Selfish sewing week round up

So selfish sewing week is over...:(

I have so enjoyed spending a whole week sewing up new patterns and old ones alike. I have taken on three new patterns this week and feel I have learnt a whole lot. So incase any of you guys missed it, here is a quick round up of my makes in what was a really fun #selfishsewingweek!

I managed to complete;

One tank top for my mum, not particularly selfish, but I gave it to her on Mother's Day and she was over the moon with it!! It was kind of selfish because it was a wonderful excuse to use some of my all time favourite Cotton and Steel fabric by Sarah Watts.  You can see more details about that here. 

My first ever Emery dress also got completed, and I have to say, I now know what all the hype is about!! I love this pattern, so beautifully drafted, and I have high hopes of making a few more of these for the summer. See more pictures here, and if you like silly gifs of people twirling in skirts hop over to my instagram here!

Garment number three is the chiffon blouse that is from a self drafted pattern. To hear about my lucky fabric find and my attempt at testing out a new bit of kit take a look at this post. 

Number three is my mustard Tilly and the Buttons Francoise dress, I chat about fit, fabric choices and my indicision over colour, take a peek here. 

And last and least impressive is my self drafted polka dot vest top. To read a little more about my FBA process and salvaging projects click here. 

Thanks for stopping by over the last week, I have had a lot of new visitors thanks to Selfish Sewing week, I hope you will all visit again.

That's all for now, up next on the sewing table is a new navy dungaree dress, don't go too far. 

~HJF~ 

Tokyo Train Ride Tank Top

Sooo..... I did it y'all!!

I completed the first garment on my list for #selfishsewingweek.

Well... Technically I don't know whether it qualifies for the above hashtag, because, well, the first garment on my list is for my mum. 

It is Mother's Day on Sunday and I like to make my mum something each year when I can. When I showed my mum my new stash of Cotton and Steel from my favourite collection (Tokyo Train ride - by Sarah Watts) she loved the Train Ride print as much as I do and mentioned she would like to make a top from it. I knew she would never buy the fabric for herself though. 

So I ordered extra yardage of the print, from the wonderful The Village Haberdashery and set to making her a top.

The pattern is a vintage Simplicity pattern that has been tweaked beyond recognition and in no way resembles it's former self, so I have no pattern info for you. As you can see it is a basic tank top pattern with just two bust darts at the side seams, and it is my mums tried and tested, go to pattern for the summer.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough fabric to pattern match the side seams, but I think it can handle it due to the amount of awesome pattern going on!!!

I kept it simple with a super fine binding finish for the armholes and neckline. The pattern calls for facings usually, but this fabric is quite a thick linen blend and I think it would have been just too bulky. 

I love this print soooo much, and am super jealous of this top, good job it isn't my size or my mum might never see it ha ha!

As ever I would love to hear any comments you have. 

Is this your favourite fabric collection too?

Thanks for stopping by, next up will be will be my Emery Dress, so don't wander too far!

~HJF~

Tessellation table topper

Today I share with you my Tesselation Table Topper, I completey blame the name of it, on Mr.F, maths extraordinaire.....

I recently decided I wanted to get back into sewing some home accessories, I have previously made quilts cushions, caddies, tables cloths and the like, but with no real vision.

This time round however, I knew what I wanted to get started on. I wanted to create a table mat for the centre of our dining table, one that could live there permenantly when the table wasn't in use.

My colour scheme was grey, so I set to ordering my fabrics from the lovely The Village Haberdashery and M is for Make. 

Let me first explain something, when I designed this project I thought, yes! This can be my first English Paper Piecing project. Alas, when my beautiful fabric flew through my letterbox I got over eager, cut out my triangles and thought, I can sew this by machine! I don't need to hand sew! Let's do this thing. Well I did infact machine sew it, and I who would have thought it...... It was a hot mess!!! Ha ha. So I ripped it all apart and decided to do it properly.

I cut myself plenty of paper triangles, armed myself with my super new (and now favourite) Sewline Glue pen and prepped all of my triangles. I have to admit it was a lot quicker than I had anticipated. Then came the sewing, I found that a slip stitch worked the best for me, and as usual I used a super fine beading needle. 

The whole process of sewing the triangles went together quiete well, I struggled with some areas, mainly I think because one of my fabrics was a heavier weight and added some bulk to the joining seams. 

I then had the decision of how to finish it?

Do I quilt it? Do I add wadding? Do I machine quilt it all? Some of it? Argh!!

I had no idea what I was doing, this is my first piece of EPP and I think I made things more complicated by the somewhat awkward shape. 

No fear, armed with my other new toy, Clover Wonder Clips, I decided to bravely start to sew on the backing. I decided I didn't want wadding and I didn't want to machine quilt it.

In the end I opted to blind slip stitch a plain white cotton backing onto my table topper.

And here it is done!

Admittedly I really should have ironed this before I photographed it. (Curling edges are not cool)

The fabrics I used were;

Cotton and Steel - Moonlit Gems- Truly Outrageous Grey

Carolyn Fiedlander - Botanics - Crosshatch in Grey

Art Gallery Fabrics -  Indelible - Spirodraft in Carbon

Some grey and white cotton from my stash, and some grey paisley off cuts from Mr.F's trousers. 

I hand stitched in grey around only the white triangles, just enough to keep the backing in place.

I loved making this, and  am so glad I started afresh and completed my first EPP project.

I am now hooked and can't wait for my next project. 

I would love to know what you think and if you have any comments or tips for a beginner, I would love some shared knowledge. 

~HJF~