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.

Plaid Hawthorn and a give-away

So I finished my fourth dress this week the Collette Hawthorn dress. 
(By the way you can get the idea of my new hairstyle here, its still a bit bushy because it needs a trim, but you get the idea ... most of the time I love it!).

I wanted to make a warmer dress for the winter season and one I could wear at work with a jacket.  The pattern is a shirtwaister with a full skirt.

My attempts at a twirl were anything but successful and I felt sick for 30 minutes ... so much for action shots!

The fabric is a thickish, slightly brushed plaid which I got from Akaban at Preston, good value at £5 a metre.  Even matching the plaid it only took 3 1/2 metres.  I cut a size 8 and the only change I needed to make was to cut the longest length.

There were lots of challenges for me here.  Getting the collar to fit and lie flat (and you end up with 6 layers of material in part at the shoulder) and the very fiddly cuff placket were the worst bits, and I didn't enjoy those bits at all (in fact I had decided I wouldn't ever make another - but I do like the fit, the skirt and the sleeves went in well so may change my mind).  There were 15 button holes to make and I had to unpick 4, 3 weren't my fault!

The other challenge is using plaid material.  I could the pieces out singly so I could try and match up the lines.  I was pretty pleased overall with the matching.  The front

 
and the back were as close as I could get, though I had to unpick a few seams and try again!  In fact I got a bit obsessed.

What worked for me was measuring the allowance from the edge of the fabric and putting the pinhead through both  pieces of material to match them exactly and pinning towards the material edge.  The I machined right up to the pin, removed it and carried on stitching, this worked most of the time.

The only other advice I can think of is that you definitely have to let the dress hang before hemming, it stretched a lot and was 2 inches longer at some points.  Also because a lot of the hem is cut on the bias be very careful about stretching it and press rather than iron.  Overall I am pleased with the dress and probably would make another, I love the neckline shape, the fit and the skirt, I would use a lighter material next time and perhaps avoid the long sleeves because of the cuff, maybe a nice spring version.


We visited the Veolia Wildlife photographer of the year at Kendal Museum.   We've been visiting this annual exhibition since 2001 at various venues and we love it.  The photos are wonderful including the junior winners.  There were so many great photos to show you but I'll choose just 2 because of their wonderful contrast .... sleepy moment in the warm pools of Japan



.... and a fantastic fox!

 

 

If you can't get to see it but would like to see more visit here.

 

I spent 3 days in Birmingham at a conference at the canal area which is really pretty.

 

 

 

and the highspot was a great speech by Sir Chris Hoyle which was a real treat

 

 

I mentioned that I was given a lot of 1980s sewing patterns which I am happy to share if anyone would like them (not guaranteeing they are complete and some packets are a bit tatty).  Most are sized 36" bust. 

 

Pack a)

 

 
Pack b)

 
pack c) a set of new patterns

 
d) if you don't make clothes there's a rather cute crafting book.

 

So if you would like any of the above just leave a comment with the prize you would like before December 7th. 

 

 

Speaking of really great giveaways (not that mine is!!!!), if you are into vintage you must visit Joanna's blog here because she is giving away the most fantastic goodies and I love her blog too.

 

 

Have a happy week!