Jasmine blouse

It’s my Mum’s birthday tomorrow and I have just finished her present, Its a Jasmine blouse from Colette, it is so easy to make.

Jasmine blouse colette sewing patternIt is a pull over the head style so there are no zips or buttons and the pattern has really clear, simple instructions.

1018-jasmine-[2]-122-pThis one is made from a lovely mushroom colour georgette fabric which is very fine, quite slippery to work with but the finish is lovely, really drapey

mushroom-georgette-497-pI might make myself one next in this lovely navy blue, spotty crepe fabricwhich also hangs really nicely and has a retro look about it.

navy-blue-spotty-crepe-476-pBoth fabrics and the pattern are available to buy from TrixieLixie

As it is Good Friday today my lovely Hubby has been busy baking Hot Cross Buns, don’t they look delicious!

hot cross bunsHappy Easter!

sewingpattern, dressmaking fabric

 

Elisalex Dress

Just checking in with the Elisalex Dress sewalong, I have made my bodice, I am doing the long sleeve version. I haven’t done the lining yet or hemmed the sleeves, I will do that tonight. I will probably hem the sleeves right at the end as I have short arms so I will need to try the dress on before I decide how much to take off the sleeves, I want them to be 3/4 length, at the moment they are very long!

Elisalex sewing patternI am liking this fabric much more now that its coming together! I have got some brown cotton lawn to use for the lining and I might have a go at doing the pockets that were just featured on the By Hand blog

Elisalex sewing patternESEWALONGGRAPHICsewingpattern, dressmaking fabric

New Sewing Patterns

I am very excited because we have the new Colette Laurel dress sewing pattern AND the new Sewaholic Robson coat sewing patterns in stock at TrixieLixie

laurel-colette-sewing-pattern-[4]-961-p laurel-colette-sewing-pattern-[3]-961-p laurel-colette-sewing-pattern-[2]-961-p laurel-colette-sewing-pattern-961-p laurel-colette-sewing-pattern-[5]-961-pI am going to make a Laurel Dress for my teenage daughter to wear to the wedding that we are going to in May, she has chosen this lovely Amy Butler fabric its called Gypsy Caravan, Wind Flowers.

-butler-gipsy-caravan-wind-flowers-stain-426-p[ekm]288x288[ekm]The new Robson coat is also an exciting new make to add to my project list, although I’m not sure when!

robson-coat-sewaholic-sewing-pattern-[4]-960-p robson-coat-sewaholic-sewing-pattern-[3]-960-p robson-coat-sewaholic-sewing-pattern-[2]-960-p robson-coat-sewaholic-sewing-pattern-960-p[ekm]288x288[ekm] robson-coat-sewaholic-sewing-pattern-[5]-960-p

sewingpattern, dressmaking fabric

Easter bunting

Here’s a quick Easter make, inspired by a recent post by pillowsalamode about making bunting, I decided to use some of the Easter Ribbon available at TrixieLixie and 2 fat quarters of fabric from the Moda Coquette range to make some Easter bunting.

dressmaking fabric, coquette, ModaI have done a bunting tutorial before, it was one of my Christmas Monday makes so I used the same template to cut out my flag shapes

sewing patterns I cut out enough triangles to make 12 flags for my bunting (12 of each)

sewing patterns

With right sides together sew up both sides of each flag then trim any excess and turn the right way aound, I used a knitting needle to push the point of the flag out.

sewing fabricI then turned the top of the flag in by 0.5cm to neaten the tops and attached them to the back of the Easter ribbon.

sewing fabric, ribbonBunting is such a quick and easy project and it makes a great gift.

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sewingpattern, dressmaking fabric

Elisalex Dress sewalong

I have started my Elisalex dress, I am using this lovely chocolate and cream flowery linen which is £10 a metre at TrixieLixie

Chocolate cream linenHere is a picture next to the pattern so you can see how big the leaves and flowers are on this fabric

Elisalex dress

I have traced the pattern and cut out my fabric, I am itching to start sewing but I will be patient and wait for the By Hand sewalong as I don’t want to make any mistakes.

Elisalex & Fiskar pinking shearsI used my favourite Fiskar pinking shears to cut out my fabric, it means less work neatening my seams!

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My Wonderful Mum’s actual Mothers day present!

Well here in the UK it is Mothers day today, thank you to my gorgeous daughter for breakfast in bed and a lovely new silky night dress! Now I can reveal what I actually made for my Wonderful Mum for her Mothers day present! A fabric photograph album which has pictures of all her lovely grand-children. I got the idea from the Moda Bake Shop a fantastic quilting web site, full of great tutorials and idea’s.

photo albumTo make this lovely gift I used a Mama said sew charm pack from Trixie Lixie and a pack of Ink jet Iron on fabric transfers, when you print your images onto the transfers remember to flip them so that they are facing the right way when you iron them onto the fabric, I forgot to do this so all my images are the exact mirror opposite to the actual photographs! which is ok, but not good if your photographs feature text!

photosI ironed my images onto white cotton fabric then I sandwiched a piece of wadding between the photo and the charm square to puff it up.photo albumI stitched the photo’s on and then joined 2 charm squares together, back to back (wrong sides together) to make a page for my album, I was intending to do about 8 pages but I used quite thick wadding so 3 pages was my maximum, as I had loads of photos I made 4 albums, one for my Mum and one each for all my lovely sisters.

photo album

I used red thread to contrast with my fabrics.

photo album

to blog 210When I had made all the pages I added eyelets to the top of each and then used some pretty string to tie the pages together.

Photo album

photo

The wadding made the pages quite stiff so it actually stands up by itself so you can use it as a frame, changing the image in the front when ever you fancy.

I also machine embroidered a card for my Mum

CardI will post a tutorial on machine embroidered cards later this week, it’s very easy and never fails to impress people.

 

 

Quick Tote bag, make it for Mothers day

This is a quick and easy to make tote bag with a gusset so that it will stand up, I have used an oilcloth fabric from Trixie Lixie

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I didn’t bother to line this bag as the oilcloth fabric is nice and thick, I cut out 2 rectangles for the front and the back and 2 long strips for the handles;

ToteNext I joined the front to the back, right sides together along each side and the bottom;

toteTo make the gusset turn the bottom corner in and sew across it;

toteThen trim away the excess, do this on both bottom corners;

toteTo make the straps I just folded them over and seamed them as its much easier if you are using oilcloth fabric than making tubes and turning them the right way around!

toteThe final step is to neaten the top of the bag and attach the straps;

toteOilcloth fabric is easy to neaten as it doesn’t fray so you only need to fold it over once.

toteWhen I attached the handles I stitched a box and a cross to hold them securely in place.

to blog 038The gusset on the bottom means that the bag will stand up, great for shopping!

toteThe funky oilcloth fabric is called Field study and is a Freespirit fabric, you can buy it here.

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Quick Bookmark for Mothers day

Here is a quick make for Mothers Day, I got the idea from another blog but now I can’t remember which one so if it is you please comment and I will add a link!

bookmarkThe fabric is Kaffe Fassett but you can use any piece of left over material. I cut 3 pieces of fabric one of the main colour, a piece for the back and then a piece of wadding to go in the middle.

bookmark

I then sandwiched them all together and did a bit of free style quilting to hold them in place.

bookmarkSo simple! It will go nicely with a good book and make an excellent Mother’s day gift.

bookmarktrixielixie