Me and my Lomo

So, remember my Diana F+ I recently bought, well the first roll is back. Safe to say this is a hard craft to learn! These were shot using 120 slide film, 800 ISO

Here's my Mum, sewing on our day of fun...

Turns out she had exactly the same camera as a girl! Shame it turned out so blurry, I'm surprised but guess my settings might have been off. Definitely no flash used.

This is a trippy shot, looks like it belongs in a horror film. Turns out there's a sticker that needs to be peeled across to prevent the film from unwinding... Whoops! Is there anyone who can help me figure out what this once showed?

Gifts for placement

I've been a little quiet recently, just so busy and so tired. I've been getting ready to leave my latest placement, and have had a little make before going to say thanks for the great time I had there. The team are relocating to a new base, although they still don't know where. Anyway, I made this little cushion as a leaving gift and bought a couple of things from Dunelm Mill to match - a lamp and some pot pourri. Hopefully it'll cheer up the place!

 

Apologies the photo isn't up to much - it's the best I could do in the NHS on my camera phone this morning!

Stitch and Craft

This weekend I had a wonderful time in London. It all started off at the Stitch and Craft fair, a pretty big exhibition at Kensington Olympia. There was so much I had never considered - forms of wool, felting, cotton.... The list was endless! I'm limiting my skill development to clothes making so far as there's only so much time, what with working and studying, but I confess to being tempted... Came away with some fabric and buttons that you'll see at some point!

The quilting exhibition was outstanding, these were some of my favourites - the detail was just lovely! There was quite a theme of Union Jacks and the Olympics this year!

 

I'm definitely going on a weekday next year though - it was SO busy! I couldn't attend any of the workshops because they were full, and it was a real squeeze getting around. The food area was chaos (or like a refugee camp as someone said!)

After that I caved in and picked up a new camera... A Diana F+ from Lomography. I can't believe I forked out the cash but I just love the effects it gives... Expect a few dreamlike pictures on the site in a little while, as well as the digital shots I normally have on here!

Next project!

Well I'm close to completing my latest dress, but waiting on a zip to arrive. Pictures will of course come later.

In the meantime I'm making some plans for a beautiful fabric my Mum picked up from John Lewis. It's from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow collection, and was in the sale at £5 p/m. As soon as I got my hands on it I decided I wanted to make a shirtdress, the geometric shapes just seem to suit that crisp look.

On reflection though shirtdresses may not be my style, given that I've never had a shirt dress, and struggled to find a pattern I liked. After an evening of browsing I came across this Diamond housedress on Decades of Style. Isn't it cute? Decades of Style seem to take vintage patterns and redraw them, meaning that you work with a new version. That really appeals to me as I'm not as careful as I could be when cutting and I'd hate the idea of damaging a piece of history that should be treasured. Rather than lots of buttons it seems to close using a really long zip, which though unusual, I quite like.

This was their own version of it, which has got too much going on in it for my taste, but I'm hoping that a plain blue contrast fabric will look tasteful with my fabric. I really love the flair from the hips, and the details around the waist. They remind me of those cut out swimsuits which can help emphasise your shape. It's quite long, so I'm hoping to alter the length to just below the knee, which would mean I might get away with my 2.8m length.

While I was there I may have also sneakily picked up another pattern to make the postage per item less crazily expensive! It's a 1940s blouse that I don't plan to make up for quite some time... Hopefully!