Stockholm scarf - Finished!

I can't believe it's taken over a month for me to remember to get a photo of it! I've been wearing it pretty much every day since I finished it and I love it :) The pattern is a free one from Ravelry and can be found here. I used just over four and a half skeins of British Breeds Blue Faced Leicester DK. It's soft enough without needing to be washed which is great. It's stretched out a little as I've worn it and gotten more drapey. And I think it looks great with my coat! 

My Project page is here if you want more details :)

Ashley x

p.s. Dom took and edited the photo. I love what he did with it!

Chantilly - lining

Isn't lining fabric hard to photograph? I blame the flash and it being too dull to take the photos without it. I actually cut and sewed the lining all in one day, Monday. I just haven't had time to photograph it yet. And I've been busy with my dissertation since then, I've only had time to wash the fashion fabric. I could have fit in some sewing if it had already been cut, but cutting takes me an age because our carpet is cheap and scratchy so my knees get sore if I'm cutting for too long. And I always change into my pj's to cut out, so I don't wear through my tights! That's how awful the carpet is.

Anyway, I'm really liking the look of it so far! I love this pattern! And my darts are getting better :) Also, the lining is from Croft Mill and is much better quality than what I can get from the market. This makes it much easier to sew! 

Oh, and I've joined My Sewing Circle! I'd been meaning to for a while, but just hadn't got round to it. I need to add my past projects to it at some point. My profile is here :)

Ashley x

Chantilly - fitting #3

The wrinkles from before are much better. Still there, but much better. I think with the weight of a full gathered skirt, they won't be very noticeable. I'm happy with the back now. Especially considering what I started with! 

I was all excited to get started tonight, when I remembered I haven't washed the fashion fabric! This might not seem like much of a problem to most of you, I can just pop it in now and it'll be ready later right? Nope. As we're in student accommodation, we have to use the on site laundrette. We usually do our washing early in the morning as no one else does. Trying to find an unoccupied washer at this time of day is impossible! So it'll have to wait till morning. I can start on the lining tonight though, as it's polyester so doesn't need pre-washing :)

Also, I'm making a spinach and cheese flan tonight with cheesey pastry! Yum! :)

Ashley x

Crazy magic

I just cannot leave these things alone. I must've picked them up at least 20 times today just to look at them! :) (in case you don't recognise the labels, they are Crazy Zauberballs. Zauber means magic in German, hence the title of this post!). 

I hope you have all had a lovely Valentines day! I baked Dom a keylime pie using this recipe on Saturday as he couldn't wait until today (I used all digestive biscuits for the base and it worked fine). It came out looking just like Delia's and tasted amazing :) He had the last slice with his lunch today. I also picked up some chocolate and chilli fudge and some licorice root for him too as a surprise. The fudge has quite a kick to it! 

We're relaxing now with a cup of tea and an episode of 'Ashes to Ashes'. I think Gene Hunt is my most favourite fictional character ever. Seriously.

Did you do anything special for Valentines day?

Ashley x

Chantilly - fitting #2

I've cut the seam allowances away from the waist and armholes. Lucy was right, I need to pinch out a little from the arm hole. I've transferred this to the pattern piece. Now here's the back before:

And after:

Much much better! But still not perfect. Hmm. Any ideas on those diagonal wrinkles under my arms? I think part of the problem is the darts, as the tuck I took out made the darts point towards the seam line. I've fixed this on the pattern piece so the darts are now parallel to the side seam as they were before. I also think it might be because the neckline part of the back piece is now angled downwards. So I've added a little height back to the centre back neckline and smoothed the line out.

I'm going to muslin the back again with these changes, but before I do that does anyone have any idea what could be causing those wrinkles? The changes I made were just guess work. 

Ashley x

p.s. Yesterday was weigh in day. I lost 0.8lbs and a total of 2.5 inches. Also, the waist on the Chantilly muslin isn't as super snug :)

Update After doing some googling, it seems adding a little height to the centre back was the right thing to do. I came across several sources that said diagonal wrinkles from the underarm to centre back indicate there is not enough length between the neck and the waist. So. . . another muslin is order!

What zip? And a story about my nan

Zip? What zip? There's no zip here! Ok, ok, there is, but it's my very first invisible zip!! The Chantilly calls for an invisible zip and I thought it was about time I learnt. I LOVE them!! And the invisible zip foot is so clever. What makes my first invisible zip foot even better is that it's still invisible even though the zip is navy and the fabric is red :)

You might notice there is no Month review today. That's because the only project I finished was the Stockholm scarf and I haven't taken a photo of it yet. The big thing this month was the return of the sewing mojo!

Moving on. . . It was the monthly Stitch 'n' Bitch at Spins and Needles on Monday night and Sarah was having a sale! So I took some spending money. . .

I have vague plans for these, but they'll probably change as I change my mind. 

Today is also 12 years since we lost my Nan. I was 8 years old and I'd never lost anybody before. It hurts like nothing else. She taught me to sew, you know. She'd let me turn the handle on her hand crank Singer. She made her own dresses, and would make me a matching dress from the scraps. She made me dressing up costumes too. 

I have the last piece of sewing she ever did. The weekend before she died, we went to see her just like we always did. I had a magazine with me, you got a teddy bear with it with the fabric all marked and ready to make it an outfit. I couldn't work it out myself, so nan hand sewed it for me. I can see her now, sewing a navy and white stripy nightgown for this teddy bear with light brown thread. I love that nightgown. It's tucked away safe at my mums. Looking at it now, I can see how ill she was. The stitches are loose and slightly uneven. She must have felt so ill, but she did it for me anyway. 

I stopped collecting the magazine soon after she died. I had a couple more outfits to make, but it wasn't until I was 11 or 12 that I finally felt like sewing them up. 

I like to think she'd be proud of my sewing and knitting. I think she'd like that my choice of hobby is influenced so much by her. I miss her lots.

Thanks for reading, I needed to share that.

Ashley x