African print autumn accessories

Last weekend I decided to experiment with sewing autumn accessories. I’d been admiring “infinity scarves” or “cowls” for a while now and decided to try making five up from my lovely African print fabric stash. Two use a lovely mustard, royal blue and grass green kente print fabric and have contrast yellow or green lining and one uses a lovely brown, green and black wax print fabric. Two others are made with a beautiful leaf print fabric – one pink and blue, the other orange, green and blue.

And the best thing? They’re not just for the ladies. As wonderfully demonstrated by my husband and me on a rainy London day, they are unisex. So men and women alike can bring a bit of bright Ghanaian colour to these miserable British autumn days. Oh, and they’re reversible. Bonus!

I’m thinking of making up many more to sell in my Folksy store, so do let me know your thoughts. And keep an eye out for another take on these I have in mind.

Mustard yellow kente print cowl: http://folksy.com/items/4455032-African-print-cotton-cowl-

African wax print cowl

Kente print cowl with green contrast lining

African wax print cowl

African wax print cowl

Baby Elspeth and new fabrics

I’ve been making and selling girls’ dresses for a little while now. It doesn’t really supplement my salary from my full-time ‘proper’ job a great deal, but it’s a nice way of keeping up my dressmaking hobby without just expensively giving away dress after dress to family and friends or ending up with hundreds of dresses for me. Basically, I like to sew so I thought I might as well try to sell some of what I make.

Anyway, I’ve had a website- sophiekingo.co.uk – up and running since last year and have seen a few orders from people I don’t know – notably from Fuerth and Hamburg in Germany and Taunton in Somerset – via my Folksy shop. The mother in Somerset recently shared this picture of her lovely daughter Elspeth sporting a Sophie Kingo special with plenty of room to grow. Doesn’t she look gorgeous?

Elspeth in Pia with Malene trim

It’s so nice receiving images of girls in the dresses I make. I don’t have children of my own, so I often don’t get to see my creations being worn. But luckily, a few parents have shared pictures with me, and you can see the lovely Georgie, Matilda, Hannah and Romey enjoying their dresses on my website.

I have a couple of other orders to get on with this weekend – another for Hamburg and one for a friend’s niece in London – but had run seriously low on stock. So the hubby and I took a trip to Brixton yesterday to pick up some new fabrics. There wasn’t a great selection available and sadly one of the shops I regularly used – Freeman Textiles – has closed down. It’s the sad result of the gentrification of Brixton Village from a West Indian/African hodgepodge market into an arcade of trendy eateries and boutiques. But I managed to find some printed kente and a couple of other wax prints from African Queen that will look lovely when made up into dresses – either for me or for girls…

So, anyone wanting to buy their own Sophie Kingo creation for their little girl – or even just one they know – can now take their pick from 12 lovely colourful West African print fabrics. Summer is just around the corner – I promise – so why not get your order in while you can enjoy it?!

 

New girls’ dresses and fabrics

I’ve had a few orders for girls’ dresses recently, so just thought I’d share some of them with you:

Ages 1, 3 and 5 years – available to buy

Age 1 year, custom order for Hamburg, Germany

A new dress (not a shift)

Back in July last year I made a new dress using a new pattern. I love it, so thought I’d make another.

This time it was a lot less hassle. I mean, I completed the zip first time. No fifth time lucky this time. I added contrasting fabric for the waistband, neckband and pockets to break it up a little. Et voila:

Stockpiling

I’ve been hoping for a while to have a market stall to try out some of my items at. So, I’ve been busy stockpiling items to sell rather than plugging them online.

I’ve just put in an application for Brixton Makers’ Market on 8th June, so fingers crossed there’s space for me. I’ll keep making items to sell in the meantime and may even venture into the world of making ladies’ tops and skirts, so watch this space…

Here’s a taster of some of the things that’ll be appearing on the stall. More to come:

Lavender pouches

African print girls’ dresses

African print shorts

African print dribblers

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new shift dress

A couple of weeks ago I bought an overlocker – just the cheapest Janome that John Lewis stocked – and went on an Overlocking for beginners workshop at The Make Lounge. I had been wanting an overlocker for some time, but horror stories kept putting me off. I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Yes, they’re scary with their four threads, but the overlocker has transformed my sewing life.

Ok, I’ve only used it once so far, but along with my first sewing machine sewn blind hem, it means I won’t be looking back.  This new dress is definitely my best yet.

I can’t wait to start using the overlocker on my African print girls’ dresses.

Homemade dress

Blind hemming for the first time

Overlocked edges along the zip

My new sewing setup

Two new fabrics

Sewing Christmas presents

As well as knitting Christmas presents for 2012, I also sewed a few.

For nieces L1 and L2 for Christmas 2009, before Ls 3 & 4 came along, I made named bunting. These have been hanging in their room ever since. But L3 and L4 have been missing theirs. So 2012 was the year. I gathered together a range of fabrics and tasked Jeffrey to draw the letters while I cut out the flags.

Here they are in progress and complete:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also wanted to sew something for my Mum for Christmas and had been meaning to sew myself a knitting needle roll for some time, so thought my Mum could also do with one. I browsed the internet for inspiration and amalgamated a few I came across to come up with these. Each one is made using a range of African print fabrics and has two different height pockets – a taller line of pockets for straight pins and a shorter line for circulars, haberdashery needles, stitch holders, scissors, etc.:

Knitting needle roll for me

Knitting needle roll for my mum

How to wear a Sophie Kingo African print dress

Here’s a three point lesson from two gorgeous recipients of a Sophie Kingo African print dress.

1. Look cute
2. Look proud
3. Strike a pose

And here they are showing off their dresses.

And if your little girl has a Sophie Kingo African print dress, please share a photo with us and receive 15% off your next order. Email: contactus@sophiekingo.co.uk or visit the Sophie Kingo website to order yours.

Two new dresses

Adwoa, age 2 and Abena, age 2

Here are another two Sophie Kingo African print girls’ dresses. One for a colleague of mine and one for a colleague of the husband’s. Both for two-year-olds. I just hope the sun comes out for long enough for then to enjoy them.

Remember – if you want one for a little girl in your life, visit the new Sophie Kingo website.

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A new dress

I started this dress – from a new pattern I bought ages ago – last Sunday afternoon, but cutting it out took me so long I didn’t get it anywhere near finished before it was time to cook the roast. I decided to use the Serwa fabric I bought for the very popular Sophie Kingo African print girls’ dresses as it’s somehow understated yet very African andvery stylish.

I didn’t get round to picking up the dress again until yesterday afternoon . Of course, I had the same issues as I always seem to have with dresses – the sizes just didn’t add up. Once the zip was in place on the left hand side, I realised the bodice was just too large. So, I repositioned the zip. And repositioned it again. After two repositions – and by 10.30pm – the zip gave in. I couldn’t see what the problem was, and what with it being too cosy (read dark, or vice versa) my initial pride at having put in my first ever concealed zip vanished. I (annoyed) put the dress aside, called it a few names under the sun and decided I’d instead lie on the settee and watch Save the Last Dance. Please don’t judge me.

So, this morning I decided I needed to get the dress finished. It had gone on long enough and I worried if I didn’t get it done it would end the way of another dress that really annoyed me once and languish in our ‘blue room’. I unpicked the zip (again) and repositioned (again). Then – with the July sunshine streaming through the window – I realised the teeth had somehow been damaged and the zip was a goner. Luckily I had a spare in my sewing box, so I started again – for the fifth time. This time it was positioned correctly (or rather, even if it wasn’t I just told myself it was fine. I couldn’t deal with unpicking and resewing it for a sixth time); I just needed to increase the seam on the other side of the bodice and I’d almost be there.

After than kerfuffle it was time for the armhole finishing. I had contemplated adding little cap sleeves – which would have been another first for me – but I thought with the print and the gathering it would be a bit too much. So I decided to follow the instructions for the armhole facing – using bias cut strips of fabric. However, the instructions were shoddy, and once I’d done it the way I thought it could work I realised it didn’t really and the facing just wouldn’t sit right. So it was time to unpick another part of the dress and try again. This time I went off-piste and did it my way (I was done with this dress), which meant I then had to do some snipping, extra sewing and more snipping to make it work. But in the end we got there.

And with a quick machine-sewn hem for a change I finished it. Just before dinner tonight. Complete with two new firsts in the sewing history books for me – pockets and concealed zip. I LOVE it. I hope you do too.

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