Deer-y me!

In my last post I mentioned I was after a good dress pattern with a big skirt and simple neckline. I'd been considering various options, but on Wednesday evening I spotted Simplicity's 2444 and was swayed by the gorgeous pleats, darts, and the multitude of different options. This pattern has optional pockets, three sleeve options, and an optional waist tie, collar stand and cape. Also I found it on sale for less than £5, and it had lots of good reviews. Check, check, check! I ordered it immediately and it arrived the next day.

I had already bought some polycotton reindeer fabric (link) to make up a (potentially wearable) toile, and I was so excited to get started!

One of the first things I had to do was join the two front panels of the skirt. I'd just been practising French seams so decided to use them here. Look how pretty!

French seams <3 I'll work on pattern matching later...

I'd never made inseam pockets before, and they're a bit of a revelation for me. They were super satisfying to sew and just as satisfying to use!

I was not nearly attentive enough when I'd cut the pieces, and basically barely bothered to mark the positions of the darts which was a really silly mistake as they're the main feature of the dress. I ended up scrappily marking them from the pattern (which I'd already put away) and doing lots of guesstimating, turning what should have been a nice easy part of the project into a frustration. Thankfully I've learnt my lesson and have been carefully transferring the pattern markings on everything I've made since. Maybe I'm not as stubborn as I think I am sometimes... But I digress.

This was also my first invisible zipper make, and I got so use my special foot for the first time.

Brother concealed zipper foot from amazon: link

It was still fiddly, but I think I've got the hang of it now, and I don't think it turned out too badly. Oh, though I was originally planning to make a Sew Over It Betty dress, which has a lower neckline at the back, so ordered a 16 inch zip when I should have used a longer one's. As a result I can only get this dress on over my head... Not really a problem but something that definitely could have turned out a lot worse!

Overall I was happy that this was wearable for Christmas day - though I accept most people probably wouldn't be caught dead in it!

Having really only made Tilly patterns in the past in definitely missed the clarity of her instructions when following this pattern, and I found some of the instructions for zips and facings both different to methods I've used since I started sewing, and not quite clear enough for a me as a beginner to feel confident in what I was doing. Hopefully it'll all make a bit more sense next time I try this one out.

Lessons learnt

• Zip practise
• Copy the pattern markings
• Don't save tidying up the loose threads until the end!

My sewing spreadsheet

I work with spreadsheets a lot in my job as a data analyst.

At home I normally organise my life in a paper journal, but I've made an exception for this as I'm already struggling to keep track of my patterns. Also I love the idea of other sewing bloggers having a table like this as it's a super quick way of seeing where people get their patterns.

So, behold, my sewing spreadsheet. I haven't finished populating it yet, and the blog links are automatically generated based on the pattern name, so if I haven't blogged about something yet there will still be a link, but it won't take you anywhere useful :)

At some point I might try and make it pretty, but for now it's nice and simple:

My sewing spreadsheet

Nicky xx

The wrong dress for me (Bettine)

As promised, I did make my Bettine dress from the glorious hot pink '80s triangle print fabric. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disaster, but it is all my fault!

Bettine

There's nothing wrong with the pattern at all, it was lovely to work through and even easier, though more time-consuming, than the Agnes tops I've made. Unfortunately, it's just not the right dress for me! I knew the blousy top wouldn't suit me all that well, and that I'd most likely want to raise the neckline, but... the pockets! The comfort! It was definitely the cute, relaxed look of the dress that appealed to me more than any notion that it'd look good on me. I even hate having elastic around my waist to the extent that I have a history of chopping it out and removing it from shop-bought dresses, so why...? Oh never mind.

I do like the tulippy shape of the skirt, and the pockets are just brilliant. I'm going to have a shot cutting away some of the existing bodice, and cutting another piece from my leftovers to make a wrap bodice, so we'll see how that turns out. Perhaps a little over-ambitious, but I'm sure I'll learn something anyway!

I'm now on the hunt for another dress pattern, but I'm not too sure what to go for. It's pretty much a toss up between Butterick 6094, Sew Over It's Betty, and By Hand London's Anna dress. Betty's my favourite by a long way, but I've read that fitting it is pretty tricky, and I'm not sure I'm good enough to handle that yet. I really need to make some decisions if I'm going to have a dress for Christmas!

Pattern suggestions on a postcard, please :)

Nicky xx

Changing pace

In my last post I mentioned I was considering whether to do a race or not - in the end I decided not to and handed my number to a member of my running club. He got an awesome time and I'm really glad that I didn't force myself through it!

Last week I  played my first ever game of rugby, during which I managed to break a toe, so I've been forced to stop doing most of the exercise that I normally enjoy. In all honesty, though, I was being pretty lazy beforehand. I've found it really hard to motivate myself to get outside when it's been so cold and dark in the evenings. So while there's a chance that I'd be fine on my bike, I don't want to make things worse (or get stranded down my hill), I'm ticking the boxes by eating well, doing lots of walking, and using my excess energy up on HIIT style workouts so that I can come back strong!

While I'm almost nostalgic for HIIT workouts because it's been so long, it is hard and there's no way that it can fill all my time, so I'm using the spare time to get things done. Normally "go for a run/ride" is pretty much constantly at or near the top of my to do list, and without them I've found it relatively easy to finish a few long-term projects.

My Agnes top on kitty jersey (from eBay)

First up, crafts! I've been planning to make this top for a few months now, and this Sunday, I just did it. Not without cutting out two left sleeves, but never mind. This was the second item of clothing that I've made from scratch, and also my second Agnes top (pattern by tillyandthebuttons.com). It went much quicker since I already had the pattern cut out from my first (pink, stripy) effort. I guess it counts as my first "pattern hack" too, since I changed the front neckline, as the neckline on Agnes is really low and I want to be covered up in this weather. The result looks like pyjamas, but I've worn it out anyway, under a gilet, as I think it's really cute!


I've also sewn up a few gift bags and a cushion that have turned out quite nicely, and on top of that I've been experimenting with the double needle on my sewing machine, and tried out an edge-joining presser foot to tidy up my topstitching. The double needle worked fine once I'd tweaked the tension, but the presser foot has been returned as (despite assurances), it wasn't actually compatible with my machine.

This weekend I'll be sewing up my first Bettine dress (also from Tilly and the Buttons) from this crazy 80s viscose, so hopefully next week I'll be looking pretty cheerful!

If you've managed not to break a toe then share your tips, or just let me know what you're up to and give me sport envy!

Nicky xx

To race or not to race?

So I entered a race. It's a 10 mile running race and it's on the 20th of November, and I'm not sure that it was the greatest decision.

I "ran" my first half marathon in September, and it really didn't go particularly well. My training started in April and went really well for about 8 weeks, and then I couldn't seem to catch more than a couple of days in a row without having a cold or an upset stomach. By the time it got to the few weeks preceding the race I was so worried about injuring myself that I barely made it out the door at all. At the time of the half, I hadn't run 5 miles in a single session since May!

Surprisingly, the first 5 miles of the half went really pretty well. The weather was fantastic, with just a hint of an autumn chill, and I managed to maintain a sensible pace (unlike previous events - but that's a story for another day).

And then, my left knee decided it had had enough. This is an old injury caused by running down the 500ft hill that separates me from the rest of the country. Long before I started running, I couldn't resist running down hills. How times have changed.

While I generally give painkillers a wide berth, I know that ibuprofen works well enough to get me through a run when my knee's acting up, so under normal circumstances I would have taken some with me, just in case. Unfortunately I'd set a lot of store by the wisdom of the Race Pack and an item in a long list of tips that advised against taking anti-inflammatories on race day. 

So basically the race ended for me when the knee pain started. I jogged past lots of people on the uphills (it's impossible not to get used to hills where I live), and was promptly overtaken by 2x that number as soon as we started heading down again. Needless to say, I did not meet the goal I'd set for myself.

Back to the present day, and there's about 5 weeks left until this 10 mile run. I struggle with consistency so I decided my best bet was to attend all my club training sessions as well as the more informal casual run they also do every week. So I dived right in, and OF COURSE I've ended up with shin splints that haven't bothered me for about 18 months. 

My running life is always either too intense or too lazy, and this oscillation between over- and under-training drives me up the wall. At the moment I'm feeling like a 10 mile run, while it's certainly working as motivation to get out the door and go for a run, is probably going to do me more harm than good because I just haven't given myself enough time to prepare.

So, what the hell do I do? Do I just get on with it and run the risk of hurting myself on the day, or do I pass on my race number?