cinderellasmouse

[cinderellasmouse]

New Look 6579: A-line skirt

Back in October I went to a wonderful sewing show at Alexandra Palace called the Knitting and Stitching Show. I was genuinely in heaven! So many stalls, so little time! While I was browsing around I found a stall that was selling Yorkshire wool in a herringbone pattern for a good £5p/m cheaper than I’d seen it anywhere else, and in a whole rainbow of beautiful colours! I’d been wanting to make some wool skirts so this was perfect! I bought a metre of a grey/blue colour and a metre of a candy floss pink colour. Then in true sewist fashion, they sat in my fabric cache until February when I finally found the time and the pattern to suit them perfectly.

Blue is my favourite colour, so I naturally decided to make the first skirt out of the pink wool. I hate making toiles. I totally understand the reason for them but I absolutely hate duplicated effort. This ultimately had consequences!

I had recently bought a new measuring tape that I wasn’t used to using and while the age old adage of “measure thrice” is correct, it doesn’t work if you measure yourself incorrectly thrice, which is what I ended up doing during the first skirt.

The skirt itself is a pleasure to sew. There are no complicated techniques, the instructions are simple and easy to understand but when I came to the end and I tried it on, I realised that I’d made it far too large. A whole size too large in fact! Not willing to rip apart my own work, I sheepishly took it to a local seamstress, concocted a story about it being a gift from a friend, and had it taken in. It fit perfectly afterwards, though I did suffer through some fairly derogatory comments about my work which made me cringe somewhat!

Anyway, determined to learn from my mistakes, I ploughed on and cut out the fabric for the next skirt. Yes. Without resizing the pattern. It was truly a *facepalm* moment, but I realised my mistake before I started sewing and I feel that that in itself should be commended! After resizing the pattern I decided this time to line the skirt because wool, it turns out, really is quite itchy and rides up your tights! I found a tutorial from Tilly and the Buttons (see below) which was a fantastic walkthrough!

Everything went smoothly after that! I used some Liberty cotton for the inner waistband and anti-static lining from FabricLand for the main lining and the skirt came together well! More importantly, it fit perfectly at the end.

If I were to improve it further, I’d probably make the fake pockets into actual pockets. My hands naturally try and sit in pockets, so fake pockets are always a let down. Otherwise, I will happily make this skirt, or a variation of it, again!

[cinderellasmouse]

MacCulloch & Wallis

MacCulloch & Wallis trip Poland St, London

Back in August I was trying to find the Brewdog bar near Oxford Circus in London and I stumbled across the most amazing-looking fabric shop. I remember seeing a roll of navy blue cotton with gibbon-like monkeys printed on it in the window and thinking that I absolutely must have it! Unfortunately the shop was closed when I walked past it then but I've been dying to go back since.

Well this week I was able to visit properly and my goodness, what a wonderland! My fellow mice, if you haven't already visited then please, please do. The shop itself is beautifully tidy and set across two floors. The ground floor is where you can find a large range of good quality fabric, whether you're looking for shirting, suiting, cashmere or fake fur. I found a roll of pre-knitted fabric that has given me ideas of an easy cardigan. Downstairs in the basement you'll find the most colourful haberdashery with zips, buttons, ribbons and thread in every colour imaginable!

I was genuinely in heaven walking around. I’m in the market for a good A-line mini skirt pattern at the moment and enquired about the pattern makers they stock. They only stock Vogue patterns which I was a little disappointed about but all the staff were friendly and there was no shortage of people to help you. I bought a couple of concealed zips and left with no fabric showing remarkable self-restraint!

This was partly because of the prices. It wasn’t uncommon to see a roll of fabric costing £50-70 per metre, and while the fabric all looked amazing, there’s a limit to this novice mouse’s purse right now. The two 9″ concealed zippers I bought came to around £7 in total, which is a bit more than I would have paid at Fabricland but they do feel like much better quality, so we’ll see what they’re like when I sew them in.

In all, a fantastic shop with an amazing selection, but until I stop considering myself to be a novice and become a bit more comfortable spending more than £15 p/m on fabric, I may have to give it a wide berth!

https://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/

[cinderellasmouse]

Welcome to Cinderella’s Mouse!

Welcome curious mice! If you've tumbled into this topsy-turvy blog then welcome! If you've found it on purpose then you're also welcome! Everyone is welcome here as long as you don't mind reading about the ramblings of a novice sewist. About half a year or so ago, a friend asked me to help him learn to sew. He was looking for a new hobby to fill his evenings and had decided he wanted to learn to make his own tailored coat (eventually of course, not immediately). At that point, I only owned a small children's sewing machine from John Lewis (perfect for a mouse of course) and had mostly been dabbling in soft toys and quilting. I hadn't done any dressmaking since my high school years, but with my friend's request we decided to plunge into it together. At the same time my little children's machine decided to retire itself so I upgraded to the adult version in a gloriously beautiful olive green colour and began making my first dress while my friend made a shirt. It's now almost an addiction! I spend my free time thinking about new projects, browsing fabric (my stash is steadily growing) and planning how I want my sewing studio to look like (because the third bedroom can't keep going to waste!). It's a tale as old as time, I'm sure. I haven't been keeping notes as I've made projects though, and some of the patterns I've used can often have really obscure instructions. So I'm writing this blog as a place to keep track of my projects, make notes about fabric choices and review things that worked or didn't work to inform future choices. A sewing diary if you will. If it helps you, then fantastic! Bye for now fellow mice!