dressmaking Archives - Page 17 of 17

Curtains

March 8, 2009

My plan for clearing down the workroom is moving on – helped by me making donations of yarn and fabric. This has many benefits:

I get stuff out of the workroom
My friends get fabric or yarn that they are happy to use
I’m paying forward my good fortune

Everyone wins. So thanks to Alice and Christian for helping a girl out.

I’ve also made a start on the sitting room curtains. Which are kinda like ironing shirts – an awful job that’s going to be a complete pain but really has to be done.

The problem with the fabric is twofold – firstly it’s very floppy and so is a complete bitch to sew as you have to chase it round the worktop and even pinning or clamping in place doesn’t have much effect. It’s very determined to make it’s escape.

Secondly, it’s patterned and there is some drift in the pattern: 002 Here you can see it pinned to the table. The only way I know to make this work is to hand stitch each width to the next one, making the best fist of matching the pattern that I can. I did these last week and all widths are now joined. I have two curtain fronts waiting to be made up.

It wasn’t fun but the finished result is worth it. You can hardly see the drift and once the curtains are pleated it’ll be even less noticeable. Honestly.

So this weeks work is to get the interlining widths joined and lock-stitched to the face fabrics. I may be on the missing list for a few days as these are the curtain equivalent of tailoring – lots and lots of hand sewing but hopefully worth the work.

We’ll see.

La Dame aux Camélias and a dress

March 3, 2009

0101 Miss Alice Cat is notoriously camera shy, so it’s not often she’ll sit and let you take a photo of her. And when she does she’s not necessarily gracious about it. Hence the very grumpy face here. This may have been exacerbated by having just been turfed out of bed and hoicked out of the house for the day. I’m not sure. But I am sure she’s not overly thrilled. Despite outward appearances she’s been much more affectionate of late, verging on sweet.

She must be mellowing as she creeps into old age.

On another note, if you cast you mind back through the mists of time to last September, you’ll recall that I did a short course of workshops at our local college. One of the projects I worked on was Simplicity 2798:

Well, I know that I said I needed to slow down with my sewing and produce better made and fitted garments, but really, this is ridiculous. So I finally cracked on and did the last bits and its finished:

0061 I know the photo is a bit bizarre but we were in a rush, the light was awful, Mr S came over all artistic and this was the only one in which I look remotely human. So you’re stuck with it.

Back to the dress. Whilst I’m not sure that I’ll make this again, it is ridiculously comfortable. It’s a heavy double knit jersey from Fabrix. I used the D cup sizing and this made the fitting sooooooo much easier. Why, oh, why can’t every pattern have this option? I just needed to take in a little across the yoke and a little towards the armhole to prevent gapping. But for the first time ever I have a sleeveless dress that doesn’t flap at the armhole, and for that alone I love this dress.

I think this is a good learning project for me rather than a go to pattern for the future. But on these cold days it’s a perfect dress to be cozy in.

One more word to the wise – don’t attempt the pleated sleeve with any fabric that’s remotely bulky. It won’t work and you’ll drive yourself mad trying to make it work.

Another month, and last minute trousers.

January 22, 2009

Well, yesterday we finally arrived at Panel. Can I just say it was like taking the worst Russian Grammar exam in the world. Having done no revision at all. Horrid.

We waited for some time for the Chair to come and collect us. There were about 14 people in the room and us. I’m a pretty confident person but even my nerves wobbled a bit. They grilled us, in a very gentle way, for about 20 minutes and then sent us off to wait. And wait. And WAIT. Oh…and then wait some more. The allocated time for a Panel review is about 50 minutes to an hour. Ours took an hour and a half.

Needless to say the result was not what we’d anticipated. Our approval has been deferred for a month. Not because they think that we would be bad parents. Not because our relationship, at almost three years is particularly new. And certainly not because of any medical issues.

Nope, it’s been deferred because we were TOO IMPRESSIVE (their words, not mine) at our Panel interview. They feel our report (which is what other social workers looking to place children will see) doesn’t reflect adequately our personal strengths and the strength of our relationship. Cue much grinding of teeth. They could have approved us yesterday, but would rather wait until the report has been rewritten, and then approve us at the next Panel meeting.

Which is in a month. On the 18th February.

We are not downhearted. Well, maybe a smidgen, but that is mostly adrenaline comedown after the buildup of the last couple of weeks.

This is truly a good thing. Whilst it means a further short delay whilst we finalise the documentation, it means that the paperwork will be the best it can possibly be when it goes out into the world. And that should mean that we have to wait less time for our children. And THAT can only be a good thing.

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Still on the subject of our adoption panel – thank you to everyone who sent us kind words and good wishes. The last few days have been a flurry of texts, emails and phone calls (and lemon cheesecake), which have without doubt kept me sane.

My friends and family, you are wonderful, and we are truly blessed.

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And last, but by no means least – the last minute trousers. Did I get them finished???????

Drumroll……………………….

Yes I did! And I’m rather pleased with them overall.

As you can see, I have no waist to speak of, a flat behind and more than my fair share of front. This all conspires to make trousers all but impossible to buy that fit well. This pattern, Vogue 8483, was the pattern I used on my Janet Moville trouser fitting course last year and I am more than delighted with the fit.

We did a flat bottom and a full abdomen alteration. We lengthened the leg and shortened the waist length. And this is what you get.

Now, you’ll note I’m not showing you the waist yoke here. That’s because it’s not perfect. I did a fly front zipper that I am pleased with, but the overall yoke is a little hinky….mainly because I sewed these up so quickly. But as I always wear a top over the yoke, this isn’t really a problem. And I can do better next time.

The odd thing was that when I put them on I couldn’t work out why they felt so different from other trousers I’ve worn in the past. Then it came to me. It’s because these fit!

Pants!

January 6, 2009

Of the expletive type, not the sewn type.

We’ve just heard that we won’t be going to Panel on the 14th January, but are provisionally booked in for the 21st.

The waiting is awful. We are feeling decidedly flat. How much worse is it going to be waiting for them to find us our family?!?!?!

Well, they do say good things come to those who wait. It will be worth it in the end.

Another year over……

December 31, 2008

…and wow what a year it’s been. We had a rocky start to the year with my road traffic accident and Pa Stitches-in-Law scaring the bejesus out of us with his heart attack. And then we sadly lost Uncle James mid year. But as we sat around the table on Christmas Day (just the six of us this year – both sets of parents and Mr Stitches and I) we still felt blessed. We have wonderful family and friends, all have our health, roofs over our heads, food on our tables and a warm bed at night. In the grand scheme of things you don’t need much more.

I’ve been thinking back (as you do at this time of year) over what we’ve achieved. Whilst I haven’t done nearly as much sewing, knitting or embroidery as I’d like to have done (and frankly, who does), we have achieved a great deal:

Renovated the whole house – just the outside and the sewing room to do over the next year (hopefully – but don’t tell Mr S!)
Completed our assessment for adoption – all paperwork is now in and we are awaiting confirmation that we shall be at Panel on the 14th Jan.
Mr S passed his Prince 2 qualification first time out and secured a great new job. Snaps for Mr S.
I passed my Italian despite my complete lack of studying.
I completed a basic pattern drafting course and now have a full set of blocks.
We set the date for the wedding (not long now. Note to self – must lose weight and decide on wedding dress!)

Not too shabby in hindsight. No wonder we were tired!

Anyhoo – despite thinking we had all we needed, Santa took a slightly different view. I think he went down the route of “well, next year it’ll all be about the children” so we had to climb over piles of gifts to sit down in the sitting room on Christmas Day.

I’m not going to bore you to tears with the whole list of goodies, (it was enormous) but everyone was too generous (thank you all) and I got lots of lovely things to support my knitting, sewing and cooking obsessions. I think the squeals gave away my delight. But without doubt my absolute favourite gift (and one that hadn’t crossed even the darkest, dustiest recesses of my mind) was from Mr Stitches (who else?)

Apparently its a bit of a family tradition that eternity rings are given before the wedding and who am I to argue. The picture really doesn’t do it justice but for the record its white gold set with aquamarines and diamonds. The aquamarines are the exact same colour as my engagement ring. He is a marvel. I’m still not over the shock and find myself using my left hand more than usual!

I am a lucky girl.

There has been little crafting going on here over Christmas, mostly knitting whilst watching movies and munching chocolates. This scenario also included Amontillado sherry and/or Bailey’s lattes!

However I have finished the back and am one pattern repeat away from finishing the front on Mr Stitches French Sweater:

I’ve finished Butterick B5125:

This is made up in 100% cotton. The print was imported from the States last year – can’t for the life of me remember where from. The plain is just a quilting cotton from Hobbycraft. Very simple to make up and has a nice retro vibe about the styling.

I’ve also finished my first jersey top and have started birthday gifts for next year – but haven’t done the pics so will revisit them next year. I’ll also start thinking about projects for the New Year and getting the new look blog up and running (it’s a work in progress at the moment).

So for now I’ll say goodnight and wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May your dreams come true. See you in 2009!

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