Blog

On my cutting table this week is a pencil skirt cute little pencil skirt that I'm making from the new spotty cotton light weight canvas that we got in last week. 

I've got a bit of a thing for mustard yellow at the moment and I couldn't resist making somthing with this fabric. 

I wanted a skirt to wear in the shop but I need pockets! I've always got a to do list on the go and I like to keep my phone handy too. 

The pattern I'm using is just a simple skirt with front and back panel's (both cut on the fold) with a waist band. I didn't want to make the pockets too obvious so I decided to add normal pockets, like what you would have on a pair of jeans really. 

This is how I drafted my own pattern and added it in. I hadn't done it before, and wasn't really sure if it would work but I'm pleased with the results to far. 

First I traced my front pattern panel piece onto some dressmakers pattern paper.

Then I makred off the seam allowances and drew in where I wanted the pocket to stretch from - the waist band to the side seam, that is.

Then I added the seam allowance onto that.

Then I drew a rough shape of how big I wanted to pocked to be. I suspect the skirt might be too tight fitting to want to put a phone in the pocket but I made sure there would be room for it anyway. 

I then cut out around my curve, which gave me the pocket backing, then I traced around the curve and the line of the opening of the pocket to create the pocket facing piece. 

Then I cut out two of each shape, making sure I turned the pattern piece over. I used the dots and crosses, which had been lined up with the centre fold when I originally traced the pattern, to ensure I cut the pocket on the straight grain. 

Then using the pocket facing as a guide I chopped off the top corner of the front panel of the skirt. 

I then went straight to the sewing machine to stay stitch the pocket openings before I stretched them. I was feeling a bit paranoid about having bulging pockets and when you cut out curvey things or things that aren't on the straight grain, its best to stay stitch them as just generally working with the fabric, not even necessarily trying it on or wearing it, can stretch the fabric out of place. 

I love little details and I wanted to add a bit of ric rac trim to the opening so I basted it onto the opening curve on the main skirt front panel.

Then with the right sides together I stitched the pocket facing to the front of the skirt along the pocket opening, making a sandwich with the ric rac in the middle.

Then I pressed all the seams towards the pocket and top stitched the seam allowances together. This should hopefully help keep the pocket sitting flat at the opening. 

Next with the right sides of the pocket facing I stitched around the inside curve of the pocket and reinforce it with a zig zag stitch, (still holding out for an over locker! Maybe one day I'll be lucky!)

I then pressed everything and ta-da! I have two pocket inserted into the fron panel so now all I have to do it stitch up the skirt as I would have done anyway. That part is still on my to-do list so I just have this picture for you all just now. 

Lauren x 

Ayaz and I went on a bit of a fabric road trip today to a lovely place just north of London to pick up some gorgeous fabric for our depleted fabric shelves.

It's been so lovely to see so many people come into the shop and be inspired by the bright colours and prints that we have, but as we still get used to running a shop (medical backgrounds don't exactly lend their hand to knowing how to re-stock a shop!) we are still working on keeping the shelves full of lots of lovely new things for everyone to buy. 

There were loads of fabric to choose from and we were pilling the blots high, each of us claiming to know what would sell well in the shop. 

We picked up the new Lotta Jansdotter range too which is absolutly gorgeous! The colours look amazing! We stocked up on the Seven Berry spots that have been so popular too! 

I love these mini dragon flies and nautical anchors too!

We agreed on most things but as husband's and wife's do sometimes, there were a few disagreements, and each of us insisted on being right about what would be popular.

So, we decided to have a little competition! Ayaz has chosen some fabrics that he thinks will be more popular and I have done the same. So instead of guthrie & ghani we now have guthrie versus ghani! 

These are the ones that Ayaz likes the best and claims will be more popular....

And I think everyone is going to loves these retro biscuits and spotty ones.....

So, what do you guys think? Is it guthrie (me) or ghani (ayaz)? Leave us a commet to let us know.....if I win I get my dinner cooked for me (apparently!) and if he wins then...... as he gets his dinner cooked every night anyway, I said I would bake him his favorite banana and pecan bread! 

Results are in.....Ayaz won hands down 74 votes to 28 and a lovely bunch of 29 diplomatic people voted for a draw! He has promised to cook me dinner anyway

There is only so long a girl can work in a fabric shop without actually sewing something and this Sunday I decided enough was enough! I had to sew something!

Our bust form Beatrice (named Bea for short) needed a new outfit, and I really wanted a new summer dress too! So.....

Using the free download Sorbetto top from Colette Patterns I made a lovely little top with this beautiful silky cotton voile from Amy Butlers Alchemy range. Its lovely and light-weight, perfect for summer time! 

I fashioned a skirt for her too using the luxurious Velveteen fabric from the same Alchemy range. 

I used this pre-made pretty bias binding that has a lacy type fringe. As much as I love making bias-binding to co-ordinate with my fabric, there is no denying, pre-made stuff makes the job way quicker! 

I used a pre-made spotty bias binding for edging the arm holes. Ideally I would have just used a plain, but I was all out of that at the time and feeling impatient to just finish the top off. 

The spotty bias binding was 16mm wide but I folded it in on itself so you couldn't see it from the front of the top, all you see is a neat line of stitching. 

I also started cutting out another Colette Hazel dress in this gorgeous Sateen fabric, another one from the new Amy Butler Alchemy range. Its more of a medium weight fabric but still has a lovely drape with a soft sheen to it. I can't wait to get it finished! 

I loved being able to spread out on my new cutting table too. When we designed the furniture for the new creative studio above the shop, I made sure that we would have nice big tables at a higher height to make spreading out fabric when cutting out much easier. 

I decided to cut out the pattern in a bit of a non-traditional way so that I could make sure I was going match the pattern properly. So, I spread the fabric out in a single layer and traced around all my pieces before I cut anything to make sure that I coudl fit it all in. 

All the new fabrics will be added to the website over the rest of the week and stay tuned for outcome of my new dress to! I just hope the warm sunny weather stays around so I can get a chance to wear it!