Busy Sewing Bee

After watching the final episode on BBC of The Great British Sewing Bee I was inspired to make myself some new garments as recently there have been a lot of bags, purses, cushion covers, curtains etc going through my sewing machine.

First up is a little shift dress made in Liberty Cotton Lawn that I found as an end of roll remnant a few months ago for only £2.00 - can you believe that price for such wonderful fabric?
The pattern that I used was from my favourite Japanese Pattern book.  I used the pinafore pattern (extending the shoulder seam out a bit) and then added the sleeves from the blouse pattern.  I put some waist darts in as well for a bit of extra shaping.

The sleeve pattern is gathered at the top and is supposed to be gathered into a little band at the bottom but I decided to do an inverted pleat there instead so that it didn't look too rounded.

Next I unpicked an extremely large dress that I had bought from a charity shop in the winter.  I loved the fabric - it is a soft brushed cotton - and there was yards of it in the skirt.   In fact I was able to make this long tunic with three quarter length sleeves and a skirt as well.  I'll wear the tunic over a grey long sleeve T shirt whilst it's still a bit chilly, and maybe a black cardi over the top to break up the pattern, although  I do love checks.

 

The patterns were from the same favourite book.  This time I used the body from the sleeveless top (again, extending the shoulder seam out  a bit) and added the sleeve from the dress pattern. There are no darts or shaping but it hangs nicely.
The skirt is the actual skirt pattern, but instead of a box pleat in the centre front I put in two - one at either side for a change.
I had no intention of wearing them together but when I put them on my dummy  - with the top tucked into the skirt I thought that they actually look OK as a dress - maybe a bit frumpy but we'll see.

Garden Wall

When we started to build the new house a couple of years ago the ground levels were changed and subsequently I had to create a new garden.  I started building my garden walls soon after, but never actually finished them. But today I can proudly announce that the last corner is now complete.  Phew!

Firstly I selected some slate from the pile of spare stuff.  There's quite a mixture of shapes and sizes but I was looking for ones that were relatively smooth on top and bottom, the width and depth didn't matter too much though as I like a random look.

Next I mixed my mortar - 4 shovels of sand to 1 shovel of cement and a bit of water.  I like mixing but it's really hard work when you get to the third mix and have beeen carrying and lifting all afternoon.  Any strong men reading this will think I'm a wimp - but I'm only small!

This is my finished wall.  I found a lovely large right angled triangle for the top corner which fits perfectly - it's really nice when that happens.  Actually I've just noticed that I need to finish the steps but I can't do that just yet.  Anyway I've filled and levelled the soil in the corner so I'll wait until that settles and then put some grass seed on tomorrow which should hopefully soon blend in with the rest of the lawn.
Now for a long hot bath - I'm overcome with weariness!

Beach Bags

Just a quick post to show you my lastest bag makes.  I have quite a lot of narrow pieces of plain canvas and so when I was sorting through some small pieces of patterned fabric I matched a few up to create some bags.  They've turned out quite large and roomy so I decided that they should be Beach Bags.  I've put the grey one on Etsy and the yellow one on Folksy.

Wedding photos

 On Friday we travelled south to attend the wedding of my nephew David and his bride Suzanne.
The weather was perfect, in fact it was probably the hottest day of the year so far.  We were able to take lots of photos outside - so here is a small selection.

Here is one of Imogen, Emily, James, Me and Lorna. It's not very often that we're all together in posh togs!

My three beautiful little ladies.

Me and my bodyguard - whoops, sorry it's James!

 

A Few Small Bags

My sewing projects this week have been rather varied.  I've been making a Wedding Dress for my daughter's friend - just the hem to be hand sewn now, but I can't show you any photos yet until after the big day in about a month from now.
I've sewn a pair of curtains for a friend's grandad - I don't think that he's seen the fabric yet but it's a beautiful pale blue damask, he's sure to approve!
Then, there are a few small bags:

These two are only about 5 or 6 inches wide with long shoulder straps - perfect for a phone, purse and keys.

The two drawstring bags above are made from a vintage cotton fabric that someone gave me.  It had been cut out into a child's sundress but never sewn up.  Not all the pieces were there so I couldn't complete it, shame!
The two bags below are vintage towelling lined with a waterproof fabric - I think they make rather fun washbags for summer holidays.
I'll put them on Etsy when I have taken more photos, but it's dark, wet and windy now and I like to photograph outside for better lighting.

Natural Cushions

I wanted to make some new cushion covers and came across this piece of natural coloured linen mix in a jacquard weave.  I really wanted to use it but there was only enough for two fronts and a small bit spare, so I searched through my shelves and found a perfectly matching piece of fabric that I could use for the backs along with the spare bit.  An envelope opening is so quick and simple to do, so I had two new covers within a very short time.  I may put a button on the opening but we'll see how it goes.

 I couldn't stop there.  I had also found this striped linen among my 'natural' shelf section but again it was only a smallish piece.  However, it did two fronts and two back halves.  A bit of co-ordinating herringbone weave completed the backs.

I sometimes have a problem using my favourite fabrics, I don't want to use them for one thing just in case I may want them for something else later on.  I also love to just have them on the shelf to look at and re-arrange now and again.  But, as these are now in the sitting room I can enjoy them everyday.

Colour in my Garden

These lovely soft pink hellebores with their nodding heads are the only splash of colour in the garden at the moment, so I thought that I should capture the moment.
Whilst pottering around I then noticed that most of the primulas had doubled and as it was a pleasant evening it would be a good time to divide them.  It's a very simple and satisfying procedure and I love the fact that I've now got twice as many purple pompoms to look forward to.

Fabric Painting

Following on from my last post, when I had dyed a piece of muslin a lovely soft blue, I then did some small pencil drawings to find a simple design that I could decorate my fabric with.

I tried a few different sizes of brush with my fabric paint to see which design would work best.  I decided on the simple grass design using the finest brush and then painted freehand onto the muslin.  I think next time it would be better to stretch the fabric tight on a frame as it kept moving.  When it was dry I used a very hot iron on the reverse side to set the paint.   The piece of fabric is approx 18" wide and 45" long.  There's a selvedge on the short ends and just a frayed edge along the long sides.

This is the finished item and the 'randomness' of size and placement doesn't matter because when it's wrapped around as a scarf it's not noticeable.  However, I prefered the muslin when it hadn't been ironed so I might just dip it in water again to get that crinkled look.
Now, what else can I paint whilst I'm in the mood?