Burda Dress 123

 Last weekend I made up this lovely fabric with hummingbirds on it into a dress from the March burda issue.  The image in the magazine  has the model wearing a fussy blouse underneath a plain black dress, my fabric is already a print so there will be no need for that and it has turned out to be a really good fit this one.

This dress has a frill at the bottom and this is not  something I would usually go for but I am trying to make different things this year rather than always going for the same styles. I do like it now that it is made up which just goes to show that we can surprise ourselves.  This fabric is a ponte roma and was so good to work with, everything just fell together with this dress, sometimes you make a garment and it is such a relaxing make and others you tear out your hair.  Funny that!

The colours on this fabric are just my thing so I know it will be getting some wear, it also feels very comfy so if you have this magazine I  would suggest giving this particular pattern a go as it is a good fit and a nice one to work through. 

Here is the image from the magazine.

I think my dress is longer because she is taller than me!

I also made a little bag, a slightly different shape to some of my others I am playing around with different variations at the moment but keeping them not too far away from the same size.  Anything too  big and I will  not be making any profit. 

 

We have had all the children back in school this week so it is nice to have  full class again, it makes life feel more normal.  I am looking forward to when we can get away for a little break and have a change of scenery.

I had a go at hand drawing a couple of cards this week, they all feature birds I have just realised I only took a picture of one of them and the others are upstairs in a box, I may get a few more images another

 day.

The leaves and flowers are cut from paper.

I have a few drawing books I got around Christmas time I am hoping to make more time for this too but there is always so much I want to do that I struggle to fit it all in.  I do find drawing very relaxing though.

The Midnight Library was finished this week too, if you haven't read it I would recommend it.  It is not a  very long book but it is quite an interesting concept and I really enjoyed it.  

On my trip to do the weekly shop I bought another pot of tulips. I am adding to my little collection of plants each time I go shopping.  I will be putting  in all my seeds soon but there is all that time of waiting for them to take off at this time of year so I decided each food shopping trip I will just keep adding a bit of instant colour. They often have some nice pots outside of the supermarket and what I do is I save on something in my shopping budget and allow for a plant, we don't miss out as I just get creative with the food.

Well I hope you are all enjoying your week whatever you are up to, take care. 

Saturday Pottering

 Hello, I hope you have all managed to get out and enjoy at least a bit of the sunshine this weekend.  Yesterday morning it was such a wonderful sight to see it streaming through the window first thing that I got up no problem and started my day on a positive note.  What a big difference the sunshine makes and there were signs of life everywhere when we went out with the dogs, so many plants have popped up in just this last week it really is lovely to see.  My husband took a few pictures, he has bought us a new camera mainly because we kept trying to take pictures of birds and they were coming out all fuzzy.  He bought a reconditioned one so new to us and with a huge discount from what it would have been new.

I did a few a little not too exciting sewing jobs such as, a couple of my handmade tops were just a bit loose at the wrist now they have been washed a few times so I sorted those so that they don't bother me when I wear them.  There was also my little sewing kit that I keep in my handbag for emergencies that needed repair.  My dog decided to pull it out of my bag one day when I foolishly left it in the living room open, he ran under the sofa and chewed all the edge of it.  It must have looked like a good chew toy, it has a plastic coating on it!  So that looked a bit worse for wear and it also had a little mock handle like it was a mini handbag, well that just made it take up too much room so I removed that and recovered the outer bit.  It was so hard to sew through being a plastic coating I should have probably just started again and made a new one, oh well it is done now. 

I had to hand stitch this with it being plastic coated and as you can see some of the stitches are large, I had a job getting the needle through.  I think I will put a trim around on the inside to cover that it is only me that sees it but it will bother me otherwise.

The garden has had some much needed attention, I was out yesterday tidying up all the beds and cleaning out the greenhouse.  I put a few primroses in front next to the door so it will be interesting to see if they last but that is all for now as it is early, I may start a few things inside on windowsills.

I have one of these at either side of the door, I may change the paint colour at some point soon.

Our printer packed up a few days ago so that is the next thing to break this year, we have another in reserve that was passed on to us at least so my husband set that up.  I had a free pattern for a dress I was going to make for frugal frocks next month but it prints all wrong!   It really makes no sense with lots of blank pages in between so I will be looking for another option.    The challenge is you use fabric you have already and a pattern you have found for free online then we all share, I found it on youtube but it will take place on instagram.  I am trying to take part in more of these things this year to be more sewciable. (Yes I know I did intend to spell it like that!)

I have a dress picked out of my magazine that I want to start this week, I just need to check my baking paper supplies first as I may need more.  It is from this months Burda and the image in the magazine she has it in plain black with a very fussy blouse underneath.  Well I am trying to move away from buying so much black so I have gone for a print and I may do the sleeves a little longer.

We have gone from excited back to a bit disappointed again this week planning our trips in our caravan, as now they are saying they won't be able to open sites at first due to shared toilets and showers.  Yet pubs will have far more people using their shared toilets all day long than say a small farm campsite with only a few pitches, or service stations??

 Who knows because the logic has not really made any sense all along and I use shared toilets at work every day as do many other people.  The issue with the cleaning well you take it as a given that you will wipe it all down as you go in as well as when you come out, just in case the person before you forgot.  That way it is up to each of us to keep our selves safe but maybe that makes too much sense.   My husband is busy booking a few in now as he has noticed the free cancelation option just in case. 

I hope you have a good weekend, take care. 

My Patchwork Sweater (Scrap busting Sweater)

 This weekend I decided to give an idea I saw on another post a go, I don't know how many of you follow Made by Leisl but she is just the queen of upcycling  clothes if you ask me.  This idea is super thrifty and great if you want to save money on your sewing too.   Made by Leisl has made some amazing biker style jackets out of blazers and bits of denim, embroidery and all sorts so I do like her style.   I just saw this post she had done on colour blocking and I loved her sweatshirt, she had used paler colours than mine so I was  not sure if my colours would work but I gave it a go anyway. So the idea is to make a sweater using all your offcuts, so you really get an extra sweater for free and the fun part is it is completely unique to you.  I think this is an idea you could use in all sorts of ways and I will be looking for more ways to incorporate colour blocking in my makes in future. 

If you go on her link on the Bernina Blog here she not only tells you what to do but there is a pattern I believe that you can print.  Now my printer is not working properly and I like to do things on a whim so I didn't use that. However I did copy her front and design, I used the freya dress to make a sweater pattern, then I retraced the front of that pattern to cut up and make the patchwork design.

I did that by sketching it first on a notepad, then I went over my pattern with tracing paper and drew the lines all over it. Next I added numbers next to the lines that matched so that I wouldn't get muddled putting it all back together again. 

As my colours were all a bit red and black I was a bit worried that these colours would be a little jarring together.  I needn't have worried as once it was all together it made all the difference. 

It all looked a bit uncertain at this point, I think it is just because it is pieces pinned on a table!

I thought a definite cuff and matching at the bottom would tie it all in .

The back is plain and one sleeve is floral, so maximising all those bits.

So there you have it, I do have other remnants in some shades of blue so there will be another sweater like this to make the most of them.  Why not give it a try and don't forget to have a look at the original post where I got my inspiration.  Have a good week.