A froth of froufrou

To give the right finish to a dress I made recently I made myself a (very quickly run up and so not perfect) frou frou petticoat.  The net was a little dearer than I had expected, not expensive just more than I had thought, so I brought five meters for my petticoat instead of the ten I had planned on using.  This was very fortunate. Five meters meant that going through some doorways was interesting and  entering cubicles at service stations (and the like) was very difficult.  All 'problems' aside I love my frou frou petticoat - it is the first full size one I have made and the first one I have owned.

I like my petticoat so much that when I made my niece the dress for her birthday I wanted her to 
have a petticoat to go with it.  

 After measuring the length of the dress's skirt to find out how long to make the petticoat I cut two strips of white poly cotton for the top part.  Then I cut stripe of tulle netting for the frothy frou frou.  I wanted
two layers of netting so cut eight
 strips (four for each layer).  
I am very lucky because the 
leaves of my table make excellent
 cutting guides to ensure straight
 pieces of net.  Tulle netting is so lovely and soft.  The net I used was    wide.

I sewed the two strips of poly cotton together and then made a narrow hem at the bottom to sew the tulle onto.

 I then turned the top for the waist and using the guides on my machine to make the casing for elastic.

I rolled the net slightly while doing the seams on the net layers. 

 Marked out the top of the petticoat.

 Pinned on the first net layer.

 And started to sew.  Being very careful not to get any of the net or poly cotton caught in the stitching.

Gathering evenly the net as I sewed.  Then I did exactly the same with the second layer.  Being even more careful not to get any net caught up in the stitches.
Then I trimmed the top of the net to give a neat edge.
I had this lovely rosebud lace trim and used it to cover the edge of the tulle netting which gave a nice finish to the petticoat. 
Then the elastic was threaded through the top and all finished.

 It was quite hard to part with but I managed ......

 

Sewing club inspiration

The sewing club that we started a few months ago is going really well, even though we haven't met as a group during most of August, we have all carried on sewing.

 My sister and I had to get ourselves outfits made for our cousins wedding.  
I went for a fifties/sixties inspired dress complete with froufrou petticoat and my sister made a stunning two piece from some teal brocade.  While we were doing this my niece has been making pyjama bottoms and a retro look swim suit.  My niece's friend decided to design and them make a fitted top, it may need a little work when we all meet up again.  I am so proud of them - they are really getting the dressmaking bug.  Soon nothing will hold them back.

I had to alter the pattern to make it the right size (not as thin as I used to be)  and because I didn't have enough my chosen fabric to make it as the pattern sleeve stated, I also changed the sleeves slightly.  

All cut out and ready to go.

 

 French seams for the skirt and sleeves and a lined bodice

Flowers made from the dress fabric to coordinate my plain straw hat. 

Vintage blue crochet gloves complete the look.

A good look in the cold light of day

Saturday was the first day of military odyssey for this year.  I really like this show because as it covers a large period of history it meant that there was (as always) a nice variety of items on sale.
http://www.military-odyssey.com/index.php?ix=1&iw=251&iz=0

The first thing a saw as we arrived was a beautiful old parasol, been a bit taken with parasols for a while and this one brings my total up to three.  

I got a Christmas present for my niece, a brooch for myself and then it was time to buy fabric ....... lots of fabric. 

Looking at the pile in the cold light of day this morning part of me felt I had got carried away - OVER FORTY METRES OF FABRIC!!!  Not all of it was for me so another part wished I had brought more.  I had sent some pictures to my sister for her to make decisions on and some I just brought to see if she would like it.

 Here is the thing, this show at Detling is once a year, the fabric I got was only £2.00 a metre.  We have a very good fabric shop in Ramsgate and the prices there are good - but not £2.00 a metre good.

This I got to see if my sister would like it to go with her 10 metres of  embroidered cotton and 5 metres of natural lightweight linen.

Left to right :- 7 metres of a heavy brushed cotton type fabric (I was thinking of sharing this); 2.5 metres of white spots which will become a skirt; 5 metres of green & 5 metres of lightweight floral to make fifties style full skirted dresses; 2 metres white cotton for a blouse and finally 3 metres of stripe for hippy trousers and maybe a skirt.

£35.00 for five items of clothing decided on plus the decision needed for the blue.

These three remnant pieces I got with my sister in mind for £1.00.  If she decides not to have them I am sure I can find a use for them.

So lots of sewing to keep me going, especially if saturdays haul is added to the fabric I already have.

MAD FOR NEEDLES - for every task a needle

 SOME PARTS OF MY CURRENT GOLDWORK PROJECT would be much easier if I have the correct size needles - easy to solve I will get some while shopping.  Little bit of a mistake ..... yes I got the needles I wanted, some Chenille needles that should have the right size eye to pull the gold threads to the wrong side of my work.  To be sure I also got a pack of assorted craft needles that had a couple of needles with larger eyes.  It is after that things got a little out of control.  Large plastic needles for sewing knitted projects together,  Doll needles - extra long for making soft toys and dolls, and some straw/milliners needles.  These could be useful if I take apart and repurpose the two cheap hats that I brought last year.  They were too small so I plan to turn them into purses.

 This was a pure impulse buy.
A PARALLEL TRACING WHEEL.  As I do not seem to be able to see any clothes I like at the moment it would be a good time to make my own again.  This will make my partner very happier as I am planing to work my way through by beautiful collection of fabric to start with.  He is very good and has even offered to lend me money when I have run out of funds - one of my favourite places to

fabric is at the multi period re-enactment show held at Kent County Showground.
There is usually a stall there with reasonably priced 100% linens and silks.  I have often struggled around the event hugging a huge pile of fabric.

 In the past I have just bastardised patterns to get the effect I wanted - the sleeves from this and the collar from that.  This time I feel like drawing my own patterns.  This book PATTERN CUTTING MADE EASY from SEARCH PRESS should help me in my quest for individuality and I think the tracing wheel will help me create my patterns.  http://www.searchpress.com/search/pattern%20cutting%20made%20easy 

Loved the look of the needle weaving in this magazine so the last things I brought were some purple wire and some variegated thread ready for when the muse takes me.