Bits I'm working on

Well morning all,

Can't believe it's Wednesday already and I haven't posted a blog up this week. To tell the truth I haven't felt to inspired to write at the moment, not sure why really,but that's the way it goes sometime. so I thought I'd post up a few photos of what's happening in the honey pot for you to see instead.

Is a kipper biased?

Good Morning All my internet lovelies.

I hope you are well, I am feeling a little excited today as Dr J. is coming home. He has been away for work and although not for long I really miss him and it makes me realise how much I have come to depend on having him around from my days of being a really independent single mom. Not in a physical way so much I can still take my own bins out, but in an emotional way of having some to mull things over with and just to lean on. But having a bit of space without him has been great for my wedding dress, I really have made headway with it over the week as I have been able to leave bit of it lying all over the place as I worked on it. and I have to say I really rather pleased with the way it's shaping up.

A new angle on ties

Good Morning all you internet lovelies.

Well I've been working more on those 'groomsmen' ties, although not all the groomsmen are men and not all the ties are for that side of the wedding party if you see what I mean. Groomsmen is a good enough term for you to know what I'm on about.

Tie the knot

Good morning all

I hope you are all feeling tip-top today. Well we have nearly 10 weeks till the big day and I kinda went and did a little silly something; You may remember a few weeks back when I was listing some of the things I had to do for the wedding well.....

Preparations for Hepcats

Morning Lovelies

I only plan on doing one blog post this week as I'm a little tight on time, so I decided to do it today (Wednesday, for those of you reading this later on) to split the week up a bit. Things didn't go exactly to plan yesterday, so the last bit was written on Thursday, (the builders went through the gas pipe yesterday oops)

This weekend is Hepcats, a dancing weekender that runs from Friday to Monday, and I am doing the last minute preparations for it, ie making sure that all evening outfits have a hat etc. I kinda feel that now I am calling myself a milliner I ought to have hat on whenever possible, so as well as dresses there are now hats to be made, and a rather nice pink loop collar shirt for Dr. J. that he is rather pleased with.  Loving the pattern..

I thought I was sorted on all the evening dresses I was planning on wearing until whilst sorting out the summer clothes box, you know the place where you keep swimming costumes and dresses that you would only wear on holiday with sarongs etc, I found a shift dress I made quite a few years ago when Dr J. and I had only just started going out, and I know he liked it. Don't know what it was doing in there, but it explains why I hadn't seen it for a while, and I only wore it the once anyway. Well since I was in the mood I tried it on and was pleasantly surprised to find that apart from being very creased it was ok and it still fitted, don't know why but I always assume that things won't fit.

The belt that went with it wasn't there so a new belt was needed and a hat. (And one of the other dresses would need to become a day dress now, it can be sort!) and I need to re-do the facing as I was horrified with the mess I had made of that, I must have run out of time badly when I first made it, as I'm sure my sewing wasn't that bad back then.
So jobs to do 1. draft new facings, 2. attach new facing, 3. draft new belt (I fancy a large bow this time) 4. make a hat to finish of the outfit, and 5, if there is time, make a bag to really finish of the outfit. Ok I'm out of here......


time passes off camera

.....
and back

1. and 2. Well drafting new facing, not so bad I used proper lining material this time and just used the ones I had taken out, as a pattern but making the neckline a little lower.

3. A new belt made in same material as hat to help it match, and I had none of the original material left at all. I decided that I wanted to have the bow stand a little so I added support inside of it, a rectangle of canvas.

4. hat I will make this into a whole post one day as people are often interested in how these are made.

5. bag, here is where I often cheat a little if there is limited time. I make a little bow out of the material and attach it to a standard bag with a safety pin, so this bag makes it into lots of outfits. And no photo as the phone memory is now playing up and I've got to get this post out, I can't mess around any longer, so may be next time.

Well till next time when I will hopefully have some photos from Hepcats to show you.  Have a good week, and weekend all. Bye,

Hugs and Kisses

Ally

Dr J's Birthday

Well morning all internet lovelies.

The sun is shining down on the honey pot today and spring is definitely in the air.  This time of year always fills me with joy, I love the cherry blossom that is all around here.  Some like minded person long ago in council planning decided to line many of the roads here in Kings Heath with cherry trees and at this time of year it is always a pleasure to walk around them.  Another lovely thing that happened this week was Dr J's birthday, we are more or less the same age, but for a few months each year he becomes 1 year older than me and I rather like that. Soon catch up though!

And talk about senior moments, as we got up yesterday morning we had trouble working out how old we were, and even how long we had been going out (could blame it on being sleepy). Eventually we agreed on both but I have to say I was still unsure.

Anyway I thought I would just share with you the jacket I made for his birthday present.  It followed a discussion with a friend about gaberdine and 50s style jackets. Now I had no real idea what gabardine was, just knew it was very popular in the 50s and rather expensive now to get originals, and Dr J. being a rockabilly at heart I thought it was about time he had one.

Looking on the internet provided me with the knowledge that gabardine is

"woven as a warp-faced steep or regular twill, with a prominent diagonal rib on the face and smooth surface on the back. Gabardine always has many more warp than weft yarns"

 and

"The original fabric was waterproofed before weaving and was worsted or worsted/cotton, tightly woven and water-repellant but more comfortable than rubberized fabrics.The fabric takes its name from the word "gaberdine", originally a long, loose cloak or gown worn in the Middle Ages, but later signifying a rain cloak or protective smock-frock."

Thanks Wikipedia.

Also it can be made from different materials, usually wool, but can be blends and polyester.  So with this information in mind I set off to the fabric shop and found that they do stock gabardine.  I chose a dark blue and a lovely mushroom for contrast and went home to try and workout how to make them into an elasticated bottom jacket.  Not so hard really, once I got the hang of encasing the elastic and stretching well while stitching. And here it is:

What do you think? I'm thinking it looks pretty darn authentic. I just wish the photos did it a little more justice. Dr J. loved it and that's the main thing. This is the only year I got to get him a card with fiance on it, last year was boyfriend and next year will be husband. Now that's a scary thought.

And I tried a new recipe for the cake, with yogurt in it and I have to say it was quite tasty, but rather rich, I could only manage 1 slice!

Well that about wraps up today post, stay tuned for the announcement of a grand giveaway on Monday.
Hugs and Kisses

Ally