Christmas is on it's way Stage 2: Bling Up The "Tree"

I realise I may have been a little quite this past week or so. I did have plans for blog but a couple feel through...

1. The Halloween wreath I attempted to make went disastrously wrong, so I gave up on that....and it could have been so pretty....

2. The walk to find sloes to make gin resulted in no sloes whatsoever, but we did have a very lovely long walk in the sunshine.

So that was that. I do have one currently in the process but everything takes a little longer now husband is back at Uni full time as I have no access sat home to the pc as he's usually in the spare room til late working every night.

So what have I been doing with my time? I have in fact been making my Christmas tree costume a lot more bling. I decided it was far too sparse of baubles so spent four nights happily sewing baubles onto it and sleigh bells to make it jingle as I walk. That and adding lots of tiny sleigh bells to the gloves too.

Ta-da - the finished product!

This one is from last year but I will be a lot more baubly and jingly this time round :D 

If you're confused as to why I might have  Christmas Tree costume in the first place, may I direct you here, to my other website. I know it's not something I blog about a lot but I did say I'd update here if I did any kind of craft stuff related to my other part time career!

Birthday Embroidery for my Da and Step Ma

Card for my Dad, a lovely tie pattern free from Wild Olive. 



And for my Step-Ma a flapper gal. Design from Sublime Stitching.

Sorry for the crap pics, had to take them in car as I only finished stitching just before I left the house to drive over there!

Late 50s/Early 60s Blouse Pattern

Received in the post last week, and I can't wait to try it out. I am on a mission to make all of my summer clothes next year!

Sewing: Late 40s Dress, Economy Design Pattern 212

You may remember that I wrote a post back in May about a dress I was making from a vintage pattern.

It is Economy Design patter number 212 and I was going for the view with the buttons all the way down the front and the short sleeves.

 

This is the first dress I've made from a vintage pattern and I did originally film me making it to out together a s a little how to in case I came across any struggles. When I went to make it though I didn't come across too many problems. 

Those I did, I have listed below. 

• The bust was a 36, I'm a 34. I amended by taking half an inch from the seam allowance at the bust and an inch at the waist and  marking it and marking it diagonally to ensure the correct gradient. 


• The waist was a 30, I am a 26. This meant taking an inch from each side of the seam allowance, when cutting the pattern. Not that difficult to do. 


• I did notice with the marking on the paper, the diamonds, to show where to match up the pieces, weren't marked on the outside so I had to make sure I did that when I was cutting the fabric. 


• The buttonholes were the worst part of it but I had this amazing reader's digest book (the complete guide to sewing) that I would recommend to anyone who's just starting out with sewing, it really is the best source of information and has really detailed diagrams. I did a few practice buttons of pieces of cloth first before tacking the dress. They certainly arent perfect but they'll do for my first try...and no one's getting that close to them anyway! 


• I made sure I loosely stitched every part of it before I sewed it as I wanted to ensure it was correct. It took me a little time but it was much better than making mistakes have having to unpick what I'd sewn on the machine. 


• My hemming is not great, I am crap at slip stitch, I am sure I'll get better in time but I have had to re-him the sleeves with wunderweb after I washed it for the first time and the stitching came out! 


• The collar was a bit of a puzzle, it seemed far too many pieces were involved but once I'd started sewing it all in I soon discovered what they were needed fro and I am very proud of the my collar, even if it is ever so slightly smaller on one side than the other. 


• It took me just under a week (sewing in the evenings) and was ready in time for my friends wedding, which was a treat, and I was especially proud to be wearing something that I'd made myself. 

All in all I think I did a good job, and it has made me think I can tackle the smallest of sewing projects now and those with intermediate difficulty. I do think it's a case of having more confidence in myself than anything else. 

So here it is all finished, my beautiful red dress from a lovely vintage pattern. I have been getting lovely comments about it in the office and when I tell them I made it myself they're pleasantly surprised!

A bit closer up, excuse the squinting, it was really sunny! 

Sewing: late 1940s Dress & My Vintage Singer Sewing Machine

Well, with no costuming to do for the near future and due to the fact I now have a limited resource of vintage and repro clothing (sold loads when I lost weight) I have decided to bit the bullet and make this dress. 

I bought it on ebay and it's an original late 1940s pattern. I'm guessing the age but think it's pretty close due to the hairstyles on the illustration. I've had the pattern for well over a year but am a little cautious about making it up.

It's made by Economy Design and is  number 212. Something I've not been able to find as yet on the net anywhere. 

I have never made anything from a vintage pattern before but this one looks quite straight forward, I'm making the short sleeved version. In fact I haven;t made anything since I went on the two day dressmaking course a couple of years ago (apart from costume pieces from my own patterns)

I bought some lovely red cotton fabric at the weekend and plan on starting this next week (I have cards to make in the meantime). 

I thought it might be a good start to clean and oil my sewing machine. This is something I haven't done since I've had it and I have no idea when the last time my Nana did this was! My Nana gave this to me around five years ago, she can't sew, embroider or knit now because are eyes are no good for fine work.

It's a Singer 328K and dates from 1961 (or so the manual says). It's got it's own table that it can be folded into (there's a trap door type affair underneath it) and it detaches from it if needed and a lovely carry case (although you need big muscles to pick it up, it's super heavy!).

I love the manual illustrations!

I did contact a few places about servicing my machine but I only got replies of "I wouldn't bother if it's that old, buy a new one".  Pah! And give up my lovely 1961 singer, with all sorts of amazing attachments, that was made to last, that can do heavy duty work, that I've never had a problem with? Methinks not. 

I was ever so cautious about unscrewing the covering plates and removing them, but oh so enthralled when I saw what lay beneath, I'm not sure if it's just me but cogs and pistons and such are very exciting to me.  The intricacies of putting something like this together are completely beyond me but I appreciate them very much. 

I cleaned the lint and dust from the machine using a little brush my Nana had given me and oiled the innards at the points I was told to in the manual, along with ensuring I put a drop in the holes that are on the top cover (sorry, no pic). I also cleaned out the throat plate and oiled where indiciated (again no pics, sorry)

When I got to taking the top plate off though I realised I'd need sewing machine grease, which is something I don't have. The machine is not bone dry though so I'm currently watching some on ebay, only problems being Singer don't seem to sell it in the UK so I'm watching some vintage tubes, one is full though so fingers crossed it comes my way.

Machine well oiled I ran it for a couple of minutes and it seems to have done wonders.

So I begin with my dress making adventure next week, I shall update as I go......wish me luck! 

Costuming: Genie

So I recently made a new costume!

It took me a while, after procrastination and not being able to track down a few bits and bobs I needed, it took me months to finish (well most of it was done before Christmas but finding the time to finish it has been tricky).

So this is what I made; panel skirt, jacket, knickers (haven't got a good pic here) . I embellished the shoes and the bra, which I also customised. Everything else was made from scratch and making my own patterns, which wasn't actually that confusing and only needed a little adjustment afterwards (go me!).

Ivy Wilde's Genie Costume 

Just a few close ups of the detail of some of the pieces: 

I make costumes too!

These posts are copied over from another blog I had, so I thought I'd move them over here so everything is in the one place. They were posted way over a year ago, and I'm currently working on a new Genie costume

Ivy Wilde's "Poison Ivy" costume

Instead of the skirt I bought a pair of Vivien of Holloway trousers which I pop studded all the way down the seams inside and out. The shirt was also pop studded with the buttons sewn back on to the front.

All of this took time of course but it was actually onto the really bones of it that I got a little *ahem* carried away. First things first I attached my LED lights, this was in itself quite a tricky job. Then I covered the bra and thong with ivy leaves (bought from trusty Hobbycraft) ensuring that the LEDs were poking out ain the right spacing. 

 I then sewed thousands of sequins on. It looked pretty amazing when it was done but to be honest this is the least fun part of making a costume for me. I usually run at least three if not four stitches through every sequin as I always think with the wear and tear that the costume is going to get I’d rather know that it’s going to stay firmly together for at least a year or two. 

This took the best part of a month, for I am one for smaller sequins to be honest…..but then I decided (foolishly?) that it would look so much better if the sequins had a crystal in the middle of them. Queue me sticking thousands of crystals to the bra and thong (this is not a lie, I spent a whopping amount of cash on Preciosa because I think they give the best shine next to Swarovski). 

I made the pasties out of one of the large ivy leaves and attached the old ones to the back, threading the tassels through a hold in the middle. I also sequinned and crystaled them once I’d done this. 

Then it was on to the shoes, now for midnight I had only stuck a few sequins and crystals to my black shoes but I really wanted the Ivy ones to stand out, as I was going to be in the bra and thongs for a little while towards the end (the music has changed somewhat) so I began the task of the shoes. After crystaling the heels I thought they needed more, so not the whole of the shoe is covered in Preciosas, apart from the ivy leaf to the front which is covering a bit of horrible buckle. I bought satin shoes as they’re less likely to lose crystals due to me using Gem Tac as an adhesive. 

So over all the costume is marvellous, well worth the hard work and the frustrating hours and back pain of sewing on sequins for a month!  

Zuul Costume for mine and Tim's 30th birthday Party

So Tim and I decided to have a costume party for our 30th, and eventually agreed upon the theme of film characters. 

As Tim's favourite film is Ghostbusters (2nd favourite Miss Congeniality then followed 3rd by Miss Congeniality 2) he decided to go as the Key Master Louis Tully, so I thought I'd complement him with going as Zull/Dana Barrett. 

I managed to get some pretty good fabric at Leon's in Chorlton (best fabric shop in Manchester) and made the outerlayer, again no pattern - I have no idea how I managed this...then I used some gold fabric I'd been given that was Tim's Grandma's as an under layer and made a matching sash belt. 

The party was brilliant, we had such a great time and everyone made a huge effort (apart from a few - naughty!) but I was sooooo hot, but then soooo drunk so I didn't really care after a while.

AND I now have a pair of pikey gold stripper shoes to add to my collection of shoes I'll probabaly never wear again, they were only £15 from Primark though. 

Ivy Wilde's "Midnight" Costume

So obviously not taking too much on I decided to make a full skirt for a costume for a new act called "Midnight" and it went pretty well! I made the top of it first, then added the net (I have been told previously not to sew net through the machine and broke two needles but the time it saved was well worth it!) then gathered the netting up into bunches. Skirt comnplete!

I then customised the bra, making it a haterneck, adding bows, sequins and crystals. 

I also made the chiffon panels, which took most of my time, hand sewing the sequins onto them afterwards was a major chore too but it looks soooo pretty under the light. 

I added fringing to the thong and sequins to the front mesh panel (you can't see this in the pic and I'm not putting one up!). You'll have to catch Ivy Wilde at a show to see it in it's full glory! 

A Little Bit About Me…

As I start this blog I feel that I should explain a few things, how I came about to craft and what I love about it (I might even try and find a few pics to go along with it).

I have always enjoyed the creative side of me. Much more than the super anally organised PA side of me (my full time job) and I have recently got back into creating in a few ways. Back to the beginning though.

I was raised by my paternal Grandfolk in Sunderland, something which has influenced by life in countless ways. Unfortunately my Granda is no longer about but my Nana is still going strong at 87 (88 this year!) and I try and see her as much as I can.

Nana & Me at my wedding 2007

I do speak to her every Sunday without fail though and sign off on the phone with this line “love you Nana, kiss hug, kiss hug” to which she replied “you too flower and many of them”. I have been doing this since I moved to Cheshire when I was 7 and far away from my Nana.  I am not ashamed to share this with you as it’s one of the things I treasure in my life. My Granda always used to answer the phone to me with “hallo my little chickadee” I miss this so much, even 18 years since he’s been gone.

Granda & Me 1985ish

Due to my being brought up by my Nana , I have picked up the following skills:

• Embroidery
• Knitting (better on a machine, I can hand knit but it takes me FOREVER and  I haven’t picked up any needles since I was a teenager)
• Baking

And possibly unhealthy obsessions with things being tidy and clean (although this massively slipped in my teenage years).

Embroidery

I used to spend my summers with Nana and Granda when I was a teenager, they had a caravan in Teesdale and if I wasn’t outside messing about in the river with my mates I was inside with a needle, silk and hoop stitching away. My Nana was brought up not to sit and do nothing and it’s something she’s passed on to me.

I have recently started to embroider again ad I’ve fallen in love with it all over again. The last time I picked up a needles was when I took my now husband to meet my Nana for the first time and she asked if I wanted to finish off the tablecloth she’d started as her eyes couldn’t cope with the fine work which was around 9 years ago.

I have inherited a box of vintage patterns and have started adding new ones I have discovered to it.

Knitting

I have yet to start knitting again. The last thing I made was a hat for Tim a while back now, and I have a machine and tonnes of vintage patterns just waiting for me. It’s something I plan on doing soon. My Nana is giving me her full on knitting machine which can do fancy patterns (and I adore fair isle) to replace the travel one she passed onto me a few years back.

Baking

Baking is something I love to do and always have done. I strive to be like my Nana who doesn’t need to measure anything which I find pretty amazing! I haven’t baked for a while. Mainly due to these things:

1. When I get stressed I bake. A LOT.  The great cake push of 2009 when I got made redundant has not been forgotten by me or Tim.

2. I joined slimming world a year and a half ago and have managed to get myself back to a dress size 10 again and am more than happy to keep it that way.

I do make four Christmas cakes for the family every year. It’s something my great Nana Wilde used to do and I thought I’d try and keep up the tradition, I enjoy it and it’s nice to give something to my north easterly family when I don’t seem them on Christmas day.

I am going to start again this year though and try for once a month and see how the weight gain/loss goes!

There are of course other things I would like to achieve this year and from now on and I thought it might be nice to document this in some way. Mostly as every time I make something I’m overly impressed with the fact I could do it in the first place.

So this is my list:

• Bake once a month
•  Embroider til my heart’s content
• Knit some jumpers/hats/mittens for this winter
•   Learn to Draw
• Learn Ballroom all over again
• Do some mini craft projects and design a few of my own
• Write More

As my husband is now at Uni and I am trying to pay off my debt I am hoping the above will come in rather handy with presents/cards for birthdays.

Apart from the dancing, that’s for me only. I danced when I was younger and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for years. I’ve been to two classes and I love it and have surprisingly not forgotten what I’m doing!

Anyhow if you do read this I hope you enjoy it!