Pincushion Swap

Hello Everyone!

Last month I took part in the Pincushion Swap, which was jointly organised by Rachel from House of Pinheiro and Charlotte from Sew Far Sew Good. My swapping partner was Fay, who blogs over and Monkey Makes Three and lives all the way over in New Zealand!

I am finally able to share with you what I made since I know that it has found it's way over to New Zealand safe and sound.



I had lots of fun making this cute little pincushion out of scraps from my stash. I used a great tutorial from Very Berry Handmade, which was really straightforward to follow and this beauty sewed up pretty quickly. I highly recommend this as a simple but effective pattern. In fact I plan to make another for myself (it is not possible to have too many pincushions!).

And here is the pincushion I received from Fay! Isn't it cute....and as you can see it has been put to good use already. I love the cherry in the middle - I almost feel guilty sticking pins into it! Thanks Fay :)

Thanks very much for organising the Pin Cushion Swap Rachel and Charlotte...I had lots of fun taking part!

K xx





FO: Pendrell Blouse #2

Happy Jubilee Weekend to everyone in the UK! In celebration of the fact that our Queen has been on the throne for 60 whole years (as of tomorrow i believe), we have a 4 day weekend. Woop! Think of all the sewing time...!

Just under 2 months ago I started a new job. This means that for the first time in my life, 1) I am a commuter, and 2) I require an office appropriate wardrobe. The commuting has the big negative that it leaves me little time for sewing in the evenings, which is why the FO I have to show today has been a WIP for over a month. However it's not all bad as my commute gives me lots of knitting time....more on that soon!

So here it is, my second Pendrell Blouse. This is becoming a favourite pattern, largely because my first Pendrell is quickly becoming a staple of my new office wardrobe. For this second version I wanted something softer and more drapey, so I chose this chiffon-type fabric which was on sale at John Lewis (since it was John Lewis, this was not cheap even though it was in the sale...I think maybe £6/7 a metre). I adore this fabric, however it was a pain to work with. Until now, I have mainly worked with cottons. This sheer fabric was a deliberate choice because I wanted to expand my repertoire and work with other types of fabric...and it was definitely a challenge. I had a quick google to get some tips on working with slippery fabrics, and came upon some excellent advice from A fashionable stitch. Sunni recommends pinning the fabric to a sheet/muslin to keep it in place while cutting out. You then cut the fashion fabric only, but the muslin gives it a bit of stability and prevents the slippery fabric moving around. This is GENIUS! Thanks Sunni :)

  

To prevent fraying, I french seamed everything in sight. This worked well, however meant it took a lot longer to sew as every seam had to be done twice. I must admit, I do love french seams - they look so neat! Somewhere along the line though, disaster struck. Despite careful checking as I went along, one of the sleeves ended up considerably further down at the front than the other (we're talking inches here!). I have no idea how this happened, but I think i must have somehow stretched it while sewing. For a while I was completely clueless on how to fixed this, and distraught that I had ruined my beautiful fabric. Since it would have required unpicking about 4 seams, undoing was not an option - plus I wasn't sure the sheer fabric would cope with being attacked with a seam ripper. However, a lovely sewing friend of mine suggested doing a fix job as best I could and then using a brooch or other accessory to hide the botch job. Another genius idea! To be honest, the fix is not that obvious, but I know it's there. A brooch definitely improves the situation!

So there we go! Not the most perfect garment I've ever made, but definitely wearable. Sorry for the slightly rubbish outside shot - this fabric is hard to photograph. Trust me, it looks great in real life. Despite being tricky to work with, I love how the fabric feels.

I nearly forgot to introduce you to my newest sewing helper, Diana, who is kindly modelling the blouse for me above. She was a birthday present and has already been set to work. I think she does an awesome job. Sally is less convinced though....

Happy sewing everyone...and enjoy the long weekend if you are lucky enough to have one :)

K xx

FO: Knitting Bunnies

Happy weekend everyone! I am pleased to finally be able to share with you my most recent knitting projects - a couple of adorable knitted bunnies I made for some very small people I know.

I actually completed the first of these bunnies way back in January, but I have been waiting until the small people arrived into the world and were given their bunnies to blog about them.

I bought the pattern for these bunnies from a shop in Keswick called Temporary Measure, which I visited last year when I was in the Lake District. This is a lovely quirky little gift shop which stocks a variety of craft goods including knitting wool and some gorgeous liberty print fabrics, photographic canvases and other bits and bobs. If you are ever in the area I would highly recommend a visit!

I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmino yarn, which is wonderfully soft and comes in a range of gorgeous colours. Due to the fact that i used 3.25 mm needles (as recommended on the yarn) rather than 4 mm (as recommended by the pattern) I managed to get each bunny out of a single 50g ball of wool. Bargainous! These bunnies were a dream to knit, the most complicated part was sewing them up, which was a little bit fiddly. For more details see my Ravelry page here.

So far I have made 2 of these bunnies, which is in no way impressive as a very good friend of mine has made 11 so far. Yes ELEVEN, that is not a typo! Impressive stuff. These are a great baby gift and the two I have gifted so far have been very well received, so I am sure there will be more to come!

K xx

Dressform Advice Wanted!

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. It's a bank holiday here in the UK which is fantastic - I am hoping to get in some quality sewing time tomorrow on my extra day off. However, for now I have a question for my fellow sewists. My parents have very kindly offered to buy me a dressform for my birthday which is in two weeks time. I have had a quick Google, and I must say I am completly baffed by the choice! I would like one which is adjustable, but how many adjustments do I really need? If you have a dressform, which make do you have? What are the pros and cons, and are there any that I should avoid? All help and advice will be very gratefully received! :)

K xx

FO: Safari Print Pyjamas

Karen's Pyjama Party...Day Two??

Yes, i know, I'm late to Karen's Pyjama Party....my excuse? I give you a clue, one of the following is true.

1) I found another party to attend which was even more fabulous than Karen's (well we all know that this can't be true....)

2) While desperately trying to get my PJs finished in time for yesterday's big reveal, I found that I had accidentally sewed the wrong legs together. Therefore instead of spending the evening wearing my beautiful new pyjamas, I spent it unpicking the legs. Which I had french-seamed. Opps.

I got there in the end though, and it was definitely worth the wait :)

The Pattern: Simplicity 2116

The Fabric: 2 and a half metres of awesome safari animal print cotton, £5/m from Leicester market

Any adjustments to the pattern?: I cut a large based on my hip measurement, however they are quite big so I think I would have been OK with a medium. I lengthened the trousers by 2 inches to account for my long legs, and I cut 2 inches off the top waist as it was too big. 

The details: I french-seamed everything in sight to give a neat finish which I'm really proud of, and added a tag to mark the back a recommended by Karen (a great tip!).

Would I make this again, and if so would I change anything? I will definitely be making these again, they are so comfy. With shop-bought pyjamas I often struggle to find ones that are long enough, so it was great to be able to control the length.

Sally cat comes to admire my new pyjamas

Overall a great make - a big thanks to Karen for organising the Pyjama Party! It's been great fun seeing everyone elses PJs :)

Karen asked us to say what we are reading in our PJ posts. As you can see above, I am currently reading "Eat, Pray, Love". I fell asleep during the film, and I thought the book had to be better. So far I am finding it a bit hard to get into, but I live in hope it will improve!

On a slightly different note, I am flying to Glasgow tomorrow for work and want to know if I can take knitting needles with me either in hand luggage or in checked-in baggage...does anyone know the current rules on this? I don't really want to be stopped at security in front of my new boss....!! Any advice appreciated! We are flying with BMI if that makes any difference.

K xx

Karen's Pyjama Party

I am so excited that Karen from Did You Make That? is hosting a Pyjama Party Sewalong. Pyjamas have been on my to-make list for so long, and now I have a great excuse to move them right to the top.

I love pyjamas, I think they are quite possibly the most comfortable item of clothing ever invented, and I look fondly back to my student days when it was considered acceptable to wear pyjamas for most of the day! These days I can only get away with it at the weekends...and even this is a rare occurrence. So, I am a huge fan of the pyjama. However, being tall I do have trouble finding pyjama trousers that are long enough. Nobody appreciates the trouser-sock gap! So sewing my own is a great solution to this problem. Also....one pattern piece! What's not to love?!

I will be using this pattern, Simplicity 2116, which I currently have on order from my local haberdashery department in Fenwicks (going into a shop and buying a pattern was a completely new experience for me, and funnily enough something that I had never given much consideration before...no postage?! Fantastic!). They were out of stock of this particular pattern (who knew that Leicester was such a hub of pyjama fanatics?!) but it should be in by the end of the week...and luckily for me they currently have a sale on for Simplicity patterns (thanks to Marie for the tip!), I got it for the bargainous price of just £2!

I know I should be stash busting, especially after my Walthamstow splurge, but I just couldn't resist picking up these two fabrics from Leicester Market yesterday with pyjamas in mind...the animal print is just so cute, and is just screaming pyjamas at me! I can't wait to pick up my pattern next week and get going!

In other news, on Friday I left my job at the university where I have been working for almost 5 years, to take up a new "grown up" job at a research charity (I start tomorrow, argh! I am very excited but also apprehensive). Just take a look at the amazing card my colleagues got me...so many knitted characters! Someone knows me well.

I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. Who else is joining in with the pyjama party? I can't wait to see everyones all made up :)

K xx

Walthamstow Meet-Up

Yes I know...I'm a little late to the party! You have probably already read about last Saturday's Walthamstow Meet Up here and here and here, or maybe here or here....so I'll be brief. It was a fabulous day of swapping and chatting and shopping and eating cake. I had met very few sewing bloggers in real life before last week, so it was a joy to meet so many fantastic and lovely ladies. The whole day was meticulously and brilliantly organised by Claire, who even provided us with sweet treats to keep our sugar levels up after a hard days shopping (those brownies were to die for!).

My amazing swap acquisitions

The first item of business was the swap! I acquired a wonderous selection of fabrics which will help me in my resolution to sew with materials other than cotton! I have some silk-backed crepe which came from Claire, some gorgeous green jersey from Jane, a lovely length of navy patterned something-or-other from Camilla and a beautiful length of chiffon-type fabric with a cute cherry print from Melizza. Thank you so much ladies - I hope to do these fabrics proud!

After the swap. we headed out to have a hunt around the many fabric shops and stalls around Walthamstow market and fabric stalls. Oh. My. God. I have never been amongst such a large number of fabric stalls selling wonderful fabrics for as cheap as chips! Jersey for £2 a metre? Yes please! Cotton prints for £1 a metre? Don't mind if I do.

Chiffon and Jersey

I ended up with a selection of jerseys (planned for Renfrews), some chiffon-type remnets which I plan for blouses, and 5 metres of emerald taffeta-type fabric which may well become a Colette Truffle dress (I know 5m sounds excessive, but the stallholder did me a deal due to a minor imperfection so I got 5m for £4!).

Fabric for a Truffle Dress

I am so pleased with my purchases, as I have been waiting for a chance to try sewing with different fabrics and thanks to the expertise and advice from my fellow sewists I now feel more confident. Particular thanks go to Rachel and Marie for help with my emerald green acquisition! So all in all a fabulous day - I can't wait for the next one ladies!

To add to my excitement further, I received a lovely parcel in the post this week from Andrea over at Invisible Flower....my giveaway patterns that I won!

A fabulous selection of patterns!

Don't they look splendid? I am spoilt for choice of which to make first! So it has been a great week for new sewing acquisitions. Hopefully this will lead to a productive next few months...!

I hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend :) I spent much of it working on the knitted blanket my mum and I are making. I am pleased to report that we are finally at the stage of sewing it together...

Right I'm off to find the chocolate...!

K xx