January...ing

 Here we are halfway through the month already so I thought it was time for an 'ing' post.  I am loving the month so far and trying my best to stay on track with all the things I want to do. How are things where you are?  Is the new year treating you well? I'll get on with it then...

Planning a couple of trips away in our caravan, so we are in a group on Facebook for people who own T@B caravans like ours and the good thing about that is that everyone ahres all the lovely sites they are on and pictures too.  So you get reviews on where is good to go,  I had spotted one site last year that someone had shared and we have got in touch and will be having a  weekend away at the same site.  It is not for a few months so I will share that at the time. Another one we booked is a place we visited last year while in the lake district,  we were not actually staying there but loved the place it is called Grangeover sands so we have booked a site near there too that one is for a week.  

Walking daily, I have always walked a lot because I have dogs but not always as far and as much as I'd like week days as the dark nights and being out all day affected when  I could do this.  Well now I am taking advantage of the weather at different times of the day and fitting what I do around that, it is much better and very good for the mood to be out in daylight in the winter.

Here is the glorious sky in the park yesterday, today we went early while everything was frozen, again beautiful but in a different way but no image as I didn't have my phone with me.  Many teenagers would gasp in horror at that statement!

Watching a few new things on the TV, so we have NOW occasionally, and other things based on offers my husband spots but not all the time.  Recently we have had these things so have had the option to watch a few things. Yellow Jackets has been good, a bit of a blast from the past with the music, we have loved the soundtrack to this series and it is worth a look.  We watched a film last night called The Tender Bar, based on a memoir, starring Ben Afleck and I really enjoyed that. I nned to find something else now, 9 in the evening is my sit down viewing time. 

Reading  The Dutch House, I have just started this and I am enjoying so far but it is early days I do hope it goes somewhere if you know what I mean.  The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People now I know I read this years ago but it doesn't hurt to reread some things and we are always different when we read stuff years later so it is on round two. 

Eating something different for breakfast each day in an attempt to trick my stomach, still not quite right so I though I would try and pin point the culprit that bothers me.  So far it is not working  so I guess I am just having a not so good month with this, I do get like this now and again then things settle down. This morning my husband came doen to find me making Gf fruit scones early as another option to have, he said it's like living with Mary Berry, ha ha not quite;)

Sorting through my fabric scraps still, the issue is where to put them all in a more orderely fashion,  I use them for my bags and I am quite hap hazard at creating with them so they are in lots of places.  I don't want things to be too pristine that I don't want to disturb them but I want some sort of sytem.  Keep working on it is my motto for this one.

Sewing all kinds of things this week, still not sure what I am allowed to share at this point from the video making projects so I am linking a few on the Minerva blog feed if you follow me there.

Then I made this Freya top and a video for youtube to go with it, please have a look and if you do could you like, subscribe and comment please that would be a big help.  The link is below

Freya Top, How to

Bag making, a few so far as you may have seen and here is the latest...

Find my bags here

The lovely pink upholstery fabric in two shades thank you to Jo at Three Stories High, a butterfly lining some striped canvas I have left from another project and a few craft cottons.  My messy approach to bag planning worked well here again.  A note here, this bag sold immediatley to a friend. 

So what are you all up to ? Please let me know in the comments I love to read them, take care and have a good weekend. 

Weekend Charity Shop Find

 I hope you have all had a good week, it is dark and wet here at the moment like a proper winters day. Yesterday we had a trip to the charity shop I took some of my decluttering, five books, a top, a jacket and some bits and bobs.  Still on track with the declutter but I don't want to overwhelm the shops so I will do this weekly.  

I did come back with one thing, so exciting well I think so!  The Tilly Walnes Stretch book that I ordered from the libaray over a year ago and made some lovely things from.  It was just sitting on a shelf for £1 and in brand new condition.  Well rushing over to my husband he didn't know what all the fuss was about but this is an expensive book that is why I ordered it from the library and I did love it so to pick it up at this price was just fabulous.  Today I am wearing a sweater that I made from it.

The pattern piece sheet in the back doesn't even look like it has been unfolded, someone must have bought this on a whim and never done anything with it.  So I am thinking of working my way through this again and possibly doing some youtube on it, I can't decide if that will be a good use of my time as I already make vidoes for Minerva.  I also don't get that many views on youtube, if you think this is something that will be useful to you please let me know in the comments or I will be just talking to myself in the videos;)  Either way the book will used and loved.  Feeling very pleased with my bargain today.   My husband had strict instructions to not let me come back with lots of books but as this is non fiction and so useful it slipped through the net. 

Yesterday I added a trim to the neck of a dress I had made, I found the nekline on the pattern low for me.  It is just me personally but as I am petite I felt it was just showing a large expanse of chest despite  being a really good fit.  I think if you are larger up top this can be ok as you push the garment out and it gives a different appearance.  There is the option to add trim on the pattern but I didn't have any so I pleated a long folded piece of the same fabric to create my own trim...

It just gives me an extra 2cm and I will feel a little more covered that little bit can make all the difference.  If it was just a pattern I had created myself I would have changed the neckline but as I was showing a pattern here I have to make it true to the pattern, and just resist my urge to modify everything.

We watched a good film last night called the Last Duel, it had Matt Damon, Ben Alfleck and a few other big names in it and was based on true events.  If you get the chance give it a go, I do like films that have a bit of history to them and it is always astounding what women had to put up with and also the ridiculous ideas of the past that saw women burned based on the ideas and whims of men!  That is also a theme of the book I am currently close to finishing The Mercies, I know women in some parts of the world still suffer horribly due to superstition and religion. 

Anyway I will leave on an upbeat note, I have enjoyed my week of sewing from home and there is plenty planned for next week.  I hope you are having a super new start the year, back soon, Take care. 

The Freya Top

Yesterday I finished my Freya top from the Till Stretch book and I am really happy with the fit, it gives a choice of necklines one of them being a cowl.  I originally cut the neck as it is for a roll neck but I felt this was too high for me and may drive me a little crazy, so I unpicked it and halved the size then stitched it back in.  Much better for me at this size, although if I made it a bit looser I am sure it would be great with the higher neck for winter.

I opted for a size three and the length and fit are very good but you do have to ensure that your fabric has the correct amount of stretch to get the accurate fit.  This will become a staple of my wardrobe and I will be adding more of these for the cooler months when I see the right fabric at the right price of course.

So here is my me made May day 11, I have paired my new top with another self drafted skirt, fully lined with a side zip.  This skirt has been in my wardrobe a good few years and I love the bird print, birds feature quite a lot in my clothes.

I tried the top on my mannequin before I made any final changes to the sleeve and hem but to be honest it was already looking good, so a very accurate fit for me on this one.  Just a tiny hem on the sleeves as I do have long arms.

 Here it is with the higher neck before decided to shorten it, if you didn't want this style of neck at all you could always turn a narrow band to the inside and topstitch down, this would create a flat round neck.

My trusty brown baking paper on the go here again, I have made little white sleeves for all the patterns have made from this book then I intend to print of some of my images of the finished garments to stick on the front of them.

I have had a lovely day of making today, it is a gift for a friend of mine and I love it so much it will be hard to part with it.  Due to this fact I am unable to share it yet just in case she sees it on here and her birthday is this month.  I will have to try and remember to share it later.   It was one of those projects that just fell into place, the perfect fabric was spotted the other day and then it arrived today earlier than expected.

There has been some mending going on too and that is always very satisfying, I have a few images of that saved too.  I am currently working on my husbands laptop mine is in my techy sons room as he adds a new ssd, I am worried about lost documents and photos even though this is his job.  We really do rely on our computers now don't we and feel a little lost when something goes wrong.

That is all for today, stay safe.

Another Joni Dress

Yesterday I made up my new fabric and opted not to go for my skater dress but make another Joni dress from the Tilly Stretch book.  The last one worked out so well and looks very dressy, due to lockdown I have had no opportunity to wear it yet.  This new fabric is fun and summery so will be more of a casual dress so making a Joni in this seemed like a good fit.  Now when I bought the fabric I only bought a metre, the dress pattern requires more so I have had to modify the skirt.  It is not a full floaty skirt on this version as I ran the sides of the pattern down to make it fit a metre of fabric I will show the pieces further down.  For now here it is on me, made May day 8 and we had lovely warm weather today to wear it.

So as you can see the skirt is nowhere near as full as it should be but as a casual dress it is probably a good thing.

You can see the colours and the detail on the dress better here on the mannequin. I particularly like the cross over detail on this dress pattern as I think it is very flattering.  I opted for short sleeves, well I had to have short sleeves due to the amount of fabric :) it is a summer dress so that is ok.

I swapped my needle for a nice new ball point one as this fabric has lots of bounce in it, if you are interested it was from Minerva and only £5 so a bargain of a dress.  I made the  neck binding by just cutting strips of the same fabric and I took extra care not to pull it as I was sewing, because this fabric was light it made a very good job of the twist detail at the bust.

This really is a new favourite pattern and I may go off and make many versions of it over the coming years, watch this space!

Here you can see my pattern piece folded over quite a lot, it changes the shape of the skirt but not the fit, you just get more of an a-line skirt rather than circular.

We have had a nice long walk today with dogs, sat out in the sun for a little while and now I am planning what to make for dinner. I have seen lots of bunting out ready for tea parties here in the UK I will be cooking a hot dinner, as sandwiches were had at lunch time.  There are also some overripe bananas in the cupboard so a little more baking may be happening later to save them going to waste.

  If you are all set for your garden party then I hope you have a good time, socially distanced of course.  Bye for now.

The Bibi Skirt

Well here is my latest make from the Tilly Walnes Stretch book, I don't think I will make all the items from the book as I have very similar patterns already but the ones I have made are very nice.  I didn't have a contrasting fabric in jersey to make this the same as it is in the book but I did have some scrap pieces so I made mock piping to go down each seam so you would still get he effect of the panels in the skirt.   I really like the effect and I will do this again, so having less really does force you to be creative as I do not have the fabric stash of some sewers just a few pieces but lots of random bits that are not big enough for garment but might come in handy!

Here I have the top of the sweater tucked in but I don't wear it that way I just wanted to show the top of the skirt.

I am still undecided about the sleeves on this sweater but as I have been wearing it loads as it is so comfy and warm it can't be bothering me that much can it? Plus I was told it looked designer so I'll take that ha, ha.

With  the sizing on this skirt I played it safe and made the next size up but then it was too big so I just had to redo my seams, no big deal.  I think I was over cautious  as the first item I made from the book  the sleeves were a little snug and had to be redone and I always think it is much easier to take things in a little.

This is the cute version in the book with the two fabrics together, I do now have some stripy fabric but I have other plans for that.

While I was rooting around looking at left over bits of fabric I also found one my boys old t-shirts from when they were younger.  I managed to cut out the sleeves for another Frankie t-shirt and again used up various left over bits.  I  really love this make and my son said it looks like something you pay a lot for in a shop, high praise indeed.

I had to send these to myself from my phone and I have no idea why, wouldn't then save properly so screen shot from my email!  Weird, I hope these last few are clear enough.

I just have a feeling I am going to be making these tops for some time using all sorts scraps, oldest son has plans on one already.

This past week I finished The Handmaids Tale, remember I said I was reading them in reverse.
 I did really enjoy it.
I also read The subtle Art of not Giving a Fxxx.  I know, apologies if you are sensitive and he does use that word a fair few times in the book but I did watch a talk he did some time ago and he made a lot of sense.  The book was not about not caring about anything but the fact that what we care about day to day is just irrelevant and usually what people think of us, and that of course will really not matter and in a week or maybe even a day.  Priorities and finding what you really care about was really the message.  So if you can avoid the bad language and the fact that he can talk rubbish also sometimes (which he does of course admit his failings) then you will find some gems of wisdom in here too.

We will not be going anywhere anytime soon as my husband is now not well, constant cough and hot to touch. He is at the moment sleeping, we went online and of course we have to isolate too.   He was on the rota to work from home next week as was my son so if he feels ok he will still be able to get something done, at the moment I think he is too tired.

It is a worry for all the small businesses out there, I hope there is enough support  so that they don't go under but also wonder how long this period will last.  Stay safe everyone.

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The Frankie T-shirt

This past week I have made another garment from the Tilly Walnes Stretch book, this time the Frankie T-shirt.  I chose this because I like this style and I have made it before but using my own pattern.  When I did that I found my sleeves were not as wide at the top as maybe they should have been so it was interesting to see how they worked on this pattern.  I felt that this was an easy make so great for any beginners however I did find the fit very loose, far too loose for me in the body so I took it in by quite a chunk at the sides.  That said I love it and already have another cut out, it is great for using up small leftover bits of jersey for the arms and that is what I did here with mine.

I was in a hurry to wear it so a rather quick selfie here, I made a white t-shirt a while ago and these pieces for the sleeves were left over.  I did in fact have to put a mock seam part way up my sleeves as I wanted the see through stripe to lie horizontally on them and that was the only way to make them fit.  It is fine as the seam hides in the stripe.  My only worry now is that the red doesn't wash pink into the white sleeves.

For the neck facing I just turned the spotty fabric to the wrong side so that I could have it plain around the neck.

So far so good with that book and a bonus having got  from the library and another library order arrived just over a week ago too and that is The Testamnets by Margaret Atwood.  I ordered it months ago as I was on a list but it came and I read it this week.

 I enjoyed it and I was happy with the ending which is not always the case however The Handmaids Tale is now in for collection that I ordered at the same time!

  So I am reading them in reverse, I did know the story as I have watched the TV version but it will be interesting to read the original as the books are usually better.  I couldn't have saved this one either as there is such a long wait list for it you can't renew.   I did consider buying them both  before I ordered them but went with patience, after all they only sit on my book shelf once read and if I had bought and kept every book I ever read we would be a bit pushed for space.

 I tend to have a sort through every now and then and just keep my absolute favourites for my bookshelf.  Unfortunately I have lost a  few favourites along the way as I will lend them to people and then they are never returned,  that seems to happen with the best ones!

Last night I made a saag aloo to go with my other homemade curries that we were having for tea, I followed a recipe and decided the potatoes were too firm but it was tasty.  Next time I will be part cooking the potatoes before they go in the pan and I am sure it will be perfect then.  Honestly I don't think all recipes are tested  as I followed it exactly, well I actually gave it a little longer but it wasn't long enough to cook the potatoes through.

That's all for now, have a good week.

The Joni Dress

Hello, I had a nice surprise this week as a book I ordered from the library had just arrived, It is the Tilly and the Buttons  Sewing Stretch book.  I have watched a couple of vlogs of people who have made some of the items in this and they look really nice so I thought I would give it a go.  Fortunately for me it was in the library system and looking at it  I think I must be the first person to get it.  It is a lovely book, I picked it up on Saturday and yesterday I traced off the Joni dress and made it!   It was the first pattern that caught my eye that I thought I have to make that, also I had some fabric from Minerva that I pondering what to make with and this has been the perfect match for it.

Here is my dress...

I have to say that when I first made the twist bit at the front I thought it didn't look right but when it was all made up and on it hangs lovely.

I chose this navy as I wanted more work dresses but as you can see I will feel far too dressed up for work in this this!  It may be a rare going out dress but then that will feel such as shame as I do love it.

I won't put too  much about the process here as I want to do a full review of the fabric for Minerva but the book is definitely worth checking out.  I think it would be a wonderful birthday gift for someone and the directions are very clear.  My one gripe with this is that the sizing was perfect for me on this garment except for the arms which were too tight.  I am ok as I can redo the sleeves but as you can see I do not have massive arms in comparison to the rest of me and the rest of the fit is spot on.  Just be aware and cut your sleeves a little bigger as you can always run them in if too big but making them bigger is more of a job.

Here is the book...

So I have this book for three weeks as many people will have it on order so I have to trace off and make my way  through it in that time.  There is a raglan sleeve t-shirt that I am going to make next and I think I will use up leftover fabrics on that one.  Please let me know if you have this book and what your favourite makes were.  There is nothing like a deadline to focus the mind and I am beginning to think I maybe need deadlines, although that said there is an article in the book about slow sewing and enjoying the process which of course is great and I did enjoy my day of making yesterday.  I am sure that Tilly didn't have my three week library loan in mind when  she wrote that though. 

While I am on the subject of books I also had The Librarian of Auschwitz on one week loan last week and that was a very good book, hard of course given the subject but also I think amazing to think how people clung to hope and how important it is to keep people's stories alive from that experience.

I have tried a few new recipes this week, and this particular one I am not too sure about but they were best when just out of the oven.  They are strawberry and blueberry gf scones, due to the fruit in them they seem a bit soggy when they cool but most of them were consumed.

Mine look a bit flat don't they, not at all like the ones in the photo in the book.  I am dubious as to whether she followed her own recipe.

Anyway never mind I did make my own version of a walnut cake that I adapted from another recipe that came out really light and fluffy but that went really quickly, also my own version of a vegan carbonara.

How is your week going and what are you all making? Let me know in the comments.