Blue Bird Dress

Summer sewing is still underway and this week I have a dress for a Minerva post.  The original pattern I was working from has taken a few adjustments as it felt a little like a painting smock without additional shaping.  I took the whole dress in  by quite a bit and added darts, I will provide more detail in the future post on Minerva crafts.

It is looking much better here with a bit of shaping, you can't see very clearly but it has pockets too.  I don't often opt for pockets but this time I did.   With a bit of thought I should have had a before photo.

I think that a fabric with a bit more drape would suit the pattern better, this fabric faired far better with structure.

So there you have it, nothing wrong with the pattern or the fabric just not the two together unless you are adding darts, that is just my opinion you may feel differently.

Yesterday I started reading this book...

When I came in from work I picked it up and couldn't put it down, I took this photo to show my friend and it turns out she has already bought it as a Christmas gift for someone!  Very organised.  It is historical fiction, a bit of fantasy, something different to start the holidays.

I have been sewing skirts all day and I will share these later, right now I'm off for  a cup of tea.

Sewing Face Wipes

Today has been a bit of a washout so I have been getting some small sewing jobs done.  The main thing I did was to create some more of the face wipe pads that I made for a colleague earlier in the week.  I have made little sets of eight with a wash bag to put the dirty ones in and then I listed two sets on Etsy and two on Folksy.  I don't know if they will have any interest but with the current trend towards using reusable items over throw away ones lets hope that is something that more people will adopt.  They will certainly not go to waste.

I love the fact that these use up small amounts of fabric, these ones match but they don't have to so there is no reason why every bathroom can't have a set.  

It is cotton jersey, soft side up on the back and feels really soft.  Simple zig  zag stitch as my overlocker was not making a great go of such a small curve.  If I made them a bit bigger it was fine but then they are a less handy shape.  I think people sometimes like thing to be similar to the originals and these are more like the removal pads you buy in terms of size.

I also had to take a photo of this lovely plant, the hot pink seems to be theme this week.

Yesterday when I was out watering I snapped a few more pictures of the garden, it makes me happy that just a few months ago this was bare and these plants were just seeds in a packet.  We did wonder if we were able to fill the space with what I was growing in the greenhouse, we needn't have worried.

It is a bit crowded and wild at the moment but I don't mind I like the colour.

Ignore the odd bits of wood next to the fence, they are temporarily filling gaps one of the dog keeps making.

As one thing stops flowering another thing starts so that has been good.

The stone circle you can see in this image had an evacuation of flying ants the other day they were everywhere!  It happens every year and we always have lots of ants on our garden, I should have been quick and got an image of that for you.

Well that's all for now have a good weekend.

Green Things

This past week I caught up on watching Hugh's War on Plastic, it is pretty unsettling stuff I have to say and a lot of it just leaves you feeling a bit helpless.  We try to do our best but as the show highlighted, the shops don't make it easy for you and there is also the fact that as fast as we are trying to reduce our consumption the manufacturers are setting targets to increase output of the stuff.

I was asked this week by a colleague to make some reusable scrubbies for taking off make-up, she had bought some from a shop and wanted more.  I used materials I had and made twelve small circular ones and a little drawstring bag to wash them in.  I had a nice photo to share but yesterday my phone did an update and now everything is in the wrong place and all the photo's taken before yesterday have transferred small and out of focus!  I am disappointed about that and will get my son to look at it when he is home later, as I am not one of the phone generation it will take me twice as long to sort it.

This evening I have been altering t-shirts for another colleague, she buys them and then likes them shorter, with smaller sleeves and a lower neck.  It is one way of getting what you want, a lot of people won't shop charity shops but if they did they would see that you can buy things you love cheaply then get them altered.  It is still often cheaper than buying new and you can have them fitted to you.

It seems there is a lot of action from the public on reducing our consumption but very little from the government or big business. I still see a lot of unnecessary  packaging everywhere and lots of plastic that doesn't serve a purpose.  My husband just feels I think too much about these things but there are too many people who don't think about it at all perhaps.  A lot of the plastic free shops are in affluent areas also and I would imagine many people struggling on a tight budget are more worried about buying  affordable food for the week than they are about our long term futures on the planet.

On a lighter note summer term is almost over, there is lots of winding down going on, people moving on and new faces appearing at work.  I was sad to say goodbye to a colleague today, she  started at the same time as me and has been wonderful to work with.  I am sure we will be seeing her again soon.  She very kindly bought me this plant and I will leave you with an image of that after my initial grumpy start over the state of the planet.