Wednesday 29 December 2010

A new beginning

It took me a while to think of a title for this post, but we've moved house and we're about to enter a new year so it really is a new beginning.

My very own sewing room

After an incredibly stressfull 2010 I'm hoping for a slightly slower pace in 2011 and I'm looking forward to setting up my sewing room.  We've been in the new house for about three weeks and the machines haven't even been set up.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

A Trio of Simplicity 3510

I managed to complete two of the three things I had on my list for the weekend. 
Here are three versions of Simplicity 3510 - a Project Runway pattern for girls dresses with a range of variations.

Apologies for the very bad photos - I was struggling to find a good spot and unfortunately this one was too bright.


All three tops are the regular bodice with raglan sleeves.  First up is Miss P's top.  It's a size seven and is made from Heather Ross double gauze.  Obviously I shortened it to be a top rather than a dress, I also gave the 'skirt' section of the top an a-line shape rather than the straight skirt given in the pattern.  The only other thing I did was shorten the elastic for the neck ties.  If you use the elastic guide provided then it will nearly be longer than the neckline casing.  I cut off about 5cm and looking at the tops on the girls, I really need to cut off at least another 5cm as the neckline is sitting too far out.


  Miss G's top was the first version I ever made.  It's a size eight and is made from a really crisp cotton - I shortened the elastic more on this one and it sits better.

Last, but not least is Miss C.  Again it's a size eight (it has plenty of room) but I cut it out at length of a size three dress.  I ended up having to cut a little bit off before I hemmed it, but not a lot.  Again the neck elastic needs to be shortened.

Overall this is a really good pattern and it goes together really easily.  If you were new to sewing the instructions could be a little bit confusing as they jump around between the different options.


I didn't get my skirt finished but I whipped up this quick knit gathered skirt to fill out Miss C's summer wardrobe.  It's a polyester/elastin 'parisian knit' from Spotlight.  I was a bit concerned about how this would sew up - but I didn't need to worry as it was beautiful to work with.  Miss C loves it as it's really soft and slinky, I knew it was a winner when she wore it all weekend.

Finally I managed to trace of two Burda WOF patterns and made a bit more progress on the Kasia skirt. 

Friday 5 November 2010

Plans for the weekend

Last weekend I had an extra long five day weekend, this time I'm back to the regular two days.  My last post had a shot of a few things I wanted to work on and got started on bits of most of it - but as yet nothing is finished.  I've also realised that I'm in desperate need of some new work clothes.  So my plans for this weekend are:
  • Finish the BurdaStyle Kasia skirt
  • Finish the girls' tops
  • Trace out a BWOF blouse and knit boat neck top
It's a short list so I'm hoping that means it's manageable.  Hopefully I'll have something to show early next week.

Saturday 30 October 2010

My weekend


Our house is under contract so the sewing machines and fabric can be unpacked and played with again.  With the Melbourne Cup long weekend I'm not due back at work until Wednesday so hopefully some of the above fabric will get sewn up this weekend.

Saturday 23 October 2010

Crafty Christmas Club

So I'm very proud of myself, as technology challenged as I am, I managed to put the Crafty Christmas Club button on my blog.  Now I'm wondering if I want to be a contributer or just a follower.  On the one hand it would be a great motivator to actually get some projects completed. On the other hand we're currently selling our house and about to finish building our new house, on top of all the usual family running around.  So I'm a bit on the fence about what to do.

Image from here: Brown Button

Our 'open for inspection' is over for the day and I've pulled out my box of UFOs.  I'm just itching to get my hands on my fabric and get to work.  With a little bit of luck I'll have something to show tomorrow.

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Painting? Yes. Sewing? No.

All my sewing items have been safely packed away and the painting has begun.



Before all the packing commenced we had a family trip into the city and I was able to make a quick stop off at Tessuti where the three lovely pieces of fabric above came home with me. From left to right there is a lovely navy and white stretch cotton jersey, a crisp white shirting and a beautiful silk chiffon in shades of grey. I'm planning a simple t-shirt for the striped jersey, but haven't decided what type of sleeves I want yet. The shirting is obviously for a shirt. I'm planning a short sleeve top for work and the left overs are for a contrasting collar and cuffs for another shirt. For the beautiful silk chiffon I'm planning a simple sleeveless, cowl neck top. I haven't selected any patterns yet - I keep coming up with heaps of ideas as I paint.

With school holidays next week and the seemingly endless house prep I'm not sure when I'm going to make it back to my machine, but hopefully I'll be able to squeeze something in soon.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Balloon Top

It has been a while and I don't have a lot to show, but something is better than nothing right?!
Here's my most recent completed item - my balloon top.

Front

Full sleeve


V neck at the back


I really like this top, it went together really easily (even though I don't speak Japanese) and I've got plans to make another in a pale pink jersey for spring.

If you read my other blog, you'll know what it absorbing all my time. We've come to the stage in our build where we need to get our current house ready for sale and as I don't have a dedicated sewing space (I tend to spread out all over the kitchen and the study) I have to pack away my sewing things for a while.


Here's a little look at my sewing table as it is at the moment (it's a bit embarassing)





Not pretty for potential buyers. On the table is a half made Kasia skirt, McCalls 3830, a nighty for my youngest, a HotPatterns Weekender top, a quilt for my nephew and a couple of pairs of pants I need to hem for my SIL. There's also a few other patterns and pieces of fabric I've pulled out thinking that I'd quickly whip something up and then been forced to put aside.


I'm hoping that I can use the non sewing time to plan, cut out and prepare a few things. I'm planning on using my blog to set some goals for my summer sewing so you'll probably be seeing a few patterns and fabric combos in the near future.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Not the start I was hoping for.

My good intentions have come to nothing. It has been a super busy month so far with out of town visitors, two birthdays, school holidays and then extra work to catch up hours I missed over the school holidays. To top it all off the kids accidentally dropped our camera so I wouldn't be able to take photos anyway.

So today I told the family I was going to do nothing but sew. I still haven't accomplished much, kept getting distracted. The top is cut out and the neckbands interfaced. It looks like it will be great.

The simple pencil skirt is pushing my buttons. I've used a beautiful plaid I bought last winter of clearance from Tessuti. I've carefully matched the horizontal lines across the side and back seams and lying flat on the table it looks fantastic, exactly what I was hoping for. Unfortunately when I put it on I have all kinds of gathering at the top of my thighs. The back is fine, so I think it's just my pot belly causing the issues. I took some of the curve out of the side seams and extended the front darts by approx 5cms and this seems to help. I've put it aside for now and will take another shot at it tomorrow.

Thursday 1 July 2010

And we're off...

For quite a while now I have been lurking in the blog-o-sphere, drooling over the beautiful creations of others, gathering inspiration and giving my own mojo a bit of a jump start. Lately, I've been feeling the urge to put my own creations out there and I hope that I can provide a little bit of inspiration to someone else. I'm not entirely selfless ;) this year has felt pretty tough so far and so I thought that a little corner of the world for all the things I love would be the perfect pick-me-up.

No pictures of any of my work yet, but I do have a couple of simple things on the go.

First is a balloon top inspired by Yoshimi's - I love the look of hers so I bought my first foreign language pattern and I'm hoping to get it cut out tomorrow.

My second item is a very basic pencil skirt from M3830 to bolster my work wardrobe.

Wish me luck!