Bewitched Beignet!...

I think this is a fitting title for the nightmare beignet.

Its finally finished I'm pleased with it and I hope it will actually get some wear.

After the great rip I made in it I finally re-cut the front. The buttonholes aren't the best I've ever done but the buttons cover that anyway.

Its still a little snug at the waist but I did use more seam allowance than normal plus I'm thrilled that it fits at all considering it didn't 2 months ago!

The lining is my favorite bit! Its made from the leftover silk I had from my Every Cloud dress. Its a nice little surprise that makes me smile every time I put it on!

(This pic was taken in construction)

I've used it for my Sew Weekly Halloween challenge as I am wearing it to Piemakers sister's Birthday dinner which is on Halloween.

I think it looks a lot like the cape Endora wears in Bewitched!

I absolutely loved Bewitched as a kid. It was my treat when I was at home sick from school, I loved the costumes and Endora always make me giggle! So I felt it rather fitting this be called the Bewitched Beignet!

Storybook Skirt...

This week has been Quel Nightmare when relating to sewing. I've been poorly all week and thought it would be time to get on with my UFO's but that never happened. Then came the disaster with the Beignet...

I started working on my green Simplicity 2151. and its actually a lovely pattern! The fit is looking great so far and i've had very little trouble with it. I just need to do the buttonholes and hem. Hopefully I can do most of that before the end of the weekend and have a new shirt to wear! But talking of new garments whats that you see at the top of the screen?

Thanks to Piemaker's consistent playing of the new Gear of War game. I've had enough time this evening to finish a skirt for Colette Fall Palette! Hoorayy! (God knows I needed it after Beignet catastrophe.)

I think I'm in love with this skirt. I've called it the Storybook skirt and its made from New Look 6981. It was so easy to make and is from Anna Marie Horner Quilting cotton in two different colourways!

I have to give the inspiration credit to Patty from Snug Bug. She seems to have the ability to put the most beautiful patterns together and mix them. I'm not quite so brave. I tried a plain mustard band but it didn't have the pop that I wanted. The abstract trees make me think of fairytales and so thats where the name came from!

This means I've at got 6 of the Fall Challenge items either on the go or finished from the list. With 6 more to go!

Apologies for the night photos but I was just too exited! Hope your having a good sewing week!

Not one finished but two!...

Yay I got around to hemming the Sunny, Funny Girl top! I also sucked it up and got around to putting the loops and buttons on my Viola top (Not to be confused with my Violet top which is still on the UFO pile.)
I'm wearing SFG Today! For MMJ Day 15

Still so far so good with MMJ, I'm still wearing different things each day but I'm starting to feel sorry for my skirts! I don't wear them enough as they are a bit wintery. I think if I do Self Stitch September then I would get more wear from them. I'm in need of comfy cotton skirts to go with leggings I think!

Here is yesterday when I wore my Mona Skirt

Day 14. Yesterday I did lots of sorting out and cleaning the kitchen. Which didn't require a very exiting outfit. Not to mention watching Monarch of the Glen repeats and sewing on some little pearl buttons to Viola.

Here she is. I have to admit I haven't got the loop thing down yet. I'm going to wear it tomorrow with a white vest underneath as the upper bust pulls when the top button is done up.

I prefer it worn open anyway It isn't an uncommon problem for me with RTW tops.

It looks like there is some excess fabric that could be put into the side seam. At the moment when I move it gives me the droopy boob effect. This was only a wearable muslin though and I will wear it! I have the duck egg blue version in the process so I can be aware of it.

Don't forget to sign yourself up to the Flickr group for the Lisette Sewalong and show us your fabrics!

Hope your having a great day!

MMJ Days 6, 7 and 8...

This week is busy busy. I am almost finished my essay and am going onto my exhibition review tomorrow so by the weekend I should be free!!!
Kind of. We have house viewing for the rest of the week and then its down to packing!
We are moving EVEN EARLIER than we thought now so the pressure is on!

I'm pretty much on track for me made june though which is good. I have not yet missed one day and i'm quite proud of myself. I'm gradually getting to the end of what I have made now though so its starting to be a case of re-inventing and re-working what I have in new exiting ways.
Here's days 6, 7 and 8

Day 6 was a self drafted jersey polka dot pencil skirt. This needs taking in, taking up and the waistband could do with being faced. Having said that it is soooo comfy. I've had a rough couple of days so I had a couple of trips to the doctors this week. This was a doctors and library day.

Day 7 is my favorite so far. I'm not a shorts girl but in the heat last week I went and bought some RTW shorts. I have to wear them with leggings to feel comfy but this outfit came together a treat. The top is Ada. Piemaker said I looked like a 1930s explorer. I thought of Nicole Kidman in Australia,

but I think he probably meant something like this...

Day 8 was only a quick photo so apologies for the crazy hair. I wore my Lyra dress. We had house viewing and frantic essay writing in store today.

I'm still not overly keen on this dress but it is comfy with leggings and a cardi!

Hope your enjoying MMJ!

Onwards!

Today has been a day of meh-ness. I got all exited that I had fully lined my beignet with no problems. But alas! Twas not true, I've either lost a piece in translation or I have sewn it to another piece and it is therefore trapped in the lining. Doh.

Look there is even a Butt pocket! In the wrong damned seam.

Anyway that was thrown on the floor in a fit of rage...

Heres my MMJ Day 2 outfit. This is my market blouse that I will be doing the Sewalong for on the 20th of June! (Me and Piemaker have been working on the button and stuff for this!) This is paired with cheap RTW sailor trousers from Dorothy Perkins or something that I cut into shorts. Bit boring but I've only been sewing today and it required comfort!

So Once I had calmed down and ignored my Beignet I grabbed my Kona cotton (in Curry colour, plain yellow) Then stopped myself. Not wanting to waste a good quality plain fabric when I was mad. But I needed to make something new and craved something happy and yellow.
I grabbed my Amy Butler fabric I bought at Sewing For Pleasure Aeons ago and grabbed McCalls6011 (My Pearl dress was made from this) and chopped it into a top.

I literally LOVE the result. I was worried about wasting the fabric but I'm pleased I cut it! I just need to make some facings and finish off the seams. (To add to my distress my overlocker ran out of white thread!) Here's a sneaky peek. Pie maker is out galavanting so yet again I am forced to take my own damned photos.

Literally LOVE this fabric...

At Dawn We Dress Handmade...

Indeed I did.
Today I wore my red white and blue mark 1, (A Lisette pattern), and my Etta cardigan for little errands in The Laines, post office etc.

This definitely needed an FBA and the waist is a little tight for my liking.

I did my photos on photobooth as I was waiting for Piemaker to be my resident photographer. He's not yet in from work and its date night so were going straight out for dinner and then to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4! ( I think its the 4th right?)

Well anyways. I did errands today and spent the rest of the day sewing.
I got the collar and button placket onto my shirtdress and did a few odd sewing jobs, cutting some interfacing for my duck egg peplum shirt I had to use my pattern weights! I also started putting together my Beignet!

You didn't think I could walk past two fabric shops and not buy anything did you? I got some buttons for my duck egg blouse. Some Mustard Kona cotton (I really like the weight of this I was thinking it was going to be too thin!) some unknown floral fabric, like a very lightweight cotton linen texture and some Michael Miller Peony fabric. It was an expensive treat but I had some birthday money. (9.99 pm) I had also seen it online but it was too breathtaking in person to leave. One of these florals will be a Lisette tunic dress I think!

Hows your first day of Me Made June?

When there is work to be done, go buy fabric...

So that you have an incentive to finish your work and get sewing? No? Alright then.

I had a bit of a meh morning and ended up in Ditto.

I knew I needed some Jersey for some knit tops. (I saw someone last night wearing a sky blue drapey cowl neck on telly last night and I wanted one.)

Sadly they were all out of blue jersey. But I came home with 2m of plain Chartreuse,

1.50 of an orangey pinky brown print jersey in the remnants for £3ish and a yummy cotton interlock white jersey with lime spots and blue and purple flowers. I couldn't leave it!

I have various plans that change pretty much every minute in my head. I have to say Jersey in not my favorite thing to sew with but it is my favorite thing to wear. Sooo comfy!

The Brown Viscose Jersey will be a little top as there isn't much fabric to play with. I might be able to squeeze a little ruffle or something in to add interest but lets hope it doesn't shrink in the Pre-Wash. I was thinking of making it in Simplicity 6874. Which only requires one meter. I got this on the London Sew Weekly Meetup Pattern Swap! I'm so pleased its come in handy so quickly.

I own a Ponte knit Chartreuse cardigan and it is my favorite thing ever! But Its getting holes in! I have tracked down some Ponte but Ditto didn't have it in. So I went for another Viscose Jersey. I think it might still end up a cardigan but I might squeeze a plain top in as well.

I quite literally have no plans for this. I think I'm lacking in comfy tunic/dresses to wear with leggings but im not sure about a suitable pattern for this. Good news is it matches some of the stuff I've got going on already so perhaps a seperates game could be good on this too? A comfy little skirt and cute top that when together make a comfy dress? I will have a think.

I didn't get up to much sewing on the weekend. Just cut out my Raspberry Gingham shirtdress.

I was hoping to get stuck into the Beignet this week but I have an exam on Friday. So I should probably get stuck into that first...

I think I need another roundup post with moodboards so I can keep on track of this mad sewing frenzy.

The Day I Got My Stuff Done...

Evening Friendlings!

Today I got some stuff done, but didn't really finish anything.

I literally blitzed my bedroom and packed up a considerable amount of stuff for the move in July.

I cleaned my kitchen, did some washing and oh yeh...

Finished my Parisian Skirt,

Almost finished a surprise top.

(Do you recognise my pink silk/cotton mix? I changed the top I was making with it, but more on that another day) I also started on my Violet shirt.

On the good news front. I found my Burda pattern and instruction booklet for the issue with the Parisian dress in so can re-draft, plus there was some yummy designs in there. Shame I lost the actual magazine...

Heres a few I was drooling over.

Today has been pretty productive but i'm now all hyper and desperate to start cutting my Beignet and a Lisette Shirtdress I had planned for my Raspberry Gingham.

I'm not sure its wise to sew at this time at night when you only have the aid of an unusually bright lamp (My Great Grandmothers from the 60's.) I could start my duck egg peplum shirt otherwise.

My sewing queue is gradually getting smaller. Out of the 5 things I had on the rail one is finished and three tops are almost there. I'm glad I have another skirt to add to the Me Mades, Sorry the photos are of them on the hanger badly. I will try and get stuff finished tomorrow so I can show you them on.

The Violet blouse is so super easy! I'm glad I bit the bullet and bought it. This could be a great go to pattern.

This post is one of two parts...

We went on a fabulous trip to London Today for the Sew Weekly blogger meetup! I have to say I think It could be the most fun I have ever had ever! We met at the V&A all in our themed outfits... Went to the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition and then onwards to Goldhawk Road where the real fun began. We met up with the Goldhawk Road group who were with Karen and then proceeded to do the pattern swap... Ok so there may be more than two parts to my story as so much happened in one day.
After the swap it was shopping time and this my friends is where I will be starting the story... At the end...
Sort of.
I spent more than I had planned but got far more than I had expected and even crossed off multiple things on my list (Yes I wrote a list!) I was glad I took shopping bags with me. It was a nice mix of cheap and cheerful, mid range and "I would never spend £40 on silk jersey" kind of range.

I did end up with lots of prints again but as they are for a range of uses I'm letting myself off. I could have gone more crazy trust me.

But I got fabric for two skirts, two trousers, one cardigan and six tops (one being a shirtdress type deal.) I think if I got my butt into gear all the Me Made Months in the future would be pretty much covered!

Because this is such a picture heavy post I'm going to do it in order of garment. So first up is the skirts.

The awesome skull pansy print has been used in Topshop and is a sort of stretch cotton sateen. Really yummy and I think it could make a great "Paper Bag" Skirt. The wool tweed is a Raspberry and sky blue with white, hard to photograph but it reminded me of something from Joules and I think this could make a very wearable pencil skirt.

Next up are the trousers. After my disappointment from Croftmill I was determined to get some coloured twills so I could make up some bottoms, The purple was £4pm and the green £3.50.

This was the fawn coloured Jersey for the cardigan. I need a neutral colour although I could have done with picking up more Jerseys, I seem to be very fussy when it comes to the handle and this was the only one priced right for the quality. I had hoped to get some yellow but for some reason it never happened. I might fit a cowl top out of this too!

Finally onto the tops...

These are all cotton and the final one is a Liberty Lawn. The shirtdress is the raspberry gingham. The dobby spot is a duck egg blue like the cotton from Ditto, sadly I didn't come across any white! Did you recognise the green circles? I bought this silk cotton at £7.99pm at Ditto in pink, Goldhawk £5! The mustard colour is super light and might have to line something but it was £1 pm and the hot pink print is wonderful I think this could make a good pendrell prehaps?

Ladies, I would love to say a huge thankyou to everyone that went today. You were all charming and great fun and I can't wait until the next time!

More photos of the day to come!