Stitching Santa2016

I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas – and will have a Happy New Year!

I’m here to show off my #stitchingsanta gifts.

I’m not sure who sent these as there was no name, so if you’re reading, do own up so I can thank you properly – I’m really happy with your choices so there’s nothing to be ashamed of! 😉

I managed to save my gifts until Christmas Day, and it was really nice to have something to open! This is my haul…

There’s some beautiful lace applique, destined to be a collar, perhaps on an upcycled plain dress!

Couture Sewing Techniques – ooh wow, lots of bedtime reading here! I will be a pro in no time 😉

A beautiful ClothKits skirt kit – the skirt pieces are printed directly on to the fabric so there’s no need for tracing a pattern, cutting a pattern, and all that faff! I love it! I cut the pieces out last night, now they’re all ready to sew up! Conveniently The Monthly Stitch’s January challenge is to sew up some fabric that you’ve recently received/bought before it enters the bottomless pit that is your stash. Well, I’m determined to get this made up ASAP! 😀

It was also tied up in the cute tape measure ribbon in the first photo, which of course I am stashing!

And finally a good length of this cotton fabric (rubbish rushed photo, sorry) – I’m not sure exactly what it is but it’s lightweight, maybe I will make some summer trousers with it… 🙂

Well my Stitching Santa gifter certainly did her homework and got me down to a tee! Refashioning, the colour blue, quick & simple dressmaking project, the need to learn some high-end sewing techniques… yay, thank you so much!! ❤

Finally, my giftee has blogged about the parcel she received from me so if you’re interested, do follow this link! 🙂

Happy New Year!

Beth x

 

Christmas update!

Hello! I thought I’d write a quick post as it’s been a while!! I haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth! I have been super busy with my little sewing business, with the mad Christmas rush and all that. But I did my last post office run before Christmas today – I’m DONE! For now! Also the courses I run have either stopped til January or finished completely so I feel I have a bit of time to catch up with some blogs! Hooray! So this evening I have painted my nails for the first time in a loooong time, and that’s stopped my picking up a needle! And here I am, writing this.

Along with all the orders I posted today went my rather last-minute Stitching Santa gift. I didn’t have a chance to take photos of what I bought, as I was in a rush to pack it all and get it to the post office! But hopefully my recipient will blog about it, and I will re-blog! Here’s a photo of it all wrapped up though – in some snazzy Christmas fabric, which is a little gift in itself! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out Sewchet’s post about #stitchingsanta!)

I will of course share what I received after I’ve opened it; it’s all here waiting for Christmas, I can’t wait! Thank you in advance to whoever sent it! (A card arrived the next day; I only briefly looked inside to find that it was from the Stitching Santa sender, so quickly shut it and will re-open on Christmas Day!)

So, do you want to know what I’ve been up to?

In a nutshell: skirts, bows, skirts, bows, skirts, bows…!

I can sew up a simple elasticated-waist skirt really fast, and they look great and are easy to fit – so they sell really well. My customers love that you can purchase matching hair accessories; you don’t get that on the High Street!

I’ll just add some examples – I realise I haven’t shared much at all of my Pink Bobbins creations!

This is a lovely fabric; I sold out pretty quickly (note to self: get more practical black coloured fabric next year!)

But I think this red snowman fabric was the most popular. I didn’t make a single dress out of it, but plenty of skirts and hair bows!

Talking of hair bows, I also sell them in sets like this, which are really cute! I like making them because I do them by hand; my bag of pre-cut fabric for bows comes everywhere with me!

Ooh, a dress! I love this fabric!

And this is by far my best selling bow fabric (shown here as adorable little bobbles) – mustard foxes!

I think that’s given you a little taste of Pink Bobbins! I do make more than skirts and bows, but I will share more with you another time.

After all the bright colours I’ve been sewing recently, can you guess what colour I painted my nails tonight? Haha – shimmery black!! I was originally going to go for red (Christmas!) then changed to blue, then… black. LOL. That’s got to say something about me!

Ooh, one more thing before I go – on Saturday night, I actually sewed something for myself!! A Tilly & The Buttons Coco dress (my third!) – I will share soon… ish! I need photos! I cut the pieces out many months ago, and finally sat down to sew it up, I am so happy!

I hope to be back with another post soon, but til then… have a wonderful Christmas!

Beth x

Liberty Plantain

I made this aaaaages ago (like, 11 months ago) and have worn it a lot – it has remained unblogged til now for no apparent reason. It only needs a quick post!

I bought this gorgeous Liberty jersey for £8/m in Oxford Gloucester Green market back in the summer of 2015. (Unfortunately I’ve heard that the “Liberty man” hasn’t been there for ages! I hope he hasn’t disappeared altogether!) It sat for several months before I eventually cut it into a plain and simple Deer & Doe Plantain top. [By the way, it’s a free pattern!] I had 1m of the fabric and managed to get the short-sleeved top out of it no problem. Bargain!

I’ve made one other Plantain and really like the fit and style – so easy to wear, and not too low on the neck. So it was an easy sew for me.

However there was one difference – I made this with my overlocker; the first garment I sewed on it (besides finishing seams only). It was so fast! Fast forward 11 months to now and I LOVE my overlocker. I’ve sewn so much on it. And it’s even a breeze to thread! 😀

I also used a twin needle to sew the hems and keep the seam allowance down around the neckline. So neat!

Hmm, what else do I have in my stash for another Plantain… isn’t it great making the same pattern more than once? My least favourite part of dressmaking is probably tracing patterns so it’s nice to sew the same pattern when it’s all sorted fit-wise!

Hope you’re all well and getting ready for the big C. Including Stitching Santa if you’re involved like me! 😉

Beth x