A life in lists

A Handmade Wedding, part 6: A Shirt of the Negroni variety

 

 

Wedding photo by Simon Fazackarley, detail photos by me (which is why they're not as good).

I think this may be my proudest wedding accomplishment. And if you don't think it is, I suggest you try sewing a men's shirt from scratch (including pattern adjustments such as drafting a collar stand and collar and double cuffs) on approximately 12 seconds of sleep a night for three months straight.

I suggested the idea of a Liberty print fairly early on in wedding planning proceedings and, amazingly, Adam was totally up for it. In an ideal world I'd have found some boat-themed Liberty print (Adam is a yacht design engineer type person), but I thought the planes came a close second!

He got lots of compliments for the shirt (from people who didn't know it was handmade. hooray!) and has worn it a handful of times since, so I'm calling it an unequivocal success.

Project notes - Adam's Negroni wedding shirt

1. The pattern was Negroni by Colette Patterns. It's a great pattern with lots of little finish details so it looks like a 'proper' shirt. I am now reasonably competent at flat felled seams, perfect point turning (owning a point turner and knowing how to use it really does make a difference!) and sleeve plackets.
2. The fabric is 'Tom's Jets' tana lawn from Liberty of London. I love it more than I like to admit. It's pretty hard to get hold of, but occasional bits are making their way into the scrap bags I sometimes sell in my Etsy store.
3. I made a muslin of Negroni a month or so before the wedding, and it quickly became apparent that a few of the styling details weren't for us. The open neck (camp collar? Is that what's it's called? Something like that) wasn't right on Adam, and he prefers a shirt with double cuffs (the kind that need cufflinks) rather than narrow button cuffs. Also, the interfaced front facings were far too stiff even with the lightest interfacing I could lay my hands on, so I scrapped that interfacing altogether and made a more traditional button placket (the kind you'll see on most shop bought shirts if you look down).
4. The print is directional. My failure to notice this point when cutting the first two pieces is the main reason for the scraps mentioned above. Let's not dwell on that.
5. I found the Negroni sew-along posts on Male Pattern Boldness absolutely invaluable for both muslin and final shirt (even though the pattern instructions are thorough, extra pictures and explanations never hurt), and used Peter's tutorials for replacing the button placket and drafting and sewing a collar stand and collar (scroll down the sew along posts to find the various tutorials). In order to make the whole experience even more exciting, I didn't make a second muslin with the new collar, just ploughed on with it in the final fabric. Risky, but essential, given the lack of spare time for sewing in the run up to the wedding.
6. I wouldn't necessarily rush to sew this pattern again, but that's purely because of the sheer hours of labour involved rather than a problem with the pattern. The end result is absolutely fantastic, and I'd definitely consider making Adam another shirt for a seriously special occasion (like, ummm, our golden wedding anniversary?). The next complex pattern I sew is going to benefit yours truly.
7. The shirt has also stood up to washing a handful of times without even the smallest hint of wear. Always pleasing when that happens, as it makes all the fiddly finishing details and expensive fabric seem worthwhile  - nothing more irritating than a beautiful handmade garment that frays and wears in a couple of wearings.

Umm. That's it really. Did I mention I'm rather proud of this project?

A Handmade Wedding, part 5: Paperwork

Pretty much everything for the wedding that involved a font was made single-handed by my sister Charlotte. She designed the save-the-dates, the invitations (which I've just realised I have never blogged and don't have a photo of. Must try to snap one at some point).

She designed them all in a simple graphics program she has (I'll ask her what it was an update) using some free downloaded fonts, and we printed them on recycled white card.

The guestbook table sign was polished off with an Ikea frame, the camera sign laminated (to help it survive being inspected countless times over the course of the day) and the jam jar sign was just printed on an A5 sheet and folded in half. Oh, and if you're wondering about the 'guestbook' being a stack of 6"x4" cards, we're planning on interspersing the cards and pictures from the photo booth with the photographer's pictures in one bit album, rather than having everything all stiff and formal and separate.

The jam jar labels themselves were printed on self adhesive address labels - there were about five types of jam, so Charlotte had lots of fun making the words fit.

I really loved the vintage carnival/circus type fonts that she found (there were circus images on the signs for the mens and ladies toilets, but I can't find a photo of them. I'll add one when I get a chance).

ETA: the program is Photo Impact by Corel.

A Handmade Wedding, part 4: Toddler outfit

Photos courtesy of various guests.

Right. The rest of the handmade stuff. I'm splitting this into a few posts for the sake of my (and your) sanity. First up, the toddler outfit (am I allowed to call him a toddler still? He'll be three in September. Preschooler maybe).

I was rather pleased with it. I only made it about 10 days before the wedding, as Teddy seems to have been in one long growth spurt since about March, so if I'd made it much more in advance there was some danger he'd have grown out of it before it was needed.

He got lots of compliments for his outfit, and I didn't get even slightly bored of saying, "oh, I made it" when people asked where it was from. I may actually never get bored of saying that, which probably makes me insufferably smug and irritating. But I'm cool with that.

Anyway, project notes.

Project notes - Teddy's wedding trousers

• The pattern is Dapper Dillingers (in my head they have become the Dappy Dillingers, for some reason) from Figgy's. If you're looking for a UK stockist I wholeheartedly recommend Backstitch - I had great service and speedy delivery. 
• I made a practise run in age 4-5 from some cream twill (which I bought about 18 months ago to make dungarees. Ahem) a few weeks before the wedding. It turned out rather enormous - Teddy is tall (and chubby), so I automatically make the next size up in most patterns, but in this case the age 2-3 size was big enough for him aged 2 and 7 months. Possibly the fact that the next size was intended to be suitable for five year olds should have given me a hint here. On the upside, the cream pair will fit for a year or so. The downside was having to re-trace the pattern in a smaller size
• I love love love this pattern. Lots of room even for bottoms still needing nappies, nice wide legs, and a thick waistband, so no digging in. They just look comfy. In fact, I rather like the look of most of the patterns at Figgy's, especially this pinafore dress (someone needs to have a girl!). There are a few versions of it in the Figgy's Flickr group.
• The pattern was also pretty easy to follow. I got a little confused on the trouser hems, and I'm not entirely sure I did them correctly, but they did the trick. Also I struggled both times with the waistband facing - the front panel of waistband facing was just a fraction of an inch short in both versions I made. However, I'm fairly lax about following instructions when sewing, so it's entirely possible that it's my fault.
• The fabric was the same neutral striped linen that I used for my handbag - I had some left over and got an extra metre on clearance at my local fabric shop. The bag is still going strong, so I'm hoping the trousers will last a while too. The waistband facing and pocket lining is made from Liberty print, the same as Adam's shirt (post on that coming soon, but there are pictures in yesterday's post to keep you going for now). The total cost of this outfit was about £14, most of which was on the Liberty print, which is nicely in keeping with our budget wedding.
• I can see this becoming my go-to trouser pattern for Teddy. Not least because I have it traced in two sizes and I know it fits. I can also see it working well in a few difference weights of fabric, although I guess I've missed the boat on using the nice grey striped linen I bought with another pair of summer trousers in mind. Maybe next year.

Project notes - Teddy's wedding waistcoat

• The pattern is an Ottobre one, issue 3/2010 (Summer). I'd like to take a moment to suggest that if you're ever planning on tracing one of those notoriously confusing Ottobre pattern sheets (scroll down for an image) that you do it on somewhat more than eight seconds sleep every night for the past three months. I managed it, but the language wasn't pretty.
• I should have trusted my measurements more. When I measured Teddy's upper body it came out as a larger measurement than would be expected for his height, if you know what I mean (in Ottobre terms, it meant the length corresponded to the 104cm height measurements, whereas the rest of his measurements corresponded to size 98cm). I should have trusted my measurement, but figured I must be being a bit generous, so didn't add as much length to the waistcoat as the measurement suggested (I did add a bit though). It was fine, but definitely would have benefited from an inch or two more length. I suppose it would have helped if we'd ever got round to tucking in his t-shirt too.
• I really liked this waistcoat, and was impressed with how straightforward the construction was. Ottobre patterns don't come with much in the way of instructions, but if you have some idea about garment construction and take care to think it through for a few moments before each step, their garments all seem to come together reasonably efficiently and very accurately.
• The linen was that striped linen again, and the back was made from a Liberty print called Eliza's Owls, which I love. it added a little fun kick to the outfit - I am always alarmed by kids in excessively formal clothes, and really didn't want Teddy looking so stiff and formal and smart that I didn't feel he could play with other kids. I think it worked out pretty well
• On the off chance I ever need to make another child's waistcoat, I'll definitely use this pattern. I love the little collar, somehow makes it all a bit more cool and casual.
• Oh, and the buttons were some vintage mother of pearl ones from my bottomless button jar. 

A Handmade Wedding, part 3: pictures

I wasn't planning to inundate you with pictures of the wedding, but our wonderful photographer did such a good job that I just can't resisting sharing hundreds a few.

I'll focus on a few more of the handmade details in the coming days, now that I've got decent pictures to illustrate them. And then I promise not to mention the W word again. For a while.

Awesome.

All images by Simon Fazackarley.

A Handmade Wedding, part 2: The photo booth

My bro'. And my bouquet.

The photo booth was brilliant.

I came across the idea of a picture frame wall on Pinterest (I think), and followed the link to Ruffled to get more details. Adam took one look at the picture and knew exactly what to do. He bought a piece of MDF from work (the advantages of working at a boatyard), wallpapered it, added coving and skirting (the cheapest available from Homebase, our nearest DIY store. I think it was made from polystyrene). We were planning on buying a frame from a charity shop, but Adam had the inspired idea of spray painting more of the polystyrene coving and making a frame from it - much cheaper, and really easy to transport.

I think it had some wooden legs at the back, but it was also anchored by guy ropes threaded through holes in the top corners. I was so impressed when I saw the finished wall - it pays to marry a man with DIY skills!

I think the idea of a photo booth at a wedding is not uncomman in the States, but certainly not a regular wedding feature in the UK. If you're planning a wedding, I cannot recommend one highly enough - much more fun than disposable cameras on the table, and probably cheaper, assuming you have a spare camera kicking around to take the pictures. Our caterer was so struck with the idea that she's borrowed the wall for her son's wedding in a couple of months - it's lovely to think of it getting a bit more use!

We had originally planned to set wall and camera up outside, but since it poured with rain all morning we improvised, folding away the canvas in one corner of the tent and setting it up just inside, right next to the guestbook table. It actually worked pretty well, as people signed the guestbook and then were able to immediately take a picture of themselves.

Mummy, me and my sister Charlotte. I am not that much taller than them, and they both had heels on as well. Weird.

We had something like 250 shots in the end (some rather less sober than others), and Charlotte is in the process of editing them so they can go into the wedding album (which will also contain our guestbook messages. More on the wedding album once the photographer's pictures are back).

Matin (Charlotte's boyfriend) and Teddy. Teddy is somewhat in love with him. More on Teddy's outfit in another post.

I hope these little wedding features aren't too boring, because there are a heck of a lot more to come in the next few weeks!

A Handmade Wedding, part 1, or, Something blue

I had originally planned on having a coloured dress, but in the event the best option was a variation on the theme of ivory (don't worry, I'll show you a picture one day soon). So, naturally, I had to add colour everywhere I could, and the first stop was shoes.

I contemplated a pair of Irregular Choice shoes (I particularly like these and these), but in the end my sister (my shopping companion for pretty much everything wedding-related) and I decided that simple was better. And swiftly discovered that it is impossible to buy a pair of simple shoes in a cool colour. Instead of compromising with plain old bridal, we turned these:

Source: schuh.co.uk via Jo @ a life in lists on Pinterest

 

and this:

Source: google.co.uk via Jo @ a life in lists on Pinterest

 

Into these:

Cool, no? They seriously couldn't have turned out any better. I wish I'd thought to take some photos while we were dyeing them but (a) it was at about 10pm, so the light wasn't exactly perfect and (b) I was panicking about ruining some not-entirely-budget shoes, so photography wasn't exactly top of my list of priorities!

I Googled for some tutorials for dyeing shoes, but everything I read kept going on about sponging or painting the dye on to avoid dyeing the inside. I figured that sponging was reasonably likely to come out blotchy, and I didn't care about the inside being dyed, so I opted for the rather less tried and tested method (henceforth known as the Patented Jo Technique) of 'drop them in a bucket of dye'. I warmed a large pan of water on the hob (I used an old maslin pan - a jam making pan. I have three, so was prepared to sacrifice one, but in the end it came perfectly clean after the dyeing was over), dropped in the dye (mixed in a jug of water first, to make sure it was properly dissolved) and the salt, and plopped the shoes in. For about 20 minutes I swooshed them round and rubbed them a bit to make sure that the entire shoe was covered evenly (I had to keep turning them as my enormous shoe size meant that the entire shoe wouldn't fit in at once. I did put both in at the same time to ensure that they spent equal time in the dye though), then rinsed them under the cold tap until the water ran clear and left them on a bit of newspaper to dry. Perfect!

I have absolutely no idea what the fabric content of the shoes was, and was prepared for it not to take the dye terribly well (I figured pale blue shoes would still be pretty), but it went exactly as I was hoping, and I was left with beautiful aqua shoes for my wedding day!

 It actually didn't occur to me until someone mentioned it that my shoes could stand in as a 'something blue' (we're not exactly traditionalists - I'm sure I could think of something old, new and borrowed if I had to as well).

I'm planning on working my way through the various handmade details of the wedding eventually, but I'm going to do it here and there in among other posts (I am already plotting my return to Farmer's Wifedom), since I'm currently stealing pictures from various friends and relatives until we get the 'proper' photos from our lovely photographer. I'm keeping fingers crossed that he managed to capture all the handmade details of the day!

Flying the flag

   

Well, the bunting.

We have a 40'x40' marquee for the wedding. Most of the internal decoration will be in the form of bunting. I am determinedly not doing the maths, but I feel sure that's a lot of bunting.

Every flag is sewn and turned rather than just cut with pinking shears, so the bunting is double sided. I also made all the bias tape after working out the cost of even 50 feet of the stuff. It's made from some £1 a metre curtain lining seconds fabric that I bought a while back for muslin making.

I'm loving all the hand making for the wedding (even if I would like to be doing it all on a little more sleep than I'm currently getting), but the rest of the planning is wearing a little thin now. You know those women that have such fun planning their own weddings that they decide to become wedding planners? I am to those women what fish are to knitting.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and have a small crockery related meltdown.

Also, please try not to look at my not-entirely-pristine workroom.

Also, after much tweet advice from my lovely online friends, I have decided to place the bunting flags a little further apart for the next lot. I think it will make the whole thing a little flutterier (that's a word) and make my flags go a little bit further.

Also, this is my 400th post. Woopee!

Pinwheeling

 

Lest you think I've forgotten all about our wedding (5 weeks! Eek!), I thought I'd give you a peek of one or two of the handmade preparations over the next few days. First up, pinwheels.

I've long been attracted to the idea of pinwheels as a bit of a theme for the wedding. They seem to kind of encompass the light hearted garden party/carnival/summer theme we have going on. Most of these ones will end up as buttonholes, I think (although I'm still playing with colours to get the perfect combinations), but I'm constantly playing with new ideas to use them as wedding decorations. Pinwheel bouquet, anyone? I think I'll probably go wild and make some paper ones for table decorations too, as we're not having very much in the way of flowers (the marquee will be in the middle of a beautiful garden, so adding a load of flowers seemed a little pointless and expensive).

These pinwheels were super easy to make (I might do a quick tutorial at some point) and customise to the colours of the wedding. Picking the perfect vintage button to match each pinwheel took rather longer than it should have - I had such fun rifling through my tins of vintage buttons each time!

I ordered the felt from Laura of Lupin Handmade -she sells felt in just about every colour under the sun, and helpfully supplies a printed shade card template so you can keep track of the colours you've ordered. I've 'known' Laura on Twitter for a while, and it was lovely to finally have a reason to purchase from her. I'm getting a teeny insight into the addictive world of sewing with felt (cute colours! No seam finishing!) and foresee more felty projects in my future.

I hear there's some wedding today...

I'm not exactly a militant royalist, but I do have a bit of a soft spot for the Royal Family. We're not planning anything spectacular, but I expect Teddy will wear his (slightly alarming, eyeball-heavy) crown and accompanying handmade Union Flag (the construction of which went much more smoothly once he stopped trying to drink blue paint through the drinking straw flagpole. Oh, and it's a Union Flag, not a Union Jack, because it's only a Jack if it's flown from the jack mast of a ship. Or so Adam says. Wikipedia doesn't really mind which one you use. Do you think this is the longest parenthesis ever?). I'll probably alternate between envying and criticising Kate's dress (double standards? Me? Yup, totally), and Adam will sit looking serious and pretending (unsuccessfully) not to be moved when they say their vows. Cake will probably be involved at some point during the day.

Of course, far more  importantly today (admittedly possibly not to the other one billion people glued to their screens), Jasper is exactly one month old. How on earth did that happen? I alternate between trying to remember a time when he wasn't a part of our family, and feeling like we came home from hospital with him only yesterday. He's still feeding an astonishing amount (I haven't timed the gap between feeds, but suffice to say he's usually ready for the next one by the time I've nipped to the bathroom/made a cup of tea/washed my face/insert other pitifully brief task here), but is the most contended, cuddly little thing, so I'm not complaining.

In other, slightly-less-royal wedding news, we picked up our wedding rings the other day! They are absolutely stunning, and I'm so excited to have another fabulous piece of jewellery  from Sophie. Wedding planning is slowly progressing, and I am determinedly not panicking about how much is left to do.

Actually sewing

I can't really believe it (last time I gave birth think I'd just about managed to crawl out of bed by day 10), but the past couple of days I've actually managed to not only get dressed before 3pm, but also snatch a few minutes here and there in my workroom. Needless to say, those minutes have been spent with Jasper peacefully cuddled against me in the sling, while Teddy naps/plays with Adam/presses the pedal on my sewing machine (not too risky when only sewing straight lines). I'm making the most of these opportunities, as I know they'll be few and far between once Adam goes back to work next week. Nice while it lasts though.

And before you wonder if I'm some kind of mad woman who doesn't want to actually appreciate her newborn for five minutes before attempting to get back into the real world, please be reassured that we are spending many hours admiring Jasper from every angle, and I wouldn't dream of being in my workroom at this stage if he wasn't fast asleep right there with me. Also, you know, sitting down feeding all day (whisper this bit) can sometimes get a bit boring and you'll desperately want to get up and do something. And it makes for a sore behind.

The projects, incidentally, are bibs (I'm slowly working my way up to a semi-sensible quantity of stock for my handmade organic baby goodies venture) and bunting (for the wedding). There's something pleasingly meditative about cutting and sewing stacks of identical simple shapes. Plus it's about all my brain is up to at the moment. Jasper is very civilised, as newborns go, but even the very finest of newborns need a lot of night feeds.