Anthroplogie Knock-off Bow Bag

Anthroplogie Knock-off Bow Bag

Yesterday the sewing urge was too strong to resist and I spent a very pleasant afternoon watching sitcoms and sewing this bag from a tutorial by The Little Appleseed! I found it via Pinterest and while I haven't copied the colours in the original (so I could use up fabric from my stash) I loved the shape and design. 

This is her version - very classy!

And a mother and daughter variation!

I had a pink cotton table cloth from a charity shop that was great for the bow and lining because it was really sturdy, meaning the bag would be robust and the bow nice and crisp.

I used a grey thin patterned cotton (could be lawn print?) for the body, and I think the two go well together.

This is my version!

Rear view!

A bit of a close up

Bow and little flowers

It is a biiig bow - but I think it looks good!

A few other bloggers have made this bag:

Anzouya from www.anzouya.com

One from The Few, The Proud, The Wife

And one from Cut out and Keep.net by Modesty Fashions

The last one actually has a tutorial that goes with it too.

So now that you have two tutorials to show you how to sew this bag, what are you waiting for?! I'd love to see your versions, leave me a link to your blog in the comments and I'll come and have a look.

Thanks for reading, 

Anna x.

Self-made Undies, Knit Dress from Dixie DIY Pattern

This is my second attempt at making knickers from So-Zo's pattern and tutorial as blogged about previously.

These are made from a tank top which had a pretty flower motif - I think it works well on the undies!

I trimmed them with lace elastic from pairs that no longer fit me, unfortunately this makes them a little too snug around the legs, but you live and learn!

Rear view!

Anyway they are comfy enough and I'm pleased with the result! Need to make a few more pairs now!

The second item I'm blogging about today is a knit dress which I made in August. The pattern is Dixie DIY's t-shirt dress pattern (free) and the fabric is a black and cream spotty knit. It is very comfy and I wear this dress a lot.

 Not sure whether it was me or the photographer who kept making the pictures blur...

... but blur they did!

Not sure if the flash helped!

Anna x

Allsorts of Fun -Office Chair to Sewing Chair with Style! Plus Kasia Burda Skirt Picture Update

The chair I bought from the charity warehouse near me cost 3 Euros and looked a bit like this without the rips:

It was perfectly fine structurally, but a bit grungy looking since it had been left out in the rain.

All it needed was a bit of TLC!

I bought some foam and fabric... took the old bits off and duct taped the new bits on... et voila:

I love how it looks now; it's also the first swivel chair I've ever actually owned! It's much better than my old standard chair i used when I sewed because I can adjust the height and spin around to reach things on the table behind me!

The fabric is from ebay.co.uk if you're interested, I saw a dress on Burdastyle made from it and it made me want some too!

I plan to buy a staple gun to make it more permanent and fore future refashions, but I'm very happy with how it turned out!

p.s. I have finally taken decent pictures of my Burdastyle Kasia Skirt from a previous post. Here they are:

Front

Back

Front Flap - hiding a multitude of errors!

I love the pockets in this skirt and while the are bits of it that I'm not happy with it was my first proper skirt and can be seen as a very wearable muslin!

Another busy month :) - Mountains, fabric and sewing!

Hello All!

In the past month I've been a busy bee! I went up a mountain (Le Grand Ballon d'Alsace) went home to England for a while and then attended a wedding back here in France!

There is a radar on the summit

I can hold it!

I've also been cooking things like this yummy pizza...

My mum made a lovely little flower arrangement for my room when I arrived home:

In terms of sewing and making things, I have made the Kasia skirt from Burdastyle:

Pictures of my version will follow soon! I made it out of the same fabric as the Sorbetto Top in my previous post.

I am also in the middle of making my first pair of trousers! I have been told that trousers are one of the most difficult projects (fit-wise) but I like a challenge! I am using a chocolate brown twill from Abakhan Fabrics (see below for all my lovely fabric purchases) and this great (and FREE) tutorial and pattern from Plan B by Anna Evers:

Love the pattern!

Pictures of my trousers to come soon...

I have also been working on a white version of the Sorbettto without the pleat... same story on the pictures!

I made a pair of (*blush*) knickers too (just need to add the elastic) from So Zo's pattern and tutorial (she is really great). Mine aren't half as pretty as hers but they are comfy!

These are hers...

And these are mine. I have found a little blue bow to add to them :)

I took in the sides of a cardi (which I bought second hand but hadn't worn because it was a bit too big) to make it fit me:

Before...

Before...

Stitch up the sides to make it fit...

Snip snip...

After!

It fits me a lot better now :)

 Last thing this time before I go, the fabric I bought while in the UK from Abakhan in both Manchester and Stoke on Trent:

Actually this one I bought off ebay; it's a knit with tiny yellow flower print

Cotton (making a bag out of this)

with this (also cotton) as a funky lining

georgette

really soft knit (this is now a dress, pics soon!)

also knit

This is cotton too and I looove the print. some of the little buds are silver!

Polkadot georgette

And a better look of this print. I think only a dress or something large would show it off sufficiently...

In other exciting news my Aunty has just published her first novel! It is set in Tanzania (where she lived for a number of years) and is centred around a British woman called Esme and her family. You can get The Mountains of Morogoro on Amazon here for only £3.07, so it is well worth investing in. You can also read some of the chapters before you buy if you want a sneak peek. Oh and although it's in Kindle format, you can also download an app and read it on your computer if (like me) you don't have an ebook reader.

Thanks for reading!

Anna x