Crash & Burn

So my last post I was flying high, I had finished my basket and I was hoping to finish my dress that I have been making at home, what high hopes I had. Well I came crashing back down to earth, my dress that I was so excited about and that I thought was nearly finished has a major problem, it is too small! When trimming the material so that it fitted I had not factored in the seams allowances for the zip. I can't believe that I have made such a major mistake.

So on Sunday afternoon I was all for giving up on the whole sewing thing, but my lovely ever patient DH talked me down and persuaded me to go back to sewing class on Tuesday. I am so glad that I did, my teacher assures me that we can do something so that the dress will fit (hooray as I love the fabric) and I also completed my first dress, all that was needed was the hem doing so I have one finished dress that fits perfectly. Once I have ironed it I will post a photo.

So what about scrapbooking I hear you ask, well it is there I have a couple of pages from crop that I need to put on here. I don't think that I will manage my 100 layouts target this year, but there is always next year. Scrapbooking has taken a back seat, but while I have the opportunity to learn a new skill I want to make the most of it. Maybe I should think about doing some layouts that involve scraps from my sewing, what do you think?

This could be the start

So it is just under a week since I completed my basket and I am still riding high on the feeling of actually completing something, especially as it impressed my lovely ever patient DH.

As promised here is the link to the basket, it was created by Elizabeth Trantham and she very kindly put it on Ravelry, which is a great source of ideas and patterns for crochet & knitting. I love that the internet is such a great source of inspiration & also a great tool for learning.

So while I am on my finishing roll, my aim today is to complete the dress that I have been making at home to replicate what I have been learning at sewing school. My DH made sure that I had some time at the weekend to get a bit more done & I thought that I was doing great until I realised that I had actually done the seams the wrong way, so when I turned my dress the right way you could see all the armhole seams. So I spent most of Sunday afternoon unpicking. I must not let this get me down as I am still learning & as one of my friends pointed out, we learn from our mistakes.

So hopefully next blog post I will have a completed dress to boast about.
 Wish me luck x

Back to school

September is here and that means back to school, but not just for my DD but for me also. I am going to sewing school. This is a big step for me as I have dabbled in the past with mixed success. I usually leave all sewing to my wonderful Mum, who does a great job.

So Tuesday of this week I walked DD to school for her first day of year four, then jumped into the car to drive into town. While feeling a little nervous, I was excited more than anything. I have spent all summer looking for the perfect pattern, which I finally did, but then became stuck when I was unable to find any fabric that I liked that would suit the pattern. Luckily for me where are classes are held in a fabric shop.

The class is being taught by a lovely lady called Pat, who was very welcoming. There were four other ladies in the class all with different sewing abilities. Our first step was to measure one another, not a great after the school holidays but I guess it had to be done. Then Pat took a look at our patterns to see if they were suitable, luckily for me mine was. Then it was a trip down stairs to find fabric, again I got lucky and found some lovely suit fabric.

So the photo below shows my pattern, fabric, lining, zip and thread. Pat assures me that I will have a completed dress by the end of the course.

This is great news for me as I am know for not finishing anything and thanks to a lady called Susan Carlson who has a lovely blog called Felted Button I am going to borrow her categories. An Unfinished Project will now be know as a UFO and a Work In Progress will be a WIP. This dress is in the WIP pile, it will be finished. Many of my crochet attempts are in the UFO pile.

So back to my class, once we had the fabric, we then had to cut out our patterns, if anybody has ever opened a pattern you will know that they are folded and a little fragile, so you have to unravel them very carefully, otherwise you might tear or lose a bit. Luckily for me I only had four pieces of the pattern to cut out, a couple of the other ladies had many pieces to cut out. Once cut out you then have to pin the pattern to the fabric, in line with the grain of the fabric. I had no idea that fabric had grain but apparently it does.

Now my teacher Pat, said at the beginning of the class that if she says "are you happy with that" she actually means that she is not happy with it. So I awaited with baited breath and got a well done, hooray. Next task to cut out, then also cut a lining to match.

So there we have my first class, I am feeling a little chuffed with myself and can't wait to go back next week. I will be pinning it all together and then sewing!