Adventures in Overlocking

After a month sitting neglected in the corner, i thought it was about time to crack open my overlocker and give her motors some exercise...

Spot the common theme - yes i do like me a singer!!

She (yes I'm giving her a female status) came preloaded with white so as i was needing to edge finish my current project, i thought why not try overlocking them edges?!

I'm really glad I did as well as it was a lot quicker and safer than using the old overlock foot on my regular machine!! (i've lost two needles recently to a 'straight stitch on an overlock foot' mishap - DOH!!)

so heres the results (the fabric is a 60" cotton from Remnant Kings)

 Yeah I even overlocked  my pockets!

So I left the ends long at the end of each piece in the hopes that I can catch them in the side seams - will this work? I'm hoping they don't unravel! Could be very embarrassing!!

Definately hope to use more of my overlocker...I have one patern cut out and ready to be sewn up on it I just fear the threading of the loopers when changing to the required dark thread!

Happy weekend folks!

JCS

What a Find!

First I must start off with how good it is to be back....AHEM! After spending the last 10 days in Norfolk, reacquainting myself with my shadow Glasgow really knows how to rain on that parade!

Not only did my break present me with sun sea and relaxation, it also presented me with this FANTASTIC find....

This beautiful mechanical singer machine. I'm still working on its  origins however the serial number plate is intact and the presence of this thread guide suggests that it is a later model.

the mechanism is smooth as could be, I reckon that whoever refurbished it with a new base also gave it a good oil! It runs like a dream.

Possibly as a slight oversight we didn't take the car down to collect it so the two of us hauled it up from the town.*manfully* haha I love the intricate detail :-)

*complete with charity shop sticker*

Best holiday find ever.

also coz they're cute....

we saw these at a farm park somewhere near Norwich

JCS

FINISHED New Look 6144

Finally! After what seems like an eternity I have finally finished New Look 6144.
After a long and traumatic few weeks we finally got there!

 The dress is made from 45 " cotton poplin and instead of keeping the colours the same I decided to do some colour blocking with another cotton poplin.
The materials were really easy to work with but it would appear that my head was up my ass for the the first two weeks of the construction.

I decided to do view C - i'm not a huge fan of sleeves but i liked the 3/4 length so decided to mix things up a bit :-P.
After trying the dress on I had to cut about 4" off the bottom of the dress coz it must have been designed for a human giraffe. like serously. Although to be fair looking at the pictures im glad i didn't cut any more off the bottom....

I also reeeely should have measured my back length and waist length too. the waist length could do with having an inch removed. Its soo runkled. There was also meant to be a vent in teh back at the bottom - that got cut off but yeh the main issue is the waist of giraffe like proportions. :-\. Its also looking a little tight around the back however thats the result of a hen do last weekend, ahem...

So I thought on Tuesday the dress would be finished however who knows what I was thinking with the facings on the neck line and sewed them on wrong sides together. No matter 1/2 an hour with the stitch ripper and all is good. Double pointed dartmaintained and no further disasters!! *cue selfie*

Also side view

Bottom hem is even. I got some bad ass french seams going on inside.
I don't think ill be making this again in a hurry but to be fair I dont think it's a problem with the pattern just me. I think this may just languish in my wardrobe until I find a charity willing to take it!

So on to patterns new - got a few things planned which hopefully will not be such an epic adventure!!

JCS

New Look 6144 Progress

If there is one thing that this dress has taught me is that you 100 % need to be in the right mindset when undertaking a project or it's just going to be rife with problems!

Take for example this neckline I must have sat and tried to figure out this double pleat for like an hour and a half! The instructions i felt weren't the clearest - move the solid line to the dotted line (of which there were two dotted lines...) however I feel it was more a case of a distracted mind.

I think though that its looking right now! It just needs another press and im sure when the neckline is turned under it will lie like its supposed to!
The sleeves as well were a pain somehow i managed to sew two the same and as such had two right arms - GAH!! however it was unpicked, restitched and now they are both pinned in place notches matching so hopefully I will have a dress for the weekend!

I really think that next time I'm going to try and create something when my mind is busy and distracted with work (paper was approved by my industrial sponsor and didn't even scrape the edges YEAH!!) i will try an easy project - and one that is not so prone to disaster!

Also meet Diana, my form :-). She was a birthday present - one which I'm sure ill have a lot of use out of!

JCS

Progress on New Look 6144

Good Morning! Another week at an end and I cannot wait for the large glass of wine which is waiting for me at 6:30!!

This week has been terible in terms of my sewing productivity! This here is all I have completed in two weeks. Yes two weeks.

One single sleeve of my new look 6144 pattern which came free with sew last week. Also as the picture alludes to I forgot the seam allowance was 5/8" and I initially sewed it at 1/4". All I can do is congratulate myself on that at least the first seam was inside the seam allowance. *phew* however unpicking is in progress and hopefully the other seams will be an improvement!

I thought I would have a go at colour blocking with this pattern so whereas the sleeves will be this nice pinky purple, the main dress will be a much darker shade of purple and look a little like a uniform! haha. :-D

On the plus my research took a step in the right direction. Paper 1/2 was sent to my industrial partner and hopefully I'll get a stateside jolly in September :-D.

Roll on 6pm and hopefully a more productive weekend! Have a good weekend all!

JCS

Perfect Pattern Parcel

So it would appear that I am rather late to this particular party, however over at Pattern Parcel they have a fantastic indie pattern promotion of 5 patterns in pdf form, where you get to choose your buying price!

The five patterns to choose are:

 

Accordion Bag by Sew Sweetness

 Ava By Victory Patterns

Summer Coincert Tee by Dixie DIY

Dandelion Top and Dress by Seamster Patterns

And finally, one which I cannot wait to get started on and is currently being printed off as I speak - the Lady Skater by Kitschy Coo. I am going to make this up in a dark stretch jersey which I bought last week in the end of the sale!

So the Pattern Pacel allows you to download all 5 of these awesome patterns and lets you choose how much to pay - and if you wish, how much to pay for each pattern. A percentage of the price also goes to Donors Choose a charity which helps with childrens education.

an amazing find indeed brought to my attention by Kelli at True Bias.

Happy Sewing guys!

JCS

A Mini Quilt!

Yeah! It's finished. I have bound and completed my quilt. In't it pretty??

So this weekend I managed to finish off my mini quilt - which is more like a topper kind of size (about 1m^2) and also managed to cut out all but one of my pieces for lola.the light started to fade adn as I am still without proper lighting in my flat i think ill do it over breakfast tomorrow. I feel accomplished. :-)

oooh and because i was feeling *really* proud I added this:

Not only did i manage these two projects over the weekend I also dug out my camera and my charger seems to be happier with me so it looks like the awful camera phone is now obsolete! yuss! On the plus tho crappy camera uploads take like 1/10000 of the time to upload as the epic camera!

So onto this week now - I wont have much time for sewing as I'm going to look after my mum for a few days. I have been promised wine and an evening watching the sewing bee! muchos happy! I do however have a small project lined up owl family applique project. should be a quick one and easy to carry in my bag!

I did manage to pick up some tweed this weekend at the SECC craft fair ONLY £10/m - i'll hopefully manage to get my vogue coat(vogue 8346) made up againl this time in a more season appropriate weightier fabric...I thought this weekend was meant to be sunny?!

JCS