Gifts Galore

I've had a lovely time over the last few months making gifts for various friends.  It started with a knitting needle roll for a 40th birthday which really re-ignited my sewing bug.

This was from a great tutorial on http://madebyloulabelle.blogspot.com/ and the gorgeous retro fabric was from http://www.fabricrehab.co.uk/.  I've bought a few bits of fabric from them now - so much more unusual than I'd find in my local fabric shop and it arrives within a day or so of ordering, so thoroughly recommend this site.

After the success of the knitting needle roll, I had a friend's daughter's christening coming up, so decided it was a good opportunity to make a rag doll - something I've been wanting to do for ages.  This is "Rose", the finished doll:

There was no shoe pattern, so I had to work those out, but was quite pleased with them in the end.

After that, another friend was turning 40, so I made her an evening bag from a Vogue pattern I've had for years.  I started off with some brown velvet and then, on a Bank Holiday trip to Arundel, found a gorgeous 50's brooch for a tenner which gave me the idea of using the creamy pearl beads to tie the two in together.  The pearl beads came from my mother's rusty wedding tiara circa 1962!

My mother-in-law loved the knitting needle roll, so I thought I'd make her one for her birthday in August.  Again, I got my fabric from Fabric Rehab. 

I made this today - it's a really quick pattern and only takes about an hour to do.  It probably took me longer to choose the lining fabric, binding and ribbon trims!  This is the finished roll:

 (I have no idea how to lay pictures out properly yet!)

The next project is yet another friend's 40th birthday present (can you see a pattern emerging here!) - another evening bag.  Have ordered a pattern from Vogue and will update further once I've started work on it.

I Don't Feel Like Dancing ...

I bought this fabric and pattern last summer, then couldn't decide whether to make it or not.  It sat with the rest of my fabric stash for over a year, but I finally decided last weekend to make it up, rather than have the bag of fabric cluttering up the house.

I spent a lot of time carefully getting the piping right on the front panel and making sure the shoulder pleats were even etc, but unfortunately I don't really like the end result (this happens more often than I would like!).

There are two main problems:

1.  Being not as tall as your average person, the front v opening is very low, so I will have to wear a camisole or similar underneath to avoid flashing my bra!  This is what I mean ...

2. The hem is supposed to be a bit like a shirt-waister I suppose:

(front)(back)

but this really doesn't look right on me - it looks as though I've cut the bottom of the dress badly and just decided to hem it and hope noone will notice! Admittedly, I can't deny there have been times in the past when this did happen - most notably a wedding dress I was making for someone which resulted in me having to remake the whole dress (and they don't know to this day that I had to do that!), but I promise not on this occasion!!



So, I was initially quite disappointed, especially as I love the fabric so much.  However, I've hung the dress in my wardrobe while I mull over what to do with it.

Today's idea is: to sort out problem (1), make a "modesty panel" in the same fabric with red piping on it and sew it into the lower part of the V, thus making it not so revealing; to sort out problem (2), cut quite a bit off the bottom and make it a smock top (which, as I live in jeans most of the time when not at work would probably mean I wear it a lot more than if I leave it as a dress).

I'm not going to rush to do this, will leave it for a bit and come back to it .... watch this space!!



It started with some shoes ...

Usually, I decide on an outfit to make first, then spend ages trying to find some shoes to go with.
This time, I had already bought these fabulous nautical-theme platform wedges:

Aren't they gorgeous?!! By the way, I sooo recommend the platform wedge to the shorter amongst us (5 ft 1 in my case!).

Anyhow, had a girls' night out booked and wanted to make myself a dress, so mooched into the fabric shop to see if they had anything suitable and saw this anchor print cotton:

Perfect!

So a dress was made from a Vogue pattern I've had for a while - and luckily I've finally accepted that I generally have to make Vogue patterns a size bigger than the dress size I buy in the shops, to avoid the usual angst when I can't do the dress up when it's finally finished (I know, I know, I should make a toile first etc etc, but how many of us do that EVERY time?!).  The pattern itself is unaltered from the original, although I did add in some red piping and trim on the waist and round the seam on the skirt.

So here's the finished article and very pleased I am with it too!

And, despite risking it without making a toile first, it actually fits really well (phew!).  When I met up with the girlies for our night out, two of them didn't realise I did sewing and at first refused to believe that I'd made it, so I felt doubly-chuffed!

It took me about a week of evenings to make - ok, so no housework got done and the kids barely got fed/bathed, but hey I had a fab dress at the end of it!!

On to my next project .....