New items in my shop

Just a quick note to say there's (finally) some new items in my shop!  Hurray!

Feather hair clips:

Beige flower with long speckled feathers and a gathering of smaller beige and brown hue feathers on a black hair clip

Emerald green silk flower on a black hair clip with a trio of long speckled feathers

Go to my shop to have a look at the rest of the pictures.  Thanks!

Please release me, let me go...

I had to show you all this as thought everything was going a little too well and I laughed so hard I nearly cried!  I got all my materials together to make this outfit and decided that I'd use this top as a template.

Me wearing my Coast green satin top

Now it's not lost on me that this is a pull on top a bit like the Pendrell but it's a lot simpler in that there's only three pieces plus the sleeves.  So, after quickly reading the Threads how-to for copying existing garments that Alison showed me, I went for it!  I traced round my top and added a seam allowance and then traced out the sleeves and cuffs I used yesterday on the shirt dress. 

So admittedly the fabric I decided to use isn't the best as it was an old satin bed sheet as it was the right colour and didn't want to have to go out and get any new fabric when I wasn't certain if it would work.  I've found that it's hard to cut shiny fabric as it moves around a lot and I think this is where my problems started as I tried to rectify the shifting by cutting...and this is where it gets interesting...I tried it on before finishing the seams for the neck, arms and bottom of the top.

Full frontal! Me in the makeshift Cadbury's colour top

Side on with the Cadbury's colour top

Sorry for the graphic shots but I'm thinking an FBA or at least not cutting the fabric just to get a straight line because it's resulted in me being a bit squished!  Ah well, it'll be classed as a muslin for me for now!  I think I'll leave the outfit for now until I can get some proper satin to make this top.  It's a bit disappointing as it was going to be my outfit for this weeks Sew Weekly challenge.  I was going to fudge it a bit as I wasn't going to make a dress but a skirt and top and wasn't going to wear a hat but a fascinator that I've made.  Oh well.  Here's a picture of it anyway:

Black Ostrich feather fascinator with sliver coloured brooch with sparkles

Better view of the sparkles

I picked up the ostrich feathers at an antiques shop last summer and attached them to a fascinator base and then pinned on a brooch to lift the black and add interest.  Ah well, it'll get an outing another day.

Facinating facinators

I had forgotten I had some brightly coloured feathers lurking in my sewing room and as soon as I set eyes on them I knew that I wanted to make fascinators!  I've been working on a large black ostrich feather fascinator for some time now and saw these bright beauties and thought some fun and funky ones were needed too.  I think I saw someone make these on their blog, so cannot take responsibility for the basic design but unfortunately cannot give credit as not sure where I saw it.

If you want to make your own here's how I did mine:

• cut two tear drop shaped pieces of felt at desired size
• choose nine feathers in three colours and lay them out in desired rows of colours, it's best if you try and find feathers in three different lengths so you can see each of the three layers of colour
• once layers are chosen start by stitching the middle bottom layer feather to one of the felt tear drop shapes and then the same colour ones on each side, repeat with each layer
• then get some scrap felt in the same colour as the tear drop shapes, just enough to cover the very bottom of the feathers - the stem bit before the actual feathers start and wrap around and stitch at back
• start stitching the other tear drop shape to the back of the first until you've stitched round half of it
• get headband and place feathers at desired spot on headband and sew the headband in between the two felt pieces
• choose something sparkly to stick to the bottom of the feathers and stick with glue, either hot or super whichever takes your fancy
• admire yourself in the mirror sporting your new fascinator!

Here's two I made, one is winging it's way to my boyfriend's brother's girlfriend as mentioned in earlier post and I think the other is going to have to be all mine!