Sunday 16 February 2014

I made a top!

Here is my version of the Plantain top from Deer and Doe.  Deer and Doe are a small independent dressmaking pattern maker from France.  The Plantain top pattern is free!  You download it as a pdf, print it out then stick all the pages together and voila, you have your pattern.  Plantain tops, complete with their elbow patches, were popping up everywhere on the internet and if you look here, you can see the best!

I am an avid follower of the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network.  Oh!  How I wish I lived nearer to this wonderful shop!  It is in Harrogate in the north of England and looks like heaven with all kinds of fabric from dressmaking to quilting, every kind of crafting tool, papercrafts, paints, inks etc.  The blogger network showcases makes from some of the best sewers and crafters in the country.  They each make one thing per month, and Minerva Crafts offers a kit for sale to make the item. 

When Kathryn who blogs at Yes I like that came up with a leopard print Plantain top, I just knew I had to have the kit! The kit came with 2m of fabric, matching thread and 1m of stretchy black binding for the neck. And it was so easy to make! The fabric is a Ponte, so a bit stretchy, but quite thick – lovely and warm!   After reading Kathryn’s blog post I decided that I too would like a higher neckline, so drew it in about 1.5” above the pattern.  I cut the hips a size bigger than the top, and even flared it out a bit more than that.  I love the finished shape!  It fits, but not too snuggly, and doesn’t look too big on the top.   The only thing I struggled with was joining the neck binding, and if you look closely you’ll see that I stretched the neckline a bit in that area. 

So you’d like to see a picture, huh?  Well, here I am, wearing the new top with bootleg jeans and black ankle boots.  I have to say that I don’t normally wear these colours, my colour palette is much more autumn.  But I do love my new top! (And the best accolade… my 22yo daughter says it doesn’t look handmade!)

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Tuesday 4 February 2014

Craft Cabin Crotchet

We are a select little band of 3 crafters, Me Tash and Burnice.  We meet once a month in Burnice’s craft cabin to craft (well, some craft gets done sometimes…we do lots of chatting and drinking tea too, and even occasionally eat cakeSmile !) Over the years we’ve tried crafting with yarn, fabric and paper.  This year we have decided to do a yarn based  project.  We are going to crotchet squares from this book:

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with the aim of each making a blanket/afghan for our homes.  We have each chosen 5 colours of wool, here’s mine:

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and here’s my first square:

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I am hoping it will look like flowers in a garden!  I am already a bit behind Tash and Burnice, but no matter, I will catch up soon!

Sunday 2 February 2014

Month in Numbers

I am joining in with Julie Kirks’s Month in Numbers this year.

The community count:

Price of a loaf of bread: 80p for a Weightwatchers Brown bread in Sainsburys.

Number of new things tried: 8

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Pretzels in chocolate sauce

In my Graze box.  They were very nice!

Legs, bums and tums class with cardio

at the leisure centre with friends at the beginning of January before my Boot Camp classes restarted.

Joining in with Month in Numbers

Something I have meant to do for a long time.

Joining Weightwatchers

not strictly a new thing as I have done it before!

Sewing with knits

Making a dress, which I have worn several times

New restaurant – Little Bay Brighton

Celebrating Burnice’s birthday.  A great evening!

Knitting a cardigan

Mum bought me the wool and pattern for Christmas.  It’s chunky so has knitted up really quickly.  I’ve done the back, front and sleeves, now just the tricky buttonhole band and putting it together.

Burn’s night celebration

We were invited to the local yacht club’s celebrations.  We sat down to traditional Scottish haggis, neeps and tatties, and listened to a reading of Tam O’Shanter, the famous poem by Scotland’s best known poet: Robbie Burns.

 

Other Numbers:

Number of meals out this month: 4

Number of items of clothes made: 2

Number of exercise classes: 12

I am linking up with Julie’s Month in Numbers January 2014.