Friendship

There is often a certain special someone who shows you great friendship in life and in my eyes they should be rewarded! I love showing people how much they mean to me and if I cannot make something myself I will always find something special for them. This time I purchased a glass Friendship ball. These balls are traditionally used up at the end of a glass blowers shift to use up the glass in the bottom of the furnace and date back to the 12th Century. They are made up of all different coloured glasses and some are absolutely stunning. They look great hanging in a window full of light, or in front of a lamp. Beautiful. This one I purchased was one of the nicest that I have seen.

How do you show someone that they are important to you?

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My Mathilde Blouse

So you may have noticed that recently I have been on a bit of a sewing kick. No? Where have you been? It is amazing what you can do with only a basic sewing machine. People spend hundreds of pounds on them, but mine is only a little Mini one (here).

Anyway, I decided to throw myself in at the deep end and see what I could actually do. So I decided on Tilly's Mathilde Blouse. What does worry me about sewing is that when I go shopping I try things on and it looks awful, so I would hate to spend hours on something only to find it looks terrible on. But this is fabulous, and looking at photos of other people creations it seems to fit all different shapes and sizes, so it's one to recommend.

I picked a lovely red cotton fabric that has a little stretch in it, who doesn't love a bit of stretch, and it has a cute little floral pattern on it. I was worried that the florals would hide the pleats but they don't at all :)

The cuffs were my main worry, I have never done a sleeve before, and these didn't look easy sleeves with all the gathers, but they really were!

My only real issue was that my sewing machine doesn't do buttons. Now really this isn't a big worry as when you think about it you can't do the buttons up when you are wearing it yourself, well I can't anyway, haha. So I just sewed the buttons on holding the top together. My idea is that when I get a sewing machine that does do button holes then I will unpick the buttons and do the holes properly.

So what does my finished garment look like?
Ta Da!!

I am so proud of myself for completing this and loving it! I say thank you to Tilly for creating such an easy to follow pattern, great for all shapes and sizes!

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Patches

I recently purchased some denim dungarees and I have made them my comfy crafting clothes. They are really comfy but not a lot to look at, so I decided they needed an update. I went for some crochet patches. Just teeny tiny versions of granny squares and flowers that I stitched to the front.

To find out how you crochet a granny square, have a little looksie here. But crochet flowers are even more simple!

Here is how you put them together...

Tools you will need:
* Yarn
* Suitable crochet hook for your Yarn

Recipe (UK terms):
1. ch 6 then sl st to the first ch in row

2. dc 16 times into circle, sl st into first dc on row

3. *ch 2, 1tr into next 2 sts, ch 2 sl st into next st. Repeat from * 4 more times. Fasten off and you are done!

I am planning on adding more as time goes on, maybe some fabric patches too. The yarn I used was this really beautiful cream with a little added sparkle. Cute!

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The Year-Round Skirt

I love an item that you can wear all year round. Jeans, t-shirts, layering up in the winter, and down in the summer. This skirt is one of those items! It would look great with a t-shirt or a vest in the summer, in the winter a chunky knit and some boots!

I made this skirt after seeing the pattern on Tilly's website here. It was so easy to make, much easier than the Sorbetto top. I put pockets in mine and made smaller gingham fabric buttons for the front. But as my sewing machine does not have a button hole stitch I was a bit sneaky and I actually used poppers down the front on the inside. I love how Tilly used gingham too, I actually purchased the fabric before I found the pattern! Great minds hey!

I suggest you all should have as many of these skirts in your wardrobe in as many different colours and patterns that you can. It is also a great skirt to fit all shapes and sizes! :)

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Simple Day Out

This morning I woke up after a week off and thought to myself 'I have not stopped'. So my man took me out for the day to give me a rest. We went to a local National Trust property and had a wonder around the house and gardens. Even though this place is only 15 minutes drive from me, I have not been since I was a lot younger and he had never been! It is a lovely place, a huge 15th century house and the gardens are gorgeous! I love history and finding out all about it, this house is a really good example of that; stories of priests being murdered and hiding all over the house, a painter and the gunpowder plot, exciting! Here are some pictures from our visit :)

Thank you Baddesley Clinton, you treated us well! :)

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Sorbetto Blouse

Okay, so yesterday I got all excited purchasing my gingham fabric and printing my pattern out that I just plain forgot this is my first attempt at a proper garment. I still think I did pretty darn good, but there are a few obvious mistakes looking at it. But here it is!

With all this hot weather I wanted a looser top, which didn't quite go to plan, it meant extra darts which misshaped the arm holes, but not too badly! It does flare out a little at the bottom too, which is okay.

I finished it with a white trim around the collar and a little white button detail at the top of the pleat.

Look at my pleat, its a pretty straight one! Proud of that :)

Now what shall I make with my large gingham fabric? Any ideas?!

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The Simple Things

These days life gets too busy and now, more than ever, we need to focus on the simple things, take time for ourselves and do what we want to do! One of the things I love each month is getting my copy of The Simple Things magazine. It means I can sit down and take a good hour or so to myself, reading it cover to cover. It gives me such inspiration and ideas of things that I would love to do! Living the simple life sounds pretty good, and so I am promising myself that I will do something every week that is simple and gives me some 'Me' time!

This week I decided to have a go at some sewing. I love sewing by hand, having thrown things together before but never a proper garment. I found this beautiful free pattern and went on a fabric shopping spree! I don't have many fabric stores near me, and many fabrics are just replicated from store to store. But I did come across these beautiful gingham cottons and I got so excited. I couldn't just buy the one I had to have both and they are beautiful!

Now my brain is flowing with so many ideas and I am searching the net for more patterns. The small check I think would look lovely in this top with a white trim. The bigger check would look great as a skirt maybe, or a prom style summer dress. How exciting :) Happy Zoe!

What simple things make you happy? 

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