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…
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!
In the sleeveless jacket walking up the garden path… my nemesis! To this day, the first thing I do when I get home from work is check the ceilings for any leaks from the upstairs flat. That is his fault. Rubbish times.