marielle skirt

Right now I am happily riding the wave of my sewing mojo.  My Cambie is finished (a reveal will follow after the wedding I’ve made it to wear at next weekend), and I celebrated by starting something new, straight away.

Maybe this puts me in the realms of weird fan girl, but when I saw the Marielle Skirt on Tilly’s blog I knew I needed this skirt in my wardrobe.

The directions (even in a magazine which I guess might have been edited) were perfectly clear and lovely.  Somehow though my skirt ended up with the opening on the opposite side.  I don’t think I made any whoopsies and my fabric was the correct way up, but clearly something happened, not that it matters.

(There is a strange chicken v dog territory war going on behind me in these photos.  Penny tries to look for squirrels in the tress.  The chickens are unimpressed and charge her, trying to peck her tail as she runs away.  Chickens look triumphant.)

The fabric is some navy cord, and I lined it with a little cotton print I picked up somewhere.  Buttons are from my rescued/frogged Levenwick.

I love how this skirt is going to go with so many things in my wardrobe.  Penny likes it too.

cambie progress

I’m sure this post will jinx it.  But things are (now) moving along nicely with my Cambie dress. *

There was a moment a couple of nights ago when it all seemed to be going wrong – I had made the full-skirt version and suddenly the niggling voice in my head was deafening…’you’ll look like a meringue, you’ll look like a meringue.’  It was right, and I should have paid attention a week ago.  Mr Saz tried to entertain me with amusing tales but I was screaming at myself inside and trying to figure out if I could re-cut for the A-line version.

The skirt came off.  The gathers came out.  The seams were picked out.  The skirt was hacked apart.  And now, I have version A, with a much smaller skirt and one that is more suited to my shape.  Yay!

And the most important thing I have learnt with this dress – trust your muslin.  (Actually, I am going to start calling it a toile, because I’m not American and I only recently found out that we have a different word.)  Trust your toile.  And trust the friends who helped you fit it. It seemed to me that there were some pretty serious alterations going on.  Pattern pieces were cut with entirely new angles.  Lines went in different directions.  I never expected to need so many changes to the fit, but it is going to be totally worth it. This dress fits perfectly – when I think know about how it would look if I had made it exactly to the pattern pieces I shudder.

I just have the lining to sew, which I will now do with total confidence that it’s not going to be a mess and huge waste of lovely fabric, and then some little finishing bits.  And I still have 10 days to go, so I’m letting my mind wander a little onto my next sewing project…

*Yep, if you look at this picture and think that one of the sleeves is sewn together with the seam allowances on the wrong-side, you’d be right.  Sewing too late at night is to blame.

sneak peak

I am working on something new.  In three weeks we have A Big Day in our family, and it requires both a gift and something to wear.

This the gift – nothing very fancy or groundbreaking, just something I love to make, in fabrics I love, for people I love. It’s coming together quickly and I planned to finish the top this weekend.  But um, the sun is shining.  So off outside I go to dig and potter about, and I’ll take my makings with me when we travel up North for a few days and hope my mum doesn’t mind me using her sewing machine.

The Something To Wear is in its very early stages and I am taking my time to get it right. For the first time I made a little test bodice and got some help from friends to get a good fit.  There’s a little sneak peak on Ysolda’s blog just now (ignore the silly face – I had a fit of the giggles and didn’t know where to look), along with a very thoughtful post on the fashion industry, and our wardrobes.  Enjoy your weekend x

picnic blanket skirt

Ta da!  For the first time ever I have finished a sewn garment that is actually going into my wardrobe!

Not the sharpest picture, but since its also one of the only times I’ve smiled into a camera without looking like I am about to murder someone, its the one that’s going up.  (Bowie the Chicken says hello.  She is in a very friendly mood just now and wants a cuddle at every opportunity.  Its egg-laying time and she hopes I might be a man.  Anyway….)

I made a Picnic Blanket Skirt mostly during a class on Saturday at Ray Stitch, with the lovely Tilly.  It was fun, and I learnt a few things that are probably super-obvious to sewing people of experience, but which being self-taught and always alone at my sewing machine I just never figured out or thought about.  The class also made me want to sew all the things.  Now.

Once I got home and was faced with the final touches on my own I discovered a bit of a problem.  Originally I drew and cut the pattern so the waistband would sit lower (probably closer to where I wear my jeans), but after trying it on this was NOT a good look.  It really needed to sit closer to the narrowest point of my waist to make those gathers look sensible.  In the olden days I would have realised this, though ‘oh well,’ finished it anyway just to be done and then put it away in a drawer.  Not now!  Taking the whole thing apart – gathers, top-stitching and all, seemed a step too far, so some surgery was required.  I figured out how much fabric needed to come out to make the waistband narrower, centred it on the back, calculated seam allowances, cut out a chunk and french seamed right the way up the back.  It means there is a little lumpy bit on the wrong side of the waistband at the back, but it sits nicely in the small of my back and doesn’t bother me.  And it means that I’ll wear the skirt, so I’m calling this a success.

The offending extra piece late at night -

The fabric is Architextures by Carolyn Friedland, from Ray Stitch, and the buttons are cute ones that were on their counter beside the cake.  A darker fabric might have been an idea (I already smeared a teeny bit of chocolate on it), but hey ho, I love it anyway.

I also took the time to finish this really, really well.  I’m going to visit my Gran next week and she likes to look inside the things I make.  She has very high standards…  I even added a hook and eye closure at the waistband to stop any gaping.  (Insert smug face here.)

And now a silly picture, which is going up only as proof that I wore awesome shoes to match yesterday.  Just need to practice walking in them..  They don’t look that high in the picture, but as a chicken-lady who lives in wellies, I teeter in these beauties!

happy mail day

I’m about to go on a little trip, and take a class a class with Tilly at Ray Stitch.  I am beyond excited about this, my dress-making skills have slipped a bit and a refresher is required.  Especially when there are 3 metres of blue silk waiting for me when I get back, ready to be transformed into something amazing for my little brother’s wedding next month.

Before that though I am squeezing in some last-minute decorating (what do you think about the grey wall?, I am a little in love with it) and getting my crafting ready for the trip.  The new plants will be potted on in the greenhouse and will need to wait until next week.  So much to do!  It’s starting to feels like the season of doing and growing.

crafting for the animals…and the winner

So…to the exciting thing first – the winner of the Dropcloth sampler, Yarn Yarn silk embroidery threads and possibly a couple of other goodies from the depths of my craft room.  Congratulations Nicola!  Your post was picked at random and I will send you an email in the next few minutes…  Thank you to everyone who entered x

And so back to usual business…the new chickens are settling in well, and I am most definitely head-over-heels in love with them.  These girls are much more active that our last lot of rescue chickens.  This is due to a change in the law for these kind of caged hens in the UK, who must now have (a little) more space, and a place to scratch and roost.  It’s better, but still not good enough in my opinion.  They have a some natural behaviour, but looked frankly amazed when I carried one outside for a wander.  Fresh air is something completely new for my girls.

And so the names – Lady Dorothea Featherbottom (Dotty), Scarlet o’Hara (Scarlet), WPC Polly Parker (Parker) and Duchess Mimi the Second (Mimi).  Here’s little timid Mimi.  I knit her a wee sweater as she’s in the worst shape physically and is completely bald on her belly.  She’s very pale and has been over-heated, so the sweater should help her adjust more gradually.  She seemed quite happy as I got her dressed, but a little less tolerant a few minutes later.  I’ll try it again when we put them outside, she’ll need it then and might be a bit more grateful!

Everyone in our house is getting new things this week.  Mr Saz and I treated ourselves to a fancy new mattress and bedding and it is lovely.  And so last night after the men were relaxing after getting the mattress upstairs, I sat down at my sewing machine and bound a little quilt for Penny that I pieced and quilted a while ago.

This is made from leftovers of a large quilt I’m making for the humans and as you can see above, is nothing really to be proud of!  But the top is a lovely soft cotton flannel, and Penny seems very attached to it already…

slow stitching and a giveaway

Pretty much all my crafting falls into two catergories – very fast and very slow.  Sweaters probably fall somewhere in the middle, but I don’t make too many of them…

It’s working well for me just now.  Keeping a balance seems key – if I’m working on a slow sewing project like Swoon I can pick up a quick hat to knit for relief.  And when the Beekeepers Quilt or those massive colourwork socks get too much I stitch up a quick potholder, or spin a little sampler.  Its helping to keep me sane and focused right now, which is just what I need.

Finishing Swoon gave me a little more confidence in my ability to actually finish big, long-term projects.  So I started another -

The first patchwork I ever did was paper-pieced (and small), and this is the first time playing with it since.  I even managed to find my old hexagon templates, though, um, I’ll obviously need a few more.  This one is destined for another family member, and one with an extremely large bed.  I’ll need to get some sneaky measurements of it…  Just as Jules said in the comments on Swoon, one stitch at a time is the best way to undertake big projects.  I’ll do this the opposite way to Swoon – hand pieced and then machine quilted.

I’m in a kind-of methodical mood at the moment, taking my time with things and being thorough.  I did a little spring cleaning (including cleaning and oiling my sewing machine – eww), and came up with a little giveaway.  In my embroidery box I found two of the same Dropcloth samplers – the original one shown here.  I’ve decided to give one away, and will throw in some hand-dyed silk from the Yarn Yard.  It’s lovely, dyed just a few miles from my house, but is a little thicker than I like to use for my embroidery (but is loved by others, I’m sure.)  If you’d like these threads and the sampler just leave a comment letting me know, and on Tuesday night I’ll pick someone at random.

I might dig around in my stash and see what I can add in too.  Have a good weekend x

crazy thinking

None of the things I posted pictures of on Friday actually saw any progress.  I only really had the evening free for crafting since Mr Saz was away at a Christmas party.  I made the most of it by making lots of mess.  By the time I went to bed it looked like a craft shop had exploded in my office.

By the end of it i did get three cute little tree decorations.  I made a template using a much reduced version of the Peep Boots pattern from Lizzy House, roughly quilted them, added some ribbon and improvised the construction.  Done!

My mind keeps wandering into a crazy Christmas place.  Over the weekend this included:

1. This Christmas every spare room will have someone in it, but I don’t have enough quilts to go round.  I know!  I could make a double-bed sized quilt so that everyone gets one.

2. I like Christmas stockings.  I know! I could make a full-sized stocking for every single person who will be in my house on Christmas day (11 people), sneak downstairs in the night and hang them up over the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

3.  The biggest bedroom in my house had a nasty incident with a dodgy bit of wall on the outside of the house and looks a bit grotty.  My parents will be staying in there.  I know!  I’ll completely redecorate the room in time for Christmas, and make cushions to match the new colour scheme.  Oh, but then the quilt won’t match, I could make another quilt!

4.  I know I said I wasn’t making everyone presents this year, but maybe I just need to simplify things a bit.  I know!  I’ll just look over the old gift list and convince myself that its actually all possible.  It definitely is.

Um, no.  I talked myself out of all of it.  I might repaint the one dodgy wall in the spare room since the plan went far enough to actually buy the paint, but that’s it.  There will be no new quilts or cushions or Christmas stockings for all.  I might hem the curtains in the hallway which have been hanging since we moved in, unhemmed.

Other than that I am covering my house in tiny lights and candles and calling it Christmas.   And last night me and Mr Saz opened a chocolate present we bought for someone and ate it.  It feels good to be a little selfish sometimes.

lots of leaves

I think its because I can smell spring when I take Penny outside to play – leaves seem to appearing in all my craft projects…

A Leaves Long Beanie by Melissa La Barre, from Weekend Hats – maybe the quickest knit ever and due for some pretty finished photos this weekend.

The back of a funny little quilt I’m working on (the front is just as spring-like!  More soon…)

A little crafting play, some free-motion quilting for fun and something for a random quilted/sewn/embroidered artwork inspired by a recent blog post by Maya Donenfeld.  Not sure how I feel about this one, I’m waiting for some late night inspiration to hit me…

And yet another quick hat, a Foliage hat by Emilee Mooney.  This is Vintage Knitty from back in 2007, before I even knew how to knit…

my weekend in pictures

My first attempt at hand quilting, thanks to a lesson from my buddy Fiona.

Homemade snickerdropper!!  My favourite sweet thing in the world (quote Ysolda: ‘It’s like snickers and millionaire shortbread had a baby!’), a treat from our old knit night cafe and now re-created for me by Fiona…

This would have been done if it wasn’t for a sudden thread shortage.  Anybody recognise the pattern?

I knit.  A lot.  I spent most of yesterday evening wrestling with ribbing and icord, and now my knitting basket is overflowing with an almost completed Carter Cardigan…

A new phase of decorating has begun and I spent hours standing inside a very small space covered in tile paint.  And somehow managed to get it all over my legs, through my painting trousers.  Goodbye grubby-yellow shower room!

The only thing missing was a little time at my spinning wheel, so that is at the top of my list for crafting fun this week…