Make your own...

...Oven Mitt, in just a couple of hours!

You may be thinking, why on earth would I make an oven mitt when you can pick one up so easily in almost any store, but I say why not?! Especially when you can make it all pretty and match your kitchen accessories. Once you've got the basic pattern you can go bananas with embellishments, yay!

Here's how, lets get started!

You'll need just a few things to get started:
- Your chosen fabric, four 20x30cm rectangles should do it (2 of these rectangles can be left over fabric as they will be on the inside)
- Thick heat resistant wadding, two 20x30cm rectangles
- Paper to draft a pattern on
- Some binding
- The essentials: Scissors, thread, pencil etc
- Then the fun part, embellishments!! I used a bit of lace trim


First you'll want to take your wadding and sandwich it between two pieces of fabric (one outer and one inner piece). Next pin and tack the fabric to the wadding to secure it in place. Repeat with the other piece of wadding and fabric rectangles.

Next sew parallel diagonal lines all the way across the pieces of fabric/wadding in one direction, and then the other direction to create a diamond pattern. The spacing of lines could depend on your fabric design, mine were about 1inch apart. You should end up with 2 quilted rectangles.



Cue tea break, and a sneaky biscuit :)

Lay your hand on the pattern paper and roughly draw round your hand with a space for your thumb, this takes a bit of judgment and practise as you don't want to end up with a really tight oven glove! Don't forget to add a seam allowance all the way round too (I may have done this 1st time around).


Cut out your two quilted rectangles using your newly created pattern piece. Then pin and sew the two pieces right sides together all the way round, keeping the bottom open. If you'd like a little hook to hang up your oven mitt this is the time to add it in. Pop a little loop of binding inside the two pieces before you sew them together.

Nearly there.... Turn the mitt the right way out and use the binding to encase the raw edges.

Now the fun part, embellish embellish embellish! Lace, applique, ribbon, buttons, anything you like!

All Done :) Well done.

What embellishments did you go with?

First sewing project of the year

Happy Sunday everyone! Here it is, my first real post of 2015. I wanted to tell all of you lovely people about my first sewing project of the year. Better late than never eh?!?


I've had this pattern sitting all sad and unused since London's Makegood festival last May. If you're in London this May you really should give it a visit - it was so good last year! It's one of Tilly's patterns from Tilly and the Buttons which was included in her book that I purchased at the Makegood festival. If you haven't got this book and are new to sewing, I highly recommend it; beautiful images and clear instructions makes one brilliant sewing book!

This is the Megan Dress from Tilly's book. I made some minor adjustments to the pattern after being inspired by another dress I saw online a few weeks ago. I lowered the waistline by about 6cm,  which involved a little experimenting with the darts. The original pattern is designed as an empire waist line, which is lovely, but I thought this lowered waist would work better with the design I had in mind. I also added a self-drafted collar and button placket.



I had to grade between a few sizes (Tilly gives a great explanation of how to do this in her book) and take out a little fabric in the back bodice, which I often have to do, but after that everything went together smoothly.

I was so pleased to give this pattern its first outing and I'm really happy with the results! Thank you Tilly!

I can't wait to make another version of this dress with the original waistline, perhaps with a soft cotton with a little stretch to make a comfy number - what do you think??





What have you been sewing this year? I'd love to hear about it :)
With love -x-x-x-

Navy Upright Collar Dress

Before the weather turned very untypically English, I decided to try turning a summer tea dress pattern into a more sophisticated self-shaping dress, inspired a little bit by Emilia Wickstead's Coat Dress worn by Kate Middleton on St Paddy's Day.

Adapted McCall's Pattern

I already had the McCall's M6503 pattern sitting in my room (which also makes lovely summer dresses, perfect for this time of year), so instead of searching for a different pattern, I thought i'd give an adaptation a try (View D). Making things difficult for myself.... again!

                      

                              














The first thing I did was measured myself and compared my measurements to the finished garment measurements. TIP: Summer dresses often have bigger pattern pieces, because a bit of extra material looks nice and drapey in a soft floaty material. However, I wanted each piece to lie flat and didn't want too many gathers, as in a thicker material it would look too bulky. It turned out the only thing I needed to adjust slightly was the front bodice pieces. I took a little bit off the centre and side seam edges, so that there were less gathers under the bust line.

Next, the fun part, choosing the fabric: I knew I wanted a material that would keep it's shape, but it couldn't be too thick or stiff. A medium weight corduroy would have the type of thing I was looking for, but at my local market I stumbled up on a navy felt/fleece, with a polyester backing - PERFECT! I was so excited to get going. I also chose a contrast chequered material for the waist and collar.

And so I got started :) I didn't have to change anything else, but I would always suggest TIP: to tack the bodice pieces together first to make sure all the sizing is correct, especially when you are adapting a pattern.

The only thing that was a little tricky, because of the thicker material, was the collar. I found that trying to sew that many layers of fabric is best done by hand. The collar on my dress isn't perfect even now, but I don't think it's too noticeable. I'm sure you'll have more luck!

Have you made a different type of look with a different fabric? Post your pictures!

Adapted Wartime Dress

A few months ago I was on the hunt for a dress that was suitable for work, but wasn't black or made out of really thick material. The shops didn't delivery quite what I had in mind so I decided to take this pattern and turn it from a semi-casual jersey dress to something a little bit smarter. 

I always make it difficult for myself (unintentionally); this pattern is designed for jersey, but I wanted a more fitted finish, so I used a non-stretch fabric. Because the pattern is made to be slightly more casual and less fitted, I had to make three fundamental changes:

1) I added a zip underneath my left arm, so that I could actually get in and out of the dress

2) I had to take some of the material out of the front bodice panel; I made it a little shorter from top to bottom. If I was making this pattern out of jersey (like I was supposed to) this extra fabric would have draped over nicely and made it very flattering. However, because I was making it out of a slightly stiffer fabric, that extra bit of fabric would have poofed out and looked pretty weird.

3) I also took some material out of the front skirt so that the gathers weren't there. I just took in the side seams at the top, which maybe isn't the most professional way of doing it, but it seemed to work out just fine for me :)

I chose to use a medium weight polycotton, somewhat similar to a tea towel... you laugh, it has been commented on. My only trouble with using this type of fabric was that it frayed constantly and I don't have an overlocker at the moment (it's on my list), so I had to do some careful zigzag stitching along the edges in places.

TIP: Although I used a non-stretch fabric, I did choose one with a little 'give' - I'd suggest this to get the best results.

Don't be scared to experiment!

And i'd love to see your creations, so please do share them!

Calling all budding seamstresses... hiya

My discovery of the month has to be the StyleARC website. It's an Australian based company which sells unique, fashionable and easy to use sewing patterns. It ticks all the boxes.

The site is updated every month, and has some really lovely designs, one of which was mentioned in my wrap dress post - the Kate Dress, i.e. THE blue engagement Kate Middleton Dress. We all know that's a worthwhile purchase!

The patterns also come on paper (newspaperish thickness), not that annoyingly easy to tear tissue which you'll find in most pattern packets: Absolute bonus!

Some of my other favourites are:


     

                  Layla Dress                                                                                         Felicity Blouse                                                                                            Paris Dress

TIP: Make sure you check your measurements on the size chart because this isn't a British Website, and the sizes differ to a little to ours.

I really love this website; sewing our own clothes is a lovely way to get the most out of our figures and skin tone. You can choose the colours and styles that suit you and adapt where necessary - which isn't easy to do with things you find in the shops. Plus, when people ask you "where did you get that?" you'll feel an incredible amount of pride saying "I made it".






I urge you to give it a go, try something simple first (how about the Olivia Dress), and if you have any sewing questions please get in touch.

I can see myself draining my bank balace very quickly! We need some more businesses like this in the UK...any budding pattern designers up for the challenge?! Although, lucky for us StyleARC can post you your patterns all over the world, so we can have the pleasure of enjoying some Australian talent too!

Don't believe my overly excited post? Check it out for yourself :)

Freddie and Delilah...all grown up

The time came a few weeks ago to let Freddie and Delilah have a proper 'big ducks' swim in a 'big ducks' pond. So, on a very cold Saturday morning, 7 layers of clothes went on, and we embarked on digging a 'big ducks' pond hole...

...2 hours, umpteen wheelbarrow loads of soil and several spirit-level assessments later we had a perfect hole (ish). Apparently making a hole level when the ground is on a slop already is pretty difficult, not to mention the fact that the two end of the ponds had different depths...

...they were a bit nervous to start with...

...needless to say, once they got in they loved it...












...but Freddie did get stuck upside down a few times...












...they even learnt how to fly out!








They proceeded to repeatedly miss bedtime for the next week, refusing to leave their new haven; which resulted in a few late night trips down the garden to encourage them in to bed with the chickens. Cheeky twosome. Love them!!! x x x x

Venturing into the world of home smoked foods

Smoked bacon is my boyfriend's (Josh) favourite thing in the whole world (I'm pretty sure it comes above all friends and family). So after weeks of agonising over what to get him for Christmas, I suddenly had a revelation in the form of a smoker, so that he could make his own.

"Cold or Hot smoker?" I hear you ask... I didn't know there was a difference either :s

Simply, hot smoking cooks whatever you put inside, and cold smoking doesn't. Hot smoking uses wood chips, and cold smoking uses wood dust. Smoked salmon and bacon (as you would see in the shops) is cold smoked, and other fish, ham and ribs etc would be hot smoked.

I decided to go for a cold smoker, as bacon was the key driver to this smokey present plan. I researched several cold smokers, but found that this one, from "Hot Smokers" called the "ProQ Eco Smoker", seemed to tick all the boxes.

Smoking requires the wood dust to burn very slowly, so Hot Smokers sell an ingenius product, which allows the dust to burn in a long line, in a maze type fashion. Well done ProQ!!

TIP: You could very easily fashion one of these smoke generators out of some wire mesh, or even a flatish sieve, then fold some tinfoil into long strips (around 3 sheets thickness) and make a circular pattern. This would form a swirl which you can light at one end. Then all you need is a tall, sealable cardboard or metal box which will fit your smoke generator and a shelf in


I bought the ProQ smoker box set and a selection of different wood dusts. Plus the shipping is FREE, amazing! www.hotsmoked.co.uk

Starter Bacon Curing & Smoking Kit

Wood Dust Collection

TIP: Make sure the dust is well dried out, if it is a little moist and your struggling to keep it alight, try putting it in a warm oven for an hour or so



A present has never been so well received; everything you can think of has been smoked (garlic, cheese, pork, salmon, nuts...the list goes on), but the bacon is incredible, Josh's new weekend regime always starts with a trip to the butchers and then curing begins!

TIP: It's probably a good idea not to put your smoker inside your house as it does smell pretty smokey; a shed would be best, or outside when it's a little warmer

Here's a quick peak at the first lot of bacon that was made. This was made as per the the "Hot Smokers" instructions that came with the set, with a 1kg loin of pork. However we've since tried it using several different techniques, which i'll post full instructions for soon! YUM!!

TIP: We've found that smoking when it's freezing outside doesn't work as well as when it's around 10degrees. If it is freezing when you're trying to smoke, then try putting a heat mat down underneath the box

Our next project will definitely be making a hot smoker out of an old metal box! I'm so excited to see the results, and will share pictures when it's up and running.

This is a bacon lover's dream, try it, or buy it as a present. I can't recommend it enough; it's brought so much excitement to our house, and amazing meals with it.

Introducing Freddie and Delilah

Here are the two newest editions to our household (along with my beloved Bamix, which I am fully in love with)....Freddie and Delilah, two call ducks, who are now happily living, with the two hens in the garden. First collected at 5 weeks, they are now 3 months old and are my little babies.

At 5 weeks

Their favourite things are leaves and water dripping from a hose pipe. Too cute for words.

When we first got them home, ready to go outside in their warm house

At 3 months

They are now ready to embark on their first "big duck" pond. Cant wait to share the pics :)