shirring

Last week I made myself a summer top..a boob tube no less!
I know you will excuse me its non ironed state...and please also excuse the fact my vanity has to point out that I am not pregnant its the angle ;)
 All thanks to some fantastic tutorials and inspiration found via Twitter and Blogger.
First I found this tutorial, and then the lovely lady just blogged and blogged about all the shirred things she had been making until I could barely resist....
Then Birgitta posted her fabulous tutorial here and I stayed up until midnight - laptop and machine on to make me something to wear for a bbq.
The hardest thing was choosing my fabric, but I decided on Michael Millers garden pindot in orchid (available here). I used under a metre (75cm) to make it so it was great value, so for less than £10 I got a unique summer top.
I have to admit, as a novice maker of clothes, that I never imagined I would be able to make a 'smocked' type top....its not perfect..lets put it this way, you won't be seeing a close up of my shirring!!! But its wearable and was comfy and most importantly.......stayed up!!! And addictive.. I was going to do 3 rows of shirring but had to stop myself at 7!!!

Birgitta has had her fabulous tutorial on shirring published on The Sewing Directory and you can find it here. And I heard on the twittervine that Birgitta will be writing regularly for The Sewing Directory, so we can expect more great tutorials in the future.
And also check out her folksy shop here...where you can find more lovely clothing made by Birgitta.

Shirring Elastic can be found here....in packs of 3 so you can fill your summer wardrobe with fabulous tops and dresses.

Boys Pyjamas

I had a productive half term, getting new stock listed on the website and some sewing at last!!
I wanted to make some pyjama bottoms for the small chaps in my life from the book Making Childrens Clothes by Emma Hardy.
Tracing and cutting out the pattern in the different sizes took the most time ( the pattern is in 3 sizes 2-3, 3-4 and 5-6 ).

They were the first thing I have ever made that somebody can really wear...and I used Michael Miller fabric for all of them....

I chose Kids Zoo for R's (age 2) jarmies...my favourite print.
I made C (age 5) his from Dino Dudes and couldn't leave out my niece(age 18m) hers were made from Whats the Scoop....

I didn't make tops - they all have a Tesco plain white tshirt!!! I'm not ready for buttonholes or sleeves just yet!!!
The pattern was very easy to follow, I highly recommend the book if you are, like me, a dressmaking novice. To be honest, like most things I find, it is more geared to those of you who have pink flavour children, the book has lots of gorgeous tops and dresses. But there are several pairs of trousers and shorts that although photographed in girlie fabrics, could easily be made boyish!
Next stop a dress for my niece and then I may be brave enough to make a top for me...I have some gorgeous voiles coming into stock soon  (beginning of next week all being well) by Anna Maria Horner that will be perfect for summer tops for me.......

The Sewing Directory and Craft Fair

Patch is now advertising at  The Sewing Directory.
The Sewing Directory is the site for sewing services, sewing suppliers, sewing courses and sewing groups.
You can search for the things you need locally or nationally. And find interviews with the people behind the industry, patterns, how to guides and sewing related articles.
There is a 'whats on' section, where you can find local and national events, and they hold competitions, currently you can win a pair of Fiskars pinking shears. Click here for competition.
You can also find The Sewing Directory on Facebook. 
I think that it is a fab idea to have a site with all resources in one place. Fiona, who runs the site has obviously put in an awful lot of work, and the site, which only launched at the end of March is growing very quickly. The Sewing Directory has its own column in Sew magazine too.
Now I have settled in to Patch, I need to promote the site and this advertising is just the start of getting Patch out there!! I have spent some of the weekend listing some Patch products onto ebay too, not my most favourite job!!

Ah...the craft fair!!
I expect you will be wanting to hear all about it.....
well - it wasn't quite the event I hoped it would be. Not worthy of the late nights I spent wrapping, folding, cutting, etc!!
It wasn't a total waste of time...I made quite a few sales but there just weren't the bums through door to get more. I had a stall next to my friend (thankfully otherwise I think I might have died of boredom, I'd eaten my packed lunch by 11 lol!) and we were in one of the classrooms rather than the main hall. I think we actually only had about 20 people into the room all day :(
The main hall by all accounts didn't fare much better!!! The weather was appalling so perhaps that kept people away.
It hasn't put me off..I will try somewhere else, it gave me an idea of how much stuff to take with me and how to lay out my table at least. And people were interested in the products with lots of positive comments....
Better luck next time!!!
My pictures have disappeared off my phone, if they reappear I'll upload them. I was pleased with how it looked except the flat plastic baskets I used , I need to change those for wicker ones when I find the right sizes. It worked in principle I just don't like plastic!!!
**UPDATED **
pics re-appeared!!

I didn't have enough space to get far enough back to take in the whole table...but these give you an idea!!!

So to sum up...the day could have been worse could have been better...I am hopefully going to do a village fete event in June, so fingers crossed for next time!