I love living in Greater Manchester, I've been in love with the North and Manchester particularly since I moved here in October 1989. Even the rain has never put me off, and honestly it doesn't always rain.
Woody works in the centre of Manchester and often I'll catch the train in, mooch around my favourite shops in the Northern Quarter and then meet him for lunch in one of the many great bars and cafes.
One of my favourite shops to visit is Fred Aldous, three floors of art and craft materials plus great quirky gifts and cards.
The basement of Fred Aldous is also home to Ministry Of Craft , where you can take workshops in a whole host of  craft disciplines, from absolute beginners getting to know their sewing machine, making a tailored skirt, stitching your own knickers, getting to grips with embroidery, making jewellery and so much more! They even run hen parties, which seem like a lot of fun.

One class recently added to the programme is my very own! I'm really excited to be joining the other fabulous tutors at The Ministry Of Craft to bring you an upcycling class.
As my long term readers know, I love a bit of upcycling, am often found elbow deep in a box of old linens in various charity shops.
I have designed a class for Advanced Beginners; Short and Sweet Pyjamas .



As any regular charity shopper knows, there are always plenty of mens shirts in stock in most of the charity shops, and even if not, mens shirts are easy to come by scrounged from the men in your life. Woe betide any man in my extended family throwing out shirts just because the collar is frayed!
These pyjamas are made using three mens shirts, keeping details and features of the shirts to add interest.



Trim is optional, but adds a cute little feminine detail.



There is an option to use pillowcases instead of shirts for the pyjama shorts. That is what I have done here.





Taking this class you will learn how to layout patterns on challenging fabric, how to make french seams, to use bias binding to finish a raw edge, to make casings and add trim. Once you have completed your first upcycled outfit, I promise you will never look at old clothes in the same way again, everything will have potential!





To book this class, head on over to Ministry Of Craft for more details. I can't wait to meet you!

My third Simplicity 2444. This time I upcycled a vintage tablecloth for the bodice and used some mustard linen for the skirt.
Again, I moved the pleats to the hips to try and balance my top heavy curves and shortened the darts by 1cm. This version fits better across my shoulders than the last one, but it's still not quite right. My round shouldered narrow back, but large ribcage are not easy to fit.
My sewing buddy Mary and I have similar fit issues and have agreed to spend some time over the summer fitting each other for a basic bodice. A project I am very much looking forward to!



The tablecloth works well as the bodice. It was a vintage linen cloth with a border print, so had to do some careful cutting out, but I'm pleased with the results, and have another I plan to use in a similar way.

After the success of my wearable toile for this pattern, I had high hopes for this dress. The only changes I made to this dress was shortening the bust darts by 1 cm each. Otherwise it is exactly the same. Weirdly though, this version is very loose across my shoulders, especially at the back. I have no idea why.



I wore this dress today, but the loose shoulders were very annoying, and so it's gone back out to my shed to be tinkered with.



I am loving being out in my shed right now, the light warm evenings mean I can be out there until quite late. The chickens keep me company, and a couple of the local cats pop by for a cuddle too.

I have made this dresss before, six years ago. The pattern* came in a bundle from a friend, still in it's original postage envelope with a postmarked date of 1968. I made it to wear to a friend's 40th birthday. The dress code was 1968, so it seemed perfect. I thought at the time I might wear it again, I never did and it went in a charity bag.

The pattern is a size 36 inch bust, so too small for me, my high bust is 38" and full bust 42", so a fair bit of sizing up and full bust adjusting went on. I made a quick toile of my first adjustments, then made extra adjustments on the dress...lots of extra adjustments! This dress was a total pain in the behind!I hadn't kept a record of any of the adjustments I had made first time either, so I was starting again.



There were several times stitching this up that it very nearly got thrown in the dustbin, but I loved the fabric, and it is amazing how determined I can be when I know what I really should have been doing was catching up with childminding paperwork, and not sewing at all!



You can see from this photo that the v neck doesn't lie quite flat, and I actually think this neckline on this dress just doesn't suit me.



Here, you can see that the bust dart is really too high. I had moved the bust dart on the rough toile, but then lengthened the bodice on the dress and somehow, somewhere managed to move the dart.

Sad to say, my mess ups didn't end there either!
I managed to cut the skirt pieces too small and had to add in two extra strips of fabric at the centre back. I also had to take out the back  high waist darts because once the zip was in I could barely zip up past my rib cage! You'll have to just imagine that dogs dinner, because I didn't get any clear photos of the back.

Despite all of that though, I did finish the dress, adding a strip of mustard linen to the empire line to give it some shape. I love the fabric, and the colours, but the dress is not for me. The shape is not very flattering on my top heavy figure and it just feels wrong.
I did wear it one day last week, and it is better than a £5 dress from a bargain high street store, I might even wear it as a weekend "stay at home" dress, but all in all not a success.



Will I try this pattern again? I'm not sure. I'm tempted to play with the bodice again, choose a different neckline, move the darts, and add a different skirt shape, but that might make it a different dress all together. We'll see.

* links to an image of the same pattern, but not my actual pattern, as my envelope is very damaged.

I have been meaning to try this pattern for a while, I wondered how the bodice darts would work for my shape. A couple of my sewing buddies had already made this dress and I really liked their dresses.
I used my high bust measurement and cut out a size 16, making a full bust adjustment, and then making a very rough toile, which seemed to fit ok, so I moved on to a wearable toile using this vintage duvet cover I bought some time ago in a local charity shop. I was never quite convinced I could pull off a dress in these colours, but actually I'm pretty happy with the results.



I decided to move the front pleats during making up. I have a fat tummy and smaller hips than bust, so I thought if I moved the pleats towards my hips, I might balance out my top heavy figure and give the illusion of a slightly flatter tum.
I think it worked!
Those darts I was concerned about initially are also really flattering. I'm not skinny by a long shot, and I've gained a lot of weight recently, but I think the darts show off what waist I do have.
I really like this pattern, and will make it again very soon.
I wore it today to go and get my long awaited memorial tattoo for my Florence Violet, if you want a nosey, check out this link to the lovely lady that tattooed me. 

Trying to take self timed photos with Ernest is not easy, but at least he makes me laugh!

Nine months ago I bought this slightly bonkers Dirndl dress in my local charity shop. I suspect it had been made for a theatre production or similar. Despite some of my friends suggesting I wear it as it was, I knew I never could, at least not without two giant tankers of frothy ale as accessories!



Yesterday evening I had 30 minutes of time to myself so whipped up this skirt. I'd already cut out the skirt and waistband several months ago, so it was a simple task of adding in a zip and sewing on the waistband. I've actually made it a touch too big, so should probably re do the waistband. I wore it today anyway with a safety pin to make it the right size. I suppose I should just be glad I didn't make it too small!

What a month! I did it, a whole month of wearing at least one me made item each day. There were a few repeats, but that's OK. I've learnt where the gaps are in my Me Made wardrobe, and have a clearer plan of clothes I want to make to fill those gaps.
Most importantly I've managed to wean myself off cheap dresses from a certain high street store. I was starting to do that anyway, but Me Made May has convinced me once and for all.That feels good!
So, my plans now include a good clear out of my wardrobe, followed by a sensible plan of my sewing needs, which looks like it will consist of some good solid colour basics, a few Summer dresses, and digging out those lingerie patterns and fabrics.

I do love this pattern! This is my third Emery dress, and I don't think for one minute it will be my last. I cut this out several weeks ago, but too busy with other projects and commissions I only got the chance to stitch it up on Saturday. I spent a lovely day in my shed listening to the rain on the roof and stitching away.



Honestly, I'm a little disappointed with my lack of pattern matching, actually it's pretty good on one side, but off on the other. My own fault for cutting out a very slippy light cotton lawn in two layers, I really should have cut it out singly to be sure. I can live with it though.
The fabric is from Abakhan in Manchester. I am very lucky to have my friend Mary working there, she knows my tastes and if she sees something she thinks I will like she gives me a shout. She got this one spot on! Thank you Mary!



PS: yes my roots need doing, job for later today!!

Just one week to go, and today I was gardening in my me made's. A skirt cut down from my first muslin/toile for the Hawthorn dress I made last year, and the Emmeline Apron I made probably 6 or so years ago? I still love that apron despite it being covered in paint and rather scruffy these days.





I have repeated a couple of items, but that doesn't bother me, I've enjoyed wearing items from my wardrobe I might not otherwise have bothered with, some will get worn more often and some will get ditched/recycled.

This weekend I gave my sewing shed a bit of a spring clean. It is so lovely out there now the sun is shining. I of course love my shed in all seasons, but having the door open onto the garden and not having to put my heater on makes it that bit more lovely. The lighter mornings and evenings are great too.



Some things are best not sewn in my shed, like this First Holy Communion dress made from my friends wedding dress for her daughter.



The little girl it was for wanted a simple elegant dress with a sash. I used a pattern from a very old copy of Ottobre, with a few minor alterations. I added a roll of glass beads to the neckline. I got up early one morning last week to sew them on before the children were up. I can tell you having a white dress in the house made me nearly as nervous as cutting in to my friends wedding dress in the first place!



I did manage a little sewing for me this week too. I cut out this dress a few weeks ago and finally got around to stitching it up on Monday. Honestly it's not my best work. The fit isn't quite right on the bodice. I basically fudged it a little while cutting out. Still I do love the fabric and I got a lot of compliments while wearing it, so I guess most people are not looking at it with the same critical eye I am.



I have been keeping up with Me Made May '14 , but having to wear repeats now. The weather has brightened up considerably, sadly none of my summer dresses from last summer now fit me (must stop eating biscuits!), and it's too warm for the clothes I made more recently that do fit. Think I need to stitch up some summer dresses, or lose weight.....

I'm really enjoying Me Made May '14. I do wear me made most days, but there are items in my wardrobe I make and rarely wear, this project is making me look at those items again, and work out why I don't wear them...Lady Skater dresses I'm looking at you!
Weirdly, every time I wear one of my Lady Skater's Woody tells me how nice it looks...OK this morning he said "that dress really slims you down", which for him is a compliment, but what I heard was far from a compliment and we did have a fairly lengthy albeit lighthearted bicker about how he can't give a compliment, and I apparently can't take one!

I think I don't like my Lady skater dresses because of my fabric choices, maybe I need to make one in a more stable knit. The one I wear most is my red one, made from a far too stable vintage knit, but it's the one I feel most comfortable in.


Let's see what next week teaches me about my Me Made wardrobe. If you are taking part this year, what lessons have you learnt so far?

 This year, like many others I am taking part in Me Made May. I have pledged to try and wear at least one me made item of clothing each day of May. I wear a lot of me made clothing anyway, but maybe not usually every day. The reason I'm taking part this year is because I want to figure out what gaps there are in my me made wardrobe. I already have a good idea that I don't sew enough with solids, and I don't sew enough basics, relying too much on certain super cheap high street stores for things like stretchy tees and cardigans, though I also buy a lot from charity shops too.
If you'd like to know more about Me Made May '14 then click the button below.



May began on Thursday and I had an important meeting in Manchester where I needed to feel good , so I wore my Anemone skirt which I love. I wore it with a stretchy long sleeved t shirt from the high street, opaque tights and black loafers. I'm thinking I might need to buy the new Nettie pattern by Closet Case Patterns, and start replacing these stretchy tee's.



Yesterday I wore my trusty Fall For Cotton make . I think I need to make this dress up in some summery fabrics.
Today I'm wearing jeans! I almost never wear jeans, but I wanted to wear my Stretch Banksia and I have a distinct lack of solid skirts I could wear with it. The cardigan, shoes and headscarf are all from charity shops.

Anticipating Me Made May and my lack of solid fabrics in my stash I did nip in to Abakhan the other day with the intention of buying solids, I came away with these....



I need help! Tell me, what are your favourite solid fabrics to work with and where do you buy them?

When my friend Mary suggested we go for a vintage photo shoot at HMS Vintage in Salford, I thought it might be fun. Then I told my family and they all reminded me how much I hate having my photo taken, how I'm not very photogenic,  I don't like having my face touched, and don't really like getting my hair done either!
Mary booked, and I started to panic. The day came and I tried to keep the controlling part of my personality under some control, but couldn't quite manage it and turned up at the studio with four dresses, four pairs of shoes, several changes of lingerie, and five or maybe six pairs of stockings in various denier.
Ian, the photographer met us outside and immediately put us at ease with his friendly manner. We were led up to the dressing and make up room where we met Ewa, the make up artist and hairdresser. Ewa was lovely and helped us choose and try on various outfits from the heavily laden clothes racks. Mary quickly found a couple of dresses she loved and one in particular that really suited her and she eventually wore for her photos.
I was a little more fussy, and despite trying on several outfits, nothing really felt right, so I decided to wear my Emery dress.




Mary had her hair and make up done first; victory rolls and classic 1940's make up. She looked beautiful.
Meanwhile Ian brought us, tea, sandwiches, cakes and a bottle of bubbly. I settled for a nice cup of tea, far too nervous at the prospect of the photo shoot to eat anything.
Once Mary's make up and hair were ready, she was whisked off to the photo studio and Ewa began my hair and make up.
Inspired by the Emery dress and my current bobbed hair Ewa suggested a 60's look. I'll be honest, I was a little unsure. I trusted Ewa, but I'm not at all used to handing over control for my hair and make up like that and it made me nervous! Poor Ewa, when she had finished I couldn't recognise myself in the mirror and I think she thought I hated it. I didn't at all, but I just couldn't quite take in the transformation, and was terrified of the shoot itself.





I needn't have worried so much. Ian was lovely. He could tell how uncomfortable I was in front of the camera and really helped me relax by guiding me through the poses and chatting to me, and really making me laugh. By the end of the shoot I was even almost enjoying it!
After the shoot, Mary and I got plenty of time to look through the photos and choose our favourites.
Mary's are so elegant and beautiful, this one particularly.



She looks stunning, am I allowed to admit I'm slightly envious of just how gorgeous she looks?
My photos are fab though, they really make me smile and remind me of a really fun day. I can't remember the last time my jaw actually ached from laughing so much. HMS Vintage get a huge thumbs up from Mary and me, a great fun way to spend an afternoon.