"Jack and Jill", James Patterson

Last month I read "Jack and Jill" by James Patterson. It's another in the Alex Cross series - I've got through books 1 & 2, and this is number 3.

This book focussed on two main plot lines; the murder of children from a school near to Alex's house, and the murder of prominent political figures in Washington with what appears to be a threat to the president.

Now that I've read a couple of the Alex Cross series, I am seeing them as "episodes" of a story and I like that there are constants throughout - about Alex's life, family etc.

I find this series incredibly easy to read, and hard to put down. As with "Kiss The Girls", the short, suspense-filled chapters (averaging around 3 pages each) make it almost impossible to walk away from. I kept thinking "I'll just read this next chapter" and before I knew it had consumed half the book.

I wasn't particularly keen on how faultless Alex and his children seemed to be this time around; I know every parent loves their children, and that Alex is our hero, but it would be great to see some contrast in the characters to make them more realistic.

This book was entertaining, good escapism and I'm certainly keen to keep reading the rest of the series despite the minor criticism I mentioned. Perhaps a little break will do me good, so I've just picked up "Divergent" by Veronica Roth for a change in pace and topic.

Salwar tunic into summer dress (part 2)

Ta-dahhh!

Not quite the final ta-dah but nearly there! The shot above is the neckline once I'd turned it out - not too shabby for a first attempt at a) altering a pattern, b) pattern matching (of sorts) and c) making a shaped neckline!

The dress has progressed quickly this weekend. The steps I've done are understitching last week's work, joining the side seams, joining the back seam, inserting a zip and overstitching the neck. And of course, checking after all this time that it fits.

Joining the side seams... hmmm. I said in the last post that this fabric was printed wonky, and you can seriously see it when the side seams were joined. I have decided to not worry, and remember that many retailers out there would find this perfectly acceptable. Next time I'm going to be more alert about the quality of my bargains. Anyway, let's move on.

I decided to embrace a different way of inserting the zip than the instructions advised. I used a method in my grey skirt with pockets which made so much more sense to me than the New Look instructions. I found my new method less stressful and I prefer the finished look. I stitched up to the notch on the bottom of the skirt, and backstitched as instructed. Then, I changed my thread and bobbin to something very noticeable, and changed my stitch length to the longest possible straight stitch. I zoomed up the back of the dress from the notch to the neckline; effectively tacking the back together. Then I pressed my seams open with the iron, and laid my zip over the tacked line, making sure the zip opening lined up with the "seam" I'd created After pinning this in place (by inserting my board between the front and back of the fabric, so I only caught the back in my pins), I sewed round the zip as neatly as possible.

Then came time to unpick the tacking stitch. This is quite laborious on a long zip but it's worth it.

Here's my overstitched neckline. I'm really pleased with the outcome, and when I tried on my dress it looked neat and crisp.

The dress isn't finished yet. I need to hem it (after I've decided how long I want it to be) and then it'll be ready for its final photo and its first outing. Right now I'm putting the sewing machine away for a little rest, and going to sample the brownie I made first thing this morning... (recipe to come as soon as I've perfected it!).

Salwar tunic into summer dress (part 1)

About a year ago my Mum introduced me to a really great way to buy fabric. She took me to some shops in the Normanton area of Derby and introduced me to Salwar fabric sets. In a Salwar set you get 3 large rectangles of fabric - one for a tunic, one for trousers and one as a scarf (often the scarf is already finished for you). They're a really great way of getting hold of fabric at a low cost, and because they're designed to be a set they co-ordinate beautifully - so you could make a skirt and a top and know they'll go well together without being the same head to toe. Some of the tunic pieces come with a printed neckline design (some are very fancy, some more plain), so it becomes an incredibly simple way of making something pretty unique.

Last time I went shopping with Mum I bought this set; it set me back a mere £14! I'm turning the tunic piece into a dress; the New Look 6095, version B. I'm using the neckline printed on the Salwar fabric and adapting the pattern a little to enable me to do that (eek!).

The print on this fabric is really wonky! I'm trying to make the best of it, but have never pattern-matched before, or adapted a pattern's shape... so it's a great challenge!

I started by washing and pressing the fabric to eliminate any additional warping or shrinking. Then I folded the fabric along the central line of the printed neckline, and lay my pattern pieces over the top. Though the pattern neckline and the printed neckline are quite different to each other, I cut out the fabric as per the pattern and planned to deal with adaptations later. I did the same for the back of the dress, although it was much easier; all I had to worry about here was lining up the print at the bottom of the dress to the front, so that I have the same amount of print showing at the hem. This is where the wonky comes in - there's no way it's going to match up because of how it's been printed! The middles match up but the sides sure as heck don't!

Facings came out of the same piece of fabric. With the front facing I cut it straight across at the bottom so that it comes down further than the V-point I'll be sewing in/cutting out.



I followed the New Look pattern entirely for the first part; darts, shoulders, attaching facings to each other and then to the main dress fabric around the arms. When it came to attaching the facings to the neckline, I hand-stitched along the fabric's neckline in a contrasting thread to hold it in place and make it really visible. It gave me opportunity to mark out how I was going to blend the two necklines to create my finished garment.

When I got to machine-sewing I started from the back right (as it will be when I'm wearing the dress) and stitched along as normal until I got to the shoulders, and then I followed my hand stitched line and the print. Once I'd done the stitching I cut down the front of the V to take out some of the bulk and make sure my corners would pop out nice and crisp. Then came the big reveal as I turned the fabric through (bringing the sides through the facings) to see what the outcome was.

And that's the topic of next week's post!

And my dog photo-bombed this last picture...