I Made A Trip To Barcelona

I've spent the last week soaking up sun, sea and culture, falling into cafes for coffee, chocolate and churros.
I took myself off to a local flea market one morning trying to avoid the midday heat. Amongst the power tools, flip flops and bric a brac I found a ton of vintage mags. My daughter persuaded me that perhaps one or two was enough of a souvenir. Left alone I could have filled a suitcase.I haggled for these two French beauties from 1938 and paid 2 euros, not bad for someone with no Spanish/Catalan what so ever. (Mad woman on phone with dried flower corsage, I could relate to..)



Inside were some wonderful tips (in French) on how to arrange your workspace so that bobbins and needles don't attack you in the night.



Along with some chi chi fashion..



And for all you knitters out there..


Of course I saw Miros, Paella and Gaudis.





Wonderful, wonderful city - right down to the Flamenco aprons!

I Made a bucket of paste

...and wallpapered the hall. This blog isn't confined to the 'soft' option - not just fabric creations.
I find paper hanging very theraputic. This paper, Wilman - Celestine Sweet Pea, went up a treat and behaved itself beautifully.

The walls are now a wonderful foil to my stained glass panels that adorn each bedroom door. I designed these panels myself (with the room's occupant in mind..) and the finished glass and lead panels were constructed by my talented artist friend Margaret.

I Made A Tattoo Frock

I needed a frock to go with my my darling new Red Shoes.



So behold the Tattoo fabric I bought a while back made up using the same Green Frock pattern, New Look no 6375. So easy to put together, it's a joy. And so easy to wear!

I snapped a pic of the fabric as a fly landed on my arm.



Naturally I had to remove the layer of dust that had settled on my sewing machine due to my work/life imbalance. I have knitted 3 rows of my green cardy in the past 6 months - should be ready by Xmas.

Whilst taking afternoon tea with Flibb and friends yesterday (and admiring the new New York stash), I spotted some swishy fabric I just might have to buy. I have got a swishy skirt pattern and will make one up in time for the annual 'Swing Night' with full orchestra that our wonderful local council hosts every summer, Central Park E6.

Still to make up - the ahem, *cardy* same more pants and something from this chi chi little number. Yum!

I Made A Fab (fabric swap) Bag

Just look at this little darling, made from the fabric strips I got in Flibb's fabric swap (thank you Thimbleanna!).
I didn't have a pattern to hand but knew I wanted a knitting bag stylee, it didn't take long to rustle a pattern up.




Plastic glitter handles from ebay, buttons John Lewis, polka dot fabric from the stash. The lining is made from my Green Dress trimmings (see previous post) and the bag is in fact reversible, should I want a fully co-ordinating outfit.



A girl can never have too many bags. So I want to make some more, please check out Thimbleanna's felted bags on her blog - they are divine, as are the little initial button trim she's added. I did have miles of ric rac but cannot remember where I have stashed it! When I stumble across it I'll add a ric rac corsage for that extra special occasion.

Bag made to the strains of Louis Prima and lots of hot Java.

I Made A Green Dress

This is such an easy pattern! I must thank Flibb for wearing it so well (jump to her blog now - she's making another one in Liberty fabric and silk). There are several necklines to choose from, I had a hunk of green cotton fabric from my trip to Abakhan's in Liverpool and went for the crossover neckline in the pattern photo.

What does a girl do when she's a 12 up top and 14 below? I cut out the bigger size of course.
Bad move.
I needed to transmute into Dolly Parton for the thing to fit.



So I unpicked, re-cut and started again. I grafted the smaller size top onto the larger size bottom and da da!
My West Side Story pose.



The sun poured down on my lovely garden today as I stitched, happy in my work. This dress is soooo comfy. Let's make another one!

See This Shirt

Fab isn't it?
The pattern was an Easter present from my big sis in Liverpool. I can't wait to to get stuck in and of course am on the lookout for fabric fabric..
My 'to do pile' is in danger of toppling over. If only I didn't have to work for a living ;-)
I am sitting in my purpose built workspace/making space in my lovely garden listening to Louis Prima. The lilac bush is in bloom, forget me nots sprinkled under the sycamore tree...

I Made A Spring Flower Shirt

This shirt has been skulking in the back of my wardrobe since before blog time. I made it from some lovely cheap fabric I bought locally but I never quite got the 'cut' right. Today I dragged it onto my dress form and got it to behave. Just a nip and a tuck.

Actually the problem really stems from the fabric being a little too heavy, it tends to bulk out too much at the front. I would have been better off making a straight skirt I reckon. Please note the contrasting facing on the collar :-) And why not eh?

I Made A Doris Day Shirt

Finally got around to finishing this little Gingham number! Now need a Barn Dance to go to...
I was out with a couple of crafty bloggers last night, very inspiring - it was only due to the doorstop sized pieces of cake I came home with in my 'doggy bag', that I was able to do so much sewing today. MMmmm .. thank you Flib, cake maker extraordinaire.

You cannot craft without cake I say. This Gingham top was brought to you via cake and Judy Garland's greatest hits.

I Made A Second Swap

Well look - e - here!
My second swap package arrived. All the way from Ft Wayne .. crammed full of goodies.

The fabric is darling, and I need never worry again about how many calories are in my burger... I am also now in Ric Rac heaven, 3 packs! I may have to nip over to Tie One On as I believe the current apron theme is Ric Rac.

I got lovely bonus goodies of a crafty Mag and some stickers - thank you so much Anna :-)

I Made My First Swap

I can get hooked on this swapping lark! Look here for all sorts of exciting swaps...

I parcelled up some fabric to send to my swap partners in the US. I've had one parcel sent to me from Heidi in Texas - 3 very pretty vintage prints in red blue and white, I really like these and a quilted clutch bag is calling to me. That is, I'd like to create a clutch bag from this swap and will have to improvise a pattern.

Some WIP now. The Sew Retro theme this month is 'something for Spring' I want to use my tattoo fabric for a wrap shirt but I'm not too pleased with the wrap pattern I've used earlier for my Hawiian refashion (too much fabric due to pleated front).

I have a wonderful shop bought wrap shirt that fits 'just right' so my task this weekend was to make a pattern. I've used the leftover fabric from the spotty frock to create a mock up - that I could feasibly wear. It's looking good so far. Very Doris Day.

I Made A Spotty Frock

Here it is! The wonderful spotty Anime frock for my teenage daughter. The ric rac certainly added the finishing touch. It is having its first outing later in the month at an MCR gig :-)

We adapted the pattern a bit so that it looked less like a sack, more fitted. It's very like the sort of dresses my Auntie would make up for me when I was 5 or 6, I have photo evidence of me on various beaches in North Wales..

I love ric rac. I love the word.
I love this dress on my daughter.

I Made A Discovery

Spring has sprung!

I Made A Contribution...

...to my daughter's button collection. I also gathered together the pink bits for my other daughter's anime pink dotty frock. I have since started sewing the thing and we have discarded the very simple 'Simplicity' pattern for a shift dress and are currently designing by committee. She wants a nip and a tuck here, more akin to the pictures in her book of funky Japanese kids dressed up to the nines in outrageous cartoon clobber. Fine by me, if I can get it to work..

I am so excited to be taking part in my first online Swap! Flibbertygibbet has arranged a fabric swap for crafty folk and I will be parceling up some fabric to send across the ocean to two crafters chosen at random. All being well, I shall get a parcel in return.
Oooh I can't wait...