Gift - Michelle in Bath

I love to visit my friend Michelle in Bath.  It's a gorgeous city in England and she is a wonderful person.  I used to live with her in London where we both rented rooms in a large house in Pimlico owned by this very loud, shouting back at one another three-storeys up Greek couple - Marco and Lena.  Wow was that an interesting house to live in!  The wife would shout up from the basement where their kitchen was, up past the main floor, past the first floor (where my room and Marco's study was).  Michelle lived on the second floor.  Then our kitchen was on the second-third-floor landing.  Yes it was small!  Bar sink was all it had.  But wow could we do dinner parties there...or should I clarify, Michelle could do dinner parties.  I did dishes!

We've been friends since (15+ years).  We both have kids now, and they get on quite well.  So visiting is delightful.

Did I mention she is a fantastic cook?  Oh my.  When we go visit I cannot wait to see what creations she makes with her Aga (a old-style radiant heat stove found in the UK especially).  That's why I love giving her Canadian cook books.  I give the kids Canadian books, so why not her too?!?

I had given her the Best of the Best by The Best of Bridge...so I was delighted to give her the next book in the series.  I have had great success with many of the recipes (and that says a lot).  My favourite being the Orzo Salad...mmm.

So when Granny's skirt had some left over fabric, I was thrilled!  It meant I could make a bag for my dear friend in England.  While I had made her another, it just wasn't sitting well with me.  This fabric felt much more like her!

In fact, these photos are taken on Michelle's kitchen floor.  I didn't have time to take photos before I left Canada this summer when I visited her.

 

Birthday Gift - Josh | New Cape Pattern

Ooh how I love birthday parties -- I get to use up stash for the gifts!  When in England our cousins asked about capes...which gave me an Ah-Ha moment.  Kids love capes. 

Upon my return I spent some time searching for a cape pattern. The pattern I have is a full circle and takes quite a bit of fabric, and can be quite short if using 115 cm wide fabric.

 

 

 

 

This one is from another blog called Serving Pink Lemonade with downloadable template for neck portion.

 

 

 

As we know Josh quite well, I am confident I will get honest feedback from a 7-year-old in what needs to change (hopefully nothing!).

We purchased Tiddler, one of my kids all time favourite books, when in England as it is everywhere.  It's a bit trickier to find here as Julia Donaldson isn't as mainstream as there.

 

 

 

What to put Tiddler into -- well a fish bag of course!  I love this fabric and I have some more for Alistair (he cried when he saw it and thought I had none left).

 

FABRIC
Cape - Outside fabric is poly-crepe-back-satin in a blue silver colour.  Guessing it's from Fabricland and I have no idea what I would have purchased for??  The inside of the cape is quilting cotton from...you guessed it, my mum's stash she gave me.  It goes perfectly.  Very blue, swishy (think Merlin) and blue.

Bag - cotton from Fabricland when men wore printed pants with cartoon characters (aka well aged stash).  My mum purchased for my brothers who are no in their 30's, they were under 10 when she purchased it.  Some things never go out of fashion!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer skirt for Granny | B3597

My mum went to a local quilt show and fair.  She saw this beautiful quilting cotton and thought of Granny in England.  She bought two 1 meter lengths (precut) and handed over to me to make something. 

 

I made Granny, also known as Lindsaye, a skirt a few years back so I dug up that pattern.  I do know that fixed waistbands aren't really realistic for life, so I did some manipulations. 

I put in the zip, made a larger waist size using my french curve to maintain hip shape, and added elastic inside.  There we have it - still a shaped skirt but with some 'wiggle' room.

 

NL6796 | Summer tops and dress

Wow what an incredible summer we have enjoyed.  We drove and visited family in the US and flew to family in the UK.  As a result, my blog has been dormant...having too much fun with the kids!  I think this is the longest I have ever gone without sewing (well no, when I backpacked...which I got to use my beloved backpack this summer taking the kids on trains and the tube from London to Bath).

I made this pattern up, gosh, last year checking photos - it was 1.5 years ago!  Here are the photos I took of her and her brother when it was first made.  I also made the trouser from the pattern...but they were just odd - too baggy and too long in the crotch length, so they didn't get worn.

 

Oh and I made a dress too.  But have no recent photo of that.

Sadly Imogen didn't really like the top...but I had a trick up my sleeve.  If you go somewhere and pack only a certain amount of clothes, darn it, they have to wear it!  She now loves the darker top -- and wore it to school today.

So we went camping with friends and a local 'special' lake where you float due to the natural salt water (did I mention SK is land-locked and nowhere near the sea?).  Thus Manitou Springs is very special.  She now wears this top with trousers - super cute!

  

 

 

FABRIC - solid pink is cotton shirt weight with a bit of stretch and the printed dress and accents on the top are a poly-cotton seersucker all found at Fabricland when she was a baby.

Self-designed skirt & Sil 500

I love skirts in summer.  They are just so cool, and practical when moving around with kids.  So when I had a very small piece of this Liberty of London craft cotton given to me by my mum...I fell in love. 

I love Liberty fabric prints, but can't really afford them (new ones are $40+/yd) so this was a find of a lifetime.  It took me a really long time to figure out what to make in order to showcase the fabric. 

So I decided on a gently gathered skirt with inverted pleats in the front and back (so as not to look too voluminous).  It has a gently elasticized waist.  Every inch of the fabric was used.  I even had to face the waist with something else.



I've worn it a few times and I may take out the fullness a bit.  After loosing weight, I don't really want to look wider than I am!



Summer Tank & Skirt | Sil 500 & M4783

With my journey of getting back my old body, comes changing shape (thankfully).  So I busted out some Silhouette patterns to get a simple but essential tank top.  It's out of a cotton-Lycra knit that I found in the basement (meaning it's old stash...or well aged like a good wine!).

This is the muslin or mock up I did.  Very happy with it.  I made the front neck a bit lower and on the next version took out some back length and there was a horizontal excess fabric at CB.  You can see how nice the armholes fit -- an issue with full-busted ladies like me.  Perfect.

These are great patterns as they are already drafted for D-cup sizes and use flattering french darts. But the envelopes haven't changed since they were designed -- the designer started to update them but her clients kept buying the same patterns again as the photo was different!  Found that funny.  Great marketing to sell more patterns. 

Just feast your eyes on the 80's below on the pattern cover!

 

Thankfully I had this skirt I made last year that goes perfectly.  The skirt is falling off a bit, but the new top and belt (from Tonic) hold it up!  The skirt is from a embroidered cotton gauze/voile type fabric from Fabricland...and I made it the month I bought the fabric *bonus*!

 

Oh and I must mention the shoes.  A best-of-season find at the Naturalizer outlet at Cross Iron Mills when visiting my family this last winter.  Perfect with this outfit.

A friendly skirt | S2258

In order to make the grad girl's gift, I had to fit it without her knowing...so that's where her mum came in.  Thankfully they are the same size.

 

Actually, I was going through some of the fabrics my mum gave me thinking what they could 'grow up to be'.  When I saw this print, I immediately thought of the last issue of People Style magazine where they featured floral print on black in short shorts and skirts.  Yes that's what this fabric will grow up to be! 

I then remembered Sherrie having a blue top that would look smashing with this print.  That's my weird and wonderful mind working for me.

While it is the same skirt as Monique's, it looks very different in this print.  You can barely see the tie...but it's there.  I made it separate, rather than attached so it can be worn several ways as the pocket style mean you are probably going to be tucking in your top.

Of course, it's personalized! I just love doing this. It's so much fun and I love the end result of it looking polished with an arts & crafts funky style to the label.

Here's a photo of the pattern - you can see the detail of the skirt better here with it's scooped out pockets and the tie.