The Green Grass of Home

I had a lovely May bank holiday weekend looking after my grandparents' house and pooch whilst they were at a wedding. The Saturday was particularly glorious; sunshine, luminous green grass and spring flowers. There was plenty of wildlife about, including a sparrowhawk who decided to join us for breakfast on the patio - I WON'T have what he's having...

Let the Dorset tourist board advert commence!

Spine of Purbeck - Poole harbour on the left

The stick muncher herself

Both sides still alive!

Fetch Cara!

Not so native wildlife

Sparrowhawk having breakfast

Victory and the Hedgerow Dress

I finished my Sew For Victory dress in time! I posted a little while ago about my bodice muslin using the Colette Hawthorn pattern as a base, and my adventures in scallops, so here is the final product. I'm not sure the pattern of the fabric is very 1940s, but I couldn't resist it! The scallops do get a little lost, but I know they are there and I am quite pleased with the outcome. I ended up doing split tulip sleeves using the tutorial in Gertie's 'New Book for Better Sewing'.They came out well and it makes the dress much more summery; I think I'll be wearing it a lot! I'm also happy with the raised neckline and the length of the skirt. It was really fun to play around with a pattern and see what I could come up with, and I really enjoyed looking at patterns and photos from the 1940s for inspiration, although I am probably drawn more to 50s and early 60s silhouettes. Right, more poses for you!

Pockets of course!

I really tried to make an effort at finishing the insides properly. Side seams are french seamed, I bound the waist and armhole seams, and used pinking shears to trim the facings.

To do the scallops, I drew out a template after testing spacing and size on my muslin. I then used carbon paper to trace sew lines onto the facings, so it was nice and easy to stitch up. I clipped the curves well then went for topstitching to make it all behave! There are two scallops on the skirt front, then I stitched up the rest of the front. Someone post a pic of a vintage pattern on the flickr group that used scallops in the same way, so I stole that idea!

So overall, as I'm sure you can gather, I am pretty pleased with my first sew for victory make! I think I'll try and make something a bit more authentic next year ;)

Thanks Baoxiu for the posing photos!

Me-Made-May!

I've decided to join in the fun with Zoe this year! My home made wardrobe isn't that extensive, but  I do wear everything that I've made quite a lot, so I hope I will manage to achieve my pledge. I won't be posting daily photos as I haven't yet come up with a good strategy for photographing outfits, but I will try and put some summary posts together.

'I, Julia, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2014. I will also try to end the month with no UFOs.'

I also hope to go for quality not quantity for my sewing for May, by making some really well finished garments: A Grainline Archer with the lovely striped linen that has been in my stash for months, and a fabulous dress to wear to my cousin's wedding in June.

An Epic Yarn

More fantastic hilltop poses for you today! I started knitting this cardigan many moons ago (it featured in my 30 days of photos series in Nov 2012), but I finally finished it at the start of this year. I clearly work at a snail's pace in everything I do as I am only just blogging about it now! This is the first proper cabling I have attempted, but once I had learnt the pattern it was an easy knit, and I think worth the wait, although perhaps I should have tried to finish it for the start of winter, it is lovely and warm. The pattern is by Rowan, called Benbecula, and I used a pure British wool aran made by Jarol, I'd never seen it before until I picked it off the shelf in the Wool shop in Bath, but it is nice real wool that you can still smell the lanolin on, mmmm Sheepy! Anyway, to the poses...

Hopefully there are no mistakes in this bit!

Domestic Jungle

I'm afraid the dreaded Pinterest has been influencing my life; the continual scroll of beautiful interiors induced a longing for some greenery, and I succumbed. So I'd like to introduce my new green pets, let us see how long I can keep them alive! The boyfriend obtained a macro lens for me, so enjoy some close-ups of my baby succulents. Look at the cells :)

On the journey home I managed to knock off a couple of leaves from the succulents, which have now sprouted roots, so hopefully some new plants will be on their way. I think it is a true wonder of nature that plants can regrow a whole new body from pretty much any part, or maybe it is just the science geek in me? I also have some jade plant cuttings on the go, free plants are a winner. So, plants! Oxygen!

Calathea, cuttings

Cute succulents soaking up the morning rays

Roots from a leaf

Maidenhair fern

Sew for Victory - Scallops Galore

Firstly, apologies in advance for the bad photos, especially anyone who is here for pretty scenic views, you might just want to ignore this post ;)

So I thought I would have a stab at Rochelle's Sew for Victory challenge this year. I love historic fashion, and the 1940s has some particularly appealing shapes. I'm attempting to recreate a scallop fronted dress seen in one of the free downloads Rochelle has released (the green dress on page 5 if you have it). I'm using the Colette Hawthorn pattern, which I have sewn before (pic here), and getting creative with the modifications.

This is a first attempt at a muslin of the bodice. I've altered the neckline, added a scallop detail to the button band, and changed the shape of the sleeve and the cuff design. This is all a bit new to me and I have been making it up as I go along, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Here is a (bad) photo of the full view, on:

I am quite pleased with the neckline alteration. There are bust dart issues, which seems to be a usual problem for me. They are always too pointy! I think the scallops are working quite well, but I am very much open to suggestions! The original dress only had 3 scallops between the waist and the bottom of the neck opening, so maybe I should make them bigger? I'll make the two sides of the neckline mirror each other, I was just experimenting with the scallop shape.

The scallops are a little messy, but I think that would be improved by more careful sewing, and better fabric.

I used facing and topstitching on the scallops, is this a good technique or is there something better? it was hard to get the points between them neat. Anyone know if topstitching was used in the 40s?

I also used a facing for the cuff, but I'm really not sure this is the best way, as it wants to turn in the wrong way as soon as I put my arm in the sleeve. The point is even sharper than on the button band scallops, so it is even messier!

So, sewing gurus, advice and feedback would be fabulous! I still need to pick out a fabric to make up the final version, I'm not sure whether to go for a plain or floral, decisions decisions...

International Woman of Mystery

I lead something of a double life. On weekdays, geeky scientist at the lab bench, and being a good girl eating healthily and exercising. Weekends are generally a completely different situation, country living, baking cakes, wandering wistfully in the fields...it can be quite a contrast. There are good things in both lives; I love beautiful Bath, I know the city so well and it really feels like home, but my actual house doesn't really feel like a home, and I miss the countryside and a certain gentleman that resides there. I have lived such a double life for quite a few years now, so the concept of a single living seems quite alien to me, although perhaps I will grow up eventually.

Musings of a sleepy mind, but the point, if there is one, is that inevitably many of my favourite pictures come from the idyllic country life. Here are some recent snapshots, most of which can be found on the dreaded instagram, helping me pretend that my life is some sort of picturesque perfection, although there is the occasional muddy bike pic if you fancy some entertainment!