Professional yet pretty...

Hello again! 

I've slowed down on the posts as I've been focusing on my upcoming show at Grand Designs Live in Birmingham!

I'm going as part of Greenform Design Architects, so I need to look professional, but that doesn't necessarily mean boring. 

I painted my nails in a pale grey, then dotted them in white with my smallest dotting tool. I think the spotty nail designs are my favourite, I love a good polka dot :) 

How cute are those tiny dots!!

Funnily enough, the post came whilst I was painting my nails, and he delivered my other nail - type purchase! 

These are my new nail striper brushes I bought from Amazon for a matter of pence from China. Some people worry about the quality of these cheap items, but I've bought literally hundreds of items from China. Varying from watches to nail stuff, from kitchen bits to sewing equipment. I've never had a problem! 

What's your best bargains?

Look what I've got!

To break up the monotony of my latest projects, here's what I received in the post this morning! 

I will be thoroughly reading it when I go away this weekend, so I'm trying to resist it now! 

I'm getting quite a good collection of sewing books now, any recommendations? 

First ever pair of trousers! And second...

Hello! 

Continuing with the 9 projects I showed you last week, here are my first (and second) ever pairs of trousers! 

Now these trousers started their lives as a duvet cover that I bought for £1!!! When I got home and fully unfolded it, I discovered that the other side was a different pattern, and I liked it more than the initial pattern!

I used this pattern...

 When I bought it, it was half price, so I only paid £2.50, inc postage! Such a bargain project so far :)

It was an easy see, but had a few new techniques for me. It involved piping, an invisible zipper, and dealing with a crotch rise. 

Luckily the duvet had piping on it! So it was ready made and in a colour that complimented the pattern. 

My first ever invisible zipper!! 

I loved these trousers so much, and the pattern was so lovely - Simple yet enjoyable, so I decided to make another pair!! 

 Second ever zipper! I wasn't too bothered about pattern matching for these, I was limited to how much fabric (duvet) I had so I didn't want to waste any. 

I also made some pockets that I based on a pair of pyjama bottoms I have. 

I now love them both so much! I have worn them to death this summer, hence why I've not managed to do a post yet! 

Which pair do you prefer? 

Self drafted dress...

Hello again guys! This post is about my self drafted dress.

So the skirt part was much the same as my other posts. Tube it, shirr it, attach it. You get the picture. 

Now the bodice was the difficult bit. I had an idea of how I wanted it to look, so I started off with just draping the fabric on myself. I'll spare you the pics haha! 

I then made a muslin of the bodice with some old cotton fabric I had (I'll be honest, it was a cheapo sheet from the charity shop!) 

I actually saved myself some effort with this. I didn't want the hassle of interfacing, or bias binding. So I cut two bits for the bodice, sewed then wrong sides together, turned it out and have it a good pressing. 

 

You can kind of see here that's it's the same both inside and out :) 

I pinched the middle and put a few stitches in. 

I then sewed the bodice onto the skirt portion, and added some straps. 

You can see here that the gathers have been stitched into the bodice. Personally, I think it could have been neater. It ended up being a bit bulky on the inside. I imagine this would be easier if I had an over locker! (Or room for one haha!)

I was very pleased with this dress. Much like the last few projects, I wanted something quick to take on holiday. This was a bit more time consuming than the others, but it only took an evening and a couple of hours the next day - I needed my trusty sidekick Mr to check my sizing alterations as obviously I don't have eyes in the back of my head! To be fair, I've trained him well :D 

Speak soon!

Refashioned crop top...

Next up is a refashioned cropped top into a dress. 

I loved this top, but unfortunately I am rather blessed in the bra department, so it kind of hung off of me and made me look larger than I am. I like a good fitter top half! 

I had some spare black fabric that I gathered with elastic. I then used a zig zag stitch to sew it onto the top. 

The zig zag stitch allows for a certain amount of elasticity to the waist of the dress. 

This was still a fairly simple refashion for me. As I said in my last post, I do love a quick project :) 

Until next time :) 

The shirred part...

Hello again. The first lot of handmades are 3 skirts and 1 dress. Why have I lumped 4 projects together in one post I hear you ask? Because they are all basically the same! 

Starting from the left...

I quickly whipped up this dress before we went on holiday this summer. It was never meant to be 'wearable' as such, it is a beach/pool dress. 

I simply cut a rectangle, made a tube, shirred a couple of rows at the top, and made a belt. I also shirred the straps, as I wanted to be comfortable. 

Next up, my vertical striped skirt.

This one was an old cotton dressing gown I bought in a charity shop for £1! I sliced off under the arms, and straightened everything out (hence the many seams). Then literally the same as above. Tube, shirrrrrrr away, wear. 

The last two were old dresses that I cut up into a flat piece of fabric. 

Can you guess how I made these? 

Yes. Exactly the same. 

Now whilst I love a good 'proper' project, I also love the simplicity and speed of a simple garment. I wanted to have lots of handmade garments for my holiday, but I didn't have much time. These were the perfect solution. 

The next post will show a different project!

What I've been up to...

So, I've been a bit quiet on the sewing front lately. To be honest with you, I've been so in the zone, I've not even thought about blogging them! I just think of the next project!! 

Here's a sneak peek of what will feature in the next few posts. 

NINE handmade items!! 

I have been a busy bee! I won't do 9 separate posts for these, as some of them are either very similar, or just simple. 

I look forward to telling you about them!!