Vogue 1395 and Yarndale

Most of the time I feel pretty pleased with my finished projects, but of course there are times when things aren't so successful and Vogue 1395 is one of these.  Lauren of  Lladybird had made a lovely version which I liked and it looked an interesting pattern with some new things for me to learn including roll hems.  The Vogue version looked cute too.



I think the main mistake was my fabric choice, which when I bought it I thought it would look a little like silk, but it ended up having little drape and I think this has made the fit of the dress rather lumpy and I certainly feel dumpy in it.   This is one dress that I actually prefer on the mannequin.   I don't even like how the pattern of the fabric  looks on the dress.

Yes, as you can see very different from the version above.  Despite being rather loose, it's still managing to look tight across the chest!

There is a rather strange additional piece at the back which wraps around.  The pattern is labelled as easy, but actually I thought it was rather fiddly.  I did rolled hems around the sleeves and the wrap pieces though, which look good and were so easy to do on the overlocker.

So I have worn it twice, but I think it will be going to Oxfam now.  On a more positive note I went to Yarndale in Skipton on Saturday and it was pretty impressive.  If you don't know what Yarndale is, it is a festival of wool organised by Lucy of Attic 24 (if you haven't visited her blog you should, wonderful advice on crotchet)!  It was huge, hundreds of stalls and held in Skipton Auction Mart.  The display of crotchet was gorgeous, sent from crotcheters from all over the world.

There were lots of lovely alpacas and angora rabbits.

 

I have been completely won over by the DROPS range of wool bought from Nest.   Here is my haul

 

 

Yes, the duck egg/teal obsession is still going strong.  I love these colours, the wool feels gorgeous and better still, this entire haul cost £60 which is the price of one jumper in Debbie Bliss (and 2/3 of a Rowan!).  There is enough here for one jacket, one cardigan, one jumper and a lace tee-shirt, a bargain.  I also bought some lovely patterns by Jennie Atkinson.  If you like Vintage knitting you should check her out.   Her Ravelry page is here  I bought her gorgeous knitting book A Handknit Romance and a few of the patterns are going on my list.  So a few pounds lighter, I thoroughly enjoyed Yarndale, though the queue for the café was enormous, very disappointing!  Well off to catch up on Downton.

New Look 6095; a bit of the sixties

So in my last post I mentioned how much I loved the linen look fabric in the dress I made, I loved it so much that I bought some more. 

When I was at the Miverva meet-up I saw this colour version of the fabric, and I love it.  It is great to wear, wash and sew and the good news is they still have it in and in another colour-way.  I although I  now have 2 dresses already I am still tempted to buy more.  I knew I wanted to colour-block it with some duck-egg blue linen which I found on ebay.  New Look       had a separate band at the bottom and I just needed to draft my own separate yoke.

I had to drop the back darts about 1" to work around a yoke.  The pattern was an easy make, it was only trying to get the yoke and bottom band really even which took a fair bit of fiddling.  I was pleased with how the invisible zip went in even over the colour block seams

I'm also pretty pleased with the top-stitching.

 I also lined the dress in poly-cotton which is very comfortable and which gave the linen a bit more substance and made the zip nice and tidy inside.

 The only thing I don't really like is that the mini-cap sleeves mean that the inside of the sleeve is rather visible from the outside, and you can see the overlocking if you look closely.

This is a shift dress though with some shaping at the waist, which  is a very different style of dress to the waist-cinching ones I usually like making.   I'm channelling  a bit of a sixties vibe here (a bit of disco maybe!)

I didn't know if I would like it, but I really do, and I've probably had more complements over this dress than any others I've made.  I just love the colour combination and I've worn it 10 times already!  Its quite smart for work with a jacket, or more casual with a cardie and flat shoes. 

I would recommend this pattern.  I cut a size 14, and the only changes made were to take an inch from the waist length (my usual adjustment) and to length by about 4". 

My Great British Bake Off challenge continues: for biscuit week I made Florentines (judges comments would probably have been "rather big and irregular, but good flavour"

....for bread week cinnamon and raisin bread "underproved but good flavour"

and for pie week plum and custard flan "crème pat. has held well, nice flavours, the pastry is overworked ..... but NO SOGGY BOTTOM"

I've missed dessert week as I can't really take the results round to friends and I'm not particularly fancying any of the European cake ideas.   I've been enjoying a bit of baking, but I certainly wouldn't have been a star baker, though the product has been enjoyed at work.  I just love Nancy referring to the "male judge"!

According to the forecast the temperature has dropped now, and so I enjoyed possibly the last of the really warm summer walks on Friday after work.  This is my favourite walk just a few minutes from where I live, how lucky am I?  Views of the fells,  the sea and Sizergh castle, it doesn't get much better.

 

 

happy dogs ....

 



 and the cows walking slowly to be milked with their calves trotting after their mums

By the way, my lack of posting has been somewhat due to losing my photographer now Dan is no longer here.  These photos are my attempts at self-timing so not great, but hopefully practice will make perfect (or better at least) so posting will become more regular.

Jessie has also been enjoying the sun, but in the house, making herself comfy against my favourite cross stich cushion which I made ages ago.

 

 

I've had a lovely weekend and looking forward to next weekend and Yarndale.  If any one is going, there is going to be a bloggers' meet-up at 1.00 on Saturday.  Let me know if you are going.

A dotty Moneta and birthday theatre

I'll start with a bit of sewing news.  This is my dotty Collette Monetta. 

I made this as a wearable muslin before cutting my next one from some favourite fabric.  From the photos you probably think the dress looks fine, but the fabric is really cheap knit which I bought from ebay ages ago before I realised that really cheap fabric usually looks like it!   The white shows through when the fabric is stretched.

I really like the fit of the dress.  I cut a medium and it fits well.  I found the waist really fiddly, where you are supposed to stretch clear elastic to gather the waist, and I haven't got it very even.  In my next version I might trim a little off the width so it is a little less gathered.

I made the version with the collar, but as you can see it doesn't lie very flat, and so I won't make this version next time.  I think the collar does give the dress a more vintage vibe though.

I'm wearing the dress at Morecambe Vintage by the Sea where Dan and I had a lovely time.  There were some fantastic outfits.

Gorgeous vintage cars.

 

 

... and I picked up a fantastic bargain with a lovely 1912 portrait of a lady and dog to match my recent purchase from Glasgow Vintage Fair.  I love both these portraits.

 

 

 

 

 August 29th was Dan's 23rd birthday and we had a meal at Wagamama,

followed by a great evening at the Lowry Theatre

 

We saw WarHorse and the staging was fantastic.  The horses are amazing and actually get ridden!  Although some of the acting seemed a little over the top, it is still well worth seeing. 

 



 

So it's been a busy couple of weeks, and lots of fun!  Hope you have had some fun times too.