So Me Made June is fast approaching so thought I'd better get a wiggle on and make some new stuff so I sewed up a Prima pattern top as love the pleating on the neckline and sleeves and there's no fasteners!  Yay!  Not so yay is the fact that I don't like tops with no shape to the waist so have had to employ the use of a sash I originally made for the Sew Weekly meet.

Me wearing me made Prima pattern top with me made sash, flower was from Primark used as a brooch to pin the sash together

I used the cotton I got from Goldhawk Road for this top and am happy with the result, I like the 3/4 sleeves and the light airy cotton was good today as have been running a temperature! haha!  Hate colds.  The sash was made from a remnant I picked up in the market so the whole top ensemble cost a grand total of £5.50, not bad methinks. 

To cheer myself up I found this in a charity shop today, it's rather 60's looking and am wondering what company made it but know it will be in good company with my yellow Sylvac vase that's in my header filled with felt flowers.

Small green 60's looking vase that J thinks looks like a robot

A view of the top to show the spout is completely useless and for decoration only

And since I haven't been up to much lately here's some pretty flowers on my table and in my garden, I'm hoping I can get some sewing done this long bank holiday weekend so finger's crossed I'll have some sewing related pictures for you all!

Something nice to look at whilst at my sewing machine

Enormous poppy in full bloom in my garden, there's four now open and another 19 to go!

Happy Sewing!