Sewing and keeping busy.

Well, I have been keeping very busy doing some sewing. Not my usual kind. I shall need to get back to the quilting and textile "art" before too long since I need to have some creativity in my life too.



This past week or so I've been trying to hone my dressmaking skills, ready for making my daughter's wedding dress. The first piece was this crepe de chine blouse. It is such a lovely design and fits well, and is already one of my favourites. The pattern is V7903, a Today's Fit pattern by Sandra Betzina for Vogue. (Yes, each link is different. I do hope that you find them useful.)



This was the second item - a shirt. Again, such a comfortable design to wear. Sadly, since it is made from quilting weight cotton, it is really a little too warm to wear at this time of year. That said, I did wear it last week during a particularly chilly couple of days. It was nice to feel warm! However, one child did bring me right back to earth with a bump, when she innocently said "my grandma has curtains like that". I really couldn't help laughing, since the fabric is similar to the old toile de jouy design, so yes, could easily be seen on curtains and the like. It reminded me of the time when I bought some gorgeous red floral fabric to make dresses for my daughters when they were small. Now that time I did buy curtain fabric - and those dresses were loved and worn such a lot.......... My girls were only five and three at the time. Happy memories.
Oh yes, the pattern for this shirt is this one: Classix Nouveau Great White Shirt from Hotpatterns. Again, a really well designed pattern which fits beautifully. I was really impressed to find the pattern printed on really sturdy paper. The instructions were good too.

My third project is currently being rescued from complete disaster. A pair of trousers, and no, I didn't make a muslin.......... yes, bad mistake. I made them too big and so have had to take them almost entirely back to the original pieces again. It was all pinned and ready to be reassembled earlier this evening, when I managed to break the zip. Well, to be accurate, I accidentally took the metal zipper piece off the cut end of the zip itself and wasn't able to replace it........... More disassembly later, I am about to replace the broken zip with another one from my stash.......... Thank goodness for having a stash of zips..................... I decided enough mistakes had been made, so stopped for a cup of tea, and a Blog post. Why, you may ask was the end of the zip cut in the first place? It was part of the instructions for making the fly front. It has to be cut when the waistband is added. Why did I get so far before I realised I had made such a stupid mistake? I don't know. I should have stopped many times to check the sizing, but didn't. Lesson now learnt.

The pattern is this one: 3363 from Kwik Sew. Please don't let my misadventures put you off this pattern. It is a really nice design with good instructions. I was just enjoying myself too much to stop and think and try them on.

It's just as well that I can laugh at myself. I've been chuckling at how silly I have been whilst writing this. Still, better to get everything wrong doing a project like this than to get my daughter's wedding dress in a mess................ Back to the sewing machine to retrieve these trousers. I really need to add them to my wardrobe.

Hopefully, I will be able to show a completed pair of trousers which are wearable before too much longer.

Memories are made............

Memories, in this instance are definitely made of fabric and thread.

I was taken back to the time when my daughters were aged 10 and 8 (back in around 1993), when I found these items.

My husband had been taking boxes down from the loft (roof space) when one of them collapsed. The boxes all belonged to my elder daughter and were to be taken to her new home so she could sort out what she wanted to keep.

I used to make quite a lot of my daughters' clothes and these two pairs of culottes (one in brightly coloured cotton, the other in crepe de chine) alongside the cotton shirt were made years ago. I had forgotten all about them.

We used to have a lovely fabric shop in the local town. Called Harts, it was a favourite haunt of myself and my daughters. They chose the fabric and the patterns, I did the sewing. They usually liked to wear the same things, so my younger daughter had pairs of culottes exactly the same as these.

The clothes were summer weight and the culottes would have been worn with colourful t-shirts.

The last item here is something which my dear husband returned to me after sorting through a drawer of stored items. I had stitched the insert to my own design on 32 count Aida (or was it 28?), in 1996 as a present for my mother-in-law. It was found, safely wrapped and never used after her death some six years later. It is one of those lovely pottery bases with a kit lid produced by DMC. Do they still produce these?

I remember stitching one of a completely different design for my own mother. Her container sits on the dressing table in her bedroom. Another of my designs, originally contained within a card sits in a mounting as part of a small clock in her bathroom........

Why the photo of Felix? Well, my dear little friend has been spending most of the time I have been typing this trying to get me off this chair! Cats!!!