Haberdashery yummy ness

I love haberdashery, I fact I'm obsessed, I have tons for sale in my little shop, ranging from fabric, needles, chalk and scissors I love it all 

I also love my tacky charity shop Bambi, well all things tacky really.

As well as buying haberdashery I've been sewing up some samples, I just love this little mermaid inspired top and skirt, I may have to make myself one ( in a much larger size)

As well as haberdashery and skirts I've been spending time with the bunnies, Darth Elvis has settled in brilliantly and he is really part of the family now, the only problem is that I now want more bunnies, how many is too many do you think?

Right I'm off to do some cross stitch, I've been doing a lot recently and I'm developing my own range of naughty and nice cross stitch kits which should be online very soon ( I hope ).

The first day of the 6 weeks from hell

Ok so we are not even half way through the first day but every time I sit down at my sewing machine my kids decide that they want to kill each other so I'm not going to stress, I'm going to sit here play referee and do a spot of blogging. 

Again I have been a very bad blogger, I just keep forgetting to update it. Also my laptop is broken so I'm not able to update my website which is a massive pain in the bum but I can still blog from my phone and as always I do my best to keep Facebook up to date. 

Lots has been going on over at the bunny base, we had two new additions in  the form of baby duck and queen bee our bunnies, unfortunately queen bee died under anaesthetic and we had to get another bunny quickly so that baby duck didn't get depressed. Along came darth bunny ( or as I like to call him Elvis ) 

I loved queen bee tons and darth will never replace her but we had to do the right thing for baby duck. 

He is very well behaved and he and baby duck get on really well.  ****phew****

On the sewing front things have been going well, I start my new job working for Stafford college in September it's only two evenings a week but I really cannot wait to get started, the course is 5 weeks long and a bargain at £42. You can sign up for it and get more info from the Stafford college website. 

I've also been expanding my fabric range to include fleece, calico and jersey. I still stock cotton and poly cotton and all the usual haberdashery as well as buttons, trims etc 

I'm going to try and post most days throughout the holidays so keep popping back. I'm also going to try putting up some free tutorials as soon as my laptop is fixed. 

Wow where did the time go?

Its that time of year again, I've been a bad blogger. I just can't seem to keep on top of it. Hey ho I'm here now and I've been up to loads. First off the sewing classes have taken off on a big way. I'm teaching all ages now and I love it. I did another patchwork cushion workshop on Saturday morning and then an apron workshop in the afternoon. I really do love teaching sewing, it's a valuable skill that should be taught in schools. It give you an amazing sence of achievement and you make some thing pretty too. Everyone seems to go away happy and enthusiastic so that's the main thing.

Patchwork cushions

Aprons

 The fabric side of the business is also doing well, I've expanded so now I have quite a few rolls and a bit of haberdashery too. My little studio looks a (very messy) shop. 

Sugar skull pin cushions 

Lots of lovely fabric

Sewing kits and FQ bundles

So if you would like some awesome fabric at a great price or you would like to learn to sew please visit my webpage. It has all of the information you need on workshops, lots of lovely photos and even a shop. It's 

www.beccibunnymakes.co.uk

Please pop by x

January dress challenge week 1

So it's January and I've started my dress challenge, I'm so rubbish at making things for myself so I've given it until the end of the month to complete it.....properly, no cutting corners! No bodjing it together at the last minute and definatly not ...just popping it in the WIPS basket never to be seen again! 

So I decided to make another pattern from the one I've purchased. There are three reasons for this,

1) I hope to make this dress many times in all different sizes for you lovely bunnies so I didn't want to cut the original pattern.

2) pattern paper rips by just looking at it! Honestly it's so damn thin, never drop any sort of liquid on it because it will dissapear before your very eyes! So I've used some nice sturdy dots and cross paper.

3) I'm often in between sizes, by making my own pattern I can add bits and tke them away making it the perfect fit for me. Although I was lucky this time, I was bang on with my measurements.

When you look at the back of a dress making envelope it may shock the hell out of you. It did me, according to simplicity I should be a UK size 20 ( not that there is anything wrong with that size) I know I'm not a 20 I'm a 16. Don't worry about it at all don't even look at the dress sizes go on the measurements and you will get a great fitting dress (hopefully). 

I like to read all of the instructions before I start.......just kidding, I don't do that but you really should it gives you a greater understanding of the pattern before you have even cut anything.

If it's a multi pattern read the instructions and I like to circle the pattern pieces in using so for example I'm making dress B so I need pattern pieces 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Ok now we can start.

I intended on taking lots of photos but me being forgetful it didn't happen so here is what I've got for you:-

My supplies

My dress pattern, a loooonnnng ruler, French curves ( not in the photo, helpful I know) a tape measure, a tracing wheel, dots and cross paper and a can of tescos own baked beans ( any can really but I love beans)

First of all I cut the relevant original pattern pieces out and put the rest away because I would only confuse myself other wise. Then All I did was weigh the pattern piece down with the can of beans and trace over all of the lines that corisponded to my measurements, in this case I made a size 18. I lined up the straight edge of the pattern piece along a line of dots and crosses on the paper, I went slowly and marked all of the lines carefully pressing down as I went so the tracing wheel pins marked the dots and cross paper underneath, mark everything! Circles, darts, notches, everything. Make sure you take your time and do it accurately because if you make a mistake on your pattern piece your finished dress will be way off.

*TOP TIP* gently iron your original pattern pieces on a low heat before you begin to make sure your measurements are bang on, I did not do this, I'm lazy it will probably serve me right when my dress is too small.

Mark your darts and pleats accurately. Once you have gone over your lines with the tracing wheel take your pen and go over them again so you can see them better. Check back to the original pattern piece from time to time to make sure you are getting all the info. I like to write the pattern number, size and any other info on my new pattern piece so for example the front bodice piece has the pattern number, the size, how many pieces I need to cut ( one lining and one outer fabric, both on the fold ) I also put any information about hem allowances and ease on to my new pattern piece because if I don't I will definatly forget and be all angry with myself for not doing it in the first place. Basically make an exact copy of the original pattern piece but in your size only.

Like this. 

Right so all of my pattern pieces are cut and I'm ready to cut my fabric. I will do it in the next few days.....promise, I'm not the authority on this by any means and there are tons of techniques but this is just the way I like to do it. It works for me. any questions feel free to message me or leave a comment.

Mwah ❤️ Bunny x

Lots of things going on but still no dress

Wow! January has been mega busy. I've had orders for all sorts including band patches, clothing and tons of hair bows. 

The one thing that surprised me was panties. I made a pair from a kit I brought from liberty's last time I was in London, I was surprised how easy they were to make and how much I lived making them. I posted a photo on my facebook page and Instagram and it went mental. Since then I think I've made about 80 pairs of panties, ranging from cute to kitsch, horror, geeky and even a bit kinky! Here are a few please excuse my big bum.

Spider-Man cotton panties with matching nipple pasties

BMovie horror panties.

Ouvert panties.

I'm running a knicker making workshop on Saturday 8th February visit the website for more details.

Another thing I have been doing is splitting the business in two. I now have beccibunnymakes.co.uk for all of the fabric, haberdashery and courses and zombunnydesigns.co.uk for all of the hair accessories, clothing and jewellery. I've been thinking about splitting it for a while now and one of my very talented friends designed me the logo for shits and giggles and I loved it so I took the step and split the business. It seems to be working real well so far so I will keep you all updated.

I've been teaching every weekend so I've not had time to update the dress making but I'm hoping to get some done on Sunday afternoon I'm also hoping to pin down some dates for a dressmaking courses so check back soon. 

New year, new projects

So in the new year I'd like to do more dress making. It's something I have done and can do fairly well if I have the time to sit and read patterns etc. I'm going to kick start this new bit of my business with making something for me. 

I'm going to use this awesome Cynthia Rowley dress pattern, I'm going to make the green version of the dress ( second one down) but maybe lengthen the skirt a bit. I might also give the jacket a go if I get time.

I'm going to make it from the day of the dead lightweight cotton and fully line it in black as it is a bit thinner than the other cottons I have. I think it will also make it feel more like a party dress and add fullness to the skirt, we will see. Once I've tried it out in cotton I'd like to have a go at denim, I haven't a clue how that will turn out, probably crap but I won't know untill I try ......right? 

I will be using my trusty dressmakers book to help me if I get stuck, it's not ever let me down yet. It's an brilliant book to have on hand incase you forget how to do something, it explains linings, inter linings, zips, pockets ( oooohhh pockets, there is an idea! My dress will now have pockets!) and tons of other stuff that you can't possibly cram in to your brain. So I'd recommend it.

I'm going to start by tracing the dress size as close to my own size on to dots and cross paper, then I can adjust it accordingly to get the best fit possible. I'm going to try and remember to document it and blog my progress but you all know what I'm like. Rubbish that's what. 

Anyway I'm going to do all of this during January ready to begin teaching a dress makers course in March so if you would be interested in signing up please get in touch via my website 

www.beccibunnymakes.com

Or facebook

www.facebook.com/Beccibunnymakes

The course will start off with the basics like pockets, seams and zips. You will produce samples of each and once you are happy you will make a mock up of your intended dress (I can't decide wether to provide you all with the same pattern and sew along together or  you can bring in your own pattern).

Once you are happy with the mock dress you can move on to your real dress and hopefully get it all finished. I might even organise a night out at the end if the course where we can all wear out dresses, Whadda ya think? I love the idea, any excuse for a party.

Right so step 1 will be deciding on my size and making a pattern. I'll let you know how I get on

Bunny x x x 

Lots of lovely leopard print

Leopard print features heavily in my life. I just love it! I even use it in my product photos. 

A lot! 

Jack and Sally hair bows available on my facebook page

Our lady of Guadalupe embroidery sampler also available to order.

I wear it a lot as well

I even have it on my glasses. It's just so retro and lush, it reminds me of Betty page. Although I would never ever ever wear a real leopard, it's all faux ( like you couldn't tell anyway)

Anyone else love leopard print?