Thursday 31 March 2011

Fantastic Service...

I just wanted to let you all know about some fantastic service I received from Sew Me Happy...(their button is over on the right hand side there >>>)
Yesterday, about 4pm, I placed an order on the website...standard delivery.
9.45am this morning, it turned up. Everything packaged beautifully, with adorable little stickers on the packets, and a lovely Sew Me Happy postcard as well!
This is the second time I've ordered here...and the second time I've received great service.
When a place impresses me like they have, I like to share them with everyone - so I am! I'll definitely be a regular customer.
Here's my order - I'm making a handbag for a friend...I think she'll love it!

Fabrics are :-
Patty Young - Blossoms Black
Michael Miller - Dumb Dots Fuschia
Michael Miller - Dumb Dots Black
Ribbon - Grosgrain Fuschia/White Dots



(See that oh-so-cute sticker? I LOVE them!)

(I would just like to add they're not paying me in any way for this, in case you were wondering lol!)

Thanks for looking!
xxx 

Winning!

To quote Charlie Sheen....lol!
I just found out I won some gorgeous Riley Blake fabric courtesy of Alicia Grace at One Hundred Years Ago who hosted the giveaway and Plum Patchwork who donated the prize - this gorgeous charm pack and co-ordinating yard of fabric...


I can't wait to make something with it - it will make whatever I create look good lol!
A huge thank you to Alicia and Plum Patchwork - you made my day! 

Thanks for looking.
xxx

Sunday 27 March 2011

Thomas the Tank Engine PJ Pants!

I made these for my little Thomas fiend today...PJ pants! Needless to say after I got them on him, I couldn't get them off again - and he's currently all tucked up in bed with them on - good job I prewashed the fabric, eh? lol!
I traced them from a pair of pants I already made him as I love the fit of them - you can see them here: 

Please excuse the pictures - he was so excited with them I couldn't get him to stay still for five minutes! 

His attempt at a 'pose'...


and a rare still moment - no idea what he was looking at, but it seems it was fascinating lol!


Thanks for looking!
xxx

Saturday 26 March 2011

Playing with photoshop...

The more I looked at my blog recently, the more I decided I didn't like the frames I made for my photos - too fussy!
So this morning while Russ was asleep and Jamie was playing (relatively!) quietly with his trains, I thought I'd have a play and see if I could come up with something I liked better!
So here it is....this photo is one of the set I took when I made Jamie's contrast hoodie. This was towards the end of the mini shoot - I think you can tell lol!
So, what do you think - better? 



Thanks for looking!
xxx

Friday 25 March 2011

Woohoo!

Just had my confirmation email from Spoonflower that my entry for Project Selvage has been accepted.....fingers crossed I make it through to the next round!
Spottydots by StuffMummyMakes...


Thanks for looking!
xxx

Thursday 24 March 2011

Stripe 'J' applique top - competition entry!

Typically for me, I only found out about it yesterday, but thought it might be fun to have a go at entering...so I did!
I used the last of the stripe jersey that I made my stripe tee with - I'll just make sure we don't wear them both on the same day lol!

I thought it looked a bit plain for him as it was, so I jazzed it up a bit with a red jersey 'j' applique (cut from an old tee that was too small for him) - he said 'Mummy, that's a 'J' for Jamie! Is it for me?' Bless him!

No pattern, as per....lol!

Posing shot....


There's a shadow on my feet, Mummy!



Look at those eyes....they let him get away with murder! (ok, I know this shot has nothing to do with the top, but....I'm his Mummy and I love him! lol!)


Thank you for looking, I can't wait to see the other entries - how exciting!
xxx

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Thomas Skinny Tie

While cutting the fabric for Jamie's summer pj bottoms/lounge pants I had a long, thin scrap of fabric left over....so after looking at it for a while wondering what to make with it, I came up with this! He's a funny lad, he likes wearing ties, and loves Thomas, so I thought it would be perfect!
No pattern, as per....I just winged it - it fastens at the back with a popper so he can't hang himself on anything.

Just look at the face, full of mischief lol!


Thanks for looking!
xxx

Monday 21 March 2011

Peacock Wrap top - and a new technique for me!

This week I made myself another top....well, you can never have too many, right? lol!
This was a wrap top, made from the Sew Magazine Dec 09 free pattern AW1006 Carrie. 
I love it!

Please excuse my little man getting in on the act - he does love to be in front of the camera lol! He is wearing all Mummy-made today (well, except his socks!), so I'll let him off.

On to the new technique....bias binding. All the binding on the top above was hand made by me - I'd never even used bias binding before, let alone made it, so it was all totally new to me! I think it turned out pretty well, considering!

Shame about the slightly wonky stitching, but hey, you can't have everything, right? 


Thanks for looking!
xxx

Friday 18 March 2011

The Gruffalo Child!

I thought today I would share something of my little guy with you, other than just him posing in clothes I've made or eating my cooking lol!
This is him telling you about the Gruffalo (with a little help from Mummy)...please excuse the Thomas the Tank Engine reference at the end - it had been at least 5 minutes since Thomas had last been mentioned, so it was inevitable with my son that he would pop up somewhere lol!




Thanks for looking!
xxx

Thursday 17 March 2011

Baking with Jamie...

I promised Jamie yesterday that we would do some baking today, and he said it HAD to have chocolate in it lol!
So we made a chocolate cake, and had great fun!
Jamie decided he quite liked the cake mix though....
(excuse the photo - phone cam!)

but it turned out ok - and Jamie was so proud of himself that he'd made it lol!

And here's the recipe....

Choc Chip Cake

4oz SR flour
4oz light brown sugar
2 eggs
1oz cocoa powder
handful of choc chips

for the topping -
icing sugar
cocoa powder
water

chuck everything in a bowl and mix to a 'drop' consistency (you might need to add a little milk if it's a bit dry)
bake at 180c for 30-40mins

when cool mix a couple of tbsp of icing sugar and a teaspoon of cocoa powder together
add water to a thick but runny consistency
pour over cake
leave to set.

Very simple...but everyone seemed to like it when we had some after our tea tonight!

Thanks for looking.
xxx

Monday 14 March 2011

The simplest things...

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest this morning when I should have been doing other things...seriously, it's addictive! So I thought I'd have a go at making one for Jamie.
So after pinching a cereal box out of the cupboard, this is what I came up with - he LOVES it! He played with it for an hour straight after I gave it to him, and it was the first thing he showed his Daddy when he came home from work.
The balls came from a Hungry Hippos game...this is much less noisy lol!
I might have a go at a better one when I next have a spare cereal box - I'll get him to help me paint it up and make it look nice. But he doesn't seem to mind, bless him!


Thanks for looking!
xxx

Saturday 12 March 2011

We're a creative pair...lol!

As some of you may know, my Mr. B writes 'film score style' music in his spare time.
Last night, for a bit of fun, he came up with this tune...and it inspired me (along with this lovely fabric my friend Nick gave me!) to create this straight-neck 3/4 Sleeve Tee this morning!
Here's the tune...if you listen I'm sure you'll see where I'm coming from!

and here's my tshirt.
(As per - please excuse the awful photo! lol!)

Thanks for looking!
xxx

Friday 11 March 2011

Making a dress without a pattern tutorial.

This is my first tutorial for clothing....so bear with me lol! I'm going to show you how to make a dress like this, using a tshirt as a guide!



This will work for any size dress, as long as you have the right fabric - it needs to have some stretch to it, so a knit jersey type fabric would work best!! So from kiddies sizes up to adults, anyone should be able to do this! (Let's face it, if it came out of my head, it can't be too hard, right? Rofl!)
It can be long, or short...have a waist or an empire line...long or short sleeves...or no sleeves at all!

Firstly, grab a fitted(ish) tshirt that you have already that you love. Not for the pattern or design. For the fit, because we're going to be drawing around bits of it to make your dress.
Here's mine...excuse the creases, it's been screwed up on the table overnight!


Next, put it on. Mark with a pin or chalk where the waist will be (I'm making mine empire line, so it's just under my lumpy bits lol - you can do it at the waist if you like!).

Take your shirt off, fold it in half lengthways. Make sure you can see the mark you made on it...and please, put another shirt on. It's cold out!

 Then folding your fabric in half , place your shirt so the centre fold is against the fold of your fabric. With me so far? Good. This is actually taking longer to type than it does to actually do this lol!


With your chosen tool, draw around the outline of your tshirt, making sure to draw the arm holes and not the arms! Only draw down to the mark on your tshirt though, not all the way down!


Next, cut it out, leaving your preferred seam allowance all the way round (I use roughly 1cm - I'm not one for exact measurements if I can help it lol!). Then do exactly the same all over again, remembering to leave one neckline high and one lower for front and back.



Now comes the science bit....lol!

Open out one of the top pieces, and measure the width of the bottom seam, and include the seam allowance.


Get a pen and paper as you'll want to write these numbers down!
Divide this number by 3. (Roughly...not to the 5th decimal point or anything!). This will be the width of the top of your skirt pieces.
Then for the bottom measurement, take the first number (the width of your bottom seam of the body) and use that. For a shorter skirt, if you don't want it so full, then just double the skirt panel top measurement. Simple!
You'll need to measure and cut 6 of these panels, once you've decided on your skirt length. The easiest way is to fold your fabric lengthways, measure half the top measurement, half the bottom, them join them up and cut (leaving a seam allowance). See, I told you this was easy!



Next, sleeves. Mine are very long, (I like them like that!) but you can do them any length you like! Go wild! 
With your fabric folded down the length of the arm, trace the arm hole section from one of the top pieces of your dress onto the fabric, and then make your sleeve any shape/length you wish. I traced the arm of the long sleeve tshirt I used at the start of the process, just making it a little longer and flared at the bottom as the sleeves are too short for my liking (and I like a flared sleeve!)
Make 2 of these. Unless you're an octopus, then make 8.
For some reason, I completely forgot to take photos of this part - sorry!

OK, that's it! Now we just need to sew it together!

Sew 3 of the skirt panels together.

 then sew them to one of the top pieces.


Do the same with the other top piece and the other 3 skirt panels.

Sew the 2 pieces together up the side seams, and shoulders.


(As I'm not always fantastic with my measuring and cutting, I always leave the bottom hem til last so I can put it on and then measure the length....and in case the pieces don't exactly meet up at the bottom. It does happen.)

You should now have something that resembles a half finished dress!
You have?
FANTASTIC!!!

Now, on to the sleeves!

Sew up the seam on the underside of the arm, and then hem the cuff.  

With your dress inside out, and your sleeve right way out, slide the sleeve inside the dress with the armhole ends together.  You might need to pin this in around the arm hole to make sure it's even and in the right place - I often wing it lol! Shhhh! 
Then sew round it, and repeat for the other side.


Can you feel it? The end is in sight now....


There are so many ways you can deal with the neckline...I like to just fold mine and sew it round because I'm lazy (and I like the look it gives!) but you can add binding, tape, lace...even plait some leftover fabric and edge with that!


And then hem the skirt! It's really that simple! (See, I told you you could do it! Aren't you proud of yourself?)



Please, if you make this, stop by and show me your creations, I'd love to see them!
Thanks for reading!
xxx


Thursday 10 March 2011

Man size sewing lol!

I made this today for the big man in my life...as opposed to the little one I usually sew for lol!
This is my first adult tshirt, so I was a little apprehensive - but I'm really pleased with how it turned out, as is Mr. B!
He's now going to wear it for his big meeting in London tomorrow with the music biz people as it's 'casual' wear...and that makes me very proud of my sewing!


Thanks for looking (and fingers crossed for Russ's meeting tomorrow please!)
xxx

Saturday 5 March 2011

Sir Topham Hatt coming through!

Jamie decided he wanted a hat like Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the Tank Engine this morning...

so after an hour with some cardboard, sticky tape, an old tshirt and some sewing (the tshirt fabric is actually stitched to the cardboard lol!)....here's what he got!


and here's him modelling it...


he's been bossing his trains around now for the past half an hour...I think he's happy with it lol!

Thanks for looking
xxx

Friday 4 March 2011

Wrap Pants!

I saw this great tutorial online the other day...I'd never heard of these so I thought I'd give them a go as they looked great!


So here is the finished result! I really love them, they're so comfortable...but I think next time I'll use thinner fabric  (like a cotton or linen)  - much better for the summer (if it ever gets here!)


Thanks for looking!
xxx

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Wrap Skirt for ME!!

Yes, I finally got round to sewing something new for me - a wrap skirt.
Plus, it was my first ever time using a 'proper' pattern!
I added the contrast waistband, trim, and buttons...they weren't on the pattern, but I thought they'd look cool, so I went for it.
The contrast fabric is the Amy Butler Soul Blossoms 'Disco Flower' that I bought last week.



at some point I might even get a photo of me wearing it.....lol!

Thanks for looking
xxx

Getting an early start...

Well for some reason, (and trust me, this NEVER happens!), I'm making an early start on things for that most dreaded of C-words... CHRI...