"Razzle Dazzle Em"

I promise this is going to be the last version of this dress.  I just thought I would make one more to get my value from the pattern, and this being my third version it really was a bit of a breeze. I didn't stress too much about tacking this time, but did finally work out how to insert the invisible zip properly. I remembered my techniques file from my City and Guild Fashion course, and there in it were the instructions and even a sample for an invisible zip. I must remember to use this file a bit more often.

This fabric was from the lovely Fabricland, and although my daughter doesn't really go for pink, this was a really subtle shade that we both liked. It was also quite a heavy cotton, which was very easy to sew.

So I had already planned to make this outfit, when she suddenly said that she would like to wear it in her end of year show: "Dazzle". So a bit of frantic sewing one weekend, and this time I let her win over the length, as she did have to dance in it. The show was fantastic, though quite emotional, as this is the end of primary school. 

So with the fabric I had cut off when hemming I made one of my "Land Girl Hairbands". I had forgotten how simple these are to make. The pattern is available in my Etsy Shop, and has three versions of tie. I have temporarily reduced the price to just $1. It is really fun to make bands to go with different outfits, but they are also a fairly quick make for anyone selling hairbands at fairs.

The Land Girl Hairband

Frankie and Slightly Reluctant Cat

In town last week, Little One suddenly suggested she would like a haircut. Her long hair was annoying her in the heat, so before she could change her mind I whisked her into a hairdressers. They gave her a great bob, my favourite style. But now her hair is a bit short to tie back in a pony tail, so we had to come up with some new styles.

So here are the new hairbands. She said she wanted it slightly in the style of a "land girl". Did anyone else really enjoy Land Girls on the TV? (Not the film, which is also good, but there was a Bristish television series on a few years ago. Actually I think it ran for several series.) 

The hairband is fairly simple to make. I have put the pattern instructions so they are downloadable in a single document and it is available in my Etsy Shop. Sewing patterns are a bit of a new thing for me. (I did do a smocked hairband, in a failed attempt to repopularise the craft of smocking.) I expect there are pattern drawing software programmes but I have done this with the old sketchpad and scanner. 

I guess you could wear the band with the bow on the side or back. This one was made from an old school dress, to co-ordinate with her school uniform.

Here are a few more. There are three different styles of ties in the pattern to give a bit of choice: curved, single-point and double-point. What you can't really tell from the photos is the band is made in three sections, with elastic under the ties. This makes it more comfortable to wear, and means you can make slight adjustments in size.  The bow is purely decorative. It also means you don't need a really long bit of fabric to make the band, and as you can see I am using up all sorts of oddments to make Frankie a selection of bands.

Daisy Daisy

Once again I have got slightly sidetracked. I have a plan for a slightly bigger knitted toy, but other things keep getting in the way. My best sellers at the craft fair were my baby shoes. I added a cream dupion silk shoebag to keep them in, which I have also added to the shoes for sale on Etsy. But noticing that I only sold the decorated shoes, I decided to jazz up the few plain ones I have left with some handknit daisies. I love daisies: such a simple but pretty flower. 

So I set about designing some daisies. I have knitted fairly large ox-eye daisies for the shoes, but then thought I would also have a go at some tiny daisies, like the ones on my lawn. So this pattern shows you how to make flat daisies for decoration in both sizes, and how to knit a stem and sepal back if you want a really realistic flower. The pattern for these daisies is available on Ravelry.

Just to show you what you could use your daisies for I knitted a hairband, which is probably heading to my Etsy shop.  I just love these little daisies, and think they could look lovely on all sorts of things.

Little One was not really in the mood to have her photo taken in the garden, and she was suffering from hayfever. A bit ironic really, though I guess knitted flowers is one solution.

A Little More Smocking

I have been working a bit more on the smocking. I thought it would be nice to do a headband that was a complete hoop. I think it makes a much nicer band, but I have to admit it did make more work. Twice as much smocking. But I find it very therapeutic. I've posted the full instructions on how to make both types of bands on Craftsy.

I had thought about selling the actual headbands on Etsy, but I think I'm going to keep them for my daughter. I've never sold products online, and am not sure how perfect people expect them to be. Also the pricing worries me. When selling at craft fairs I feel people can have a good look and try on before they decide to buy. Someone suggested selling them as kits, which might be worth thinking about.
 

In the end it all got a bit much for my model. Actually I love this photo too.

Shocking Smocking

In a previous life I did a bit of smocking. When I was doing my City and Guild fashion course, one of my projects was a bucolic, shepherdess-inspired blouse. It has been lurking in the back of my wardrobe for a lot of years. There never seems quite the right occasion to wear this beautiful but rather unusual blouse? Hubby says it makes me look a bit like a Russian cossack. Surprisingly it still almost fits. It is rather lovely, and took a huge amount of work. One of the reasons I don't wear it is that the fabric is a rather horrible polyester cotton. As part of the course you had to imagine that you had a client, and make your garment to your imaginary client's directions and budget. My imaginary client was clearly a bit of a cheap skate, and gave me a very small budget. I think if I had made the blouse in a really lovely natural fabric, I might be more inclined to wear it now. A bit of a lesson there. (I have some other unusual garments that I might photograph some time: the African-inspired beaded skirt, my 1940's-inspired jacket.)

But I do remember I really enjoyed doing the smocking. My teacher lent me her smocking machine, and you had to feed the material in to make the pleats. The embroidery was hand done, and the design was inspired by patterns found in photographs of crop circles. 

For my craft stall I sometimes make cotton hairbands, which never sell well. In fact I think I've only ever sold two. I can't understand why they don't sell? Perhaps they are hard to present nicely. The fabrics are really nice, and I have made them in different sizes. I think part of the problem is they are difficult to buy as gift for someone, unless you know their exact head size. 

So I have had this idea brewing for a while for a smocked hairband. Smocking would give it a bit of elasticity. I also thought they would look really stunning, and be unusual. I have never seen a smocked hairband, and cannot find one anywhere on the internet. So, after a few attempts here are my first efforts at hand-smocked hairbands or headbands. I may put a few more photos on tomorrow, but my model has gone to Brownies, and the sun (which we are not seeing very much of this year) has gone in. They are really easy to make. You need to use a geometric print, or something with a regular pattern. In Britain a lot of schools wear gingham school dresses, so they could be made to coordinate with your school uniform.

Eating Pineapple

In A House Made Under the Washing

This would be a really good project for someone who has not smocked before, but would like a small project to get started. When I began I did a few samplers to try out different stitches, and your headband could also serve this purpose. The full instructions on how to make your own headband will be available on Craftsy, and I may sell a few actual headbands on Etsy .....
In my new Etsy shop! I will put some links here when they're on.

My Etsy shop still looks a bit rough, as I am having problems making a nice banner. I would really welcome any tips on how to incorporate text into a photo, and then save as a jpeg or png on a Mac. It has been driving me potty all week. The only way to calm down has been to sit and do a nice bit of relaxing smocking.