Butterfly Wrap Dress

I spent a quiet day today as it has been quite grey and I thought I would take the photographs and write my post for Minerva Crafts so that is finished.  I also had to take my dress in a little as I mentioned yesterday I cut it out larger to accommodate for it not being a stretch fabric.  Well there was no need as that pattern was quite generous. I put heels on to take the photos and couldn't wait to take them off!  Why did I ever wear such instruments of torture? That said if I had a special occasion I would probably put them on to look properly dressed, how strange we women are.  As I generally don't have any special events to attend my feet are safe for now.

Here is the dress on the mannequin, I save the main post and photographs for Minerva.

This was a Kwik Sew pattern and came together well, had I not opted to cut the larger size to begin with I feel it would have fit first time.  It does recommend stretch fabric but this poplin worked really well.

I also took in a pair of jeans this morning, they are a favourite pair that fit well but are a little big at the waist. I unpicked the waistband at the sides, ran the side seams down a bit up to the rivets then cut through the waistband to remove a little there.

I did this on both sides, they are very stretchy.

 I just pinned it over to where I wanted it, then topstitched it on the outside.

 They are spot on now and no more working their way down when I'm out dog walking.  I like to try and save things, they are a little faded but that doesn't bother me, black jeans are never true black for long are they. 

Thursday Thoughts

I have one incomplete garment, two pending and a couple of repairs but hey it is the weekend for me now ( four day week ) so I will be getting on with those straight away.  There is this thing that I do where I feel I mustn't post anything until I've finished each project, of course this is not all the time but I go through phases of this.  As a result that sometimes means I have an absence of over a week, so today I am going to share what I am up to even if it shows a slovenly lack of getting on with stuff this week. (Ha, ha)

 So first up I have one dress cut out and ready to stitch dress for a Minerva post in a lovely butterfly fabric, it should be a quick sew now. That will be my job for the afternoon along with endless cups of tea.  I am thinking it may be a bit floaty now for Autumn, but still hoping a good few layers will see it through the seasons.

I have gone for this wrap dress pattern and it was one of the gifted patterns that my friend gave me.  It does actually say it is for stretch fabric but I wanted to use it so I have opted to cut a larger size and allow a little extra around the sleeves.  I hope that does the trick.

Yesterday I received my order form Minerva crafts this time I had decided to treat myself.  A nice unusual check to make a pair of trousers and a plain brown for a tie waist top to go with them, I also bought a pattern as trousers need a level of accuracy around the bottom and as these are to be smart trousers (I hope!) I will use a pattern this time round.  When I made the  mock jumpsuit here I just made my own pattern as they were slouchy trousers.

I have had my eye on that pattern for a while. In addition to those items I have a few broken zips to replace.

One thing I did complete this week was a bit of baking, I haven't done any for a while but I have decided to try one new thing a week from my various books, Vegan and Gluten Free Baking being my favourite at the moment as things tend to come out well.  I made the Vegan Ricotta cake ( not ricotta at all ,rather cashews and dates, or in my case prunes!)  This was a really soft springy sponge and as any of you that bake gluten free will know, that is not always case. It was baked in a rectangular tin then cut into portions when cool. It was gone in two days so that is a good sign.

This week my son has suggested we make the pumpkin pie, he is suddenly interested in cooking so I want to nurture that interest therefore that is what we are making.  I have to confess I have not seen a pumpkin yet and it is October, maybe I have had my eyes closed?  We will have a good look  around on Saturday. 

While on the subject of food I watched another episode of eat well for less on the laptop while doing my ironing.  I can't decide if it as all completely false or if there really are people spending those ridiculous amounts on food and not knowing!  I mean how can you not know? You are always expected to pay at the end of a shop so how can any of these couples be so clueless as they spend a week, a month or a year.  I love the idea of showing people how to get away from all the convenience foods  but some of these families are spending more on food than  some families have to get by on for a week to cover everything.  I am not sure that it is helpful for them to see others mindless spending then chuckling about it.  Sorry, having a little rant there. 

Off now to get stuff done. 

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.