Play with a pattern...

So, you get a pattern. And the pattern is the 'right' size. So, as it is a special dress, you make it up in some spare fabric you have left over from another project... and look at the fit.

Does the 'right' size pattern fit nicely?

NO.

My subject has a bust. And the pattern has the same size bust- but not the same shape bust. Perhaps the bust on the pattern has developed a strange bulge at the front roughly at the level of the armpit, but maybe there are busts out there which do work like that. I am happy that my subject ( victim?) does not have a natural bulge just there!


What did we do?

This is the original side front, which I took out again. You can see a line drawn on it near the top, which is the line I drew, while it was being worn, as a guide for altering things. I then redrew that pattern piece,

The pattern I ended up with is shown below, sitting on top of that original piece.

Quite a difference. In shape as well as size.

Other alterations we made included, taking an inch out of the front, which was cut on the fold, adding darts in the back so it lay nicely, and taking a lump out of the back armholes,. having done all this, we think we shall have a really good fit!  Good job the original pattern was the RIGHT size to start! Much harder to upsize or downsize it!

The dress is now being made. I hope we can show you soon!

Secret projects

At times there is not a lot one can show... I am still sewing but...

There are three dresses to be made, but two are bridesmaid's dresses, so must remain under wraps until the day, one is a prom dress, which must remain under.... You get it!

Some of this may be involved!


Because I was making all these- with a bit of help from DD1 I trust!- I treated myself to a new gizmo...

This little darling will make putting an invisible zip in a complete doddle!  I know, I have tried it! I am able to do it with a standard zip foot, but this one is like magic!




BUT! I have another secret project which I can tempt you with!

Do you know the Black Sheep?  It is a craft barn not far from where i live, and mainly sells all things yarn... silk and wool and bamboo blends, knitting needles and crochet hooks and so on and so forth. They also sell tapestry and embroidery stuff, and fairly recently, in the last year or so, they have branched out into quilting cottons. So, they now have a delicious collection of designer fabrics, all sitting beautifully on shelves, and in little packs of fat quarters, with some jelly rolls and so on to mix in.
They also have zips and buttons, and thread, and really too much option for those of us who like to sew.

And they have allowed a few of us to invite ourselves in, to play amongst their fabrics, for a super little mini sewing bee next week!
So I plan to be there with a few bloggy friends to have fun amongst the fabrics, and make a small something whilst chatting and playing!

see you there girls!  Roll on the 10th!

Goldcrest

A very cheeky chappie came a knocking...

 Can you see him peering in at my window?

I love my little birds, I know too little about them, but I do know I have plenty of different ones in my garden. I have a 'menage a quatre' with some robins, they all get along at present, and no, it is not Mum Dad and offspring, they are all fully adults, and appear to be friends.
I have the usual variety of tits, sparrows, blackbird and thrush (mistle thrush as well as song thrush- have you heard the racket the mistle thrush makes? ), and sometimes see wrens.

Until yesterday I had never seen a goldcrest. A few days ago my DH told me a small bird had been at the window, sort of grey but a yellow stripe on it's head- well, what else could it be? I was only sort of cross because he had seen it, and not me. Until my little friend here came entertaining at the window.

He spent all morning and a good bit of the afternoon in the end, every time I thought he had gone, he was back again!

Sorry, the pictures are not wonderful, but he was seldom still, and the first ones are taken through glass.. Later he happily allowed me within 10 feet of him, but I have cropped the images, and blown them up, so they are grainy..

Amn't I lucky?

To wonk again...

A second wonky house is born, I am not sure it has wonked as much as it should... did you know the verb 'to wonk'? It is definitely in my version of English now....

some of those lines look rather more straight and regular to me, but I did try to wonk them, honest!











































And here are the two together, very different to each other, and I trust their recipient will enjoy the wonk I have managed.

I also was lucky enough to get up earlier this week to a double rainbow. It was especially beautiful, with the brighter one displaying an extra band of colours on the inside curve. Sadly this does not come out on my inept photos, but still a rainbow is a magical thing in our all too mundane world.

madness awaits...

The Bee! the fat Stash Brit Bee has got off the ground again!
This time it is Made Barefoot, who has sent some pretty background fabrics and asked for Wonky houses... One door, one window, a chimney and then... anything goes!

In common with a few others I find a slight lack of inner wonk.. but I am making an extra house as well, and it will need to be wonky...
So here goes, House number one

Yes, it will need trimming a little, but I am leaving it a tad big, to give room for maneuver when it reaches it's destination.. It can be left slightly long or short depending whether someone else's house is a tad big or small...
 and I sort of followed the sewing chick's tutorial to get there..  She is very good and explains  about trying to keep the grain right even though we are wonking it up! If you get my drift there...

So, another one to go yet.. I shall show all when it becomes!

made or finished in April

 Just considering what I have achieved in April, and actually, I have done more than I had realised!


This beach bag commission

 a Dumpling from Keyka Lou,









one of my machine mounted pincushions, both these for my bag swap partner,

and the bag!




















and two T shirts for myself. These are both the same Burda pattern, though I messed with the neckline on the second one, and the sleeve- Love it! One of the best things is the quality of the fabric.. I blanched at the price, these were jerseys at £12.00 a metre, but they have sewn up a dream, and wash easily, and dry on the maiden, and best of all, do not appear to need ironing! And yes, a metre does make a T shirt... my children tell me that £12 for a T shirt is actually not expensive....

Watch out Goldhawk Road- I may be back!

Belatedly joining Fresh sewing day! one day I may get my act together, but then, I was out of the country on the correct day!

The trees...

I had an amazing long weekend in Bonn!
The timing for this was crucial, but I did not know this when I went. You see, I am very used to our British customs, and it was lovely to see something different in a different city.

Explain.

On May the first- may day morning, when the fair British maidens go out to wash their faces in the dew, to ensure a good complexion for the following year, young Bonn maidens are eagerly looking out of their doors and windows hoping to see a tree!  Not just any tree, but a birch tree, bedecked with ribbons, set up overnight by their boyfriend, or occasionally, trees by their would-be boyfriends!

So, on May the first, walking round Bonn, you see...

 I think this is a lovely custom, though I am sorry for the trees, which have been cut off and will wilt and die over the month, but the trees are very pretty.


As well as that I had an amazing time being taken great care of by my dear friend, and her daughter, and monopolising her sewing machine, so that she hardly got a look in, I got fed and entertained, and we had laughter and chatting and whatever... It was good!

Thank you for my long weekend! and for letting me see this lovely custom.

Interesting though- a similar tradition holds in parts or Ireland, but there the May bush is more a community thing, for the luck of the local area..