Loads of UFOs

I have not posted for over two weeks, now i feel kind of obliged not to let my blog stand idle; as i cant see my self posting a finished project for about a week.  I have not been lazy, its just that i have not quite finished a whole project, yet. Hence i have loads of UnFinished Objects. A lot of this was down to riding my bike with a fever. I cycled 13 miles on Friday morning and spent Friday afternoon being scarily dizzy and sick, trying to contact a doctor. However loads of rest over the weekend at my parents house and i am now fine.

So here is a project update. 

I have started a new Cable Knit Bag like my grey one. I was in B&M and they had this perfect chunky 100% wool yarn, that i just knew was put there for me to make this bag.  The first time i made this  i drew a diagram of the bag and knitted it from that and what was in my head. That was two years ago now so i have been thinking i need to make another one for a while and write the instructions down properly, before i completely forget how i did it. So this is what i have been doing, its harder than i thought. More on that later.

I have my first UFO. Its official. I can't see these short being finished in weeks, if not months. Maybe never. I am being brave and using this paisley fabric. I cut 121 view C from the May addition of Burda Magazine. I read the instructions and thought that they looked simple enough to make, so i cut out the fabric and then realized that i missed an invisible zipper in the recipe. I am going to buy an invisible zipper foot for my sewing machine, when i get around to it. But for now its been put away. There is nowhere in town that i can by invisible zippers let alone a sewing machine foot.

The May addition of Burda Magazine has loads of great stuff in it. So i picked it up to see what else i could reasonably make. There are quite a few things i might try. When i first saw this skirt i thought that would be perfect in an aubergine fabric i bought last year to make a dress. I had convinced myself that i had used rest of the fabric lining a skirt. So brilliant surprise for me when i found enough of it in my fabric stash to make the knee length version of this skirt. So this is cut out and is waiting next to my sewing machine for me to stitch it together.

Well i did finish something! Its Burda 119 from the March issue. I actually really like it on, but i will have to layer it, because it is made from that horrid fabric i used for the Peter Pan Tee that i swore i would never touch again.

P.S. I stole the pics from the Burda magazine straight from this blog: http://sewingandstyle.blogspot.co.uk/. I don't know where she got hers from.

Not Meant 2 Be - Peter Pan Tee NM2B

Feeling Grumpy..

I struggled from the outset with the fabric, it was just so thin and cheap. It took nearly two hours to lay it out flat, so i could cut it. I realized early on that the fabric was going to be too thin to wear with out a layer underneath, but did not really care, it was still quite pretty. It was going to be a plain cream tee, made in exactly the same way as the Yellow Flower Tee, with Newlook 6807. But had this flower print fabric in my stash, so decided to pretty it up with a collar and tied cuffs on the sleeves. 

I spent what seemed like ages making the sleeves, but it was not until i went to attach them that i realized that i had made two left sleeves. I cut another one, making sure that i had the pattern piece the right way up. But when i tried it on i realized that i had forgotten to lengthen the sleeve like i had in the first place. At this point i just gave up. I attached the collar, with out any care or attention, and i am not going to bother to finish the hem. 

The plan was to make another cap sleeve tee-shirt out of the fabric and then maybe Burda 119, issue 3/2012 out of the left overs. But for now i have grabbed the whats left and stuck it at the bottom of my fabric draw, probably forever. I never want to see it again.

Yellow Flower Tee with 1/2 Length Sleeves

I've had to abandon my usual spot for taking photos out side my flat, as the empty houses opposite are now occupied. Its hard enough trying to take picture of yourself, but just plain embarrassing when you have got a audience. More worryingly at least one of these new people work in the same building as me and i don't need any more rumors about my strange behavior at work. So today i went for a long walk to find somewhere realtively lonly to take photes, i eventualy found this pile of logs to hide behind. 

This top is almost identical to the Yellow Flower Top that i made last. I used my highly altered version of NewLook 6807.  I made the same alternations as last time, only this time i added 1/2 length sleeves. I did not use the 3/4 length sleeve in the pattern because i did not want overly baggy sleeves. Instead i traced the cap sleeve pattern piece. Then i cut it along the middle stopping towards the top of the paper and moved the two sides so they were parallel. I then extended it by drawing two lines straight down from the sides. I also then added tied cuffs at the bottom of the sleeve to make the top more interesting.  

and a more practical photo of the front....

and the detail on the sleeves.......

Yellow Flower Top - NewLook 6807

This is the first in a series of T-shirts i am making with NewLook 6807. I have used this pattern three times before to make the Grey New Years Top and two other which did not work out so well. I was worried when i started this project that the knit i chose would be too stretchy (it has 4 way stretch), but actually it turn out to be just right. This top is the perfect casual summer t-shirt, i shall be wearing this lots and lots.

Yellow Flower Top - NewLook 6807

I have deviated quite a bit from the original pattern this time. I raised the neck line at the front by cutting along the size 18 line instead of size 10 and got rid of the centre back seam and the neck tie. 

Yellow Flower Top - NewLook 6807

I also made a massive changes to the body by widening the front towards the bottom and narrowing the back towards the bottom, then putting elastic through the hem. I did this by copying a RTW top that i bought a few weeks ago which is constructed like that. I have had a few tops with this kind of construction and find it really flattering. I have no idea what this technique is called i have tried a Internet search but came up empty handed. Any ideas?

Yellow Flower Top - NewLook 6807. The front is wider than the back.

I don't own a serger/overlock machine, so i did this on a regular sewing machine, using zig zag stitch. The seams seam stable and strong so i don't really get what the whole fuss about doing knits on a serger/overlocker is all about. 

Summers Up Next - Variations on New Look 6807

This is what i am working on next. I am planning to make some blousey summer T-shirts, with the yellow flower knit fabric and the cream knit fabric, i bought in Birmingham a few weeks ago. I have two meters of each. So i am hoping to get three or four T-shirts out of this at least.

Cream knit fabric with yellow flowers.

I've been really inspired by the One Week One Pattern challenge on Tilly and the Buttons blog. However the time frame to get started was always too tight for me, but i plan something similar. I am going to use New Look 6807, as my basic pattern. I know that the pattern is a bit boring but i plan to play around with the neck line, sleeves and bodice. 

New Look 6807

A-Line Skirt

Well for £1 i have managed to squeeze out two half decent skirts, not bad as i am on a budget. First with my pencil skirt and now with this A-line skirt. I reused my skirt sloper; following the tutorial on the Burdastyle site to convert it to an A-line skirt.

A-line skirt

Cable bag.

I've really been on a learning drive recently, reading my Simplicity Sewing Book that i picked up last month, trying to learn how to sew properly and actually practice what i am learning. I really like the Simplicity book its easy enough to understand, but some times i wish it would go into more detail. The chapter 1 is awesome, is all about fashion and clothes to flatter your figure, it written in the 80's, so all the clothes are horrible and not flattering at all. But the sewing stuff is good. When i am knitting or crocheting, i have a tendency just to cast on 20 stitches and hope after a few rows i know what i am going to be making, and make the pattern up in may head there after. This method has produced some really awesome stuff like this bag. But mostly i just have just spent a lot of time knotting yarn into a big mess. I really need not to get into this habit with my sewing.

A-line skirt

Before making this skirt, i read up on seams and knit seams. And also tried out a blind hem, which worked great in my practice pieces, but failed on the skirt. So the skirt was unpicked and i just did a single turn up on the hem. It makes the skirt longer, which is an advantage because i forgot to add a hem allowance to my pattern pieces. Oops.

A-line skirt

Self Drafted Pencil Skirt

Well i was up at 6:30 this morning so i could go to the opticians in Telford, my plan was to cycle up there, about 10 miles. Then spend the rest of the day shopping or sunbathing in the town park, maybe go and watch the Hunger Games. About 45 minutes before the appointment i thought that i was pushing it with time so i would just take the bus. Apparently there is no bus running in the morning on Saturdays. By the time i had found that out it was way to late to cycle up there. So i went back home to sulk, getting optician, doctor or dentist appointments around here is so hard. Then i thought i could catch the bus to Shrewsbury, hurried back out of the house, just in time to miss that bus too. So i am sulking now and posting about the skirt i made instead. I am still going to go to Shrewsbury, it is just i wont get there now until 1pm, what a waste of a morning!

I really have no curves, do i?

This material came from Oxfam for £1, it is a double layered knit polyester, i loved the geometric pattern on it. But it is taking up loads of room in the fabric draw, which is need for the more summery fabrics that i bought last weekend. 

I decided that now would be a really great time to make a skirt sloper to fit me, instead on relying on paper patterns. I trawled the Internet and did loads of reading on how to do this and settled on following the instructions given by a Burdastyle member: teresadouglas called making a skirt. This gives simple instructions on making a sloper. I then used my sloper pattern to make a pencil skirt. My original idea for this skirt was that it was supposed to be a A line skirt, but when laying out the fabric i realised that there would be enough for a pencil skirt as well. So i made the pencil skirt first as this is the simplest skirt that you can make from a sloper.

This skirt looks best side on, don't you agree?

It was so easy to do and fits perfectly. Though i found with my 32" waist and 37" hips, that i have no curves and really struggled to make the darts. In the end i made them by halving curves at the side seams.

To make a muslin i used some dark stripy wool in my stash, again in the attempt to make some more room in my fabric draw. The first muslin was too big, so i remeasured myself and cut the excess fabric from the first muslin. 

Second muslin.

Original Sloper.

My favorite part of the skirt is the vent at the back. I followed another tutorial for creating the vent, from another Burdastyle member: sunnilj9 called Adding a Back vent to the Jenny Skirt.

Vent in the back.

The hem is hand sewn. Usually when it come to the hem i in a hurry to get finished so just sew it up with the sewing machine, but this time i decided NO I am going to do it properly, and sat watching Mad Med last night while i hand stitched it. It looks so much better, defiantly going to keep doing this.

Next up an A line skirt in the same fabric. Then it can be worn whilst riding my bike.

1960's Toy Pattern - Simplicity 3701

1960's Toy Pattern - Simplicity 3701

I can not get over how cute this pattern is. I saw it in a charity shop, and thought how cute, but i can't wear it. So left it there, it then nagged at me for about 20 minutes until i ran downstairs to go buy it (i live on the High Street, by the way). I spent £1.50 on it, its not a lot, but its more than i would usually spend on a sewing pattern. Its is undated, but from a bit of research on the Internet i think it is about 1960's. Its uncut and looks as though is still factory folded, so i am going to be a bit hesitant to use it.

I also bought a load of 1970's vintage patterns today as well, unfortunately they are all in size 18, but the patterns are so lovely i bought them anyway. At £1 for 9 sewing patterns and 1 knitting pattern, i was not going to argue. Who ever owned them last had really good taste.No pics yet.

Little Black Dress - Style 3201 take 2

This is the Little Black Dress i made last week. I made it using the Style 3201 pattern i used for my 70's bell sleeved dress. The main body pieces were originally supposed to be lining for the original dress, but i did not used them; so i made this instead. This dress is lined and so much better for it. 

I made quite a lot of changes to the pattern. The sleeves are shorter  3/4 lengthen sleeves with tie ends. They are more flattering and modern looking than the sleeves that came with the pattern. The sleeves are my favorite part of the dress, i am doing these sleeve over and over again on other projects.

I also tried to raise the neck line, by adding a bit to the bodice pieces. This was a complete disaster (see below for pics). The two sides did not meet and left me very exposed. I think this happened because i had just got a new sewing machine and i made the seem allowances too big (bad excuse i know), i therefore could not cross over the front of the dress by as much as i needed to. So to remedy this i added a tie band to the neck and tied a big bow in front to cover it up. 

I really want to make this dress again, but with a few more changes. First i made this dress way too short for me. I still want it above the knee, but it need to be lower than what it is. Secondly i want to make the skirt part of the dress wider and more flowy. Thirdly i think that if i made it again it need to be in a slightly bigger size and the neck line raised more. Fourthly, it would look great in colorful patterned fabric. This black makes it look as though i am heading to a funeral.

New Sewing Machine!!!!

Well after finally giving up on my way too cheap sewing machine, i have bought a new one. Its only a very basic one, but that is all i need. Its a Singer Symphonie, ITS BRILL :). I got it at Aldi for £90, which i think is a good price as i have seen it else where for £115.  Everything works!! on my last machine nothing worked, not the tension wheel, bobbin winder, or the peddle. I am loving it. Now looking forward to may hours of sewing on my Symphonie, even the name sounds good.

Well the Symphonies first task was to finish my dress, which it did. Its not perfect, there are still loads of improvements i want to make. So i suppose that it is just a practice muslin. Though i did make some really good decisions like adding a lining which worked out really well. Here are a few pictures. I shall blog about it some more at the weekend, when i shall take some proper pictures in the daylight. It is still too dark when i get in from work for taking photos.