Evil doings at the christening...

Sleeping Beauty, of course. What did you expect?

The wicked fairy godmother wreaked havoc as she is supposed to,  with gorgeous purple jacket over a black tutu, and an overskirt on the tutu, as it was a bit too transparent.










And then we saw that lovely flowered fabric for her majesty, the proud Mama of Aurora. Not quite enough for a whole dress, but with a few pieces of silk to go with...

When the perfect fabric leaps off the shelf and into your hand, what can you say?




I hadn't realised to begin with that it was silk I was dealing with. The lovely slubby fabric, and the oyster coloured lower sleeves are both silk. Sadly, the main fabric for the skirts is more mundane..

 I also made the King his outfit. Well, you know how it goes. I was only making the costume for Carabosse, so we were off fabric hunting and there, on the shelf, was the perfect fabric for a frock coat for the King... Well, he was going to need to be clad, so, 'Would you?'   How could I say no?




This fabric works both ways out, predominantly black the one side and bronze the other. A bit of pretend frogging...

 And then, breathe, and smile!

Those Christmas makes..

A request was made, for a cushion cover starring a beach scene. Well, I had done something like this before, so, lets get to it... 

and the back- quite simple,  so that was the first gift made this Christmas.
















Someone else wanted an apron. Do you recall, a few years ago, some duck themed kitchen accessories?

A matching apron seemed suitable, so this little creation materialised, I almost never throw stuff out if there is a remote chance of it's being pressed into service once more, so, an apron gift was made.

And I saw a tutorial, for making a zippy pouch, mainly using the overlocker, including zip insertion with the overlocker- I kid you not, these zips went in using the overlocker!  Yes, topstitching was on the flatbed, but they were quick and simple to make.... one for a daughter, one for a son's girlfriend- yes she is a dream, she sews too!

And then, I could not leave my other daughter out- she gets a matching cushion , to go with the quilt she had for her birthday. 

no, she really doesn't like hedgehogs, you know....   I love this hedgehog fabric, with it's subtle colours.   

And she seemed quite pleased too!

I had less sewing time than I wished for, as I was ( and still am ) knee deep in costume making... 

Sneak peeks? 

 a bit of a pig, just 'cos it is BIG

 Some real silk in this one, bliss!


















No silk here, but still gorgeous! Are you not jealous of my being able to sew with such lovely fabrics!

getting there

A little bit of this

became some of this... 

a week ago, I think.. 

and then some more sewing happened today

 a new kindle cover- but not for me...

a simplified version for someone... say no more until they get it!

and I have done some sewing for someone else, too... 

 sneaky peek one!























sneaky peek 2

They know all about it, but I do not wish to show the whole thing until they have had some fun with it!

Okay dear??

 I was the very lucky recipient of this cute kindle cover, last week. My lovely daughter, who understands my love of purple, made this cover from strips and scraps of fabrics which we had.

The inside is also very pretty.

I have the best dressed kindle in town!
Have you given your kindle a name?
I got fed up with mine being referred to as Rachel's kindle, so mine has a name. Not a very imaginative name , but one all her own.

She is called 'Libraire'.

I wonder what names other people call theirs?

This was made from my design the tutorial was  published by Julie of the Intrepid Thread.  
 It incorporates a pocket to keep that all important lead for recharging!

This is a clue as to what I have been up to this week.

I was provided with the fabric, and the  net tutu base, and asked to produce a 'Sugar Plum Fairy'

She is nearly finished now, shoulder straps, and a further fitting are required, and then, she should be ready to appear on stage, next week!

Super fast sewing!

So I received the fabric Sunday lunchtime-ish. Skirts all done for Bedtime. So, no I did not have to make them in my sleep. All except the buttons, which went on this evening, ten minutes before collection.
So that just left tops. I had my brief. Little jackets, diagonally striped, Peter pan collars, and puff sleeves. Coming down in little points, like a fancy waistcoat. Simple. Unless the fabric is lengthwise striped, so we are now sewing on the bias.
I think we need to line these with polycotton, for stability. And put facings on the fronts to take the buttons and buttonholes. Puff sleeves- fairly simple. Ok we are off.
But not till Monday evening, after work. So, I sorted out pattern pieces, and cut out one top on Monday evening.This is when you realise what you have failed to allow for. The stripes on the sleeves. Now, I don't know about you, but I generally cut out sleeves on a double layer, so two sleeves are cut at the same time. Not this time though. The stripes have to go in the right direction so they go across the whole thing. Cutting back to back I am unconvinced we are going to get that. So each sleeve and each front is cut individually.

Tuesday got it put together.And because I am fraught, I forget to take photos. So, although the orange one was made first, the green one is the one taken on its own. So All done except the collar.

Wednesday is my day off. So collar first thing, and then three more tops, cut out, with all their linings, interfacing and collars, takes me till lunch. An afternoon spent on the overlocker, and then the rest of the evening on the flatbed, chain stitching- thank goodness I could just use white thread, If I had had to keep changing thread I wouldn't have done it!

And then covered buttons. I got a gizmo for covering buttons, and it is a dream!

No more carefully cutting the right size circle, little running stitch round, etc. Now I just cut a rough square, the right size, put it in the hole, press top down, and trim ends and corners straight across th top, Add the top plate, and cover. Press quickly and you are done. Easy peasy and beautiful!
So twenty covered buttons done in about 15 minutes.

So they are all done and dusted in very short order!

Want a look see?

I hope they tap well enough to warrant such pretty outfits!

Collected tonight, and one happy teacher. Hope they fit....

Done! I think..

This is what 14 purple Waltz of the Flowers bodices look like.

And this is a mock up of the result, on an underskirt belonging to my daughter, The real ones will have a shorter, flatter tutu under them.

Over 700 metres of thread went into these. I bought a pack of five 100 metre reels of thread and also used two different ones I had in from something else, and still had to go and buy more. And that doesn't include the overlocking round each piece. It was just seams.

And this is what 14 swan bodices look like, all in a heap.

and a mock up of these?

Difficult to see on the spare bed. I think they will be okay.

Dress rehearsal Sunday, we will see if they ride up, in which case they will need anchoring. Hand sewing of press studs. I hate hand sewing, so keep fingers crossed they behave.
Thank you!

And does this clematis remind you of anything? I think it has similarities to those waltzing flowers I have been working on!

So from the second half of April, until now, I have made 40 separate garments!

I may now be making petticoats as well for some of the dancers. How many? What style? Not sure, but will find out tomorrow.

Happy sewing...

Swans ahoy

So today was busy again. I did the last three purple bodices, yes, one member of the troupe has dropped out so we are down to fifteens. So I now have a set of purple bodices ready to fit. Then a few more hours on each of those to finish.
And I started a swan.

Has anyopne out there sewn with the ruffled fabric out there at present?

It is not fun. I am going to have to cut and sew each one individually, as it is not easy to see which piece is which, once unpinned from pattern. The fringey bits try to get in the wrong place, so they have to be directed constantly, which slows the overlocking down . A lot.

We decided to extend the fabric beyond the bodice finish line, and will cut it to be feathery later, this means I have to overlock the bottom edge of the lining first, then overlock the other three side with the ruffle fabric, and then sew the pieces together. This bodice comes down to a point, so needs boning down the centre, so a casing for that has to be included. After fitting I will finish the top edge with bias, which will tidy it up.

One down, fourteen more to go!

Back again!

I have had some frustration this week. All of a sudden the computer couldn't find google. it would accept emails, and if I knew where something was, I could get to that. But I couldn't sign in to google. Nor would it find bing, or yahoo search engines. And we didn't know why.
Luckily my son came home on Friday, and took 10 minutes to sort us out, so now I can write here again.
What have I been doing?
I took Thursday off work and went to make fabric origami Christmas decorations. They are very pretty, so I better show you what is there.

this was the first one we made, obviously they may be as decorative or as simple as you wish, but a good contrast of fabrics is helpful. The first three were designed on a circle, then one on a square and one on an octagon.






 

                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

I am really struggling to get these pictures where I want them, so you will have to excuse that, for the moment... 

I have also had a few tries at the next FMQ design. This is pine needles. I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. That doesn't mean it looks particularly good, just that I felt reasonably relaxed with it. I forgot to changethe colour of cotton, ok, I couldn't be bothered to change the cotton, so the result doesn't really show up, but this is the result

front of first try,

second attempt

and the backs.. 

yes, I ought to have clipped the tails, but I hadn't. Now I can visit the others who have been doing this too, via Fluffy sheep  and see how they fare.

And I also made a hat. For the Knave of Hearts, though I expect it is too big, but will take some tucks as required. 

I think it will do the job. 

And now I will go attempt Leila's next block. It is more paper piecing, which doesn't thrill, but the finished block looks lovely.

Sunday sewing, again

Ok, on my list today, I have; trousers for the Hatter. Jacket for the dormouse. Tabard for the Knave. The latest block from Leila, and last Fridays FMQ. Which I haven't started yet. Panic,  panic. I mean,  the starburst, which I haven't practiced yet.

In my defence it has been quite a week. I have had a visitor for the week, who wished to sew, so I had to share my machine when I wasn't working, with two young ladies, instead of just with one- I am very glad to share my machine, but I still get less opportunity, when I am sharing, so that is my excuse, and I am sticking to it.

Then I had to clear the dining room, where my sewing machines are usually permanently available, as my parents have recently celebrated 60 years of marriage, and I was feeding them, and my brother and his wife, and two of my kids were home, so eight round the table, warrants the dining room being used, I think. And it was lovely, Everyone was ok, and it was good to see a tidy, no, a tidier, room for a short while. This morning, machines come back again, and my visitor has gone, so there are only two of us needing the flat bed again.

Highest priority has to be a costume item. So I have had in my head to make a card for the youngster being the knave of hearts. I simplified it down as far as I possibly could, searched through my stash and this is what came out.

Elastic at the shoulders, and at the waist, under this will be a cat suit in black, which has had sleeves attached with red strips on a black ground, red cuff at the elbow,and gold trim round the cuff. I may yet embroider facial details on, but the important thing is that she is clothed!

So having that out of the way, I thought I was allowed a little playtime.

Leila's block is next on the list. Paper piecing. Hmm. I did not think it would be difficult (it wasn't). And I did think it would give a good result (it did). I was concerned that there would be a lot of wasted paper. And there is.
It was suggested we print 5 copies of the template, and use one for a pattern, and sew on the others, to end with four pieced 'square-in-a-square's. Which makes sense. And I printed one on each end of the paper, so only used three pieces of paper.
The test square was spot on, which kept things simple.

I think from the waste alone I am not a major fan. Add to that, when putting the individual squares together, I managed to get one upside down, spot the mistaken mistake, unpick it, I am still using the short stitch, so unpicking is more difficult....

and then managed to sew a row on upside down. More unpicking. And I am still using that shortened stitch...

However, I finally have a result. And not too unhappy with it either. The placement of the stripes is fortuitous, though had I planned better, it would have been the same. I was just too aggravated to be planning at the time.

 Not the quickest or best result of my life. But I did it. And with her skill builder, it is just that, Building skills, whether I choose to use them at a later date, that is a different matter.

And now for the FMQ bit. This week it is 'Bright Star' well I think I may have produced a bright spider web, or possibly some bright tram lines. Any votes?

Here is attempt no. 1
 front viewand the back I was reasonably happy, because there were no nests on the back and at least some of my lines looked fairly straight. I haven't looked at anyone else's attempts yet of course, so I may be less pleased after that.
I acquired, in the week, a set of  'lid twisters' which are grippy, and feel I have more control of the fabric with these.

Anyway, I was happy enough with this to make another attempt. Whether try 2 is any improvement I leave to personal opinion. But I am feeling a bit more confident that I will eventually get there.
  

it is the patch at the bottom which is the second attempt. this is on an edge, which does make maneuvering a little more difficult. And the back?