Two tops and my latest stash building fabrics

I have not done much this week. I made a couple of tops.

The green is velvet - probably polyester. Its an OK quality but not luxury. Just your average polyester that has some two-way stretch but no lycra. You find oodles of RTW made of this stuff around Christmas time. I previously made a slip dress from this green velvet. 

The pink top is made from the bodycon 4-way stretch I used several times before for leggings and another top. You can use the reverse as a plain black as well as I did for my leggings.

These two tops were both originally made for work. This is Butterick 5562 View D which is the same pattern as the multi media tops
I have worn them for work earlier in the week but being nice basic Tshirts I am also starting to wear these for fun. I think they both work well with my blue combats. These were childrens/teen boys RTW that I bought in a sale ages ago and then dyed royal blue. They are pretty much worn out now but I do still wear them for things like dog walking. I need to make a replacement for these in fact but so far have not found suitable fabric at the right price.




Talking of fabrics Sue of a Colourful Canvas posted about how she has just ventured into online fabric shopping:
http://www.acolourfulcanvas.com/2018/03/avery-leggings-take-two-chat-online-fabric-shopping.html


I found this an interesting post because virtually all my fabrics are bought online. Most are cheap and bought in larger amounts since I tend to buy  job lots from Yvonne at Weston fabrics off Ebay
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Weston-Fabrics?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 

The green velvet I bid on two pieces. One was 4m and cost me 99p. The second cost me about £3 for 2m making the much cheaper piece the longer bit and this generally seems to be how it works. Then the pink bodycon fabric I again won two pieces. I do not remember the cost of this one since I bought it at the start of my stash building. It was pretty inexpensive though. 

 Yvonne also does a "Buy it Now" range and from experience these are the middle bits of the roll so tend to be better as in less creased/dusty etc. I often bid on several bits of fabric then I either pick up direct from Yvonne or get I posted to me which depends on if I can get time off work.


To be honest if there is an option to pick up, and I can do it, I go for it because my car is very cheap fuel wise and to my way of reasoning that gives me an extra one or two pieces of fabric because to post 10kg to me costs about £10. Sometimes I can pick up 8 lengths of fabric for £10 off this seller but that is down to luck. Fuel there and back costs me about £4 ( its a 40 mile round trip) so you can see how I am thinking here.  I will sometimes also add a full price piece from her Buy it Now range but even at full price they prices are good value.

For example I just bought 4m of jet black 4 way stretch dancewear type crushed velvet with lycra the other week for £12 which is not a bad price at all. Usually you would pay £6.99 plus postage for this even off Ebay. However I also won a 2.75m piece for £4.09 so it is often cheaper to go for the auctions but these can end up more expensive than just going Buy it Now in the first place.

I also recently ignored the Buy it Now price for a lovely 4m piece of 4 way stretch multicoloured burn out velvet which I would have loved and which the auction piece went to £24 so I should have bought the identical Buy it Now bit for £12 but someone else got there first. I was at work so could not follow the auction. Sad but I tell myself it was not meant to be. So it does not always work out.

Buying fabric this way you need to just go for it and not worry too much or obsess too much about what you want it for and how much you like it because its all a risk.  You may not win it. You have not felt the fabric and you may hate it tho even then you always find a use eventually believe me so you cannot really go wrong. I rarely buy tho knowing what I will do with it. The only time I know is when I buy full price from someone. I just buy when I have some spare money and decide later what to do with it.I also only buy a couple of times a year. Then I binge and get £60 worth of fabric.


This is my latest haul of fabrics from this seller costing me £78 including nearly £11 to post to me:

 

Here I have: 6.75m of the black velvet in 2 pieces - 4m at £12 (Buy it Now) and 2.75m at £4.09 (auction decsribed above).
3m of  4-way stretch and very nice sky blue animal print,
4m black chiffon £8 ( full price, Buy in Now bought before I won the auction just in case I didn't because I actually, unusually have a known use for this),
4m black chiffon £4.75 (auction),
4m burgundy ribbed £3 ( bought this before in dark green and purple and its great for tops, dresses and flared trousers although quite light weight). I missed out on the black but have spent out!
 2m Black and cream stretch £3.31 ( see a hoody for my man hereright in photo) and maybe a skirt/top,
3m black and white striped dancewear quality 4-way stretch £4,
6.75m green velour £10.77 ( got carried away with bidding aganst someone here so over spent. Good quality tho.),
2m black stretch faux leather £7 (full price Buy it Now. Bought loads of this in different colours a year or so ago but she has realised what it is now and put up her price. I got my green which is the same for 99p for 4m). There was some in the auction which went for less but I stayed safe and just bought this after losing the multicoloured burn out. I have only small bits left of my last two bits of black faux leather so its a good time to grab some and still a good price for 2m.


The surprise with this lot was the green velour which looked lime on the PC but is actually more emerald/ forest in real life so thats something to be aware of. I personally do not care but some people might. Though you can always resell on Ebay if you do not want it.This is a good stash building haul and I am now planning what to do with all this lovely fabric!

Yvonee has an unpredictable fabric selection since its all ends of rolls but there is some lovely stuff available. You do have to pick and choose but mostly I have had a very good experience from this Ebay seller.  There have been a couple of bits with faults ( she tells you on the description) although I have had one bit that was not labelled probably because it was difficult to see and she never realised but generally its fine for the price and because you get a big bit you can work round any marks or faults easily so long as you look first to check. So despite the fact I will end up bidding against you, I would recommend this seller on Ebay.

I also buy from a couple of other sellers but that tends to be full price - although I try to keep an eye open for when they get to the ends of their stock and the price suddenly drops which has happened a few times. I cannot list them all here but there is some good novely skull fabric from here:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ainsberry?_trksid=p2047675.l2563



Ebay is also very good for trimmings like lace and ribbon, elastic, zips and also for metal studs and steampunk type fastenings  I have bought loads of short 1m lengths of lace and ribbon from Chinese / Hong Kong / Korean companies off Ebay. These take ages to arrive but most of them do arrive. You need to keep an eye on what you ordered though in case it does not arrive and you need to let Ebay know to claim back your money by a certain number of days so this route has its problems. Mostly though its fine and you can get buttons this way too.A word of warning too, I got blagged more than once they were going to resend when something never arrived. Do not agree to this. Get your money back and reorder if you want because you run out of time to claim back the money and Ebay were great and still sorted it out but its hassle in that you have to ring up and explain and then in my case they sided with me but I have no idea if thats usual or anything so be careful. 

This lace trimmed  top tho was made from lace bought in 1m or 1 yard ( I cannot remember which) lengths for 99p each from Ebay Chinese companies and the cream fabric which is synthetic stretch but solid crepe stuff came from Weston Fabrics for £1.02 for 2m. I do not particularly like this fabric but it works in this top and I wear it loads for work with office type clothing.

While taking these pictures I met a sheep. Well she photobombed me!
 She was probably wondering what these weird humans were doing next to her field!




Very friendly creature.


 Oh and I upcycled this hat:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/quick-pompom-hat-diy-update-for.html





So I would reccomend venturing into some Ebay buying. 

Maybe carefully at first but then you will get more confidence becase there is some great fabric and very low prices out there so long as you do not mind a precut piece in a set length.

So what do you reckon? Will you be trying Ebay fabric sellers?

Bracken 

black mesh Frieda Petrenko inspired top

I watch Holby City most weeks. Not because I like it because generally I hate hospital soaps, but my other half comes from a family of nurses which is I think why we have to watch it. He is not himself a nurse but his Mum, Sister etc etc are all nurses and by the sounds of it he grew up watching these types of TV programs. So I watch.

For the most part I am pretty bored and get on with cleaning the kitchen or similar essential mundane stuff. One character I have got into though is Frieda Petrenko played by Olga Fedori. She is very much a Goth and wears some really nice gear. Petrenko usually wears mesh or lace tops under here Doctor's scrubs. They just kind of peep out. The tops tend to vary over the weeks and try as I might I cannot find a picture of this top that inspired me to make todays post.

This one particular under top is made from wide mesh and unlike most tops of similar designs I have come across it has a "normal" T shirt neck and possibly wrists.


Well mine has wrists anyway. I did not really want to sit through several episodes of Holby to check that small detail because I know the last time she was seen on screen wearing tis top is 3-4 weeks ago now so it would mean far too many episodes just for this blog post. The top in questions seems not to be in any easy to find internet posts.

So my wrists and neck edges are black lycra fabric left over from something else I made. I used the Its always autumn free pattern for this top - one of my internet favourites which I have used several times before.
Great pattern. I seriously recommend it. You can see some of my previous versions here http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/25-comparing-free-raglan-sleeved-t.html
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/26-more-free-raglan-sleeve-tshirt.html
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/36-raglan-sleeved-black-and-blue-top.html

and a hack of it here:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/68-joe-browns-inspired-upcycled-tunic.html

Stupidly this time I made it bigger to accommodate as much fabric as possible rather than have a few left over scraps which would go to waste. That was a mistake. I am sure Petrenko's original is tighter and more Tshirt like. I may have to make another but with some fishnet which I have in my stash.

I bought the fabric full price on my birthday back in July so its kid of precious and I virtually never buy full priced fabric so this was for me expensive at £7 a meter. I wanted absolutely no waste. Well its worked out bigger and more baggy that it was meant to but I reckon still looks OK.

That is until I show you this:

Looks like some reject from the market eh?

I cocked it up.

Its all twisted and lop-sided!

It happened because I sewed one sleeve with the fabric on the wrong side. You can just about see here:

Its actually very difficult to see which is the right and wrong side but there is a difference so what I have done is make the back and front of one sleeve the wrong way round if you see what I mean so the lower front neck ends up on the back and the higher back, on the front, but only on one side so the final result is I have twisted it.
Because its so hard to see and to sew as well, because sewing is a bit tricky, so I actually had a larger than usual seam allowance to ensure I caught all the ends of the cut bits of mesh into the seams, so I really do not want to cut this appart and resew.

I could resew but it looks perfectly Ok on me and is comfortable and if I take it all appart I could wreck my precious and expensive fabric so its staying just as it is. The mesh is very forgiving and I think other than me most people, probably all people, will never realise the sleeve on one side is sewn on inside out.

 Sorry about the toast. These were taken when I was not planning on being a model yet.

Well being someone who has grown up wearing cheapo discount and market clothing that's not so bad and it looks Ok on me I think so I am not that worried. I just kind of find it a bit funny. The hem I have so far left unhemmed and raw which I quite like although depending on how it wears I may yet get round to hemming that. I prefer it raw. It works with the look I think.

Its a bit of a shame the neck is so wide and unlike what I set out to make but in all its a success because I am very sure I will be wearing this lots. Its just my kind of garment.

In case you were wondering I also made the leggings.
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/38-side-panel-leggings.html

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments

Bracken

Flora and Fauna The Monthly Stitch February Challenge

This skirt is a catalogue of disasters.

I bought this fabric probably 3-4 years ago. Long before I started the blog anyway so possibly you could say this was the beginning of my fabric stash. At the time I did not have ANY fabric at all and hardly sewed anything. I had though recently made my first bugs dress. So there I was in Ikea Bargain Basement and I got tempted by these two bags of fabric. In each bag there were 3 pieces and it said on the label they were 1.0 -1.5m long. At just £5 each bag that was a serious bargain. Except when I got home each piece was actually only half of the normal width so really I was ripped off. I could have taken them back but I live over 20 miles away from my Ikea store and it would have cost me nearly as much in fuel to go there and back to take them back so would not have achieved anything really so I kept it. This is the first piece I have found a use for. Its lovely heavy weight cotton – almost canvas. Meant probably for curtains. I think these were bits used in their in-store displays but other than the smallness widthwise they are in perfect condition.

Well its such a small bit – this one was just about 1.5m long and as I said half the normal width, so squeezing this skirt out was still not easy despite it not needing much fabric. So there are some serious faults with pattern matching which were completely unavoidable. I did not have much left over as you can see this is all I have left:

I had to use two pieces to make the waistband, since there was nothing left long enough after I cut the skirt bits so the waistband has a seam down one side. It does not matter.

I cut this out using the Toile pattern 1.1 which I used recently for this velvet skirt.

The toile pattern is still free at the moment. To get it you need to register. https://sewingtidbits.com/2015/03/20/open-skirt-project-final-sample-in-floral/

This time though I went up a size since the velvet skirt is very tight.

I missed out the back darts completely and “fittted” the skirt to me after construction – before the waistband being attached. To take in the excess I added two front pleats so its kind of a tulip skirt.

This version has a back zip and back vent but again is shorter than the pattern intends. I kept the back vent on this one and since its unlined I kind of just bodged the back. I bagged out the vent which worked great but could not work out how to do the hem without either spending ages hand sewing (not my thing) or topstitching so in the end its probaly a bit unusual in being bagged, topstitched and also I topstitched round the vent as well to reinforce it. Doesn’t matter. By the time I got to this point I no longer cared due to lots of problems. So I broke all the “rules” with this but it seems to work.

I spent ages checking my automatic buttonhole worked ok only to have it jam and cock up on the actual proper one so its very rubbish and in the wrong position.

I put the waistband on upside down and ended up redoing that 3 times. I never put interfacing in the waistband either! I did find a nice button from my Great Aunties stash though so am pleased with that.

Despite the un-matched print I am still reasonably happy with this for several reasons:

• It fits the theme of this months TMS challenge
• I finally found a use for my Ikea rip-off stash
• It will be wearable for work which works with my January sewing aims
• And to top it off, it gives me a new spring skirt, giving me something seasonal which usually I am rubbish at. Generally the season is half-way through before I manage to sew something for it, so all in all a success I think.

If you were wondering, I also made the top  I am wearing. 

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments,

Bracken

Review of Goth Pikes and The Gothic Shoe Company

I was lucky enough to be given some money for Christmas so I decided to treat myself. I absolutely love 1980s style pointy toes also known as pikes. In my years as a teenage 80s goth these are what I wore. Well The last two years I have been investing in these shoes. As far as I know there are only two companies who currently make them. Both do vegan options if you are interested in that.

One is Goth Pikes based in Berlin ( although it seems they come from Glasgow!! So maybe they are Dropshippers!) and you can buy these via Etsy - however I would strongly advise you do not waste money with this shop.

The other company is The Gothic Shoe Company based in London. I do recommend this company.

I have not shown the Gothic Shoe Company shoes here. This review is about the bad service and rip-off selling of Goth Pikes. If you do want to see my The Gothic Shoe Company shoes I wore them here:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/85-simplicity-1772-dress.html

Well I originally bought a pair last year from The Gothic Shoe Company . They are lovely, well made and so good I bought another two pairs this year. 

A total extravagance really but I am hoping they wear well as did my 80s shoes. I do not wear them very often whereas then I lived in these but I am not a teen anymore but a middle aged woman with a job in an office so these are really my weekend lovely shoes. I also at this point should stress I usually buy Deichman or New Look shoes so spend about £20-40 on a pair of boots so these are for me very much a treat and a luxury.

When I bought all 3 pairs  from The Gothic Shoe Company - two pairs for me and one for a friend -they all arrived in perfect condition and very well packaged with no in transit damage at all. 

The Gothic Shoe Company actually carefully wrapped each shoe in paper inside the packaging box which is a small effort to take you would think and this for shoes costing £75 so not cheap shoes these. The last two pairs were a little cheaper being bought in this years January sale and again they came very well packaged.

So I would sincerely recommend The Gothic Shoe Company if you wanted a hand made pair of winkle pickers. 

Then onto their competitors.

The styles are slightly different to The Gothic Shoe Company which is why I am interested because its nice to have some variation. Both shops make your classic multi-buckled boots which you actually have to undo to get them on and off. Yes, no easy zips for these. They are the real 80s style. And of course 60s as well.

Goth Pikes shoes are in US sizes so I was slightly worried at buying them in case they did not fit. I emailed to check sizes and the shop did answer my messages and I went for my usual EU39 which is apparently a US8. The Goth Pikes shop charges in dollars so I have to pay an exchange rate but I bought these with money I was given for Christmas so I go ahead and buy at just over £90 including shipping. So really a very expensive pair of shoes and costing more than those from The Gothic Shoe Company.

I had to wait for 3-4 weeks for them to be made and delivered. No problem. I wait and they arrived. I had to go to the post office on Sunday to pick up due to me working so not in when the postman came but that is fine. I take them home. 

The box they came in is in perfect condition which as far as I can see means they have suffered no heavy weight or crushing in transit.

But they are damaged in 3 places. Small damage - but when you pay £90 for a pair of hand made shoes you do expect them to be perfect.


 

Perfect box as you can see. No sign of crushing so how were they damaged in transit? 


Obviously they were not damaged during postage were they?

They were already damaged when they were packed and sent to me.

What a rip-off company is Goth Pikes as you will read!



So here is the photos of my damaged shoes:

I am very upset since as you can see for a £90 pair of handmade shoes these are sub-standard to say the least.

I would have been unhappy to recieve these from a  Sale but at least it might be understandable. To sell these full price is quite disgusting of any reputable company.

Though obviously Goth Pikes cannot be a reputable company despite their being part of Etsy. Read on:

My conversation with the Etsy shop owner runs as follows:

Hi, Today I got my boots. They fit fine.

However they are damaged in 3 places.

Since the box they arrived in is in perfect condition and undamaged they must have been put into the box already damaged so I am not very happy at all.

Since the box is perfect this is not damage from postage!

I believe you have sent me "seconds".

When you pay these kind of prices you do not expect to be ripped off by receiving a damaged pair of boots. Please see photos of damage:

(The photos are the ones above. I could not transfer them from Etsy)

I have not written the review yet to enable you to try to put this right.

I got my answer:

Goth Pikes 

Date: 20 hours ago 12:26 EST

Message: Hello,

we have never sent out second hand shoes, it is infact impossible as we make them after they are ordered.

the dot mark can only have been caused from the bat buckle wing poking into the side of the shoe while it was packed and in transit,

the crease i have no idea.

You can send them back for a replacement if you would like ?

Thankyou

kind regards

emma

My reply:

By “Seconds” I did not mean second hand but imperfect / not up to normal standard.

The marks could be caused by the buckles but then the shoes were packed loose in a box with no way to stop them moving around. I love the style and they fit, but to stop this surely all you need to prevent in-transit damage is to wrap them in a bit of paper.

To be honest I am not convinced they were damaged in transit anyway. The box is not crushed or damaged in any way. This suggests they were already damaged when they were packed into the box prior to posting.

Surely to get an indent that would mean something would need to be pressing on them and the box is in perfect condition indicating than no high pressure has been applied, so since the box is not crushed how could this happen in transit?

Having bought three pairs of pikes from your UK competitor ( the gothic shoe company) who also posts I can say they pack their products much better and I have not received any damaged goods from them.

I was keen to try out all companies selling traditional gothic pikes since the styles differ. I am not so far impressed by your company since if you are selling by mail order surely you should pack them better to ensure no damage.

Will you pay the return postage? If yes then I do wish to have them replaced please.

From:

Goth Pikes

Date: 2 hours ago 07:15 EST

Message: Hello,

we will not cover the postage back ,

we will replace them for free and be paying the new shipping to you.

Its so rare , but that was my guess that the wing point pressed on the shoe.

with wear & shoe polish this will seem barely visible,

but we are willing to replace them if you are not happy with them

thankyou

kind regards

emma

So Goth Pikes sent me a damaged pair of shoes. They never packed the shoes properly but I actually really do not think the damage happened in transit. To get them replaced I must pay return postage which I think is very unreasonable. They even say they do not see how the shoes could get creased in transit so what happened? I assume then that they made them from damaged fabric in the first place expecting me to just accept them. And to say the marks will polish out - I suspect not, but even if they do this is a brand new unworn and expensive ( by my standards) pair of hand made shoes. Why should I need to wear them to help to hide the damage they arrived with. I would seriously think twice about paying as much as 50% of the normal price in a sale for this particular pair of shoes. They are just too damaged.

I actually am strapped for cash despite my splashing out on these and I think it very unfair of a company to expect me to pay for return postage when they have clearly at the very least not packed their product correctly for shipping but more than likely they just sent me a second rate pair of shoes.

So then I get in touch with both Etsy and Paypal.

Etsy were useless I have to say. Its my fist time buying anything via Etsy and is highly likely to be my last time. There are plenty of other platforms to buy from and they did not help me at all.

Paypal were wonderful. They even gave me back the return tracked postage which came to £8.55 (since on the end I have to send back to Glasgow not to Germany) as the Etsy seller described. I wonder do they really come from Germany at all? Paypal also gave me back the original costs including shipping at the same exchange rate as when I bought, which is wonderful because the pound has fallen since Christmas so I would have lost about £15. But I did not thanks to Paypal.

My verdict:

The shoes are lovely. They fit well but I would sincerely recommend if you want a pair of goth pikes buy them from The Gothic Shoe Company and get a nice undamaged pair instead.
And make sure you pay via Paypal and not using your card on the Etsy site.

I am very upset about the whole affair and have yet to leave my Etsy review. It will be bad and they may well remove it. I suspect if they can Goth Pikes will get it taken down so all I am able to do to warn others is to blog about this disreputable Etsy company who are sending people second rate damaged shoes for very high prices.

And just so you know No, I have no financial connection or any other connection with The Gothic Shoe Company  either. I just genuinely like their shoes. They are a bit cheaper than Goth Pikes and  you get the quality product you expect from a company selling hand made shoes at relatively high prices. I am going to buy a new pair form The Gothic Shoe Company this weekend infact.

I will never be buying from Goth Pikes ever again. In fact I am seriously unsure about anything else on Etsy since this is my first time venturing there. I have looked for years and never bought. Safer maybe to avoid.

I sincerely hope this review may help someone not to waste money with this disreputable Etsy shop.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment

Bracken


EDIT 14/08/2019: Sadly since writing this I have read several times of people also buying the Gothic Shoes Company shoes and not receiving them which is very sad. I think probably try to buy either on a credit card or by Paypal from any of these companies just in case they go out of business as many small companies do. My Gothic Shoe Company shoes are still going strong but I worry about buying more now from any seller after what I have been reading. Sad because there are very few people making these these days.