Purl and Seam

The Henny Pinny – FO 25/2011

November 9, 2011

Phew…all handmade Christmas gifts are done and ready for wrapping. I can’t share them yet but I’m really rather pleased with them. One especially which is my own design! Get me!!!!!

It’s too early even for me to be wrapping Christmas gifts just yet. It spoils the fun of the season, I think.

But I’m now itching to get back to some dressmaking and have a couple of projects in mind just as soon as I can get some time in the sewing loft. The Husband is away tomorrow night so I feel a bout of cutting out coming on!

In the meantime, as well as the gifts, I’ve managed to make myself a new apron in time for the Christmas cook fest:The Henny Pinny

Fabric: Hen fabric is a linen mix bought at Festival of Quilts

Black is a linen mix bought from Dunelm

Pattern: Copied from the apron I made recently for Black Purl.

Notions: Steam-a-seam for applique

Cost: £15.

And that’s about it. I think it’s cute and a new apron was definitely overdue. Whilst it’s not the most exciting project I’ve done recently, it’s certainly one of the most useful.

PS.Apologies for the grainy photo

It’s so very overcast and dark here at the moment. I’ve had the lights on in the house all day.

Astonishing…what with it being November and all!

😉

MOSI

November 1, 2011

Yesterday was Pa SIL’s birthday and The Husband took the day off work (a rare occurance indeed) so we could spend the day as a family.

As is usual at this time of year we struggled immensely with the challenge of what to give the man who has everything for his special day.

The children went for books as Granddad is an avid reader:although obviously Granddad needed lots of help from little hands to actually open the gifts! Whilst small people found the contents to be considerably less exciting than the wrappers, I think PSIL was happy:We then piled into the cars and headed off for the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

What a great idea it was:

Coffee, cake and cuddles

Hands on in the Textile Gallery

Button encourages Nana to try her hand at knitting (on a vintage sock machine)

Trying her hand at weaving

Blowing bubbles

Trains are cool, Granddad

A good time was had by all

There was even something to catch my eye:

Thistledown coat - yep! really! thistledown!

We ended the day waiting to greet Trick or Treaters, suitably attired to cast a spell on them:

All in all a wonderful day.

Happy birthday, Pa SIL.

As promised…

October 24, 2011

…here is the GJ quilt top so far:Two thirds done.

Probably giving anyone with even an ounce of quilting skill the absolute heebies.

I challange you to find a square corner, a well matched point or a straight line.

But I don’t care. And I’m determined to finish the top this side of Christmas. Only 4 blocks left to do.

October

October 19, 2011

October is turning out to be an overwhelming month.

All of it in a good way I hasten to add.

I’m so busy I’m meeting myself coming back.

Spending time with my family and friends, keeping the home in some semblance of order, and actually doing the required amount of study for the current module, have all served to keep me away from the loft and my sewing machine. This is, of course, the way I like my life to be and have no complaints but nothing in the way of finished projects to show at the moment.

Thankfully one of the Christmas presents is made. I only have 3 to go. I have everything I need to get these done except for a zip and some time.

That said, some projects are progressing very nicely, thank you very much:

: Kim Hargreaves ‘Ella’

: Fairhope

: 4 blocks of The Gardener’s Journal quilt top are done

: Pocket for an apron I’m making for myself

: The North Country quilt is 3/4 finished

It’s strange how buoyed I feel by this little recap.

Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees, but this shows that things are getting done, even if it’s not as quickly as I’d like.

I hope you’re making progress too.

Kids!

September 27, 2011

Honestly.

They look so angelic.

And then they strip off in dance class with a flourish, a ‘perfect 10’ gymnastics closing stance, and a resounding “Ta Daaaaaaa!”

Or they argue, straight faced and with no sense of irony, that they don’t need to eat fruit and vegetables to help them see in the dark because they have torches.

Not one torch.

Oh no!

Two torches.

So who needs apples and carrots.

Crazy grown-ups!

But today Button takes the biscuit.

I went to retrieve laundry from the dryer in the garage.

She bolted the door behind me.

Kids!

Back to school

September 27, 2011

The Chaos Monsters have been back a nursery (which they call school) for a couple of weeks now.You have no idea the esteem in which I hold their teachers!

Now it’s my turn to hit the books.Obviously the very best place to study is your local coffee shop.

Especially when it’s analysis of the English language that you’re stuck with.

It’s a dry topic.

It needs lubrication.

And even I can’t justify wine at 9.30am.

The only problem occurs when you pass the newsagents on the way to said ~~study hall~~ coffee shop

Oh temptation!

Crapsticks!

September 26, 2011

With the kids back at nursery every morning you’d think that I’d be getting lots of creative things done here, but it feels quite the opposite. I do have a couple of things to show but simple haven’t had the time to photograph them…I’m hoping to rectify that this week so I can share them, but am less than optimistic!

It’s all good stuff, just a bit bonkers.

That said, I did get to spend some time on Sunday afternoon revisiting these trousers:Well…that’s a couple of hours of my life I won’t get back!

Honestly, they just went from bad to worse to “crapsticks, these are beyond salvaging”.

So they went in the bin.

And I’m back to the drawing board. And strangely sanguine about the whole experience.

Once upon a time, and not so very long ago (with apologies to The Carpenters) I would have been angry or miffed or just generally bemoaning my lack of skills. With these trousers I could see what the problems were and feel energised to try again.

The biggest problem was poor fabric choice. It was so promising as a piece of fabric, and so disappointing as trousers. Too little recovery, not enough structure, very snaggy. Just generally unpleasant.

We live and learn.

However the biggest learning point from all of this is that I now have a very clear idea of what I want these trousers to look like.

First up they need to be slim, but maybe not quite as slim as Clover:

: image courtesy of http://www.colettepatterns.com

They need to be versatile so I can wear them either 7/8ths length or full length:

: Image courtesy of www.anthropologie.eu

They need to work in multiple fabrics and with style features like different pockets or an added cuff.

: image courtesy of www.anthropologie.eu

Yep…it’s a trouser block I need. And it’s a pretty tall order, I think, but one I’m definitely looking forward to working on.

It’s on the back burner for a while as apparently there is a significant date in December* for which I have a pile of unsewn gifts and towards which time is swiftly marching. So October is my major festival* gift sewing month and the trousers can wait.

Although they’re a good incentive to crack on so I can get back to them as soon as possible.

*I’m loathe to mention the C word…it seems so early!

Ludlow

September 21, 2011

This time last week we were on our mini break in Ludlow.

How Bridget Jones is that? Mini Break!

Anyway…LudlowFabulous architecture.Fabulous food shops.A 40 minute drive from beautiful Hereford with it’s spectacular cathedral.

And the opportunity to buy the. most. adorable vintage style pyjamas for 2 small people! I couldn’t tell you the name of the shop but I can tell you it’s in Valentine’s Walk in Ludlow and owned by the most adorable lady. If you can, go visit. The children’s clothes are to die for.

We stayed with Elaine and Sandy at 35 Lower Broad Street and cannot recommend them highly enough.

The welcome was warm but not remotely intrusive.

The accomodation spotless and comfortable. Fluffy towels. Comfy bed. Luxury toiletries. Tea, coffee, biscuits and bottled water. Magazines. Wi-fi. Books.

We were a 5 minute walk from the town centre so for once we could share a bottle of wine without having to worry about taxis.

And the breakfast!

Oh My!

I died. and. went. to. heaven.

I think we may go back again.

It was perfect.

Café crème Sorbetto – FO 23/2011

September 16, 2011

I know that pretty much everyone else in Blogland has made one of the lovely Sorbetto tops from Colette, but in truth I wasn’t completely convinced it was a shape I could carry off. And everyone else’s was so amazing I didn’t want to let the side down.

However, I took the plunge and made this one from that lovely café crème fabric of unidentified fibre composition purchased from Abakan. I knew I had enough spare from the dress I’m planning to make and as the fabric was really quite inexpensive I could afford for this not to be a huge success.

I needn’t have worried – it seems it does work for me after all.

And I’m much happier with it than my face would suggest in that picture!

In my defence I was trying to squeeze a quick photo shoot in before breakfast, which I could smell cooking and was more than a little distracting.

“Cooked breakfast” I hear you ponder.

Why yes. The Husband and I have been away for a couple of days. More on that later.

But back to the Sorbetto. I like it so much I’ve got a second one on the table now. Hopefully it will be finished fairly soon.

So close….

September 4, 2011

and yet still so far! There are 3 main problems with these trousers.

1. The fabric, whilst lovely on the roll, is shocking in real life. It has no recovery and so as soon as you wear them the trousers lose their shape pretty quickly.

2. They are too long in the body.

3. They are still too wide in the leg.

As a result of this I’m still getting smile lines at the backSo I think I need to take the waistband off and take some length off the body. I also need to reduce the leg width at the thigh and see where that leaves me.

Whilst the fabric means these will never be perfect, with a little tweaking they will be perfectly acceptable for everyday wear, running errands and the school run. To be fair, even as they are they are a better fit than RTW, it’s just that I really need to work this pattern to make it even better as I live in trousers for everyday and need a perfect pattern.

So, not a finished object just yet, but hopefully not to far from it.

PS. The top shows the other problem I have with RTW…look how short that top is. My next post will showcase my solution to it.

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