Chantilly

Here it is, finally finished! It's been so long since I fitted it, that I can't remember what size I cut. I do remember cutting a smaller size for the neck pieces, and grading the bodice out so that I didn't have to do an FBA. It worked well and I'm really pleased with the fit.

I always feel awkward when Dom tells me to pose, so I pulled a silly pose instead! His directions included things like 'stand up straighter' 'put your shoulders back' and 'stick your bum out'!

I ended up shortening the skirt by about 4 inches or so. The longer length made me look short and dumpy! I really like the shorter length, it lets the skirt flare out really nicely. The shape of the skirt is one of my favourite things about this dress.

The back isn't perfect, fit-wise. But it's comfortable and doesn't look too bad. When I fitted it, I fitted it to be too tight with the intention that I would slim into it. I'm really pleased to say that it's now got a nice amount of ease! I'm getting close to a healthy weight (according to BMI), so this dress fitting nicely is like icing on the cake :)

This dress is my favourite thing that I've made so far :) The instructions for this pattern are perfect, and I took my time with it so I'm really pleased with the construction. 

Onto the next project! :)

Ebony's project bag

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post these photos! Ebony's birthday was over 2 months ago! I finished the bag just in time in the end. I thought I'd made good time, until I realised I'd sewn the handles on side-ways! I hadn't read the instructions properly, and just 'assumed' I knew what I was doing. HA! I read all instructions very carefully after that.

And it's completely reversible! I have to admit, in the end I prefer the plain side. But mum tells me that Ebony prefers the patchwork side, so that shows how much I know ;) 

I passed on my copy of Knitty Gritty and my first ever pair of knitting needles too. I had intended to post it with some yarn, but the local craft shop was closed on the day I wanted to post it! I ended up ordering some from Deramores, as I've ordered from them before and trusted that it would be delivered on time for her birthday. I chose some bright pink bamboo/acrylic yarn, and some pale pink/lilac yarn with sparkles in it. Perfect for an 8 year old princess-loving girl :)

She loved it all, but it seems she's still struggling with casting off. So I've promised that the next time I see her, I'll make time to show her :)

The pattern is from The Bag Making Bible, and I thoroughly enjoyed making it. The instructions were very good, so make sure you read them! Don't do what I did and 'assume'! I thought the bag was a nice size for a lots of different uses too.

I've only got the hem to do on my Chantilly dress, I just need to stop procrastinating and do it! 

Ebony's Project bag - progress

Main piece

Main piece, inside

Lining, reads 'Made with love'

I'm liking it so far, though I'm not sure about the 'made with love' stitching. I love my sewing machine, but I think it should leave the alphabet embroidery to the fancier machines! I almost did it in red thread, but I'm glad I stuck with white. I still have the bias binding to make, which I fear is going to take me forever! I have found some cute buttons though in my button stash :)

The pattern and instructions are great, I love that the pattern pieces are full size. I don't mind tracing, and there are only two pattern pieces!

Ashley x

Bumpy Lace

I'm not sure where the three weeks since I last posted have gone. I managed to get three summer dresses finished before the sun disappeared. The first one is a house dress only, a test run I suppose. I love the second and third ones. I haven't gotten round to taking photo's yet, and I was too hot when I actually wore them out to want to have my photo taken. 

So instead, I have a photo of a shawl that I've been working on. This is how it looks pre-blocking:

As you can see, it's very bumpy and lumpy. I've blocked it hard, which has made it flat and smooth :) To make sure I take photo's of my summer dresses soon, I'm going to wear one to take photo's of the blocked shawl.

Anyway, I just thought I'd pop in and say hi :) Oh, and we have a white chocolate and raspberry loaf in the oven so hopefully I'll have some photo's of that to share too. It's just starting to brown and smells amazing!!

Ashley x

After a short break. . .

I had my last ever uni exam yesterday! How weird is that?! So revision was the culprit for the silence on the blog. I think the exam went ok though, so hopefully it will be worth it :)

During my silence, I've worked on my Chantilly dress a little and have finally nearly finished it! I need to finish sewing the yoke lining down, insert the invisible zip and finish that seam, and sew the hem. So close! Also in sewing news, my pre-order of the gorgeous Cambie dress pattern from Sewaholic arrived! I think this will be my next sewing project. Though I've been thinking about sewing up some quick and simple maxi dresses, as I'm seriously lacking summer clothes. 

In knitting news, I've made great progress on my Lauriel cardigan and it fits wonderfully! I've now almost finished the first sleeve, but here's a photo of the body:

Also, if you're wondering why there is no hair on my shoulders, I got it cut! It's been a couple of months now, and I still like it ;) There'll be photo's when I finish Chantilly :)

I've also taken an interest in my nails, and the wonderful world of nail art! I came across a thread on Ravelry where they were showing off their manicures. I discovered dotting tools, and nail stamping and fell in love :) I also discovered quick dry top coats. They work like magic and I haven't smudged my nails since using it! Here's my first attempt at nail stamping :

The shininess of the top coat and the gold I used to stamp with made this quite a challenge for Dom to photograph ;) Click the photo for a closer look. I need to get better at being neat and cleaning up, but I'm still pretty impressed :) If you're interested, here's what I used and how many coats:

Base coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty

Colour: Rimmel Lasting Finish, in double decker red. Two coats.

Topcoat: Sally Hansen Instra-dri anti-chip top coat. The top coat sped up the drying time and made it solid, so the stamping didn't smudge the colour.

Stamping: Stargazer Chrome nail polish, in gold. The nail plate is Konad M73.

Topcoat: same as before, but I did three coats to make it extra strong.

As a first attempt, I think it went pretty well :) It's very pretty and very subtle. Stamping is very fun to do, and I'm slowly building up a decent nail polish collection. I also bought a Bundle Monster 25 piece set of nail plates which is a great starting point, as well as a few Konad plates that caught my eye. So lots to choose from :)

Have you ever tried nail stamping? I've never heard of it before now, so thought I'd share in case you haven't either :)

Ashley x

Gathering

I've been slowly putting the shell of my Chantilly together. For the bodice gathers, I decided to try using three lines of basting. There was a post a while back on the Coletterie that showed the difference between two lines and three lines of basting and I wanted to see for myself :) For the lining, I only used two lines of stitching, and you can see the difference. Here's a very cropped zoomed in photo:

The gathers are much bigger and so not as even. So three lines of stitching certainly looks better, but it does take longer. The extra line of stitching takes more time, the actual gathering took longer as you're wrestling with three threads, and of course you have to unpick at least one line of stitching as it shows on the right side. I think the results are worth it though! :)

In knitting news, I may have acquired more yarn ;) One I bought, and one I was given as a thank you because Sarah from Spins and Needles asked me if I'd like to knit a shop sample!! It was very flattering to be asked :) She has just taken delivery of some Malabrigo Sock, so wanted a sample to show off in the shop. Sarah chose Damson by Ysolda Teague as she also stocks Whimsical Little Knits 2 that the pattern is in. I finished it last night and it's currently soaking ready to be blocked :) And as a thank you I got to choose a hank of the Malabrigo Sock for my very own! It's lovely yarn, so soft and the colours are beautiful. 

And another Zauberball. . . I think a yarn diet is in order! Though not a very strict one. I'm going to try and only buy yarn when I go to the monthly knit night. And I'll try and keep it to one projects worth.
Hmm, we'll see how long that lasts ;)
Ashley x

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

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

Chantilly - fitting

Look!! Actual sewing has taken place! Well, kind of, it is only a muslin/toile but still! Please excuse the tummy ;) It's quite snug, but that's what I aimed for what with the weight loss/gym thing. (As a side note, my first weigh in was last Wednesday, and I lost a pound and a total of 5 inches!). 

On to the fitting! I came up with a cunning plan for the fitting. As the yoke is completely separate, I cut the size 6 so it would fit my shoulders. Then I cut a 6 for the armholes and graded out to a 12 (yep, 3 whole sizes bigger and it's still snug! Ick!). It worked pretty well!

The front fits really well I think. I wasn't sure if it was a little tight across the chest but Dom says he thinks it's ok. Opinions please? Bearing in mind that when I lose weight, it comes off my boobs a little too. As I said, it's snug across the waist but I'm ok with that for now. 

The back needs a tuck taken out horizontally. Dom pinned it out for me and I need to tuck out about an inch. Apart from that I think it's ok. Once I've taken the tuck out of the back bodice piece, I'm happy to start on the real thing :) (Unless you think I should add a little width across the bust?)

This is such a pretty pattern! I absolutely love it, and I think I'll be making more for summer dresses :)

Ashley x

Pick your battles

That collar is not going to lay flat no matter what I do. And it's whiter than the background of the strawberries. And the binding peaks out. So instead of fretting about it, I'm going to unpick it and simply bind the neckline with bias binding as per the instructions for the Pendrell blouse. Maybe I'll add a little bow at the neckline like on the Colette Pastille. I should have known it was not meant to be when a black mark mysteriously appeared right on the front of the collar.

So I'm going to spend the evening with my stitch ripper and perhaps some knitting and a mug of hot chocolate. And I'm not going to be grumpy about it, because I am picking my battles! And maybe tomorrow after I've handed those essays in, I'll have another go at the neckline. 

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend :)

Ashley x

November - Finished Projects

It's December already?! We opened our advent calenders this morning!! (Thanks mum :) And yes, we are 20 and 21 years old and we still have advent calenders) I also finished 4 Christmas presents this month! You can see them here, here and here.

I also made progress on my Pendrell dress :) I've started getting the collar together. Then I hit a slight technical hitch, the collar somehow doesn't reach centre back (I did it two pieces). I'm not sure where my calculations were off, but after thinking about it I'm just going to go ahead with it anyway. I don't have enough fabric to cut another, and it's not that big a gap. Plus I have long hair so it won't be that visible ;)

Also, today is the start of the Lincoln Christmas Market!! :D I've been looking forward to it all year, especially as last year it was cancelled due to the snow. And we're putting the Christmas tree up today!

Happy Thursday!

Ashley x

Pendrell Dress - part 5

Ta daa!! I fixed the fitting issues that I was grumping about, and the fit is much better! I'll probably do a sway back adjustment to the tissue for next time, but it's not major thankfully. Definitely needs a slip underneath with my thick woolly tights though. I finished the seams, and I found a new stitch on my machine for finishing the seams that I prefer to the old one I was using. Yay! And as you can see, I've added cute little capped sleeves! I love capped sleeves, I nabbed these ones from another pattern I have. They really change the whole dress, I was worrying it looked a bit frumpy but the sleeves really help. 

Next up is a white peter pan collar. I'm hoping this will really banish the 'frumpy' :)

Ashley x

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! And to those who don't, I'm sure we can all think of something to be thankful for :) 

New boots!

I got some new boots this week! As you can see, they're Doctor Martins. I've needed a warm pair of boots since it got colder, but the rain was the worst. Now my feet are warm and dry! :D Last winter, when we had all that snow (I haven't seen that much snow since I was about 5!) I made do with a pair of socks, plastic bags over my feet, another pair of socks, and then a pair of converse shoes. Yeah, not the warmest or the driest. I love them already! I had a little bit of rubbing on the backs of my heels, but not enough to cause a blister. After wearing them twice, the rubbing is now gone. Hurray! Also, they're gonna last a long time! Dom has had a pair for 7 years or so, and they're only just starting to fall apart. 

I paid £63 (student discount!) for a pair of warm waterproof boots that are definitely going to last the winter, and probably many more. I paid £28 for a pair of brogues from Dorothy Perkins that lasted about 6 weeks. And I didn't even wear them everyday! After 6 weeks, a hole had worn through on the bottom. At least I don't have to worry about that happening with these boots. Also, the soles are almost bouncy! So comfy :)

Anyway enough about my boots. I took my Pendrell dress out of the wardrobe and spent an hour or so removing the zip. It wouldn't have taken so long, but I had stupidly finished the seams before trying it on. Here she is after I had finally freed the zip:

The poor thing. I'm still grumpy at her, but I'm considering working on her tomorrow morning. It depends how long it takes me to write up an essay plan. I hate writing essay plans.

In knitting news, I've finished another Christmas present! And half finished another! The finished present needs blocking though, but I should hopefully have a post up over at the Crafty Christmas Club sometime this week :)

In other news, I pre-ordered the Colette Sewing Handbook from Amazon.co.uk a few weeks ago. Yesterday morning, I got an email to say my order has been cancelled as they are no longer supplying it. But then today, it back up for pre-order!! I am more than a little angry. I have already ordered it from the Book Depository, so hopefully my order won't get cancelled this time. Grrr!!

I hope you had a lovely weekend :)

Ashley x

A Crafty Christmas Post!

I posted my Crafty Christmas list over at the Crafty Christmas blog! If you've clicked over here from Facebook and are a close friend or family member, do not click the following link!! You'll spoil the surprise! 

For the rest of my lovely readers, my post is here :)

A little update on my Pendrell dress. I've sewn up the shell. However, I'm getting major creasing at the back! I think the zip is a bit stiffer than the one I used in the muslin, so it's causing it to crease and wrinkle. I'm going to move it to the side. The bust fullness is still too low even though I thought I'd moved it up enough. And there is too much fabric around my tummy. Grrr!! This isn't supposed to happen after two muslins!! *sigh* I'll get there.

Ashley x

The Crafty Christmas Club!

The Crafty Christmas Club is back! It's a place to share your Christmas Crafting where friends and family who follow your main blog won't see their presents! I've joined it this year, and I can't wait until I have a finished gift to share over there. I'm going to look through the posts from last year for ideas, there were a couple that really stuck in my mind :)

Are you planning a Crafty Christmas this year? 

Ashley x

Pendrell Dress - part 4

That's how far I got today! I re-traced the front bodice pieces as the they were covered in sticky tape. Then I drafted a peter pan collar vaguely following Casey's tutorial. And then I cut the main fabric pieces :) I haven't cut out the collar yet, but I'm planning on block fusing the pieces. I now have sore knees from the scratchy carpet. I also managed to scratch my thigh with a pin which has come up in a super sore scratch. 

I also finished up two knitting projects today! I finally finished the Rosebud socks! It's so good to have them off the needles! And I also finished up the Scroll lace scarf. Now here's the annoying thing. I bought 2 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, totalling 250 metres. The pattern calls for 250 metres. I ran out of yarn with half a row and the cast off to do! I didn't want to undo all that knitting so I decided to just buy another ball and find a project on Ravelry for the left over. It's currently drying on a towel, as it had to be blocked to open up the lace and also to try and get rid of the edge curling that I had going on:

I'll get photos of both the socks and the scarf soon :) I'm going to ask Dom to take them for me with his new Pentax K5 camera. He got it on Tuesday and he's been playing around with it ever since. And of course who does he take pictures of when he's playing around with it? ;) Yep, me! No matter what I'm doing he'll come over to take a picture with a new setting that he's found or to just play around with it. I don't mind of course, but some of the pictures must be awful! lol 

I also bought some more yarn this week. I'm planning on making two more Snapdragon hats. I chose these two colours, as then I will have a hat that goes with everything in my wardrobe. I think I'll do the matching gloves at some point too. 

Cygnet Superwash DK

British Breeds Blue Face Leicester DK

I can't wait to finish up my current secret knitting project so I can sneak in a Snapdragon! :) My current project is my first Christmas knit. I've got three planned, but there might be more depending on how soon I finish them. When the Crafty Christmas Club starts up again this year, I'm going to join so I can share my Christmas makes :) I've been keeping an eye out for sewing projects too that I think friends and family might like. Not sure yet :)

Also, as Dom now has a new camera he has passed his old one onto me. It's a Pentax K2000. Dom felt he had outgrown it, but it's all new to me! I've only ever used it on Auto, so the photos of the yarn and the scarf are from me learning to a bit about the camera. I know a little about aperture and ISO and what not from having a film camera, but I've still got a long way to go!! :)

Ashley x

Pendrell Dress - part 3

Here's the second muslin of my Pendrell dress. It's much better, the only problem now (apart from the hastily pressed seams over my tummy) is the bagginess under the bust. Hmm, I complained about it to Dom as he was taking the photo, and he said it looked like if I pulled it up over my chest it would be fine. So . . .

Ahh! The bust fullness was in the wrong place! So I measured how much I had to move it up by and have transferred that to the paper pattern. I'm glad Dom spotted it, as I was just going to pinch the extra fabric out, but it turned out I need it! I knew I kept him for a reason ;)

I also measured the centre back seam on my inspiration dress and then measured the centre back on the Pendrell. The difference was 5.5 inches so I added 1.5 inch to account for the hem. This gives me a little extra length to play with too if I want it. So I've lengthened the pattern pieces by 7 inches and also tapered them out to roughly match the skirt of my inspiration dress. Then I ran out of tissue paper. . .

So tomorrow I'm going to pick up some more tissue paper and draft a collar. I'm also considering an exposed zipper. My inspiration dress has a metal exposed zipper, and I love the look. And I haven't learnt a new skill like that in a while. I guess it depends on whether the haberdashery stall even has metal zippers! I think I'll look online. I'm also going to trace new front pieces as they're very hard to pin in their current sticky taped state!

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend :)

Ashley x