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:

Puzzle

Tuesday night's evening class went well, Cardonald isn't the handiest to get to but it's a lovely new college.

I've got everything pinned to my fabric, ready to cut out to make my toile. It took me the full 2.5 hours to get through cutting the pattern out and pinning it- although I did chat a little too much! This dressmaking business is rather time consuming. It is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, you have to fit the pieces on to the fabric so they all face the correct way. Of course certain pieces must be on the fold so it's a bit of a faff!

I nipped into my favourite fabric store last week and picked up some rather lovely lining for my dress at a pound a metre. It's navy blue and spotty so looks perfect with my navy fabric.

I also bought myself a new sewing tin (I've been needing one for a while). Ok, so it's an M & S shortbread tin, but it's the perfect size for all the bits and pieces I need to take to my class. I'm a little bit in love with the Royal Family so this will go nicely with my Royal Wedding tins!


The toile should start to take shape this week so hopefully I'll have something a little more interesting to report soon!

Pin's Purchases: I'm so excited

So I was going to write a blog post about Wednesday's class, which I will later, but I'm FAR TOO EXCITED to do that yet. You see, yesterday I went to a new fabric shop for the first time.

I've heard a lot about the Fabric Bazaar on London Road but I've never had a chance to go seek it out. Every night class I've been to has recommended it as the cheapest fabric shop in Glasgow and I concur that it is most definitely worth a visit. I've chosen my pattern for my dressmaking class (Simplicity 1913, it has appeared in quite a few blogs recently and I must say, every different version looks beautiful) so I desperately needed some fabric to use.

As you can see I got a bit over enthusiastic- all I went in for was dress fabric.  I went a little wander round a few of Fabric Bazaar's competitors (who for now will remain nameless since I'll assume they were having a bad day) but was left uninspired. I had an idea in my head of what I was looking for, but I didn't know what it was called or what colour I wanted. Anyway, on perusal of FB's shelves I happened across a nice, plain, navy cotton. I thought it was the one for me so I went to get some cut. But then, suddenly, a beautiful, navy, polyester wool mix practically leapt off the shelf at me. It was love at first sight. At £1.99 a metre. FB, I'm in love with you. (On another note, I have no idea if this will actually work out...but if it is no good for this dress then I'll get a lovely pencil skirt out of it)

As you can see I also have a bit of a love affair with zips, particularly the big teethy ones. Lovely. Oh, and buttons, shiny, shiny buttons. And thread. I bought the pink on a whim, I think I might topstitch with it. But then again...

Anyway, this lovely pile cost me a massive £11.96(I ended up with 3.5 metres of fabric). So in conclusion, Fabric Bazaar is a little out of the way (it's down by the Barras) but it is well worth a trip. I get the impression it's the kind of place you'll never know what you're going to find. 

I'll post a wee blog post about what I class as being a sewer's best friends, but for now I'm going to upload  a photo of my latest Cath Kidston purchase. I'm a big Cath Kidston fan and can regularly be found perusing the aisles of the lovely new (ish) Glasgow shop on Gordon Street. I've had another case in the past with mini spools of thread in it, I much prefer this new version with a thread pleat (love love love these things). 

The scissors were from a craft fair in the SECC a few months ago- an impulse buy but I rather like them.