A Special Day

This weekend I was at the wedding of two wonderful friends (and a glorious day was had by all!).  One week before the wedding, I decided that clearly, a new dress, so as to be suitably attired, was in order.  I thought about what I wanted and decided the idea of a linen dress, with a little embroidery on it, would be just the thing!

Then I considered logistics and decided I was mad.  A week is not long enough to do all these things!  I'd need to buy fabric, find an embroidery design, not to mention all the time needed to actually sew the dress.  So I decided not to.  Then, on Monday, I decided I would anyway.

Apparently, it is possible to make a linen dress with embroidery, in a week!  Here's my effort.

Simplicity 2886

 Apologies for the bad lighting in the pics - they were taken very quickly in between the ceremony and lunch!

You can just spot the embroidery in this pic!  I decorated the bodice band, top of the bodice and straps with a leaf and heart design in stem stitch.  I came up with the design myself, as  couldn't find anything I was confident of finishing stitching in time from a design embroider company.

I have made a mash up of versions A and C, and I made the straps double thick, so I could embroider them.

 I definitely have plans to make more of this dress!  It was a very quick sew, the waist pleats were easy to do and overall the dress only needed minimal fitting.

The other glorious thing about this frock is definitely the fact that is has pockets!  This totally made me the envy of so many other ladies at the wedding!

Stegosaurus Taggie

Small Bean post No. 2!

Small Bean has recently become fascinated by the colour orange.  Last time she and mummy came round to play, we gave her a piece of orange cotton to play with (Best Thing Ever!) so I decided to make her a small toy from some of it.

Which gave me the perfect excuse to use this tutorial.  I have been itching to make one, ever since Katy bought it to my attention!

I used the leftover cotton from my mum's knitting back lining and some cotton ribbon that was a freebie from Mollie Makes.  Due to time constraints I didn't embroider a face, but other than that I pretty much followed the tutorial.

It seems to have been a hit with the Small one!

Lots of enthusiastic grabbing happened!

It's surprisingly hard to pick just a few photos to share with you all!

 

Here she is having a good go at this being on her front malarkey!

And a much needed nap was taken!

Short Break of Sorts

Sorry about last week.  It turns out that whilst working out in a gym has done a lot to improve my fitness, it still can't completely eradicate the effects of a weekend in armour, so between recovering from that and packing to travel this weekend sewing didn't really happen.

Sewing is happening this week, but in a rush and with no time to show it off due to deadline stress, so instead I thought you could have a couple of Small Bean posts instead!

Today, please enjoy some pics of Bean showing off her epic measuring skills! (I am determined that she's going to grow up to craft).

Look Mum!  Auntie Luthaisea has given me a thing to chew!

See?  This is how long I am!

And this is my torso measurement, haven't I grown?!

As you can see, she's growing like a weed!  Sooner or later she's going to need another coat!  Any suggestions as to it's style?

Hotwater Bottle Covers

I have finished my hot water bottle covers!  I shall be toasty at the weekend!

The middle one is rabbit fur and the two side ones are fleece.  

 The two fleece ones were made but cutting out three pieces, hemming the 2 short pieces and sandwiching them together and stitching round them, before turning them inside out.  The fur one was made by stitching the skin in a rectangle.

 They all work and should hopefully keep mt snug in my sleeping bag when camping!

WIP into an FO!

I finished one of my WIPs!  I spent a lot of my free time the week before last and last week, beading.  I then added a ribbon loop, glued the back down and got my lovely husband to put a hook on the wall for it.

The above is how it looked, when I dug it out of hiding and added it to the wip pile.

 And here it is, all finished and hung on my wall!  I love it and I'm very glad I finished it, but I have no intention of doing any more beading for a while!

This picture is largely to show why we put it on that part of the wall, as the colours match our lovely glass hanging that we picked up at a craft fair on holiday on Wales.

I am currently focusing on the knitting as it does have a deadline and I am sewing a frock for me, mostly because I had the pattern and the fabric!  Both of these have to be set aside this week though, for frantic camping preparations, so expect to see hot water bottles on Thursday!

A Birthday Gift, Finally Made!

For my bithday last year, I was given a fabric voucher.  I treated myself to some silk (of somesort) and a skirt pattern and for a long time, that was as far s it went.

Last week though, I decided to finally get around to making it up!  

Simplicity 4188

The pattern is Simplicity 4188, though I did lengthen in by 3 cm.  I also added a lace trim and a velvet ribbon to the bottom.

I love this skirt!  I love it so much!  It's the perfect combination of pretty and comfortable.  I can wear it with leggings and boots if it's cold and with sandals and bare legs if it's warm.

It was a lovely easy sew and one of the quickest garments I've made.  I added the lace to give a smidge extra length (I like my skirts long) and then the ribbon is mostly to hide the lines of stitching.  I adore how well it works!

I'm currently preparing for the first camping event of the BathLARP year and so next week I will have hotwater bottle covers to show!