Saturday 29 November 2014

Lady Jane goes out and about

Made by Lady Jane has been quite busy recently.
In the middle of October I put together this stall, for a Ladies Day at the golf course (ladies do like to shop!)



Then just 2 days later I was in Peillac, exhibiting some of my work with 'Comparz', a local association of craftspeople and artisans. 
The occasion was the 'Fetes des Fruits d'Automne', a celebration of all things autumnal, and local - sweet chestnuts, pumpkins, apples and many other other edibles. Huge crowds come to the village to partake of these goodies and enjoy live music and traditional Breton dancing in the streets. This year we were blessed with glorious sunny weather, which was a real bonus.


 
Our little artisan group took over a disused chapel in the village, dragged in enormous branches and foliage and recreated a little 'forest' indoors - it was bizarre but wonderful!
Our work was exhibited in amongst the foliage:


And on the Saturday evening, in true french fashion, we all brought  a little something to share and ate a wonderful picnic together in our 'forest'. (It was lovely, atmospheric, just a little bit eccentric and another reminder of why I am so happy to be living here)

Moving on into November and I was exhibiting again,at 'Salon Toutes Fibres Dehors' in la Gacilly, not too far from home.
 This is a two day event showcasing textile professionals living and working in Brittany. Over 40 exhibitors, demonstrations, and a fashion show each day draw in good crowds . Hard work, but very worthwhile for so many reasons.

Before


After - Who IS that daft looking lady?




Ooh - what luverly things!

And that brings us to this weekend, when I'll mostly be involved with this:



Christmas is just around the corner, so I'm off to Glenac, to a little 'Marche de Noel'





Which is why I've not been here on my blog very often, cos I've been here, there and (feels like) everywhere!.

........and I think that quite soon it will rather nice to:


- wouldn't you agree??

Monday 27 October 2014

Skirting the issue / Cute as a Button



So I sewed me a skirt and I absolutely LOVE it!


It  fits, it looks even better than I imagined and I bought just the right amount of fabric (a mere 70cm).
The pattern is New Look 6843, a pattern with two basic skirt shapes - Pencil skirt and A-line.
This print is quite loud and very colourful - all it needed was a very simple skirt shape. No need for any embellishments or intricate finishes.


Nice fit missus!

The pattern is quick and easy to follow and the fit was good for me. I'm a bit of a pear shape so skirts and trousers are never easy to find, but I cut out a size 14, no alterations, and it was perfect.
I had to make a small adjustment to the side seams after I'd tried it on. There were some serious 'bulges' happening at the top 4"of the side seams. This was as a result of over-enthusiastic curves on the pattern rather than my body shape (That's what I'm saying anyway!). So I straightened out that part of the seam a little and hey presto! - lovely fit.


Ooh - just look at those loverly buttons!

 There are 2 darts to shape the front of the skirt into the waistline, but 4 darts doing the same job round the back. Those 4 back darts seem to create a much smoother shape than you'd get with the usual 2 darts shaping from backside to waist. Must remember that for future skirt patterns.
  The fabric is what I believe is called a 'Baby Cord' - a very fine corduroy fabric (you can see the corduroyriness in this slightly bizarre photo below!). It's light-weight but has enough body to make a nice skirt.

Do my feet look small in this?

I already had some good quality brown lining fabric in my stash - and a zip just the right size and colour.
I know - meant to be.


Zip - check. Lining - check.  Looking good!


And the print? Oh wow - I gasped when I first spied it in the fabric shop! Sooooo suitable for someone who sews, with buttons, quite a lot.

Ooh, look - it's also quite nice with a polo neck jumper!

When I look at photos of the finished skirt I am sooooo pleased.
And that fabric is available in 2 more colour ways. It would be rude not to, don't you think?



Thanks for stopping by - see you again soon! Jane xx



Postscript:   I made This dress again - in brown, for autumn, why not??

Friday 29 August 2014

That's better!


  I had another attempt at Simplicity 1699 and I think the end result is Much Better!


 Look - here's me looking smug because I've just sewn the cutest dress in the whole world, ever:


So how did I do it? What changes did I make?
Once I'd inserted the raglan sleeves, I attacked the neckline that was too high, too tight and far too unflattering.
I cut back 1" of fabric all around the raw neck edge. Then I added the collar from pattern view B, having cut away 1" from the same inner edge, so that it would fit the now larger neckline.This also reduced the depth of the collar to a nice size - the original would probably have been a little excessive?



 Anyway - it worked, I am soooo pleased with this new neckline, it suits me far better than the plain neckline of the first dress I made with this pattern:

Do you notice any similarity between the fabrics for these 2 dresses? Yup - Exactly the same, except for the colour.  In my defence, It's such a nice quality stretchy cotton fabric, which suited this pattern so well the first time around and was so easy to work with............if it works, use it again!
A word of advance warning though:  There is a 3rd colourway - and yes, I did buy it.  I'm thinking I may branch out and have a go at a Different Pattern (!) for the next one.  Long sleeves, autumnal sort of design. Any guesses as to the colour??

Anyways, having decided a white collar would work nicely with this dress fabric, a hunt through my fabric stash was not helpful - no stretchy white fabric to be found.  Until I came across a child's white t-shirt that someone gave me ages ago.  Exactly what I needed - for the collar.................and for some sleeve cuffs:

Pattern view B has a slightly different sleeve design. It has the same raglan construction that makes sewing the sleeve to the body of this dress sooooooooo easy (I cannot emphasise that enough!), but this sleeve is a little shorter, which made the outer edge a bit too sticky-outy for my liking. So I cut a coupla more strips off the white t-shirt, gathered in the edge of the sleeve a little and sewed on a cute cuff. You can just about see in the photo that I used a long, shallow zigzag stitch for the cuffs. That was an easier and more successful stitch to use with this stretchy fabric, and adds a little extra cuteness. I know - I'll be showing random pictures of  kittens next......... (NO! I won't!)

Then I added me some Pockets:


Don't you just love a pocket or two? For popping things in? - that handy bit of string that might come in useful; a tissue, just in case; the extra clothes pegs when you're hanging out the washing; somewhere to stuff your hands when you don't know what to do with them; biscuity treats for any passing cute kittens.....

There were enough leftovers of dress fabric to cut out 2 pocket squares. I added white cuffs at the top edge, and voila! a couple of patch pockets that I actually think add a little something to the design.



Because the mixed sizes I cut out last time worked (bizarrely) very well, I just went straight for it and repeated everything I'd done before:

Bodice front in size 10, bodice back size 12, skirt size 14. All sewn together with my overlocker, making it a quick project. (Loving my overlocker for sewing stretchy fabrics - so quick, so easy, so streeeeetchy)

So - one final 'Happy With My New Dress' photo:

 
Thanks for reading, and see you again sooon - it's nearly OWOP week!




Monday 21 July 2014

Lady in Lavender


On the work table.

I have a little business over here in France. It gives me the excuse, and the pennies, to buy lovely fabrics and spend many happy hours playing with needle and thread.
 
At the moment I'm busy, busy making stock for an upcoming Craft Fair - or Festival des Artisans d'Art, held in the rather pretty village of Lizio, in Brittany.

There are almost 200 exhibitors on the day, lining the streets and open spaces. Quite a spectacle. And such a variety of products. It's an event I'm always very happy to be a part of.

Over the past few days I have been working on some lavender filled fabric hearts to display on my stand.





Some of the lavender came from my garden, but this year most of it came from a lovely friend's garden. I spied her loooong hedge of lavender plants well before the flowers had opened and cheekily asked if I could possibly harvest her lavender for my hearts. She very kindly said yes.

 

It took a while to get all those flowers picked, trimmed, bunched and hung to dry.


But a few weeks later and it was time to remove all those dried flowers from the stalks. A job I chose to do outside - it can get quite 'heady' with all the fumes!


And now all that lavender is tucked inside an array of pretty hearts. It's a pity you can't get computer screens with a 'scratch and sniff' facility - my sewing room smells divine!


(I do enjoy my 'job')



Friday 11 July 2014

Sometimes I make cake.



 
It was someone's birthday today.
 No, not mine.
 

 So we treated ourselves to lunch out.



 In a beautiful medieval city not too far from home.


 Where the buildings lean close together, as though gossiping about everyone they see passing by.

 
And recently refurbished facades are absolutely divine.


 When we got back home I made a cake.



A Victoria sponge, as requested by the birthday boy. With lashings of homemade raspberry jam, buttercream icing and the last of the fresh raspberries from the garden. 

I do like birthdays - you get to share nice things, in nice places, with nice people.














Thursday 10 July 2014

Simplicity Itself





Or:  How I made a fairly simple pattern even simpler to sew (always a good thing to do!)
I really liked the style and shape of the dress on Simplicity pattern 1699. 





 It sort of goes in at the waist and then out again over the hips - rather like I do.  I have boobs and I have a bum - not all dresses realise this.
A toile in a size 12 told me a lot.  Mostly that some of me, but not all of me, is a size 12 (some of me is a size 14, gasp!)  It also told me what I'd read elsewhere - the neckline on this design is rather neck-chokingly high.

I made the toile from an Ikea 'Bargain Bin' duvet cover.  A highly recommended source for inexpensive fabrics.  For just a few euros you have several square metres of lightweight cotton fabric to play with. And it's destined to be a toile - so even the wackiest prints will do (and they definitely do wacky).

Then I did me some fabric shopping.  I came across a stretchy jersey fabric in a nice weight - not too flimsy, perfect for a dress.  And I had a plan - I figured if I used stretchy fabric I might not need to sew a (very long, very scary) zip into the back of the dress.  I might be able to just pull it on over my head, like a stretchy t-shirty sort of dress.

Because of what I'd learnt from the toile:
I cut the front bodice pieces in a size 10.
I cut the back bodice pieces in a size 12.
I cut the skirt pieces in a size 14.
I hoped and figured that the stretchiness would allow 3 different sizes to be nicely melded together.
And with the help of my overlocker, that's exactly what they did. Yay! (and phew!)

An overlocker - what a fabulous invention.  What a revelation to a dressmaker.  If you don't own one,  you should go straight out and buy one.
Every time you look inside one of your homesewn garments you think 'good golly, miss Dolly! did I really make this - it looks so Professionally Finished!'
Sewing stretchy stuff with an overlocker is a doddle, and more importantly - the seams  s-t-r-e-t-c-h!  Really, truly.
Yup - this was my first time sewing with stretchy stuff.  It will not be my last.

And the dress fits!  I can easily pull it on over my head.  Although I was sooo chuffed with myself that my head nearly got too big to take it off again.
  
 The sleeves are super easy to do - they're a raglan construction so you are not required to fit a sleeve into a vaguely sleeve-sized hole.  There's also a cute cutaway bit at the outer sleeve hem - cute, but a bit bulky if you overlock the edge of the fabric before hemming (more notes for future construction).

The neckline isn't brilliant.  It has opened out a little with the stretchyness but it's not very flattering.  I decided I'd do something different with that the next time I make the dress.
But for now I just sling a crocheted shawl around my neck and all is gorgeousness once more!
 

Afternote: Yes, I am good and angelic (in the sewing sense) in that I made me a toile, to test the pattern fit.
But I did not wash the fabric before I sewed with it.
My name is Jane.............. and I Never wash fabric before I sew with it.  Yes, you may gasp.
Anyway - the stretchy dress - it shrank in the wash.  But it actually fits even better now!
The shrinkage was mostly vertical.  I have a rather conservative idea of a 'proper' hem length - ie no knees on show please, you might scare the children.  Well it's not so conservative or proper any more.  Knees are being flashed.  No children have screamed yet, no horses have bolted, so I just keep wearing it.  Happy!







 



Monday 7 July 2014

OWOP made me do it

Simplicity 1699
I blame another Jane entirely for this blog being launched.
Perhaps 'blame' is too strong a word. I was inspired by another Jane to finally do what I'd been thinking about maybe, possibly, doing for quite some time now - starting my own blog. eek!

Hand made Jane is hosting 'OWOP' = One Week One Pattern. The idea is to wear home sewn outfits every day for a week - all made from the same pattern. Take photos of yourself looking gorgeous (of course!) in your 7 outfits and share these photos with everyone else.

I have a dress pattern I've made 2 versions of already (yup - that's me up there in the photo - wearing the Grey Spotty One) and I already have fabric for a 3rd version waiting patiently on the dressmaking fabric shelf.
You can wear the same garment several times, but styled with different accessories. Or you can just use this whole venture as an excuse to make Yet More Dresses.

But all this is easier if you have a blog link to for sharing photos of your OWOPs. So here we are. My blog.
Welcome. (and thanks to that other Jane for the inspiration to get started)