that holiday feeling

Well folks,

I have to say I woke feeling rather woolly headed today.  Last night was the summer sing-along of the ukulele band I'm privileged to be part of, Moselele.  It was great we had the audience standing on table and chairs at the end, dancing and signing.  What with the lovely weather and being outside, everyone had a brilliant time, but I didn't get to bed till the wee hours and had had a couple of pints (may be more), so the alarm clock this morning was not to welcome.

But today is a very exciting day and I really need to be fairly tired for tonight anyway, we are off camping tomorrow, yippee.  So today I am gathering the stuff from round the house and in the garage and check it is all ship-shape still, bit late if it isn't, but I'm fairly confident....

Then a nice early night and a 4.00am (yes that's right a 4.00am) start.  It's a time I am more familiar with coming at from the other side on my way to bed, not struggling to get out of bed for, but we have discovered over many years of making this journey, it is really the best way to do it. We beat the traffic, which can really mount up on the way to Cornwall, first holiday week of the summer, get to the best spot in the campsite, same one every year, but we love it, and in the heat it will make for a much more comfortable drive.  To be honest I love the drive, the mist as the sun comes up over the countryside, the excitement of finally being on our way.

So today, I need to be motivated throughout, lots of tea to keep the woolly head at bay, and by the time I get back from holiday I will, (should)(hopefully) have lots of lovely tatting pictures for you from the seaside.

Needle tatting a little something I thought would look nicer
than buttons on the hat I'm working on at present

But in the meantime here is a little of my needle tatting in action,  See I have done some stuff, just haven't time to organise the post. You never know you might get a late night edition of it, if I am too excited to sleep, but to be honest, I think I could lay my head down on the laptop and drift off right now.  Thursday is not the best night for a party, but my it was worth it.  If you ever get chance take up ukulele, in my humble opinion, it's tops.





Well I hope you all are having a wonderful time, remember to drink lots of fluids, and keep in the shade.  I am signing off for two weeks, I have enjoyed the challenge of a post a day, although I haven't actually done it, only missed 1 day I think, but it has been quite useful in getting me disciplined. So thank you all for reading, and don't forget comments are always welcome too.

hugs and kisses
ally x

tatted heart

Well yesterday I told you about a lovely blog, by Frivole   Further searching and I happened upon this lovely lady's Etsy shop too, http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LaCossette


 and could not resist buy a delightful heart pattern with instant download, yesterday evening I eventually settled down to a little tatting and here is what I managed...

The initial instruction was to load up two shuttles with the same thread, I could only find 1 empty shuttle yesterday, so I only completed the instructions down to the first split ring, but still it was very nice to be curled up on the sofa and tatting, I did a little telly catch up and watched an episode of the White Queen, have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying the series and love the costumes.

This evening I will probably continue by use a tatting needle rather than shuttle for the second half and see how that manages.

Back to the pattern; it is really well written and has 3 variations included with it, so very good value I think.




 She also sell the sweetest shuttles I ever seen, so I'm planning on getting a couple of these.









till next time
ally x

summer sun

Well folks

The weather is still amazing, and I feel much more incline to spend my free time pottering around outside rather than inside, and this leads me to a slight apology. Sorry no post yesterday and no tatting today.

We moved house back in April, quite a while you might think, time to get sorted and to know where things are, surely, well yes, but in our defence the house has involved a lot and I mean A LOT of DIY, which we haven’t completed yet. So when I say I can’t find the tatting I have been looking for to put up some pictures it is true, and with the weather being so good, I haven’t the heart to spend hours searching.  One good thing though was I found a box which I thought contained just some corsets I had made over the years and in fact it contained a lot of my summer skirts, so each day this week I have been swirling about in another lovely skirt, some I had completely forgotten about, oops. So I was very please with that.

Another thing I am pleased with is that after work yesterday I was able to purchase a flexible ruler, protractor, and bendy curve ready to start drafting my bra cup, I have read and re-read the instructions for just the drafting part several times and now feel competent to have a go, in actual fact it doesn’t seem as bad as I originally thought, although I may update that once I have had a go. Didn’t manage to get to it last night as it was puppy training, but tonight I am determined to get at least an hour on it, wish me luck.

In the mean time check out this girl’s tatting I think she is phenomenal.

http://leblogdefrivole.blogspot.co.uk/

enjoy the weather.
hugs
ally x

bullet bra is winning

hi folks

well I have to say it's quite a challenge to post up here everyday, I have looked through various bits and pieces lying around the sewing room and have come up quite uninspired today.

The trouble is the fact that I am itching to work out my bra cup size to see if I can draft a 50s style bullet bra for underpinning my vintage style clothing.  This is an obsession that has slowly taken over my thoughts lately and I have spent a lot of time trawling the internet for inspiration and patterns.  I had discovered a site called foundations revealed (see their link lower) which has a number of free articles on it explaining bra construction and you can also sign up at a fairly reasonable monthly fee to join and have access to all their articles. Well this weekend I bit the bullet, excuse the pun, and signed up so I could get my grubby little hands on Soft Bras, Part 3 (and all the other parts, but this was specifically about 'the circle and spoke bra'). Now I am not adverse to a little mathematics, I was quite good at school, but after a rather brief flick through earlier I must admit to being a little overwhelmed.

What really want to do it settle down on my own and really digest the details, so I'm afraid that I only have two little photos for you today of a bracelet done in more or less the same style as the flower bracelet but with 2 buttons and therefore 2 button loops and picots added in.  It was tatted in the same thread as the butterfly tatting, but I'm not sure what that was any more, a large ball of the basic stuff from the local haberdashery.

Well now I'm off for a geometry lesson.  I'll keep you informed of how I get on.


hugs ally x

girls cowboy tatted shirt

Hi folks,

sorry I missed yesterday, but here is my girl's version of the cowboy shirt.

In black and white gingham and black trims, it can go with most things. The gingham is fairly thick so it is a winter weight or great for cooler spring/autumn evenings.

 

The thread was a crochet thread, fairly thick in terms of tatting, but made up very quickly and looked right on the shirt.  I used a tatting needle for this as I get fed up having to wind the bobbin a lot for thicker thread, you just don't get so much on as you do with thin thread.

Well more tomorrow, hope you are all having a good weekend and enjoying the sunshine.

hugs
ally

cowboy shirt with tatting instead of embroidery

Hi there folks,

This is a cowboy shirt I made for the other half.  He is in a band called the magnificatz and I made 1 for each band member to wear when they performed at a burlesque show the once, other half still wears his from time to time, (think he may be being nice). They are a rockabilly band and here is their website just in case any of you lovely people are interested.  I may be biased but I think they sound pretty darn good. Have a listen if you like that kinda thing.

http://themagnificatz.weebly.com/

It was the first time I had tried arrow head embroidery at the edge of the pockets, not so easy on slippery satin fabric, but I was fairly pleased with the result.







Well I hope to prove that tatting can be used anywhere and is extremely versatile.  Hope you like the shirt.

lot of love.
ally x

ribbon rose bracelet

Hi folks

Hope everyone is doing well this fine morning, the sun is shining and I can’t help but feel good.  I do love summer, there’s a feeling of peace I get when it’s sunny like everything will work out for the best.

Well today’s offering is a bracelet, I made this quite awhile ago, so I’m afraid I can’t remember anything about the thread, apart from the fact that it is a bit thicker than the normal stuff. I do promise to make note of that sort of thing on all new projects. It’s a little shabby now as I wear it a lot especially in the sunshine, which is why I decided to feature this piece today.

It’s a very simple design working up one side to the desired length and then back down the other leaving a loop for the fastening, a button at the other end.

 

I hope my little drawing of the pattern makes sense, please let me know if not.

Down the centre I sewed small ribbon roses, the sort you can get at any haberdashery I feel they really make the bracelet look so feminine and dainty, which I love when I wear it. It makes me feel all feminine every time I look down.

One thing I have learnt since I made this, is that tatting can stretch, so although I made it to fit my wrist, it is now longer so instead of fastening on the intended loop I put the button though the next hole in and just tuck the button loop back over the button after.  This works just as well, but I do tend to make things like this on the smaller side now.

well I'll be off now and have a think about what to post up tomorrow.

lots of love

ally

a tatted butterfly

As promised today's photo is a tatted butterfly.

I decided this little sweetie should sit on my collar, it incorporates beads so I can coordinated with a string of pearls.

The whole dress, a 50s style retro wiggle dress with sailor collar. I love pink and black together 

For the back I decided on a fancy kick pleat, looks great when you're walking.  Well I hope you like them, more tomorrow.

love 

Ally x

Just a little explanation

Hi there folks,

I have decided to get a little more organised when it comes to my time and my vast array of ‘TO DO’ projects. You know the ones, things you really want to have go at but just never seem to get round to. Well I have a whole mountain of patterns that I really want to do, but have no real need for, by that I mean goal or place were they will end up.  Now don’t get me wrong that has never stopped me before and I have a large pile of tatted lace goodness that I delve into when I do want a little bit of lace, a butterfly for a collar, a trimming for a hat and the like.  But when I have something in mind for a sewing project I am actually planning to wear say next week, I am much more motivated.

Now as it happens I may have a little quiet period coming up, we are going camping. I shall be taking shuttle and needle etc, and I plan to relax with my tatting. So I am getting the books and photocopies out and sorting out a little ‘to do’ pile for myself and I thought I would share my progress with you.

In the mean time I thought I would post a picture a day of tatting I have already completed for you to see.  I hope this will get me into the habit of blogging regularly without writing tomes.

So to keep that way from Honey Pot Creations, as it is a separate subject, I though I would start Honey Pot Tatting, and a lovely thought has just occurred to me I really must design a honey pot to be tatted as a logo, so pictures to follow, very shortly.

Love to all.

Ally