Ow! Work in progress

This week I have cut out and been sewing a denim skirt.  Two out of three children were asleep so I thought I could get it finished,  I sewed the waistband in place and trimmed the bias binding.

 Trimmed it with my big orange sewing scissors...and, yes, did you guess?  I also trimmed my thumb!  Ouch, ouch, ouch.  

Maybe night time sewing after a 4.30am wake up and non stop day is not such a great idea.  Too  much rushing.  I was just so keen to finish something and blog about it, not to mention wear it!  I am off to watch Wallander instead.

Anyone else have a sewing related injury?  And can you guess my pattern?  I think the bias binding gives it away if you know this pattern.

y

Me Made May - 9th - 20th May

 Oh my, May just goes on and on.  I have worn me mades every day but have missed several photos.  I have also been dogged by the strange lack of focus when using the timer on my camera.  I have taken so many bad photos this month that I resorted to a collage to try and hide my crappy skills.  So, clockwise from the biggest image:
Amy Butler Anna Tunic in grey with grey Nora tee underneath
Sew U corduroy skirt
Pink Lola dress
Floral Simplicity 2246/ Sew Lisette Traveller dress
Gather Patterns Mortmain dress (unblogged)
April Rhodes Staple Dress in spotty black and white

And today - 20th May:  Simplicity 3969 BBW dress

Conclusions and thoughts so far?
I cringe at seeing myself in photos some days.  Why persist in tak?ing crappy pics?  Why not apply some make up first?  Um... um.....I am not sure why I keep doing this but I am keeping on doing it.  Smiles.  How is your May going

Me Made May 14 - the first week

I wrote this post  and inserted pictures, labelled them, and then accidentally deleted the lot last night!  Needless to say, I went to bed in a very bad mood.  So I am beginning all over again.  

Day 1 Portfolio dress 

I wasn't sure whether to take part in Me Made May.  I participated each time and always enjoyed myself, loving the comunity and I have met some blogger friends through Zoe's me-made months.  But recently life has thrown a few wobblers my way and I am very very tired.  And ver very low on free time.  So I have done my own Minnado thing:

Day 3 - April Rhodes Staple Dress

Day 4 - Simplicity/ Sew Lisette Portfolio top and Sew Liberated Skinny jeans

 I decided to do weekly round up posts and see how my month of photos looks at the end.  

 Eagle eyed readers will notice no Day 2 picture.  I just didn't get to take one.  But promise I wore my grey lola dress.

Day 6 - Simplicity 3835 top and Sew liberated jeans

So far, I have realised: May in the UK can mean many different weathers.

And taking a photo a day highlights the varying levels of energy and mood swings!  

Day 7 - Amy Butler Anna tunic.  I have worn this for four years now and
never saw how unflattering it is till now :)

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

FO: Small sewing for small peoples

I sewed some small trousers for Rocket Girl from a piece of batik fabric I found amongst my mum's fabric stash.  The pattern is New Look 6906 and I am not sure if I bought this about four years ago or if Ms Scruffybadger gave it to me! I am almost certain it came from ScruffyB.  ( If it was one from you Winnie, Thank You!!  And look, I finally sewed from it. )  There wasn't enough fabric to make a matching top, but I am happy to have put one of the many small pieces of fabric to good use. 

The pattern is really straightforward - you just do a casing for waist with elastic insert and sew a casing inside each lower leg in which you insert narrow elastic to create the frilled effect.  For the inside leg casing I used som ready made bias binding I had been given.  I really like the frilled effect and feel I am just too old to wear such things myself so it gave me great pleasure to sew some for RG.
I made life slightly more complicated by adding two patch pockets on the back.  Little Rocket Girl really likes to stick her hands in her pockets.
She wore these trousers to playgroup and they stayed up!  I forgot to take the camera though so will have to take photos another day.
This is such a simple pattern and so quick to sew, I am thinking of making some more  for summer days.