The Esma Dress

 I did it!

Having said last week that I was going to sew a dress before I went to my mum's I regretted saying I would!  Thinking that I would not have time.

However, the pattern and fabric came at the start of the week and Wednesday and Thursday saw me running it up.

I saw the Esma dress on the Sew Over It  vlog and loved it - so immediately bought the print at copyshop version.  (I don't like printing at home and sticking together so was very happy to see this option!)

I got the fabric from Minerva and is a viscose jersey.

Loved sewing this - there are a few things I will change for next time - and there will be a next time!

The fabric wasn't the easiest to handle and was a bit thinner than I expected (but I am a newbie - so others would probably have realised this).  It was nice to sew, but was a bit fiddly to pin.  The waistband is obviously not pattern matched and is upside down!  But I don't think many will notice - next time I may make it in a plain jersey.

I cut the size 24 as that fitted my largest measurement, but this turned out to be a little big - next time I will cut the 22 and consider reducing the cut on the waistband.  But all of this aside - I  love it!

The pic is on Patricia - I  will get a modelled shot in the week as I intend to take it away with me.

A Year of Projects Update - week 4

 And now we breathe!!  We havd got to thd summer holidays.   Albeit with ten last days self isolating.  I quite enjoy working from home on the quiet, but I always work far more hours than I would at school, and so have much less time crafting than I would like.

It's been ridiculously hot for some of the week as well which doesn't help - we are lucky that we have a lovely garden, but it's been too hot to sit in for some days!  Anyhow,  I have one FO.

I give you sparkly summer socks!  Not the best photo, but the weather,  of course, is not playing ball today.

I have also made some progress on my skirt.

I am knitting this with Travelknitter yarn in Uluru, and will later add zig zags in other colours.  I have also put in the elastic waistband to give me a bit more motivation!

I  also totally got inspired/enabled by Lisa Comfort at Sew over it and their new dress pattern - Esma.

Of course I had to buy yhe pattern and some material from Minerva immediately!  She is doing a sewalong on Wednesday/Thursday which is perfect, so I will join in - hopefully I will have a new dress by next update!

And that is pretty much all that has happened this week!  Hope everyone has a good and safe week. 

A surprising new project!

 Note:  I started writing this in the half term break at the start of June.

Second note:  We still haven't finished Daniel's bedroom!

We are getting Daniel's bedroom done at long last.  As a result, on Monday, I took down his cabin bed.  He has had it 7 to 8 years and whilst taking it apart I found all manner of things I had stowed around it, that were impossible to get to.  One of the things was a box of cuddly toys and in the bottom of that box I found this:

Now this is a doll my mum made for me and I can't have been very old.  So I think she must be at least 38 years old.

I have, therefore,  made her my new project.

Yesterday I carefully sewed up two breaks (not rips as I believe I was pretending to be a doctor when I purposely made them!)  I also put a bit more stuffing in her.

Today I put her through a wash in the machine - just a gentle wool wash, which has taken the worst of the dirt off of her, but there were several stains that remained.

I had a go with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate which helped on her face, but the ones on her arms and legs were quite stubborn.

So I have now used a stain remover on her arms and legs and then will wash her again by hand to remove traces of the cleaners.

Her clothes were in good condition, apart from needing a wash and stabilising some seams, all but her pants are fine to go back on her.  The pants are beyond repair so I shall knit her some new ones!

I did all of that although when washing by hand I found the water coming out was a very dirty brown and actually started to makthe whole stain situation worse!  So I finished with a bought stain remover, which did a good job.  I have then reknit both pants and skirt, to give us what we have today.

I think you will agree she looks much better and ready to face the next 38 years!

A Year of Projects Update - week 3

 I honestly didn't think I would be saying this again, but here we are - again self isolating!  This time it is Daniel and he can't stay home alone (Thomas was OK except he does the bare minimum of work without supervising!)  So I am home again until the end of term doing my lessons by Zoom!  One good thing I that some of my lessons have very few students as they are home too, so we all meet up on Zoom!

I am having a morning coffee in the garden with the birds 🐦 as we are having a little heatwave (nothing like elsewhere in appreciate that) and it will be too hot later.

I am currently knitting on my skirt, but again, not enough progress to warrant a pic.

I  finished my four quarters in the week.

Here it is.  I used a Drops linen and the pattern was in the last Pom Pom quarterly.   Here it is pictured with a skirt I  made earlier in the year.  I modified it today as it did up with hooks and eyes, but unfortunately that gaped a little, so today I added a zip (I don't like doing zips - which is why I avoided it in the first place!)

Now I  love both pieces!

I have also turned the heel in both socks, so hope this will be finished by next week. 

And that is that for this week.  

Hope you all have a safe week.

A Year of Projects Update - week 2

 There is only two weeks to go to the summer holidays and to say I'm excited is an understatement!

I haven't done much crafting this week, but I  have had a little dig out of the projects that I  have on the needles.  Apart from the Battenberg blanket, I would really like to get these finished soon.

Firstly, four quarters is coming along nicely.   I just have the end of the last tie to do.

This is knit in a Drops linen yarn.

I have done a few more rounds on my skirt but you wouldn't know it!

This is being knit in Travel knitter yarn.  When I finish the Four quarters I will put in lots of work on this and see if I  can get it done!

I also have my Christmas jumper for Daniel to finish as well.

This is in John Arbon Textiles yarn (knit by numbers) and is another project I would like to finish soon.

And finally my socks.

I  am up to the heel turn on these, so hopefully, plain sailing from here!

No sewing this week, but I  did take receipt of some more flowers - peonies this week which I thought I was going miss out on.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Pattern matching!

 I got some lovely striped material from Minerva.

It's a cotton jersey knit fabric and should be perfect for a Coco top.  I also decided to have my first go at pattern matching. 

I watched a class from  Alison Smith at the Sewing Weekender hosted by the Foldline and felt ready to go!

I used the tips she suggested and I  think it has worked quite well.   Namely, lining up points such as the underarm with a stripe and making sure the fabric is lined up correctly to start with.

I did the shoulder seams by hand, but all of the rest was finished with a zig zag stitch on the machine and then pinking shears.

I quite enjoyed this, even the machine sewing.  The fabric was perfect, leaving me with enough to make a pair of pants as well!

All in all, I  love it!  Now to get more fabric to do it again!

A Year of Projects - year 11 plans

 So, it's year 11.  I'm fairly sure this is my 8th year.  I have approached each year in a similar manner and this year is no exception!  I shall compose a list here and then I  will complete some items and deviate from the list on several occasions.  And that is fine!  This year I have decided to hold fire on choosing my sweater projects in advance as I always get distracted,  so my list is more concise at this point.

Again, this year, like the previous 2, my overall aim is to participate in Me Made May.   I was pretty successful this year, and I  would like to up my game again next year.

Initially I would like to base my list around outfits, and I have sketched some ideas here.

Knitting

• Sweaters
• Four quarters  - started in June - Rav link
• Redcurrant - Rav link 
• Skirt - started ages ago!
• Socks
• Christmas jumper for Daniel - started in March
• Christmas Dec's
• Progress on Battenburg

Sewing

• More pants!
• Two tiered skirt
• 6446 dungarees 
• Basic tees
• Half circle skirt
• Elastic waisted trousers 
• Christmas crackers
• Placemats 

Other crafts

I hope to do some embroidery this year and it would be lovely to get into the weaving kit that I purchased last year.

I would also like to generally be more sustainable in what I do - so trying to use every bit of material/yarn and try to reuse products in order to throw less away.

And there we have it.  Another year, another list!  Now to start making some of these things!  I can't wait to see what everyone else is planning (I'm sure to add to my list then!)