More 40s style; Simplicity 3688 and Vogue 8772

Firstly thanks so much if you have recently started reading my little meanderings, its really nice to know I'm not alone!  I have been trying to make some sensible separates so that I have something to wear (i.e. no more cocktail dresses for a while!).  so here is Simplicity 3688 (the trousers) and Vogue 8772 (the blouse). 

This is my second pair of these trousers and I'm pretty pleased with the fit.  I now realise that as my waist is high that means that I need to lengthen trousers (and it explains why ready to wear trousers don't really fit).  I like my trousers wide but fitted round the waist and these fit the bill.  The fabric is 100% wool from Azkaban and costing about £5, a bargain.  The blouse was left over silk charmeuse from my Anna dress and feels beautiful (needs tucking in a bit here!).  It is the first time I have made a collar stand:

... and it worked OK.  This was supposed to be a pussy bow blouse but there wasn't quite enough material.

These go well with my Dior jacket (yes I'm getting a handmade wardrobe).

 

Sorry about the gloomy light, in fact it started raining!  The kitten wondered what we were doing.

We have had one lovely day.  All the animals were lining up ready for a walk (yes that means the cats too - odd household ours!)

I really enjoyed the sunshine and the snowdrops

I've also enjoyed some Olympcs and glad to see that knitting is officially cool.  This is the finish snowboarding coach, and the whole team has been knitting this scarf!

 

I'm enjoying 4 days off at the moment and working on my next big project which is a Chanel style jacket from this fabric! 

 

 

I can't decide whether to go the whole hog and have trim, what do you think?  I haven't found a good supplier of suitable trims either!  Well enough rambling it's finally time for the new series of the Great British Sewing Bee.



Agatha cardigan and Knitting for Victory

I've become a bit obsessed by Andi Satterlund's knitting patterns.  This is my second knit from here.  The first, Hetty, is blogged here.  I like the patterns because they are fitted and quick to knit.  They are knitted in one piece, so no seaming!  You start at the shoulder, knit down the back to the end of the armholes, then pick up from the shoulder knit down to the front end of the armsholes then join it together and knit the bottom in one piece. 

 

Then you pick up the armholes and use short rows to knit the sleeves in a round.  Short rows are a bit tricky and its a good job this is a black cardie because mine aren't too neat.  The patterns are a bit complicated to follow and maybe not the best for beginners, but if you like a vintage vibe they are fantastic.  The other tricky bit is blocking a full cardigan and I haven't managed a very good job here.

The wool is worsted weight so this knitted up in a couple of weeks and it only took 4 skeins, so good value at about £22.00.  I knitted a size small, because I knit quite loosely, and wanted some negative ease.   I thought a black cardigan would be really useful and I think it will be in spring.  (Worn here with my plaid Hawthorn dress - excuse the collar standing up!)

 

Otherwise I have nearly finished a blouse, a pair of trousers, started a Chanel style jacket and made a little progress on the crotchet scarf, ready for next winter perhaps!

I also knitted a beret for the Knit for Victory knit along.  I enjoyed knitting, just enough fair-isle to be enjoyable.  I knitted it from left over bits of Debbie Bliss baby cashmero, so no cost.  Here it is before blocking, a bit floppy.

You block it around a 10" plate (I could only find a 10 1/2" one!) ....a bit odd and the cereal bowl is to hold it down.

... but it worked.  I love the colours, can you see the V in the pattern.

 

Dan thought Tess might like her own beret.

She didn't!!  I'm really enjoying my knitting and sewing at the moment, I just wish I had more time to do it!  Oh, well back to work tomorrow and I'm guessing more rain.  Roll on spring.

The ruby dress; Simplicity 2444

As I mentioned last week I went to a Burn's night and thought a new dress might be in order, so thus the Burn's ruby dress.

The pattern was free with a sewing magazine and the fabric was in my stash (I think it cost about £13) so a really cheap dress.  I love the colour of the fabric which is a deep red, with a black sheen, you can probably best see it below, where I'm also showing off my pretty invisible zip!



I love the fabric, and the skirt especially with a fluffy petticoat, but there are some problems.  The main one is it is a tad tight (which did encourage sitting up straight and eating very little - not necessarily a bad thing).  I made a muslin which fitted well, but I think the problem was that the bodice was too long and I shorted it by reducing the shoulders, which I now realise pulls up the waist and thus makes it smaller.  A good learning experience that I need to shorten the bodice at the correct line in future (and I am discovering that I have a slightly short bodice).

I lined the bodice and sleeves with some rose satin which feels lovely.  I don't think I would line the sleeves again as it was pretty fiddly and probably not necessary.

The darts look a bit off here!  I made the hem look pretty by using some stretch lace.

The other bit of news is yet another addition to the family ... .

yes another kitten, this time Gemma's birthday present.  This cutie is a rag doll cat which is a house cat who likes being handled.  She has settled in really well and even had a bath.

Her name is Bronte and that makes 2 dogs and 3 cats in the house, although this is temporary as she will obviously move out with Dan and Gemma when they go.

Not much else this week but lots of rain which has been a good excuse for lots of knitting and  and watching Poirot and the Bletchly Circle.    We have also really enjoyed a fantastic dramatized animal series called Hidden Kingdom - if you haven't seen it give it a watch on BBC I player because it is amazing!  I'll leave you with a few of their fantastic images.

The plum pudding skirt; a dior inspired suit

I can't believe I haven't blogged for a month for all sorts of reasons, but back now and here is a brief round-up. I completed a skirt to match my Dior jacket,  worn here with my new Faux fur collar from Joules, snuggly!

The fabric is boiled wool, and believe it or not the most expensive fabric I have used so far.  It also stretched like mad even though I used stay stitching.  The pattern is the 6 panel skirt from Gertie's New Book of Better Sewing blogged about here, and pictured below.

Check out my bling too a 1950s Christmas broach which I bought from America on Etsy.

 

The skirt is lovely to wear and very warm, especially as I fully lined it, just the thing for winter weather.  I love this skirt pattern it's so flattering and will definitely make more.  So far this is my favourite outfit  I have made and I have already worn it quite a bit to work!  Very brave.

I've been busy completing a cardigan, a hat, another cocktail dress and almost completed a jumper, so pretty busy and future posts will cover these.

I had a lovely two week holiday just at home.   It started with the staff Christmas party, yes that is me being wrapped as a parcel in the middle (wearing my handmade Vogue cocktail dress - they had great difficulty trying to wrap my puffy petticoat).

We all enjoyed our Christmas: the dogs sported bandanas for the day (can you tell there were treats just above).

There has also been some ridiculous dressing up of dogs (can I point out this is not something we usually do!).

The cats loved the wrapping paper ..

Dan made all the Christmas lunch (Quorn in case you are wondering as we are all vegetarians) including yummy    squash tartlets.

The weather was actually good for a while so we had a lovely walk

The sun didn't last though and 10 minutes after this we were absolutely lashed by hail.


I turned 58 on December 29th, with lovely wrapped parcels ....

... a trip to Lancaster Antique Centre and tea and cakes of course

Traditionally we go to the cinema on my birthday evening, but a dearth of good films meant we stayed in and watched Star Trek into Darkness which I had seen but thoroughly enjoyed.

Obviously I am now well back into work and busy; this week I have been on radio Cumbria talking about New Year's resolutions (no I haven't made any), been to a Burns' night, unfortunately vegetarian haggis is not my kind of thing but the Crannach was yummy.

After all this I'm ready for a quiet weekend with plans for some blouse sewing and jumper knitting.  So till the next time (and not a month away) enjoy your weekend and week.

Dior New Look jacket a la Gertie

You might be forgiven for thinking that I've gone into hibernation!  I think being away for work for almost two weeks in the last four have just left me behind and out of sync!  Still back now and have finally finished my jacket, and I'm pretty pleased.  The light is so bad before and after work that I'm only going to photograph it on the dummy until next weekend.  So with no more delay  ...

The pattern is from

and I love it.  As you can see the waist is really fitted and I love this style.  I didn't follow all the tailoring instructions such as pad stitching and horsehair interfacing.  But I did make boundbutton holes

I also made my own shoulder pads because I wanted them to give just a bit of shape, while shop ones are far too big.  I cut four half circles of quilting wadding which I had left over.

Stitched these together, whilst shaping them.

Then cut a circle of fabric which I folder over and stitched.

et voila ... shoulder pads.

I'm very pleased with the plaid matching.  I cut everything out singly so that I could match it as well as possible (remembering to flip the pattern over).

You may remember when I bought a kit to make a crochet scarf and had all this lovely wool,

which turned out to be incredibly fine ( 3mm crochet hook) and took me ages.  Well I have picked it up again, still no faster and it has taken me a week to get this far (which is about 3"x5").  4 square down and only 96 more to go!  So don't hold your breath for this reveal.

A rather belated winner for my give away.  The patterns did not prove to be attractive but Gilly has won the book (Gilly shall we meet up over Christmas so I can deliver?).

Finally just a recommendation for Gravity which we saw at the cinema this week, unfortunately I get too queasy for 3D but still enjoyed the 2D.  Spectacular effects!  Less impressed I'm afraid with the Great British Sewing Bee Christmas special, I missed the dressmaking and it seemed odd seeing Patrick making table runners and reindeer jumpers!  Have a great week.