Skirt Week

Ok, so it is not officially skirt week if there is such a thing but I have been doing a lot of skirt sewing.  Three of which were for my friends daughter, another one for me and a few other bits but I will stick to the skirts for now.  I was asked a while ago if I would make these as the fabric had been spotted in a shop in York, time passed and then suddenly here we are and  both near our hols so my friend got the fabric over to me.  They are due to go on holiday to Florida so despite knowing about this job for months it ended up being a call with oops have you time to still do the skirts ready for the holiday.   Well of course, and I do things last minute all the time so that wasn't a problem.

The fabric is Harry Potter, Star wars  and some funky glasses, had I known beforehand how much she was paying for the Star Wars I would have told her to shop online, but too late the fabric was already bought.

Here is the first skirt, I didn't use a pattern as they brought me a skirt that fit her well and she liked so I took my ideas from that.  They are all circular ish  skirts, meaning not a full circle but that style.
She wanted them all to have the black elastic showing at the top and not a waistband and zip, though I personally prefer the latter.

Here is the next one, I have  told her to hang onto the original skirt that she brought with her even if she gets bored with it, just in case she wants more of the same thing later.  I could have made her a paper pattern but I don't generally have patterns of other peoples clothes about the place I have enough with my own sewing supplies.

I think this last one is my favourite, the fabric was a bit heavier than the other two and it turns out more reasonably priced.  It just shows how much they can tag on when there is a bit of a theme or film element to the design.

After sewing these I grabbed my swan fabric that was in the drawer and decided to make myself something similar.  Of course I wanted a waistband and zip and I  also lined my skirt.

It seems to me if you line a skirt you can wear it year round as tights don't grab and in the summer you don't feel as if your clothes are see through.  I think that can be an issue with light colours.

The perfect flower button from my odd button jar, a black zip as it is all I had but I don't mind.  Right now I am off to sew a bikini that should have been completed earlier this week before all the skirt sewing frenzy!

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.