A bit of chain maille before the sewing

I have a few sewing projects I want to finish off soon. There is also one major sewing project that I need to start which will probably take me an entire year to do. But before all that, I want to share a bit more chain maille with you.

Here are a pair of Kingscale bracelets I finished recently. One's in turqouise, gold and silver. The other is in turqouise, gold and black.



What do you think?



Which do you prefer?

I think the sun must be tired after working so hard over the weekend. It's gone away for a bit of a rest today and left us with an overcast and slightly chilly day to contend with. Nevermind. I hope it comes back soon.

Hope it's sunny where you are, friends.

Happy Easter!

May the glory and the promise of this joyous time of year,
Bring peace and happiness to you
and those you hold most dear.



It was very sunny yesterday. Today it is overcast but dry and still a little warm. The children will get their chocolate eggs a little later and we'll do the usual thing of rationing the chocolate out over the next few days. Given a choice, Missy Moo and Dinoboy will quite happily eat their weight in chocolate in one sitting ... and then we'll have to deal with the sugar rush that will undoubtedly jump in with both feet and the resulting 'hangover' afterwards when sugar levels hit rock bottom. They don't seem to mind the rationing - they do get small bits and pieces now and then throughout the day.

Wishing you a happy and blessed Easter wherever you are.

More chalk fun

This morning was bright, sunny and warm. The kids were straight out the door to play in the back yard as soon as breakfast was finished. We took the opportunity to have a bit more fun with chalk on our patio.

I drew a giant anglerfish of sorts (Dinoboy wanted a scary fish - and anglerfish are pretty darn scary to me) and the kids took turns lying down and posing for fun shots.



Missy Moo wondered if she could take scary fish for a walk like a puppy.



Dinoboy took a bat to the poor fish.



Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!! Scary fish!!!



The kids enjoyed thinking up scenarios involving Mr Scary fish.



The skies are blue and the sun is blazing away. I've done my grocery shopping for the week, we've just had lunch, my laundry is out on the washing line and I'm lazing on a chair out in the backyard in my Jamie dress. Bliss!

Hope you're having a great day, friends.

Chalk fun

After seeing something similar here and some really interesting photos in Jan von Holleben's Dreams of Flying portfolio, I was inspired to try a simple bit of chalk fun with the kids.



We have a nice big slabbed patio which was just the place to try this. Here's Dinoboy flying away with his balloon.



And Missy Moo with her pink balloon.



I stood on a plastic stool to take these photos.



Tomorrow we'll try to draw something else. I think I'll dig out the step ladder tomorrow and try to take photos from a slightly higher vantage point.



It's the big Easter holiday over here in the UK. We've got tomorrow (Good Friday) off work and Monday is a public holiday too. My place of work has kindly given us Tuesday off too. Nice!!! I intend to consume lots of hot cross buns and chocolate this weekend.

Have a great weekend, friends.

The final cut

In the end, I decided not to spend forever unpicking the skirt off my Jamie dress. I hacked 5 inches off the bottom to make it a knee length dress as opposed to a calf length dress.



I like it better at this length even though I do not think it's the most flattering dress for me. I do intend to make another but with significant modifications to the skirt. The poufiness is not working for me. Nevertheless it was a really good sewing experience and the instructions which came with the pattern were superb and very well illustrated with lots of photos.

Thanks to Sara for hosting the sew-along and here is the linky party for the sew-along.

Taking a brief moment to drool

Aren't these just the most perfect shoes for those who love sewing?!!

Sorry but I couldn't help but have a shoegasm moment when I saw these and thought I ought to share them with you.



These are Christian Louboutin's Measuring tape sandals. They come in white too ...



There is of course the signature Louboutin red sole peeking out from under that 4-inch heel.



Drool-worthy shoes, don't you think?
I don't think my fear of very high heels or my unfortunate bunions will permit me to 'rock' these shoes. Given the Neiman Marcus pricetag of $795, I don't think my bank manager will permit me to 'rock' these shoes even if my feet were up to the task.

They are unconventional but utterly fun and sassy. Mr Loubi, I salute you!

Now if you'll all please excuse me, I need to go wipe my keyboard dry and lie down for a short spell.

Not feeling the love so much ...

OK, I have finished my Sis Boom Jamie dress. I have issues with this dress. (I'm having a bad hair day today - hence the headless shots. Sorry!)

I love this fabric - it's kinda wacky and so not a colour I would normally gravitate towards (I normally live in dark blues and black). And having seen some of the other fab Jamie dresses out there - like this lovely one by Monique or sew-along hostess Sara's gorgeous Jamie dresses here and here or Amanda from Kitschy Coo's awesome Zebra dress here, I felt inspired enough to have a go. This is the result.



Sorry for the appalling shot - the only long mirror we have is inside the door of the cupboard under the stairs.

But seriously folks - I am not feeling the love for this dress. It's not the fabric - that's OK. I think it is the skirt. It's pretty big. The gathers and bigness of it is of some concern to me.



OK - it doesn't help that I have bad posture in this and Dinoboy always takes unflattering shots of me ... perhaps it is something to do with the angle given that he is a shortie still.

I might have a go at reducing the skirt mass ... or I might designate it as "only to be worn in one's back yard" and have another stab at making the dress. Perhaps a tunic might be more up my street. What do you think?

Have a great week ahead, friends.

Joining in with the Sis Boom Jamie Dress sew-along

Sara over at Sew Sweetness started a sew-along using the Sis Boom Jamie dress pattern. I really like this dress and all the finished sew-along dresses look so nice.

I decided to join in and have a go myself. This orange/yellow/gray/black cotton print was in the sale at one of the online shops I frequent - Doughtys. I thought it would make a nice summer dress. *Fingers crossed*

So here's how far I've gotten so far. I pinned the straps in to the finished bodice so I could do a quick fit before continuing.



I read somewhere that one should cut a size up on this pattern for the bodice and waist. So I did. But I then realised that I ended up with quite a large bodice width-wise and had to take it in at the sides. I think given the amount I cut back on, I should have gone for my original size after all. But that's OK - I'd rather be able to take it in than to find out I'd cut it too small.

I have made a boo-boo so far. I wanted to extend the waistband piece to the back bodice. I also wanted it to have the same rouched effect as the front. But in my haste to cut and make the bodice, I've ended up with a back waistband which is taller than the one at the front. Duh! *slaps forehead*



See the inch gap between the topstitched edges of the bands? I am such a numpty! I've decided to continue on with the dress - ignoring the mismatched bands. Good thing I decided to make the band in the same fabric as the main body of the dress. The mismatched band would have looked even more obvious if I had gone with a contrasting band. On to the skirt next.

Hope you're having a great weekend, friends.

Chainmaille watch

The chainmaille bug just won't let me go! Recently I made myself this purple and silver half dragonback bracelet ....



Then I thought the half dragonback chain might work well with a watch face I picked up not so long ago at a craft show. The watch face came from a beading shop. I had some pink anodised aluminium rings going spare so I used those with the silver bright aluminium rings to make two short chains.



I linked up each chain to the watch and used a 2 strand slide clasp as a closure. I really like these slide clasps. Just tug on both mushroom ends at once, and the clasp will slide apart into two pieces. I think this type of clasp works well for bracelets. It locks snugly for a sleek and secure fastening.



Pretty, don't you think?

Sewing is next on the projects list as I quite fancy making a Sis Boom Jamie dress. Sara over at Sew Sweetness is hosting a Jamie dress sew-along and I rather like the idea of a new dress for the summer. No idea what it would look like on me - but I'll have a go at it anyway.

Have a great day, friends.

Mock smock rocks!

A while back, I saw some mock smock Disney fabric at Joanns Fabrics and knowing Missy Moo's love for all things pink and princess-ey, I bought a yard of the stuff, intending to knock up a quick summer frock for her.

This stuff is fabulous! The fabric is pre-shirred and hemmed. So making the dress was dead easy.
Step 1 - measure the required length and cut.
Step 2 - placing fabric right sides together, sew up the seam to form a tube of fabric.
Step 3 - add straps.
Step 4 - put finished dress on child, sit back and enjoy the prettiness which took less than an hour to do.

Missy Moo adores her dress. She kept telling me all weekend how much she loved it. I made elasticated ruffles straps from a contrasting gingham. I thought I might eventually add a ruffled strip to the bottom hem of the dress too.



She wore it on Saturday and Sunday. I have strict instructions to ensure it is washed and dried and ready to wear next weekend!



It was the first weekend we've had almost summery weather - the mornings were slightly chilly but the afternoons soon warmed up beautifully.



I've heard that Walmart sometimes have mock smock fabric in store but not having a Walmarts over here, I wouldn't know. Hancock has quite a few on their website too - some in adult lengths! My problem is they don't ship to the UK. Drats!

This was such an easy and fun sewing project. And the client was totally satisfied. What more could I want?

Wishing you a great week ahead, friends.