Simple sew kimono dress

Hi Everyone!

I have really been getting back into my dressmaking really after teaching beginners sewing classes it has inspired me to get back into it myself. Don't get my wrong I love my homewares and bag making but being able to sew your own clothes is very rewarding but i'll still be sewing and blogging about everything just expect to see more dressmaking.

So I must have over 100 sewing patterns in my stash lots of them being vintage patterns and I have been sorting through these recently as I will soon be moving into my new sewing room so get ready for lots of blog posts about organising.

I came across across a simple sew pattern that I got free with Love sewing magazine quite some time ago. I remember wanting to make this as soon as i got it but life takes over and I never got round to it. I knew this would be my next make I just needed the right fabric.

The biggest issue I had with this pattern is that it takes 4.3 metres of fabric at 45" wide meaning I would have to buy 4.5 metres. But as I was in my local market the other day I decided to look at fabric and saw this gorgeous print that really reminded me of holidays. When I felt it, it had a lovely silky feel to it and thought this would be perfect for the drapey-ness of this pattern. It was even 60" wide which meant I only needed 2.7 metres so bought 3 and at only £5 a metre I was more than happy.

This fabric is very tropical it has a gorgeous purple background and flowers in different shades of pink and green palm leaves and to top it all off, pink flamingos!

The dress itself is so easy to sew and from cutting out to finishing only took me about an hour and half. I want to make more now. If theres any beginners out there just getting into dressmaking then this pattern is for you.

The sleeves are joined in with the front and back pattern pieces giving it the lovely drape.

I can't wait to feel all summery on my holiday in September although i'm sure I will be wearing it before if we get the weather.

Has anyone else made this dress, let me know i'd love to see your take on it.

My First ever quilt

Today I am going to share with you my progress on my first ever quilt!

Working in a fabric shop where a lot of the customers are quilters I thought I better have a crack at a quilt myself. I didn't want to just make one for the sake of it either I wanted to make one for a purpose and wait for the perfect fabric.

A couple of weeks ago now some lovely charm packs got delivered to the shop. I knew this was the fabric for my first quilt when I saw it. The fabric is from Moda and the collection is poetry. The prints in this remind me a bit of Cath kinston but more traditional and softer.

The lovely People I work with helped me pick out the quilt pattern I was going to use. They chose a lovely one called Parade. These patter cards are brilliant they show you a picture of the finished quilt on the front and then what fabrics you need on the back and the instructions. This particular pattern required 5 inch squares which is why we chose it as my charm pack was perfect for it I also needed a plain border fabric I chose a pink fabric to contrast which was a makower Linea fabric.

This is how far I have got so far, there is an option to add another border around the edge to make it bigger which is what I am going to do I am going to use a patterned fabric, possibly a spotty fabric, nothing that will distract away from the rest of the quilt.

I also need to choose my backing fabric and binding fabric. I am thinking of a white fabric for the backing and picking out the lovely blue colour in my quilt for my binding.

The finished size of my quilt will be 49" by 63" not big enough to be a bed quilt but I am going to put it on the bottom of my quilt as a bed runner.

I will keep you posted on how I get on with the rest of my quilt.

All fabric and pattern card was bought from www.ohsewsweetshop.co.uk  Not everything is available to buy online but if you don't live far it is definitely worth a visit and you never know it might be a day I am working!

What I bought from Fabworks

Yesterday I received my order from Fabworks. I have placed quite a number of orders from Fabworks before and visited the shop several times as its only about 40 mins in the car from my house.

This time I purchased some of their scuba fabric which I haven't had before. I am really pleased with what I bought.

I love how when you place an order they put in a little sample of what the next fabric of the week will be, that way if you love what you see you can grab it as soon as it is available at the special price. I won't show you the fabric of the week as it may spoil the surprise!

So I bought three different scuba fabrics. The first being Graffiti Rose plaid. I bought 1 metre of this. I love this print and think it looks even better in the flesh. Here is the link for this one.
https://www.fabworks.co.uk/collections/scuba/products/graffiti-rose-plaid

Next I bought Polynesian Paradise, again just a metre. I loved that there was so many different colours on this and they really stand out on the black background. This fabric just reminded me of holidays.
https://www.fabworks.co.uk/collections/scuba/products/polynesian-paradise

Finally, I saved my favourite till last. Island blooms. I love love love the colours of this fabric a beautiful lilac background and large flowers in pinks and purples. I think I want to make a jumpsuit with this one. Possibly culotte style bottoms. I'm sure I will be sharing what I make with you all.
https://www.fabworks.co.uk/collections/scuba/products/island-blooms

Have you bought from fabworls before? I love all their jersey fabrics and think I may need to buy more scuba fabric soon!

Crafters Companion February Project- Friendship Bracelet

I have been a little behind on my blog lately so today I thought I would catch you up on some of my recent Crafters Companion projects.

In February ( I know this is some time ago now!) I was asked to make  project for National make a friend day. I'm not going to lie I scratched my head for a while trying to think of something to make. My first thought was a keyring which I did end up making but I will show you that in a different post.

I ended up making a friendship bracelet. This must have been the easiest project I have done for Crafters Companion so I wasn't sure if to make it or not but then I thought its not about making something really complicated but showing you all the different ways in which you could use your products, this is exactly what I did.

I used Debbie Shore's button factory to make my bracelet and love birds fat quarter bundle. It used very little fabric as you can imagine but there is loads left for other projects.

I used the ribbon that tied my fat quarter bundle together to make my bracelet made enough buttons to go around my wrist and then threaded these onto the ribbon and there you have it. If you are more experienced in jewellery making you could make a proper closure unfortunately I'm not so I simply tied a not but made it so i could adjust the size.

Click on the links below to buy everything I used for this project.

Happy sewing!

Button Factory

The fat quarters I used are out of stock but what about these.

Nesting makeup bag tutorial

Today I am sharing my second tutorial with you that I did for the crafters Companion Blog. Hope you like it and feel inspired to make these yourself!

Materials Required:

• Fat quarter bundle
• Heat n bond Vinyl
• Seeded Cotton
• Fusible interfacing
• Debbie Shore button factory kit
• Debbie shore English paper piecing Tumblr shapes
• Zips on a roll

Measurements for cutting outer front and back

Large: x2 11x8 inchs

x2 11x3 inchs

Medium: x2 9x10 inches

Small: x2 7x9 inches

Step 1: Cut out all outer front and back pieces for the Large and medium size bags Using the measurements above.

Step 2: Using the english paper piecing template cut out 5 of each of your 2 chosen fabrics, I use the prym glue marker to fold the fabric around shape. Then hand some 5 of those together alternating the fabric. You should now have two rows with 5 tumblers in each.

Step 3: Cut out the remaining pieces for the front and back of the smallest makeup bag. You shoud now have the the pieces like the picture below.

Step 4 Piece together the sections for the large bag and the small bag like shown in the picture below. This is also the time to add any embelishments to your oter pieces I used the riibon that tied the fat quarters together as a trim and my button factory kit to add a fabric button to the middle of my medium sized bag.

Step 5: Now cut out all the front and back lining pieces so they are the same sizes as the outer pieces.

Step 6: Now it's time for the vinyl. Cut out a piece the same size of each front and back. (so you should have 6 piees) Follow the instruction on the heat and bond to make your fabric washable!

Step 7: You now need to cut out your fusible interfacing for each piece of lining and adhere them on to the lining pices using no steam and on a medium heat.

Step 8: Cut the zips off your zips on a roll so they are slighty wider than the fabric, this makes is easier to sew so the slider doesn't get in the way.

Step 9: To attatch your zip get the outer front of your makeup bag, and place the zip tape right side down onto the right side of your fabric and sew, Repeat with the back piece sewing the right side of the zip to the right side of the fabric.

Step 10: This is where it may get tricky. Hold the zip in your hand so that both outer pieces are facing down and right side together, Now place one piece of the linig over the zip so the right side is facing the wrong side of the zip and sew across ( you will notice that your sewing over where you have already sewn the outer piece) Now repeat for the other side of the zip tape right side of the lining facing the wrong side of the zipper.

And when it's flipped the right way it should look like the photo above.

Step 11: Bring your outer front and back pieces so they are right side facing and the lining pieces so they are right side facing. Sew all way around the four sides leaving a gap in the bootom of the lining for turning through.

Step 12: On all four corners pinch the material so that the side and bottom seams meet to form a triangle and measure 1.5 inches from the top point and sew along that line. You can cut away the excess material above the seems when you have finished.

Step 13: turn the bag so they are right side out through the gap that you left. Making sure all the corners are nice and crisp. You can then sew the gap up that you left. Push the lining inside your bag and thats it ! Finished. Repeat these steps for sewing up on all of your makeup bags.

What i made my Nannan for Christmas

So i thoughy id just do a quick post today as i was scrolling through the photos on my phone I cam across the photos I had taken of my Nannans Christmas present that I made for her.

For her birthday which was in November i bought her the spectrum nois colourista pencils as she likes to colour and noticed she had started to do some colouring while she was watching tv and things.

I then had the idea to make her some sort of pencil case to keep her pencils in and knew that the pencil roll on Debbie Shores sew handy cd rom would be perfect and the flap pocket could maybe house her small colourista colouring book I bought her too.

I used these gorgeos floral fabrics. I also stitched the name Nannan on to the roll to  make it more personal.

As i say with most of Debbie's patterns it was a lovley and fairly easy make and I would deffinatly make more.

Debbie shore Bucket bags

Today i am sharing 2 bags that I made using the bucket bag pattern on Debbie Shores sew handy cd rom.

The first one i made was camper van fabrics. Riley blake keep on groovin. I love the vibrant colours, oranges and blues. The tie dye type fabric I have used for some of the inside pockets was fabric from my own stash and the plain blue fabric is a moda basic fabric. 

I used boast foam wadding inside my bags as this gives it the structure it needs. Normal wadding would be fine but it wouldn't stand up by itself. 

The instructions to this bag, like most of Debbie's patterns are well wrote so was easy enough to follow. The hardest part about constructing this bag was the fact that the basal foam is thick so some areas where quite tricky to sew.

The second bag i Made was using Riley black fabric again, this time some of the fabrics from the fancy and fabulous collection. I am not 100% sure on what collection or designer some of the fabrics are from.

I think this bag suits bright and bold colours which is why I like my camper van one the best but I do love the vintage feel from the softer colours I have used on the other bag. 

All the fabrics and wadding for these two bags I bought from a lovely little fabric shop in Doncaster called From rags to stitches. They had so many different fabrics to choose from it was hard to pick! 

If you want to use any of the fabrics I have used in these two particular bags the links are below. 

http://www.fromragstostitches.co.uk/product-category/fabrics/riley-blake/keep-on-groovin/

http://www.fromragstostitches.co.uk/product-category/fabrics/riley-blake/fancy-and-fabulous/page/2/