Wanted: More Hours In The Day

In this fortnight of derby bouts I just can't find enough hours in the day to sew... But prepare to be dazzled once things have settled down! It will be all spirit fingers and jazz hands...

Very slow chipping away has resulted in pattern pieces cut and interfacing ironed on. Next step: construction.

Photo Challenge: Week Ten

Also running a bit late, this week was full of car trips and adventures... And a traffic jam so bad that it took six hours to get home. Two photos from that one because it counted as two days of my life, I'm certain!

March 8

Rainy day driving...

March 9

Feeling mod on a night out

March 10

Harry time!

March 11

The traffic jam... Part One

March 12

The Traffic Jam... two hours later

March 13

Queen Bimble of Bimbletonia

March 14

Pimble contemplating her imminent hair cut

Photo Challenge: Week Nine

Better late than never... March is turning out to be a crazy busy time and it's wonderful. Three years of trying to settle in to this town and find stuff to do and now I'm never home... And I'm loving every minute of this wacky adventure!

March 1

Bimble at the vet

March 2

Add caption

March 3

Hello breakfast!

March 4

One of those days...

March 5

Nerd fest!

March 6

Madame Pimble enjoying the sun.

March 7

On the road again...

A Dress With Ponies?!

Sometimes I like to pretend I'm totes rich and famous. 

I swan around the house with a martini glass filled with ginger beer, call my dogs "dah-links" and fill on-line shopping carts full of fabric I want but have no intention of purchasing. What can I say- I'm pretty hardcore. The reason I bring this little quirk up, dah-links, is because whilst in my head I am rolling in the benjamins in reality I am madly saving for my trip to the States. And that means no fabric purchases...

And as we all know from my previous "indiscretions" I am not so good at saying no to new fabric. But I've held pretty strong- except for one small slip up when I went to purchase a replacement zip for my Lisette dress. And what a divine fabric it is. It's sat in my stash for two weeks now and it's time not only to debut it but also my next project.

IT'S EPIC SCANDINAVIAN INSPIRED PONY FABRIC!!!

I'm totally going to make this into the tunic dress with the contrast as the red and white polka dots. I'm thinking this would look great with some tights and boots and chunky bracelets. But we'll see, let's not put the cart before the epic horse print! 

You come for the sewing but stay for the lame puns, you know you want to admit it...

Emergency Room Chic... and a finished dress!

Amanda's top tips for being an Emergency Room rockstar.

Dos:

• Make sure that you are wearing pants that should be seen in public. Perhaps a muumuu kept in the derby bag for occasions such as these should be mandatory.
• Create a short sock puppet skit (minus the socks) to explain how you were injured. Bonus points for entertaining voices that make the consulting medic laugh (could be pity laughter, but I say try your luck!)
• Let the triage medic give you crazy full-on pain killers. Be warned they will space you out like crazy and then you will have a sore stomach. Yay for pain relief, boo hiss for feeling ick.

Don'ts:

• Sing to your consulting physio/x-ray technician/triage nurse/random guy sitting on the bench near you in obvious pain. Especially a song about cats and dinosaurs in a lyrical style similar to that of ancient Grecian saga poems with a polka influence. Though the painkillers may have influenced this somewhat... or maybe not...
• Avoid handling crutches like a race car driver which may result in a smack into a wall/desk/door. Hmm... let's blame this on the painkillers too.
• Stop the sock puppet explanation of injury to pat your husbands face for no explicable reason. Yup... painkillers there too.

And now, gentle readers, you too are ready to rock it out ER style. Though with less George Clooney and more crazy eyed skaters on painkillers...

And on that note- I'm back and now with a free limp! How many bloggers give you that kind of upgrade? The last two and a bit weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster and I apologise for the delay in posting but Bimble and Pimble is ready to rock and roll again. 

So, without further ado, check out this eye-bleedingly bright zesty summer number Lisette 2245!

Well, it would be if I had grabbed shot outside in the sun. But you get what I mean. I mixed up some zesty Lisette poplin and twill and came up with a whole lot of yellow and pink! In fact, here is a closer to life colour picture.

And I love this. It's crazy and bright and light and summery! And it is just as sassy inside. Look at this neat finish!

What I loved about this pattern:

• The cute as a button cross over feature on the bodice. It takes this from everday into sassy.
• How easy the FBA was- I used Idle Fancy's technique of shortening the darts 2"s.
• My self made bias binding! So proud!

What I would change with this pattern for next time:

• Use the notes I made- I have never used a Simplicity pattern before and the instructions were harder to decode than Colette Patterns.
• Gather the armholes a little for a better fit.
• Use the finished garment measurements to help establish a size for muslin fitting.
• Use a different skirt pattern. The fabric I used just didn't drape nicely in the fuller skirt pattern and I adjusted it three times to something more fitted. See the bell skirt below...

Overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out and I'd like to try it again with a plain fabric and make a bow belt to set it off. It's a flattering fit and I like how the bodice feature takes it from plain to sassy... And just because I feel like gloating, here's a little side view...

And I'm eyeing off another Lisette pattern for my next project. It's time to get organised for my Smithsonian exchange. It's on like Donkey Kong, peeps!

I'm Biased Towards My Awesomeness!

There are times when I fail. I know, I know, gentle readers, that this comes as shocking news to you. What's that? Did I hear someone faint? Never fear- let me bring you out of your swoon with this telegram from the frontier of awesomeness!

This evening I started my Lisette passport dress in a sassy combo of eyeball seizure inducing pink and yellow (all the better to cheer me up in this rainy weather, my dears!) But Amanda, I hear you say, how is this more awesome than what you achieve on a daily basis? Well, dear readers, the answer lies in my successful construction of home made bias binding that actually worked. Oh hells yes, I made it work. Check this bad boy out!

And now you are on the frontier of awesomeness! I learnt from the dreadful mistakes of my last attempt and went about this the right way.

There was a little matching of fabrics...

Some cutting of tape in the correct format...

A little bourbon cocktail I invented (always important after a particularly brutal derby session that may have resulted in a bruised rib)...

Some mad ironing skills that resulted in awesomeness...

And of course the pinning of the whole shebang.

I'm not going to lie- I may be up past my bedtime (I totes run on teacher time still because I'm hardcore!) but it was worth it. I'm on the frontier of awesomeness, joined by my trusty stead Janome My Style 24, and I'm heading out towards that setting sun of win...

Stay tuned, gentle cowpoke, to see where this leads...

Frockin' Awesome Start

I have to ponder- why do my measurements on the pattern always end up with me cutting out the wrong size and having to play around with three different muslins?

The only reasonable answer I can come up with is that it is a giant conspiracy involving pattern companies, shoe horn and a dwarf wearing a hat... 

Regardless of my ridiculous dwarf/shoe horn/pattern company conspiracies, after three separate muslins over three separate nights I now have a workable pattern. Yippee!!!

Watch this space for awesomeness to come!