Waistcoat all done!

Hi,

I hope you are all having a good week :)

My waistcoat that I was making in college is now all complete! As I mentioned a post or so ago, for our first project we had to make a men's waistcoat in any style we wanted, it also had to be decorated in some way.

Here was my design, which was inspired by comic book villains and gangsters:

The front sections interlock.

And then here is the back, my decoration was inspired by the glamorous girlfriends gangsters and villains often seem to have in the movies :p:

And now, after a few weeks work, here is my finished waistcoat, front and back:

   

Then here are some close ups/different angles:

 My machine and hand appliquéd hand motifs (the little xxx are hand embroidered):

Satin stitch hand embroidered kiss :):

It was hard to get the lapels so sharp (and the pocket flap points too!):

It was a fun and challenging project. I learnt so much as this was my first ever piece of menswear.  I am really proud of the result though :-) please do leave me any comments below- I would love to know what you think.

See you all again soon, when I will be announcing a special giveaway........!

Bye xxx

P.s. All images in this post are copyright to me (Jordan Norrington)

Happy Easter

Hillooo!

 

I hope all of you had a lovely long Easter weekend :)

 

I had a really great time with my family xxx As usual my dad did a fun Easter egg hunt for me and my brother, he really outdid himself and found tons of great stuff for it, here are all my goodies!!!:

 

 

I have finished one of the chocolate bunnies and lots of the little eggs already :p My mum got me an Easter egg too so I am well and truly spoiled with goodies! Thank you Mum and Dad!

 

This year I organised an egg hunt each for my parents too for a bit of fun :0) and to repay them for the years and years of fab Easter goodies :-)

Hehe, here is my dads pile of goodies (the Mars Easter egg is my dads from my mum :):

 

 

My pile makes my dads look tiny! but he and my mum said they  had a lot of fun doing my Easter egg hunt for them, my brother helped me hide all the stuff- he came up with tons of great hiding places!

 

For lunch we didn't have the usual Easter roast we had Pizza from Pizza GoGo instead, at my request as they have started doing a whole range of vegetarian Quorn pizzas!!! Which were delicious :P All the sides were tasty too, mmmm mozzarella sticks :) I definitely recommend it, in fact I think it has jumped to the top of  list as my favourite takeaway pizza (it was less greasy and salty- and very veggie friendly now!)

 

In other news this Easter Weekend I also finished my Kameez!:

 

 

 

 

I still may iron on a couple of flower motifs I picked  up at the creative stitches and hobbycrafts show down the centre back at the back neckline but I want to do some testing first to check it wont ruin  the fabric etc... But the sewing is all done :-) I am really pleased with how it came out- now I just have  to find the perfect occasion to wear it!

 

And my final  bit of news for this post- I have now begun my Elizabethan foundation garments in college (to go with my Elizabethan corset).

 

Here I my Wheel farthingale toile (tester), I also have a bum roll underneath this to support it:

 

 

And here was some test fabric draped over it so we could see the effect a skirt of the period would have on my foundation- so I could make any alterations to my foundations to get the right look:

 

 

I am reealllyy enjoying this module (as I do all of the really, but I do love me some Elizabethan costume!)

 

Hehe, I am off to get to bed now ready to wrestle with my 6m petticoat I am also making again tomorrow!

 

See you all soon, and don't forget to enter the spring giveaway which closes this Friday if you haven't already,

 

Thanks for reading :o)

 

Bye XxXxXxxXxX

Today is the start of something new :D

Hi everybody,

 

Today I finished the last ever of my A-level exams meaning I am done- finito- done, done, done, done, done!

 

It is a fabulous feeling as now the next chapter of my life can finally begin- what I worked so hard for- to go to university and study costume production; my dream career!

 

I have the holidays and several weeks and lots to do before I head off to do that but I am so happy as now I can really start the rest of my life :)

 

Hehehe, I was just so happy I wanted to share my thoughts with you all!

 

Thank you all for all of your lovely comments and reading my blog and everything as all of it really helped me through my Alevel/exam years being able to talk to all you fabulous people!

 

xoxoxoxoxox

 

See you all soon (when normal posting will resume- but with all the new stuff in my life included too :P),

 

Byeeeeeee XXX

 

My lovely class :)

Hello,

 

Today was my last ever day at 6th form (just my exams to go in a month and then I am off to uni!).....

 

...... and also my last ever day of the textiles club I run for the Year sevens at the school.

I have been running it for a few months and a lovely little group have been coming, we have made pin cushions, fabric flowers, ribbon flowers, stitched heart decorations and cards and I have had a really great teaching them :)

 

Today I brought some lollipops for them and we made stitched strawberries as our finale project. I was blown away though as they had got together and made me this fabulous card and bought me a sewing kit and scissors too, and some of them had made me extra little handmade gifts too!

 

Look, look, look!:

 

 

Hehehe, the strawberry on the keyring is what we were making today (if anyone wants a tutorial for the strawberries I could post one up- they are very easy- you can let me know :)

 

I have started using this pin cushion already :-)

 

The gifts and card are so amazing, I love them soo much- and my sweet little class :o)

 

The sewing kit will be coming to uni with me- I'm sure it will come in very handy as it seems to have everryyythinggg!

 

See you all soon- I feel emotional again!,

 

Bye xxx

Jubilee pin cushion, nans birthday present and naming a turkey!

Hi everyone,

On Tuesday I finished the last of my AS exams so since then I have had tons of lovely wonderful crafting time! :D I have got so much done, It's amazing how many hours there are in the day when they are not full of revision, hehehe :-)

I finished my Jubilee pin cushion:

I didn't add a message to the back in the end as I liked it just plain :)

I also managed to start this tote bag:

(Hehehe, you can see where I have had the embroidery circle! :P)

I stitched the bag using the sewing machine after cutting out the fabric using a cardboard template I made from using another bag I had as a guide. Now I am just stitching the flower design on the front and then I have to add the handles. I think I might stitch a little smiley face on the flower :)

I am making it for my nan as a present for her 70th birthday, I will keep you all updated on my progress! I hope my nan likes it when it is done :0)

Some of you were probably now wondering about the 'name a turkey' part of the title, well let me explain.....

Before my exams my mum said as a treat for working hard at the end of my exams I could have a little treat (she also bought me some more vegan marshmallows to munch on during my revision :). As many of you will know I am vegetarian and I also am often concerned on the welfare of animals in the food industry and one day when I was looking up what producers used free range eggs, out of interest, and by chance came across the site of a place called Hen Heaven (http://www.henheaven.org/). It is a sanctuary for rescued battery hens and turkeys. I thought the rescue work they did was brilliant and when I saw their name a turkey appeal I knew what I wanted my exam finishing gift to be!!!

I had great fun trying to think of a name and in the end came up with 'Lord Gobble Gobble' hehehe, I thought it sounded very regal! :0) Yesterday my mum paid and sent off the name I chose and hopefully I will get a certificate through the post  sometime soon :) One day maybe I may even vist little 'Lord Gobble Gobble' :0)

I am going to do some more stitching on my nans birthday gift and dream about all the cute little turkeys at Hen Heaven :) I hope you are all having a nice week,

See you soon!

Bye xxxxx

Summer bolero - finished!

Hello everyone,

I finished my bolero!!! :D I was so happy that it came out how I wanted that, despite the weather not being that great today, I donned my new bolero anyway (with a long sleeved top underneath though - it was much to cold for the vest top and shorts I planned to wear it with!) and set off on the canal boat trip, which was very fun (but rainy!)

Hehehe, here is me modelling it......

I am hoping it will get lots of wear over the summer :)

In other news I made one of my crochet crisp packet coasters for my driving instructor :-) Last lesson we were having a chat about recycling and my crafting and when I was saying about bags I have seen made from recycled packets and my crocheted crisp packet coasters and my instructor was intrigued on how textiles/crochet could be mixed with food wrappers, So I made her this one:

I hope she likes it, I get to give it to her tomorrow :0)

I hope you all had a nice weekend/bank holiday!

See you all soon,

Bye xxxXxxx

Quirky is Finished!

Hello everyone,

I am very happy as yesterday I completed Quirky, feathers, feet and all! Just in time for when we have some family friends coming on the 11th of December (my target day for finishing),

Here he is in all his turkey glory :0):

The feet were so fiddly but I got there in the end, I think this is the largest/most detailed toy project I have ever done.

 It is so amazing to look in the magazine at the picture and then look at Quirky and think; 'I didn't buy that I made it!'  That is why I love making things :D

Quirky has lots to do this Christmas, he is the centrepiece on the 11th, guest of honor at my nans on Christmas eve, centrepiece again at mine on Christmas day and he is also celebrating New Years eve with us all too, he is ready for it though with his party hat and blower! Lol :0D

See you all again very soon,

Bye! xxxXxxx