Vintage Pattern in the Post

I love post from my mum, especially when it’s sewing related!

Check out this pattern….

Fab isn’t it?

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Fabric Shopping at The Remnant House, Harrogate

On a trip to Harrogate over the Easter break I popped into The Remnant House and stocked up on some fabric. A morning without the children…what else is there to do other than browse fabric without interruption, bliss!

I spied this stretch cotton dress fabric as it struck me as very Joules esque, what do you think? I wanted enough to make a dress for me. but now that I have washed and ironed it it seems that I have bought enough to make matching dresses for the girls…von trapp family here we come!

I picked up some jersey to make some dresses for the girls. One will be pink and white and the other blue and white. I’ve got an idea in my head of what the dresses will look like, I just need to translate it into reality…

Tragically I saw a picture of the Duchess of Cornwall wearing a navy and white checked shirt and I thought…I need one of those (and it had nothing to do with the fact that she had a glass of wine in her hand). So I picked up some poly cotton navy gingham to make a shirt of sorts.

On a slightly more crazy whim I bought some of this viscose floral fabric. I actually bought what feels like quite a bit as it’s 60″ wide. Something tunic top/loose shirt for me and something cute and fun for Charlotte….

If you’re ever in Harrogate they are definitely worth the visit, the staff are so friendly and helpful and they have a great range of fabrics to see. The Remnant House also have a facebook page where they keep you up to date/tempt you with their latest finds

 

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New Magazine :: Love Sewing

It’s easter holidays around here and I’ve not done any sewing for over two weeks now! There have been plenty of colouring in sessions, walks with the dog and visiting relative, just not a lot of sewing.

My trip to the shops this afternoon however has resulted in the purchase of the brand new, first edition of Love Sewing magazine

It’s tipping it down outside, the girls are watching a dvd, I’ve made a cuppa and I’m taking a moment to have a good read!

FREE :: Easter Egg Templates

I have pulled together some free Easter Egg templates for you to use in your Easter crafting. You can use them in paper crafts, felt crafts or even use the outline shape for a touch of applique. You could even just print them out and use them as a colouring in sheet. Download your copy of the Free Easter Egg Templates and get crafting! If you are looking for some more free crafting, check out the free Easter Basket and friends tutorial I designed for Sew Mama Sew.

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New :: Hen Finger Puppet Pattern

My Hen finger puppet pattern is now available as an individual download!

This hen is nice and quick to sew. As with all of my patterns this pdf features a list of materials you will need, nice and clear digitally drawn pattern pieces and illustrated step-by-step instructions. 

The pdf pattern for the Hen Finger Puppet is available as an instant digital download from the following places….

Little Black Duck :: Craftsy :: Etsy

If you are looking for more Easter themed finger puppets, check out my set of Easter Friends which is available from Craftsy :: Etsy

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Great British Sewing Bee :: Series 2, Week 8 The Final, Couture

Wow, the final…where on earth have the last 8 weeks gone?

This final week May and Patrick didn’t just want to see their sewing skills, but their hand finishing skills. Couture all the way!

Sewing from a Pattern: a Men’s Silk Tie (3hrs 15min)

The Purl Bee have a free pattern for a Men’s necktie. It’s constucted slightly differently to the one on the show, but you get the same result…a necktie!

There’s also a great tutorial on The Sewing Space for how to sew a Men’s tie and how to get that point just right!

The contestants had to sew a bar tack at the base of the hand stitching. Bar tacks are used at stress points in garments. There’s a great explanation of Bar Tacking and a list of potential applications on the WiseGeek website.

Alteration Challenge: Breath new life into a wedding dress by making a special occasion outfit for a child (2 hours)

Could you cut up a wedding dress? More pertinently could you cut up your own wedding dress? I’m really not sure I could cut up my wedding dress, but I certainly could have cut up the one that I saw today displayed in one of the local charity shops in town….it was a proper 80s affair!

Sew Beautiful have a post on turning a wedding dress (or two) into a Christening gown. There are some useful tips at the bottom of the post.

Create a Made to Measure Garment: Make a Couture Gown (7 hours)

Craftsy has a few online courses covering all sorts of techniques. They have a course on The Couture Dress which covers a whole host of couture techniques.

Craftsy also have a run down of some of the most commonly used couture hand stitches

There are of course also lots of books on couture techniques. I did a quick search on Amazon for Couture Techniques and I now have many more books on my wish list!

As for the result….Congratulations Heather! Experience has won out again! Like with so many things in life the more often you do it, the more you learn and the better you get. Just keep on sewing!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed The Great British Sewing Bee at least half as much as I have done! Just a year to go until series 3 is on the television….what on earth will I do every Tuesday night…sewing perhaps?

Have you checked out my Great British Sewing Bee pinterest board yet? I have pinned lots of great tips that follow the series. There is no excuse for not dusting off your sewing machine!

Round up posts from previous weeks can be found here…. Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6 and Week 7

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New :: Chick Finger Puppet Pattern

As we are in the run up to Easter I have decided to publish my Chick finger puppet as an individual pdf pattern.

This little chick is nice and quick to sew. As with all of my patterns this pdf features a list of materials you will need, nice and clear digitally drawn pattern pieces and illustrated step-by-step instructions. 

The pdf pattern for the Chick Finger Puppet is available as an instant digital download from the following places….

Little Black Duck :: Craftsy :: Etsy

The chick is also available as part of an Easter Friends Finger Puppet set which is available from Craftsy :: Etsy

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Great British Sewing Bee :: Series 2, Week 7, sewing without a pattern

Sewing off piste was the order of the day (or weekend?) for the Great British Sewing Bee semi-final.

Sewing from a Pattern…erm, not this week! :  Make a dress without a pattern using draping techniques (3 hours)

Fabric draping is a real skill. I went on a Draping on the Stand course at the London College of Fashion many many moons ago and it was a lot of fun, but there is a lot to learn. The contestants put in a lot of effort and I think, got some pretty good results. Some of my early efforts left something to be desired!

Gertie’s Blog on Better Sewing has a six part series on draping, fitting and sewing up a dress

If you do a search on Gertie’s Blog for draping there are a whole host of posts that she has written about draping.

Craftsy has a few online courses on draping on the stand. Try Fashion Draping for starters

Craftsy also has a course on draping on the bias

Alteration challenge: Add a pair of sleeves to a dress

Eeep, cutting a pattern from scratch is one thing, but cutting it to fit onto a ready made dress, well, that’s a challenge and a half! Not only did they need to get the proportions and measurements right they had to create an ‘interesting’ execution of a sleeve.

A few weeks ago I saw this great tutorial from ikatbag on sleeve drafting using a tissue box and some coloured card. Truly brilliant.

There’s also a great tutorial on Fashion Incubator on sleeve drafting

I also found a  great tutorial on Craft Stylish for adding a sleeve to an existing dress/pattern. I bet the contestants wish they could have seen this tutorial to help them get through the challenge!

Create a Made to Measure Garment :  Re-create a favourite item (6.5 hours)

Cal Patch is today starting a month long course on Pattern Drafting where week 4 is all about creating a pattern from an existing garment. The course lasts four weeks and is part of a subscription service that allows to you take a whole host of courses for less than $10 USD a month.

Don’t panic, you have plenty of time to catch up on anything you have missed as the course can be accessed at any time.

Craftsy also have a course called Pattern Drafting from Ready to Wear

 

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Thanks again for coming to read my weekly roundup of the Great British Sewing Bee. It’s the final week next week so make sure you tune in to see who comes out on top!

Make sure you check out my Great British Sewing Bee pinterest board for lots of other tips.

Round up posts from previous weeks can be found here…. Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5 and Week 6

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Tube Skirt, inspired by Miss P

I say inspired, but I actually mean completely ripped off!

Some time ago Miss P made this exact same skirt and wrote a simple tube skirt tutorial to go with it.

Despite us having very different figure types I decided I needed the exact same skirt so I bought the exact same fabric and followed the tutorial and made the exact same skirt!

Just £4.99 for a metre of Aztec ish double jersey from Minerva Crafts, what a great deal. The skirt start to finish took me less than an hour. What more you can ask for? Simple to make and a great price too. Happy bunny.

I usually say that the best thing about sewing clothes for yourself is that you create something truly unique, but not in this case! I love my skirt, thanks for the tutorial Miss P!

How about you, are you influenced by sewing projects you see online? Do you end up wanting to make the very same thing or does it inspire you to make something ‘same but different’?

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