Me Made March prep

Me Made March is just four days away and I thought I'd do a bit of a check of what I've got to work with seeing as my plans to make some new gear didn't happen.  So the picture below has the bulk of my 'me made' items and I'm beginning to think that I'll be the most boring participant ever!  I do work in a corporate environment though so I can't be too out there.  There's a couple of other items floating around my house and I have another top that just needs hemming so I think I'll be able to manage.

I won't post any details of items yet, that'll happen as March progresses.  I recently realised that my wardrobe is gradually shrinking as RTW items die and don't get replaced so you'll probably see some wardrobe basics in the not too distant future (or not - it seems whatever I plan never happens!).

My thoughts are with our New Zealand neighbours as they struggle through the aftermath of the recent earthquake.  It really has been a tragic and unbelievable start to the year - fires, floods and earthquakes - and only reinforces how powerful mother nature is.

Simplicity 3503 Maxi dress

I think Simplicity 3503 is one of the most popular Simplicity dress patterns and has been made quite a few times around blog land so I won't say too much about it.

I love this pattern and this is the third time I've made it - although I've only ever made views D and E.  It goes together really easily and the only change I made was to lengthen the skirt by a couple of inches. 

Should probably crop my photos so that you can't see all of my stuff lying around!  I love this dress.  It's such a flattering design and the patterned fabric is a step away from my usual solid colours.

Here's a picture of the front of our garage during the recent rain storms in Melbourne.  Water was running right through our garage.  This photo was taken after my husband cut an extra drain across the driveway to help the water get away - there was so much rain the drains just couldn't handle it.  Apparently it was a 1 in 155 year event.  That's my two older girls and my Dad in the picture below.  The girls thought it was great fun.

Me Made March

I, Robyn from Sew Love Red, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March '11. I endeavour to wear one handmade item of clothing each day for the duration of March 2011.

I've joined Zoe's Me-Made-March 2011 challenge.  The extent of your pledge is up to you - with my relatively limited wardrobe of handmade items I'm only attempting one handmade item each day - but others are attempting all handmade including their accessories.  It's a great way to see what others are sewing and looks like a lot of fun.  I think I'm going to need to spend quite a bit of February at the sewing machine getting some new clothes made :)

Unfortunately nothing has happened on the sewing front.  We live in one of the suburbs hardest hit during Melbourne's  recent rain storms, I've never seen so much water and when it started flooding the garage I got a small insight into how those in Queensland felt.  Thankfully no lasting damage and I'm now looking forward to relaxing in my sewing room for a while.

A new addition

I had big plans for this week - a whole week off work and the last week of school holidays - I was planning to take a trip to my sister's house and then spend the rest of the week doing things with the kids and sewing up some new work clothes.  It hasn't quite worked out that way - I'll spare you the details but I've had tradesmen in my house all week and haven't been able to leave. 

Thankfully we did go up the highway to visit my lovely sister.  We had a fantastic weekend and to top it off I came home with a new addition to the sewing room.

My sister recently bought a new sewing machine and so I bought her old one and it sews like an absolute dream.  While I was there we dropped into Spotlight and I came home with 4 new additions to the fabric stash, although one piece has already been sewn up so that's not really stashing is it?

I've never sewn with this knit before (it was in the dry knit area but that makes me think of athletic clothes and it's not like that) and it's patterned which is really unusual for me.  For some reason I always buy/make clothes from solid colours.  Two new to me things to broaden my horizons slightly.  That's Simplicity 3503 on the cutting table and now it just needs hemming so I should be able to post it soon.

Butterick 5564 - pleat sleeve top

Nearly two weeks since my last post and nothing to show for it!  I had such high hopes for this pattern but I should have realised that there was potential for problems when the pattern envelope only had a sketch.

Here's the top on Ruby.  I cut a size 14 adding two inches to the length and it all came together really easily but I'll never wear it because it looks ridiculous.

I thought that the sleeve pleats would sit under the bust and that the sleeve would be much fuller.  As it is the top is flat across the bust and the pleats are all baggy under my arms.  This looks awful and limits my movement.  I can put my hands on my hips but if I try to raise my arms any higher, the whole top rides up.  I think I need to join Pattern Review so that I can research patterns before I sew them up.

I love this fabric so I don't want to waste it and Kristy has inspired me to turn this wadder into something else.

I've got a week off work so I'm planning on spending some time in my sewing room but I'm just not sure what to work on.  I desperately need some new work clothes so perhaps I'll start browsing patterns and blogs for inspiration.

McCalls 6078

Here's my first finished item of the year McCall's 6078, view A.  I've seen a few great versions of this top but I'm not really loving mine.  It's OK (I'll wear it) but I think there are two problems, it's too big and my fabric has too much drape.  I made a medium in a really drapey rayon knit and you can see how much that makes the back cross over sag.  I've put a small stitch where the two back pieces cross over so that I can wear it - otherwise it hangs open right down to my lower back.  Looking at the pictures below I notice that the hem needs a really good press too.

 Front view

Back view

I really love the pattern and I'll probably try it again in a smaller size using a different knit.

Rain, rain go away...

It's amazing people like this lady who really made me want to join the blogging community.  Like pretty much everyone in Australia I have been glued to my TV watching the devastation in Queensland.  I've seen a number of different ways that people can help and this website has some good information.  Our family will make a financial donation but I love the idea of something handmade that could bring a little joy to people who have lost everything.  I'll definitely be sending Corrie some blocks and I'd love to do a simple lap quilt too, but I'll try not to bite off more than I can chew (under promise and over deliver - isn't that what you're supposed to do :)

While I was waiting

So the only downside to my lovely large new sewing room was that it had no table for my machines and hubby has forbidden me from taking over the kitchen.  As everyone knows, as soon as you can't do something it's the only thing that you want to do!  So I spent hours blog surfing and ended up buying myself a few new patterns.  Here's what I got:

 Butterick 5490 RRP $19.95

 Butterick 5520 RRP $18.95

 Butterick 5558 RRP $19.95

 Butterick 5564 RRP $17.95

 McCalls 5525 RRP $16.95

 Vogue 8581 RRP $22.50

Vogue 8685  RRP $25

Amazingly, I saved a bundle.  The total RRP for the seven patterns is $141.25.  Spotlight are having a sale with 50% off RRP of all patterns, with a further 10% off the reduced price for VIP card holders, which would have brought the total down to $63.56.  The Vogue, Butterick and McCalls patterns website was having a sale and with my club BMV membership savings the total cost, including $25 for postage to Australia, was only $45.93. Love it.  If only we got the 99 cent pattern sales in Australia.

But the best part of yesterday?  When hubby dragged me away from the computer for my opinion on 'something'.  'Something' turned out to be the height of a table for my machines.  He'd whipped me up a quick bench so that I could get sewing again.  So now I'm off to finish M6078.

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2011 - have I got big plans for you!

Lots of lovely ladies have been listing their goals for 2011 so I thought I'd put a few out there as well.

1.  I'm going to make 2011 a fun year.  Somewhere along the line 2010 became all about hard work and we forgot to just relax and enjoy ourselves.  We're off to a good start on this one.  We spent yesterday (I know it was still 2010 but I'm claiming it anyway) swimming at the beach, relaxing at the cinema and seeing in the new year with a casual BBQ with good friends.  It was absolutely fantastic.

2.  Sew more regularly - I love to sew but found it very difficult to do regularly when I had to set everything up on the dinner table and then put it all away when it was time to eat.  I spent more time setting up and packing away than I did sewing, so with my new room hopefully that will all change. 

3. Choose my fabrics more carefully.  Sometimes I can get carried away with bargain fabrics and forget that they're not something that I would actually wear or use.  Need to focus only on things I love and will really use.

4. Don't make orphans.  If I make something it needs to go with something else, that's as important when I'm sewing for others as it is when I'm sewing for myself.

5.  Pay as much extra off the mortgage as possible.  We're in a brand new house with (for us) a really big mortgage so I want to pay it off as soon as possible and making extra repayments in the early stages makes such a big difference over the life of the loan.

6.  Look after myself.  I turn the big 3-0 this year and celebrate 10 years of marriage so I want to be in great shape. 

Pretty simple goals really.  Wishing you a fantastic 2011.  Cheers!

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.