Author: christinahopgood

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The Great British Sewing Bee Series 2 Episode 3 – Knits!

christinahopgood
I am really enjoying this series of the Great British Sewing Bee.  It seems better structured than the first series – and also it has more episodes!  Always a win.
Episode three of this series was on working with knit or stretch fabric.  This is something lots of sewers find a bit challenging! I’ve been trying to work with knits a bit, making underpants and a few other knit things (post to come!).

The first challenge – the “pattern” challenge – was to make a pair of leggings to fit the mannequin.  Different fabrics produce a different amount of stretch, so the contestents had to be sure to measure accurately and adjust the pattern accordingly.

The creative challenge was to take a large men’s plain t-shirt and make it into something different!  I always love to think of what I’d make in this challenge.  This time I would have made a pair of underpants and maybe a singlet if possible!  That’s certainly a big change to the t-shirt!

The fitting challenge was to make a wrap dress to fit the models.  Some of these dresses were absolutely gorgeous, things I’d like to wear!

This is such a great program – even my husband Charles looks forward to it each week.  I’m naughty and download it but I think in some countries you can watch it on youtube (not available here).

Not much of a review today but I recommend you get into this show!!

dress, fail, sewing

Self-drafted bodice dress

christinahopgood
So I have been really enjoying Dolly Clackett’s blog – her dresses are always made of gorgeous fabric, with a fitted bodice and full skirt.  I wanted one too!
First I made myself and Elisalex bodice to see if it would fit – and – it didn’t.  Not at all!  The shoulders fell off, the bust was baggy, it was AWFUL.  So I drafted a bodice for myself using a book I had.  The book is from the 60s and has errors in it!  Annoying!
I traced the neckline of the Elisalex dress and combined it with my own bodice block.  It still didn’t turn out that well!  I feel as though it’s baggy in some places and tight in others and I’m not sure what to do next.  The skirt is just a box-pleated rectangle, and I edged it with some broderie anglaise.
This dress does look ok with a petticoat, cardigan, and heels.
I also put in a waistband, which may have been my main mistake.  It looks like it made the bodice too long for my body.
It does have one pocket!  Just one.  WHY.
Bias binding armholes – yes this is an armhole not some random body part.
My “invisible” zip – gosh I suck at them.
Ummm thanks for looking?  It’s a weird dress and I’m not sure whether I’ll wear it.  Failure is the first step on the road to success, or something.
I’m going to enter this dress in the Sew Dolly Clackett competition but I have very very low hopes for winning!  But as they say, you’ve got to be in it to win it.
bendigo woolen mills, jumper

Completed – Chuck jumper!

christinahopgood
I’ve made another lovely jumper!

It took me a little while to get gauge on this top, the pattern says 5mm needles but the gauge was totally huge.  4.5 wasn’t much better, so I went with 4mm.  Two whole needle sizes down!  I was a little worried while knitting, because whenever I showed anyone they said “Oh it’s so small!”.  But it turned out perfect.
This pattern features exciting cables down the front.  I hadn’t done cables like this before but the pattern has detailed instructions.  Once I got going it was fine!
Another nice thing about this pattern, is that you only need one needle size.  The ribbing is all knit on the same size needle, and it doesn’t gape or anything.
The wool is from Bendigo Woolen Mills as usual, and I’m using the Luxury wool.  It’s barely itchy at all, which is something that usually bothers me.  My Milena was knitted with their Classic wool, which is much itchier (I’m thinking of lining the arms to help – blog post to come if I do).
The sleeve caps are shaped with short rows, which are way easier than I thought.  Gives a nice neat effect too.  I made my sleeves full length instead of 3/4 because I don’t have many 3/4 length blouses to wear with it.
So yes, very happy with this jumper.  In these photos it looks like the sides are wrinkling but I don’t think it’s a problem.  I just needed to pull it down!

Now I’m knitting a jumper for my lovely husband Charles!  It’s my first time knitting fair isle, so stay tuned for that!!
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The Great British Sewing Bee Series 2, EPISODE 2!

christinahopgood
The theme for the second episode of the Great British Sewing Bee was … patterned fabric!  Honestly, this episode was terrifying.  I’ve never matched patterns before!  I generally go for plain fabric, or fabric without a clear pattern repeat.
The first challenge was the pattern challenge, where the contestants had to make a box pleated skirt to a pattern, with patterned fabric matching across all the pleats.  This was scary – contestants found that the pleats were not always the right depth for the pattern to continue uninterrupted across the top of the pleat.  So some of them decided to alter the depth of the pleat to keep the pattern across the top.  This resulted in some smaller skirts!!  Here are some patterns like those that were used on the show:
A damask similar to this was beautifully matched.
The other wasn’t quite like this but similar.  

Challenge 2 was a mens shirt creativity challenge.  They were all given two mens shirts and told to be creative!  I would have made a dress, keeping the collar around the neck.  There were a couple of gorgeous toddler dresses made!!  There were also some awful transformations, without giving anything away.

Challenge 3 was making a pair of mens pyjamas for a model!  Everyone had to use patterned fabric, of course.  The most crazy fabric I saw was a newsprint fabric!  It was a nice segment to look at, and it made Charles really want some new pyjamas.

I really love this show – the contestants are all lovely, talented, and interesting.  My favourite is Heather, mostly because she has a mug that says “Posh Totty”.  She’s also very entertaining – “I want to drown in a bucket of gin!”  So get onto it!  Watch this show!
food, recipe

Recipe – Christina’s Chicken and Veggie Get-Well Soup

christinahopgood
I was talking to my brother on the phone (who is a great chef at a well known restaurant) and saying how I wanted a recipe for a nice chicken and vegetable soup.  I said “I want it to have celery, carrots, potatoes, and corn…” and he said “You don’t need a recipe, just make a soup with that!”


Tonight we dined on the most filling, hearty, tasty, and healthy home made soup.  It makes enough for 8 serves, so we have 3 boxes of soup in the freezer for next time!


Ingredients (everything chopped to your liking): 


3 chicken breasts
1 packet of bacon (3-4 rashers)


3 large carrots
1 huge onion
5 – 6 stalks of celery (I really like celery)
2 large potatoes or 4 small (I used two medium-large and one small)
1-2 large corn cobs or two small tins of corn kernels (corn is quite sweet so this alters the flavour quite a bit)
a whole lot of kale/spinach/silverbeet
1 cup pearl barley
500ml chicken stock
500ml vegetable stock
herbs – whatever tickles your fancy. I used tarragon and rosemary I think.


Firstly fry your bacon a bit.  It doesn’t need to be super crunchy, just cooked a little.  Now add in all the things except the kale, mix, and cook it up!  We used a pressure cooker set to high pressure for 30 minutes, and then put the kale in last.  If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just put it in a large pot and simmer for a couple of hours.  I recommend getting a pressure cooker though!


When it’s done you might need to add some water to thin it out, I added about 2 cups and brought it back to a boil.  Eat with a bit of buttered toast for pure luxury!


Enjoy!