Just thought I'd do a quick post to say I'm still here.
Things have been pretty quiet in the Gertie household. Mr Gertie is enjoying being a 'gentleman of leisure'. On the Monday following his retirement he took great delight in switching off his alarm at 7.30am then going back to sleep....
My cruise dresses are coming long nicely. The collar dress is nearly finished and I've made a start on the second toile.
Back soon.
Gertie xx
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Sunday, 13 April 2014
I’m all toiled out !!!
I decided to give myself a week’s break from my cruise dresses to recharge my batteries as it had been pretty much full on toile for the past couple of weeks.
As there wouldn’t be time to start a new project I used this opportunity to do things I’d either been putting off due to lack of time, or just hadn’t got round to doing.
One of those things was my Mam’s sewing machine. When my Mam passed away last year we (myself, Mr Gertie, my sister and her family) were sorting though her house to remove anything of value. As the house was going to be empty, and word would have got round the neighbourhood of her passing, we thought it best not to leave valuables there.
We were nearly finished, with just my Mam’s sewing room left to go though. My sister asked if I would like to take home my Mam’s sewing machine. About six Christmas’s ago we’d bought her a new one to replace her old machine.
I had no need of it but said I’d take it and put it on Freecyle. “I don’t think you’ll be doing that”, she replied then wiped off the cover. I stood there, mouth open, stunned in amazement, and for the first time ever in my life, lost for words !!!!!!
Revealed was a thousand pound computerised sewing machine – definitely not the one we’d bought her....
My Mam loved the machine we’d bought her but as she was getting more and more advanced in her patchwork and quilting, wanted something which would allow her to that.
She’d kept it a secret from me as she didn’t want to appear ungrateful seeing as Mr Gertie and I had bought her a sewing machine several Christmases ago.
As my sister already had an expensive sewing machine she was more than happy for me to have it.
Other than having a quick look at it, I shamefully hadn’t had the time to have a good play with it, that was until now. As you might expect it’s fabulous. I won’t though be assigning mine to the loft as there are a couple of features on my machine that my Mam’s doesn’t have.
And finally.....
Mr Gertie became a gentleman of leisure on Friday as he took early retirement from work. Here’s a photo of the chocolate cake I made especially for him.
I’m afraid my cake decorating skills leave a lot to be desired !!!! However the overall verdict from Mr Gertie was it tasted yummy.
I’ve got loads of jobs lined up to keep him out of mischief – imagine a list as long as several loo rolls !!!!
I have promised I won’t work him too hard. He can have all bank holidays off, though we're still negotiating on weekends......
Have a great week.
Love,
Gertie xx
PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.
As there wouldn’t be time to start a new project I used this opportunity to do things I’d either been putting off due to lack of time, or just hadn’t got round to doing.
One of those things was my Mam’s sewing machine. When my Mam passed away last year we (myself, Mr Gertie, my sister and her family) were sorting though her house to remove anything of value. As the house was going to be empty, and word would have got round the neighbourhood of her passing, we thought it best not to leave valuables there.
We were nearly finished, with just my Mam’s sewing room left to go though. My sister asked if I would like to take home my Mam’s sewing machine. About six Christmas’s ago we’d bought her a new one to replace her old machine.
I had no need of it but said I’d take it and put it on Freecyle. “I don’t think you’ll be doing that”, she replied then wiped off the cover. I stood there, mouth open, stunned in amazement, and for the first time ever in my life, lost for words !!!!!!
Revealed was a thousand pound computerised sewing machine – definitely not the one we’d bought her....
My Mam loved the machine we’d bought her but as she was getting more and more advanced in her patchwork and quilting, wanted something which would allow her to that.
She’d kept it a secret from me as she didn’t want to appear ungrateful seeing as Mr Gertie and I had bought her a sewing machine several Christmases ago.
As my sister already had an expensive sewing machine she was more than happy for me to have it.
Other than having a quick look at it, I shamefully hadn’t had the time to have a good play with it, that was until now. As you might expect it’s fabulous. I won’t though be assigning mine to the loft as there are a couple of features on my machine that my Mam’s doesn’t have.
And finally.....
Mr Gertie became a gentleman of leisure on Friday as he took early retirement from work. Here’s a photo of the chocolate cake I made especially for him.
I’m afraid my cake decorating skills leave a lot to be desired !!!! However the overall verdict from Mr Gertie was it tasted yummy.
I’ve got loads of jobs lined up to keep him out of mischief – imagine a list as long as several loo rolls !!!!
I have promised I won’t work him too hard. He can have all bank holidays off, though we're still negotiating on weekends......
Have a great week.
Love,
Gertie xx
PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Toile fitting part 4
Having established in last week’s post what the problem with the dress was the front pleated panel, I removed some of the excess fabric. As you can see it’s fitting ‘Gertie’ much better now.
Just to be on the safe side I did try it on myself as I was little concerned that having taken away some of the fabric from the bust it would be too tight. I’m pleased to say it fitted fine.
I then reshaped the collar to get rid of the excess folds, and that too is fitting much better than before.
Now that all the problems had been sorted and the fit was fine on me, I could then make a start on altering the paper pattern pieces. Magazine supplements which come with the weekend newspapers are perfect for this as they’re wider than A4 paper, and unlike newspaper, doesn’t get your hands, or the fabric, all inky.
When it came to altering the front pleat panel I decided it would be safer not to cut off the excess paper (just in case I need to make any last minute adjustments later) and simply snipped then folded back the peices, securing it down with paper clips.
Because the collar had been completely reshaped I had to make a new pattern piece for that.
That’s it, this toile is now finished. It’s been a lengthy journey but I hope when the dress is made, it will have been worth it.
Now, about the other toile, the one with the cowl neck. I’ve decided to abandon that pattern. After doing the various fitting adjustments, it just didn’t look right, and as Mr Gertie said, I wouldn’t be happy with it. I’m gutted as I really did like the dress.
That’s what toiles are for, to iron out any problems before cutting things out using your main fabric. It’s far better to find out now that something isn’t right than ruining your expensive cloth.
I’m still going to keep the pattern, as with a bit of reworking, and me losing some weight, I think it could work.
As I’ve set my mind on making two frocks for our cruise I’m just going to make a dress from a pattern that I’ve made before.
Why don’t I just use other pattern that came in second place? I’ll tell you next week....
Have a great week.
Love,
Gertie xx
PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)