Friday 11 February 2011

Amy Butler Fabrics Are Just Gorgeous!

(Lifted from my old blog, some links may not work)

I like Amy Bultler's stuff.  Alot.  The designs are exquisite.  The fabric is a dream to work with.  I find her website so inspiring, with lots of free patterns to download.  Her patterns and books are a treat.  Amy Butler is golden. This post is all about the Amy Butler Crush.
Here is a little make up bag that I made for my dear friend Bee, I chose a fabric from  the Daisy chain collection in the colourway Basil.  I used a pattern from Tone Finangers book Sew Pretty Christmas and made edging in the way that Rose hip edges her pillowcases.  At the time I didn't know how to do this so I just made it up as I went along which is why it's not perfect.  Since doing this I came across another super blog called You Go Girl where there is a four part tutorial that I will most definitely follow next time I decide to do something like this.
http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/fabrics_top.php?fabric=daisy-chain&flid=14
I'm a right old copy cat, don't have a single idea that's fresh and all mine.  I have a friend who is an art teacher and she says all inspiration is taken from somewhere, nothing is new, nature already did everything first.  So I shall take comfort in that.
This fabric is Green garden maze from Amy Bulters Midwest Modern range.  Honestly there are so many covetable fabrics by Amy.  I would love to fill my wardrobe and my home with all things AB.
Amy Butler dress.
(Ignore the creases and the dodgy dummy (I stole her from my Mum), she is called Diana.  I didn't name her.
I've also made a couple of froncks recently (yes that should read frocks but fronks had me laughing so it stays), well at least I finished them recently but I started them months ago.  They are my first foray into the world of dress making.  I'm supremely pleased with myself.  When people have said that they like what I'm wearing the conversation goes something like this:  "Oh I love your dress!"  "Really?! Do you really? I'm so pleased, I made it myself!" and I beam in a demented way, flushing to my roots.  But then I have to point out my mistakes.  Why do I do that? Why do I point out the dodgy zip and the raw seams? They don't need to know, they don't even want to know, so from now on I will try to have a little more grace.
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There must be a trick to setting sleeves that would save me spending ages pinning the arms in.  I do the basting thingy, I follow the instructions but I find if I don't pin like crackers I end up with little puckers that just wont do.  I can tolerate dodgy seams, I have no choice with the zip but I do have a way of doing the sleeves nicely so I will have to carry on till I find out how to do it a different way.

DSCF0061This dress pattern was a freebie in one of last years Prima's.  I decided to do it in cotton but it really should have been in jersey.  The sleeves didn't look right in cotton, they made the whole dress feel very restrictive.  The solution was to chop the ends off As you can see in the first pic of this dress and add lovely 70's style swishy bits.  I just cut around a plate and cut a circle in the middle then I fiddled about a bit when sewing the round bit to the sleeve, cut the excess off and hid the messy bits with some liningand ribbon which I added as an after thought.  Got that, still with me?
Vintage 60's lining from Fanny Adams
I popped the left over ribbon around the bottom of the skirt bit too, ties it all together. If someone had a close look they'd see how amateur my attempt is, but no one's going to be looking at the construction so it doesn't matter one bit.  What matters is that I made something that I really love and look forward to wearing.  Hope it doesn't fall to bits.
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You can just see the ribbon on the bottom.  I should have ironed it before doing my 'modelling' but the photographer, Mr Cuckoo (he hates being called that, but it makes me chuckle so I shall persist) was on a schedule.  It was so very windy, and cold too but the upside was there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Very pretty.
It's truly all rather roughly finished but I am still learning so there's plenty to improve on and I shall have fun doing it.  I've another fronk (ha) to show case on here and I still have that glorious trip to Bath to write about.

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