Top to Dress Pattern Hack

This week I had a visit from a friend of mine who brought with her a big stash of patterns she has never used.  She likes to sew sometimes and felt she would never give any of these a go so she  thought I might like them.  How lovely! I have had a good look through and already made up one of them today ( with a modification of course).  The patterns are all different makes as she got them free with sewing magazines, it was like Christmas looking through them all.  There are a few shift dresses that are more or less the same amongst them and she did say that she has noticed some of the magazines repeat patterns every so often.  I had a pile of sewing magazines that I had read that I bought  as a bundle over the summer  so I gave them to her now we both have a treat.

I chose to make a top from a new look pattern first, the piece of material that I had was from a lucky dip bag from Minerva crafts, it is black with a slight raised textured pattern.  As it was big enough I decided to make the top into a dress.

I'm letting the mannequin do the modelling for me today, I tried it on and it fits well so this pattern will be used again along with the trouser and jacket options that are in the pattern pack. I just lengthened the top pieces then added elastic to the waist on the inside to give the dress some shape.  Actually it did also look good just as a tunic shape.

 I like the detail of the pleats to one side, I had put this idea on my pinterest board to try and do myself but now I have the pattern piece I don't have to work it out.

I am very happy with how this turned out the, style and the fabric I think there is just something about black that always manages to look smart. It is just as well I like it as my fabric for my Minerva post is also black this month, I am still thinking on what dress to make with that piece.

Just a few simple pieces to this top/dress. It would look good with sleeves too so I'm on the lookout for fabric to make long sleeved tops with this neck detail.

So I enjoyed making that today and I am going to choose something else to start tomorrow, I have a remnant that I picked up  few weeks ago for a few pounds and it is quite a good size.  Hopefully I can squeeze something out of that.

Here is a picture of all the patterns I was gifted, can you spot any that you own and have tried? If so let me know which are your favourites.

I like the wrap top right, that may be next.

Sweater Dress

Well everything is back to normal now, new term and back to work and I have to say this first week has left me very tired.  I think the main reason for this is not so much the early starts as the dog has us awake early all the time, but rather the fact that you are on the go all day and I never adjust my bedtimes which are usually quite late.  I know some people will think just go to bed earlier but that doesn't work for me I will end up being awake all night if I try to go too early.  It is usually just a case of my body re-adjusting  then I will be fine.  Also being on the go at work then being on duty at break and not having chance to get a cuppa until lunchtime all catches up I think.  These things though they sound small do affect how you feel and after a summer of being able to refuel whenever I wanted it is going to take time!

I did manage to complete a sweater dress this last week and that is going to be a guest post for Minerva Crafts I will give a peek here  then post the date it will be live nearer the time.

It is made from a lovely soft jersey which is fleece backed, it was very hot having that photo taken as it was a lovely day and not at all tights and sweater weather.  I may have to do a few more like that as it is so warm and was easy to make.  Also nice and casual without being too sloppy.

I have collected three lovely books from the library, these were on my Amazon list of books to look for (by other means usually!) I ordered them from the library and they came really quickly. I read one of them yesterday 'Morning How to make time a manifesto'. It was a lovely read part diary, part interviews with various people about their morning habits and rising times.

The girl in the tower is the follow on to The bear and the Nightingale, that I  read that  a few weeks ago and Jane Austin at Home, I ordered this after watching a bit of becoming Jane over the summer.  Unfortunately I missed the start so may watch it again, but having read some of her work this film prompted me to want to learn a bit more about her and how much of the film was based on fact. I am starting that one now.

Those three books would have cost me twenty three pounds plus postage and that is with buying one of them used. How brilliant is that? My son really does not get how excited I get by books arriving at the library which is a shame because he loved them when he was younger.  I do feel you don't get as many boys who continue to be readers as they get older.  Right now I'm off to read, bye for now.

Sofa Quilt

I have to admit to being a bit of a cheat with my quilt, I didn't continue with the hexagons for the whole quilt you see.  After I had made twelve hexagon flowers and arranged them on the fabric to have a think I then cut out the rest of my hexagons in a white and pale blue stripe.  Well when I put them beside the flowers the design was almost lost, I had a bit of a rethink and decided to go with a grey spotty background and stitch the hexagon flowers to it in a uniform way.  It may not have been my original intention but I am very happy with it, all the lovely colours stand out.

It has been on the sofa a couple of days now so it is serving it's purpose and the dogs seem to like it!  I used some plain white cotton for the backing and I cut strips of the spotty fabric to bind it.  I did want a contrast but nothing I had was big enough and went with it and I didn't want to buy  binding especially.  The wadding has been sitting in my cupboard for some time, I have only hand stitched all the way through where the flowers are, I think it may need more to stop the movement so any tips would be appreciated as to designs and so on as I haven't really done many  quilts.  The only big one I made years ago was machine stitched through in diamonds, I don't really want to do that to this one.

   

We have been out walking in a another new spot today, Agden Reservoir Bradfield.  The superb weather once more put a beautiful sky over everything and we felt like the only people who knew about this one for most of the way around.  We eventually saw a couple of other people but on the whole very quiet.

The sun on the water looked very inviting (not that I would go in and you can't of course).

 The path was more rugged on this walk so maybe that was why we saw less people, it certainly wouldn't be suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet but if you want to get way from it all it is ideal.

 Here we were on the way back down the road and in the very distance we could see Dam Flask that we walked around last week.

 Back down in the village there was a game of cricket taking place.

All very English village.