Dr Who Knitting Needle Roll (Dr Who Swap Round 4)

this is the Dr Who knitting needle holder I made for the Craftster Dr Who Swap (round 4) here's the other side:

all wrapped up:

and a close up of the embroidery detail on the hoop:

It was really simple, I kinda looked at this tutorial by lupinbunny, decided I wanted to use some tardis coloured binding strip instead of hemming everything and  I just sort of filled in the gaps.

Have some in-progress shots:

 

these are my materials, I ended up having to use 2 skeins of embroidery floss because it was such a big design (if I recall correctly I used 3 strands) - and that's HOMEMADE binding strip :-) hell yea!

The measurements here are 18" wide for everything, all those numbers are the height's in inches, the last 4 inch one is what I used for the little pouch in the first picture.

This is the pieces put together, as you can see I intended to use the 4" tall length as a final pocket but I decided it was redundant partway through the project.

 This is me transferring the embroidery design onto the black fabric using white carbon paper

 and there's the transferred design, ready for stitching! I did the whole thing in backstitch, using a 12" embroidery hoop mounted on the embroidery stand I was so lucky to find in the charity shop.

This is where I did a lot of the work :-)

I also sent my lovely partner this very tiny embroidery hoop:

(I just noticed the big 'ole CHINA mark on the bottom of the hoop... hmmm... should have put that to the back... *rollseyes* )

Anyhow, hopefully you've managed to follow what I did there... hope you like it!

x G

THE GLEE DRESS!! (or a series of unfortunate events)

Are you sitting comfortably? then I will begin... a tale of dressmaking foolishness so severe that it will make your thread form unfathomable knots and your pins bend clean in half.
Against my better judgement I have become embroiled with Glee, the kids at work love it and the lovely bright cheerful (gleeful) world the characters inhabit helps me remember that life is not all doom and gloom. Also it taught me that dolphins are just gay sharks :-)So when watching episode 14 (Hell-O) I saw this shot:and something happened inside me... I think it's what you earthlings call.. love...
This wonderful epiphany came over me... I can make this... this is why sewing is awesome!
(also on a side note I'm conflicted over Amber's dress... I kinda want to give her a bigger bow, or alter the dress slightly to make it a little more flattering... is that a bad thing? I don't know)
So during y10 parent's evening (oh so many stressed out students) I doodled this:and I sould have stuck to this, simple nice A line dress.. but no.. I had to be a smartarse... so I than drew this:with no thought to the fact that I'd never drafted a pattern before or no serious attention paid to the fact that the fashion figures I was doodling on are not shaped anything like me... fools rush in where angels fear to tread!.. also I'd clearly not actually thought about the construction of the garment AT ALL since I've not included any seamlines except that for the ruffled bottom with which I was infatuated.was this dress a failure? HELL-Yea.. Did I end up having to bodge it back together to make it like the first sketch? of course I did... facepalm:
so without further adieu, pictures of my glee dress... the outside looks fine (thank God or I think I'd be hanging myself with my mic cord) but the lining shows the scars of (1) being used as a muslin for a home drafted pencl skirt dress (2) having to be let out and chopped in different areas to make it fit the now Aline dress and (3) having sleeve facings applied after the lining had been sewn in ... pretty bad show old chap.

G <3