A "sew sew" week!

I've been rather distracted this week.  Well, to be fair, I did work all weekend, and I have had a rotten cold, and I do have lots n lots of market stock and no huge commissions outstanding, so I thought I'd earned a bit of time to indulge myself.  

I've been attending a sewing class for the past few weeks and one of the things I particularly wanted to do was make a pattern for a dress that fits me, as opposed to using a commercial pattern.  So with help from the teacher I made a paper pattern from a dress I already own and made it up in calico.  Lots of adjustments were needed, then I made another calico version - and finally I got my hands on some wine coloured needlecord and made my first pinafore dress.  

I learnt how to add darts and how to make and apply bias binding, and I finished it all off with some sweet little lined patch pockets.  Its not perfect but I learnt loads, I have ideas for a couple of little tweaks (more fabric on its way!) and, as you can tell by its general crumpledness, I've worn it for the last two days!

For a little light relief during the final stages of the pinafore, I did use a commercial pattern, New Look 6803, to make this dress, which I then took along to class for advice on correcting the fit around the neckline.  A couple of extra tucks was all it needed and now I love it.  

Just look at the delicious pattern, like little murrini flowers - beady inspiration is everywhere!

Another thing I've been wanting to get to grips with in my class is inserting zips, and after a couple of goes I made the pouch in the first photo to keep all my sewing bits n bobs in.  Its a bit "floppy" so I might try again, but that zip is (almost) perfect!  I used a pdf pattern from u-handbag.com, but I wanted it big enough for my scissors so I got the original pattern photocopied 50% larger.  I found the tutorial a little tricky to use because the photos don't line up with the written steps, so there was much rifling through pages and muttering going on!

Here's a little bit of glassy eye candy to finish with.  A pair of beautiful "by george, it's Lush!" fibula pins.

And some light pulls.  The black and white one is so sweet!

I'm selling at Moseley Arts Market tomorrow, its meant to be an extra special market as it coincides with the Christmas lights switch-on.  I'm very worried about the weather though, we might get rained off or blown away!