Thursday 30 May 2013

Fabric shopping in Bristol

I was so excited yesterday...!  Like the compulsive fabric shopper that I have now become, I Googled 'Bristol fabric shops', and found there was a Fabric Land in the centre of town.  So Liz and I decided to take a little wander down yesterday on our lunch break to check it out.  I was really keen to get some new fabric for my latest project - the circle skirt from the Great British Sewing Bee book.

Well...!

It didn't look like much from the outside, but once I was in...I could barely decide what to do, where to go - I was overwhelmed with choice!  There are so many fabrics, and really reasonably priced as well, which is good for a beginner like me.  After all, you don't want to spend a fortune on fabric which you then end up unpicking five hundred times...!

Eventually I got myself two different fabrics - check them out.  Floral prints are my new favourite thing!


I think the blue one is quite Cath Kidson-esque, and I've already started making my new circle skirt from it - pictures to follow.  I've not quite decided what to do with the black fabric, but I may just make another skirt from it, if this one goes well - you can never have too many summer skirts, after all.

I will definitely be back there - I've a feeling that dashing into town for a fabric fix may become my favourite 'summer lunch time' activity!

Just before I sign off today - here's a (not very good) picture of the 'bank holiday bunting' in place at the window at the top of our stairs.


And here is me wearing my new top in the sunshine on Clevedon pier - I'm happy to report that it has been out and about, and hasn't fallen to pieces yet!


Monday 27 May 2013

Bank holiday bunting!

I love bank holiday weekends!  There's something great about having that extra Monday off work - a bonus lie in, and a day to do whatever you want to do.  My folks came over from Northern Ireland, and we had a really lovely time.  Unfortunately today wasn't very sunny, but most importantly it didn't rain, so we had a lovely day in Cheddar with friends.

After we dropped them at the airport on this evening, I thought I would take the chance to try something new.  I love the whole bunting concept, and I think it's such a lovely way to brighten up the house and just add a little bit of something different.  So here is my step-by-step bank holiday bunting!

Step 1

Cut out the triangles to form your bunting.  I wanted five little flags on my bunting, so I cut out 10 triangles.

10 triangles for bunting flags

Step 2

Pin and sew the long edges, right sides together.


Step 3

Trim off the bottom point - too much bulk at the bottom of the flag and it won't have any point when you turn it back inside out.  Then turn the flag right side out.


Step 4

Attach the flags to the 'string'.  I used some spare bias binding, folded it in half, and then tucked the little flags into the fold.  Then I just sewed along the edge of the folded bias binding (with contrasting thread, as I didn't have any pink!) to attach them.



Step 5

Ta-dah!  All done.  Now just to find somewhere to put them!  A fun and quick project for my Monday evening :)

Finished bunting

Thursday 23 May 2013

Bright and bold summer top

My first attempt at a top!  What do you think...?

Summer blouse - just in time for a sunny Saturday!
I finally thought it was time to enter the world of patterns - so far, I've been following tutorials, but I knew that if I was to want to make a top, it would be a whole new challenge - one that definitely needs to be approached with a bit more than just a tape measure and a few photographs!  I found this simple Sorbetto blouse pattern on Collette Patterns, and downloaded it ready for some cutting and sticking.  Putting it all together felt a bit like being back at primary school - I sat on the living room floor, armed with pieces of paper, scissors and tape, ready for action!  To be fair, it was so simple to put it all together, a primary school child could have done it - I'm a convert, downloadable patterns are great!

I found the fabric in a shop in Weymouth called 'So N Sews', that I stumbled on back in March when Pete and I were down for a wedding.  I liked the bright colours so much that I just bought it.  I did wonder about making a skirt, but had to conclude that the stripes would probably make it incredibly difficult to match up - not ideal for a beginner!  When this pattern showed up, though, it seemed ideal.

There were two main challenges to making this blouse.  First, the darts.  Ah yes...darts!  I knew if I was going to try making clothes I would have to come to those some day!  Happily, they were clearly laid out on the pattern.  However, even the slightest bit of shifting on either side really impacts the darts.  It's not just that the top won't fit right on one side (or both!), but also it will just look a bit lopsided and ridiculous!  As this was my first go at darts, I was relieved that I had made the investment in a stitch ripper at my last visit to Hobbycraft, as one side was completely wrong and needed a second try.  The end result seemed to be a success though!

Dart on the inside
Dart on the outside
The second challenge was the sizing of the pattern.  This was definitely an interesting one for me!  I did all the requisite measuring required, and decided on a size - cutting out the pattern, material etc based on that.  When I got to the point of starting to sew the shoulders together, I put the top on as best I could...and it was massive!  That was a nice ego boost - "surprise, I'm smaller than I thought I was!" - but also a bit inconvenient, as it meant a bit of un-stitching, trimming of my material, and then another go.  This one is probably a note for the future, to take note of what the appropriate sizing is, as if I'm making something with more pieces, having to trim all the pieces could end up really complicating things!

It fits - phew!

The other new thing I tried with this top was adding bias binding.  I've never used bias binding before, but it was pretty easy to work with, and added a really nice finish to the top.

Now all I need to do is to wait for the sun to show its face again...!

Sunday 19 May 2013

Purple maxi skirt

One of the reasons I thought learning to sew would be such a good idea is because at five foot nothing, trying to get jeans and skirts at the right length is incredibly challenging!  I usually find that long skirts completely drown me - although on the bright side, a skirt that would be too short on a tall girl is usually knee length and completely decent on me!  The thing that I imagined a sewing machine would be most useful for was taking up jeans (something which I haven't actually got round to doing yet!).  What I didn't imagine was that I would find fantastic tutorials online that would inspire me to actually try my hand at making a skirt myself!

So here it is - the first skirt I've ever made.  Modelled in our back garden, with my husband as the expert photographer...


I really hadn't realise, until I cruised around Pinterest, that there were so many easy tutorials to follow for skirts that I would just love to make.  The tutorial for this skirt came from Sew much ado, and was so simple to follow.  I found some lovely purple jersey fabric in Calico, my local fabric shop here in Bristol, and I was ready for action!

A few new skills that I learnt:

  • French seams: these weren't actually in the original tutorial, but I had read about them in my few basic sewing books, and I thought would it would be good to put them along the side seams of my skirt - I'm inclined to be a bit rough with my clothes, so it never hurts to have an extra bit bit of strength!

French seam

  • Working with jersey fabric - this was challenging as each layer had an extra 10 inches, so you had to stretch the small piece to fit into the larger one, and then sew them together.  I used a zig zag stitch to do this - it just gave the seam more strength. 


There are plenty of imperfections, but for a first attempt, I was really pleased.  I've now worn it a number of times, and it's a perfect length - exactly what I wanted!

Thursday 16 May 2013

Blue clutch bag

One of my first inspirations for starting to sew was stumbling upon the Elm Street Life blog.  Whitney posts such thorough, detailed tutorials that her bow clutch bag didn't actually seem completely unachievable for a total sewing beginner.

My blue bow clutch

A few things I learnt from making the bow clutch:

1) Check you have everything you need before you begin - I didn't read the list properly, and part way through realised I needed some mysterious product called 'interfacing'.  This was obviously really important to ensure that the bag wasn't just a floppy mess - so everything ground to a halt until I could find a shop which sold this interesting product!

2) 9 inch zips are quite difficult to find - eventually I had to buy a concealed zip to get one the correct length.

Concealed zip on my clutch
3) Pin first!  My first attempt at a zip was wonky (I started off rather recklessly, trying to do it by eye - clearly didn't realise what I was taking on!)....second attempt also wonky (because I was paranoid after having to unpick attempt 1)...third attempt was not wonky but by then I was so confused that I ended up sewing my lining inside out :( !  Never mind - no-one really sees that bit!

4) Picture tutorials are fantastic - if you are a real beginner, pictures can speak so much louder than words!

I've used my bow clutch lots of times now - the only flaw is that I usually use a suitcase sized handbag, so slightly struggle with the limited space, but that's clearly an issue for me, rather than the design of the clutch!  I really recommend you give this little project a go!

Monday 13 May 2013

Bags and brooches

Welcome to my blog!

I've decided to rejoin the blogging world - after an awkward teenage attempt at blogging, I think I may finally have the courage to begin again!  After a degree, and three (seemingly endless) years of studying for my chartered examns, I suddenly find myself with a little of that precious commodity - spare time.  Obviously, the time was right to get a new hobby...so here I am, starting a sewing blog!

I got my machine for Christmas - a little nervously, because I had told everyone I wanted one, without the benefit of actually knowing if I liked sewing - a risky strategy, you appreciate!  Fortunately, it turns out that despite no prior experience, skill, and initially know even knowing how to operate the presser foot on my machine...sewing turns out to be a fun, different hobby that I am loving.  Definitely a relief!

I've found that so many times when I see beautiful handmade brooches, berets or whatever, I've thought 'I could do that'...and then I never have.  So I decided it was time to make that change!  Here's my first little brooch - I thought it was a bit different, and I've worn it with various tops and outfits - either to match, or bring a bit of colour!


My siblings gave me this craft book for Christmas, and that gave me a bit of inspiration as well - it had never occurred to me that I could make bags or anything really, but there was a shopper bag in the book that I really liked, so I went for it as my first project.  It was a brilliant opportunity to do a bit of learning on a project that wasn't too complicated.  Concepts like the 'right side' and the 'wrong side' felt like they were a bit beyond me, haha - but I think I've started to get my head round it!  A few pics below - I've used it so many times now, and it's bravely carried shopping, stillettos, and even library books, so it's been a real success.


I'm hoping that this blog will be a good place to chronicle my sewing journey - I hope you enjoy coming on it with me :)