frustrating sewing day

After last weekend's excess, decided to have a quiet one this w/e and stay at home concentrating on my sewing.  However yesterday was somewhat frustrating, so near and yet so far, having real problems finishing off my oriental jacket.  Probably the first time I have ever been on the verge of tears from sewing, as I couldn't get my head round what to do and was worried about messing it all up. :-(
Lesson learned - fabric given as birthday present equals far too much pressure!

Anyway, I have nearly come to the end, barring a couple of dilemmas:


Fastenings / trimming - the original plan was to have a black venice lace trim down the front and around the collar (yes, that might sound odd but it was inspired by a cheongsam dress at the V&A with the same thing) and then frog fastenings.
Now undecided about the black lace trim and also the frog fastenings won't work with the style of closure, making them off centre from the collar.  The pattern suggests fabric covered buttons but I want something to contrast the fabric, given that I have the contrasting brown bias binding on the sleeves.

More seriously - can't get the bloody hem to work! :-(  the pattern instructions were awful and I couldn't work out how to hem the back pleat.  However, finally got there (I think!) but then i pinned the lining hem in place against the main fabric..... looks fine hanging up (as you can see here) but as soon as I wear it the fabric gets all bunched up around the bottom edge.  Can't work out where on earth the lining is meant to be pinned to and the instructions are useless.

In the end, decided to put the jacket on hold and will take it back to Cardiff at the weekend to ask my mum for help!

In the meanwhile, here are some progress pics.  On the plus side, really happy with how the sleeves worked out, especially as i drafted them myself!

( progress pics )

Next project to tackle is my military victorian jacket, although currently suffering a slight crisis of confidence following this weekend's stress. :-(

other weekend activites

The rest of the weekend was somewhat more successful. :-)

Friday night went to the V&A with Audrey, Leanna and her other half Simon, for the Cult of Beauty Exhibition.  Somehow we spent nearly two hours in there!  Stunningly beautiful exhibition, well set up and with lots of gorgeous paintings (although a bit too heavy on Whistler IMO).  One of those exhibitions which is pure eye-candy, no moral or intellectual lesson to be learnt, just pure enjoyment.
the V&A was lovely on a regular Friday night too, not as over crowded as the Lates events are and the courtyard garden is stunning when lit up at night.


Today, the sun was shining again and I needed a break from sewing.  So we decided to pop into Camden and then onto the Alternative Bring & Buy.
We aimed for Camden early, plan being to see if the shoe shop was still there which had a limited range of Buffalos, sadly not.  A quick stroll down the high street and we'd had enough of tourists already, so we went to the Lloyds bar by the canal for a quick drink in the sun - 11.30am a bit early for a scrumpy maybe? ;-)
Refreshed we popped into the Stables Market and soon came across the new Collectif store.  As usual a lovely range of 50's dresses at fab prices but I was able to restrain myself with the excuse that I was wearing a dress, so trying stuff on would be tricky.  But then I found their little steampunk range :-)  edwardian style jackets/blouses reduced to £10 each!  Of course at that price, despite my current lack of wardrobe space, I knew I would regret not buying them so i got one of each style. :-)

Shopped out, we headed up to the Bring & Buy.  Didn't buy anything, other than cakes, but had a good couple of hours socialising before heading home.

My shopping spree continued at home however.  A quick browse on ebay brought up a new entry of a pair of Buffaloes, identical to my old ones, brand new and at the Buy it Now price of £50!!  Decided that was a better option than risking the other pair I was currently watching on auction, so went for it and another big purchase was made. :-)