Muslining of Dahlia

Hi Guys

Just a quick wee post from me this evening - I have been super busy with work recently and the light has been so bad that photo ops have been getting few and far between!

As I mentioned at the bottom of a previous post, as soon as the Colette patterns dahlia came on sale I purchased the portable document format version ahem pdf. As yet I haven’t got around to making up the full finished dress however I have had time to make up a first muslin and make some changes based upon said muslin.

I initially cut the size 10 for the bodice and then 12 for the waist and skirt. It became quickly apparent after even just sewing the skirt pieces together that the 12 was going to be too damn big. This was further confirmed when I added the yoke.

After attaching the bodice pieces this confirmed my suspicions that I would have to make a narrow shoulder adjustment and that I would also have to remove a wedge from centre front and centre back.

The fabric that I used wasn’t by any means a good choice for this project however it was really cheap (≈£3/m) and allowed me to confirm my fitting hunch. I had that much confidence in the first run that no two seams are even facing the same direction… haha.

Some beautiful contrast stay stitching...

So based on what I have and the quality of the muslin that I was able to make I made the following adjustments

* 1cm narrow shoulder adjustment on each side

*1 inch wedge removed from centre front and back

These were both carried out using the instructions on the sewalong page here

So hopefully I can create a second (wearable) muslin based these adjustments using more suitable fabric. Ill share the results of the next iteration when I get them :-)

Take care guys and have a good weekend

JCS xx

Ohio Star Quilt

Today I have a mini quilt table topper to share :-) - although it seems to have come out a little bigger than I was intending!

This mini quilt came about quite by mistake - when I was in buying fabric for the advent calendar I shared the other week - i bought a 50 cm (x 60" wide) length for the back but it was too narrow! The lighter holly print was originally destined for the back. But when I was in that day an additional print caught my eye. The red was in a precut fat quarter sitting at the till and was bought out of complete impulse! Taking all this into account the total outlay was £7  or £0 as I prefer to think of it because I salvaged a mistake.

I wasn't entirely sure what I would make with these however as i had a good length of both i reckoned some good could come out of them if used together - so after losing a few hours to pinterest I decided that an Ohio Star would be awesome!

I followed the instructions in the August edition of Sew magazine and used my own dimensions cutting the 4 red and 4 white squares to 6" square and the remaining squares to 6.5" square making each up into two 6" HST's.

Some of the points don't look so pointy after quilting...

Usefully I had a length of wadding left from the advent calendar as well as a good amount of the awesome green Christmas print which was more than enough to use for the backing and for the binding.

The binding was cut 2 inches wide and not on the bias - I hate making this stuff enough as it is!! Haha. I think the method I used here was the French binding method... I pinned 1/4 inch from the raw edge of both the quilted sandwich and the strip of binding and folded out in the opposite direction from the quilt at the corners and then back over on itself and along the new edge. I then spent a few hours waiting for the hungover boyfriend to surface hand stitching 1/4 from the raw edge on the back with the raw edge tucked under. My hand stitching won't win any awards but I'm pleased with the results and far prefer this method to my previous topstitching method.

Some squinty lines of quilting and some of the better slipstitched binding

For the quilting part I used the stitch in the ditch method following the piecing lines on the top. I did however find out how to drop the feed dogs so I think the next time I quilt something I'm going to give it a shot. This is also a pattern I want to try again only this time with a repeat and for a double quilt size. Maybe only with one print too

The Corner needs a little work but im pretty happy

I hope you guys like my most recent project - I have no idea what to do with it though right now it's just sitting on the settee casually chilling after being photographed! Also would you believe that my phone takes better pictures in poor light than my camera? Have a good week guys

Reverse of the Quilt

JCS xx

Completed: Victory Patterns Lola

So heres another finished make I have to share with you all - my Lola sweater dress.

I actually started this well before my sewing machine broke (the first time) and then ended up with the WIP pile of doom! I then completely forgot about it because when I was looking for something else I found the part assembled pieces. Just at the right time it would seem I'm quite digging long (3/4) sleeves at the moment.

The finished dress is not quite as good as I'd hoped but I handled the neck a lot and I think it stretched out a bit so the neck looks stretched I also think it may be something to do with the fact I neglected the wee triangle that you're meant to add for that authentic jumper look- that's why I have a sneaky scarf on hand ...

So I started this that long ago that I can't even remember what the composition of the fabric is - I know its not many % cotton as its got that shine that only a poly blend will give something... what I do remember is that I purchased it at remnant kings and it cost like £8/m. I must have bought about 2.5 m as there is still about 1m left so I'm thinking a mabel or perhaps another sugar plum? I'm also wondering if I could make a snuggly Bronte jumper....?

When constructing this dress I cut a size 8- I think it fits mostly OK apart from around the waist where it seems a bit baggy - which is strange as usually I need to grade out for this area... If i make this up again (I'm totally torn as there's a few knit jumper dress patterns that im feeling right now) I think ill grade down a size here and keep the rest the same size.

The dress came together really easily - apart from noted issue with the neck however I'm not really feeling it - I love the pockets and the sleeves give me an option for the cooler weather I just feel that there are other patterns that I love way more. (who knows maybe if I fix the neck it would be a different story...). That being said it has been worn rather a lot over the last two weeks.

Hope everyone has a good weekend - Im off to the football tomorrow night (Scotland vs Ireland) which should be good - it's a handy match for us because Celtic Park is only about a miles walk from our flat to the turnstiles

Take care guys
JCS xx

Completed: A Tilly and the Buttons Coco

One of the problems I have been having lately is the lack of light to photograph projects. It's dark i.e. pitch black by 5:15 and I usually return home around 5:30. Not useful. I did have a spare few minutes to capture some photos at the weekend though. So meet Coco.

I know exactly what everyone means now when they say that this dress makes you feel like you're wearing jammies!

I made up the dress version in the size 5 with cuffed sleeves - and promptly took it in to a size 4 - definitely glad i made it up big though, its far easier to take things in than let them out again!

I think I had a bit of a fabric fail on this dress - the fabric I used was this ponte roma which I bought from Fabric Godmother - this was not my prize fabric - or pattern, I promise i'll share those soon. I say it was a fabric fail - but this dress has had more compliments than any other that I've made and worn out. I think the fabric is a little too drapey and maybe not the right colour for my skin tone...? These are the main reasons for wearing it with teh belt - I think the belt helps break things up a bit?

What fabric has anyone else made this up in? I'm thinking of making up another variation in

In other news I handed in the first chapter of my thesis for review on Thursday. Deadlines are becoming a little scary!

Have a lovely week guys

JCS xx

Completed: Advent Calendar

Hello world;

Just a quick and easy make from me today - a quilted advent calendar. I really love making these things. I made up a whole pile last year but I felt that my dad was missing out as he was the only one without after last year production line efforts!

For this advent calendar you buy the panel which comes with a number of doors which you cut out and sew on yourself- I really love all the designs and it was really hard to choose which one I wanted so it was a proper 'close eyes and choose at random" effort!!

I think this was a great project too to see how my sewing has progressed over the course of the year:
The boxes are far less wonky than anything I put together last year.

 These boxes aren't so square (although they're not all that bad) however the quilting is definately neater around the window and the tree

 I think the detail which goes into these panels is fantastic :-)

The only thing which was difficult for this particular panel was which lines to pik out and quilt? I decided to go with the windows adn the tree and the tree trunk...which you can see on the back of the quilted panel..

 I made a bit of a mistake when buying backing fabric for this so this was the second fabric I chose - which i think is good because I like this one better. The designs are brilliant - especially the stag which really stands out.

 I even have a little left over to use on another project

as I mentioned in my last post, this weekend I went to the hobbycrafts christmas fair - to be honest I was a bit disappointed with the offerings this year - I only came away woth 1.5 m of fabric plus another 3m which has been put away for me for christmas:

This is a poly viscose I picked up at the Remnant Kings stall (£6.99/m) - im not usually into this type of fabric but this one had a fantastic drape :-)

I also picked up an awesome pair of earrings at the Christmas crafts fair that was running in conjunction. I know they're not sewing related... but they're awesome

Has anyone else started sewing christmas gifts yet?

Have a good week all
JCS xx

Finished Burda 8186.

So I completed the instructionless (or so it seemed) Burda waistcoat! a while ago admittedly but it proved rather hard to get photographic evidence!!


 I only had one major disaster and a couple of minor points which I hope to improve upon for the next time I try them but overall I think this turned out well. What do you think?


 The material and buttons were purchased entirely from  Mandors and the shell is a heavy weight cotton twill and the lining is err lining material? It's non staticy and in any case it is the most awesome red paisley pattern and I want to line everything with it!! I did manage to restrain myself though and only line the waistcoat...

The main stumbling point for this pattern was how to interpret this pattern piece?! I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with the cut lines at the bottom - so made that part up! - I mean I made an educated guess.....

I decided thatoneline was a 'fold to' line and that produced ok results

How cool are these buttons!! We decided that from the outside the waistcoat looked nothing special so to give it a unique feel we trawled the buttons in the store and found the most unusual ones that could hold together the front adn create a diversion from the attempt at welt pockets. I think they look quite 'Alice in wonderland' esque.

I was so pleased that I managed to line up the button holes so well - me and the automagical button hole function aren't really the best of friends!

One feature that I like (and which was horrifically explained) was the pleat in the back of the lining I thought it made an interesting design feature.

The only thing I would change the next time construction wise would be to make the waistcoat a little longer. The John isnt exactly a giant in stature (about 5' 10) and it does come a little short. Admittedly this wasn't the best shirt to wear and I think he should have tucked it in but when I was getting photos from an unwilling and hungry other half I wasn't going to moan too much.

The waistcoat is a little rumpled after months stored in the bottom of the wardrobe

In other news, its the Christmas Stitches fair at the Glasgow SECC this weekend. I have held off on buying fabric for my Dahlia pattern which I bought the other night so that I can hopefully snap up a bargain :-)

Has anyone else tried this pattern?

JCS xx

Hippity Hop another Blog Hop!

 So I have been nominated by +Amanda Wyatt for this next stop on the blog hop. Thanks for nominating me - here is my Hop.

Why do I write?
 There are a number of reasons that I write. firstly and most importantly for me I write because this is a topic of which i am passionate about. I love sewing and whereas I may not be the most technically gifted of seamstresses I certainly think that with every completed project I see an improvement upon the last. Another reason I write is because it sometimes helps to write things down and perform a brain dump before moving on to the next project - I mean like a debrief and assesment of my own learning outcomes (SORRY I'M A NINJANEER...) finally I write to share the things I have learned and the projects which I have completed in case that I may help or my experiences may be of use to others.
 What am I working on at the moment?

I'm working on a number of things right now - but the one which I feel is most appropriate for this spot is my first attempt at paper piecing - or more aptly cardboard piecing.

Pieced Hexes learn Bayes theorum...

Reduce Reuse Recycle...

 This project uses 1 inch regular hexes cut (mostly) from an old box for my insulin pen ends... the templates are covered in 25th and pine moda mini charms and im hoping to make this into a little wall hanging in time for Christmas :-)


 How does my blog differ form other sewing blogs?
 erm - i'm not sure really - I suppose the things which I often write about other than sewing are my adventures around the country - while not unique I suppose I offer a differing view from anyone else (see what I did there). Also I suppose that the blog is a bit different as I'm still trying to find my voice a bit and so posts differ a bit from time to time

How does my writing process work
  This is probably the least engineery of all my answers here - my writing process goes as follows
1. writedownallthefacts
2. add context and opinions
3. pictures - wait for a spell of daylight
4. assess? does this make sense? is there a logical order here?
5. Publish

ok maybe a little engineery in reflection but meh. Maybe that's another difference between my blog and others...?

So thanks for reading... I would like to nominate +Joe Zuchowicz for the next hop - he's in the midst of making a beautiful quilt for his daughter's christmas.

Take care guys - I hope to have the post originally planned for today up within the week :-)
JCS x