A Fabric Godmother indeed!

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with Anna, Fabric Godmother, Gabriola, House of Pinheiro, Lourdes, Sewing bloggers, Sewwing 15/08/2015

Hello all,

I have had a very exciting week which included A level results , another 12 mile stretch of the South Downs Way, a visit to Peppa Pig World and the Open Day at Fabric Godmother and may I just say, what a Godmother indeed!

With Butterflies and Lemondrops, Daisy creates in Sussex and Seams Odd Louise

It is the first time I have ever met any other bloggers in real life and it is quite a surreal experience – to encounter someone you exchange with on a regular basis and feel you “know” but then to meet them in the flesh and have to formally introduce yourself. This was slightly complicated by the fact that our blog names are not our real names, i.e. Daisy is actually Linda and in a rather odd inversion my blog name is actually my real name but I use a different name in real life!

So, to the Open Day. The fabric choice was overwhelming – SO much good stuff. I went with a plan – which I fulfilled and bought a couple of other things as well. Next time, I hope there is a next time, I will have a bigger plan! It was lovely having a cup of tea afterwards and swopping tales/showing off our purchases. Absolutely no-one left empty handed.

I have LOVED wearing my maxis this summer (Gabriola and Anna) so I decided I would make a maxi for winter with a cropped jacket to go with it. One of my prizes as a winner in The Monthly Stitch dresses contest was a pattern from Named and I chose the Lourdes jacket. I hope it will look very funky paired with the skirt but also realise it could look dreadfully Edwardian and frumpy. What do you think?

Skirt in check; jacket in plain

I am also wondering if I could actually make up version B of the Gabriola and use the plain fabric for the contract yoke (is it called a yoke on a skirt?) and waistband – what do you think?

To set off my autumn suit, I bought this lovely bird fabric to make a shirt – the colours match perfectly although I accept it will look super busy when paired with the skirt.

I did intend to get some lining of a similar hue but was completely drawn to this silky, dotty fabric so I am afraid that if you look inside my skirt they’ll be even more busyness/clashing going on!

My final purchase was this wonderful cotton – as I said I do love my birds. They are large ish – almost a handspan from beak tip to tail. My original thought was a shirt but my frame might be overwhelmed. I bought two metres to give me options – what do you think I should make? As I’m typing this and thinking about my lining comment above I have just thought that this would make delightful lining on a black jacket (not that I want to use it for lining though).

All in all, a really great visit – I got to say hi to Rachel from House of Pinheiro but most enjoyed meeting some of the ladies I think of as my sewing chums!

Sewing this week has taken a bit of a back burner due to all of the other things happening. I was making good progress on my Flamingo Mortmain but annoyingly, having decided to add sleeves to this one, it never occurred to me that my great big shoulders might need a larger size. I am currently feeling a bit despondent about the frock as I am going to have to unpick, re-sew and re-set the sleeves with the absolute minimum seam allowance – Grr. Off to do that now!

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

Things I have discovered during Me Made May 15 Week 1

Posted by Clarinda Kaleidoscope in sewing and tagged with delphine, Francoise, Gabriola, MMM15, Sewing, Sewing blogs, Sorbetto, Sureau 09/05/2015

Hello all, I hope you are set for a FAB weekend? It is a bit windy here but I have shedloads of marking to do so the weather is fairly irrelevant. So, my first time of joining in with MMM15 – as I only started sewing in April 2014 it is quite exciting for me to be able to join in.

Day 1 – Wearing my Colette patterns Dahlia – this dress was such a struggle to make (details here) – I had so many problems with the neckline. There is an inverted pleat at the back scooping up four inches of surplus fabric (which is why I am wearing a cardigan). The first thing I’ve realised during MMM15 is that it is quite tricky finding someone to take photos for you/of you without feeling deeply embarrassed. Friday was the last day for our Y11s so we were outside having a class photo and I got one of the students to take this – I hadn’t realised at all that I was being photo-bombed till the girls all started shrieking with laughter. I do like the Dahlia but have yet to brave making another.

Being photo-bombed

Day 2 – this is part of my Saturday routine. I do the shopping (you can see it on the floor next to me) then I finish up by popping into a local coffee shop for a latte – it is here I usually catch up on blogs. This is another thing I have discovered – MMY15 is an absolute time thief. I am only doing Instagram (I did think about Flickr and Pinterest but thank goodness I abandoned those) but it is taking all my time to keep up with everyone – I actually feel anxious that I might miss something! I have seen some lovely makes over the past week and found some new blogs to follow which is really good. Here I a wearing one of my early Sorbettos – made with leftovers from the dress I made for the work sewing bee.

At GROUNDS our local, independent coffee shop

Day 3 – I was pottering about at home trying to finish my Gabriola and popped down to my friend Ali’s for her help with fitting. She was busily adding the finishing touches to her FAB Map Dress (a collar which was apparently later discarded). I am wearing my Tilly and the Buttons Francoise which was my Christmas Day dress (another neckline problem for me). What is so odd about this dress is that it looks as if it should be fairly formal/uncomfortable being made in wool but it’s not at all – I am wearing it as a comfy, slob about in, sweater dress. And here is another thing I have discovered – all my garments are too big for me. I clearly do not measure myself properly.

Map dress credit to my friend Ali

Day 4 – Bank Holiday Monday and a glorious day for a walk. We went off in search of bluebells as I had just finished my Gabriola and thought it would make a great location shot – it was quite fun lurking behind a tree to whip off my Sew Over it Ultimate trousers and change into skirt and heels. Before we came to the bluebells we passed these gorgeous fields of Rapeseed – I saw three other MMM15 participants on Instagram similarly photographed.

Gorgeous fields of Rape

Day 5 – back to work and here I am in one of my Y13 lessons. You can hardly see it in the photo but I made the shirt at a workshop at Sew Pretty and it is covered in little bumble bees. I would say this is my most frequently worn garment – not sure why I haven’t tacked another shirt yet – I certainly have bought patterns. I think it is to do with a fear of buttonholes.

This is how I spend my days

Day 6 – I look a bit of a mess here. The skirt is new from Seasalt and even when I bought it I was thinking I could easily make that but I was really drawn to the fabric and then struggled to team it with anything. My Me Made item here is the cardigan which has a cable edge and a single button. I was a knitter before I was a sewer but not a very advanced one and I had never heard of blocking until I started reading blogs. I have really enjoyed seeing all of the sophisticated knits being proudly worn for MMM15.

back to the tree shot

Day 7 – Election day. I was waiting outside before the Polling Station opened and asked the guy next to me in the queue if he would take my photo. I explained it was for my blog and he asked what I blogged about – he certainly was not anticipating my answer! I am wearing another Sorbetto made in a fabric with beautiful garden birds on it. One of my students said I looked very “FatFace” which I take as a compliment. I posted this pic on my Facebook and a number of people asked if I was standing – I guess it does look like it. Anyway, not so smiley the next day as my team didn’t win.

Election Day!

Day 8 – I realise now that the scarf doesn’t go! This is my Tilly and the Buttons Delphine. I have made two now and I have to say – very functional work wear.

At the Juniors

Day 9 – and so to today! I am home alone which led me to take my first ever mirror selfie. I am wearing my Deer and Doe Sureau which is clearly far too big for me: a shame because I love the denim and antique brassy buttons. I’ve taken far longer over this blog post than I intended – clearly operating as a displacement activity for what is waiting for me!

First ever mirror shot

Bonus – here is the Gabriola I wore on BH Monday (but only briefly to get blog photos)

blog photo shoot!

Thank you for reading, if you managed to get this far! I hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying MMM15 if you are playing along.

Toodle pip,

Clarinda x

The reason why I will not be sewing this weekend

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