What to do with stripes

Stripe fabric, it can be a bit of a pain, they do say not to wear the stripes horizontally as it is unflattering.  There is also the issue of matching them up as depending on what you are making matching around a curve can be troublesome.  I had bought this stripe jersey fabric a while ago and to be honest I was disappointed when it arrived as the colour was not what I expected.  I thought it was a black and white stripe but when it arrived it was more of a very pale peach colour. This colour does nothing for me so it sat on my sewing table in the bag for about two  months making me feel like I had wasted my money!
Then there was the issue of what to do, I had thought a dress  ( I know another one!) but I wasn't sure how I would lay the stripes on it.

So today I decided to just get on with it because waiting for inspiration was getting me nowhere,  I decided to do the back and front pieces of the dress with a centre seam so that I could have the stripes meeting at the middle in a point. This meant I laid the stripe on a diagonal as I cut out each front/back half.  There is probably a technical name for this but I don't know it, being a self taught get on with it sort of dress maker.
The bottom of the dress I laid the fabric vertical, this way I feel the dress looks more interesting than if all of the dress fabric was used in the same way.

I have to say it was a nuisance to work with, I bought some ball pointed needles but they did not help on this very stretchy jersey, the first one broke after ten minutes. I had to just ease all the seams and go slowly, I overlocked afterwards otherwise all the seams would have just snapped.

I am now really happy with how this turned out despite much unpicking when seams moved and did not line up and the overly bouncy fabric!

When I came to face around the sleeves I did  not have enough fabric left, this was mainly due to the fact that in laying out my pieces in a different way to get the desired effect on the dress, I did not have long pieces left to making binding. Argh!

So a quick look in my fabric box and I had a bit of the lace from the evening dress I took up for a friend ages ago.  I also used some of that on my Christmas  party dress hem and still I have some left.  You see  these little bits do come in handy, so I faced around the sleeves using that.

You can see in this picture that the fabric is peachy not white but in the main picture it looks white.

Anyway this solved my problem of facing the sleeves, I did think of adding some around the neck too but my husband said that may be too much so it stays as it is.  Another bit of bother with the hem that got partially sewn then unpicked three times! Then hand stitched as it would just not lay correctly under the machine without twisting and missing stitches.  Sometimes doing it by hand is just better and it's invisible.

A little note about my overlocker, it has been a bit funny to work with the whole time I've had it, I recently got it working and changed blades/ sorted tension etc. Still it did not like the right hand needle, I took it out, removed the cotton for that needle and now it works great on just three threads.  It uses less cotton this way anyhow but still gives a good effect.  If you are having this same trouble just try it.

More Barcelona

Today is so grey and blowy, I walked up the hill earlier from church and thought what a huge difference the sun makes. Everything looks better under a blue sky, we have a beautiful country here it just needs more sun! I have just seen a link that someone shared though that says we are going to be having glorious weather by the end of next week so I look forward to that.
For now here a a few more pictures of my trip, below are some of Sagrada Familia again we didn't get inside as the lines  went right around the building  for tickets and that was on both sides. Also the children were not as interested as I was, they looked at the outside, declared it impressive then continued their conversation with each other about something totally unrelated. It was also expensive to go inside I thought for a family, there is some further information here

So much work still going on here.

A few random tourists in this shot!

These pictures really do not do it justice, the scale and detail are incredible. It is so busy in the area though it was difficult to get good photos as somebody was always in front of you with their head in the way!

We walked from Park Guell  to Sagrada Familia using our map and stopped halfway down for lunch. After we spent a bit of time in that area everyone was ready to head back. 

Lovely palms I wish we could have these in the garden, we have had a few palm plants before that looked amazing but they always die in our cool climate.

                                           The view from my apartment on Friday

So now I need to go and tackle the ironing mountain, cook the dinner, walk the dogs under the grey sky (boo! grey sky) and get back into routine. 

Barcelona Trip

Hello we got back from Barcelona at 3.30 am today! I was very tired and said I was not going away abroad again because the journey back had me shattered. Well  after a good sleep I have decided that was a silly thing to say as we had such a good time and I love the place.
 I could live there it is so lovely, I have to specify that it is on the coast where we stayed about forty minutes on the train outside the city. I would not want to live in the centre, cities are too crowded and rushed for me with not enough open spaces.  The place we stayed appears to be a Spanish resort so not full of English tourists, we have been before about seven years ago (I thought it was less) and we like the fact that it is mainly Spanish people, you go away to other countries to experience their culture not recreate what you have at home.
I would say in a lot of the bars and restaurants they don't speak much English, same again in the shops but again this was not a problem you can make yourself understood and it forced me to order all  our food and drinks in my limited Spanish. My husband also managed with a bit of point and mime!
We are already planning to go back next year, either the same place or just up the coast one train stop away. We have visited Barcelona City a few times now so next year we will get the train to other places but the coastal area is just beautiful so we will return there but stay out of the city.
I love the Spanish way of life and how everyone comes out and socialises in the evening, children enjoying meals with their parents and the relaxed nature.  Here are  a few pictures below, I may have to post some more tomorrow.

 This was quite a quiet beach really, you can see it is not overcrowded and what a pretty place.

This is Sitges where we visited on the train, the trains are so regular and cheap.  It is a gorgeous place and worth a visit if you are ever close enough.  I know lots of people go on trips organised by tour operators on holiday, don't! They really rip you off by charging way too much, if you don't like getting the train buses are also good. Even an expensive taxi journey for a family of four would work out better than paying tour operators excursion prices per person.

The entrance to Park Guell you can read about it here we had a good walk around the park  but the fee paying bit of it had a three hour wait so we gave that a miss.

A view from near the top.

I have to say if you are going to visit Park Guell in Barcelona please bear in mind it is not for people unsteady on their feet or have health breathing issues.  We are all fit and well but it is all up hill and steps, lots and lots of steps, plus it is very hot.  It was also scenic with lovely views when you get to the top.

We got a train into Barcelona then I asked at the tourist office and we caught a bus outside that took us close by.  It was quite funny because I was following all the stops with my map so we didn't miss it and we were about to get off when a lovely Spanish lady (who must have been watching me checking all the street names and stops) said Park Guell another two stops, in Spanish. We thanked her and the bus stopped at the bottom of the hill.  That is another thing you have a hill to walk up before you even reach the park.  Very kind of that lady to help us.

I will post more tomorrow.