Yarndale

Well, this post is just a little bit ridiculously late, so I do apologise.

I’ve been rather poorly.  The chest infection I had at the beginning of the year has been back with a vengeance and it’s floored me.  10 days of antibiotics didn’t shift it…I’m currently on a dose of steroids.  Not thrilled by them but at least I can breathe a little easier than I could. Although the cough sounds like I’ve smoked 60 Woodbines a day since I was 3!

I was coughing on the day we went to Yarndale, but, like the trouper I am I put on my big girl panties and set off for a yarny adventure. 😉

The sun shone and whilst we’d heard tales of traffic chaos and huge crowds on the Saturday, for our Sunday visit we swung straight into a lovely parking space and walked into the venue to be greeted by the sweetest woolly faces.

Now at this point I’ll ask you to excuse the crappy smartphone pictures and focus on that wee adorable face.  I tried desperately to get my partners in crime travelling companions to agree to a shared ownership of an alpaca, in much the same way as you’d share a racehorse, but with built in lawn mowing and yarn.

They weren’t buying it.

And as the deeds for our house limit livestock to chickens and goats, neither did I.

Nor did we smuggle this beauty out in our handbags!

But enough of the cute and fluffies…I suspect what you’d like to know is “how good an event was Yarndale?”

I have to tell you it was amazing!  I haven’t been to Woolfest so I can’t compare, but I have been to the Twisted Thread extravaganzas at Harrogate and Alexandra Palace, and I’ve been to The Festival of Quilts.  Yarndale is by far my favourite event.

Yes it’s smaller, but we still managed to spend the whole day meandering in and out of stalls, stroking yarn, coveting spinning wheels and looms, and generally squeaking and swooning at all the loveliness.

I also feel it’s far better curated than the bigger shows.  Less tat!  More of the good stuff.  This is a Very Good Thing.

I cannot tell you how much yarn I nearly bought.  I had set myself a limit of some sock yarn for The Husband, some yarn for Aislinn v2.0 and nothing else.

Yeah…that really worked!  As it was I bought:

Drops Fabel Uni Colour 

Drops Baby Alpaca Silk in Red

Rowan Felted Tweed in Seasalter

And that was restrained.  There were a couple of patterns too.  And maybe some dpns.  But that was the yarn.

It was hard though. The crocheted Alpaca blankets were calling my name.

I could have bought my body weight in beautiful patterns.

And the yarns were, if you’ll excuse the pun, to die for! Titus from Baa Ram Ewe, anyone!

Yarndale is a knitters and crocheters paradise.  I made sure to buy a programme, which has a list of all exhibitors, for future reference. 😉

For sure there needs to be some improvements for next year.  The tea and coffee arrangements were nothing short of hopeless.  It took at least 15 minutes for Lara Croft to buy 3 cups of tea…and, as is always the case at these things, the lack of seating caused some people to lose all sense of how to behave in polite company.

But it was their first rodeo, and they did an amazing job.  I’m not in any hurry to go back to the big shows, but I’m already looking forward to next year’s Yarndale.

And, I’m hoping they’ll keep the bunting and it will become their trademark. Because its really beautiful, and kind of sums up this lovely, homespun but delightfully yarny event.

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Red Velvet Patterns are go!

Last night I spent the evening with a pile of envelopes, a label printer, and several large cardboard boxes.  

By the end of the evening I’d labelled and stuffed a whole pile of envelopes which today are winging their way to all corners of the UK and EU.

This would have made for a very dull evening were it not for the contents of these pretty envelopes.

Oh yes…the first 3 patterns from the Cake Red Velvet Collection are on their way.

I cannot tell you how lovely these patterns are. Seriously. They are beautiful.  The pattern paper is so luxurious and the instructions are clear and detailed. They are a joy to have in your hand.

I promise you you’re going to love them.

But you won’t have to wait very long to find that out for yourself!

She wore Red Velvet – FO 19/2013 – pattern review

You may have had a version of this post pop up in your reader yesterday.  Ooops!  I had a WordPress Meltdown Moment, for which I apologise.  This is the post I meant to publish.

Ok…I finally get to spill the beans.  I, dear reader, am having my Cake and eating it.

I’m a Cake Patterns Red Velvet Muse.

I can hardly believe it.  You know I love Red Velvet. It was our wedding cake, for goodness sake!

But here am I wearing my red Red Velvet dress…so it must be true!

I’ve had so much fun making this dress.  Obviously I made mine from the PDF version. I know many folks don’t like PDFs, but, Steph has spent so much time working on the fine details of this that I think even the most die-hard PDF-phobes could be persuaded to use them.

This pattern is as close to perfection as a PDF is going to get because you don’t have to print off 732 pages just to get the ones you need.  Steph has done all the work and tells you which page ranges you need to print for the size you want to make.

It’s genius.  And time/paper/ink saving too.

And the tiling on this pattern is fabulous.  It goes together perfectly and therefore quickly, meaning you can get on with cutting out and sewing your dress, rather than swearing at piles of paper and setting fire to your sewing room in frustration.

Secondly, the drafting and sizing are amazing.  Below is a little table that shows a comparison between my sizes and the pattern sizes:

measurement	on my body	on Red Velvet
high bust	42”	45D
full bust	47”
waist	43	45
bust length	15¾	14 3/8
height	5’ 7”

Because all the information is there for you, printed on the pattern, it’s so easy to work out what, if any, alterations you need to make.

Now, this is where it gets interesting.  My original alterations were 1″ added to the bust length because I have, ahem, a bosom, and 1″ removed from the waistband depth because I’m very short waisted.

This is Red V1.0.  Almost straight out of the “envelope”.  Almost perfect apart from a little bunching around the underarm.

I have pattern tested before and am used to working exactly to the pattern with only minimal, or even no, alterations.  My job is usually to check out how the PDF goes together and how the pattern itself sews up.  Steph takes a more collaborative approach, and with her guidance and blessing, I cured that bunching at the side of the bust very quickly and easily.

I removed the 1″ from the back bodice that I’d added to the original length.  I carried this around to the front bodice at the side seam, and then tapered out to the seam at the pleats.

Its called a Deep Bust Alteration and Steph explains is far more elegantly than I do over on her new, and fabulously detailed Red Velvet Measurement and Size Guide.

This is what the alteration looked like on my front bodice: So simple.

So effective.

This is how my dress looks now. Red V2.0.

Morning photos…this is the most smile I can conjure before coffee! 😉

Perfect.

And because the drafting is superb, the dress comes together quickly and easily. If you’re used to battling the wonky drafting that we often encounter in the Big 4 pattern offerings, this will come as a delightful surprise.

Also, Steph has written excellent instructions that, if you’re a beginner sewist, will walk you through the process from start to finish.  However if, like me, you’ve been around the sewing block once or twice, her tips and techniques are a wonderful reminder of things you may have forgotten, such as block fusing and under-stitching a neckline.

Either way, you’re not alone in the sewing room.

My fabric is a red ponte from my local sewing shop, The Buttonhole in Chorley. Without a cardigan to break up the lines, and because I’m not skinny, it’s a whole lot of red! But, for me this isn’t a bad thing.  The world in my neck of the woods gets awfully grey at this time of the year, as you can see from the morning photos above. A boldly coloured dress is the perfect antidote to that. And, with a cardigan, it’s just to adorable for words!

Yeah I’m happy. I love this dress. The Husband loves this dress.  I can see it getting lots of wear this autumn because it’s as comfortable as pyjamas.

But pyjamas you can do the school run in:

Please excuse the fuzzy background. I didn’t feel it was appropriate for the kid’s friends to feature here without parental approval.

And if that wasn’t enough….

There’s a whole Red Velvet Collection.

I know…so cool.

I’ve already got fabric on order for the Cocoa Shrug and cannot wait to give the innovative Espresso Leggings pattern a whirl.

I love leggings (and would probably live in them given the chance) but have trouble getting them long enough or in a fabric that doesn’t show your pants every time you move.

No more.

I also quite fancy making these as funky training leggings for CrossFit.

So much Cake, so little time. And not a calorie in sight!

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this pattern in return for my opinions and photos. All opinions, of course, are entirely my own.  I should also tell you that going forwards I’ll be the UK/EU distributor for Cake Patterns.  So exciting!

Another winner

Sadly I’ve not been contacted by Jackien and although I tried to contact her by email, it bounced back to me.

So…I’ve asked Mr Random.org to pick me another winner for the Simplicity pattern giveaway and he said:

Chica Andaluza

Woot!

Chica…send me your address and I’ll get your pattern organised for you.

Vote Colette

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Colette Patterns is in the running for the Martha Stewart American Made Awards.

This in itself is super cool.  It’s great to see small independent makers being recognised and rewarded.

More cool is the fact that, should she win, Sarai is giving the whole of the $10,000 prize money to her employees.

Amazing.

The thing is that it’s US who can win this for them. WE need to vote.  We can vote up to 6 times a day every day from now until the 22nd September.

And they need our votes.

Colette is currently in second place, being pipped to the post by a scrapbooking company.  Now, we can’t have that, can we?

So come on…click on this link and vote.  Today, and as many times as you can.

Simplicity giveaway…the winners

I’m really thrilled with the response to my review and giveaway on Simplicity 1886.

I’ve been wearing that top to death, and can only recommend it even more after having done so.  I LOVE it!

But enough about me…you’re here to find out who one the Simplicity pattern of their choice.

Drumroll please

The winners are:

Jackien

Sewing Princess

Scruffy Badger

Congratulations ladies.  I can’t wait to see your creations.

Could you email me your address details and I’ll arrange for Simplicity to send the patterns directly to you.

3 simple ways to blow your sewing budget

Life chez Stitches hasn’t reached the point of routine yet.  Between odd school hours and trying to catch up on six weeks of abandoning the house in favour of family time, I’ve been so busy and tired I have hardly knit a stitch this week, let alone do any sewing.

I have however had time sitting around waiting for kids when I’ve been able to browse the interwebs and have found some new lovelies that I thought I’d share.

First up is a new indie pattern company, Named,

a Finnish clothing pattern label founded by sisters Saara and Laura Huhta…Named garments are a combination of Scandinavian clean-lined simplicity and interesting details. The aim of the collections is to bring a new perspective to making one’s own clothes and to support ethical and ecological consuming in contrast to a clothing industry focused on fast fashion.

The clothes are really cool…crisp, clean, modern lines.  Although I’m not sewing much for myself at the moment whilst the CrossFit does it’s work, I do have some Named patterns in my crosshairs:

Laurie Tee

Andy Coat

Avery Cape

Jamie Jeans

Just click on any image for a bigger picture.

Named has also put out a full Fall/Winter collection of patterns which is a great idea, I think.  It’s a cohesive collection too. I’m happy that there is a slightly edgier pattern company out there.  I love retro styling, but I’d also like some more modern pieces in my wardrobe too, something that has been lacking for home sewists.

Saying that I like retro styling, thanks to the gorgeous Roisin (who got engaged to her handsome man last week…congratulations!) I’ve discovered another new pattern line, Pauline Alice.  Her first pattern, a vintagey shirt dress, is gorgeous.

Cami dress

Roisin has made a really cute version (you’d expect nothing less):

Picture shameless pilfered from Dolly Clacket

I am all over shirtdresses at the moment. This one’s on my list too!

It’s fabulous that the indie pattern scene is so healthy.  Not only does it give designers, who are usually women, an opportunity to express their creativity and support themselves outside of the normal corporate template, but it gives home sewists an every growing and increasingly diverse range of styles to choose from.  It’s just a “win-win” for everyone.  Long may it continue.

Up till now, however, this opportunity has really been limited to pattern designers, but at last, we have an indie fabric designer too…20th Century Cloth:

the home of new retro inspired fabrics…designed in London and printed in the UK

At £14 per half metre these are not cheap…but you are paying for the craftsmanship that goes into these amazing designs and, I’m hoping, a good quality fabric.  Although, really, you need a couple of metres for a dress, plus notions, so you’re still a damn site cheaper than some nasty High Street tat that’s made in a sweat shop in Bangladesh.

To be fair, though, you won’t need need to justify a purchase…just look at these gorgeous fabrics:

I would so love this as a wiggle dress for Christmas parties (I know, I said the C word, but I did buy my first C present this week…).

And I know I swore off black, but really, I think I could make a happy exception for this.

And whilst we’re heading into autumn here in the UK, this print is perfect for you southern hemisphere gals, just heading into spring.

Swoon.

Now that I’ve encouraged you to bust the sewing budget this month, don’t forget that my lovely Simplicity giveaway closes tonight.  Free patterns…woot.

I’ve got a crazy busy weekend (lots of activities with kids and dog, I need to clear the sewing room ready for my next project…box cushions for Lara Croft’s ma…and the pattern to set on the front of Aislinn). So if I don’t get to pick the winners until Monday, please don’t worry…I won’t forget.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend too.

Simplicity 1886 – FO 18/2013 – review and a splendid Simplicity pattern giveaway

Ye Gods!

I’m so glad to finally be able to post this review. I’ve been exceptionally tardy with it. Although we’ve had a lovely time, the summer holidays really got in the way of my creative time. On Sunday The Husband whisked the kids away to the park  and for ice cream.  He’s my hero!

Of course, I’d have been posting this much sooner if I hadn’t had that pesky ironing escapade!

Anyway…back to the patterns.  As you know I was approached by Simplicity who very kindly offered me some free patterns in exchange for me making up and reviewing them.  I was delighted to accept, but all opinions are my own.

I chose:

and

My third pattern is the one I’ll be reviewing first, although I will get to the other two over the coming months.

As the weather is cooling down a little as we head towards autumn, I decided to shop the stash and make this up in some pretty John Kaldor print that’s been waiting far too long to make it to the sewing table.

John Kaldor floral

Yes it’s poly, but I thought it would be a great little basic to wear with my denim skirt and a little cardigan for slightly cooler days.

I chose this pattern as I’ve been looking for a replacement for Sorbetto.  I love Colette’s aesthetic but really had trouble getting the darts right because of the FBA I needed.  I’m still a bit hit and miss with FBA’s.  I’ll crack them eventually.

With that in mind, this pattern seemed a great option as it’s already drafted for different cup sizes…although I’m a DD/E dependent on who you speak to, so even with the extra cup size options, I knew I’d have some finangling of the fit to do.

So…how did I get on?

It’s a mix of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

The Good

Well, despite the discrepancy between my bosom and that of the pattern, it took me a surprisingly small amount of time and effort to to fit this top.

I cut the pattern in the D cup option in the size that fits my high bust measurement at the shoulders and armholes.  I cut the side seams at the next size up.

This is the muslin straight off the pattern:

I was really surprised that this worked.  Yes, I still had gapping at the armhole and front and back necks…but I always have that gapping.  It’s down to the shape I am.

You can see that I’ve already pinned out a dart on one of the armholes.  I just replicated that at the front neck and back neck, transferred those darts to the pattern and cut out the fashion fabric.

Voila!

Alterations made and transferred to the pattern within about half an hour. Which is without doubt the quickest turnaround of a muslin in my whole sewing career! It was so easy and I am a very happy camper!

The multi cup size pattern options really do work.

So I was ready to sew, which is when we came to…

The Bad

Perhaps calling them ‘Bad’ is a little harsh.  Perhaps ‘Pesky’ would be a better word.  Or just a little bit ‘Naughty’.

Semantics aside, the first hiccup came when I was making the ruffle for the front. Let’s just say the instructions for inserting the ruffles are less than clear.

The neck band was a complete and total bear.  I’ve lost count of how many times I unpicked the wretched thing.

However, I think it’s most likely that the problems I encountered were created by the fabric being very slippery and fidgety.  Because it was very slippery and fidgety indeed.  But! I suspect that it would have been easier to draft a simple stand collar than the band and facings used here.  It was all a little bit fussy to apply and turned the air in the sewing loft blue on more than one occasion.

Despite it being a slippery customer, once done, it looks really cute, and if I did it again it would be a whole lot easier.  That said, I’m grateful for the printed fabric. It hides a multiple of sins! 😉

The Ugly

This is where I’m going to take the opportunity to speak to Simplicity (and the other major pattern houses, to be fair.  They’re just as bad) about the styling of their pattern envelopes.

People…you really need to up your game on the envelope styling!

You don’t make it at all easy for us to choose your patterns.  I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen a really cute dress/top/trousers/whatever on a blog only to realise that it’s a pattern that I’d previously totally discounted due to the styling on the envelope.

I can understand that back in the day, before the independent pattern companies flourished, that you could get away with it.  But now…not so much. The Cynthia Rowley envelope isn’t all bad but 1606 and 1886…I feel that they really need some work.

I recognise that the big 4 are aiming at a much wider audience than the indie companies, but I’m not sure that’s a strong enough argument.  How hard can it be to pitch at multiple markets with the same envelope? Especially as most of the design is sketched. Even Knip Mode magazine, which isn’t always the most fashion forward of the sewing mags, manages to do this on a regular basis.

Yep…same pattern…different fabric and styling!
Although the camel ones could do with a better fit…more whiskers that O’Malley the Alley Cat!

As the sewing market grows, both in the number of customers (due to the resurgence of interest in the craft), and of the range of patterns available (because of the growth of independent houses), I feel that the Big 4 are missing a real opportunity to reach out to sewists and provide them with a well drafted product in a packaging that appeals to a wide range of tastes and styles.

Conclusion

I hope you don’t think this is a negative review because, despite the niggles I had with the neckline on this top, I’m really, really pleased with the result and feel that it really fills a gap in my wardrobe. I know it’s going to get quite a bit of wear over the next few months.  It goes with my denim skirt and a pair of cropped RTW trousers.

Please ignore the creases…this was the end of a very busy day of last minute school uniform shopping!

I also think the ruffle, which I’d normally avoid, works very well and is surprisingly flattering thanks to the lovely drape of the fabric.

For me, this pattern works in a way that I couldn’t get Sorbetto to.  The darts are great and as a result it’s not too boxy.  Lord knows, I need no help in looking boxy!

Happy dart and a lovely snug armhole.
Ignore the wrinkles…they’re just there because I’m pulling my arm back to show the dart.

I can see myself playing with the neckline and hemline to make variations so that I can get some much needed quick and easy tops into my wardrobe. Although, rest assured, next time I’ll be binding the neck and armholes and not faffing with the wretched neckline and facing pieces given in the pattern.

And the scorch…

I just slapped a teeny tiny patch on it…and a matching one on the other side seam. I promise they are much less obtrusive and inelegant in real life. You can hardly see them. And they mean I can happily wear this top.  As most of the time I’ll be wearing this with a cardigan, this is a solution I can easily live with.

But most of all I am totally sold on the idea of multiple bust size options, and salute Simplicity for introducing them.  Being able to remove/reduce the FBA/SBA makes fitting so much faster and easier. I think we’ll all agree that this is a Very Good Thing.  For sure, I’ve never fitted a pattern so quickly and with such a good result.

I can only encourage more/all pattern companies to embrace this feature going forwards.  It’s a feature that will definitely influence my pattern purchasing decisions in the future.  I suspect I’m not alone in this view.

So I’m patting myself on the back for selecting this pattern, and am patting Simplicity on the back for giving me the opportunity to try it.  I’m also looking forward to making up the other two patterns and am hopeful for an equally happy outcome.

But now, if you not asleep at this point, here’s the bit of this post you’ve really been waiting for. It’s time for you to get your hands on a Simplicity pattern of your own!

Actually, it’s time for 3 (yep…three) of you to get a Simplicity pattern of your choice!

Here’s how you can win:

1. Go to www.simplicitynewlook.com and choose which pattern you’d like to add to your collection.
2. Leave a comment below telling me which pattern you’ve chosen.
3. For an extra chance to win, just follow Simplicity on Twitter – @SewSimplicity – and leave me another comment to confirm you’ve done so.
4. Get a third chance to win by posting this giveaway on your blog and pop a link to the post in your comment.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!

I’ll close this giveaway on Friday 6th September at midnight GMT and choose 3 lucky winners to receive the pattern of their choice.

This giveaway is open to international readers as well as those in the UK.

Good luck!

Simplicity 1609 winner

One man’s meat is another man’s poison, or so they say. The same can be said of sewing patterns, no?

Although Simplicity 1609 is not a style I could ever carry off, it’s proved a popular giveaway, and all of you had very stylish plans for this pattern.

Thank you all for entering, but, sadly, on this occasion there can be only one winner, and that, according to Random.org is……

Debby

who is planning to make it up in a lightweight wool for winter.  It think it will look gorgeous.

So congratulations Debby.  Please let me have your postal details and I’ll get this pattern out to you.

And don’t forget, I’ll have another pattern giveaway very soon.

Simplicity 1609 – Jiffy shift dress – Giveaway

I was recently thrilled to be approached by Simplicity to try some of their patterns, post a review, and host a giveaway.  I think it would have been foolish churlish to refuse.

So I didn’t. Tra la laaaaaaaa!

I’m currently working on the top I’m going to review, so the proper giveaway will come when I’ve finished that and can share it with you.

You know how it is with school holidays…sewing is the last thing you get to do! 😉

However, when I received my patterns I found that I had been sent 1609 by mistake and in the wrong size (it’s a 6 – 14), so the lovely folks at Simplicity are sending me the right pattern (woot!) and have said that I can share 1609 with you.

Thanks, Simplicity.  It’s so kind of you.

So, whilst this dress isn’t my thing, it’s certainly an adorable pattern.  The wonderful Gertie has made 5, yes five!, versions of this.  That’s one hell of an endorsement.

image from http://www.blogforbettersewing.com

Check out Gertie’s blog for the other versions…they are all really cute. Although you wouldn’t expect anything less, would you?

To win this pattern just leave me a comment on this post before midnight GMT on Sunday 18th August.  I’d love to hear what fabric you’d make this up in.

I’ll be happy to post this anywhere in the world.

Bonne chance, mes amies!