Another weekender....

...but not a bag!  A much better weekender, which involved sewing, cake, lashings of tea, chat, laughing and more food.  A sewing retreat weekender!  Huzzah!

Nearly a year ago, the Stitching Together ladies mused on organising a weekend away dedicated to sewing.  9 months (and 1 impregnation) later and we were packing up Hannah's roof rack and heading to Norfolk on a Friday and staying until Sunday.  The venue was a B&B called the Old Bakery in Hindolveston run by a lovely couple Alison and Mike.  Alison is a quilter and so, as well as the usual B&B clientèle, she offers quilting/sewing retreats and workshops.  We made what, in retrospect, was a school girl error of stopping for lunch on the way because if there was one constant over the weekend, it was food!

Anyway, my usual approach to retreats is to pack erratically and wing it.  This time I had a plan and actually planned for the plan. I was going to FIGHT THE FEAR and make a chuffing dress already.  Yep, my dressmaking demons would be tackled head on by making the Mortmain dress from Gather Kits which is marked suitable for"ambitious beginners!"  I'd bought the pattern and fabric (from the Village Haberdashery) last August....

directional print fabric, you nutter!

As usual, I need to make things a little trickier so I decided to buy some slippy dippy fabric to fully line the dress too.  Matching thread and metal teeth zip joined the dressmakers carbon paper and other various tools.  I even took an old sheet that Tanya had given me to make a toile.  People - I was taking this seriously!

So we arrived just after 2pm and were immediately offered coffee, tea and two choices of home made cake (delish).  Then it was unpacking, setting up and sewing.  We were staying in the holiday cottage but were given full run of two big rooms in the main house for our sewing activities.

thanks for the photo, H

We sewed until 7, where we were served an amazing two course dinner, with a trio of desserts...

all using local or home grown ingredients

Then it was back to work, for another couple of hours or so.  My sewing yodas were on hand when I had a big wobble - "follow the pattern, you must" (thank you Hannah!) - and to help with great hints (Lizzie!).  At the end of day 1, I had made my toile and realised that the size 16 fitted me perfectly - no FBA needed thank goodness.

Day 2 started a two course breakfast! Thank the Lord I had roomy troosers!  Then a full day's sewing, interrupted only by Alison bringing refreshments and cake, a two course lunch and two course dinner...

chocolate trio

By the end of the day, I have made two more dresses - the outer dress and lining version, all french seamed to within an inch of existence....

unlined and unzipped but extremely satisfying

Check out the pattern alignment of the top and skirt - a happy accident :)

Day 3 and another two course breakfast. Oh.my.giddy.aunt.  And we had to get as much done as we could before lunch at 1pm (with elevenses included of course!).

This is where things started to go a little awry. I think it may have been that croissant after the american pancakes.  Anyway, see that squint zipper ^^^^^  That took me three hours to put in and it was all wrong. And the bottom of the zip on the right hand side as you look at the photo is all queer too and the waistband doesn't line up. But on the plus side, I am loving the fit across the back, if you excuse the dodgy posture.

The others were more productive...

simply awesome cross stitch by Hannah

and Hannah's foxy quilt top

a maternity dress for Lizzie (and a skirt for her Nancy)

an adorable baby quilt by Tanya (along with cushion covers)

However, by then we had run out of time and I had run out of patience, having bent two needles in the zip inserting process. So it was a quick pack up and tidy around, then lunch (more cake, obvs.) and packing the car.  Big hugs to Alison (with plans to return!) and we were off, never to eat again.... well, not for a while anyway.

A brilliant focussed weekend, with lovely stitchy friends hosted by a fab couple.  If your interest has been piqued by the Simply Solids Sew-in Retreat in September, I would say go for it. The chance to have dedicated sewing time to focus solely on what you want to do, with no pressure to attend classes, is a brilliant opportunity.  You will be with people who will help and support you and vice versa.  I can't guarantee that you will be able to eat your own body weight in cake though..... Or head of to Mike and Alison's in Norfolk and take your elasticated waistbands!

I was hoping to show off my finished frock by now but after breaking 4 (FOUR) more needles and the dress nearly getting flung out the the window along with the sewing machine and my sanity, the zip is still not fitted.  But I did have a Eureka moment this morning on the drive to work - use a different type of needle, stupid!  So that's the plan (and a not exposed zip either).  Watch this space for my first fully finished frock......

Flowered Up

Remember when a weekender meant something other than a bag....  distant memories indeed.  A little like the workshop run by Mandy at one of our first EMMQG meetings two years ago next month.  The plan was for us all to make an Amy Butler Weekender bag, guided by Mandy who had already bitten the bullet and made a lovely one.  I could only stay until lunchtime because Forest were playing at home that afternoon!  I managed to get some (but not all) of the pieces cut out before heading home to look after the wee man while his dad went off to the footie.  The bag pieces were packed in a box and shoved under the wardrobe.

About 6 months later, I sewed up one of the sides of the bag, added piping (really badly) and again it was all packed away.... out of sight, out of mind.

Last month, nearly two years since starting, I decided to pull out the box from under the wardrobe and finish the b*gger!  I was working on half memories of other people's experiences and working with some dodgy sewing done 18 months ago.  I mostly ignored the pattern instructions and decided to do a couple of things differently....

I put a zipped pocket on one side....

trust me, that pocket has a zip!

 I put a seam in the middle of the pocket on the other side....

honest guv!

I used leather handles that I've had for years, bought for some forgotten project, instead of the fabric ones.  I didn't put pockets at the ends of the zipper panel, just because.  And I kind of sewed the lining in as I went along, which kind of sort of worked....

didn't all go according to plan....

And after some focussed sewing days, I had a finished bag....

It's sooooooo not perfect but it's ok.  The whole experience did allow me to see how much better my sewing is now than then.  The bits I did two years ago annoy me a little because I would do them better now but still I am glad it's done. If I was a good girl, I would unpick some of it and redo but that ain't going to happen.  Made with some of my most precious MM fabrics, it is now my sewing machine bag and I love it!  AND it's finally off my flipping WIP list - woohoo!  I feel a little lighter :)

PS a little musical interlude for those of you in a nostalgic mood...now where did I put that smiley face t-shirt......?