A trip to Edinburgh

We decided on a last minute break and after watching many episodes of Outlander, I fancied a break to Scotland, specifically the Highlands. After a quick google and realising how far the Highlands actually are we decided on Edinburgh!

We booked the top secret hotel with Last minute and got a holiday inn near the Edinburgh zoo. We were both really disappointed and I posted a tweet about it. Last minute contacted me and offered me a refund. After much googling and research we picked another top secret hotel and this time got the Malmaison!

We drove up to Edinburgh, it took around 5 hours from Huddersfield which wasn't too bad. I managed to get a wee bit of knitting done too!

The Malmaison is in Leith which is near the port, around a ten minute bus ride from the centre. 

After a quick rest we headed into Edinburgh for something to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe and of course took a picture of the castle. 

The next day we had a wander around the city, I found Anthropologie

We also did all the touristy things like walking around the castle and along the Royal Mile. 

We had a fantastic time in Edinburgh and I fell in love with Scotland. I can't wait to go back! I'd really recommend it for a break away. 

2.0.1.4

Well, I know I'm a bit (!) late in posting the 2014 review but I had such a busy Christmas!
My family came over from Canada and I don't think I had a minute to myself. It was wonderful to be surrounded by my family though, I do miss them lots.

I didn't make as much as I would've liked over the year but I really got into dressmaking.
I made a total of 10 dresses:

From left to right, a wool Lilou, blackwatch Eva dress, Merchant and Mills dress shirt, Stylish Dress book E, two basic dress from the Sewing Bee book, another M&M dress shirt, a Betty dress with a long skirt and the Cath Kidston basic dress from the GBSB.

I also made a Cambie dress from Cabbages and Roses fabric for my sister-in-law's wedding.

Out of all the dresses I made the Lilou and the blue dress shirt get the most wear. The sewing fails have to be the CK birds dress due to the terrible fit (the fabric bunches at the back) and the Betty dress as I dislike how the skirt hangs.

I also made an English paper piecing blanket from Tilda fabric for my gran.

And a homespun blanket for my mum and dad which was very well received. Sorry for the mid-make photograph, both blankets got finished very late and I did not get chance to take any proper pictures.

I also made my mum a Maggie Rabbit for her birthday (shown here with no nose or any clothes on!).

A baby blanket for my friend's baby

Above, I learned to knit!! But haven't actually made any thing yet...
And below, a glasses case for my gran's birthday:

Above a tea cosy for a friend's birthday and below a kindle case for my Gt Auntie's birthday

I haven't been as busy as I thought last year but I certainly made more than I remembered!

After trying my hand at sewing, crochet and knitting, sewing is definitely more my bag.
I absolutely love dressmaking and have many ideas for future makes floating around.
I'm desperate to get hold of one of those fashion books that you can draw the dresses onto the models so my ideas look a little neater.

I'm currently in the middle of making a Marianne dress and next up is a Staple dress for a class I'm teaching in February! Exciting stuff.

I hope you all had a happy new year

Amy

Summer adventures

I've mentioned before how one of the things I absolutely love doing is going on 'adventures' and travelling around England revisiting places I used to go when I was younger and finding new places to visit as a family in the future.

Some of the places we have visited recently have included a car vintage fair;

 

Our weekend ritual involves going out for breakfast, I pick a homemade outfit or something Cabbage & Roses inspired and slap on the red lipstick. Lots of car poses happen during this time - hey car journeys are boring okay?! Red lipstick makes me feel uber glamorous. This was on our way to the Lake District.

Picture now with added thumb. I really would love to learn some decent photography skills!


This was the hotel we stayed in near Cockermouth (yup it's ACTUALLY called that, major props to us for not slipping up and renaming it!).

Beach walk with a gorgeous sunset. It was absolutely freezing here but so beautiful.


The beautiful Grasmere.

With added Cabbages and Roses inspired outfit:

When we're not gallivanting round the country we like to go out for breakfast and pretend to be old grandparents by getting fish and chips and eating them in the car. I'm old past my time!

This breakfast was the best thing I have ever eaten. No lie. All visit Nick's in Holmfirth!

We live in Holmfirth near Huddersfield, which is in such a beautiful part of Yorkshire. It's a pleasure to drive 5 mins from our house and be surrounding by gorgeous scenery.

And finally a bad picture of me wearing my Lilou dress. I really need to take some better pictures, but we all know making and sewing is much easier than blogging and photography!
What do you like to do in your spare time? Any places to recommend visiting?

Amy

Summer Holidays

The start of the summer holidays saw the birth of another dress, this one made from Cabbages & Roses new penny blue fabric that I won from eBay.

I also made a linen bag for our holidays;

We've just come back from Zante in Greece and we had the most wonderful time, it was the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure. 

I would definitely recommend Greece as a holiday spot, and I can't wait to go back!

We were only away for a week but I had crafts on the brain and so when we got back I immediately started on an English paper piecing project I couldn't stop thinking about. Using Tilda fabric and templates from The Homemakery I started a blanket for Christmas.

It's so relaxing and I absolutely love it! I'm going to find giving this blanket away very difficult!

If you're on Instagram check out #craftyaugust it's the first photo a day I've taken part in and it's all craft related, there's still time to catch up!

There's two weeks left of the summer holidays and I hope to spend it by carrying on with my Hexie blanket, a couple more dress ideas and finally learning how to knit (it's proving to be difficult but not as hard as I found crochet!).

Sewing projects I'd love to tackle

I've been sewing clothes for 7 months now and although my skills have improved somewhat there are still some projects that I would like to make but I feel are way above my skill level. Although I'm saving them for another day.

Hacking jacket

I'm on the lookout for the perfect tweed jacket and this pattern would be perfect.
Maybe in something like this Harris tweed.

One of my planned autumn projects (that is if I'm not too exhausted from teaching) is a pair of trousers.

I'm thinking a nice slim fit made out of a soft grey fabric like this one from Merchant & Mills


To add to my work wardrobe I'd love to make a pussybow blouse from Colette, perhaps in a nice cotton lawn like this.

Way above my skill level, and something I can only dream one day of making (perhaps with a more advanced sewing machine) is a pair of jeans. I find getting jeans to fit notoriously difficult and we seamstresses know what it means when you buy something that doesn't fit/isn't exactly what you want.

Perhaps these simple jeans from Dragonfly fabrics would be perfect

Last but not least is this circle dress from Cabbages and Roses

I'd like to make something similar to this dress but I don't like to make exact copies, to make this it would need a franken-pattern of Tessuti's Lily linen dress and Sewoverit's Betty dress circle skirt. This is a fabric muncher so something relatively cheap would have to do. Perhaps a nice soft grey gingham.

I recently hit 2000 page views according to Blogger, and I can't say how much it means to me that people actually read my blog! Please note the name change to whatamymade.blogspot.com.

What do you want to make?
Amy x

5 things you should do when sewing...

...that I don't do

1. Wash fabric before use

When I washed my Dress Shirt there was some serious breath holding and crossing fingers in the hope it hadn't shrunk (it hasn't!) which made me realise I need to start washing fabric before use (but I probably won't)

2. Make a toile/muslin

I know, I know, I'm a bad seamstress. I'm just too impatient! I don't have much time to spend sewing and to take the time to make two dresses would defeat the object. Fortunately I haven't had too many problems with fit....yet..

3. Back stitching

Ooh this is naughty one - for some reason I always forget to secure my sewing by reversing my sewing machine before starting a stitch and before finishing. This led to part of my dress shirt arm coming undone...oops. I might've learned my lesson with that one.

4. Neaten inside seams

I don't see the point of this one, I know it looks more professional but it takes up so much time and you don't even see it!

5. Change the pattern

Other than shortening or lengthening the length I find changing how the pattern fits really difficult, I wish someone would write an intermediate book for dressmaking, there are tonnes of fab beginners books out there but none that explain how to fit clothes properly and thus I'm swimming in a sea of CB, warp, weft etc without really knowing what it all means. Although I never expected to become an expert in a few months! Hopefully this blog will document more tips as I learn them to help others out.

What other naughty habits have you picked up whilst sewing?