Coral linen Lisa

This is another pattern I'd been meaning to make for a while and the me-made May challenge spurred me on to get it done!

This is a made from coral linen which I bought from Fabrics Galore.  I did cheat a bit - I sewed the two bodice fronts together (I did check whether it would go over my head first) because I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough thread for the buttonholes - all the top stitching used a lot of thread - which was by Coats.  I went to the local shop where I'd originally bought it and discovered they'd closed down in January, and the only other shop local to me which has a haberdashery only sells Gutermann thread. 

The buttons I bought a few years ago in Jenners in Edinburgh and were originally intended for a cardigan, but I ended up using different ones.  They are an exact colour match for this fabric.

It was a challenge to do all the top-stitching and keep it straight and parallel, but I do like the finished look.

St Ives dress

I made this from three remnants which I bought a while ago (I seem to be saying that a lot recently!) from, I think, Fabrics Galore at either an Olympia or Ally Pally show.  It's furnishing fabric and each piece was 1m long, and cut halfway down the vertical length of the bolt, so I was a bit limited as to pattern choice, but figured I could work something out.  And this is it!

A Butterick 5748 bodice and the straight skirt from New Look 6824.  I had a bit of fiddling around to do to get the pleats in the front of the skirt and darts in the back to match up with the bodice darts, and also to make the skirt the same width as the bodice at the waist seam, but it all worked out in the end.

I hemmed it by hand - with thinner fabrics I usually machine sew hems, but I thought this fabric would be too bulky for a machined hem, and it's thicker than the pink polka dot fabric of the previous dress.  Even though it's a straight skirt, I seem to remember it still took quite a while to do, but hand hemming was definitely the right choice.  I love this dress, just a bit miffed that we had such a grotty summer this year and I didn't wear it much.  Here's hoping for better weather next year!

Round up of my knitting and sewing year - 2014

A bit late to the party for this, but I've enjoyed reading other bloggers' round-ups, so here is mine!

Knitting

I've knitted three cardigans for myself and two for my grandson (all blogged).  I've also knitted him two jumpers and a hat.  And that is the sum total of my knitting output in 2014 - not really very much!  The second jumper is another incarnation of the striped Debbie Bliss pattern I blogged about here, just different colours and a larger size.

Another Debbie Bliss striped jumper

And the hat is from the same Debbie Bliss book - a straightforward 1 x 1 rib with a pompom on top.

Debbie Bliss baby hat

I've also knitted the body of a cardigan for me, but still need to knit the sleeves.

Another Toshsock cardigan for me

I spotted this pattern either on bygumbygolly's blog or instagram feed, can't remember which now, and decided that I really wanted to knit it - I bought it from Subversive Femme on etsy.

However, I wanted to use 4-ply wool (from my stash of Madeline Tosh sock yarn) so I haven't actually followed the pattern at all, I've just used the lace pattern instructions - which I charted because I find it much easier to follow charts than written instructions when it comes to knitting lace.

I don't really enjoy knitting sleeves, but they do provide an ideal opportunity for TV knitting, so I plan to sit down with a boxed set or two and just. get. them. done.  And since they will be top down once the sleeve caps are done the knitting will get quicker because I'll be decreasing steadily down to the wrists.

Sewing

I completed 21 dresses, all of which I've blogged about except this one.

Christmas trees Emery

My sister and I had a day visiting various London fabric shops back in November (at least I think it was November - it was whenever the new Islington Sew Over It had their opening weekend) and I spotted this fabric at Fabrics Galore in Clapham.   It isn't on the Christmas section of their website so I don't know whether they still have it.  I've bought from them before at shows - they've always had a great selection of fabric and really friendly and helpful staff and I was very pleased to find that the shop was just as good - a treasure trove in fact, and I bought three more dress lengths and a couple for my sister too as an early Christmas present.

The dress is an Emery by Christine Haynes - a great pattern to show off a print because of its clean and simple lines.  Nothing to say on the construction front - it's a straight size 6 with no modifications made, although I traced the front bodice and front skirt pattern pieces so that I could cut them on a single layer of fabric rather than on the fold and be picky about pattern placement.

I also made a skirt for my mother which I haven't blogged yet - details will follow.  :-)

I finally sewed a couple of dresses from my vintage pattern stash which goes from one extreme - unprinted, just cut tissue with holes, to the other - printing with seam allowances and all sorts of other instructions on the tissue, far more detail than current patterns have in fact.  The two I have sewn from fall into this latter category, but I aim to use some of the others in my 2015 sewing.

Overall, I'm very pleased with what I've made this year - I've really enjoyed both the knitting and the sewing.  I've also joined instagram and pinterest.  It's been great to follow other knitters and sew-ers on instagram and meeting up with some in real life has also been good fun and is something I'd like to continue with in 2015.  I have yet to do anything with pinterest though, I suspect it may be an enormous rabbit hole...

Paper Roses at Kew Gardens

I've just had a fabulous day out at Kew Gardens - the weather was beautiful, proper summer heat and sunshine and the place was blissfully uncrowded.  I discovered parts of the garden which I've never seen before - and I've visited on and off since childhood.  I must have walked miles!

More about Kew in a bit, first the Paper Roses part.  I wore a Cambie dress which I made this summer - my second.  I bought the fabric, a Liberty Tana lawn called Paper Roses, from Fabrics Galore at the Stitching Show at Olympia in March this year.  I went to the show with my sister and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time there.  This is the first time I've sewn with Tana lawn (I think, I don't remember sewing with it when I was younger, although I do remember my mother making us dresses from it when we were little) and I'm smitten.  It is a delight to sew with and a delight to wear.  There will be more in my sewing future!

Paper Roses A-line Cambie

I made the A-line skirt version and it took about 1.5 metres of fabric, so pretty economical.  I cut a size smaller than the first one I made last year, which didn't fit particularly well and which I have since unpicked to recut and resew.  I also moved the shoulder straps in by half an inch towards the centre front.

I love the fact that the fabric has scissors in with the roses - makes me smile!

Liberty Tana lawn Paper Roses (and scissors)

And now back to Kew...

This is outside the Princess of Wales glasshouse - yes cacti outside in September.

Outside the Princess of Wales glasshouse

Inside the palm house - I made the mistake of walking up the spiral stairs to the walkway which goes around the top of the glasshouse - won't do that again unless it's winter, it was really hot up there!

Inside the palm house

One of ten statues outside the palm house - this is the Unicorn of Scotland and photographing this particular one seemed apt since today the people of Scotland are voting on independence.

The Unicorn of Scotland

The waterlily house

The waterlily house

And a particularly beautiful waterlily

Waterlily

Then there were roses,

Rosa Lady of Shalott

and orchids,

Orchids

 

 

carnivorous plants

Maybe a sarracenia, the label was hidden

and a traditional Japanese house (a minka) which has been there since 2001 and which I'd never seen before.

Minka

Minka

And finally the parterre behind Kew Palace.

Parterre behind Kew Palace

All in all it was a wonderful day.