Fabric : Fibre : Family
Button is gearing up for her first dance show.
Next week her and her fellow dancers will put on a show for two nights at a local theatre.
Last night I put her name in her costumes and sewed elastic straps into tiny pink and black ballet shoes.
Our little girl is growing up fast.
I’m one very proud mummy.
Whilst I had a considerable amount of time at the weekend, not a lot of progress was made on the jeans.
I have a good reason for this.
I finshed my final paper for my English degree module. It’s been double checked. And submitted.
My English module is now done. One down, one to go.
Cue trumpets sounding, choirs of angels singing, and general celebration Chez Stitches.
However, I did get the jeans cut out and pin fitted.
Even pin fitted The Husband thinks they look a better fit than any RTW jeans I’ve ever bought. I’m taking this as a good sign.
This morning The Husband is working at home, so I took the opportunity to make him a mug of tea and get him to mark the correct height for the rise of the jeans. You’ll remember that I’d added some length to this but I’d gone from jeans that showed far more of me than I’m happy sharing with anyone but The Husband, to jeans that Simon Cowell would happily wear!
That chalk line shows the bottom of the waistband. So I need to drop the waist…
…redraw the pocket…
…and make all adjustments to the paper pattern for next time (she said, hopefully!)…
Repeat for the back, remembering to make any adjustments to the back leg piece NOT the yoke piece…
And lo! I am good to sew!
I’ll be following the construction instructions in the Palmer Pletsch jeans DVD that I received for Christmas (thanks Ma!)
I’ve watched it through once already and it’s a really good resource with some great sewing tips too.
And whilst I was waiting for my helper to be available to mark up the jeans for me, yesterday I made the most of my free time by cutting out the toiles for a Colette Ginger skirt and a little shell top from a Prima magazine pattern. I’m hoping to fit them at the weekend with Ma.
It’s been a productive sewing week so far, I think.
Hi there,
I’m having a lazy morning plucking up the courage to go and make a start on the jeans.
I’ve done some housework. Showered and dressed. Packed the family off for the day. Run Husband to the garage AGAIN with his wretched car. I’m so thankful that we can afford two cars and that the kids and I can easily get to nursery and out to play during the work week, but I really wish the warning lights/knocking noises/things packing up would stop on his car.
I’ve played some solitaire and generally procrastinated about going up to the sewing loft.
And I’ve read some blogs.
Which prompts me to this post. I know I was going to show you how I made the pattern for Button’s t-shirt refashion
…well today I came across this post at Running With Scissors, which explains it all far better than I could.
So rather than reinvent the wheel…do you mind if I send you across there to see how its done. And soon I’ll show you what I did with the neckband!
Promise.
But first I should gather my wits and go sew. The jeans are calling.
Have a lovely weekend.
On Sunday, whilst the munchkins tormented played with Nana and Granddad, I began a project I have long wanted to start, but have always been a little afraid of.
Truth be told I’m still more than a little nervous, but in a “I’m going to do this if it kills me” kind of way.
I started to make my first ever (but hopefully not my last ever) pair of jeans.
I know!
Jeans!
Eeeek!
I started with this pair of RTW jeans that I already own.
What I love about these jeans:
What I dislike about these jeans:
This last point is my major problem with RTW jeans. Unless you can afford to and are willing to pay a huge sum of money for something like Not Your Daughter’s jeans (I’m not) it’s really difficult to get a pair of jeans that are long enough in the rise to fit me.
I could show you but you’d be scarred for life.
Just trust me when I say these sit waaaaaaaaaaaaay to low, need to be belted sufficient to cut off circulation to keep them up, and are subsequently considerably less comfortable than they should be.
Hence this jeans project.
Surely I can make a pair that fit, in a colour I like, with non-popping pockets, for less than £100+ per pair?
So back to Sunday.
The Husband took some measurements so I’d know how much to add to the rise front and back. He pinned out the baggy butt (the jeans not mine…I think mine needs more than a little pinning!) and I curled up on the sofa with a movie, a mug of tea, the jeans and cutting implements.
One movie later I had this:
My only pair of jeans reduced to a pile of denim jeans parts! I really do have to make this work!
I then spent the last 3 nights converting those pieces into a pattern. Today, during a break from the writing of my final paper I drafted new pocket pieces and voila!….
… my very own jeans pattern!
So far so good. This weekend the munchkins have a full social diary involving dance rehearsals (Button), cake baking with Nana (Button), helping Daddy with some DIY (The Boy) and tormenting visiting with Nana and Granddad on Sunday (both of them).
So theoretically I can make a start on cutting and sewing these jeans. 🙂
I’d better get this paper finished! Laters!
PS. I know I could have followed the Kenneth D. King course on Craftsy and kept these jeans intact,
but they are falling to pieces too.
It’s no big loss to cut them up.
PPS. I’ve so far spent just under £19 on denim, topstitching thread and a zip.
I have a jeans button in my stash.
I just need to buy some rivets.
There’s nowhere near as much sewing going on Chez Stitches as I would like, but I have finally finished my first outing with this pattern:
I had plenty of fabric left over from the café crème Sorbetto, so used it to make the round necked version without the waist ties:
I have to say first up that I found this pattern to be less than satisfactory. The bodice pieces were different lengths and the skirt was a very odd shape. Although to be fair to the skirt pieces, I am a bear of very little waist so that could be something to do with it.
I added selfmade bias binding to the neckline and armholes. It’s a treatment I really love.
The lining, which you can just about see in this picture, is an old cotton sheet given to me by Ma SIL. It’s super soft and just perfect for this dress. And because the lining was free the whole dress, including the cost of the pattern and notions, came in at about £15! Bargain.
Needless to say, because of the problems I had with the pattern, this dress took far longer to complete that it should have done, but it’s a very wearable muslin, nonetheless.
I do need to tweak this bodice some more. I think a little more shaping of the princess seams under the bust to remove the little bit of bagginess, and another 1″ or so on the bodice length to drop the waistline a bit. I’ve already dropped the neckline an 1″ from the original pattern but think it would stand at least another 1″…possibly 2″.
I will be making this again because it’s such a cute dress and very easy to wear. Not too dressy for the school run but smart enough for outings too. I’m wearing it with ancient Clarks sandals here that I love, but have also just bought some cream flats and a cream cardigan to go with the dress. Flats are so much more appropriate to my everyday life!
Next up a pair of jeans.
Seriously!
I must be crazy!
3 years ago today we met Button for the first time.
At 1.30pm we finally found out that she would be our baby.
At 1.45pm we learned that Dad was making his final journey from this world.
A bittersweet day.
3 years on it’s all a bit easier to bear. But we still miss Pa every. single. day.
Tonight Ma, Ma and Pa SIL, The Husband and I shared a lovely dinner and raised a glass to our beautiful daughter and my amazing father.
Pa wasn’t perfect…but he was a perfect dad. And the thought that I return to over and over again is just how very thrilled he would be with his grandchildren.
He would have loved them beyond words.
And they would have loved him back in equal measure.
(I know he was immeasureably proud of Niece Stitches and her family.)
One of the things I think the kids will miss the most is the sense of adventure my Pa had. I had such fun as a child spending holidays with him in his truck travelling across Europe. I have a store of tales of our travels.
My babies will never have that time with him, and I know they would have loved it.
As would Pa.
But recently The Husband and Pa SIL took the kids for an outing to the local transport museum.
They had a blast.
And I learned something about my babies…
…it seems that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!!!
I have a mental picture of Pa in Heaven with Charlie dog, his best friends, and a large glass of Jack Daniels, smiling approval on these small people whom he never met, but who know him as Granddad Angel and love him nevertheless.
As do we.
We miss you Pa. xxx
The Husband is a clever man.
He’s also handy at DIY. He’s built stud walls and decks, he’s rewired the house and done plumbing. This is all OK because he’s a qualified electrical engineer.
So how come he’s sporting this today?
It turns out that when you work on a washing machine that needs a repair it’s very useful to isolate BOTH fuses, not just the one!
Because if you don’t isolate both fuses, you run the risk of electrocuting yourself and slicing the back of your hand open on the raw metal inside the machine.
And if you do that you spend the evening in A&E, have to have your heart checked and your hand glued back together again.
You also get the mickey taken out of you mercilessly by your father and your work colleagues.
You have been warned.
It seems so long since I posted a finished object here…and this one isn’t even one of mine!
Ma has made Button this gorgeous and very practical hoodie:
It will keep your ears warm on the chilly spring days we’re having at the moment:
The cute ribbed sleeves make it sporty:
Pattern: Sirdar Play Days Book 4 – version: Sammy
Yarn: Sublime Soya Cotton DK – Shade 080
The weather here is wet and wild at the moment. We snuck out in a rare sunny spell before dance rehearsals this morning to take the pictures. The rain is closing in again and the wind is getting up…but Button doesn’t care because she’s snug and warm.
And I have a dress finished that I will photo asap and share with you. Promise.
Keep warm and dry this weekend.
We have been on tenterhooks for months waiting for the school allocations to be announced, as Button starts primary school in September.
We are lucky enough to have 3 primary schools near to us, and one of them is one of the best schools in the county with excellent OFSTED reports.
I fell in love with this school when I visited during their open evening last year. It seems really creative, with an emphasis on all sorts activities, not just academic results.
I’ve been driving all my friends and family crazy with my wittering on about how we really, really want her to go to this school.
Today the announcements were made.
We got the school we wanted.
We are all very, very happy.
And we cheered very, very loudly!
The pattern is Ella from Kim Hargreaves.
I knitted it in Wollmeise laceweight.
I’ve got to get better at saving ball bands ‘cos I have not other idea than that!
All I know is that this is the perfect sweater for lounging around the house in.
Cosy but not bulky.
Great with leggings and flats.
A fabulous colour.
This sweater makes me happy.
I may just make this sweater again…with just a normal cast on edge…and enough yarn for full length sleeves.
I had just enough yarn…but I’m also now in love with knitting laceweight.