FO: Lola in Clashing Pink

 I wear my dark grey Lola dress a lot.  But it is dark, dark grey and soon will be too warm to comfortably worn.  I had wanted to make a more summery Lola for warm weather.  At the start of March I was visiting family and went into a fabric shop in Exeter that I always drive past and never have time to go into.  On impulse I went in and there was a selection of cotton jerseys.  I opted for bright pink, thinking I would like a bright colour.


Ever since buying it I have worried it was too bright, too barbie pink.  And I have worried I am too old to wear such a bright colour.   I was distracted in choosing by Little Rocket Girl who ran round the shop shouting MUMBLE!  at every roll of spotted fabric she saw and then rolling round the floor.  (This is a reference to this fella probably known to UK based parents of small children, and with whom RG is obssessed).

Then life events rolled on and it was only about two weeks ago that I finally cut out and sewed the dress.  RG went to bed (dreaming of Tumble no doubt).
This gave me time to keep on and on sewing.  I sewed on and blithely sewed one upper side panel in the wrong way, meaning the fabric hunched and bunched up and only one sleeve would fit.  I was so pleased to have made so much progress that I didn't see my mistake till the next day!  

Luckily I had enough pink fabric to recut the panel and one sleeve.  The jersey doesn't take kindly to unpicking so new pieces were needed.
I shortened the lower pieces by about half an inch and also shorted the sleeve by about half an inch.  I decided to embrace the hot pinkness by adding clashing red ribbing.  I like a colour clash.  I think you can see that I like a colour clash in this photo of the Lola in my living room, those are my thrifted clashing sofa cushions!

It may be hard to believe but I had tidied this space up prior to photos

I am still not certain if this is too bright.  I just am not sure.  It is a happy colour though and a great dress for spring days.  It is still not THAT warm here so yesterday I wore it over my jeans.  I asked Little I aged 7 and she said that was an okay look, so obviously I just went with what the seven year old said.  I went out in public and no one pointed their finger and laughed, so I guess that's a success criterion?

How long does a needle last?

On your sewing machine that is?  Do you measure needle life in garments?  For example, this needle worked away on two dresses, a shirt, etc, etc, it must need a change?  Or do you think it's been six months, time for a new needle?  Or do you wait till something goes haywire on the machine and troubleshoot?  Obviously if the needle gets bent, you change it.  This is the kind of question I feel I can ask in this space.  So sewing nerdy - but of so little interest to non-sewers.

I am just wondering.  I bought new needles a few months ago.  I bought stretch needles and standard needles.  But how long do I expect them to last?

A small attempt at organising my sewing tools

And, while I  am posting on this sewing nerd-ish topic, do you favour any one brand of needles for sewing machines?

Finally what do you do when you throw away your old needles?  I tend to wrap the point in tape.
But could I be recycling them?

Recently...

Recently there's   been some cutting out and Lola sewing.  Followed by Lola unpicking.  Oh dear....I will detail the full story in another post. 

 There' s been Pop-Up puppet making

 Digging on the beach...

 and on the school allotment

Pirate fairy time....but there has not been much blogging time or blog reading commenting time.  I hope you are alll okay and having fun.  Back to hacking up my Lola and hopefully rescuing it.x