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')

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.

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!







 

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)