The return of the mojo

You may have noticed there hasn't been much sewing going on lately ;) I worked on my Chantilly a few weeks ago, got to the hem and stalled. Hems are boring! However, I won KraftyKat's recent giveaway, and it arrived today! I was lucky enough to win the lovely pattern above. It's a very cute little dress with lots of variations. I went straight to my fabric stash (which consists of four pieces of usable fabric, and then lots of scraps!) and chose the cutesy flowery fabric. It'll need to be underlined, which I thankfully have fabric for. I've decided to go for the cape collar variation (the one on the left) and a simple gathered skirt, as I don't have enough for the pattern skirt. 

As for which size to go for, I'm not really sure. When we moved, I stress-ate and comfort-ate and gained back all the weight I'd lost going to the gym. What a waste of money! I'm still annoyed about that. I've now lost it again plus a bit more, by counting calories and changing how I eat (I now eat little but often during the day, and then a larger evening meal). I wish I'd done this before! This combined with a gym membership would have worked wonders. Ah well, live and learn I suppose. 

When I fitted my Chantilly (which I will finish today!!) I fitted it to be a bit too small. It now fits with a nice amount of ease. Woohoo! So I think I'll do the same thing with this dress, I'll fit it to be skin tight and by the time it's warm enough to wear it I should fit into it. Does this sound sensible? 

Right, a quick tidy up, then it's time to finish that hem!

Hello again!

Hello! I'm still here! Just haven't felt like blogging. I've still been reading all of your lovely blogs, and I've been knitting away but haven't touched my sewing machine even though it right there all set up on the desk. The poor thing is actually dusty!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas/holiday. I'm still looking for a job, which is slowly driving me mad. I haven't felt like sewing at all, even though my Chantilly is almost finished.

However, it's my youngest sister Ebony's birthday in a couple of weeks. I've taught her to knit, but didn't get a chance to teach her to cast off. Every time I see her she asks, but there's never time. So for her birthday, I'm going to pass on my copy of Knitty Gritty and my first ever pair of knitting needles, the ones I learnt on when I was about 12 or 13. To go along with that I'd like to sew her a project bag. Yes, I finally want to sew! I'm going to make her the reversible bucket bag from the Bag Making Bible. It's the one on the cover. I plan to make a patchwork from the fabrics I won in a give away from Very Berry Handmade and then line it some pink fabric I have.

I've got some pretty scraps for the bias binding too. I'm hoping it will be pretty, but even if it isn't I'm sure she'll love it. If you're a long time reader you might remember I made Ebony a princess dress two years ago. It seems I made it at the perfect time, since then she has grown in height but not in width. So she still wears it and adores it! It's just not as long anymore :) I just realised I never got around to taking photo's of her in it, so here is one my mum took for me with Crunchie the cat. (You might also remember Crunchie nearly died from a blockage in his intestines. He recovered well, and is doing fine :) )

This was taken not long after I gave it to her. She's taken great care of it, and always hangs it up carefully. Mum has told me she still wears it all the time two years later!! She looks so young in that photo, I'd not realised how grown up she's gotten. A couple of months ago, mum and I were setting up Skype. We got it working so mum shouted for everyone to come and see. So they all come running into the living room and what is Ebony wearing? Yep, her princess dress! So I think she'll really appreciate a bag for her knitting :)

I'll try and post on my progress on the bag, and maybe some recent knitting projects. I'll try not to stay away so long. 

Ashley x

Operation Emergency Maxi Dresses!

It's hot. Most of my dresses are polyester, and are terrible to wear in this lovely weather we're having. The trip into town to pick up thread, zips, and elastic was very uncomfortable. I definitely need some cooler dresses! 

So Operation Emergency Maxi Dresses begins! Simply, it will be a tube of fabric with a zip at one side and elastic and straps at the top. Then I can wear a belt at my waist as tight or as loose as I want. Or no belt at all if it's super hot. It will be a good chance to practice invisible zips :)

Hopefully I'll have at least one maxi dress to show you soon!

Ashley x

Frogged

That's what happens when you don't do a tension swatch. I'd just finished the first repeat when I thought it seemed a little tight on my foot. I realised I hadn't done the tension square. It's supposed to be 8 stitches and 12 rows per inch. I was getting 8 stitches and 12 rows per 3/4 inch. Gah!! So I've consoled myself by ordering 2 pairs of 2.25mm circulars, 2 pairs of 2.5mm circulars and 2 pairs of 2.75mm circulars. All Knit Pro nova metal as I like them so much. They should hopefully be here on Tuesday. I should be all set! :) I'll probably get some 3mm needles at some point too in case I need them for the cabled socks. 

In the mean time, I'm going to at least cut out my V8648 muslin. I might even sew it up, so I can snap some photos before I go home for the evening tomorrow. Then on Tuesday I plan on nipping into town to pick up lining, thread, zipper etc. And then it starts! (I'm just hoping I don't have any major fitting problems with the muslin!)

Ashley x

Oops! More fabric and patterns!

It's not my fault!! Jaycotts is having a 50% off sale on Vogue and McCalls patterns, so I had to save money right? Though I suppose I didn't have to buy the fabric for them though did I? Ah well, here they are:

I'm going to go for the yellow version I think, though I'm so very tempted by the playsuit I just don't have the legs for it. As for the fabric, you can get it here for £6 per metre or if you shop around a bit you can get it here for £2.60 per metre! Which is obviousy what I did :)

Can you tell I like red and polka dots? I got it here. I'm thinking of going for the lilac version and shortening it to just above the knee :)

I really like this fabric! I got it here, and as you can see it's a little paler in real life, but not as much as the photo above. It's kind of in the middle. I'm thinking of going for the blue version :)

I also got this pattern which is a simple circle skirt because well. . .I'm crap at maths so there was no way I was even attempting to draft it myself! I haven't got fabric for this one yet as I can't decide what I want. I should probably go for a solid as I'm very much lacking in them! lol You've probably guessed by now I'm a huge fan of cute prints. But this pattern is definitely in the queue :)
Ashley x
ps. don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! :)

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Look what arrived!

Look what arrived this morning! I've eaten two already  (it was all I could do to stop myself stuffing them all in my mouth at once! lol) It also arrived with a lovely note from Lady Cherry, who has lovely hand writing! :) So a huge thank you to the lovely Lady Cherry for having a giveaway! Thank you!!

On a slightly related note, I found out some time last week how to find out how many subscribers you have on google reader*! With the lovely followers I have via blogger and the lovely followers I have via google reader, I have a massive 30 followers! I never dreamed I would have so many! So a huge thank you to all you lovely followers too :D I'm been plotting and planning and dreaming about a giveaway for when/if I reach 50 followers. Giveaways are so much fun, I really hope its soon :)

Oh and I finished my smart skirt that I started before Becky's dress. I'll get some pictures tomorrow, I really like it. My finishing is definitely improving, if I do say so myself :)

I also got an update from my mum about Crunchie this morning. He's doing much better, he's had his catheter out and is able to go to the kitty toilet himself which is a big step in his recovery. The vets originally said he should be able to come home next week, but now they're saying it could be tomorrow! Which is wonderful news, I can stop worrying so much :) 

I've also decided on my next project which I'll start after tea:

And of course there's the Crescent skirt sewalong starting on Monday! I'm looking forward to having a few projects on the go at once, I've never tried it before so we'll see how that goes :)

Well, this post ended up being lots of odds and ends didn't it? 

Ashley x

*for those of you that also don't know like I didn't, follow this link and put your blogs name in the keyword search box and hit search. Easy peasey! :D

Paired up - fabric and patterns

I've been meaning to do this for ages, but I got held up by Becky's dress. Then I bought more fabric, so there was those to consider too! So, here's what I've decided on :)

I love this fabric! This is the second fabric that I've had that had a strawberry print on it. I wore the dress a few times, but it was too big everywhere as I hadn't paid attention to seam allowances! I've learnt alot since then! I haven't used this pattern before so I'm looking forward to it :) I'm thinking of going for the view in white on the envelope.

This print is so adorable! I've used this pattern before, with the other strawberry fabric I mentioned above. It says its for stretch wovens, but the fabric isn't stretchy so a muslin is definitely needed! The pleats give the skirt a lovely shape :)

I can't wait for the Crescent skirt sewalong! I've decided that I love the pattern so much, I'm going to sew two skirts at the same time. I figure if I have double the sewing, I'm less likely to speed ahead of the sewalong. Plus its exam time during the sewalong, so a sewalong is the perfect thing for me, as it'll keep my sewing time at a limit. So I should actually get some revision done!

I've been looking forward to sewing the Ceylon since I got the pattern. And that fabric. . .! I love it, I just hope it won't be too stiff. Hopefully the pre-wash should soften it up :)

Hmm, three dresses, two skirts and only one top? I should really sew more tops! lol I think I'm going to go for the red and white polka dot view, but I quite like the white view too. What do you think?
So the plans for my fabric and patterns are made. Lets see if I stick to them!
Ashley x