A New Sewing Space

I am quite excited that I now have a new space to sew in, as I mentioned a few weeks ago my oldest son has moved out which was a bit strange I have to say. He is however visiting every weekend so so we are still seeing a lot of him, as this was my first week off I got cracking with the sorting and clearing, I ordered a skip, cleaned out the now spare room and set about painting it. As it had been blue it took five coats of paint cover it all in white as it had been blue before, I wanted it a nice bright space for when I am sewing.

At the weekend my husband bought a piece of furniture board and some wood and built me a long desk for both my machines, this gives me a nice area to work on and he also ordered some LED lights that are under the overhead cupboard.  I have the say the lights are very good, They have a remote with different settings and are nice and bright on the main setting.  You can tell a man was in charge of this bit as I would have just stuck a lamp on the table next to me and that wouldn't have been as good!   So in this case the boys with their toys bit worked out well as I am very impressed with the lights.

The room does still need a few bits of finishing off, I need a blind for the window as it will be a bit open in winter with the lights on and it will also keep in heat.  A new rug possibly as the carpet isn't great I have down a heavy throw in this image below, possibly a few pictures but I don't want to spoil the bright white look of the room.

 The overhead cupboards were already in the room and I  decided to leave them, where the desk is my sons bed was fitted against that wall previously.  I am sure the lighting is going to be much better in here than in my sewing corner that I have used for the past eleven years.  Even today on a dark rainy day the light is good.

This past week I have also been sewing although not yet in my new room as it is only just finished.  I made a new bag...

So that was one of my jobs for the week as I realised I hadn't listed a new bag for a few weeks, then I made a top from a simple sew pattern.  Now I will share this another day mainly because I don't have a still of it but what I do have is a video of the process.  Now I have sent that for someone to take a look at and I am still highly self conscious about the whole being filmed bit but I have done it so we will see.  My husband said it is ok so maybe I am over critical but nobody likes to see or hear themselves do they?    I will get some photographs of the top and post another day.

My sewing job for today is to make a dress from the July Burda issue , I know I was not as productive as I was with the June issue but there were not as many things that jumped out at me.  I did  like this dress so I have been waiting for the fabric and the time to do it, so now for a bit of tracing off.

 This fabric is fun in the image on the magazine but if you follow their links to fabric it is very expensive, so I have gone for this floral design.

Well I hope you are all keeping safe, enjoying the snippets of summer that we get here in the UK and managing to get some creating done.  I have noticed among the blogs that I follow that we all seem to be on a bit of a go slow at the moment, I am sure many of you may be on your summer holidays. We are staying here with a few day trips out, bye for now.

Stripes

Hello, well I have had a bit of a break from the blog this last few weeks but now the summer holidays are here so I feel I will have more time for making and blogging. I finally got around to this make with stripes, I bought this fabric just before lockdown and I was a bit undecided what to do with it so it sort of got pushed to one side.  Friday I made the decision to make  McCalls dress with it as it needed to be simple, I had not however made myself a note the last time I made this pattern that it comes out huge!  It has a sticky note on it now!  A ,lot of taking in, a few darts added and a curved hem and you guessed it, it is now far away from the original but better I think and I really must make notes on patterns as soon as I realize they are poorly sized.

I bought the fabric from Happy Hare in Sheffield, it is a good weight jersey so will also be good for autumn/winter with tights.

It is good to know that I have a few weeks of uninterrupted time stretching out over the next few weeks as there is so much to do. I had sorted my oldest son's bedroom a few weeks ago after he moved out in preparation for a ceiling repair, that will be a few weeks yet waiting for the plasterer and then I can redecorate.  The bedroom at the front was cleared yesterday ready for me to decorate that and my husband will build me a new long desk as that will be my sewing room.   It was a big sorting job in there too, for years my boys have never wanted to part with anything including the lego boxes (just in case) and now all of a sudden there is so much to get rid of and nowhere for it to go.  The tip says emergencies only?  What would qualify as an emergency at the tip I wonder? We may have to get a skip but  I don't really like doing that, it is also still tricky donating to charities at the moment as a lot of places are taking   the minimum, not taking books or are just overwhelmed.  I would imagine a lot of people have been off and sorting so this is perhaps a time when lots of  people have  clothes, books and toys to donate but nowhere is accepting it all. 

The garden is looking amazing at the moment, well I think so it is a bit wild and full as I have put plants in everywhere I just hop they don't all stop flowering at once.

I wasn't sure how big some of these mixed seeds were going to grow so now I  have things over shadowing others, I'd try to pick some out but I don't want to damage anything.  I will try and get some better pictures later it was so grey yesterday today we have a bit of sun.

Last week I started reading A Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, the library digital version, I read the first book my brilliant friend over two days and loved it.  I recently watched the TV version and it was very close to the books.  There are four books  in total so I will be reading all of them, I highly recommend.

Well that is all for now as I want to get out and enjoy the sun, have a lovely weekend, bye for now.

Burda Jumpsuit

Hello I hope you all had a good weekend, I managed to get back to the machine to make my jumpsuit and I have to say that halfway through I wasn't really sure about this. It is certainly one of those garments that looks so much better on than off and the fabric is quite see through I feel, this also looks better once you are wearing it.  Well colour matched underwear will be required though!

This was my third make from the Burda June issue and how am I feeling about that?  Well I like the things I have made so far but I do wonder about the accuracy of the sizings,  I made a bigger size to be safe and then still needed to let out the seems to a very small seem allowance.  I know I haven't gained that much weight during lockdown or none of my clothes would fit.  So now I will be even more cautious with the sizes for future makes.  I went on a forum and this was a common theme and it is not on every garment so there must be errors.  This is only a grumble as I know I would have sized it more accurately without the pattern and by trying do things according to the magazine it all took so much longer then needed adjusting.  Well it is finished and I do like it except if I visit the toilet while I am in it I will need assistance with the  button when I come out and that has been my issue with jumpsuits all along the practicality of wearing them and also why I own three mock ones.

So it doesn't look see through at all in this image but then the weather was very dull, a bit of light shining through and it may be different.

There is elastic casing all around the top of the trousers and the back top is attached but the front is just attached at the sides so the front can tie.   I used the fabric recommended in the magazine and this is a linen viscose blend and the colour is coral.

The July issue has arrived but I am struggling to find something to make in this copy, a lot of the styles are very boxy and basic but there is one dress that is a maybe but I am wondering if it may be too frilly for every day wear as I am trying to make things to be worn not saved.

Does anyone else have the July Burda and if so what are your thoughts on it? Sometimes it can all be down to fabric choices or the way things are styled.  I keep having another browse through as I had should a good reaction to last months issue but they won't all be winners I guess.

On another subject my oldest moved in with his girlfriend at the weekend it felt a  little odd, although he often stays out at her flat it felt very different knowing that he wouldn't be home.  Now we have the massive sort out task of his room. 

Well that is all for now back soon.