Hooray! I am finally posting a finished item for the Pattern Challenge! I have to admit, it wasn't one of my 'goals' that I set out at the beginning of this challenge....but hopefully I can still include it!

Anyway, if you have been following the blog a little (and if so - thanks!!!!), then you will know that I have been sewing (for what seems like an eternity) a simple skirt. I used McCalls 2220:

• The pattern was pretty much easy to follow. A few things I was not 100% sure of, but I would put that down to this being the first pattern I have ever followed so the terminology is new to me. Luckily I have a mum who is a seasoned pro at sewing and she explained a lot for me

• The hardest part for me was definitely the waist band (of course - the rest is just straight lines on the machine!) - there were a few strong words exchanged between me, the sewing machine and the fabric at times when trying to join everything together on a curve...fun times! I also somehow ended up with the front button section NOT overlapping (eh?! How did that happen??!!)...so I made a little loop out of the red material and use that as the button closure. Ironically, it actually makes a nice feature and adds a nice pop of colour!

• The pattern doesn't include a contrasting band at the hem, but I decided that (after I had cut it out - tut tut) that it was too short for my liking. So I found a little bit of lovely red cotton in my stash and added it myself. The funny thing is that I wasn't really feeling the love for this skirt the whole way through making it, think to myself "well, I probably won't wear this as it's a bit boring but I'm making it to learn how to sew" - and as soon as I added the red band I totally fell for it! Amazing how adding one small thing can change something completely!

• The main negative I have for the skirt is that the dark blue cotton attracts white fluff like bees to honey and it gets crushed the moment you put it on which is a big pain.

I loved the brooch which I had made for my friends birthday i knew I had to make one for myself. This time I used a heavy duty fabrc from Ikea, so its a lot more rigid. Its nice to try out the brooch with different fabrics and I do like it in the heavy stuff, but I think flimsier fabric suits it better. For this pic I've attached it to one of my hats, but I've been wearing it mostly on my clothes and I'm loving it...I think I will be making many more of these!!!

My friends birthday was coming up and I was trying to think of what to get her. She is quite a 'crafty' person herself and loves making her own cards in particular, so I thought she might appreciate a 'home-made' pressie!

So I set about making a tote bag (since this was my latest achievement - see previous post!). This time I decided to follow a tutorial and found a brilliant one on Skip To My Lou, which is actually reversible - bonus! Again I had to use what material I had to hand, this time it was very sturdy fabric from Ikea (white with black 'bunting').
I was a bit stumped as to what to make the lining with as nothing I had really went with the Ikea fabric. After a bit of searching around I found a flowery scarf which I had bought from Primark, but not yet used, and thought I might as well use that!!!


I was a bit nervous about making the straps, as it requires you to fold the fabric over 4 times, and I was worried my needle might break. So I adapted it slightly and only folded it three times. However, I think I should have stuck to the 4! Saying that, it worked out fine anyway. I really liked the method for finishing off the opening of the bag, and actually using this as the place to turn the bag the right way round. It ended up looking very professional (well...in my opinion anyway!).

As an added bonus I decided to make a pretty fabric flower brooch out of some of the remaining lining fabric. I found a very good tutorial for it at Wise Craft. The button is just one I had in the house. I recon the brooch turned out very well and I know my friend really loved it.


xxx


P.S. Since I used Skip to My Lou's tutorial, I thought it would only be appropriate to join in in her 'Made by You Mondays'! Click the link above to check out loads of other things people have been making! :)

*Holding my breath as I write this...the computer might crash!*

Well as I mentioned in a previous post, life has been ticking along, even if my computer hasn't, and I have a bunch of things I've been wanting to blog about but haven't been able to.

So here is the first one...

I had had an idea for a tote bag with a pocket on the front that would allow it to be tucked into itself so it could be stored in my handbag when not in use. I know this is not a 'new' idea, but it's not something I've seen around so I thought I had to give it a go anyway. So one night I got to work and whipped something up. As well as anything else, this is also the first time I have made a tote, so it was a good learning experience for me. Here is the end result:

Hi ho folks - I am back! Ok, it may be temporoary as my computer is still acting up...but keeping fingers crossed nontheless.

And I'm kicking off the wonder of being back online with the announcement that I am joining in on the Pattern Challenge which Sarah from comeandseetheseitz.com is hosting! It's a fun group who all make their own personal pattern sewing goals, blog about them and also share them on the designated flickr group too. I thought it would be really interesting to follow how everyone else gets on...and it also gives me a bit more insentive to reach my own goals!

Speaking of which.....my goal for this pattern challenge is:

- To make 3 summer outfits by June 30th

The first of the three will be a dress....from the pattern below:


I'm not sure which yet, but I think it might be A or E...or B.....
I also need to decide what fabric to make it out of. It's a simple enough pattern, but I'm new at sewing so I'm starting easy.
I'm also looking forward to picking out 2 other patterns to work on.

Wish me luck!!!

I think I had said I would post these pics a while back, but I have only gotten round to taking the photos now! Anyway. When I got my lovely sewing machine from my dear kind parents (keeping them sweet in case they ever read this blog! lol), I realised I would be best to have a dedicated space for it to live - and the spare room was the obvious choice. Except as you can see it was a bit of a mess:


xxx

Well I thought it was about time that I attempted to use my sewing machine! My mum, bless her, was very excited about the whole situation and scurried off to her sewing room and came back with a 'make your very first skirt kit' (Lettie Wilson Copyright 2009 - lol, joke!) where she basically gathered up every thing I might need to make a skirt.

So, now that I have tidied my spare room, put up my new desk and officially have NO excuse not to start (I'll put up a 'before' and 'after' shot of the room soon) I have to start on the skirt.

First step...read the instructions. Think I got two words in before I was completely LOST! Dressmaking patterns are not written in English! It was like reading a foreign language. But I was determined to at least START the whole project....so I have pinned all the pattern pieces to the material and cut the pieces out. And I shall be making a visit to casa Wilson for a translation of the instructions so that I can actually start sewing everything together! But it's a start!