Perfect for Bluebells

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with Bluebells, Gabriola, Me Made May 15, sewaholic, Sewing, Sewing blogs, Swedish Hasbeens 04/05/2015

Hello dear readers, fellow bloggers and especially Me Made Mayers,

During last year’s OWOP I was lucky enough to win three patterns as part of a giveaway and one of them was Sewaholic Gabriola. On 29th September 2014 I pledged here that I would make up all three patterns and blog about them. Well …. one down two to go.

I bought the fabric originally (cheaply, on-line, can’t remember from where) to make a frock for the Lilac Dinner (a school event) but it was usurped by another predominantly lilac fabric I subsequently found at Sew Over It. Anyway, I had the urge to tackle the Gabriola and thought that the abandoned polka dot would be perfect. I had a little ponder over the zip and put it to the vote on instagram; the invisible zip won. What do you think?

I DO like the lacy one and hope to use it soon on something suitable.

Today is BH Monday – it was sunny earlier. We tried to take photos up on the riverbank (my garden ends at the river) but it was too blowy really.

In the afternoon we planned to go on a bluebell hunt so set off on a lovely walk: we did find some glorious bluebells but I have to admit – I did not wear my high heels and super swishy skirt all the time so what you see here is very much a “location shot”. I wish I had a decent camera rather than the one on my ipad.

In terms of making up, it took a while as most things do for me. The sizing was odd. I would describe myself as a classic pear but my waist was size 10 whilst the hips were size 6. I knew I would struggle to grade as there were all the yoke pieces to get through but lovely Saturday Night Stitch gave me good advice – thanks Hila, it worked! I did have to fiddle around a bit once I had traced off the pattern because I hadn’t realised how much of a jigsaw the yoke would be – my fault I should have labelled up my pieces more carefully. I an lucky enough to have a lovely friend and neighbour called Ali who also sews. I popped round to hers to get fitting help before I put my zip in – I had to cut a wedge out of the back. This is why this particular skirt is a better fit than most of my other makes! Whilst I was there I spotted this gorgeous frock on her dress form – a genuine vintage make.

Finally, are you doing Me Made May? I am LOVING it! I have seen so many FAB outfits on Instagram but it is a terrible time thief. I am not sure how I am going to keep up with what everyone is wearing once I have to go back to work tomorrow. Not as many Sorbettos as I thought – which is good for me!

Have a good week – I am already planning my next post – a Me Made May round up.

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

PS just a final pic to show you how well my Swedish Hasbeens go with the Gabriola – roll on gorgeously hot summer days

Nautical Kim with a Twist

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with beach, BHL Kim, Elmer, Sewing, tie 25/04/2015

Hello all. hope you are having a FAB weekend!

I want to share my second Kim with you – these photos were taken at the beach last weekend which is probably why I am sat here now with a cold. It was such a gloriously sunny day albeit windy and I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to take photos of my nautical Kim in an appropriate setting.

We had so much fun taking the photos but I have to tell you – this dress did not make me smile the first time I put it on. I bought the fabric at Fabric Land in Worthing over the Easter holidays, originally for a Sureau but decided to go with a Kim because the fabric was so summery.

Although I had bought lining fabric I managed to eek the dress out of two metres. It did necessitate a lot of twiddling around and I had to cut right up to the selvedge which fortunately was patterned rather than being a white strip. Anyway, I thought I had marked each piece so that the selvedge pieces were on the inside of the bodice but I was sewing whilst watching, I think it was, Morse. There are so many adverts in these two hour programmes that in order to alleviate the guilt from lazing on the sofa – I hop up every time the ads are on and do a bit of sewing which proabably accounts for why this happened (and I did not notice until I tried the finished garment on)!

Normally I become despairing when things go wrong but this just made me laugh and laugh. I could not believe that I hadn’t noticed this: I will certainly be more attentive when I am lining in the same fabric in the future. I have not been put off though – I have already bought some Liberty with all of the Alice in Wonderland characters on and am going to make another one. You will see that I did correct it. I had to unpick the shoulder, twist the pieces round the right way and then I simply butt the two shoulder pieces together and handstitched with really tiny stitches. Obviously I can notice it but as my hair is shoulder length, I don’t think anyone else will – unless of course I meet you on a beach somewhere and you want a quick peek to see how neatly I did it!

Here are a couple more pics – just because it was such a lovely day.

In other sewing news I have finished the two ties I was sewing in the Liberty Lawn with daisies – I did the hand sewing on the train which seemed to intrigue people. I gave one to a friend last night at his leaving do and the other has been hidden away for Mr CK’s birthday next month. I really do enjoy making ties.

This weekend I am hoping to cut out my Gabriola (need to trace the pattern first) and I am currently making my tennis themed Sorbetto in preparation for the half term tennis camp.

Hope you have a lovely weekend and especially good luck to you if you are running a marathon!

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Me Made May Pledge 2015 (and a bit of chat)

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with A spool of blue thread, Anne Tyler, delphine, Liberty, libertytanalawn, MMM15, Sorbetto 21/04/2015

Good evening fellow sewistas

Thought I’d take the opportunity to write a little mid-week blogpost and make my pledge for Me Made May 2015. I find it astonishing that I am in a position to even contemplate such a challenge. It was a year ago this month I bought my sewing machine and I remember that when I first started looking at blogs people were posting about MMM and I had no idea what was going on! Yet now I’m up for it myself and really looking forward to participating. Look … I even had a little dummy run today.

Apart from my myriad of Sorbetto tops, most of my makes are quite patterned and not really sensible teacher fare. This is my strawberries and ants Delphine blogged about here. I think by wearing everything else in black I just about got away with it but May will need some careful thought. The trickiest bit will be that for the last week I am on a school trip: a tennis camp in Portugal. I will be in sports clothes pretty much all week but I have bought some fabric with racquets to make a ….. Sorbetto and, I’m really excited about this, I have managed to buy some wooden buttons in the shape of tennis balls!

So, here it is:

‘I, Clarinda of http://www.clarindakaleidoscope.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavour to wear one me made item (even if it’s only pants) each day for the duration of May 2015’

It looks as if I’m the 235th person to sign up – how great is that? Clearly we are all part of a vibrant, enthusiastic group and I am looking forward to seeing what other people have been making and finding some new blogs to follow.

I bought some gorgeous fabric at the weekend – three different Liberty Tana Lawns. I have already cut out the Daisies: two ties; one Belcarra (gift for my 2ic who is leaving at the end of this term); one Sorbetto. I was really pleased with how far I was able to make two metres go but it took me almost four hours because I kept re-jigging everything.

The ties are made all bar the hand sewing, which is my little treat tonight. If you follow this blog you might remember that I bought myself Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread for my Easter reading – seduced 100%, not my the cover but by the title: I thought it would be something to do with sewing – doh! I had anticipated it would be about a quilt making community or something similar and would explore the secret lives of the members etc. Well, I finally finished it tonight. Having ploughed through it I had concluded that the blue thread was metaphorical and then, on page 350 out of 357, there it was, a spool of blue thread which appeared to symbolise forgiveness, or it might just have been …. a spool of blue thread!

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with Birds, Colette patterns, Ditton fabrics, monthly stitch collective, Sorbetto 18/04/2015

Back in January I went shopping to Ditto Fabrics for the first time and bought four fabrics for my stash (who am I kidding – I didn’t really have a stash and I wanted one) which I write about here. About one of the fabrics I wrote “as for the bird fabric – who knows? It just looked so sweet I couldn’t resist it. Any suggestions for one metre?” Well, there were no suggestions at all until April’s challenge was announced for the Monthly Stitch Collective and I knew my inspiration had come to use my rather lovely watercolour garden birds.

As I only had one metre I went for my old faithful the Sorbetto but having had a look at some other Sorbettos on Pinterest I decided to follow others and do a variation. I am not sure I would go so far as to say I braved “a hack”; I merely inverted the pleat. Some stitchers had let the pleat flow directly from the neckline whereas others had sewn down a little way – I went for the second option.

It’s super sweet. It’s funny but I hadn’t really thought of the Sorbetto as being structured but it is rather stiff/formal when you compare it to the inverted pleat version which falls in a very feminine way. I really like it! Surely Collette’s Sorbetto must be the most frequently downloaded free pattern?

There’s not much more to report. I generally add three inches to the bottom of a Sorbetto but I didn’t have enough fabric available. I’ve now used up three of the four fabrics I bought on that shopping day. The one remaining is the doggie pattern. I had ear-marked that for a shirt but over Easter we had a little family sewing day and I “supervised” the cutting out of a cute summer dress – which was immediately abandoned as interest was lost (not by me!). So it’s good to see that the next challenge for the collective is some children’s sewing so I will resurrect it at some point during May – probably the half term week.

Hope you are all having a good weekend,

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

A little displacement activity – man sewing

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with By Hand London Kim, clothkits, handmade tie, Mortmain dress, tiemaking 12/04/2015

Hi to all, hope you are having a FAB time enjoying the sunshine, especially if you are back to work tomorrow or saying goodbye to your littlies as they return to school. I have had a lovely break – really relaxing. I didn’t get quite as much sewing as I expected as I have been distracted by other activities and fussing over the family – which I love to do. I am currently supposed to be doing coursework marking which I should have done earlier in the holidays but I have hopped onto the laptap to write this blog post – naughty naughty.

Worn here with an un-ironed, non-matching shirt just because I was impatient to get a photo

Yesterday it was my niece’s wedding – she is the first of my thirteen nieces and nephews to get married and I had made a Flamingo Kim for the occasion. However, during the holidays when my sewing plans seemed to revolve endlessly around dresses I decided to do a little man sew as a displacement activity – I was inspired to do this by Lazy Daisy Jones who has pledged to do a man sew a month. With the wedding fast approaching, I decided to make a tie using the leftovers from my Mortmain. A tie does take a surprising amount of fabric. Mr CK kept looking at it doubtfully asking “exactly how big is it going to be”? I have made a tie once before, at a ClothKits workshop. I used the same pattern as I was pleased at how that one turned out. I used a little bit of lilac polka dot which I have got in my stash which I think is wanting to be made up into a Gabriola – which would certainly go well with my shoes. I have read a couple of blogs this week where people have been reviewing the goals they set themselves for 2015 – mine are not going terribly well. Making the Gabriola was one of my pledges so I think I should crack on with that now that the summer is on its way. However, I have just cut out another Mortmain and have bought the fabric to make my Davie – so much sewing and so little time. Anyway, there is not too much more to say about the tie. I enjoyed the construction and particularly like the hand sewing elements. It was a pleasant afternoon’s distraction from my selfish sewing. I was really pleased that Mr CK was quite happy to wear it to the wedding and told everyone that I had made it. So to close today, here are a few pics of the wedding to show you the Kim and tie actually in use for an “occasion” – a glorious London affair which saw us traipsing around on London Transport in all our finery. Toodle pip, Clarinda x

With my beautiful niece Sarah

With some of the family menfolk; Summer Rose pretending she is the bride.

There did seem to be a bit of a lemon theme going on (which I like) but the lilac looks nice too

Outside our local waiting for the bus to take us to Clapham Junction – classy!

PS – If you did scroll down this far … I’ve got another couple of weddings to go to this summer. What do you think about the idea of my Mortmain and the matching tie? Utterly dreadful or fun cheese?

Delphine avec des fraises et les fourmis

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with dephinne, fabric shopping, Love at First Stitch, Tilly and the Buttons 05/04/2015

Bonjour and Happy Easter!

I bought this fabric a year ago from Cloth Kits, Chichester when I did my first workshop (even before I had my own sewing machine). I immediately fell in love with the funky pattern – ants and strawberries together on a rather stiff cotton fabric. Having bought it I didn’t really know what to make with it. However, this week whilst I have been pottering around – both in general and on the sewing front – it suddenly came to me: a Delphine.

There’s not really too much to say about the skirt. The pattern is straightforward to sew; it comes from Love at First Stitch and I really appreciate the instructions, clear diagrams and Tilly’s pragmatic approach. Here is Tilly’s advice for Stitch in the Ditch which I did first time with this skirt: ” …don’t worry if it doesn’t turn out perfect and some stitches go off piste – for I do believe life’s too short to stress out over the little things.” A girl after my own heart but my ditchy stitching was OK.

I’m not sure really what to wear it with – I think maybe a plain black or red top but I haven’t got one so for the time being it’s dark green. By the way, in the background you can see Arundel Cathedral and just in the corner, the castle.

Well the first week of the holidays have gone and it’s been really relaxing but I am in full matriarch mode for the weekend. I made my first ever jam (jelly) – pink grapefruit and rosemary to go with the spring lamb. Just look at the lovely colour:

I also managed to fit in a bit of fabric shopping. There is a great shop in Worthing called … The Fabric Shop. The only trouble is, whenever there is a lot of choice I always feel overwhelmed. I bought two metres of this blue fabric which I think I am going to make another Kim with – although I did buy four buttons because I was also thinking about making a Sureau.

What do you think? Kim or Sureau?

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Kim, Flamingos and a (Copy) Cat

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with BHL Kim, inside out, Kimsewalong, monthly stitch collective, Sewing, Sewing blogs 30/03/2015

Hello all,

I finished my Kim Sewalong a little bit behind schedule but still on time for my niece’s wedding on the 11th April. She is having a very colourful wedding in Peckham and I thought this fabric would be perfect for a fun dress – here I must confess – the inspiration came from Dolly Clackett whose dress I have completely copied – please forgive me and thanks SO much for being such a huge source of inspiration to me during my first year of sewing. There, I’ve got that out of the way right at the beginning of the post so now I can give you the deets.

I am writing this post as my contribution to the Monthly Stitch Collective and the theme for March is Inside Out. Well, the insides of this frock will probably make you sigh with disbelief. So far, every dress I have made has had shedloads of surplus fabric so instead of the three metres I should have got, I went for two. Big mistake. The skirt is supposed to have all three metres in it so mine is nowhere near as swishy as it should be.

The bodice is lined and as I didn’t have the full amount of fabric (Grrrr), I couldn’t get the lining out of the same fabric. As I had already started cutting out and just wanted to get on to sewing I searched my stash – which is nowhere near as abundant as some I have seen. The only fabric I had which was not printed or not cotton was some gorgeous broderie anglaise I had bought from Sew Over it and cost half as much again as the dress fabric itself.

It looks very pretty anyway. If you are a regular reader you will know I have a fear of my overlocker, which came threaded with black. I decided I would be bold and use it to finish my seams …. can you see where this is going?

I promise I won’t do this again. I have now had a private lesson and been shown how to change my threads – although I haven’t yet done it by myself. If you look very carefully at the picture of the bodice you can see just see the darkness of the thread peeping through – Oh I am a wally. Luckily it’s on the inside so only I know. The bodice top was a challenge for me – I have never done that thread the fabric through the shoulders thing before – I didn’t think it would ever go through and when it did, the fabric was so creased it looked like a rag. Here is a picture mid procedure – looks rude doesn’t it?

I also learned a new technique for gathering and I have to say, it has produced the best results so far; you prepare the gathers by hand-sewing two rows of running stitch at the same time.

Although I am please with the overall outcome, there are a few things I regret – of course, there are. The black overlocking and the fact that I didn’t handstitch the hem. On the plus side my invisible zip insertion is improving and if I can get my waist seams to line up it would be moving towards perfect.

So all in all a reasonable outcome. The fabric is called Flaming Boarder and I got it from Fancy Moon; the dress pattern (which I would highly recommend) is By Hand London’s Kim – but don’t skimp on the fabric.

I thought you might like a little close up of my shoes. I have become obsessed with Swedish clogs – I bought two pairs at the end of the summer in the sale which I hadn’t had chance to wear but now that I have and know exactly how comfortable they are, I have bought another …. sssshhhh, don’t tell Mr CK this ….. three pairs.

So, the clocks have gone back, Spring is officially here and it is the first day of my two week Easter break – Happy Days!

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Magnificent Mortmain

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with badger and earl, exposed zips, handmade jane, Mortmain dress, Sew Over It, sewing workshops, swedishhasbeens 27/03/2015

Well hello there, I have broken up for Easter today and I can’t tell you how happy I am about that.

Look … I made something which actually fits me and doesn’t have too many boo boos – thanks to the girls at Gather for their amazing pattern and to Handmade Jane who led the workshop at Badger and Earl where I made this dress over two consecutive Sundays. For ten hours in total we worked on our frocks and not one of us managed to completely finish so our fashion parade at the end was somewhat hurried. Had we been on the Great British Sewing Bee we would probably have had ninety minutes and had to throw in a bolero jacket as well!

I had a specific event in mind for this dress which influenced my fabric choice – a gorgeous ….. actually, I’ve no idea what it is! A cotton sateen maybe? There was a bit of stretch which I hadn’t realised initially and the white background is embossed; the lilac/purple splodges look like watercolours. My school colours are lilac/purple and this year a new event was introduced: The Lilac Dinner. The idea was to have an evening where the students, parents and teachers all have supper together just before the students go off to take their GCSEs. I do like to throw myself into things so decided I was going to make a lilac dress – of course I was! I originally bought a purple gingham but when I was at Sew Over It making my coat the fabric kept calling my name and whispering “Lilac Dinner, Lilac Dinner”.

I LOVED the workshop. There were four of us and we all had gone for floral prints. The dress was a great fit on all of us without any real alterations – it seemed to be a magic pattern. Everything seemed to fit together perfectly. The only really tricky thing was the exposed zip – I thought invisible zips were supposed to be hard but they are a doddle compared to the exposed zip. Thank goodness Jane was there to expertly guide us through every step of the way.

Here is the back view – I have to admit I was a little sceptical of the exposed zip but it does make a statement and a lot of the girls had similar zips in their outfits so it must be very “in”!

It was really great to meet Jane – she was very perceptive at gauging exactly where we were at any one point and who was fine and who needed help. The only thing I messed up, and I am so cross with myself about this, was that I managed to put my armhole facings in upside down. Jane was so kind in offering to re-set them for me as she knew I needed the dress for Thursday but I just pressed the life out of them and they stayed in place.

And obviously we have to mention the shoes! Aren’t they gorgeous? I saw them on Dolly Clackett’s blog and knew they would go perfectly with my dress so I literally ordered them just before the workshop on Sunday; they arrived from Sweden yesterday at 1pm – cutting in fine! I find I am being influenced more and more my reading sewing blogs – it’s the second time I’ve “borrowed” style from Dolly and have also blatantly copied Justsewtherapeutic. Is that wrong – I’m not sure? Do you say copy or inspired by?

Anyway, I have had a hideous half term and I am really pleased to have broken up today. I was thinking about going away but actually I just want to rest at home, read and sew so hopefully I will have a few things to show you over the next couple of weeks. I will definitely make the Mortmain again (arm facings the right way up) and have already bought the zip.

Hope you have lovely things planned for Easter,

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Calling all you Overlocker Queens – Help!

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with badger and earl, Mortmain dress, sewaholic davie, sewing workshops 17/03/2015

Hello all,

I hope your week is going well?

Look what arrived in the post for me today!

Now, this is very exciting. I got the pattern out to read on the train coming home from work (cue lots of surprised looks from commuters) and had a bit of a surprise. I have pledged to myself that I am going to make up Sewaholic’s Davie as my first garment on my overlocker but … now that I have the pattern, it is awash with topstitching. How do I do that on my overlocker? Or, do I make the dress up on my overlocker but then topstitch on my normal machine? But … how will I do that with knit fabric? Do I use my walking foot? Or, if on the overlocker, do I use top stitch thread? Oooh, so many questions – all suggestions gratefully received.

Making the Davie will probably be my first project of the Easter holidays (eight days to go – not that I’m counting but it’s been a foul half-term) as this weekend I have the second of my Mortmain workshops. Want a peep of progress thus far?

The bodice looks as if it will fit well – I cut a 10. You can’t actually see the darts on this but I do look gloriously flat-chested (I am). If you think it clashes somewhat with my stripey top, just look at the skirt when I was still wearing my jumper!

Really looking forward to sharing the finished garment with you and telling you all about Badger and Earl. Will have to remember to wear appropriate shoes/tights for the group photograph as the above photos are decidedly unflattering!

Have a good rest of the week,

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Thank you Cynthia …

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with badger and earl, Great British Sewing Bee, Gutermann, Katya Essery, Mortmain dress, Sew Pretty, sewing workshops, Threads, vintage notions 14/03/2015

I haven’t actually done much sewing this week to but I am going to have a whole day of it tomorrow which I will tell you about in my next post. My week has been tedious to say the least so I am delighted to share with you a gloriously generous, unexpected gift I was given this morning which filled me with absolute delight. My daughter had been given a black bin liner to pass to me by a friend who I have met a few times. I opened it and found it contained an old cardboard box and half a dozen carrier bags: an absolute treasure trove filled with threads and notions. It took me a good couple of hours to sort out my inheritance stash from “Cynthia”, who her son referred to as Minnie Cool, which I think is lovely. I sorted into three main groups: vintage wooden bobbins; some permacool terylene thread and Gutermann reels. There isn’t any way I could possibly ever get through it all so I have decided to share it amongst my sewing friends/textiles department at school. Aren’t I a lucky girl! Thursday saw the final of the Great British Sewing Bee – who would have thought it would be Matt to take the hallowed dress form. My money was on Neil from the beginning but he had a shocker – I think all of the excitement finally got to him! The contestants this year really did seem a friendly bunch – it was lovely when they all came back for the presentation. Before the Bee started I had a private lesson with lovely Katya from Sew Pretty. Regular readers will know that I am still frightened of my overlocker which I bought on EBAY back in the Autumn; I haven’t completed a single garment on it yet – in fact I haven’t done more than finish four seams.

Photo courtesy Sew Pretty

It was a really productive couple of hours; we had a cup of tea and a chat and Katya took me through the whole of the manual – I changed the threads – twice; learned how to lower the knife; use a gathering attachment; do a rolled hem etc. etc. It remains to be seen if I will be able to do these thing by myself but I certainly feel more confident about having a go – thank you Katya. I would certainly recommend having a private lesson to anyone who has the equivalent of Writer’s Block with any aspect of sewing! Tomorrow I am off to another workshop – as you know I am a bit of a workshop junkie and I am going to a new studio for me in South London – Badger and Earl. I am going to be doing a class with Handmade Jane making the Mortmain dress. The feature of this dress is its exposed zip. I bought this glorious fabric at Sew Over It and a purple zip but I really wasn’t sure if I actually liked the exposed zip idea anyway. But …. Look … my lovely friend Ali offered to rummage through her vintage supply (kept in a trunk no less) and gave me this gorgeous white zip with silver teeth (?) which I think will go perfectly. I am feeling really rather humble and grateful for the good things I have been given today. I hope you are having a similarly rewarding weekend. Happy Mothers Day to you for tomorrow if you are celebrating; I’m in deep disgrace over it because I am going to my workshop for the day and not the Sunday Lunch at a Manor house which had been planned for me! Toodle pip, Clarinda (and a final picture of Cynthia’s stash – thank you) x