Things I like

Last week Chris had a week off work, so I took a couple of days off so we could do some fun stuff together. One of the things we’d been planning to do for ages but were waiting until the weather was better was a charity shop tour along the South Coast following the 700 bus route (the coastal bus that runs from Brighton to Portsmouth). We did a large portion of it in one go two years ago and it was excellent and very fruitful. Since then we’ve only done a few of the places en route, and not the whole thing in one go, as it’s basically impossible to do it all in one day unless you can drive and have your own car to speedily nip around between places. If you were to stay on the 700 bus from Brighton to Portsmouth for the whole journey it takes something like 4 hours, so it doesn’t leave you much time to properly investigate every charity shop in every town or village along the route.

With that in mind we decided to try and do the whole stretch from Shoreham-by-Sea to Bognor Regis. This meant getting the train to Shoreham in time for the shops opening and jumping on the 700 bus from there. There’s a few charity shops in Shoreham and one of them (Cancer Research I think) had an excellent ‘retro’ window display and large display inside but none of it was for me, it was more 40’s / 50’s / early 60’s. Fabulous for people into those decades though, lots of handbags, scarves, gloves, accessories etc.

In the Red Cross shop I found a box of dress patterns, priced at 50p each. I got this one:

Simplicity pattern 7529

I’m quite looking forward to making this – planning to do the sleeveless version. It’s quite similar in shape to the last dress I made, without the silly bouffy sleeves.

After Shoreham we stopped in Worthing. In the DebRA shop I was really chuffed to find numbers 1 – 18 of the Golden Hands knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guides:

Golden Hands complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guides 1 - 6

Golden Hands complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guides 7 - 12

Golden Hands complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guides 13 - 18

It was £10 for the lot, I’m pretty sure I probably have a lot of the content scattered across my other Golden hands magazine and books, but I was just so happy to find them in hardback and in such great condition! (Not so happy to have to lug them around for the rest of the day though!) The man who was working in the DebRA shop was really friendly and helpful and gave us a load of tips on where to find hidden or out of the way charity shops in the area. Most of these were back towards Lancing, Portslade and Brighton so I’ve mentally pencilled these in for a visit in a few weeks time. Since then I’ve looked on Google Maps and discovered a whole set of charity shops in Worthing that we missed too!

We jumped back on the 700 and went towards Goring-by-Sea, stopping off at the cluster of charity shops on Goring Road and doing a short detour to the couple of shops along the road from Durrington-on-Sea railway station, where we got these:

Wooden viking

Ravenhead Siesta tankards

I was quite pleased about the Ravenhead glasses as I’d been looking for more of the tankards and the only one I could find was on Ebay and someone wanted £5 for it – yes just the one! I paid 75p each.

Waiting for the bus in East Preston

Back on the 700 route we stopped off at Dizzy in East Preston, where we got the ludicrous mug with the beaver on (as seen below) and then carried on to Rustington. Rustington has got an abundance of charity shops, with a new addition since we last went there which was the most disorganised, smelly but fantastic shop I had been in for a long time but sadly it was not very fruitful for me this time round. I did however, find this ‘I Hate J.R.’ mug and a great handicrafts book:

Mugs

The Book of Handicrafts for all the family - Eve Harlow

Excellent giraffe from the handicrafts book

From there it was onto Littlehampton. In the Link Romania shop we found a new version of the Kiln Craft dinner set that we use. I had never seen this colour before so that was quite nice, it was a set of 4 plates, bowls, cups and saucers where the plates and cups have the pattern and the saucers and bowls are plain brown. Weirdly it doesn’t have the Kiln Craft stamp on the bottom, but I guess it must be by them:

Kiln Craft mug

So that’s the third colour we have of that pattern:

Kiln Craft trio

Chris also got a bag and a really nice late 70’s / early 80’s Pierre Cardin belt.

We got back on the 700 bus to Bognor Regis, and it was getting quite late so I wasn’t hopeful for any shops still being open there. However we arrived at about 4.45 and managed to find a few places still open, and it turned out that most of them were until 5.30. Scope had a ‘retro’ rail and display but again nothing took my fancy – they did have a lot of nice ice buckets, kitcheny bits, tea sets and shirts though.

If I hadn’t got the Golden Hands books then I might have felt a bit disappointed as we covered a lot of ground but didn’t get very much, however it’s such a nice day out and I’m already looking forward to the next time.

I found this in the Save the Children charity shop in Ryde two weeks ago, it cost £2.50 but I think it was well worth it:

Galt Toys - Picture Lotto

Galt Toys - Picture Lotto cards

Galt Toys - Picture Lotto cards

Galt Toys - Picture Lotto cards

Galt Toys - Picture Lotto cards

My favourite pic:

Me in the bath

As always, I’ve finished my latest dress and predictably have ended up not liking it.

This is the pattern I used:

Simplicity pattern 2967

It’s another Simplicity Retro pattern and I got it from US Ebay as it wasn’t available on the UK Simplicity website. When it turned up it turned out to be for bust sizes B-D, so I had to alter the bust darts. It was the first time I’d done that and it involved taking them in by an half an inch, and clipping the excess fabric from the sides and bottom of the dress. Quite simple, but I felt quite good after doing it, like I had learnt something a bit complicated even though it wasn’t. I also had to add some length to the sleeves as I’d chosen to do the long sleeved version of the dress and when I made the mock up the sleeve length taken from the pattern was too short and made my long monkey arms look even more monkeyish.

It took me about 7 weeks worth of classes and a few hours homework here and there to do the mock up and the proper version, as I wanted to be really neat and do things properly instead of rushing them and leaving the finish a bit dodgy.

This is how it turned out:

:-(

I’m thinking ‘yuck’ at the moment, but I’m not sure why. It’s not the fabric (as I love it), it’s more the shape and the sleeves. I’m not sure what I was expecting as it’s pretty much as per the pattern cover, but I felt a bit disappointed when I tried it on for the first time.

I got the fabric from John Lewis in March last year – it’s ‘Love’ by Amy Butler – and I was saving it for when I was a lot better at dressmaking than I was back then so that I didn’t ruin it. It was a bit more pricey than fabrics I usually buy, and as a consequence a lot heavier and an absolute dream to sew with. I hardly made any mistakes as a result of runaway fabric or slippages. The worst bits to sew (as always) were the sleeves, but even then after I had unpicked them following a tiny mistake you could hardly see where it had been stiched before.

Anyway… I’ll give it a couple of weeks and see how I feel then!

Another project – this one done at home on the side – was a stretch denim version of Simplicity pattern 3833. I had a few days off work and once I’d finished the dress for my course I thought I would get on with this one. I originally started it last summer following the problems with the cheapo spotty version, and then left in pieces in the dining room when I got annoyed with it one night (mainly because I used red carbon paper to do the markings and then couldn’t see them properly under the dining room light). Last summer I decided that I wanted to have a red zip and red stitching to nicely contrast with the colour of the denim, and I had just got a nice pair of red pumps that I wanted to wear the dress with. Six months on I still liked this idea, so stuck with it.

Simplicity 3833 in stretch denim

Half way through making it I had the idea that I might want to experiment and use a decorative stitch, so I used the scallop stitch on my Pfaff machine to sew the hems on the bottom of the dress and the sleeves. I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Sleeve with decorative stitch from my Pfaff machine

Red concealed zip

I ended up really enjoying making the dress, although again the dye came off on my hands and working with stretch fabrics isn’t brilliant, especially with decorative stitches. I had to unpick some of the scallop stitches (twice!!!) which wasn’t much fun as they had stretched out where I was pulling the fabric without realising.

Next project for my course is a shirt dress, I’ve been wanting to try a collar, cuffs and button holes for ages. I started to cut the pattern out on Tuesday night, but I have only got one class left of this term and I’m not sure if I am feeling brave enough to attempt the mock up without supervision before the new term starts in May.

Another series of finds from recent charity shop visits:

Jersey Pottery pot and ashtray(?)

Not sure of the age of these, and the only thing I could find on the internet like them was a pot with handle on Ebay, so I don’t know much about them apart from that they have a Jersey Pottery stamp on the bottom. I’m not even sure if the flat one is an ashtray, there is no resting place for fags. I did like them though, thought they might come in handy for storing all the stray pins I seem to remove from Chris’s shirts he wears for work. I found them in the Salvation Army shop in Ryde.

Placemats

I quite liked these, apart from the crusty food stains on one of them. I found them in Save the Children in Ryde.

Wooden dog letter holder

I gave this to Chris as he is quite fond of these little chaps. I found it sitting in the window of Save the Children in Ryde.

Owl trivet

This one I found in the Marie Curie shop in Southsea last weekend, can’t resist a good owl! Handy too.

For my birthday last month, this rather superb present turned up in the post:

Judy Reeves in silver

It’s a Judy Reeves (my dog) necklace in silver, as made by my lovely friend Elin, who makes beautiful jewellery – her website is here: http://www.elinhorgan.com. I had seen her a few weeks previous to my birthday and she had said she was in the middle of making me something so I was quite excited to find out what it was, but I never imagined this! Apparently she had emailed Chris to ask for some side profile shots of Judy to help with the shape.

Here’s the little lady herself wearing the necklace:

Judy Reeves wearing Judy Reeves

TG Green big and small rice pots

I was feeling a bit sore after missing out on a TG Green Spectrum butter dish on Ebay (having never seen one before), but vowed to plough on regardless with my search for more Spectrum items to add to the collection. Last month I found these two rice pots on Ebay, and was lucky enough to win the auctions. I love the way they didn’t bother reducing the font size for the smaller pot!

Last year I posted about a tea set I found in the Salvation Army shop in Portsmouth -http://sarahdobinson.com/new-tea-set/ – no idea who made it and when it was from though. HOWEVER – thanks to the excellent ‘Retroline’ website I discovered that it was made by Woods: http://www.theretroline.co.uk/retroline/WOODS.html – still not sure when it was made though!

For some inexplicable reason, I just assumed you could get this pattern as a tea or coffee set, but for my birthday this year my chum Anna gave me this excellent cork lidded pot and flour shaker with the same pattern:

Woods cork lidded pot and flour shaker

I wonder what else you can get with the same pattern, getting quite excited about finding more of it!

I realised that apart from the first thing I ever made on my dressmaking course (this dress, Simplicity pattern 3833 made in the Winter/Spring term 2010), I haven’t posted anything I’ve made since. I think it’s because this blog was meant to be about ‘Things I like’ and everytime I finish something, I really don’t like it!

The next project was this, made during Summer term 2010:

Simplicity pattern 2421

I thought it would be quite quick and easy, and I got loads of summery fabrics to make a few of it for lazing around in, then I did the mock up in calico and it was hideous. I looked like I was wearing a giant potato sack, so I decided to turn it into a top. For the actual top I used the white version of the fabric I got for my first dress:

Ex-potato sack

Close up of ex-potato sack

Still not the best fit, but it’s ok. That is actually the second one I made as the first one was too big and still a bit potato sack-ish and I messed up the gathering at the front.

During that term I also made this dress using the same pattern as the first dress I made:

Simplicity pattern 3833

Simplicity pattern 3833, badly creased

I got the fabric really cheap off Ebay and when it turned up it was quite thin and nasty (i.e. you really do get what you pay for), so I had to get some lining for it. The first lining I got practically disintegrated as I was cutting and sewing it, so I got some better lining and redid it all. The spotty fabric also started to disintegrate as I was sewing it, especially around the zip area when I was sewing in the concealed zip, and the black dye kept rubbing off on my hands, so I decided in the end not to finish or wear the dress and to keep it as a sample lined dress to refer back to.

Autumn term 2010 wasn’t that productive, I missed 3 classes due to a) illness b) water coming through our ceiling c) a holiday and I didn’t really do much homework due to boiler problems that made me feel really stressed. I decided to make a skirt and yet again it was quite a palaver. I chose this pattern:

Simplicity pattern 2343

And decided to make view C, just the plain shorter skirt without any ruffles or nonsense. It seemed quite straightforward, but when I did the mock up the skirt ended up being too tight, so I had to put an extra inch in on the front and back to make it a better fit:

Simplicity pattern 2343, view C

For the ‘real thing’ I used a thick jersey like fabric, which was quite difficult to cut and sew as it kept sliding around everywhere. It was the first time I had attempted a pocket though, and I was quite pleased with myself because I did it really neatly…

Pocket

I then finished the skirt, and it turned out too big for me…! I think the fabric must have stretched whilst I was sewing it. So I am giving it to a friend who tried it on when it was almost finished and it really suited her, so at least it is going to a good home.

I’m in the process of making another dress this term, almost finished so will write about it once it’s done.

It’s been quite a bumper month for sewing finds in charity shops. First off I went to the Salvation Army shop in Ryde a week and a half ago, and found a box of old knitting, crochet and dressmaking patterns that appeared to have been removed from someone’s home and dropped in the shop without being sorted through i.e. the box was absolute chaos, with pattern pieces everywere. I spent about 20 minutes looking through everything and found 10 good patterns, most of which are uncut – these were 20p each, amazing!

20p patterns

They are mostly size 16, which is good for me as on the older patterns my measurements come up as between 14 – 16 (I’m normally a size 12) and if I have to make any amends then I find it a lot easier to downsize patterns.

On Saturday Chris and I went charity shopping in Gosport and Lee-on-Solent. I didn’t see much in Gosport (apart from a couple of TG Green Granville pots, and a ‘retro’ rail in one shop that was bursting with stuff, but none of it took my fancy) but Lee-on-Solent was an unexpected pleasure. ‘Vitalise’ on the sea front had a nice little box of patterns, in which I found these soft toy patterns:

Soft toy patterns

Oxfam was even better – it still has the branding from the late 80’s (I think) and was packed with dressmaking and knitting goodies. There was a shelf full of fabrics, and another shelf and the floor underneath covered with boxes of buttons, jars of knitting needs, baskets of zips etc. I got this huge (6 1/2 yards) bundle of fabric for £3.99, and the assortment of buttons and zips for the grand total of £1.99.

Mini-haberdashery

Lastly, I found this dress in the Age Concern shop in Ryde:

Big dress

Someone had (badly) attached the hideous lime green velvet ribbon around the middle, but that is easily removed and there is oodles of fabric to do something with.

Better get moving with all my projects now!

I have wanted a Kenneth Townsend tile for ages, and by luck a couple of days before my birthday this one popped up on the excellent Winters Moon website, so I bought it as a birthday present to myself.

Kenneth Townsend Lion tile

This excellent website features a lot of Kenneth Townsend’s work: http://www.kenneth-townsend.co.uk. I’m pretty sure that I, or someone close to me, had the Snap game when I was little… I bet it ended up in the bin with all the other good stuff (like my Mr Men lampshade) when we moved house in 1984. If only my parents had been hoarders! My Mum once told me that she got a load of Whitefriars glass for a wedding present in 1972 – where did it end up? In the bin apparently!