Completed: Oui Coco!

Here's my Coco for Tilly's Coco Party! I whipped it up toute de suite last night. Those on Instagram will have seen it in a much bigger incarnation. This is such a speedy project and great once you get the fit right for you! I can't wait to make the funnel top version.

 I actually bought this fabric on a blogger meetup with Tilly herself. I didn't know why I wanted it but I'm glad I did. You guys this dress is so comfy! Perfect with tights. I had some serious adjustments to get the fit I wanted but my waist is disproportionately smaller than the rest of me. I don't seem to do the sack thing well. Next time I won't cut such a large size. Simples!
Stats:
Fabric: Double knit from Goldhawk Road Say £8 for 2m I still have leftovers
Notions: Thread from Stash
Wearability: 8/10 Its a little short for me but with leggings or tights its just the job!
Total: £8! Not bad for a comfy dress.
Pixel wanted in on the party, and he bought teddy too!

We had a little boogie in Tilly's honor! This dress? Perfect for dancing! Happy Saturday Everyone!

SWAP 2014: How it's going...

Hi Lovelies, Thanks for the kind comments on my Coppelia. I see many more in my future. Although there are so many awesome new patterns out at the moment I don't reckon it will be anytime soon.

I have however used it for one of my garments in Artisan Square's Annual SWAP Challenge. I have briefly blogged about it here and here in my Resewlutions. I'd really like to finish this one so i've been using some of my Minerva garments within my plan.

This time they have asked for 11 garments. 3x3 pac's and two wildcards.

This was my original plan:

Smart to Casual:

Archer Shirt

Moss Skirt

Hawthorne OR Bellatrix Blazer

Rainy Days:

Minoru Jacket

Auberpine Dress

McCalls 6708 Cardigan

Home Comforts:

Virginia Leggings

Coppelia Cardigan

Colette Zinnia

Wildcards:

Vogue 8685 Dress

McCalls 5974 Dress

I have made big changes to this plan. I realised I didn't have the time to make two shirts, two jackets and three dresses in the time. So I had a rethink and came up with this second plan. The ticks are garments finished or just needing tiny finishes like hems. The scissors are those cut or in progress.

 I changed it up a little taking out the garments that would slow down the process. Its not perfect, I still have to check if Home Comfort is allowed two bottoms if they co-ordinate with each other, but i'm happier with the sets. I think they are things I will genuinely wear.
The revised SWAP consists of
Smart to Casual:
Archer Shirt
Simplicity Lisette 2211
Papercut Coppelia Cardigan blogged here

Rainy Days has turned to Sunnier Climes and has been renamed:
Deer and Doe Plaintain tee
Simplicity 2258 Skirt
By Hand LondonVictoria Blazer

Home Comfort is still going to change, not sure how yet:
Megan Nielsen's Virginia Leggings
Briar blogged here
Colette Zinnia Skirt

Wildcards
McCalls 5974
By Hand London Georgia Dress blogged here

I have so far completed 7 garments. I'm in the middle of the Archer and I intend to cut my skirts and plantain tonight. There is a month left to complete. Here's hoping I can make it!

Minerva Blogger Network: Papercut Coppelia

 This is my second project for Minerva's Blogger Network. For this I chose to use their Purple Knitted Textured Slub 'Carnival' Designer Dress Fabric. Thats a lot of words to describe this awesome fabric! Its strange, like a series of ribbons woven together with metallic strips. Whatever it is, I was drawn to it straight away!

I thought the fabric deserved something simple to show it off so I opted for Papercut's Coppelia Cardigan. This pattern is a breeze to put together, all in all I think it took around 2 hours to make. Lovely speedy project! I'm happy with the result and it looks great with fuller dresses! I did take these photos with a pair of jeans on, but the styling just didn't work. I think if I added length to it then it would look fab with jeans and things but on my bodyshape it looked blurgh!

I chose to just tie the bands but there have been some lovely versions of this like Nettie's at Sown Brooklyn and Rachel's at House of Pinheiro that do a faux wrap. I think when I make this next time (and there will be a next time) I may try that out. Other changes i'm considering are making the sleeves smaller, for some reason they drowned me a bit, shortening the arms, (I like sleeves over my hands but not quite as much as that) and creating a buttonhole opening inside to slide the fabric through as you would a wrap dress. 

I only glanced at the instructions so that may have been in there... Lazy sewist alert!

If you're after a quick speedy project you can do no wrong with this one. Its also a really handy garment to have around! I find myself grabbing it before I go out the door. Its just enough warmth without being too heavy, perfect for layering! I have lots more jersey in the stash waiting to be a Coppelia!

Tutorial: PDF Pattern Assembly

There has been so many new pattern releases recently and a bigger and bigger percentage of these patterns we use are being offered as PDF Patterns. These are the patterns that are downloaded on your computer, that you print out on your home printer. The pages are tiled and taped or glued together to form large pattern sheets.

I thought it might be nice to share how I put these together. I've been working with PDFs more and more recently and have developed a pretty speedy way of getting them together fast, ready to sew.

 First up you need some tools. Nothing complicated just:

• Some Tape - I buy cheap small dispensers like this because they are easy to cut.
• Scissors - Not your fabric ones but some normal paper ones
• Ruler - All will be revealed
• Pattern weight of some kind - I have these ribbon ones made from washers but tins or cutlery would work just fine!

Step 1:

 Each piece of A4 has a black line on all four edges marking the edge of the pattern. To speed up my process, I fold instead of cut these lines, using my ruler to make sure I fold the line accurately.

Step 2:

 Each of these lines is marked with a letter and a number. Match the corresponding combinations and put those pages together. I like to fold the left piece and leave the right unfolded so I have a support behind my tape. This is where the pattern weight comes in really handy. I like to put one or two on the line, so when I get my tape I don't nudge it out of place.

Step 3:

 Grab some tape and apply it to the line. You will want to use tape on the pattern pieces themselves, but I don't bother about the bits of paper around the pattern piece.

Step 4:

 Step 4 just illustrates what I mean. We are going to cut the pattern pieces out of the large sheet, why tape the bits your going to waste?

 Step 5:

Cut it all out! Cut out your pieces in your corresponding size. This can usually be found on the PDF you downloaded. This is what my pattern looks like from the back. Nice and sturdy, ready to use!
Have you got any tips or tricks for cutting your PDF Patterns?

Minerva Blogger Network: Cobalt Georgia...

Hello all! This is my first project for the Minerva Blogging Network! This was the big surprise I was working on for those who follow me on Instagram! I'm so flattered I could join in with all the other talented bloggers in the network! Minerva very kindly let me pick some fabric for my project, after lots of samples I chose this fabulous cobalt crepe. I had always wanted a slinky dress in this colour and the tone and depth is wonderful. I used my overlocker to finish the seams but a small zig zag stitch or seam binding would also look fantastic. I decided to line my bodice with some blue polycotton I had in my stash. This gives the bodice a nice finish and gives you a little extra support which I needed! I'm pleased with the fit but it needed a bit of tweaking. If I was to make it again I'd go for more of a swayback adjustment but its not a big deal. 

 I needed a seriously sassy dress pattern to do it justice. I was very lucky to have been gifted the new By Hand London Georgia pattern on a recent meetup and decided it would be a perfect pairing. I'm really happy with the result, the Crepe has a beautiful weight to it which makes it drape beautifully but I needed a bit of underwear engineering to skim over the bumps.

 I did make a small change to the bust. The cups were just a bit too high in the middle for me so I did a few lines of gathering stitch and made a more bow fronted bodice. I’m really pleased with it and I think it adds a little more interest in the “frontage.” I also shortened the straps considerably I could have done a full bust adjustment but if your looking for a bit of va va voom I don’t think you need to worry too much. 

 I've been trying desperately to branch out a little more with my poses, not much of a change but we'll get there. I've been taking a leaf out of the lovely Mary of Idle Fancy's book as she always looks so fab in photos! Us curvy ladies have got to stick together!

This is totally my go to Valentines Dress and I can’t wait to wear it for a friends upcoming wedding too!

My New Love...

I was so lucky at Christmas and I've been way to slow letting you see! I got a beautiful Turquoise angle poise lamp! (My Sewing room accent colour is blue) Plus... A fabulous new Janome Sewing Machine! 

 She's an Janome XL 601 and she's computerized! She makes weird noises when she starts up but its so different to my mechanical Husqvarna! I'm still in the process of learning what she can do but my favourite thing is 6 types of automatic buttonholes...AUTO-MATIC! I hate doing 4 step buttonholes so this should change. my. life. On top of that there is some very good knit stitches and its so easy to thread! I've decided to jump into a SWAP to road test my little Nomie.
Here's the start of my first garment WIP... Perfect if I get it finished for Jungle January! (Urgh! Totally need to make a new Ironing board cover...)

 I'm hoping to base my swap around blues and caramel tones, these are a few of the fabrics i'm toying with. I'll save the final details for another post.

What are you all sewing up right now? I'm desperate to try the new Deer and Doe Plantain Tee!

2014 Resewlutions...

I'm late as usual with my resewlutions this year, I've been mulling them over and looking over the last years progress here's what i've come up with:

• Complete a SWAP - I tried last year and got a good chunk done, however I didn't finish. Artisan Square have a new SWAP consisting of 11 garments 3x3 pacs and 2 wildcards. I'd like to participate in this one this year.

• Improve my blog - Piemaker bought me Blog Inc for Christmas and I can't wait to read it and be inspired to make my blog better!

• Finish a garment a month - This will ensure a steady turnover of garments this year.

• Stashbust- I didn't do badly 5 items out of 14 came from stash fabric. I'd like to keep track of my fabric purchases and use up a chunk of stash again this.

• Keep track of my Budgeting. Ok I don't have a "budget" per say but I have been mostly keeping track of what I spend on each project. I decided any fabric bought before January 2013 counted as stash and therefore got a free bonus if I used it up. With that in mind I spent £139.10 on fabric, notions and patterns that were used last year. This doesn't count sneaky PDF purchases or any fabrics I didn't use. I'd round it up to approx £200 which for a hobby isn't really that much. I'm sure i've spent far more than that in past years.

 What are your Resewlutions this year?