Month: January 2016

Super shiny Peter Pan Moneta dress

~ Rhiannon ~ Leave a comment

Sparkly moneta

It’s taken a while. but finally, with this post, I’m up to date on my pre-Christmas sewing, and it will come as no surprise that when I decided I wanted to sew a dress for New Year’s Eve I decided to combine two of my favourite things; shiny things and swooshy dresses!

What is it?
A Moneta jersey dress with three quarter sleeves and the peter pan collar hack

Is it blue?
No

What’s the pattern?
Moneta by Colette (definitely becoming a favourite, especially now I’ve got a peter pan hack!)

Where’s the fabric from?
One of the shops in Walthamstow. The man who sold it to me was a fabulous geezer and as I said in the Astoria post, everything in there was £5 a metre or less!

What was good about making this?

As ever with Moneta, it came together quickly and easily, and it was good to try out a collar hack. I was still pleased with the gold topstitching I trialled on the Astoria, but, most importantly I got to use my overlocker!

IMG_4312What was bad about making this?

Having to wait so long to use the overlocker. Seriously, it arrived here mid December, but due to Christmas rules, I wasn’t allowed to get it out of the box until I came back from my parents’ house. Pretty testing times. I mean, look how excited I was when it arrived:

IMG_3983Would you make it again?

I have a feeling that yes, this won’t be the last time a Moneta appears on this blog!

One final photo for you all; I got the boy to take a couple to try and get the dress in its best light, but my absolute favourite photo (bar the one of the two of us being silly) was the out take!

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x

Shiny Astoria jumper

~ Rhiannon ~ Leave a comment

Sparkly astoriaPart of the shopping trip to London included the super exciting purchase of some very sparkly fabric to make a dress out of for New Year’s Eve. In my panic of shopping I ended up buying a good half metre (and then some) more than I actually needed. Combined with knowing that I wanted to make an Astoria out of some very lovely teal sweatshirt material I got as a bolt end from Guthrie & Ghani, it seemed like the perfect time to test out the Astoria pattern and a couple of embellishment ideas I had in mind at the same time!

What is it?
A cropped sweater made in a super shiny black and gold jersey with gold topstitching at the collar and cuffs

Is it blue?

No

What’s the fabric?

Black and gold jersey material

What’s the pattern?

Astoria by Seamwork

Where’s the fabric from?

Another Walthamstow find, this one was from a shop that (surprise!) I can’t remember the name of. It had loads of rolls lined up and they were all under £5 a metre (indeed, this stuff was maybe £3 a metre?)

What was good about making this?

It was so fast! I think it took maybe an hour to get from cutting out to trying it on. I shouldn’t have been surprised given Seamwork pride themselves on patterns that take three hours or less, but it was nice to find out it was true!  It was also good fun to test out using gold thread for topstitching (especially as it worked!)

What was bad about making this?

Nothing. Actually, the amount of waste paper produced when printing out the PDF. Though I’m not sure what could have been done about that?

Would you make it again?

Yes, I just need to get round to prewashing that fabric!

x

ps. Apologies for the awful train selfie of this one. I’ve worn it loads since making it, but somehow never managed to get a decent picture!

Sparkly mermaid skirt

~ Rhiannon ~ Leave a comment

Sparkly mermaid skirt

Remember that time I went to London and got enabled into buying several metres of sequin fabric?

I knew at the time that I wanted to make it into a super sparkly skirt for my work Christmas do, and so it was that one evening in November, having used the super handy By Hand London circle skirt calculator, I found myself on my hands and knees in the dining room, preparing for the flood of sequin babies that even now we’re sweeping up…

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What is it?

A teal green sequin circle skirt, which Elle has christened a mermaid skirt (and who am I to argue?)

Is it blue?

No, although pretty close on the colour wheel

What’s the fabric?

SEQUINS!

IMG_3912

What’s the pattern?

A simple full circle skirt

Where’s the fabric from?

One of the first bricks and mortar shops you come to in Walthamstow Market, although I can’t remember what it’s called…

What was good about making this?

The shininess and testing out the swooshiness once it was sewn up (although I’ve no GIF for you this time as my trusty assistant was visiting friends)

What was bad about making this?

I read Lauren’s incredibly helpful blog about sewing with sequins. And promptly forgot everything I read, apart from the bit about using a teeny needle. So whilst I didn’t suffer a broken needle at any point, I did have to endure a LOT of snapping threads. Cue frustrated face.

Would you make it again?

I would make a circle skirt again; I like that it’s swooshy and big without being quite so gathered. I would sew with sequins again too, as now I’ve done it once, it can only get better. Would I make a sequin circle skirt though? I’m not so sure (but I don’t think that’s a bad thing)

x

 

 

Time marches on…

~ Rhiannon ~ Leave a comment
Watch and case © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

My word. How time has marched on since I last put up a blog post! Quite a bit has happened over the last month and a half, not least the passing of 2015 into 2016. I’ll be putting up some more blog posts over the next few days / weeks to rectify my silence, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve been up to since last we met:

  • I went sewing crazy through most of December, making a circle skirt, a cropped jumper, a jersey dress and the best part of a shirt dress
  • Father Christmas / My awesome mum bought me an overlocker (which, coincidentally, was used to make the jersey dress, but more of that soon)
  • During the Christmas break I rediscovered my love of knitting, not least because it was a very useful way to pass the time on the drive down to Dartmoor for New Year’s Eve (I wasn’t driving…). I’ve now got the bulk of a jumper back on the needles, with plans to redesign the jumper front when I get there. When I share the original and the redesign, the redesign won’t be a surprise!
  • I made a couple of resolutions for 2016. Unsurprisingly, two of them are sewing related. They are:
    • By the end of 2016 have a week’s worth of every day me-made clothes that I actually wear
    • Make a pair of jeans (argh!)

The week’s worth of clothes is an interesting one; I’ve already made quite a few pieces, but, like most new sewists, I’ve got the combined bugs of only-makes-dresses-and-skirts and overwhelmed-by-choice-so-buys-bold-patterns. I love wearing dresses and I also love patterned clothes. However, if I actually sit and think about what I wear most days, particularly in the winter, I should really add more plains/simple prints into the mix, and not just plain dresses, but a good, solid, jersey top pattern that I can remake and wear with skirts and trousers. That’s not to say I will stop making patterned clothing (I already have 3m of unicorn print fabric washed and waiting to be turned into a Sewaholic Cambie dress…) but I’ll be trying to offset my sewing of dresses that fall into the “super special” category with at least the odd “wear it everyday” item.

So there we have it; 48 days in a nutshell. How about you, what have you been up to in that time? Have you made any resolutions for the year ahead?

x