Doileyed

I finally had a chance to finish my long awaited doiley skirt yesterday morning....

....and my favourite thing about it is..... (well, other than the super gorgeous fabric from Michelle)

...Pockets!

I'm a pocket girl. Can't leave the house without lip balm and tissues and my phone in my pocket.

The skirt ended up being a hybrid of various designs.

I initially made myself a pattern in January of this year based on the a-line skirt in Sew What Skirts. As my weight constantly fluctuates, I had a bit of a problem with the final fitment and had to take in the side seams a little.

I desperately needed pockets, so I took the pocket pattern from the Too Cute Tunic Dress in Pip's Sew La Tea Do book, and inserted it into the side seams of the skirt.

I drafted my own facing pieces and interfaced them to make sure that they sit nicely at the front and back. The zip at the back isn't perfect, but it's completely adequate for me.

Guess what I'm wearing out the door today?

Too Cute Tunic Dress

 

I've been itching to make myself a dress for the longest time, and when I bought Pip's Sew La Tea Do book, I instantly fell in love with the Too Cute Tunic Dress.

Unfortunately, I didn't choose the most appropriate fabric colour for my white pasty Irish skin tone. Check out the flourescent white legs!

I made the M/L size with the full length arm so it's a really nice and comfy fit, even for lounging around on the couch. The only change that I made was to lower the front neckline a bit to allow for my ample cleavage.

As a little extra embellishment, I added a ribbon along the seam where the bodice meets the skirt. I would have preferred green, but I only had pink in the stash, so pink it was!

But my very favourite bit...... POCKETS! I love pockets - pockets are essential for me.

Of course now I have so many ideas for different fabric combinations - plain bottom, printed bodice. A shorter version for a tunic top... the possibilites are endless.

Oh, and by the way - Happy New Year!

My Creative Space & A Book Launch

In my creative space today is a project that I was supposed to get finished yesterday, instead of spending the entire day faffing around (somewhat due to my lack of patience and interest in computer hardware).... Oh, yes, and I  might have gone out to have lunch at a nice little cafe too.

But anyway, I digress....this is going to be my Softie for Mirabel. It's just a simple little fuzzy bear softie that I designed yonks ago to use for Toy Society drops.

I had grand plans of having a proper tutorial written for making him, but I'm not going to have time, so I'm just going to share my pattern, and some super basic instructions. You can download a pdf copy here if you're interested, or I've also added links via my tutorial page.
It was written in a huge hurry so if there are any glaring errors, I'm apologising in advance!

Lovely photo used courtesy of Kate

In other crafty news, I was very lucky to be able to go along to Pips book launch for Sew La Tea Do on Tuesday night. I forgot to take my camera, so lets just pretend that Pip is signing my copy of her lovely book in this photo, shall we.....


The home of My Creative Space....