Pin's Potential Purchases: A Royal Roundup

Have you been looking out for some Diamond Jubilee memorabilia but don't know where to start? Look no further than my Royal Roundup of Jubilee goodies! You don't want to know how many of these things I already own...

 

 Tins

First up is the McVitie's Golden Jubilee Celebration Tin. It has the added bonus of being filled with tasty chocolate digestive treats. It's currently on sale in most grocery shops- Tesco is selling them for £2, but be quick (unless you're in Scotland, there seems to be tons of them up here) they're sold out online already.

 

I've been admiring these lovely tins for a while as well- Twinings have produced these beautiful tea caddies, complete with the special Jubilee blend of tea inside. The top tin is filled with individually wrapped teabags (with a commemorative message) and the second one is filled with loose leaf tea. Tesco are selling the teabag caddies for £4 each (RRP £4.99) and Waitrose are exclusively selling the loose leaf tea caddies for £6. (Available in three colours)

Small tin £8

I'm particularly fond of the range released by Emma Bridgewater. It would take a whole new blog post to detail everything on sale but I'll focus on the lovely tea and cake tins. 

These come in a variety of designs and sizes and are available both online and in John Lewis. They have a wonderful design, reminiscent of something from the era in which she was crowned. I can almost imagine her using the mug or the tea tray from this range.  

The only downside is that these tins are not filled!

Marks and Spencers have, like last year, excelled themselves on the shortbread tin front. They've produced three pretty designs. They're currently selling for £5 each, filled with shortbread. However, shortly after the royal wedding last year their equivalents were selling for £2.50- so it might be worth waiting! The hardest thing is choosing which one to buy. If you're not in Britain the above pictures link to a website offering world wide delivery on them.

Other Lovely Things

M and S tights

That's not all that's on offer, however. Marks and Spencers have produced an entire Jubilee inspired underwear range (?!), Tesco have t-shirts, the Poundstore have everything from bunting to straws to commemorative plates. The Cath Kidston jubilee collection deserves a mention, the mugs and a lovely bag are pictured below.

Cath Kidston

Cath Kidston

Lidl Mugs

Liberty scarf and biscuit barrel (a graduation present perhaps?!)

What will you buy?

Pin's Purchases: God Save The Queen

I have had a rather happy few weeks buying all the Royal memorabilia that I can get my hands on. So far I have added a lovely notepad, a great pin tin and an amazing cupcake set to my collection.

These are the cupcake toppers, I'm not convinced they're going to look great, really I'd rather have some photos of the queen's face like last year's royal wedding rice paper photos. I'm totally impressed with the set though- Poundland wins again!

I think my notepad makes up for the cake topper disappointment. I can't decide what to use it for though; a sewing journal perhaps?

 I also HAD to photograph my most exciting purchase EVER....my grad ball ticket(s). Beautiful. Do you think I can wear a crown and a nice sash to the ball? Perhaps take along a jewelled Orb to compliment my outfit? Perhaps not.

In other news, my dad brought me up a cup of tea the other day and announced,

"I'm afraid Charles and Diana have had an accident."

Clearly this was slightly confusing, however, it transpired that he had DROPPED MY FAVOURITE WILL AND KATE MUG. I'm not sure what was more tragic, the loss of my beloved cup or my father's inability to distinguish between Charles and William.

P.S- I say 'favourite Will and Kate mug'. I mean 'only Will  and Kate mug'. Honest.

Fall to Pieces

I didn't update last week, I know, I know. So I managed to finish my toile with minimum fuss. There were quite a few changes to be made, but it didn't take too long. I also sewed on the sleeves, I was pretty pleased because I didn't have to rip them off and start again- I got them right first time! The pattern said to gather the sleeves, however my tutor just told me to ease them in. I'm not sure what is more difficult but I hate gathering so I was pretty pleased!

This week I didn't get a lot done.  I hadn't spent any time in between classes doing the things I didn't need help for- totally my fault. So this week was spent TOTALLY deconstructing my entire toile so I could use it as a pattern. I did, however, get it ripped up and cut out PLUS the front of the bodice done. Sadly I managed to iron a crease into the bust accidently when I was pressing the seams, it just won't come out now :( 

So next week is my final week, I know I'm not going to get it finished in class, but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. This week I need to cut out my lining and my interfacing and do some stay stitching...I will do it this week...promise!

Through many dangers, toiles and snares

My toile is sort of coming on ok. I had a few minor set backs. My one week crash diet (HA!) worked a little too well and now my toile is a bit big across my back, but now totally fine at the bottom. Ok, so I really just let out the seams. I've had to chop big bits off of the bottom of the bodice since, according to my tutor, I have 'a short back'. Great, I'll put that on my CV.

But just look at this (horribly edited so it shows up against the white backround) baby, IT ACTUALLY RESEMBLES A DRESS! I know my pleats aren't in line with my seams (I agreed with my tutor that I'd fix them on the real thing because I wasn't willing to sacrifice another stitch unpick on this thing) and the bust is now uneven (I had to take it in a little). But come on, this is my first real dress making project and it already has a skirt and everything!

There have been a few hurdles, I didn't transfer the dots from the pattern since I didn't know what they were (and my policy seems to be, if in doubt, miss it out), I didn't stick to 'right sides to right sides' which I TOTALLY know, and I didn't mirror my markings... These are small mistakes but meant time was wasted, going back to re-mark. I needed the dots to sew the gathers...but I missed them out and pleated instead anyway. It'll be fine....I've unpicked more of this pattern than I've actually stitched. Sewing is a frustrating business!

I also took in the bust, which has made it wonky. So to remedy this I'll measure the two sides, add then half the total then adjust so they're even. I whined at my tutor 'do I have to'. She looked at me, laughed and said 'do you want it to fit or not?!'. I guess I'll be measuring and adding tomorrow then...

I'm really enjoying the class and I am definitely learning a lot. I'm so glad I started with a toile...but then I realised the toile fabric was more expensive than the real stuff. Whoops...

What are you working on?

Hooray For Boobies

Now, before I go any further, I need to explain the title. At my class on Tuesday I made the bodice for my dress toile. I must admit that I got quite excited- when I started sewing I didn't realise that what I was doing would end up creating such a great shape! I waltzed home and announced that I had 'made a boob' much to my mother's confusion. She kept asking me what I'd done wrong...oh dear.

It was a little bit tricky, but I've learned a lot. The most exciting thing being...I finally know what the little arrows on the pattern pieces means! Ok, so I realise I could have just Googled it and it would have told me, but that's too sensible for me. ANYWAY, for those of you who don't know, you simply match the arrows up when you connect another pattern piece. It's fairly simple I guess.

So, my only problem is that it doesn't actually fit. So I've had to rip the stitches several hundred times. My seam ripper is now my new best friend. Actually, its not, it needs thrown out because it BROKE. The seam allowance is pretty big so I'm cutting it down from 5/8ths to 1/4. Hopefully that will help, if not my tutor is going to help me insert an extra piece. Or I'm going on a diet.

I also nearly wound up sewing it right up- forgetting I need to leave the back open for the zip!

So Tuesday will see me trying to sort out my fatty problems, and having a go at the collar. I'm going to play around with the tab and decide whether to use it or not. Oh and I have the sleeves to do too. I'm getting there, slowly. Not convinced it will be done at the end of the four weeks I've got left at the class nevermind the real thing.

In other news my royal mania is continuing; today I bought this awesome shopping bag: