Happy Christmas Everyone!

Me and the husband spent a day (literally) putting up the tree! The little one kept getting in the way! Thank goodness for nap times...

Happy Christmas x

Winter is here and so is my cape!

I have always wanted to make my own coat... so until I do, here's a cape!
This is New look pattern 6073, I used a boiled wool in this very autumnal raspberry pink. The lining is in Lindsey Tartan, I only know its Lindsey because my very Scottish Granny pointed it out straight away!

I blimin' love what I've made here, this is rare. Usually I make something, take a few snaps, do a blog post and it sits in my wardrobe until I eventually feel brave enough to wear it. But this, I LOVE!
Love the colour
Love the Tartan
Love the fact its going to keep me warm all winter!

  

I added a few extras like the top stitching up the centre front and around the hood and hem. I also stitched back my seam allowances towards the lining so I could get really clean edges. And of course I added a 'Jacq Made It' label!

Now the toggles... they were tricky! You can't pin leather because you will put a permanent hole through it. So I put it off for a week until one evening I just did it. Im not gonna lie they are a bit on the wonky side, but I like to think no one notices once its on :) 

I won't show you with the hood up, my mum thinks I look like the lady from the Scottish Widows advert... or a wizard... Yes the hood is huge!

      

The slits in the centre front seams come in pretty handy, especially when picking up a little person who wants to have her photo taken too... what a poser! ;)

Blog Hop...

I'm blog hopping….
The lovely and slightly insane Lou from "In which a bit of an enthusiast sews six patterns in a year"...go check her out! She is hilarious and she plays the bass guitar! Anyway, she has sent me a bunch of questions which I have been mulling over and will now attempt to answer. Here we gooooo…

Why do I write?

Good question. I'm not a lover of writing haha! Seriously my housemate practically wrote my dissertation at college! (lets hope my tutors aren't reading this) Why on earth do you have a blog I hear you say! I started this blog a few years back because I was making lots of things and doing nothing with them. I needed a little focus so I started blogging just to give myself some amusement. In the last year or so I have tweeted a few pics and blog posts, it turns out other people are actually interested in what I have made. Really I'm a lover of a photo. Nothing pleases me more than a blog post full of photos! I'm a keen instagrammer too if your interested! 

  

 

What am I working on?

As any of you creative bods will know the list is endless… until recently for me! I have stopped buying patterns, fabric, wool, thread etc until I complete all of my partly finished projects. So recently I finally used my 80's curtain fabric to make a skirt. So much love for that fabric!

Of course I do have my next project lined up and something I have wanted to make for a few years is a coat/cape for the winter. I want to make in a bright pink wool so I'm on the search for a perfect pattern. Let me know if you have anything to inspire me!

An on going project is my little Etsy shop. I make kids T-shirts and baby bloomers. This all started with me making  a few clothes for Amelie (thats my baby, see pic below for the most amazing mono brow expression) Friends kept asking where I got her clothes from (I once caught a friend searching for a label in Amelie’s baby bloomers!) so I decided to sell some stuff. I opened a shop and its good fun! 

How does it differ from others of its genre?

It doesn't have much written going on! I did a three year costume production degree which involved writing down every single process we did for everything we made. I left college nearly 6 years ago and I am still not ready to write another step by step guide!

How does my writing process work?

It goes like this.... finish project, take photos (usually with my remote in hand), sit on photoshop for hours editing (my favourite bit!) do a bit of writing, publish the post. Then I send a panicked txt to my husband and mum to check spellings and grammar. I must learn to get them to check it before I publish...I get way overexcited! This year has been a quieter year on the blog due to the baby arriving in January. I'm hoping now I have a routine going on I can do a few more posts and keep everyone entertained! 

Check it out, I was huuuuge! 

And so to my nomination… Zoe from Tadpegs. This blogger amazes me with the amount she blogs knowing she has three little children and a part time job. Where does she find the time, nobody knows! I have known Zoe for a very long time, we used to go on camping holidays together as kids! Tadpegs is a all about the homemade lifestyle, food, craft, sewing and photography. Zoe is on a journey to make life homemade and inspire you to do the same! Go check her out next week when she will be joining the blog hop. 

Im now exhausted after all that writing... laters! x

What do you do with a pair curtains...?

You make a skirt out of them! or at least I do! :)

I got these little beauties from the charity shop for a fiver... could they be any more 80s!! 

 

This is a Tilly Buttons picnic blanket skirt (with a few changes!) click here for the tutorial  

I'm not one for a waisted skirt so I have made it to sit low on my hips and taken the hem short. 

In total this skirt cost me £2.55! I used one of the curtains and the zip also came from the charity shop for 5p! BARRRGAIN!

If you want to get good at gathers this is the pattern for you. Tillys tutorial on gathering your fabric is a winner. Gather your fabric in small chunks so the thread doesn't snap is a top tip. I have had many an evening re doing my gathering stitches because they kept snapping once I started pulling them to for the gathers. 

   

So there's another item to add to my homemade wardrobe!

I made a dress...

Thank you Tilly!
If you don't know who Tilly is, where have you been!!! She popped up on the first series of The Great British Sewing Bee and has now taken the sewing blogging world by storm, with her super easy to follow blog posts, patterns and book.
Her new book Love at First Stitch is great for any beginner who wants to make simple clothes for themselves. I bought the book for my mother in law and then stole it back to make a dress :)

I had a lonely weekend a while back when my family disappeared to Romania for a wedding so I set myself a challenge, to look after the baby and make a dress in a weekend... and here it is! I chose the Lilou dress with a bow belt. This is a great dress for all shapes and sizes. The chunky pleats leading up to the nipped in waist and super flattering scoop neckline make this a must make for any sewer.

Heres some photos... haha spot the camera remote in my hand!

  

From drab to FAB!

I'm a recent lover of car boot sales, charity shops and hand me downs... especially for baby clothes! It is amazing what you can get and often the clothes have hardly been worn. I have got stuff so cheap from car boot sales and it still has the tags on! BARRRGAIN!

So perhaps I have been inspired by This Old Thing (Wednesdays Channel4 8pm) This floral dress was a hand me down from a friend who has three girls, so its has been through many washes, many wears and its looking pretty drab! :( Now it's with me I thought I would give it a bit of a make over...

And now the FAB... the sleeves have been removed, the hem line has been shortened and I have changed all the buttons. Oh and I also gave it a good iron! (I should iron more!)

I'm well chuffed with these super simple alterations, it's made a drab dress into a fab dress... Perhaps this the start of some more drab to fab blog posts! 

Fancy Pants

In issue 60 of Sew magazine they had this super colourful project 'Baby's Best Bloomers' by Jazz Domino Holly from her book Sew Tiny.

You can whip these up in an hour or so depending on how quick you are or in my case how distracted I am! Although, what did make these quicker was my overlocker (LOVE!) no finishing seams for me, hurrah! These are also great for using up those little bits of fabric you have lying around.

  

Here's my mini model Amelie in her Rosy bloomers, so good for this hot sunny weather we are having in London right now :)

They are a little big on Amelie, the pattern size is 0-6 months so thats quite a large size range! I will make another pair a little smaller next time so she can wear them under dresses. These would be great for the boys too in a nice bold stripe fabric. I'm up for anything that covers the ugliness of a nappy! 

 

 

Here come the boys!

If you're like me you like to make sure everyone knows what letter your child's name begins with! Amelie gets called Emily a lot :) Anyway... look no further! Head over to my Etsy Shop choose your T-Shirt size, choose your letter... Easy peasy!

 

 

  

You can also check out the Girls T-Shirts too!

Baby Alphabet Tees

Here I am! Im back with a new status... yes I am a mum! I now live a crazy life with little time to myself (hence the lack of posts for 6 months!) This is Amelie Coco when she was about 2 weeks old.. awww...

Anyway, I have been busy making T.shirts, this started out when Amelie was born and I appliquéd a big 'A' to her vest. After lots of comments and lots of 'ooo you should make more and sell them' I thought lets give it a go! So here we go..... aaaannnnd I have an Etsy shop - check it ouuut!

They make the most perfect new baby gift or first birthday gift so spread the word and send me some orders! :)

Buy Alphabet baby Tees