Aprons for craft fayre

I took a bit of a break from sewing clothing whilst I finished of my old assignment at work. I start the new assignment on Monday morning, and am straight into going to site to meet the customer. I think the learning curve at the start will be quite steep, so am not going to sew anything complicated for a bit.
I've had various meals out etc to say goodbye to colleagues I won't be working with anymore, though I did manage to make some time on Saturday to finish off the 2 adult sized plain black aprons, and the 6 green checked aprons (3 adult, 3 children). The child's apron is the only one you can see properly in the picture. The striped bag was previously made, but not pictured before.

With these items and some cream cushions not shown I now have a bagful of stuff for the show. I still have another 2 weeks or so, so can produce a few more items. I have a range of blue velvet backed cushions planned, though not yet cut out, and these should be simple pieces I can sew when my brain is busy with learning the new job.
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I've taken a short break from the Artist's Way for a few weeks as I was getting overload.
I'm also taking a break from SWAP until early March probably, but as I have already made 7 pieces I feel that'll be OK, and I can still finish (though probably not be in for a chance to win, but hey that's how these things go, its not advisable to change jobs, move house or get divorced mid SWAP!)

Black 'Heart' Cushions

Having finished the black dress I could carry on with more SWAP pieces, but I think actually I need to make some pieces for the Craft Fayre, even though I can't be there in person. Since the machines are threaded in black, I am going to take a piece of black upholstery fabric I bought as a remnant at some point. I think in being black I thought to make it into clothing when I bought it, but it really is going to be better as aprons, bags, cushions and other such things. It sometimes surprises me how many such things can be got out of yardage, compared to clothing.

I think I will start with a classic adult sized apron, and then a simple cushion and see what is left over after that point. Pictures before bed time :-)

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I loved the black cushions with naif cream stitched hearts, so made 8 of them. They need a press and perhaps a creamy button on the points (especially where my stitching is a bit wonky).

The hearts are drawn freehand with chalk (one half) and folded together and rechalked. This gives each heart a different shape, some fat and happy others pointy and elegant.
I also have 2 black aprons half made, 6 green check aprons half made, 4 cream cushions which need pressing and one green striped shopping bag finished.
Another couple of sessions and I will have half a table worth. Let's hope people will want to buy them.

Snow Day Black Dress

I took a snow day today and sewed up the black knit dress. This is New Look 6071 with the skirt lengthened by 9" and flared out slightly more. On this version the sleeves are the full length on the pattern.

The fabric is a stretchy black jersey from the stash. Not sure on the content but I think viscose, polyester and elastane from the hand, but we'll have to see what it is like to wear and launder. I'm hoping this will be a classic black dress. Black is not great for me around the face, so I will fill the deep neckline with a bold necklace, scarf or cami in good colours. This is my 7th piece of the SWAP, and the second using this dress pattern.
No excuses now I shall have to go outside and clear the snow off my drive. :-)

Banana Muffins

I've not done any baking for a very long time. More than a year I think. However in one of the exercises in the Artist's Way, I had put down baking cakes as something I've enjoyed in the past but not done for ages, somehow this percolated through into me actually making something. :-)
And so today I did a version of the Banana Muffins from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.

I've been very good and only tested one! I'll keep a few for home and take the rest in to work to share on Monday.

Plans and progress

Well frankly there isn't any progress. At least not on the sewing front. I need to sew the black dress next and I think I've OD'd on black and can't be doing with it.

I had a day off work today, but I did some household jobs and then went off to the nearest big city (Sheffield) to visit a discount outdoor shop. I got some specialist clothing for my hill walking activities, so I was OK with that in that largely my goal for the trip was achieved.
But the whole experience of driving in an unfamiliar large city, having trouble parking, having difficulty finding the things I wanted in an oddly laid out shop, and then getting out of a semi-blocked-in parking space and driving home again left me rather shaky. To the point that I'm not sure I'd go back.

I've had a few over-reactions to things recently though so maybe I need just try and chill a bit and see why I react like that so I can avoid the reaction when a situation occurs I don't like.

The city claustrophobia seems more apparent these days than in the past, though its a long standing issue/personality trait. I realised that I deliberately choose a slightly longer commute (distance wise) to work that involves lanes and countryside (instead of the main congested road) to get my morning 'tree fix', so perhaps the space thing is more of an issue than I have admitted to myself. I am aware I will take stairs to avoid lifts (elevators), choose to sit on the end of rows of seats in crowded place (church, cinemas etc), and walk out of small rooms if there are (what I consider) too many people there. The house I chose to rent is in a large village on the edge of a small town, with garden etc. I could not bear to rent a terraced house because of the closeness of the other houses.

However this afternoon, I was pleased that having got upset being unable to get the car out of the partially blocked space, I was able to calm down again, look carefully at the car, the space, the angle etc, and after about 20 minutes actually extricate the car from the space. (A long vehicle had parked across the back whilst I was in the shop). No vehicles were scraped and I made it home without any great issues. So I guess I triumphed.

I'm planning to go on another group walk tomorrow, and the fresh air and open spaces is infintely more appealing than driving in a big city :-)

Normal updates on sewing related stuff will resume shortly.

Picture Links Requests

In response to Ginger's request for the little wardrobe pics on the left to link to something, I have found some of the original larger pictures and made them link from the thumbnail. If they are linked I have edited the description to say so. Some of them I can't find the original matching picture in a blog post at the moment, but if I come across them I shall add. I've now added the year as well, so if you really want more info on the patterns used etc, you can go to the Blog Archive (at the very bottom left) and find the year and month and the posts should be there.

I realised I'd not added thumbnails for the most recent wardrobe collections so I had a little trawl through and added all the newer collections, including some I had forgotten (Newspaper Collection anyone!)

The very oldest ones were my early attempts at collections and my style and ability to create collections has evolved quite a bit since then.
So unless anyone speaks up for 2006-2007 collections they are history. I was plus size then so all the clothes are gone now, and I wasn't blogging then, so details of patterns etc are probably lost in the mists of time.

Hope this proves useful.

Interestingly in a normalish year I seem to do
SWAP (which is a double collection really) and is Spring clothes
which you can then wear in the UK Summer
then an Autumn Collection
then a Christmas Collection
and then start all over again with the next SWAP

SWAP Musings

Long day at work today so not trying to do too much in the way of sewing tonight, however a large mug of Earl Grey tea and I can pause and review progress.

I have a black dress on the sewing table from New Look 6071, plus plans for the Burda seamed skirt also in black. (This is a lot of black for me, but this wardrobe just seemed to need it, maybe the crazy print makes up for it?)
That would bring the total up to 8 pieces and would mean I had :-
2 tee shirt style tops
2 cardigan style jackets
2 knit dresses
2 skirts

Reading back through the SWAP rules, I see I need to make 7 different sorts of garments, 4 made twice. As I always have a few wadders I thought I would in fact have at least 7 types of garments and make them all twice, and then make an overall collection from this larger selection of pieces (time permitting).
Since I will have already used up 4 of the categories and some of them I just wouldn't want to sew for my everyday type wardrobe and the vibe of the 'Angled Poise Collection' , my current thoughts are to make 2 each in the following categories
Trousers - using a great pattern in an old Burda magazine I got from McGintie, make this twice in pinstripe and black denim.
Tailored jacket - as distinct from the cardigan jackets - collarless and sleek, incorporating the forward head alterations. Make this twice in red and pinstripe.
Blouse - tie neck blouse. Make this twice once in sheer, the other in red.

My reserve pieces would be one or two waistcoats (vests), a shirt with collar in a black/white stretch shirting (prob only one of these), and if I found appropriate fabric a simple raincoat. The fabrics are in boxes under the sewing table, so I might pull them out and see what speaks to me. Sometimes when stuck for ideas the fabric leads.

P.S. I haven't made any pants for a while so maybe this is what I need to sew next......

Print Dress

Here's a print dress made from New Look 6071. The 6th item in the 'Angled Poise Collection' I'm making for SWAP 2012.

I've lengthened the dress by 4.5" and shortened the sleeves to elbow length.
I plan to wear this tomorrow!
And with the other items....

I think the vision I had for the 'Angled Poise' Collection is coming through in the pieces, even when they only hang limply from the hanger.
Next up is a longer version of the black dress, and then I shall have to see what speaks to me.

Snow on the moors

Well I've had a strange week and not productive at all from a creative perspective.
I'm still doing the Artists Way, and wrote my pages each morning, plus went on a lovely walk on the moors where it had snowed which was gorgeous. This hasn't seemingly translated into anything creative as far as I can see. I have been cooking for the freezer and reading old Burda magazines and other people's sewing blogs but not doing anything actually creative myself.

 (view from Abney Moor)

I'm transitioning my old role at work which I have found a lot more emotional than I expected, especially the bit where I realised I was going to have to move out of my desk, and it looked for a while that I wouldn't have anywhere in the office to work in 2 weeks time. I'm hoping this gets resolved on Monday, but I have found the 'desk wars' exhausting. The new role is in a completely different part of the organisation and I don't know any of the people, and I think I'm going to hugely miss my current colleagues (some of whom have become friends).

So this week has been a bit of a slog. Change is good and necessary, but its also difficult and unsettling. I've still not got anything done for the Craft Fayre, and have not sewn any steps on the knit dresses. Aware it was all getting a bit stressful I have booked a day of leave on Friday to give myself a bit of mental space. Here's hoping for a better week this next week.

February Burda Skirt

I am planning to make a version of this skirt in a fairly heavy black ponte.Its pretty much the only thing I liked in February's Burda Style Magazine.

I don't really like that long separating back zipper. Think I could do an elastic waist or a shorter invisible zipper?

The Artist's Way

I've done two weeks now of the Artist's Way and am finding it simultaneously hard going and very productive.
The very first week something unlocked in my brain and I rewrote my internal CV (resume) describing myself in a much more creative (and true to myself) way in the opening paragraph. I then used this to apply for an internal job, which after 2 interviews (one by phone, the other in person) they decided to offer and I accepted. The descriptions of my actual work experience and qualifications remained unchanged, so it shows that intro bit really matters!
I'm now in handover mode as I wind down the old job and then begin to learn the new one.
Not quite what I was expecting from a course in creativity :-)
However I really love the field I work in and want to bring creativity into that, so this feels right if  a little scary.
I suppose I anticipated the impact would come in my sewing, photography or various crafts, so the creative spark coming in my work took me slightly by surprise.

I'm very excited that there are now 150 followers of this blog. Wow! Thank you all. I am humbled and encouraged that you want to see my projects.
I shall continue to sew as much as is feasible along with everything else and share the results here.
I do have some plans, but opening the door to being more creative may well change those as I learn and grow :-)
I'd still quite like the direction to include lots of hill walking, wardrobe sewing and things for the Craft Fayre, but maybe there's some other fun things waiting for me as well.

The rainbow is there because there was a great one on my way to work this morning. I enjoyed it as much as I could whilst still driving safely. I know rainbows are a little hackneyed, but they do bring me such joy every time I see one - all those pretty colours and almost always on a dismal day!

Cream tops coverhemmed

Rather than starting sewing another garment, I decided to rethread the coverhem in cream and hem the bottom and sleeves of the two cowl neck tees. Well worth doing as I can now wear these if I want to.

Sometimes its good to finish something off. There's a lot of satisfaction to be had from that!
This style is great to wear under wool sweaters or jackets that I can't bear to have touching my skin, and are basically my looser collared version of rollnecks.

Craft Fayre Sewing

There will be 3 craft fayres through 2012 and I plan to supply goods for them all, and help sell when I can. The first one is Sat 3rd March, and clashes with a weekend away, so I'll just supply the goods and others will sell them. That might be quite good actually as it'll take the personal element out of it - ie the aspect where you want the person to buy because you made it, and it hurts a little bit when they don't. I'm hoping this will give me an idea of what to make more of and what to make less of. I'll need to label and price up in advance as well. I think I'll print on ordinary paper, cut up and hand sew with a bit of thread, though sticky labels could also work, and would be quicker!
The next one is on Sat 1st September. I might do a few extra 'new term' type things like pencil cases and tote bags for that one. And then Sat 1st December, the Christmas Fayre, which can have Christmas stockings, hot water bottole covers, and anything which might be a nice Christmas gift for someone. I'm also going to pot up my baby spider plants and sell them as well, nothing at all to do with sewing :-). The lady I'm sharing space with makes greeting cards and gift boxes, so hopefully we will complement one another well.

Do you think a service where you can have the initial of your choice handsewn onto a cushion would prove popular? I could have felt letters and spare felt ready and sew on with embroidery thread in their presence. I could only do this at the ones where I was actually there, so not something I have to decide for March.

Thanks Ruthie

Black Drape Front Cardigan

The plain black version of the drape front cardigan is finished.
Hanger shot as per usual. It IS properly black, the camera has lightened the shot and I've left it so you can see the detail.

Works very well with either of the tops and skirt :-)
Here's the 5 pieces, you can see that already I have quite a few outfit combos.

Little print tee

Here's the little print tee I managed to cut out with the dress. I could only manage short sleeves, but I think that still works. I think this would work well under a plain black pant suit with a bold necklace. And it is a free garment as well, so I'm pretty happy with it.

It is a completely crazy print but a simple tee, and does work with the whole 'Angled Poise' collection I think.
This is a variation of the top from my most used pattern New Look 6735 - view C.

Since I now have the sewing machine, serger and coverhem machine all threaded up in black, I am going to carry on and sew the two dresses and another version of the drape front cardi this time in black.