Cutting out...

Making a start on Lord Hedgehog's coat. 

Supervised by Sir Bagpuss, of course. 

Progress?

I think I'm going with the cotte and overdress rather than the kimono style. 

And here are some embroidered hedgehogs! 

How to sew a ball dress.

First, all select your pattern and fabric. I've gone with Simplicity 1800 View C and a regrettably slippery but completely gorgeous multi-coloured satin. Make sure you've got all the zippers, elastic, hooks and eyes and thread you'll need. Saves swearing later. 

Select your pattern size. I tend to re-measure before every project (in the underwear I'll be wearing with it). I'll compare my measurements to the pattern measurements for the finished garment, not the sizing bands and select the size I need to cut out: I do this as I generally like a bit less ease in the bust and waist and more in the hips... and I'm a bit of a funny shape!

I tend not to make any alterations to the initial pattern to allow me to see what's what. For an important or difficult to fit garment, I'll make a muslin (or trial garment) to see what alterations I need to make to the straight size. 

Anyway. Once you've got your pattern size selected, cut out your pieces.

...oh. Where did you come from? 

No, really. That's not terribly helpful. Get off. 

*ahem* 

As I was saying, once you've got your pattern cut out, you might like to make a test version. I like to make mine out of a similar weight fabric and will try to make them as nicely as possible so I can wear them. 

I like to cut my fabric doubled, because I'm fundamentally lazy and it saves a bit of time. At the moment the dining table is buried under a load of junk, so I spread my fabric carefully out on the carpet. Be sure to ease out any creases or wrinkles before you lay out your pattern and... 

...oh, for goodness' sake. 

Guys. You are really not helping here. 

No, I don't need supervising, I am actually allowed to use the scissors. 

Yes yes, you are adorable. 

Fine. I give up. 

Egads!

Yup yup. We're having a heatwave here in the UK, and you've got to make sure your clothes are up to scratch. What could be cooler than a nice floral summer dress or a jazzy little tunic?

Tomorrow I'll be posting a tutorial so's you can create your own fashions exclusively for your Makie.
See you then!

TINY THINGS

I love tiny things.

I love Re-ment in particular.

Yes, those are tiny pins, tiny thread reels, tiny thread snippers, three different coloured tiny tailor's chalks, a tiny tape measure and tiny scissors which open and close!

It's no surprise, therefore, that I was delighted to find John Lewis' range of tiny (well, small-ish) things for people who like sewing. They also had boxes of pins (all kinds, including safety), tape measures, thimbles and so forth.

The stork scissors are bloody lovely and very sharp, right to the tips.

Mmm, retro packaging. I'm amazed I only purchased three!

Skirtses

Made from a DollyDolly pattern Fil was kind enough to press on me when I visited.

There's a matching jacket I'm planning on trying, but it's going to take a lot of hand sewing. These skirts, however, can be flung together in 5 minutes each (excluding poppers!)

Sewing Day

Looks like Lex has finally decided to get going on that skirt and jacket set she was talking about.

Measure three times, cut... erm... carefully?

Happily Aspen is good with a sewing machine... Plum's talents tend more towards making the tea.

Er... Lex? Where's the fabric? 

Plink's trying a bit of cross stitch.

Very ladylike there, Plink. 

And Melchie... oh dear.

Still, the stitching is neat.

Well. At least it's a finished product.

Blergh

Yup. The coldbeastie well and truly has me. Given I ache from top to bottom and am coughing and sniffling and really don't want to give it to my patients, I'm spending today in bed.

Definitely a good opportunity for a bit of Christmas sewing. Aspen and Melchett are happily immune to human bugs, so they're joining me as fit models.

Unfortunately, Bagpuss came too.

Fabric shopping online

Aaah, Sunday morning. Pyjamas, cup of tea and, naughtily, online fabric browsing time.

I purchase most of my fabrics online as my local choices are limited to Hobbycraft (dull) and John Lewis (overpriced and rubbish selection). Okay, there are a couple of independent shops in Cardiff, but they're away from the main shopping centres and rarely seem to have what I'm looking for.

People always seem surprised that I don't feel the need to fondle every fabric prior to purchase. My argument on this is that if you're reasonably aware what you're after and don't mind the odd surprise, then you might as well go for it. A good online shop will offer free samples if you're absolutely set on stroking (and often this scrap might be big enough for a Makie Make).

First up; Croft Mill. I bloody love this shop. A wide variety of fabrics of every kind, generally with a quirky name and description. Will send you up to 5 free samples: I normally add these to my existing order (visiting here is terrible for my bank balance) of loveliness. Their new Italian collection has some gorgeous lightweight lawns, two of which are on my shelf just waiting to be sewn up.

Yes... I own the shuttlecocks. Nom!

Next on the list has got to be the superb Ditto Fabrics. Based in Bristol, this shop has a great selection of quirky prints and sensible basics. Annoyingly, they look to have sold out of their elephant print. Boo!

Birds of Paradise cotton, available from Ditto Fabrics

Moving on to an eeevilBay seller this time, Favourite Fabrics. Although they've moved more towards the quilting market recently, this is still my go-to for simple cottons and basics at reasonable prices. Good news for Makie fashionistas is that they now offer a wide range of fabrics in fat quarters; more than enough for a miniature outfit.

Small-print floral available from Favourite Fabrics; perfect for Makie Couture

How's the bank balance doing?

We'll finish off then; this one is a bit of a mixed bag. Minerva Crafts and Fabrics appear to have recently moved off of eeeevilBay to a highly respectable online shop front. Inside it looks like nothing's changed and the site feels a bit like a jumble sale! Don't let that put you off though there are lots of listings for decent length end-of-rolls and remnants; I get a lot of outerwear weight fabric from here; trousers, skirts and wools for cloaks and coats, and I rarely pay more than a tenner for a couple of metres. Definitely one to browse with a cup of tea, but terrible for impulse buying.

Oooh. Tiger print cotton? £4.99/m? That's practically a neutral, yes? 

There you have it. That's where I tend to dispose of my dwindling disposable income. There are a couple of places that I've recently found and not really tried; Abakhan seems popular with you Northeners, and it looks like The Remnant House might be one to keep an eye on... especially if they keep stocking stuff like this bit of silky gorgeousness... I don't need it, right?

Leafy cotton lawn, £5.99/m. Mmmmm.... do not need? 

What are your favourite places to buy fabric online?

Makie Me a SUNNY SUN DRESS!

Aaah, the birds are singing, the sky has shed its usual sort-of-greyish colour for a gloriously glowing blue, and humans and Makies alike are out enjoying toasting their bones and, of course, looking faaaabulous at the same time!

Prof Plink prepares to leave the library and head into the great outdoors.

This tutorial will help you create a stunning sun dress with multiple possible customisable variations. It's so ridiculously simple that you can stitch one up by hand in half an hour... and probably in less than 5 minutes by sewing machine. But who wants to be inside with a sewing machine today, I ask you?!

I used some cotton scraps for this version but just about any fabric you've got lying around will be fine. If you're one of these people that doesn't have fabric lying around (weirdo), you can pick up 'fat quarters' of all sorts of fabric online. These are the perfect size for creating Makie clothing and are generally very economical; prices range from 50p to £4 ish. Quilting cotton is excellent for beginners. It's easy to sew, cheap and comes in all sorts of exciting prints.

Here's most of the things you'll definitely need, and some things you really, really won't:

The cake. OH, THE CAKE

Essential supplies:

• Fabric. 
• Thread in a matching (or contrasting!) colour. 
• Needle, either hand or attached to a sewing machine. 
• Pins
• 1/4 inch wide elastic, about a 6 inch length (not shown cause I'm a muppet)
• Ribbon

Optional but highly recommended supplies:

• Penny Arcade D&D podcasts (for bringing the Jim Darkmagic Magic)
• Earphones so's not to upset the neighbours with the above.
• Glasses which are the correct prescription instead of  your six year old sunglasses which are not, therefore you cannot see out of them properly, isn't it time you got some new ones, you plonker. 
• Graze.com "High Tea" series carrot cake and complimentary teabag. 
• A napkin to cover your horrible garden furniture, which was in the shed when you bought the house (the weather hasn't been nice enough this summer to consider replacing it!

OKAY! 

First, cut your fabric into a 16cm by 16cm square. I find it easier to make a paper template to cut around, although you might like to draw straight on the fabric with some tailor's chalk. 

Square cut, oh yeah. 

Making sure that your fabric is the right way up (so your birdies aren't flying in a funny direction), fold over 1.5cm at the top edge and pin. Sew close to the free edge to create a little tube at the top of the fabric; this forms your elastic casing and the top of the dress. Remember that your stitches will show on the outside here, so make 'em neat as you can!

Make sure the birdies are flying the right way up on the main dress!

Next, fold in half, right sides together. The open edge will be the back of the finished dress. Sew along the back seam, stopping just below the elastic casing. 

Fold in half to make the back seam. S
top sewing just below the elastic casing (facing towards us in this picture), leaving the tube open.

Turn up the bottom of the dress and stitch a neat hem. If you're feeling particularly lazy, you could glue this with some fray-stop. (If you're machine-sewing, you might find it easier to hem before stitching the back seam because of the small diameter tube.) 

Instructions say a NEAT hem, Dr Duckie... 

Turn the dress the right way around. Feed your piece of elastic through the top casing. It may be helpful to put a safety pin on the end of the elastic to give you something to pull through. 

Elastic threaded. Long tails make for easy tying. See what I mean about the stitching showing?

With both elastic ends sticking out of the dress, slide it on to your Makie and tie it above the bust so's it's nice and snug. Snip off the excess. The dress gathers at the back and your join will be nearly invisible, yaay! 

Make sure you've got enough stretch in the elastic to get the dress on and off!
Snip off the loose ends close to the knot.

Nearly there! No woman likes looking like a sack of potatoes, so add a ribbon belt for some waist definition. You can simply tie this on, or add snaps and elastic. I've just stitched mine at the back.

Belt, check. Sunshine, check. Looking fabulous, CHECK!

And there you have it! Celebrate and bask in the sunshine!

The best thing about this dress is that it gives you a great base for some customisation and versatility. Try altering the skirt length; cut your fabric as a 16cm by 20cm rectangle for a maxi dress, or you could go to 12-14cm (depending how daring your Makie is!) for a miniskirted version. Play around with different fabrics, different waist ties and contrasting coloured stitching... or if you're really brave, why not try some embroidery?

Tomorrow, I'll show you a couple of neckline variations that'll be great for adding a bit of individual style, so don't throw away the rest of that ribbon!

Bwahahahaaaa!

Saw this Re-Ment set on evilBay and couldn't resist.

Now she can make her own clothes!

Friday night kickback

Plink and I have done a couple of night shifts this week (hers seemingly involving squids and fusebox snakes... No, don't ask me, see twitter.com/profplink for details) and phew, we're ready for the weekend.

Tonight has mainly involved finishing off hand sewing on a dress I'll be wearing tomorrow and having a quiet drink.

Hooray for weekends!

Reunion!

Huzzah and hurrah, the sewing machine and I have been reunited and it seems to be working perfectly again, yaay!

The other exciting thing that arrived is my copy of Alabama Studio Sewing and Design, which is (believe it or not) a guide to making couture jersey fabric clothing complete with full patterns. Although this was entirely purchased with my clothing needs in mind, Plink has been eyeing it up already... as well as the 2m of blue jersey in the stash upstairs.

Well, it's all going to have to wait. I'm on nights the next couple of days and I've still got to finish this dress for Saturday's wedding. Perhaps I could persuade Plink to do some hemming?

Goodness Gracious Gingham!

After making the trousers, I found that I had more than enough fabric left over from the 83p fat quarter I purchased to create some couture for the Plink. I decided that we'd go a little vintage this time with a prom-style dress and headband.

Not hemmed? Whatever do you mean... *whistles innocently*

The bodice started as two rectangles. After sewing the top and back edges together and turning, they were pinned around Plink's torso and the darting and waist shaping completed. This gives a figure-fitted finish. The skirt was then pleated onto the bodice to give the fullness in the skirt. I did try a gathered skirt first, but it ended up looking wonk-tastic.

Plink, you could at least look interested?

The belt is a length of satin bias tape, which fastens at the back with a popper, and the hairband is a length of the same tape with some flat elastic stitched on. It has a habit of pulling her wig off.

The whole thing is, of course, finished with bright red tiny buttons for contrast.

Alright. Gaze into middle-distance again. And mind how much boob you're flashing. 

Altogether, I'm pretty pleased with it!

Incidentally, this was entirely hand sewn in front of the Usual Suspects, of which the last 3 minutes is my favourite bit-of-a-film EVER.

Trade secret

OK, FINE. I use it! But did you have to show everybody?

Since jamming the machine, I've become a lot more wary about hemming on such small allowances, especially as having the needle gobble up a nearly finished item is such a heart sink moment. This stuff is near-magical in its sticking abilities. The fabric doesn't end up stiff at all, it dries entirely invisible and the finish is really neat. I use an old paintbrush to apply it and I think the bottle (which cost £2.50 at Hobbycraft) will last for ages. Huzzah! 

Oh dear...

Looking wistfully at pattern drafting stuff, cuddling her scissors?

DO NOT attempt to wrestle the tape measure.

I think I'm about to be made to create something.

The times, they are a-changing

Saw this on one of my favourite sewing blogs today and just had to share. Of course, I am invariably perfectly lipsticked, powdered and with immaculate hair whilst creating my Makie Couture and not wearing my smelly pyjamas, oh noes.

Image snaffled from Did You Make That, via her friend via... well, we've no idea.

I must admit, there's a bit of me that would rather like to be sat serenely sewing with all of the housework done and a meal on the table when my hard-working husband comes through the door on the stroke of six. It's the same bit that rather enjoys waxing the dining table, baking, turning out cupboards and hoovering. 

Alas, it's not a terribly large bit, so it rather gets pushed aside by all the other bits, which are fond of faffing around and reading books, drinking wine, birdwatching, taking long baths and working twelve hour shifts on an alarmingly regular basis... but hey, I do wear powder and the occasional bit of lippy with the scrubs. And my hair is always imma... um... huh. Well, I have hair. That will have to do. 

Chef Plink

When I volunteered to make Benoonbenoon's chef outfit, it was quite obvious that I was never going to get away without letting Plink try it on...

No, she didn't make this. She's just posing, as usual. 

So. The tunic is just my standard blouse pattern, with the left front extended and an extra cm on the length all the way around. Although I managed to construct most of the body on the (borrowed) sewing machine without jamming it this time, the collar and sleeves were set on by hand, as was the velcro. Really annoyed I couldn't find my stash of white velcro, but buggered if I was going to go and buy any more. Although currently covering Plink's... *ahem*... you knows... I think this should fit nicely on a boy Makie just as well.

The trousers are the first pair I've ever made for human or Makie. I could do with adding another cm onto the crotch-to-waist as these are rather hipsters, although I guess it doesn't matter if they're worn with a tunic... wouldn't go wearing them with a t-shirt unless you're partial to builder's bum.

The hat is rather a triumph, I think. Large enough to be ridiculous, but not too big to be completely insane. This was entirely hand-sewn and I'm a bit chuffed with it. Bandanna fastens behind with a popper, it was going to be red but I've got absolutely no red fabric. This is a bit of a surprise. Still, I think the check works quite well.

Prettier than Gordon Ramsay? 

Benoonbenoon, let me know your address and I'll get your outfit off of Plink the impostor and in the post! ...and if you're reading this, Polk, can you email me too? Ta!

An Embuggerance

Having received the Makie, the next step was to check the fit of all the items that I've spent the last week or so drafting and making up in preparation. The messenger bags are fab, as are the skirt and the glitzy sequinned waistcoat (yet to be shown). The blouse needed a little more work, as in it was a little big across the back and not quite big enough across the front, so that was where I started.

Once the pattern was adjusted, it was time to cut it out...

Place those bits, yo.

And eventually, to check the fit on Plink... 

Yes, you can help... no... put those scissors away, young lady. Please? 

Unfortunately, shortly after taking this photo, I was topstitich the front when the machine gobbled up some of the fabric and there was an ominous CLUNK. Having extracted the blouse from the machine, I surveyed the blouse and decided that the damage wasn't too bad, so hand sewed in the sleeves. 

On trying to sew the collar, there was an even more ominous... nay... a BODING volley of CLUNKing from the machine, and a refusal to do anything like, you know, sew. 

Having disassembled as much as I dare, I can share the news that the timing on my 2 month old, £300+ machine appears to be completely FUBAR'd, as does the computerised mechanism to move the needle. And I've just given my £99, 5 year old machine to my sister. 

Definitely an embuggerance.