2019 - Good Luck, and don't fuck it up!

Ok so, I have literally no idea how 2018 is over already, but here we are! So Happy New Year and all that jazz! Last year I wrote a post about all the craft related goals I wanted to achieve and specific that I wanted to sew, which was all very well and good, but plans change and I didn't do quite a lot of them.

On the plus side I did do a lot of things that weren't on my plans for 2018. I made lots of baby items or my colleague, my favourite cousin and my sister in law, multiple dresses, tops, pyjama trousers, a skirt, pair of jeans and even a couple of Scottish Sock Puppets 😂 Let's have a wee look at some of this year's makes 😁

It's nice to look back and see all the things that you've accomplished over the year, I didn't realise I had made so much!

For 2019, I don't want to make big, long lists of plans because that clearly didn't work last year 😂 This year I'm just going to sew whatever I want, whenever I feel like it and keep any lists in my bullet journal so that even if I don't accomplish my goals, then at least my lists look pretty!

My inspiration for 2019 come straight from the fabulous RuPaul...

Baby Crafts Round 2!

So it would appear that 2018 is the year of babies as not long after I started making the baby basket for my colleague, my favourite cousin told me that she was pregnant 😁👶 Of course, I started planning what I could make straight away (like literally went straight to Hobbycraft after work for supplies 😂)

I knew that she wasn't going to find out the gender before the birth so I had to think gender neutral. I went straight to Ravelry to see what patterns were on offer, and I found some ADORRRRRABLE crochet patterns. Before I show you all the pictures, I want to state that I'm not just strangely obsessed with sheep, my cousin's partner is a sheep farmer which is why I went for the sheep theme 😂

So on with the show!

I got the yarn for these from Wool Warehouse and used Aran weight for the sheep hat and Chunky for the pompom hat, and as we all know the bigger the pompom, the cuter the baby!

While shopping at Wool Warehouse I also got some Bernat Blanket Yarn for this sweet little sheep sleep sack! 😍

I will note that as cute as this is, it was such a pain in the arse to make and I vow to never make another one! 😂 The bobbles on the front are easy enough to stitch, but when the yarn is that thick, it really kills your hands!

I also had some sweet, grey, cat print cotton in my stash so I put together a little bib and burp cloth set and a sleeping bag (all of which could have done with being ironed before taking pictures) for when the baby is a bit older.

I just used a towel to back the bib and burp cloth because good quality towelling is stupidly expensive 😖 And some paw print fleece for inside the sleeping bag.

I wanted to present the whole thing in a basket, but my cousin lives in Ireland and unfortunately we weren't able to meet up before the birth so it had to be squeezed into a large postage bag which really wasn't photo worthy😂

I didn't want to put pictures of other people's children on the internet, but you can take it from me that baby Sophie is just so cute!!! 💓

Anyway, see you all next week for my round up of 2018 and plans for 2019! 👋

Simplicity 1314 Leatherette Dress

Once upon a time I worked in a fabric shop and I had access to great fabric and patterns 5 days a week so I always had lots of grand plans to make things that I just didn't have time to do. This pattern is a prime example of that! I bought it maybe 2 years ago and I kept thinking about making it but had neither the time or the fabric and quite frankly I didn't have a place to wear it to! So when I came across it when rummaging in my patterns a couple of months ago I thought that now is the time to actually make it. I still had the scraps from my leatherette skirt which was thankfully enough to make the front panels so I only needed to buy 1.4m for the rest of the dress.

Once again, this project was on my Sew Brum shopping list and I was thinking about possibly getting scuba, but when I was in Barry's Fabrics (which, by the way is AMAZING) I came across this great jersey crepe, which gave me the weight and the stretch that I wanted and it was only £4.99/m 😎

The construction was actually easier than I had anticipated. There are two leatherette panels in the front (the pattern suggests doing the back centre panels in the contrast fabric as well, but I wasn't feeling that) the front side panels and all of the back panels are in the jersey crepe.

I didn't anticipate how much ease there is in this pattern and to be honest, I could have made it in a smaller size as it is a bit too much on the baggy side.

Don't know what the resting bitch face is about 😂

I've worn this a few times now and I'm still going back and forth over whether to shorten it as well. However, a major plus of using leatherette and jersey crepe is that there is no need to hem it! Although it did need a facing on the neckline, but I kept the bulk to a minimum.

Overall, I really like this dress. I probably will alter it and I would also like to make another one in regular fabric rather than leatherette and definitely make it in a smaller size so that it's a bit more fitted. 

So because I used scraps of leatherette from a previous project and only 1.4m of jersey crepe, it only cost me £6.98. I can't remember exactly how much the pattern was, but I do remember that it was in the sale, because I hate paying full price for them 😂

Hello Tiger - SOI Cora Top

The perfect woven top pattern is something that I've really struggled to find. I always see people on Instagram looking effortlessly chic with their woven tops, but every time I made one it would get as far as my boobs and then fall straight down, making me look all boxy and stiff which is just not a good look. I really wanted the Scout Tee to work for me because it's one that so many people rave about, but I just can't get it to look flattering on me!

When I saw that Sew Over It had released a new woven top pattern I thought, "Could this be it? Is this the pattern I've been searching for?" My head went for 'maybe' which is good enough for me! 😂 It has a V neck which is always a winner for me so I bought the pdf, printed and assembled it and went on the hunt for the perfect fabric.

I was at the Birmingham Rag Market during sew Brum (this seems to be a theme in my posts recently😂) and as I floated between the stalls, I saw some fabric hanging up at the back of a stall and I became the literal heart eyes emoji! It was perfect! But how did I get it?! I started rummaging through the piles of bolts of fabric on the stall until I saw a little tiger poking out, I FOUND IT! I immediately hauled it out of the pile and got straight in the queue to get it cut.

Isn't it just glorious?!

I got cracking on the construction and the theory is pretty simple, but the slippery fabric did test my patience a few times. The front has a kind of folded pleat at the point of the neckline which gave it a bit more floatiness (if that's even a word?) Like most woven tops, it's still on the boxy side but because the fabric is so soft and floaty it wasn't as bad and I went for a little partial tuck in when styling it which I think made all the difference.

I am the Tiger Raptor!!

I didn't stitch the pleat as it stated in the instructions because I felt that the fabric was a bit to lightweight to stitch right across it so I just hand stitched it in place.

I don't know if the perfect woven top pattern exists for me, but I think this is pretty close. I reckon I would make it again as long as I could get the same weight of fabric (and another amazing print wouldn't hurt!)