Charity shop success

I had a very enjoyable day yesterday, pootling down the Gloucester Road in Bristol looking in charity shops and eating scrummy cakes with the husband. It was a lovely day, despite the cold, and I came away with a few real treasures!

I found this slubby fabric and thought it would make a great dress - it's heavy and has a great drape. I think it's curtaining fabric but it's very pretty all the same. At 6m for £15 I couldn't say no!

I also saw this homemade a-line skirt, soft blue floral cotton and trimmed with white lace. I think it'll need a couple of small darts in the waist to make it fit better but that's easy to do!

I also couldn't leave these shoes behind. They're in my size and in really good condition, and only £4. What a bargain!

They'll go well with my 1940s Swing Dress I'm trying to get finished for a wedding next weekend. I have to say it's causing me more trouble than I'd expected, but I'm getting there. Hopefully I'll have some stunning pictures of the finished item tomorrow...wish me luck!

More sewing chat

I managed to find time for an outfit post yesterday. I'm wearing the gathered skirt I made at new year and my trusty Marks and Spencer cardigan over a Marks and Spencer blouse. The belt is actually vintage, just about and was a hand-me-down from my Mum. I've realised that this blog has been mainly about my sewing of late so it's good to break up the monotony a little!

That said, I have more sewing related news! I managed to pop into the fabric shop in the centre of town before work. I only went in for a zip, but I saw this lovely heavy viscose while I was there. I love the pattern and the weight and feel of it is just lovely. It's so soft, it'll make a lovely dress.

 The flowers are so pretty.

I have this 1930s dress pattern from Past Patterns and I thought it would work nicely with this fabric. What do you think? Will it work?

In other news, I've nearly finished the Folkwear Glamour Girl dress, which I am very pleased about - it's been a pain in the arse since I started it and I'm not even very happy with the result - I think I'll be making a few adjustments and then writing it off as a house dress. I'll pop some pictures up in the next day or two if I can find the will to finish it.

Thanks for all the comments on the trousers, most of you seem reasonably in agreement over what the issue is and on the options for fixing it, so again, I'll make some alterations and post soon.

Finally, my Swing Dress sewalong pattern has finally arrived, so I'm going to make a start on that soon. I'm going to be quite a way behind but I want to get my other projects finished before I start! In addition, I want to overlock my swing dress - I think the crepe will fall apart otherwise - and so I need to get my overlocker fixed pronto. Watch this space!

More stock for my stash

I took a trip to my local fabric shop yesterday to pick up supplies for Casey's Swing dress sew-along and came home with a little more than I'd bargained for!

My first purchase was the dress fabric, which I chose some wine red wool crepe for. I was looking for something with a good drape and not only did this fit the bill, being medium weight and very soft, but also because of the wonderful colour. It's very close to Mac's Russian Red lippie which is my favourite, so I know I'll be coordinated!

The fabric only cost me £16 for 4m (which will be more than enough for the dress) so including the pattern and findings, should cost less than £30 to make. Good stuff!

While I was browsing, I came across this black net. It has a slight stretch to it and is very soft. I figured I could use it for sleeves and maybe a collar on a blouse at some point. I only bought a meter so I'll have to be a bit creative about what I use this for!

The other net I picket up was this millinery net. I bought a brown hat a while ago which is very 40s other than the very chunky net, which looks very 80s to me. I figure I can replace it with this and make it look a bit older. I'm going to be a bit careful how I do this though, as millinery is a totally new art for me!

Finally came this lovely cotton. It's very light and not the finest quality fabric but I couldn't resist the print. There was a whole batch of slightly different rose prints to choose from and I had a really hard time deciding. I think if the pattern grows on me I might go back and get another colour. At only £3.39 it won't break the bank! All I have to decide now is what to make with it. My first thought is a dress, but that's all I've made for ages and I have several more lined up, so I'm not sure. I have 4m of the stuff. Maybe a circle skirt? Any suggestions?