Tempus Fugit... and Batman.

And it really does.

I had not realized I had been away for so long. Excuses aplenty but I will not bore you with them.

What I will do is share what I have been up to and here is Loud Shirt number 5.

Yeah, this is the loudest one yet.

I have still not mastered the art of pattern matching but I am rather pleased with how the pattern is symmetrical on the front.

 
A slight blurry back view, and again I was able to centre the design so Batman is central.

A close up of Batman.

A close up of the Joker. I had to import this fabric from America, from fabric.com. It seems it is impossible to buy Batman fabric in the UK. This fabric is called The Joker's Back and Joker is S.H.'s favourite character. He has seen this shirt in preparation stages but as not he has not seen the finished item. I hope he likes it.

A short post for now but over the next couple of days I would like to share with you our outfits for the comic con expo this weekend so next week I will be sharing with you our time there.

In the while happy sewing everyone.

Sew Vala. x

Finally a bit of show and tell.

Where has the new year gone?

I finally got myself in gear and been bust finishing off some garments I started last year.

Firstly I have yet another Loud Shirt

Loud shirt no4.

I was almost getting there on the pattern matching, then forgot the lapping of the front pieces due to button hole palacement and lost it. Ah well maybe next time.

And now  another late sewlong. This dress was for New Vintage Lady Plan Pattern Project sewalong that ended last year, and I finished it this week. DOH.

Front view.

Pink buttons to go with the purple/white cotton. the buttons do match, must be the effect of camera phone.

 Side view

And back colar detail.

I didnt really change that much with this dress in the end. Only adding the white satin binding on the bottom hem.

I have also started work on another project this week, but more about that next week as it is a birthday present, so no showing until the gift is handed over. Which today was looking doubtful, I have got to the very last bit of hemming when my machine went, whrrrr, clunk. Bugger. So hand hemming I guess.

On another note last weekend I opened a new packet of stockings, (very much prefare them to tights, yuk) and this is what I got,

One stocking, I can not be bothered to take them back. Luckly I had more packets with two in them, so now I have a spare.

I hope your week is going better than mine. Happy sewing and knitting

Sew Vala. x  

Dennis is finished, just in time for winter...

Sorry I have been away from posting for a while. What with moving furniture into the new room, and other general life stuff, its' been rather hetic around here.

But I have managed to use my spare time to finish the Dennis the Mennis jumper. It has been quite a firsts has this for me.

• The first time I have made a jumper, in an adult size (all my other knitting has been one baby cardigan and several baby blankets)
• I looked at a few patterns to check tension/amount of stitches etc
• But designed the jumper myself.

As S.H. lives quite a distance from me I have not been able to fit as I go along. So I am really hoping it will fit but more importantly that he likes it. As soon as he found out I could knit he asked for a Dennis jumper with a big neck.

And here is its' big, baggy, and  got a big neck.

Honestly it is red and black, but camera/computer makes it look pink. Which I'm he would mind, but thats not very Dennis is it.

For those of you who may be unfamilar with the British Dennis the Menace, here he is.

I you wish to know more infomation on this Beano comic book character it can be found over at wikipedia here. He is descibed as 'Dennis is the archetypal badly-behaved schoolboy.'

And just to level things out a bit later they introduced a naughty school, not in any way similar to any St Trinian. The Beano had Mini the Minx

Any way back to the jumper I used Rowan 'big wool', which is 100% merino wool. It was lovely to knit up, so soft. The colours I used

   black and lipstick, which again does look pink (images curtisy of Rowan).

So whats next on the agenda

• Sew buttons on the victorian steampunk coat
• make dress no 3 for plain pattern project
• finish the next loud shirt

mmmm or start something else.

Take care everyone, Sew Vala. x

And so on to new projects

And so on to new projects.

Currently on the sewing table are

• Nepeta - cos play outfit for youngest daughter
• Captain Jack Harkness cos play outfit for eldest daughter
• and Loud shirt number 4

here's a sneek peak at progression so far

Nepeta- You may remember I have been asked to re-create this but with cat ears not horns.

I used this simplicity pattern, the cat woman hat for the pattern. I didn't know if it would work as its for synthectic leather and I was using fleace.

She was very pleased with the result, but similing for the camera is not 'cool'

The Captain Jack Harkness is still to be started

Thats it for the moment except to show off another shoe obsession, well botts actually they have everything, buckles, laces and zips.

My winter footwear is sorted, How about you.

Happy sewing you lovely people Sew Vala x

Twinwood Vintage Festival and Loud Shirt no2

Last week we had a fantasic time at Twinwood

If you have never been I would throughly recomend it. It's a whole bank holiday vintage weekend. Details for next years event can be found here

We only managed the afternoon of the last day, but next year we hope to go for all three days.

There were some amasing outfits from all age ranges. The loud shirt no 2 got it's first outing.

  Here is Mr S posing for the camera. I love this fabric, it's very bright purple with the 50's style pin up girls smiling rather sweetly.

 Again I used McCalls 2149. This time I discovered I have an overcasting foot. So the only difference I did to this from Loud shirt no1 is I finished all the seams with this foot.

Here is a close up of the girls

Images copyright of FancyMoon. which is where I purchased the fabric they can be found here .

They have a fanstic range of unusal novelity fabric.

I found an absolute treasure of a find at one of the vintage stalls at Twinwood. A new look style black velvet coat with silk lining. And the bonus was it actually fitted me, all over. Length, around the middle, and arm length. I tried it on and fell in love, I even found a hat to perfectly match the look and style. It didn't occur to me to take a picture of it. But it was so damn beautiful. The down side was they did'nt accept cards. Unfortunally I didn't have that kind of money in my back pocket. damn damn and double damn. On the plus side my girls and Mr S all came away with coats

 The label inside the coat of Mr S, we guess it may be a de-mob coat ?

The label inside my eldest daughters' coat, the date reads 13/11/55. This is made from lovely but very rough and incredibly heavy dark blue wool coat. She plans to make some alterations so the coat can be worn to a cos-play event and go as Captain Jack Harkness from Dr Who/Torchwood.

My youngest daughter got a long dark blue coat for use a cos-play as Dr Who.

All in all a fabulous time was had by all, can't wait for next year. And if I am incredibly lucky they will still have the velvet coat for sale. Ah well dreamin am I. What's the item you wished you had bought but for what ever reason, never did?

Night all, Sew Vala.



Loud shirt update...

Sorry I Have been away for the past few days. Firstly I have been helping the lovely Mr S move house and then back to work then helping him to rearrange and empty boxes etc. And at the weekend we had a two day stall, but more about that next time.

Today I wanted to tell you how excited I was with the shirt. He loved it and even wore it to the vintage show where we had the stall. There were a few comments like 'Where did you get a shirt like that ?' in a possitive way.

So here is my gorgeous man modeling his new shirt.

Now all I have to decide is what's next.  I have the following in the pipeline

• Gertie's Bombshell dress


• NVL plain pattern project


• Edelweiss Walkaway dress (one for me and one for my daughter)


• Shirt in 50's sci fi monster fabric


• Shirt in pin up girl fabric


• Shirt in Liberty Rocks fabric


• New handbag designs and kits to prepare


• and for my youngest daughter 2 cosplay outfits .

So in the meantime until I can make my mind up, the past two days here have been mega sort and tidy time before building work starts on the house.

Happy sewing Vala. xx

New Title and finished Loud,Loud Shirt.

As you can see in the end I did decide to change the title of my blog. I'm glad I did.

And yeah to the finished shirt. I wasn't happy with the idea of press studs and fake buttons, so a hunt was on for my buttonhole foot and much searching and yeah I had a paddy. I found it. (This is due to my sewing room has a leaky roof and I need to save up for a new roof and builder costs. We have been without hot water for months now but just managed to save and this week got a plumber in to fix it. Luckly its summer so heating wasn't needed and we have an electric shower. ) Anyway this means my sewing stuff is piled in the living room, hallway and kitchen. But I digress, the shirt

After finding the buttonhole foot I used some scrap later over and theres lots of it, guess I didn't need 3m.
And make a sample off the front including the interfacing and started to practice, when I was happy and confident I started on the shirt. Yeah this was scary I was afraid of messing it up. But cool stuff it actually worked.

Now then this is where I got a bit cocky while reading the instructions o how to use the foot, there was also intsructions on how to attach the buttons by machine. I did not know this was possible, I searched and found I also had the foot for this so I gave that a try too.

wow what a mess.

I won't be using that again. So I handsewn the buttons and they were much neater.

Top button by hand, bottom button by machine. I know which I prefare.

As for the button holes them selfs I only had trouble with one, The top one,





The machine got stuck and wouldn't return down the right side.
I decided not to unpick this because 1, it would leave too many small holes and re-doing it would look worse and 2, I am sure he won't be fastening the top button anyway ,if you did babe you would look like a dork, sorry but true.

A close up of bttons and holes all matched up. yeah cool.

And the finished shirt

I know the pattern doesn't match well at the front, but I wasn't even going to try that yet. I am chuffed I am proud of it. And I really hope he likes it. Mr S hasn't seen it yet, He is down later today so all my fingers and toes (?) crossed.

Happy Sewing and hope you all have a fab weekend.

Vala x

New Favourites, Old Fears and Loud, Loud Fabric.

Firstly I would like to say welcome to my new followers, it's lovely to have you here.

I have been quiet lately due to working hard on the project I am just about to show. I think this is going to be a favourite of mine. I enjoyed it so much I have already ordered enough fabric to make 3 more.

This is my third go at making an item from a pattern. Its McCalls 2149

I made view E. With the 'grandad' style colar and short sleeves.

I haven't taken any during shots as I didn't do any 'tweaking' and followed the pattern closely. There were times when I felt I wasn't so much as following the instructions as much as translating them. But I think this is more due to my knowledge than the pattern instructions. Which is why this shirt has taken more than a week to complete. However I am still chuffed with what I have done so far.

As my chosen fabric ( well actually I didn't choose the fabric, The lovely Mr S did, after all it is for him.) cost only £3.30 a meter it's cheaper than calico so I forgo the toile and went straight ahead.
This is the almost finished shirt.

Betsy is my size (well actually she's a bit bigger than me. The smaller version of her i.e child's size was alot more expensive. It's not always a good thing being petite.) And the lovely Mr S is 6'2" and a 42" chest. So the shirt kinda hangs but I hope you get a good impression of it.

On the front left is a pocket, I choose the mermaid as the detail for this.

And here are some more pictures of the pattern in detail mermaids, horseshoes, anchors, tattoo symbols,

As I mentioned earlier it's almost finished. I need to add the buttons and buttonholes. However thats a new scary unattempted task, so I am thinking of cheating. Ether add the buttons to the outside and then put press studs underneath (Mr S likes this idea, ) Or today I thought of sewing the front together up so far like a polo shirt and adding the mock buttons. Mmmm decissions.

I have learnt some important lessons while working on this shirt.

• I need to practice button holes before I make this shirt again in more expensive fabric.
• I need to stop being such a scaredy cat and learn to use my overlocker. ie Take out of the box and read instructions.

The fabric I have on order for the next two shirts is from Fancy Moon, again they are both quite loud.

One has pin-up girls in witch and devil costumes.

Then we have 50's sci-fi poster art.

And when I have truely concured all my fears it will be the Liberty fabric

Even though I have the fabric on my shelf, this will not be touched until I am alot more confident in my skills, messing up 3meters of £3.30per M worth of fabric = shoulder shrug, ah well

messing up 3 meters of £21per M of fabric= big big temper tantrums and tears.

It's margarita time for me, Happy Sewing,

Sew Vala. x