Friday 20 June 2014

Love Sewing magazine

Another magazine subscription...!  Hurray!  Lest you start to think that I obsessively subscribe to magazines, this is my first ever sewing magazine, the others have all been crochet.

Love Sewing was brand new in May, and was promoted for sewists just about everywhere I looked - there was even a plug for it on on the Elm Street Life blog all the way from the USA!  I was happy to jump on the bandwagon and subscribe from issue 2 for the bargain price of £6 for the first quarter - I did also hit my nearest ASDA and bought issue 1 as well.


I'm loving the magazine so far.  There are things for the home (fantastic little storage baskets in issue one, cushions in issue two), free gifts (fabric in issue one, a pattern and tape measure in issue two), clothing (dresses, skirts, blouses), little fun projects (like the gorgeous notebook cover in issue two) and even interviews with some of the fab people from the sewing bee!  There really is something for everyone.

Looking forward to my first make - either the storage basket or the 'lottie' blouse - watch this space!

Sunday 8 June 2014

Chevron maxi skirt

Lots of people have been wearing chevron maxis recently - mainly in bold black and whites, that I just love! I really fancied making one - after all, maxi skirts aren't that difficult to do, and the ones I find in the shops are built for people with an extra 5 of 6 inches on me! Why buy it when you can make it yourself, is my new motto!

Katy at Sleek Silhouette has a great tutorial for a chevron maxi - exactly what I was looking for. All you need is your measurements, and you can self draft a really easy pattern. Katy recommends big stripes, which is like most of the ones I've seen, as the pattern is so much easier to match. However, I bought the brown striped fabric from the Goldhawk Road the other day at the bargain price of £1.50p/m, so I thought I'd give myself a challenge with some pattern matching on those tiny stripes.


This definitely took a lot longer than big stripes would have done - just because the matching took so long, and then I tacked after pinning, just to ensure I didn't lose the matching again. The sides were particularly difficult - who knows why! However, the actually sewing itself was so easy - plus I used my new jersey needle for my machine, and that was great as well - no dropped stitches, compared to the messy results when I've lazily used a normal needle before!


I used the waistband element of the Winthrop Chronicles maxi skirt tutorial, just because I like the extra support it gives, rather than the elasticated waist suggested in Katy's version.


Here it is...


I'm so pleased with the pattern matching - it was a bit of an ordeal, but definitely worth it!


£3 for the fabric, a spool of thread, and there you go - a new skirt for less than £5!