baking and more baking

I've been at work since 7:15 today due to use getting rentokill in. Ah the delights of office fleas. Fortunately I've not been bitten, but then again I rarely am. This does mean I get to leave work at 3:15 today. Woot. Spadger is away tonight for work so I'll be walking home. It's about 3 miles and very up and down hill. With my short legs and general lack of stamina it'll be about an hour to an hour and a half walk. I quite enjoy it to be honest as long as it doesn't rain. Same journey tomorrow morning and maybe tomorrow evening as well depending.


As George was taken away to be serviced yesterday I intend to spend this evening baking and trying to tidy my sewing/crafting supplies out. Everything seems to be taking over a bit and it's all rather higgledy piggledy. I hope to be able to sort out projects to do and maybe cut out some patterns as well. My notions really need sorting.

7:26
In the last half hour I have lied to a door to door salesman ( I really wanted to help him but as we're not the homeowners he would need to give his price to the landlord. I agreed to pass it on thinking he would give me the price then. Nope, he needed to take my number and get someone to call me back and a false number rolled off my lips before I was aware of it. I am such a bad person), received a gift of cauliflower leaves for the compost from next door and put the first batch of scallion scones in the oven. I'm not sure how that balances out in the scale of the universe really.

The plan for the rest of the evening mostly consists of baking. I'd really like to sort through my stuff as mentioned above but I can never seem to do other stuff at the same time as baking. My brain gets distracted by the pretties and the next thing you know the baking is burnt. So, baking first, then stash sorting. Plan!

9:14
Scallion scones, done, Chocolate chili cupcakes, done. Rhubarb cake, in the oven.


10:26
Rhubarb cake, on rack. Apple tart thing, in oven. Cookie dough in fridge ready to roll. One they're done I'm off for a shower by which time they should have cooled enough for me to make the ganache stuff to stick them together Oreo style. Man I'm tired. But I need to get it all done before I can go to bed. I've not made the savory pie I wanted to for tea tomorrow but I have cooked the meat ready. So I'll just knock that together when I get home tomorrow. Gonna sign off now folks. Sweet dreams.

George is going for a service

I booked my lovely sewing machine in for a service. This is the first once since I got it over a year ago. Now I appreciate most people get their machines serviced yearly at most but it seems like such a long time. George is a 1901 Singer V series. She's treadle powered and I love here dearly. Now she was restored by the gentleman I bought her off and he had to take her right down to the metal so she no longer has the beautiful decals you associate with Singer. She is also missing the drawers that should go under her desk. But I love her. And I have given her some hammer, really I have. Tonight I will have to take everything off her and fold her into the desk. Then I will have to pop home tomorrow morning so the nice people can come and take here away. I have no idea how long she will be gone (sob) and I have an evening to myself tomorrow. I guess I'll have to break out the knitting tomorrow. Should give me chance to catch up on that. I have a cardigan to knit for Spadger and a top for myself which have both been sorely neglected lately.

**Edited at 6:65**
The sewing machine man has just popped round as he was near my house and taken George away. I learnt that she just unscrews from the treadle base. I am rather sad that she has gone :o( Must stop being daft. However I have just given my sewing machine to a total stranger. I feel a tad nervous that he may not bring her back.

Walkaway dress: Complete!

Dear and constant reader, it is complete! I had to make one final adjustment to the front hem which was a few inches longer than the back despite us measuring from the floor upwards when we set it so it should have been identical. Ah well. You will notice that the front sits a bit different to the pattern envelope. This is due to the dress having ties that cross over at the front and wrap all the way round. At a later date I may make a slit for one tie to go through the other to make it neater. However it will certainly do for now. So onto the particulars.

Here is the front view. I appear to be stood on a slant. Just ignore that, it's been a long day :o)


Side view. No silly gaping bits now.



Back view. Again please ignore the slant. As you can see there is a massive bow which the original dress doesn't have. I like it. Spadger is learning how to do a butterfly bow to make it even more pretty!



Gratuitous armpit shot. Notice no bra on show. Quite proud of that one.



Lastly here is a new thing I learnt today thanks to this tutorial. Bound buttonholes. The back doesn't meet at all due to not having enough material so we put strap over the back to this button. I've never done a bound buttonhole before but I found it quite easy. Lots more buttonholes to come me thinks :o)



So there you have it. One Walkaway dress. Yeah I had to make a ton of alterations to it. Yeah it is darn pretty! I know a lot of people are a bit nervous about tackling this one but I say go for it. Just don't expect to get the first one done in a hurry and you''ll be fine. Treat it as a Zen exercise and all will be fine.

circles are evil!

I started picking the original back up dress apart last night. Once I had to bodice free I put it on to see if it does fit and it was just the opening needs making longer. Erm, no. It is indeed at least an inch if not 2 smaller than it should be. I have no idea how I've managed that at all. However I am persevering with this one as it is so very pretty. I will be inserting an extra panel on the bodice and the waistband at the back. So it will be slightly less polished than it was previously but it will fit. I believe that there is plenty of room in the skirt because I had to pleat it to make it fit the waistband.

I love how far I have come. A few months ago I would have had the screaming abdabs and thrown it into the UFO pile. Not now mu friend. I will be altering it next week I reckon. Same as the other version of this dress I have. That one went together fine and fits well but the waistband hung badly die to the way the instructions say to sew it. That one is now in pieces waiting to be sewn back together now.

So that's 3 dresses to complete and then add to my wardrobe. How happy am I right now?

Ok so that last statement was a few hours ago now. I've just finished the hems of this dress, my fingers are scalded form the iron and I have a crick in my back. Circle skirts are pretty but evil. Looks like the finished pics might be tomorrow. I can start the binding now but man I need a rest first. think I might go watch Spadger who is fighting with a rabbit as he tries to groom the winter coat off her. Fur is literally flying!!!! :o)

e only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”

I like this quote. It is so very true and I can apply it to my life in so many ways (not just the search for truth). I am terrible for not starting stuff for fear of failure. Better to not try than fail. What an IDIOT. I am coming to see now that there really is no such thing as failure. Everything I have "failed" at has taught me something. So the failure is not the end of the journey it's merely a pause or slight obstacle. Instead of giving up on stuff I need to practice going all the way.

I've already started applying this to my sewing. I've learnt the ability to start projects that might have scared me a bit and to persevere through the many pitfalls that come with fitting a garment properly. But last night I had a revelation. I have spent what feels like weeks. (it's been 4 really) sorting out the pattern for the Walkaway dress. Not really a walkaway for me. However it is done. I'll have the finished product in time for the wedding I was making it for. I also now have a pattern I can use for many many more of this dress. But 4 weeks ago I would never have thought I would be at the point I am now. A bit of perseverance goes a long way.

Tonight I will be doing no sewing as I am off to the local comedy club. Tomorrow I shall hopefully completes my dress.

Walkaway dress alterations: Post 3 - Starting to put it together

Well this is it. We are cutting out the pieces for the Walkaway dress. I say we because Spadger is cutting I'm just helping. He is much steadier of hand and I was terrified of cutting it wrong. How awesome is he?!?!?! I will hopefully get all the pieces together tonight and then it needs to hang to let the bias set on the skirt. In my delight at getting it done I'd forgotten that bit and am now a tad disappointed that I can't finish it tonight. Ah well. This means Friday night will be spent hemming and binding and then it should be done.

It's now 11:32 and I want to go to bed. But first a quick sneak peek at the dress. It's not finished (see above) but it's all sewn together. Please excuse the other dress underneath but I needed something to pin it to!



The ties I mentioned in the last post will pull this in a little more under my bust.



Look no silly gaping! (ignore the selvedge edge. Yes I know I shouldn't have cut into that but I really liked it and wanted it to be in the dress even if it will be hidden in the seam)



Nice lower neckline and no cap sleeves.



Will definitely cover my bra!



So there you have it. I will post completed pics either Friday or Saturday depending on when I get it finished along with a run down on how to alter it for yourself. Sweet dreams dear readers :o)

Walkaway dress alterations: Post 2 - The Frankenstein dress

Hey folks. It's another exciting installment of the Walkaway dress saga. Today I introduce you to Frankenstein dress. To make all those alterations I discussed before I have added several pieces of fabric to the original pattern to make room for the alterations. I could have started from scratch but that would be awful wasteful. So I merrily began tacking extra bits on. I took in the shoulder, lowered the neckline, extended and raised the front and back armholes.

Now this first picture is still not the most flattering of things. It just doesn't pull in at my waist quite like I want. I could alter the darts but Spadger had a cunning idea involving long ties attached to where the closures should go so I can wrap it around me several times like an Obi belt and tie it where ever I feel like that day. This will allow me to cinch it in a bit more.



Now lets ignore the fact that I have the middle pinned very badly and admire my bust instead. The dart that is. What a difference it has made. No more weird bagging. Also no odd little cap sleeves (apologies if you like cap sleeves, they've never really done a lot for me. I'm broad enough in the shoulder thank you without drawing extra attention to it!) Plus a slightly lower neckline. Now I know it's not much but I think it sits in a much better place on me.







Lastly another gratuitous armpit shot. If you look real close you can just see the edge of my bra. Just. Much better than the gaping hole we had before.



All in all a success I think. What I will do now is pick this apart, cut the darts out so I can draw them in directly and cut the "good" half of the front piece off. These will then form my pattern pieces. The only other alteration I would like to make is to extend the front pieces so they actually meet at the back. At the moment I would have to use a tie to close it up which I think might me more visible now it's higher. However this will depend on how much material I have to work with.