little betty

Ease

2012-02-11T15:51:00.000+11:00

How much ease do you need in your sewn garments for comfort? It's taken a while, but I'm finally starting to get the wearing ease right in the garments that I make.

For the non sewing types who might be reading this, ease is the amount of "space" in a garment beyond your body measurements. All of that extra fabric which makes moving in a garment possible. This extra space is especially important when sewing fitted garments with non stretch fabrics. Often pattern companies put far more wearing ease or "space" into a pattern than is actually necessary for movement. It's quite irritating when you finish sewing a garment only to find it's ridiculously large on you, even though the size you picked is for your body measurements. While I'm talking about ease, there is also style ease or design ease, which as the name suggests, is included in the pattern for over all design or style purposes. Today this rant is about wearing ease, specifically on fitted patterns.

Anyway, when sewing fitted garments, once you figure out how much wearing ease you need, it becomes easier to pick the size to cut by either referring to the finished garment size or by measuring the pattern pieces at the bust, waist or hip.

Unfortunately for me, determining how much ease I need has been a process of trial and error. Earlier on in my sewing life, many of the garments I made were over fitted and didn't have enough wearing ease, so I couldn't eat, drink or sometimes sit down comfortably in them. Most of my fitting issues are at the waist or lack of waist :)

On Christmas day, I realised my much loved Simplicity 2180 was just a little too snug around the waist and I struggled to comfortably fit in all of the lovely food I wanted to eat. I had mistakenly thought that as the waist band sat above my actual waist, that I wouldn't require as much wearing ease. I have also put on a little weight these past months, so I won't entirely blame my sewing efforts in this fitting mishap.

Anyway, like most finished garments this dress didn't easily allow for modifications to the waist and I just couldn't bear the thought of not being able to wear this dress. It has been on high rotation in my wardrobe since it's completion.

In order to build in the extra 2 inchs of ease that I wanted, just in case I put on more weight (not that I'm hoping or trying to), I un picked the entire back waist band. I released the back darts, sewed the side seams as scant as possible, then tackled rebuilding the waist band. I created more piping then added a new section to the band with fabric scraps. The skirt gathers were reduced slightly to increase the width at the waist.

Now, after all of this fiddly work, my dress is wearable again. I adore this dress. I love the fabric, the style, the piping and I LOVE wearing it. Now I can do so very, very comfortably even if my waist expands a little further.

Also, just in case you are interested my wearing ease needs for comfort, depending on style, are:
Bust: 2 inches minimum
Waist: 3.5 inchs minimum

Have you had similar experiences with sewing your own garments? Do you know the amount of ease you need for comfort?

Pink Checkerboard Cake

2012-02-10T22:07:00.000+11:00

This isn't a cooking blog, but I've been a little off my game lately and this is the latest story. I purchased this cake pan from the Op Shop last week for $2. I'm normally quite rational with Op Shop purchases. "Do I really need it?" swirls around in my head while I contemplate every purchase, but my husband (yes, he came to the Op Shop with all three kids) thought it was a good buy.

Yep, just what I needed. How retro! This is my version, with just food colouring. My husband made me change his shirt buttons to start his new job, but I'm not sure how easy it is to hide bright pink cake in the lunch shed! ha ha ha!

I wish I had enough batter to make the three tiered version, but ran short. Still it was delicious.

The little monster enjoying the cake.

In other non-sewing related news:

School drop-offs make the day incredibly short, but Ollie still loves it,
Adele is kinda toilet training. In the sense that she gets my undivided attention all day, then the second I turn my back she wees on the carpet or lounge. ewwww!
James is loud. Louder than ever before. Poor middle child!

We have also decided that I will give Ollie another week or so more to settle into school before I start looking into getting work. Normally I'd be cheering with this extra kiddie free time, but I've lost my sew-jo and surprisingly, am a little sad about Ollie being at school. The day is so short! How will I ever survive working in those tiny hours?

Anyway, in other sewing related news, I have finished a Rooibos. Hopefully the kids will let me take photos for you tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying your time at your machine!

A few fizzers

2012-02-06T12:33:00.002+11:00

While sometimes the whole sewing thing can produce hugely successful garments, like my recent red ruffle dress, which is definitely one of the best things I've sewn. It can also produce a huge number of fizzers or wadders. I've had a few recently. They are haunting me. I'm hoping by writing about them, by coming clean to my lovely readers, that I can gain some closure on these fails and pop them in the bin, to be forgotten about forever. Hopefully then, I'll be inspired to get back to my machine and create again.

Vintage Vogue 8728

I didn't want my first fail at this pattern to get the better of me, but my second attempt also hasn't made me happy. I made a SBA by cutting the smallest size available in the envelop, then removing about an inch from the top centre of the bodice, as there was no way my bust was going to fill this part of the dress. These modifications worked successfully, but now I realise that the style itself isn't me. I love the picture, I love the design, I love it on other people, but I know that it's not me. The fabric is also a little scratchy. Maybe it has some ramie in the blend. I'm not going to cry over this one. It needs to be binned.

Self drafted pattern with expensive silk

I'm not going to lie. I did cry when this one failed. I was clearly being way to ambitious with this garment. I intended to make a princess seam blouse with a neck ruffle, but it wasn't meant to be. Live and learn. I need to get these scraps out of my sewing space so this memory stops haunting me!

These next two are from last year, but just so I can finally get rid of them from my sewing space, here they are.

New Look 6697

The fabric was a little tricky to work with and it has been finished to an adequate standard, but the neck gapes so much that it is indecent. I could fix it, but my heart just isn't in it. To the bin, I say!

Self drafted pattern with silk cotton fabric

Unfortunately this fabric was a little pricey, so the fizzer feels even worse. While the dress itself if OK, the fabric was a little too lightweight for a dress and I should have recognised that. Again, I just need it to stop haunting me. The fabric pieces are too small to re-purpose, so I need to bin it.

So there you go, fizzers always go with success stories. Hopefully by clearing these out, I can finally get back into sewing again. I need to start something fresh. Something exciting. Something challenging. Something I'm interested in. What will it be?

I hope you are enjoying your time at the machine. Fingers crossed that I get inspired soon!

Oh Typo!

2012-02-04T21:31:00.001+11:00

It's not very often that chain stores recognise us crazy sewing types, but Typo does. This is the latest sewing knick knack I've picked up from the store.

Can you guess what's on my autumn sewing list?

A pencil holder, or sewing knick knack holder, that looks like an over sized thread spool! LOVE it!

It goes perfectly with my "Sew Happy" canvas tile that my sister bought me - thanks Sam!

And my laser cut vintage sewing machine, wooden wall decal. Love, love, love!

The thread spool broke off, but I still love it.

Thanks Typo. Makes me sew happy :)

Advance 6120

2012-02-02T10:54:00.001+11:00

This dress pattern, from 1951, looks so cute on the pattern envelop.

But it did not work for me.

Maybe it was the cheap fabric, a stretch poplin from Spotlight, that let it down or maybe the pattern. The bodice originally turned out horrible. The sleeves were huge, the arm holes gaped to an indecent level and the amount of ease was ridiculous. I scaled the bodice down quite considerably, using Vintage Simplicity 3461 as my guide, but still this isn't right. By accident, I also hemmed the skirt a little too short, which has ruined it further.

Oh well, it was an interesting experiment, but since it will never be worn, I've already reused the zipper.

Pattern: $15?? from Etsy
Fabric: $10?? Spotlight on sale.
Thread: from stash
Zipper: zero cost - already recycled into Simplicity 6446
Total: $25

Red Dress

2012-01-31T20:37:00.000+11:00

Sometimes you just know when you are creating something, that it will be awesome. I knew this dress would rock and it does!

The fabric is a lovely, light, gauzy cotton purchased from The Fabric Store. I purchased the last of the roll, which worked out to be 120cms by 120 cms, so this dress was a super tight fit. The pattern including the flounce, was drafted by me, which makes this dress even more satisfying.

I took my inspiration for this dress from Karen Walker's Tuscany dress, which I first saw on Heleni's blog. I even saw this dress in real life and was so, so tempted to buy it! But when it comes down to it, I'm a bit of a tightwad and $100+ (on sale) on one dress can fund the fabric to make many items. This is my sewing rationale if you like. Anyway, I trawled though many pattern sites trying to find something similar, but came up empty handed. I didn't even think to look at vintage patterns, but Fran found one recently.

Anyway, it's not a complicated dress and was very simple to make. I originally made a muslin of a darted bodice but changed to an elastic waist for comfort and practical reasons. I think the elastic waist keeps the dress casual, but the self belt lifts it back up a little.

I really didn't want the flounce to be too frilly and I think I achieved that. I love how the pattern of the fabric looks on the flounce.

The belt was made with a vintage belt kit that I'd picked up from the Op Shop. I couldn't figure out how to use the rivets, so instead sewed circles with one of those fancy stitches on my machine that I very rarely use. I still need my hubby to punch out the holes and I need to make a loop to hold the belt after the buckle.

It feels so good to make something really nice. I just know this will be a wardrobe staple for a long while.

Pattern: Self drafted - free
Fabric: $10.80 - I was charged for only 1 meter, due to the end of rolle being less than what I wanted and got 40% off.
Belt kit: .50c
Thread: from stash
Elastic: maybe 50c??
Total: $11.80!!! Bargain!!

People often question whether you can actually save money by sewing. I sew to save money and I really believe that I do. Sometimes home sewn items cost a lot, sometimes a little, but generally always less than what something comparable would cost to buy. And really, it ain't fun going to the shops with my kiddies in tow. It's much easier to sew at night to build my wardrobe.

School

2012-01-31T09:52:00.001+11:00

Oliver's first day of school.

I told him his smile was too big and he needed to try a half smile.

This is the half smile - lol! Maybe I need to find a different way to ask him to smile less.

He was a little shy at first...

Until he saw mini whiteboards and textas.

I can't say that I cried, because I'm kinda happy to see him go. He's been at home with me for the past month and I just can't keep him happy. After all of the activity at pre school in the lead up to this leap into big school, I just couldn't keep up with his entertainment needs.

The whole clan!

I'm off so sew bonnets now. More interesting sewing items to show soon.

Crochet

2012-01-30T19:56:00.001+11:00

On our recent holiday I got stuck back into my crochet blanket. This is a slow burn project.... S-L-O-W-W-W-W. I originally wanted it to be a queen size, until I realised how many squares I'd need - I think 500 to 600 or something. Now I am aiming to make a generous couch size blanket with 300 squares, something large enough for me and the kids on a cold morning.

I started this blanket back in December 2010, so referring back to my original time frame of 2 years, I have 10 months to finish it. I really want to finish for this winter though, so I'm pushing through. Thankfully, I still love the colours and design as much today as I did when I began.

I now have 100 fully complete, white framed circles. I also have 70 coloured medallions and another 130 inner circles. It feels like I've done so much recently, but still I have so far to go. I had planned to crochet as I go, to join the squares, but it just isn't practical in an Australian summer to crochet with a large blanket on your lap. I also think sewing the squares will be a little stronger. So those little kiddie toes don't rip the blanket!

Details Ravelled here.

My Happy Sewing Space

2012-01-27T14:31:00.001+11:00

I thought I'd show you all how my sewing domain now looks after I moved rooms earlier this year. I first showed my sewing space here, when it used to be almost the entire first floor of my house. My how spoiled I was!

Then I showed it here, during the move to a much smaller, regular sized room in my house, when my husband very politely refrained from making any comments about the amount of stuff I have. Phew!

Now, things are little more civilised in my space.

I actually thought I'd tidied really well before taking these photos,

but you can still see crap stashed under the bed! :)

Second hand Ikea daybed, just in case the room is ever tidy enough to host a guest, from Ebay.
Old kitchen side table from my husband's grandfather. The perfect size for my machines.

Dresser from the side of the road (yay!). Holds yarn and other random knick knacks.
Plate holder, which perfectly holds containers of things and patterns. It was from the 'as is' section of IKEA, only $39.
Pigeon holes from under the house of my husband's other grandparents. They apparently are from a Qantas office and were in a lovely, shabby state when I first spied them. Unfortunately, Grandfather decided to clean them up and give them a new coat of horrible, dark stain before giving them to me, but they are still handy for things and really, it's the thought that counts.

Almost everything has a place. Almost. Things do spill over onto the floor and bed and any other space during moments of crazed sewing, but that's part of the creative process in my opinion. I'd love to be as organised as this space, but really, that's not going to happen.

Low boy from my husband's grandparents. Apparently it was given to them for their engagement, just prior to the depression.
Ikea Billy with books, more things and dressmaking fabric.

The walls could do with some more well considered styling. I love seeing the sewing areas that some people seem to effortlessly create, like Tania's cute little sewing nook here. But I do not have this gift. I have to think really hard and plan for a while to make things look nice, and even then, I don't always get it right.

Quilting and bonnet fabric, scraps and patterns, which perfectly fit into these draws.

So that's pretty much it. I am very lucky to have my own room as it does mean I can avoid packing everything away at the end of a sewing session, but that also means this room is normally very, very, very M-E-S-S-Y!! Actually, the messiness directly correlates with my sewing output. Lot of sewing means, lots of mess. But gosh it's fun mess to make!

I hope you are making lots of mess at your machine today!

The Picnic Dress.

2012-01-25T20:30:00.000+11:00

Just a simple dress. Mostly for wearing around the house, but I think it's cute.

Seriously, 10 photos and this is the only in focus.

The bodice was modified from Burda dress with gathered rectangle skirt and cap sleeves from 02/2011, which I made here and here. I omitted the darts and I just guessed the skirt pattern. Nothing terribly technical. I fully lined the dress as the gingham (from Spotty), was a little sheer, and created a casing for the tie by sewing the lining to the outer, leaving two button holes for the tie to come out.

I think it's kinda cute, don't you?

In other news, my husband now has a new job and starts Monday. We ate out tonight to celebrate! We've had a pretty full week looking for a new job for him and stressing about how many we could go without pay before trouble sets in. We actually found out the day he returned from our holiday that his job was less secure than we thought. Not the best news after this very 'spendy' time of year and also not great as the building industry is slow in January. Anyway, good job found, crises averted, life can go on, no need to stress any more. More sewing to come!

Pattern: Burda dress with gathered rectangle skirt and cap sleeves. Used twice before, so free.
Fabric: Navy gingham cotton from Spotlight $9??Thread and elastic: from stash, only minimal used, so free.
Total: $9

Vintage Simplicity 6446

2012-01-24T20:17:00.003+11:00

Finally a finished garment! This dress took over 5 days to make, which is an incredibly long time for me as most of my garments are knocked up in just a few hours. The reason for this lengthy time frame is mainly that I was distracted by life (more on that later) and slowed down by a few crappy mistakes.

Out of focus photos! Need a new camera!

The fabric is a Japanese lawn from Spotlight. I purchased 2.5 meters to make this dress, as the collar tie is cut on the bias, and I used almost all of it, mostly because my crappy mistakes meant I had to cut the collar and both sleeves twice. Thank god I purchased more than I needed - something that I never normally do!

The dress was pretty much sewn as specified by the instructions, grading up at the waist for fit and adding in seam pockets for functionality. I was planning on making a belt to match, but I really like how this dress looks with my grey belt.

The only real modifications made to the pattern, aside from shortening the skirt length, was to add extra ease to the sleeves as they were too tight and also shorten them. I had an inkling when I saw the pattern piece that the sleeves would be tight, and I was right. I found the same problem with this dress that I made from a 1960s pattern. I ended up setting in one sleeve before I realised there was a considerable movement issue, so I recut the sleeves after slashing the pattern piece and adding an extra inch of ease. I really don't understand how women in the 1960s wore these garments and successfully moved. But I guess they probably didn't drive as we do today, and that would have been the main constraint with the original sleeve pattern.

Now being a new year, I've been speding a bit of time planning my new 2012 budget. Did you know I was one of those weird, nerdy, budget makers? Anyway, like Carolyn, I think I might start recording the cost of the garments I make on this blog. I'd like to do this for me, mostly because I'm quite obsessive about budgeting, but also so that it is easy to evaluate whether a garment is good value for money. Sometimes it's hard to tell if I do save money by making clothes and I know sewing isn't just about saving some pennies, clearly it is a hobby, but I think it may help me maintain perspective and control on some costs. Anyway, here goes:
Pattern: Simplicity 6446. $10 inc shipping. Etsy.
Fabric: Japanese lawn, 2.5 meters. Spotlight $20 on sale!
Invisible zipper: $2.50
Buttons: $2.80
Thread: $3.20

Total cost: $38.50

For all the fine print on how I plan to crunch the numbers, please refer to Carolyns guidelines. They all seem fair and easy, so why reinvent the wheel, right?

I feel so happy to be back in action again! And I'm kinda excited, in a nerdy, budgety way, about finally tracking the numbers associated with the hobby!

Hope you are enjoying the last few days of school holidays!

Another furniture project

2012-01-20T15:04:00.001+11:00

I thought after returning from my holiday that I'd be gagging to get back to my machine, but I am not. I have managed to sew up a batch of bonnets, which went to Shorties today, but not much else.
Instead of sewing yesterday, I used my precious nap time (the kids napping, not me!), to finish off this little school desk.

As with most bits of furniture we get, it was found on the side of the road. This is the type of school desk that I had in primary school and it even still has an Department of Education Workshop stamp on the back. I actually saw one of these at a vintage shop next to Shorties in Newtown, in better condition, with a $70 price tag! Score!

Unfortunately, prior to me finding this, the owner must have left it out in the elements, so the top layer of plywood had peeled off. Regardless though, it is sturdy, super cute and large enough to fit all three of my kids. So I cleaned it up, painted some socks on it, and covered the top in a simple teal dot fabric (from Lincraft), then plastic. I think its rather smashing - don't you?

The kids love it! I'm trialling leaving out the pencils for the kids to use at their will. The boys have never drawn on walls and the like, but Adele is always the problem with these things.

Fingers crossed my 'sew-jo' returns this weekend, and I have all of that new lovely fabric too. What's wrong with me?

Binge

2012-01-18T07:49:00.002+11:00

What do you do on the first day your kids are back at day care?? Well you hit the shops of course! How could I resist the 40% off sale at The Fabric Store? Then there are a bunch of smaller shops on the way home, so with only one child in tow, it seemed like the right thing to do to pop in and say 'hi'.

For the grand total of $100, here's the loot.

The Fabric Store - $60. I must say aside from the above red fabric, I really struggled to find much that I loved yesterday. I am trying to steer clear of buying too many prints and also don't need silk, which form the bulk of their print offerings.

Above you can see, 2.5m of very nice, navy, silk cotton, for which I have no plans. A scant 1.3 meters of red print cotton (I got the end of roll with this one, but they said they were going to get more later this week). This fabric is very crepey and soft. I'm planning on drafting my own pattern to make a dress similar to this Karen Walker design that I love, but am struggling to fit it. The black eyelet cotton, again and end of roll, with a scalloped edge is destined to become a dress 'I' from Stylish Dress Book, but with some extra modifications that I've been planning since I last made this pattern.

These two fabrics are from Jack Textiles in Marrickville where I spent a total of $30. The top is a rayon, which I don't love now, but it only cost $4.50 for 1.5 meters, so I won't cry. The other is a polyester border print, which I intend on making a simple kimono sleeve dress with a cinched waist. I've seen many similar dresses in shops and I thought it would be fun to try myself. Again, it cost $4.50 for 1.5 meters.

The three fabric pieces on the right are also from Jack Textiles. The bottom two are stretch fabric, one cotton lycra, the other a crepe, poly, 4-way stretch. I'm going to play with these and maybe use the darker fabric for a Mission Maxi. The other dark red/pink fabric is a very light weight, linen blend. It is very light, so I'm hoping after it's washed to assess if I can use it to make Vogue 8728. I failed in my last attempt to make this, but I've seen a few other nice versions, including Kbenco's, that have inspired me to try again.

The navy check fabric was from the fabric shop near Jack Textiles, but up on Marrickville Road, not sure of the shop name. I'm planning on trying to make the husband a shirt this year, so thought this could be a nice trial fabric. It only cost $3pm, so I bought 3 meters to play with. It's very light and has a tight weave, so I think it will do for him.

So there we have 9 pieces of fabric, which I'm quite happy with for just under $100. I now have a full stash and lots of plans in my head, so won't need to hit the shops again for a while. Well until Spotlight has their 50% off fabric sale!

Home

2012-01-17T10:25:00.002+11:00

Yesterday, we got back from our lovely, but exhausting, summer holiday. You may not have noticed I'd gone as there were a few scheduled posts while we were away. I still have more to show, but I guess I'll save them for now.

We enjoyed five lovely, sun-filled days at Broadbeach, Queensland, which included a trip to Movie World (go Batman!), lots of play at the beach, parks and pool, and a lot of eating out.

Fun in the sand at Broadbeach

Too cute!

Movie World

Bat mobile at Movie World

The superhero obsession continues...

The family dinner shot. Excuse the fluffy holiday hair.

More cute!

We finished the holiday with a few fun filled days in Brisbane, with some great friends (and way too much wine!), then a MASSIVE drive home with three exhausted and cranky kids. H-A-R-D W-O-R-K!!!!

Today, two kids are in day care, the laundry is almost done, my machine is back from the service guy and now has a new button hole lever (Oh so happy!) and I'm finally contemplating walking into my sewing room to have a little fun.

I'll be back to report on my holiday craft.

Painting

2012-01-11T21:28:00.003+11:00

When one can’t sew, one must find some other way to fill one’s time. This street find, when we stumbled upon it, was sturdy and cute, but had a horrible 70s vibe.

To transform, simply apply 2 coats of Dulux ‘Olive Fizz’ (3/4 strength) and you get a cute little work desk for your bedroom.

The paint is a high gloss oil paint, which I had instructed my husband NOT to buy. I wanted a water–based semi gloss so that I could distress it, but he listened to the ‘helpful’ Bunnings worker and bought this instead. Oh well, could have been worse! This colour goes perfectly with my Orla Kiely bed linen. I think I’ll need to get new handles eventually, but might hold off until daycare starts again.

I’ve pictured the desk also with a quilt that I made (long ago) with Moda ‘Arcadia’ fabric, which also looks nice together. Actually the quilt lives permanently in my bedroom to try to hide this hideous, black, leather, reclining ‘dad chair’ that my husband loves. Thankfully I’ve managed to hide it my bedroom now. Next stop, the tip!

This desk replaces an old dining table which I’ve been using. The printer will be installed under the stairs once we renovate that space into a study nook for the kids.

Hopefully I’ll knock over a few more home projects while waiting for my machine to come home to me.

Taffy Blouse

2012-01-08T16:34:00.001+11:00

Another separate to shift from my 'to do' list, into my wardrobe. Pictured with my denim meringue skirt, also from the Collette Sewing Handbook. I think I've gotten my value from this book now!

I just adore this top. I was worried about how these sleeves would look when worn. I don't think my frame suits 'big' shoulders, but these sleeves aren't big at all. Even when made with a simple dobby voile, they drape nicely and aren't too overwhelming. The bias cut bodice feels just lovely to wear too.

The main modifications that I made to this pattern, was to use my serger to roll hem the sleeves or flounces. There's no point binding black fabric, as you just wouldn't see it. I also used my bias tape maker to make 3/8 inch binding which I sewed under then neck seam. To speed construction up even further, I used my serger for all seams, rather than sewing french seams as the pattern suggests.

The reason for this speedy project? I really wanted to get it done before I sent my machine in for a service *sob!* My button hole lever has been broken for a few months now and really needs to be fixed. I'm hoping to make a few shirt dresses and possibly a shirt or two for the husband, and my manual button holes are just horrible. Hopefully I'll have it back by the weekend. If not, things might be a little quiet around here this week.

Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather (in Sydney, Australia anyway - mwahahahaha!).

Ra Ra Skirt

2012-01-06T11:32:00.002+11:00

An Alexander McQueen ra ra skirt! Well, really it's a ra ra skirt made with A McQueen cotton fabric that I purchased from Tessuti just last week.

When I first saw this fabric and the sales assistant said it would look good used on the bias, I thought immediately of this skirt Carolyn made for her daughter and knew it would be perfect. Love it Carolyn!

Then when I got home I got cold feet. I tried searching through Alexander McQueen's designs, the RTW stuff, to see if I could find what he (he's a he right?? I'm such a fashionista!), made with it. I didn't look too hard, but I didn't find anything. However, I'm certain he made a ra ra skirt with this fabric too. Isn't that what he's famous for?? Ra ra skirts? To minimise the risk I made a toile, which look OK, then forged ahead with my original plan.

I love this skirt. I was doubtful about whether a 30 something mum with three kids could pull off this look, but I think this is pretty cool and very wearable.

I based my skirt on Burda 06/2010 ruffle skirt #121, which is a three tiered skirt. Just a side note: I've now made three patterns from this particular issue of Burda magazine, so considering I borrowed it from my mate Rachel, I think I've gotten great value from it!

Anyway, to make my variation of this pattern, I used only two flounces and changed them to 3/4 circles, rather than the Burda full circle flounces, as I was quite concerned about looking 'too frilly'. I significantly lengthened the flounces from the pattern length of 6 inches to my 11 inches and hemmed them with a 1/8 inch seam using the roll hem foot on my regular sewing machine. I also lengthened the lining, which is a solid black, silk cotton voile also from Tessuti, from 8 inches to about 10 or so. This was a necessary change given I am often lugging children around and picking up after then, and I like to stay decent. My skirt sits 1 inch below my natural waist and about 1.5 inches above the top of my knee, which is about as short as I could go without looking pushing the decency barrier further.

I really tried to plan the fabric placement on the two flounces, so the first and second tier would vary the fabric design lines. I think I was quite successul at this.

Clearly I'm pretty happy with this little number, so I had to include a happy jumping shot.

And another! Yay!

Not into pink?

2012-01-05T21:45:00.003+11:00

For those who are not into pink for their little girls.

Available now in my shop, or you can buy a pattern and make a wee bonnet in whatever style you like.

Chevron dress for Adele

2012-01-04T22:01:00.002+11:00

This is another variation of the Oliver & S Bubble Dress. Again, I used the bodice shape, added some ease around the chest, dropped the side seams to the length I needed, then hemmed.

The fabric is a Heather Bailey quilting cotton. It's been in the stash for years - yay! Note the perfectly matched seams - love it!

Clearly this little terror isn't very keen on photo shoots these days. The above photo is the only one I managed to snap with her still. Then...

She hops her ride and really takes off!

She's so fast!

The Wrap-and-Go Skirt

2012-01-03T22:51:00.000+11:00

"The Wrap-and-Go Skirt. One one main pattern piece. No zipper, no darts, no buttons, no snaps. Just slip it on, wrap and tie, and you're all set to go!"

No lies here. This skirt was super quick to make and I love the style.

The pattern is Butterick 4617. The fabric is a lovely, light denim purchased just a few days ago from Tessuti (I think it's this one).

I have to confess that I have totally copied Rachel with this skirt. I love having friends who sew! This is her pattern, which I think she may have received from her mother in law, and she has already made it up in this exact denim from Tessuti. What will we do if we both wear our skirts to the same place?? Oh my! Fashion faux pas!

As the skirt is cut on the bias, it really eats up a lot of fabric. I used 1.4 meters @ 150cms wide.

The only changes I made were to the length, which I shortened to just knee length, and I added just over an inch to the back of each skirt panel as I was a little worried about how little it was overlapping. I definitely think this was the wise modification to make, especially after being caught by a short blast of wind waiting at Woolies. Yikes!

Ruffle tank

2012-01-02T17:18:00.001+11:00

Didn't I whinge in after my last dressmaking effort that I thought a white dress looked juvenile?? Well, I'm pretty sure a ruffle tank top falls into the same category.

But I still love it!

I made this with my trusty Grainline tiny pocket tank pattern, but added a little extra under the arm to give a little more wearing ease. I drafted the flounce myself and used a 1/8 inch rolled hem foot to neaten the edges and french seams throughout. The fabric is Liberty, Fairford in pink, which I'd originally purchased to make something for Adele, but really, she shows very little respect toward her clothes, so I'm quite happy to take this.

I wore this today to a picnic and it was light and cool. How shocking is this button sewing? That's what happens when your hand sewing is done while standing at the kitchen bench with three kids hovering for attention...

The 3/8 inch binding was made with my Simplicity bias tape machine. I don't think I ever mentioned that I had one. It is a bit of a pain to pull out sometimes, but it really does make great binding.

I love having a pile of this lying around.

I'm desperately trying to sew some more summer staples for our upcoming holiday. Hopefully I'll manage to finish a pair of shorts or two before we go as I currently own none!

Year in review 2011

2011-12-31T16:14:00.000+11:00

I've compiled a new page on my blog showing all of the items I've sewn for myself this past year. You can see it here or navigate through the top of my blog.

I know I sew quite a bit, not as much as some sewing bloggers, but I didn't realise how much until I saw it like this.

In total I made 50 items including:

25 dresses
6 skirts
10 tops
1 playsuit
3 pairs of pants
2 pairs of jeans
1 nighty and
2 pairs of PJ pants

This doesn't include sewing for the kids, knitting, crocheting or things for the home. No wonder I'm tired!

Clearly though, not all of these items are on high rotation in my wardrobe. Some have been given to my sister or other friends, others have been refasioned, some just binned.

My favourite and most worn items, in no particular order, include:

(I'll pop back tomorrow with the right links for these images - I have a pav to make a party to go to)

Since the new year starts shortly, I thought I'd jot down a few sewing goals for 2012.

Make less dresses! No one needs 25 dresses per year!
Make more seperates - pants, skirts and tops - things that are suitable for teaching.
Make a couple of winter jackets and maybe another cape
Concentrate on finishing my crochet blanket
Focus on knitting projects until they are finished
Focus on quality and finishing with each garment - there's no prize for finishing the most things
Use more solids and less wild prints - this will be hard!

I think that's it. I don't think there's anything there that isn't achievable, though it will be hard to steer away from dress making and wild prints!

I think I'll also aim to keep my sewing space a little more organised (like the rest of the house), maybe give more handmade gifts (I really let the ball drop on this one at Christmas) and be more restrainted with sewing purchases (how many patterns does one need??).

As this is my last post for 2011, I just wanted to say thanks so much for stopping at my blog to read about my ~~obsession~~ hobby. I really appreciate your comments, advice, friendships and reading about your creative adventures too.

See ya later 2011!

Stash evaluation and justifing purchases

2011-12-31T09:59:00.000+11:00

I was lucky enough to receive a few money gifts this Christmas. Being a responsible mum, I feel that these should be put to necessary family uses. There are school shoes to buy, swim t-shirts needed, sunblock, groceries.... yawn... zzzzz.

Surely just a few dollars could be allocated to me?

Even though the husband doesn't care what I do with the dollars, when you are me (I am known for being a bit of a tightwad), you need to be able to justify purchases before they are made. When I look at my stash, it always seems full, but there isn't necessarily anything of interest to sew. So a quick evaluation, turned up this:

The Usable Stash.

The centre fabrics are dress length, some Liberty, some Spotlight, some Tessuti, some rayon, solids and stretch. None of these interest me right now. I have loose plans for some, but for others, I'm still waiting for that moment of inspiration.

The fabrics on the left are also dress length, but cheaper solids, mostly from Spotlight. Again, I need inspiration and most are suited to cooler weather.

The top left fabrics are skirt or pant length. The Missoni has been allocated to a friend, for once she has had her baby.

The bottom left are shirt or top length fabric. I actually found two more pieces to fit in this pile, which aren't shown.

Clearly there are a number of projects which could be started, but none appeal to me right now. My stash seems quite modest when you look at it like this.

The key problem lies here:

The Dregs.

Once you add the good stuff, this cupboard is full, but not full of goodness. Most of the dregs are left over corduroy and drill from my days making kids clothes to sell and a few 'what-was-I-thinking' pieces of fabric. There's also 'too small to make anything, but too big to throw away' remnants, gifted fabric, linings, a few quilt backing pieces, some home dec fabric, baby length pieces of fabric, random bits of denim, stuff for muslins and other crap. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a stash like this, right?

The problem is I don't feel like I can get rid of this stuff, because I might need it one day. Well, maybe I could undertake a small cull...

Anyway, with the stash evaluation complete, it seems justifiable to add to it. I always remember one of Kbencos comments to the Slapdash Sewist as it really struck a chord with me:

"My theory is that if you don't keep buying pretty fabric when you see it, the what-was-i-thinking fabric multiplies and takes over the stash."

Clearly there's a great imbalance between 'the usable stash' and 'the dregs'.

So, to Tessuti I go!

Ahhhhh... I was quite restrained.

Actually, I should add here that I was spotted by one of my readers at Tessuti. This is the first time I've ever been recognised and had some one speak to me. (Hi Tanya!). Anyway, I was quite surprised and stumbled through a short conversation sounding like quite a twit, unable to string a comprehensible sentence together. It was funny and kind of weird, but nice. Please if you ever do see me in public, come up and say hi. I promise I'm a nice person and I normally speak like a normal person.

Back to the fabric. These are the plans:

A 70's style wrap skirt with this light, 70's vibe denim.

A Rooibos with this viscose blend, piped with Liberty Emilia's Flowers. I'm taking inspiration from Alana's linen Rooibos with contrast piping. I'd love to make mine in linen, but worry about wrinkling and bagging from wear. This viscose fabric is so easy to wash - it came out perfect with no wrinkles. The down side is that it will be a warmer dress to wear.

This cotton was labelled 'Italy' and 'A McQueen'. Does that mean it's Alexander McQueen?? That's rather posh if it is! I don't have a pattern for this fabric, but would love to make a skirt like this one that Carolyn made for her daughter, from Burda 7370, but maybe I'll play with how the pattern falls for a bit of contrast.

This last fabric was from Spotlight, which I had to go to on the way home to buy interfacing for bonnets and use my $10 voucher. I've been eyeing off this Japanese lawn for a while with Simplicity 6446 in mind. I'm planning on making the yellow version. I'd originally planned to make this with Liberty Mitsi in grey, but was worried about looking a little too grey. This voile has much more interest, and I think will look much nicer.

I'm feeling much more inspired with these new additions to the stash. Hopefully some of these plans will come together quickly.

I hope you all have a great New Year and I hope you too can justify some new fabric acquisitions for your stash!

Super Shorts v2

2011-12-30T16:24:00.005+11:00

These have been cut, ready to make since I blogged the last Super Shorts for the boys in September - yikes!

Ollie has a pair too. Clearly, the kid did not want to cooperate during this photoshoot, which is why he is lying on the floor with Jatz in his hands.

One less thing in the sewing room.

BurdaStyle 06/2010 #118 with modifications

2011-12-28T20:46:00.002+11:00

I've managed to steal some moments to hide in my sewing room these last few days, thanks to the husband being home, and now I have a new summer frock. I just need some summery weather now!

This stunning white dress is based on Burda dress #118 from 06/2010, though I have modified it heavily. I'm not a big fan of maxi dresses. I wish I could wear them - do they make short people appear shorter?

Anyway, I took the princess seam bodice from this pattern, slapped on a waistband, then attached a skirt - easy right?? No - not so! The points of the bodice, where the straps are attached, were way too overwhelming for my frame, so I re shaped them as shown below, straightening the top of the bodice and removing some excess from the side.

I then removed some more excess from the centre of the bodice, which is cut on the fold. I found the pattern did not shape nicely under my bust, so I trimmed as shown below and re-straightened the bottom of the piece.

The waist band is quite straight, but I thought would help make the dress less empire or maternity - which is always a worry when I sew empire waist dresses.

The skirt is just a simple gathered rectangle, with side seam pockets. I need pockets in my life these days and hate wearing garments without them. Although I still love both of my Meringue skirts. They are just too good to hate because they don't have pockets.

The fabric is a lovely Nani Iro dobby cotton, which I purchased on sale from Matatabi quite a while ago. I just love this fabric, it has a lovely drapey, crepe-like feel. The main problem with this fabric, is that it is white, which doesn't agree with my life these days. You know, grubby kids and all. I lined the entire dress including the skirt with white voile. I trimmed the lining with lace - just because.

I think the whiteness of this dress gives it quite a juvenile feel, which is why I kept the hem quite long. I'm not sure I'm totally comfortable in it, but maybe after we go on our summer holiday it will feel more appropriate.

Hope you are enjoying a few stolen moments doing the things you love!

Hope you have a great Christmas!

2011-12-24T12:16:00.000+11:00

With just hours until the big man arrives in our house, I just wanted to pop over here and wish all of my lovely readers a great Christmas. I hope you are able to enjoy it with family, friends, loved ones, pets or whoever else you choose to be with.

This is my contribution to Christmas at my parents house (the last of four stops for us to make tomorrow!), made with this recipe. I've love to say that I get better at making these each year, but I don't. This year I've slightly under cooked the gingerbread, so it's not as structurally sound as in previous years and I've had to prop up the roof from the inside with a Tupperware container.

I guess it's a good thing it only has to last a day till it's demolished by the kids.

Merry Christmas!

Vogue 1174

2011-12-22T22:55:00.002+11:00

I was hoping that this would be a cute little dress for Christmas day, but I'm feeling a little *blah* about it.

While I think strapless dresses look great, I'm not sure they are right for me right now. After reading most of the reviews of this pattern, where the sewers noted not being able to eat in their frocks, I modified the dress by adding straps and omitting the foundation and boning, which keeps this strapless version up. Being realistic, I am often carting around a two year old on my hip (not because she can't walk, but because I need to keep her out of trouble) and I really like to eat, so it seemed smart to simplify this dress a little.

Unfortunately, I'm not happy with the dress now that the modifications have been made. I added a bit more ease at the waist for comfort and eating, but this seems to have impacted how large the back of the skirt is. The pattern ease is confusing in itself, despite being strapless and needing to be tight to keep it up, it includes ease in the bust. That seems a little strange to me - I thought strapless dresses needed zero ease. Even though I used the finished garment size to determine which size to cut, I still needed to take this dress in.

Poorly fitted skirt back

The fabric is a Hokkoh quilting cotton that has been in my stash for a while. I thought this non-drapy fabric would work for this pattern, but I'm not sure. The flat fold piping is voile. The dress isn't hard to make, but it is a litttle time consuming to get the piping neat and even. I can be a little picky with these things and it bugs me that I didn't fix some small areas. I'm also not happy about the super bust flattening properties of this dress, which for someone like me, ain't so great.

Out of focus piping shot.

I wish this was an awesome frock, but it's not. Oh well, I still have a few more days to knock up a new dress.

Happy Sewing all!

Collette Meringue Skirt V2

2011-12-21T20:14:00.000+11:00

Collette Meringue Skirt in denim = happy!

How many of these skirts can one person make?? three? four? ten??

I wore my black version to Island at Sans Souci last night to celebrate a friend's birthday. It is so super comfy, that I managed to eat my weight, or thereabouts, in traditional Greek mezethes and then eat dessert without feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable. I love clothing which is conducive to gorging oneself.

This time I faced the skirt and hem in a paisley quilting cotton from my stash. Again, just because.

The key difference between this and my first version of this pattern, is the way I constructed the scallops. In my first, I clipped and notched the curves of the hem before pressing very well and very carefully, but still a few pointy bits remained, which you can see below.

I realise you can only see them on close inspection, but it does bug me. This time, I remembered this post on Pattern - Scissors - Cloth showing how to sculpt perfect scallops by trimming the curves quite close to the stitching, rather than clipping and notching.

It was definitely a more successful method for getting smooth curves. I also edge stitched the curves this time as there is a considerable difference in the weight of the denim and quilting cotton. I may still do this on my black version too.

Vogue 1174 is now finished, hopefully I'll be able to photograph it tomorrow. Clearly there's a ridiculous amount of sewing happening in this house at the moment. I think I'm in denial about Christmas being just days away.

Collette Meringue Skirt

2011-12-19T08:44:00.000+11:00

When I first received my Collette Sewing Handbook, I knew this skirt would be my first make and I'm very pleased with the finished product.

I really needed a simple black skirt in my wardrobe, but now I'm thinking about all the possibilities for this adorable little number. Perhaps even something like the pale blue striped one in the book.

This skirt was so fast to make it's not funny. I had the pattern traced, but fully cut and constructed the skirt during nap time, so less than 2 hours.

I'm really surprised with how well this skirt fit without any major fitting modifications, especially as I had so much trouble fitting my Beignet skirt, which still ended up swimming around my hips. I cut a size 0, grading up to a 4 at the waist. I minimised the front darts as I often find they poof there, and slightly lowered the rise, because even though I love the look of a skirt that sits on the waist, I don't love wearing them.

I faced the scalloped hem with Liberty, left over from this dress, just because. I have my work Christmas party tonight, so I think I'll wear this. I have so many dressed to wear, but these peeps are used to seeing me wear daggy black pants and a polyester shirt, so I don't want to shock them with too much of a wardrobe change. You know the carry-on you get some times when people see two completely different sides of you??

Vogue 1174 is next.

Happy sewing!

Giddy-up! Simplicity 2599 V2

2011-12-17T09:48:00.006+11:00

I love my first version of this top so much, that I've made it again, almost exactly the same, just in a different colourway.

This time I made necessary adjustments to the bust darts and cut the back on the fold. Again, I lowered the neckline and tried to adjust the front neckline to prevent gaping, but I think I might hand stitch a few small tucks as the pleated trim is pulling it down a little.

I love this fabric (from this Etsy seller, but she only appears to have a green and purple version in her shop right now), which is a little funny because I don't love horses. This colourway goes nicely with my red pants, which still need buttons, but I'm going to wear them today with safety pins.

Happy Sewing!

Another project

2011-12-15T17:29:00.002+11:00

I may have accidentally purchased some fabric last week, so that I can re-upholster an old armchair. I didn't mean to buy it. It wasn't planned. I was just popping in to my local upholstery supplier to see if they had any nice remnants so I can make floor cushions for the kids, then I stumbled upon this.

It's pretty cool right? So bright and wild - I love it! It goes perfectly with our red rug. It wasn't a remnant though, I had to get it ordered in. I can't wait to finally finish this chair, but after yesterdays terribly expensive car service (wheels, brakes, *cry*), I may have to wait until after Christmas to get new foam. Until then I'll just keep this lovely stuff in sight. So it doesn't get lost in my messy sewing room or forgotten on my ever growing 'to sew' list.

Happy Sewing!

Stylish Dress Book - Dress I

2011-12-14T14:16:00.000+11:00

Made with Liberty = love!

This is my second dress from Stylish Dress Book and I'm just as happy with this dress as I was with the first.

It's a simple 'v' neck dress, no zipper or buttons, with bands around the neckline and waist, although you really can't see them much on mine. I added a tie to the back to bring in a little volume.

The fabric was from Shaukat and is called Tomary.

The only changes I made to the pattern was to lengthen the bust darts slightly, shorten the hem and add the tie. Next time I'll probably make the 'v' a little deeper, just slightly, maybe just a half inch or so...

Now I just need the Sydney weather to warm up a little so it can get some wear.

Happy Sewing!

Another Op Shop Refashion

2011-12-11T14:04:00.001+11:00

This is the third item that I picked up this past week from one of my local Op Shops. It's a late 70's, possibly early 80's, polyester pleated skirt.

Now hemmed and taken in a little at the waist, this skirt is super breezy and light.

Perfect for summer days and also good for hiding a little more leg, which is especially important if you've neglected them for a few days... you know...

Quilt finished!

2011-12-10T21:21:00.001+11:00

As I've said before, I'm not a quilter, but this massive quilt is now finished and I'm quite happy to get it out of my sewing room. It takes up soooo much room!

The fabric is from Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden range, which goes perfectly in my bedroom.
I purchased quite a few fat quarters and made up the pattern myself, cutting four squares per fat quarter as large as I could fit and cutting white sashing to a thickness that I thought would work, rwo inches finished. It didn't end up quite as large as I would have liked, so I added a border with the remnants, cut into 1.5 inch strips, and more sashing, which is moda quilters muslin.

The back was pieced with the left over squares and more remnant strips. I realised that I'd hacked into the quilters muslin so much that I didn't quite have a large enough piece for the back, so this is what worked.

Now I'd love to show you a close up of the quilting, but I'm not a quilter and it ain't perfect. I think when I trimmed the inner part of the quilt, creating an unstable bias edge, I may have slightly stretched it, which has caused the borders to bubble a little.

Oh well, live and learn. I also used a cotton batting, so hopefully after a few washes most of the faults will fade away.

Happy sewing!

Before and After- Op Shop fashion

2011-12-09T12:46:00.001+11:00

I've enjoyed a little luck this week at my two favourite, local Op Shops. While I wasn't able to find any patterns or fabric (which I clearly don't need), I did manage to dig up a few great vintage items.

This red skirt from the 70s, is made with cotton drill and well worn, but still in great condition. Clearly it was too long and also a little big around the waist.

Now, after a nipping it in at the waist and the removal of about 5 inches from the hem, it's truly awesome. I wore it today and have received three compliments already! I've been planning on making a red skirt, my inspiration from Emerson Made of course, but this is far quicker and the fabric is so soft and drapes perfectly.

Next up is a lovely dress also from the 70s I think. There isn't much to do to this frock, it fits perfectly and is in pristine condition. Naturally it's not suitable for summer, but I can't imagine a more comfortable winter frock.

I think it might be a Australian designer dress, the label says 'Debra Fashions' of Melbourne, but I don't think it was mass produced. A lot of the seams aren't finished and you can see some hand stitching, but it is all very neat and professional.

It's made from spun polyester, which should make it easy to clean and has this awesome border print and a self belt. The only thing I need to do to this, is to sew up the side vents around the bottom of the skirt. They aren't necessary and not my style.

I'm so happy with these vintage treasures and for only $8 a piece, they are very cost effective additions to my wardrobe.

Have you enjoyed any Op Shop luck lately?

I blame Pay Pal...

2011-12-08T21:55:00.001+11:00

For the fact that I've purchased two sewing books in the last two months!

While I'm extremely happy with both of these purchases, I don't think I'd have gotten over the line with them if I had part with real money. I also got both on pre-order, so that reduced the price just a wee bit.

Last time I mentioned my purchase of the Collette book, a few readers asked for a review, so while I'm here I thought I'd review both books for you.

The Colette Sewing Handbook.

This book is super cute and I love its overall look. It contains five patterns, as well as sewing techniques and tips, including Sarai's three thread gathering technique, which I'm keen to try.

It also includes information on creating your own croquis, so that you can pick designs suited to your shape. A few bloggy examples of this can be found here and here.

Now the patterns. Out of the five in the book, I think I'd make three, maybe four..

The Meringue skirt (above) is just calling my name to be started. It's simple, but so cute with its scalloped hem.

The Taffy blouse (above) is also adorable and will eventually get made. You can see a couple of versions of this in blog land, like here and here. The pastille dress, which is shown on the front cover of the book, is also adorable and will get made by me one day.

I'm still not sure about the licorice dress (above). It looks fab in one photo and a little drab in the other. We'll see. I also don't think I'll make the Truffle dress. It's just a little too plain for me.

The Burda Style Sewing Handbook.

Like the Collette book, this also is a great sewing resource with a variety of hints and tips. It doesn't have that same cute look as the Colette book, but is still quite informative. I particularly like these two shots of a sewing space.

I'd love to have a huge, organised cutting table like this and I'm kicking myself now for getting rid of my old baby bottles. Who'd have thought I could store and display colour coded buttons in them??

This books has some great info on modifying patterns, which is the premise of the book, and has convinced me that I need a french curve ruler. These are some of the 'essentials' I need.

This book has five patterns with instructions for two variations of each of the five patterns. I can only see myself making three things in this book, but I'm still happy with that.

I really adore these tiered skirts. The plain one reminds me a little of the skirt Carolyn made for her daughter, the other has a scalloped overlay - need I say more??

I also really like this dress and have some black dobby voile in my stash that I could use for it.

Some variations of this dress pattern.

These tops are also cute, especially the stripey one, but I'm not sure if I would actually make it.

So there you are. Two books and two reviews. I am super happy with both of these and hope to have a finished item from one of them to show you soon.

Happy sewing!

Red pants. Simplicity 3850

2011-12-07T10:42:00.001+11:00

Red pants? Check! Happy me? Check!

Now that I'm a school teacher, I figure I can get away with clothes which are a little wilder than the corporate bibs and bobs I used to wear. These cute pants surely fit the bill.

I made these with OOP Simplicity 3850, which is a Built By Wendy pattern. I've made this pattern twice before, but these still required more modifications to get the fit right. The red fabric, a stretch drill I think, was purchased for $5 per meter from Spotlight and then reduced by a further 40%.

Because of the stretch in the fabric, I had to take these in quite a bit to get them to fit nicer. Unfortunately, the red fabric also shows fitting issues far more than the previous black and brown pants that I've made with this pattern. In particular, I had considerable fitting issues under the butt, with quite a bit of excess fabric pooling there. According to my research this can happen if you have flat bottom, which I didn't think I have, but I guess my bum isn't as generously proportioned as some. So I took in the back inner seam by well over an inch and modified the crotch seam and that appears to have fixed most of the problem. There is still some excess fabric there, but it doesn't look that bad.

Check out the red frames- cool huh?

To get these to look a little more like the Emerson Made pants, I also slightly tapered the leg to make the pants a little more slim fitting. They fall just above my ankle, but I'm still undecided what length to finish them. I also still need to source some matching buttons for the back tabs and from button.

The pants are still probably a little looser than I would like, but they are still cool and possibly a little more wearable because there aren't super tight.

I have really enjoyed making and fitting these pants. They have been quite fiddly, but very satisfying. Now I also have some purple fabric in my stash and am contemplating making another coloured pair. Why not right?

My little girl.

2011-12-06T22:27:00.000+11:00

The good thing about having a daughter that refuses to grow at the rate dictated by those silly medical growth charts or anywhere close to them for that matter, is that she fits into clothes much longer than I expect.

This dress was made and blogged here in September 2010.

She needs to wear shorts or bloomers underneath it now, but it's still most wearable.

Look how much she's grown!!

Thanks for your comments regarding sewing red pants. I have now half sewn a pair which will hopefully look like the Emerson Made ones. Also thanks for your comments about Santa. I think he will be making some matching linen to go with that lovely cot he sourced from the side of the road.

Decisions

2011-12-05T19:59:00.001+11:00

I'm trying trying to get my sew-jo back, but am struggling a little. Among other things, I keep stalling projects with small decisions.

For example, I really want to make a red pair of pants as I need more separates in my wardrobe. I have the fabric and the zipper, but am torn between two styles.

What do you think - Emerson Made kimichi pants with OOP Simplicity 3850 or BurdaStyle slim pants 02/2010 No. 111, like the ones I made here.

I think the Emerson Made style pants would be easier to wear in red. I'm not sure I'm cool enough to wear the other fitted pants in red, but they do seem fashionable at the moment.

What do you think? Which should I cut?

Flea Market Finds

2011-12-03T22:10:00.001+11:00

I have a small stash of goodies that I've collected over the past few months. Mostly they have come from my lovely sister Sam, who frequents quite a few nice little Op Shops in her area.

This dressmaking book, The Complete Dressmaking in Pictures, is filled with lovely illustrations to help with making, fitting and finishing garments. It was printed in England and while it doesn't appear to have a publication date, I think it might be late 50's.

This book was a little harder to photograph, it's called The Classic Techniques. It's from 1974 and has an interesting first few chapters about past fashion and classic fashion - good for a little giggle.

The last gem is the one I was most excited about - a dress form!

Now it's old, but not cool old, just old, old. The fabric outer has pulled off in some parts and needs to be re-glued, but it is still adjustable and even adjustable to my tiny bust size, which is hard to find in modern models.... oh how sad!! I think this might be from the mid 70's, as one of my sewing books from then, shows a picture of this exact model.

I think I may make a new cover for it with some sort of stretch fabric, but in the meantime, I'll just keep it dressed.

My soon to be finished picnic frock in gingham.

More second hand treasures here.

Liberty Bubble Dress

2011-12-03T08:07:00.001+11:00

Here is Adele's Christmas dress - an Oliver & S Bubble dress made in Liberty. How posh!

I just adore this pattern for little girls, I dare say it's the best little dress pattern ever. The shaped bodice is just darling, and the bubble is so perfectly sweet. I love that this dress always has a nice finish as it's fully lined.

This version is made with Emma and Georgina Liberty which was added to my last Shaukat order specifically for Adele. Unfortunately just prior to these photos, I realised Adele sweet little powder blue sandals which match perfectly, were completely broken, so now we must wear boring pink sandals - bum!

I lined the dress in white cotton voile, trimmed it with navy grosgrain ribbon and used vintage buttons to close the back. The button holes are just shocking. The button hole arm on my machine is broken so I need to manually form the length of each line of stitching. Hopefully I can get my machine in for a service and repair during our summer holiday, but until then, it's dodgy button holes or no button holes.

Here's Adele in her dress with the boys for their Santa photo this year. Clearly this photo didn't go to plan. the photographers were exceptionally patient and took over 20 shots, but Adele was frightened and the boys got bored of smiling.

Oh well, does anyone ever get the perfect Santa shot??

Christmas protocol: a question.

2011-12-02T07:33:00.001+11:00

So I have been thinking about asking Santa to bring Adele a small toy crib as she is quite obsessed with playing with dolls, which still seems so strange to me as we are more used to cars and super hero's in this house. At the moment, her dolls are put to bed in beer boxes, toy boxes, arm chairs or any other box or cushioned location.

She is not particularly articulate yet, except with her demands for yollies (lollies) and biscuits, so I felt it was my responsibility to put forward this request to Santa.

Last night, when driving to work, I stumbled upon this little treasure on the side of the road.

It appears barely used. No scratches, no chips, just a little dust.

So I'm keen to hear from you, does Santa find toys on the side of the road, or is that just a bit scabby?

Interestingly, the toy crib also contained a packet of unopened spoke decorations, which will go perfectly on the bikes that I think Santa will bring the boys.

Fate?? I think so!

Quilting

2011-12-01T07:41:00.001+11:00

I'm not a quilter, but I'm currently making a quilt.

This week, in between making bonnets, I've been trying to finish this massive quilt for my bed and it's been hard, forcing myself to make this. You see, while I do love having quilts in my house and I love picking fabric, I don't love making them. They take a long time and the whole quilting part is tricky, especiallly when your trying to shove half of a quilt through the arm of the machine while trying to keep the stitching neat.

Hopefully once this is finished I'll have a little clarity in relation to what garment to make next. I'm feeling totally overwhelmed by my 'to sew' list and my growing stash.

Shop Update

2011-11-28T13:19:00.001+11:00

My poor little shop has been so neglected lately.

If if weren't for my bonnet pdf pattern, I fear this little space on Etsy may have fallen off the "shop local" listings for Australia.

New designs are now available with more being added over the next week. Which designs will I keep for Adele this summer?? I quite like the DS Quilts fabrics above...

I must say I am struggling just a little with the bonnnet biz this year. Last year I was driven. This year I'm a little tired.

I'm sure it will pass.

In other great news, I've now booked two casual teaching days!! Needless to say, I am very happy!

Want... no NEED!!

2011-11-25T16:25:00.001+11:00

Seriously.

Need, need, need, need!!

You can get this wonderful necklace from Have You Met Miss Jones, right here.

Or maybe this one...

Seriously peeps, someone buy a few bonnets from my shop so I can have it! My Playpal is kinda empty - boo!

O & S Bubble Dress Variation

2011-11-25T08:06:00.001+11:00

After recently tracing the Oliver & S Bubble Dress pattern for another yet-to-be-blogged dress, I remembered how much I love the shape of the bodice and how appropriate this dress would be for summer, with its built in cap sleeves.

For this variation, I've simply cut the bodice, then extended the side seams down to a dress length. I created facings with the original pattern piece. As my version of this pattern only goes to the 18-24 month size, I sewed this with 1/4 inch seam allowances. The 18-24 month size would still fit Adele, but I am hoping to get next year out of this dress too.

To make the dress construction super fast, I omitted all the buttons and nice closure details on the back, and just added a button and loop.

The fabric is a little bit posh, originally from Tessuti (no longer available it seems), but given to me by Rachel (So happy to have generous friends that sew!). She made a lovely summer skirt with this fabric and this was a very generous sized remnant.

Playsuit for me

2011-11-24T21:51:00.001+11:00

When I evaluated my wardrobe for this summer, I realised I needed a playsuit and now I have one.

The pattern is an Etsy download from Salme patterns which you can see here.

I made this out of a piece of stretch poplin from my stash. It closes with snaps hidden under the facing and is cinched at the waist with elastic. The pattern was easy to construct, but did take some time. I initially sewed the facings wrong which made me a little cranky.

I also added belt loops like the pattern photo, even though the instructions for these weren't included. Speaking of instructions, they were a little sparse. They are probably a little more vague than Burda style instructions, so I definitely wouldn't recommend this pattern to a beginner, but anyone who's sewn Burda could definitely make this.

I purchased a size small pattern and took it in about an inch along the back seam and then about the same across the front. I made a similar size change to the shorts. I really didn't want this to puff out too much when worn and the stretch poplin has enough give for comfort.

I think this is quite a cute little outfit for my wardrobe, but I'm still not convinced it's entirely appropriate for a 30+ year old with three little kiddies to wear a playsuit....

We'll see.

BurdaStyle Slim Pants 02/2010 #111

2011-11-21T06:49:00.001+11:00

After seeing all the lovely Colette Clover pants appearing on sewing blogs, it was difficult to resist the temptation to buy another pattern. I did however and have made a very similar pair of slim, cigarette pants thanks to the Tessuti blog review of a Burda pattern which is quite similar 02/2010 No. 111.

I used a nice thick stretch drill that I purchased last week on sale from Spotlight. I really wanted a thick fabric as I wanted a good fit without showing much wobble. I'm super happy with with the finished fit and they are super comfy.

I added belt loops to the waistband just in case I need them and used a regular zipper on the side with a side lapped application. I've had a bit of trouble lately with invisible zippers, having them fail after or during wear and I didn't want to risk this. I think also with the thick fabric an invisible zipper may have gone wrong.

I'm super happy with how neat my zipper is... for a change!

Regarding the pattern, I found it to be quite easy and well fitted from the outset. I cut an 18 and a 19 waist, but think the ease caught me off as there's a little more built in to the pants than what I wanted. Because of this I took in the side seams by about 1cm each side, but that was easy. I also had to make modifications to the waistband for fit, courtesy of my lack of waist shape, but that is a standard alteration for me, so no complaint there.

The good thing about the success of this pattern is that it is the beginning to fill a "separates" void in my wardrobe. I wore handmade every day I taught during my prac block, but sometimes skirts and dresses aren't so appropriate. More pants will surely follow and maybe in colour!

Short 'n' Sweet

2011-11-20T08:13:00.001+11:00

I started this little crochet cardigan way back in July. I was up to the sleeves in August. Then I got busy. The sleeves involved counting and I was too distracted. It took two months to complete them. It's now been over a month since I blocked the cardigan and I still have no button, but it's time to share and move on.

The pattern is called Short N Sweet and it's from the Happy Hooker book, which I borrowed from the library to save $$. I made this in Amy Butler Belle Organic Aran in Aubergine, which I purchased from Evoke with some evil Paypal money. Seriously, how often do you ever take money out of Paypal??

LOVE my Emerson Made jeans! Best jeans eva!

I like the cardi, but I don't love it. It's probably not really my style and the yarn is super chunky. Anyway, it is done and if I ever feel like wearing it, I can.

Details Ravelled here.

Starting simple...

2011-11-19T14:46:00.001+11:00

This used to be a sewing blog. Then it became a whining blog. Now it will be a sewing blog again!

After giving my sewing space a quick clean, I started sewing something simple and comfortable.

Comfortable = elastic waist skirt.

I don't think I've owned an elastic waist garment since I was a kid. I know it isn't the most flattering or polished look, but it's light and just fine for hanging out with the kids.

The voile is a little sheer (Anna Maria Horner, Innocent Crush), but I'm OK with that around the house and I have a half slip that I wore today when we went to the shops.

Happy days :)

It's official!

2011-11-18T15:28:00.001+11:00

I've now finished university F_O_R_E_V_E_R!!!!!!

I completed my last assignment yesterday and got a grade immediately. I have no more assignments and no more university commitments, in fact, I never have to go back to university ever, ever again!

I'll officially graduate in December, but even then I don't have to go back as I've nominated to graduate in absentia - meaning they'll post me my Masters certificate thingo.

Many of my uni friends don't understand why I would miss the graduation ceremony, but for some reason it really doesn't interest me. One friend even nominated to purchase the gown and cap from her undergraduate degree to keep. She says she sometimes makes breakfast wearing it, which I think is totally hilarious. Almost funny enough to do it myself.

Even though it has been much harder to get my masters than my early uni qualifications, I'd rather save the money I'd have to pay to graduate on campus and instead buy a nice bottle of bubbly, get some take-out and hang out at home with the kids and hubby.

So tell me, did you attend your graduation? Did you secretly wear your gown and cap around the house?

Dreaming...

2011-11-15T17:34:00.001+11:00

Only one more assignment to go. I have two text books to read before Thursday morning to pass it *gulp*.

I have been sewing, but it's been all about bonnets. One big order down, two more to go.

I'm working all weekend.

Then I need to get my CV to school, just in case they need have a few casual days before Christmas. Even though we're kinda skint, I hope they don't call...

I'm dreaming about sewing for me... Paypal has been kind to me these past few months. Here you can see a bunch of fabric that I probably haven't mentioned on my blog. The dark ikat print at the bottom and navy gingham accidentally fell into my shopping trolley today when I went to Spotlight to buy some more interfacing for bonnets.

So much fabric, so many pattern, so much inspiration... I just need time...

Busted!

2011-11-12T17:03:00.001+11:00

So my regular readers probably know that I sell bonnets and my bonnet pattern to support my sewing hobby.While I do totally enjoy making bonnets, I do need to make money from them. Without this money I could not afford my expensive hobby!

When it came to selling my pattern, I did contemplate this decision for quite a while before taking the plunge. I know that once a pattern is out there, especially on the interweb, you do lose some control. I think we've all noticed that there are bunch of kiddy pattern sellers on Etsy that seem to sell the same patterns....

* I really need to add here that it took me over a year to fine-tune my bonnet pattern. I drew it from scratch! I tested and tested and sized and modified and tested and tested some more. It took me a lot of time and energy to make it and I knew it was unique and awesome from the outset. I truly understand the value of creative work even more since developing this pattern.

Anywho, recently I thought I'd have a look-see through Etsy to see what other bonnet patterns were available and I was shocked to find a pattern remarkably similar to mine. Same shape, same sizes and almost the same words to describe it. Worse yet, they were charging 50c more than me and they were offering a licence to sell the end product! (I don't currently offer this licence, but seriously, I can't stop you! Thanks again to those asking for permission to resell their end products - only the end produce, not the pattern!)

At first I didn't know what to do. Then I spoke to my sister and to Rachel (who's blogging again by the way, check it out here - she has the biggest Colette collection of any person I know and will surely share more soon). My sister bought the pattern from this seller and I can't tell you how shocked I was when I realised that my pattern had simply been traced, scanned and was being resold by someone else!

I was so shocked, and quite overwhelmed with my upcoming prac block, that I just decided to deal with it later.

Weeks passed. On one of my last nights prior to finishing prac, I may have had a wine or two (Dutch courage) and decided to tackle the problem by emailing the seller... Stressful!!

Thankfully her response came within a few days. She admitted that even though she'd undergone a lengthy design process for her pattern (yeah right!), she admitted it was very similar to mine (read: fully ripped off!) She admitted she had my pattern and her pattern didn't differ enough to sell it and she has since pulled the item from her shop.

To say I was relieved is an understatement. I really felt so used and ripped off!!!

I once used to work in the copyright business, the music industry to be exact which dealt with music licensing, artist copyright and other issues, and I don't think I fully understood how it might feel for an artist to have their work ripped off until this.

Anyway, while the problem has been resolved, I will make sure I'm extra vigilant in future and check Etsy regularly. I realise that I have lost a great deal of control over my property in offering it for sale, but my copyright should still be respected.

BTW - my free ruffle sunsuit pattern is also being used to sell finished products on Etsy. This again is outside of the copyright guidelines that I've stipuated on the pattern, but I really can't tackle that too.

If you want to support my hobby, you can buy your bonnet or pattern here :) Seriously peeps - buy up! Make me happy :)

Happy sewing!

It all started with a hamburger...

2011-11-11T18:55:00.001+11:00

from Burgerlicious on King Street, Newtown to be exact. Back when we were DINKs, living in the inner city, caring about our careers and planning our future when we thought we could travel or do anything. That's when my waters broke. I shuffled into a side alley and gushed with each step toward the car. We headed home. With no contractions, we knew we had to wait....

Once the contractions came, they came fast and furious. No time to 'wait until it's unbearable,' we headed straight to the hospital and withing 4 hours (including 2 hours of pushing!!) Oliver was here.

Tonight, we are celebrating his arrival five years ago, with hamburgers.

Yum!!

I never could have imagined how life changing his arrival would be. Withing a few months of his arrival, we knew we wanted have another baby, but the size of our house was limiting. (Also the husband is a tradie and has more tools than any person I know, jack hammer, chain saw, plus a zillion others. We needed a garage!). So one sold house, one quick conception and a move back to the burbs happened.

Now with three kids, my hectic life is so much better than I ever thought it could be.

Happy birthday Oliver! Sorry about the dodgy packet cake, with very little icing and kiddy placed decorations.

So Happy!

2011-11-09T21:17:00.000+11:00

Oh yes! That's me! I have now officially finished my prac teaching block and not a moment too soon.

I must admit that while working full time was tough, and my supervising teacher was much tougher than others, my home situation by far, proved the toughest thing to deal with.

Today, I was pulled aside by one of Oliver's pre-school teachers because he had cried at school 4 or 5 times with very little reason. "Why is this so?" they ask. Well, it's all because of me....

Anyway, even though I still have two assignments to complete before university finishes f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!!!! I am still so, so, so happy!

Once these assignments are finished, I may even be 'Sew Happy' - just like this sign suggests - lol! My lovely little sister bought this for me from Typo. Gosh I LOVE that store! I totally drop money every time I step through the front door...

Note: please excuse the typos in this post, if there are any, I may have had one or two or three glasses of bubblesssss to celebrate.............

Excited!

2011-11-07T17:37:00.002+11:00

Only two more prac teaching days to go - hooray! Then just two more assignments, they are major, but much easier than full time prac teaching, and then I'll be free from university study forever and ever and ever!!

I can't wait to get my life back again and the sewing...what will I make first??

Hey Big Spender!

2011-10-29T07:52:00.002+11:00

A little while ago, thanks to some lovely early spring weather, I managed to make and sell quite a few bonnets to my lovely shops and online. Yay! While some money was spent on Liberty (I think I'm yet to show you all of it), some was also spent buying a new pair of jeans.

While I gave the whole jeans sewing thing a good go, I still really wanted to own a real pair of Emerson Made jeans. I have been banging on about them for a while now.

Looking exceptionally wrinkled due to a large portion of my day spent sitting on a bus
travelling to and from our school excursion (field trip).

I'm so happy with these jeans.The fit and style are just what I wanted and the denim feel and colour are spot on. I'm also quite happy to say that my own versions of these jeans were actually quite similar, but I just couldn't get past their little quirks from being home sewn, like a slightly off front fly, waistband inconsistency, top-stitching quality, etc. I guess maybe after sewing a few more pairs of jeans I might be happier with the finish, but until then I think I still need commercially made jeans in my wardrobe.

I don't buy finished garments often, so this is a massive purchase for me. However, considering my past two pairs of jeans were purchased from the Op Shop, I figure a splurge every few years is OK.

So tell me, have you made any big garment purchases recently? What else am I missing out on?

2, 3, 4.

2011-10-28T21:20:00.000+11:00

Adele turned two today. So for the next two weeks, just until Ollie's birthday, I have a two year old, a three year old and a four year old.

Talk about a tough photo. I had to threaten James with no cake to join the shot.

Life is kinda wild at the moment. The whole full time teaching thing is tough. I really do take my hat off to any mum with similar aged kids that works full time. Seriously, you are all legends!

Anyway, back to Adele. She got a working mums party. Greasy fish n chips (the choice of the boys), a cake from Woolies and a cheap doll that the husband bought. I don't think I'd have bought the same, but she likes it and it fit the incredibly small budget I gave him.

I wish I could say that I'm looking forward to a weekend of leisure and rest, but I have bonnet orders to fill, school work to prep, about 10 loads of laundry and a house to clean. Ick!

Only 8 school days to go...

Old, but new

2011-10-25T16:24:00.002+11:00

Like many sewers, I love vintage patterns. But when does your 'stash' become more of a collection, than a resource for future projects? Do you collect or make?

The more I think about it, the more I realise that I think I am becomming a collector of sewing patterns, rathen than a maker. I hope one day to make them, but I seem to acquire patterns far faster then my current sewing output.

While some patterns have been purchase for a steal from Op shops (Thrift stores), which makes it hard to turm them down, many others have been purchased from Etsy, mostly with the bibs and bobs of bonnet pattern money that comes in.

Just incase you are interested, here are some of my latest acquisitions.

Vogue 7063 (c 1970s)
Op shop: 50c
I really love the simple style of this dress, especially the black version to the left. I have some Liberty assigned to it, but lack the time to make it - boo!

Style 3281 (early 1980s)
Op Shop: 50c
This pattern reminds me of this Miss Mozelle dress by Jamie Christina patterns, but without the 'new pattern' price tag. For some reason it also reminds me of Princess Dianna. Maybe it's the 80's vibe from the illustration.

Vogue 6804 (c 1949)
Etsy: $14
I adore this shirt dress pattern and hope to make it one day with short sleeves, probably a little shorter than in the pattern, in a deep coloured voile. But without suitable fabric in the stash, it's yet to be attended to.

Simplicity 4390 (c 1960s)
Etsy: $6???
I love the skirt style on this pattern and imagine making a sleeveless version for summer, possibly with those godets starting a little higher. Again, no suitable fabric, or time. Hopefully I'll get to it this summer.

Style 3400 (late 70s, early 80's)

Op shop: 50c

I love the simple red frock on this envelop. Again, this is a Summer goal.

Vogue 7720 (c 1960's)

Etsy: $10
I really like this dress and have attempted to make it. Unfortunately, after checking all the measurements of the dress, which fit me, I forgot to check the placement of the waistband, which sat too high. Hopefully I'll make this successfully one day.

Simplicity 6446 (1966)

Etsy: 10??

I love this dress and have the fabric (Liberty Mitsi in grey), buttons and zipper to make this dress, but lack the time and a little motivation. It seems too hot to make a shirt dress.

Advance 6120 (1952)
Etsy: $15???
I've had this pattern in my stash since about July. I really want to make the blue version in a solid inky voile, to wear with a grey belt this summer. Unfortunatly I impulse bought a yukky fabric type and have been uninterested in making it because of that.

Vogue 6468 (c1940s)
Etsy: $15
I love this dress style so much. It has a simple darted bodice with kimono sleeves and the scalloped detail sits nicely along the shoulders and sides. I imagine making this in a solid lightweight fabric, but lack solids in my stash, or enough matching buttons for that matter. Hopefully this summer I'll be able to tackle this wonderful pattern.

Vogue 6460 (c 1960s)

Etsy: $10

This pattern sat in my Etsy favourites for quite a while before I purchased it. I love that it's a simple shift with a little special detailing.

So, I think that's enough show and tell for today. The pattern situation in my sewing space is gettting a little ridiculous, but I just can't seem to part with any of them.

What's your favourite vintage pattern? Do you feel that you collect more than make?

11 more days to go - well I have one excursion in there too, so 10 days to go!

All bad days come to an end....

2011-10-24T16:55:00.002+11:00

I've had a bad day today. Nothing went right. Following a full-on weekend, my morning with my own kids was tough. At school the kids were a little tougher. My supervising teacher was the toughest. I may have even had a little cry when I got home. I'm not normally a crier.

Thankfully, tomorrow we can start fresh.

I hope your Monday hasn't been as bad as mine. :)

Obligatory blog post photo - "Cheese!"

12 more prac teaching days to go...

Charity Auction: Juvenile Diabetes

2011-10-21T22:08:00.001+11:00

I've donated a lovely bonnet to an upcoming Facebook auction for Juvenile Diabetes. It's actually the last bonnet available in this popular fabric combination.

Look, I don't do Facebook. I'm late to the game and it's not my thing. I can't really tell you how a Facebook auction works, but I figure, if you do the Facebook thing, you'll know how it will work.

Kirsty's son, Eden, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes recently and she's been on a massive fund raising mission since, to help in finding a cure for this disease.

Kirsty sells lovely, boutique baby linen through her company, Kaile Boutique Baby Linen. Can you believe I met her in a supermarket car park, far from my home, after she complimented me on baby Adele's handmade dress?? Turns out she is married the brother of a boy that I went to school with (I could probably word that better). Small world huh??

Anyway, the auction starts tomorrow at 9am, so head over here and start bidding on some of the cute things on offer.

Giddy-up! Simplicity 2599

2011-10-17T20:34:00.003+11:00

I am so happy with this top!

How adorable is the fabric? I purchased it from here on Etsy. They now also have the same design in navy and pink, which I think I may purchase to make another top like this, but possibly with short sleeves.

The pattern, Simplicity 2599, is a basic top pattern with a few different neck variations. While I do like version E, I really wanted to try create a pleated neckline similar to this Emerson Made blouse. My sister has one, similar to the link, in a lovely charcoal and white striped seersucker that I just adore.

I made a straight size 8 and the only modification was to lower the front neckline by 1 inch and to sew a few tiny tucks to the front neckline, which thankfully are hidden under the pleated strip, to prevent the front gaping. I'll have to fix this properly in future if there's nothing to hide them.

The pleated neck was made by cutting a 4.5 inch strip the full width of the fabric. I used my 1/4 inch foot to sew the long edge, turned right side out and pleated to fit. I really love that horses run two different ways around the neck.

Giddy-up!

A little life....

2011-10-16T13:03:00.000+11:00

Life has been a quite full on these past few weeks, I've managed to squeeze in a fair bit of sewing, but I fear this will now end for a short while. You see, tomorrow I begin my prac teaching block.
In other news, our family car was in an accident this week and was pretty much totalled. While this is crappy timing (I guess there's never a good time to lose your car), the good news is that the kids weren't in the car with me at the time. I really think they would have been hurt if they were. We are also insured and able to buy a new car, so I am grateful that things aren't worse.

Anyway, despite this crappy hurdle, at least I know that I only have a few more weeks (very hard weeks) until I finish university for ever and ever and ever*.

The other good news, is that I have a such a back log of draft posts about other bibs and bobs that I've made recently that this blog will probably still be updated during this time. It may appear that I'm enjoying my ~~obsession~~ hobby, but in fact, very little sewing will be occurring :( I may even get my machine serviced or something....

So only a few more weeks to go. That light at the end of the tunnel is shining a little brighter!

* My husband has advised me that if I go back to university again, for anything ever, ever, ever, he's outta here!

Obligatory blog post photo. We are still obsessed with Spiderman!

Sister Sewing: The Blanket Tova

2011-10-15T12:17:00.002+11:00

So it appears I'm not the only one that liked my blanket Tova from this past winter. It was on high rotation in my wardrobe on chilly days.

I made this Tova tunic for my sister with a wool blend fabric from My Hung. I think it's a most suitable garment for the upcoming Toronto winter.

From a sewing point of view, I really need to point out how awesome my fabric matching was on this garment. I matched and reversed the fabric check pattern at a number of points, not just the side seams, which took some extra time and thought, but I think it makes a much nicer garment.

Tis all for now - happy sewing all!

Kids Tee Pee - Butterick 4251

2011-10-13T14:22:00.001+11:00

My sister purchased this pattern, Butterick 4251, and gave it to me so that I could make a tee pee for her son, Corin. This was the first project on the list of 'sister sewing' that I've fit in my life these past two weeks.

The pattern came together very quickly. I made her tee pee in about three hours and then proceeded to make one for my own kids.

The one pictured here is the one for my kids, although Corin is playing in it in these pictures. I used this fabric from Ikea. The pattern uses a lot of fabric, like 8 meters, so this project isn't cheap. The kids love it though. We can use it inside and plan to play with it outside in summer. It folds down relatively small too and can fit under a single bed. What more could you ask for??

More 'sister sewing' show and tell will follow.

Happy sewing!

Stylish Dress Book - Dress 'N'

2011-10-12T11:29:00.002+11:00

I can't stop dreaming about summer and as you can see, I'm planning for it already!

I can just imagine wearing this light summer dress on a hot humid day, watching the kids wading in the pool and eating watermelon.... As soon as the first heat wave hits, I'll be ready!

This dress was made with an Autumn Winter 2011 seasonal Liberty tana lawn called Rock & Roll Rachel. The muted red tones with a hint of gold and orange are just lovely.

The pattern is dress 'N' from Stylish Dress Book. It is very straightforward and fast to make. I only recently purchased this book and am already planning a few projects with it. I purchased the English version of it, and while I don't have a problem with using any Japanese patterns books, it is nice being able to read the text :)

I used french seams throughout, just to keep things neat. The only alterations made to the pattern was adding 4 inches to the length, which enabled a deeper hem to be sewn, and making the back elastic a little shorter. I also added a couple of wooden beads to the back ties, just because.

Happy sewing!

Girls Night Out

2011-10-11T22:38:00.000+11:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned earlier that my sister from Canada has been here these past two weeks. Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful girls night out - no kids, no husbands!

Pictured L to R : Big sister Sarah from Toronto, Me wearing Vintage Simplicity 5034, Sis-in-law Mary with babe in tummy,
my younger sister Sam, and my lovely mum Dianna.

Unfortunately, my sister and her wee boy, Corin, leave this week to go back to Toronto. Gosh these past few days have been busy, but gosh it's been good! I wish she lived in Sydney, or even anywhere in Australia. Why would you want to live in Toronto?? I'll miss her when she's gone...

She's kept me busy sewing these past two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to get some photos of the fnished goods tomorrow to show you.

Happy Sewing!

Vintage Simplicity 3461 & 4841 again

2011-10-10T20:32:00.003+11:00

Well I loved the first dress so much, that I decided to make it again.

This time in a seasonal Liberty tana lawn called Becky Jane. Did I mention that some more Liberty has found its way into my home again? I think I'll save that news for a different post.

I really love this fabric and I LOVE this dress. It's so fast to make and easy to wear. As with my first version of this dress, the bodice was made with Simplicity 3461 and the skirt from Simplicity 4841, both from the 1960s.

I really love the shape of the skirt. The two pleats at the front add a little interest, but all the darts shape it nicely. I think next time I'll shorten the bodice to the petite size as it does sit just a fraction below my waist. I also inserted the zipper on the side this time, just because the fabric is so lovely I didn't want a nasty zipper to break up the design.

I've been so busy lately and have much more to show you.

Happy sewing!

Giveaway goodies

2011-10-07T09:33:00.001+11:00

I recently won a couple of bloggy giveaways that I'm super duper happy about. I don't enter giveaways very often, but some prizes are just too tempting!

First up, Kat from All the whimsical things had a giveaway recently and I won this awesome stash of goodies.

Can't keep little paws off my things!

I'm so excited about the Gutterman thread. I'm such a tightwad with certain sewing consumables and often use much cheaper thread for a lot of projects. I know it's bad, I know it's not so good, but good thread is soooo expensive when you go through as much as I do. I'm also in desperate need of pins, some of mine are so old they are blunt, so this prize pack of goodies is so much appreciated.

Next up was another super awesome giveaway from Passiona at Le Courtureve.

I never thought I'd own a piece of Missoni fabric, but look at this! It's a skirt length piece with some Mokum fold over elastic. One of my friends has already put dibs on this yet-to-be-made skirt and while I don't often give away such awesome-ness, I do owe her a 30th birthday present from January this year... whoops - what an awesome friend am I??

Thanks again Kat and Passiona!!!!

Thrift store finds

2011-10-05T15:34:00.001+11:00

To reward myself for finishing another assignment, and a day early at that, I headed to my favourite op shop to see if I could find any treasure. While today's isn't a massive score, it's still pretty darn good.

A vintage, hem marker and a super cute day dress pattern from the 40's, complete with scalloped shoulder and button front detail. Sweet!

All I need now is a dress form to use the hem marker with and possibly some more time to sew...

Tis all for now. Hopefully I'll get a little time at the machine tonight.

More fast sewing

2011-10-01T07:57:00.000+10:00

Everything I'm sewing seems to be fast these days. With so much stress building due to upcoming uni work, I can't seem to concentrate on anything difficult. Despite having a stack of sewing projects lined up for me, with fabric, patterns and notions ready to go, I can't seem to even think about them.

This time I've made simple, fast cushion covers to brighten up our home.

These first two were made with Anna Maria Horner Lou Lou Thi fabric. I love the colours in this fabric and they are so bright and summery. I backed them in another fabric from this range and the trick to making them a super fast sew is making them envelop closures. No zippers or buttons, just a doubled-over back to enclose the cushion insert.

Next some fat quarters from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom fabric line. These are nice, but not awesome like the Anna Maria Horner covers. I really thought they needed to be pieced, but I like my cushion covers serged so they can be washed easily. So I cut the fabric into different width strips, serged them together and then made the big strips into covers, again with envelop closures. I hate zippers and buttons at the best of times and have no intention of using them unless absolutely necessary.

Now I did have a length of fabric strips made up that wasn't quite long enough for a cushion cover. What was I to do with it???

Make another skirt for Adele of course! I added a waistband and trimmed it with ribbon to add a little length to it.

"Camouflage!"

"Those cushions are wearing the same outfit at me!"

Clearly Adele wasn't in the mood for taking photos yesterday.

Now that Adele has all of these new dresses and skirts, I really must start making some bloomers to cover those horrible nappies.

Liberty for the little lady

2011-09-30T08:25:00.001+10:00

After trekking to my shops this week to sell bonnets (I may have already spent my earnings, but more on that later), I came home totally inspired to make more pretty little things for Adele. First up, I needed to make Adele a simple skirt with Liberty fabric (Rach - are you jealous?).

I needed to bribe her with lip balm to get a photo

I saw similar skirts at My Messy Room in Summer Hill. The ones at the shop were made from the softest light grey and blue floral Liberty, and trimmed with bright red and white grosgrain ribbon. They were adorable! Stav has impeccable taste when it comes to little kids clothes and I highly recommend heading to her shop if you are ever in the Summer Hill (Sydney) area.

I didn't have any fabric similar to the ones in her shop, but I did have a little Emilia's Flowers left over from this Tova. I trimmed it with some off white lace, which has been sewn into a pin tuck that also secures the hem. I had a little more length than needed, so created a generous elastic casing with a little ruffle on top. Cute huh?

A little more cute that I spied at My Messy Room was this stunning dress by Olive's Friend Pop.

Peter pan collar, scallop detail on the bib and over skirt AND ruffle sleeves! Ack - so cute!!!!

I highly recommend visiting My Messy Room if you're in the area, or if you're not nearby, check out the online shop.

Dress for Adele

2011-09-29T07:53:00.000+10:00

I'm really enjoying fast sewing projects at the moment. This dress was made last night for Adele. For some reason, even though I stayed up very, very late the night before making bonnets, I still found myself at the machine last night.

This simple square yoke dress is half vintage pattern, half fudged up by me. The good thing about sewing so many little dresses for little ones, is that you can just eyeball different elements of a design.

The top fabric is pink honeycomb kei fabric, one of my all time favourite pink fabrics and the bottom is some quilting cotton from Anthology fabric, which was initially purchased to make into a quilt for the boys, but doesn't look quite right. One big vintage button closes the yoke.

I love feeling like I've achieved something and I am working through some of the stash which is even better. I'm sure more fast and simple sewing will follow....

Little Red

2011-09-28T20:03:00.002+10:00

My new favourite.

I love red with denim, and this DS Quilts red fabric has a slight edgey look with the black and hearts...

You can get yours from the shop.

Tis the season to wear bonnets....

2011-09-27T17:15:00.000+10:00

Fa la la la la la la la la

While it's cooling down up north, it's warming up here, which means the bonnet production line is in full swing!

On my first day on uni holidays, and likely to be my only sewing day (boo!), I'm working through a stack of orders and building stock for my shops.

Mess, mess, mess!

It;s a great time to buy if you want your bonnet quick fast. Get your bonnet here!

Tiny pocket tank with perfect binding

2011-09-26T20:27:00.001+10:00

This time for me.

I made this on Saturday night. The fabric is a remnant from The Fabric Shop purchased way back in July and the pattern from Grainline. I love the simplicity of tops like this and I love that they are so cool and easy to wear in summer.

Now I know we all have our special little ways of sewing particular things, but just in case someone wants to see how I create super neat 1/4 inch binding that it sewn under a garment, I thought I'd show you how.

The tiny pocket tanks asks you to cut a 1 inch bias strip and fold one long edge 1/4 inch along, creating 1/2 inch single fold bias. Does that make sense?? If you don't have a bias tape maker, this is fiddly and I think a little messy. I sew binding on with a 1/4 inch quilting foot that looks like this one below.

The special thing about this foot is the little hole to the left of the foot. When you shift your needle position to the left, as shown in the picture, the needle sews through this hole creating a perfect 3/8 or 1cm seam. This makes it perfect for sewing bonnet (wanna buy a pattern or a bonnet?), a Tova, most hat patterns or any other pattern with a 1cm seam allowance.

This is a Janome 1/4 inch foot and I'm not sure what other brands have this, or if there are other feet which you can use in this manner. I've checked Rachel's Bernina foot and it doesn't have this little hole. Even if your machine doesn't have this, you can still use this method. I'll explain at the end.

So, on to the binding. Start by cutting a bias strip of fabric 1.5 inches and folding in half, giving a finished width of 3/4 inch.

Sew this strip on to your garment using a 3/8 seam allowance. As mentioned earlier, I do this through the little hole on my 1/4 inch quilters foot. Can you see the needle is in the little hole here?

Trim seam allowances, notch and clip as needed and press inside. Then stitch in place with your 1/4 inch quilting foot but shift the needle back to the centre position.

Press again and then admire your super neat binding.

Now, if you don't have this little hole in your quarter inch quilting foot, you can still use this method. Simply cut your bias strip to 1 & 1/8 inches and fold in half. Then you need to shift your needle position as far left as you can without hitting your machine foot to attach the binding to the garment. Trim, clip and press inside (you won't have to trim as much). Then position your needle just slightly to the right of centre and sew under.

Perfect, easy binding, even when you sew at night or after an evening vino!

Happy Monday all!

Speedy Stashbustin' Sewing

2011-09-24T19:46:00.000+10:00

I've been sewing up a storm this past 24 hours since handing in my latest assignment. Unfortunately it's not my last!

Anyway, Adele needed clothes, I had fabric and a little time.

So far we have:

Two simple summer skirts made with fat quarters purchased years ago. I mean years and years ago.... Hasn't everyone owned some Amy Butler Belle fabric at some time??

One simple pillow case dress made from Sandi Henderson fabric.

One slightly different pillow case top made with lovely Anna Maria Horner voile.

And this final item is so super cute it you'll find yourself racing to the machine to whip one up, even if you don't have a little girl to wear it!

Look at that pose!! This ruffle halter top was made with a free Oliver & S download that you can get here.

I can't believe how awesome this little top is! The fabric is a voile from my stash called Darling Clementine. I ordered it to fill a cart, but I definitely couldn't pull it off in an outfit for me. Don't you find that with things you buy just to fill your cart?? They are never quite right...

I made a few changes to this pattern. I roll hemmed the ruffles as I'm not keen on raw edges, even on bias cut fabric. Because I'm just a little lazy, I used poly grosgrain ribbon for the tie. I also ordered the finish of the garment differently and added elastic to the back for a better fit.

I'm super happy with this top, but the weather has turned, so I'm not sure when we will be able to wear it.

Hope you all have a good weekend. I'm hoping to add more to this insane effort tonight.

PJs

2011-09-20T09:24:00.000+10:00

My mother in law used to buy me nice PJs for my birthday and Christmas. I was always appreciative of these gifts as I loathe spending money on clothes you don't wear out. Since her stroke 2 years ago, no one has bought me PJs and all the jarmies that I still have are becomming too indecent, even to wear around the house.

This nighty was made with some Liberty that I'd purchased to fill my cart, but when I arrived I knew I couldn't pull it off in an outfit.

The pattern is from this Japanese pattern book, not sure of the name (ISBN978-4-8347-2548-3). As my overlocker and I aren't on speaking terms right now, I sewed french seams throughout.

I feel very posh now that I own a nighty made of Liberty!

These pants were made with some cotton poplin from stash which is left over from way back when I used to sell kids clothes at markets. I think I picked it up for about $2 per meter and I still have over 2 meters left. The patten is New Look 6948. They are also light and comfy.

More functional sewing should follow. We are running out of hand-me-downs for Adele, so I probably need to knock up some skirts and shorts for her.

Hope you have a good week and happy sewing!

Vintage Simplicity 3461 & 4841

2011-09-15T20:41:00.001+10:00

This dress has been sitting around half finished for so long I was wondering if I would ever be a wearable garment. It has been worth the wait though, I LOVE this dress!

It was made with the bodice from Simplicity 3461 and the skirt from Simplicity 4841, both from the 1960s.

The fabric is a lovely silk cotton blend from The Fabric Store, purchased a few months ago on sale.

I actually purchased three zippers to make this dress. The first was too short, I had intended to move the zipper to the side, but forgot. The second was lost, but I have found my academic transcript, and this is the third purchased today.

No real modifications were made to this dress, aside from shortening it. I think I may have even hemmed the dress slightly too short, but it is fun. I may take it down. We'll see...

Happy sewing!

Tiny Pocket Tank

2011-09-14T21:22:00.001+10:00

During my uni holidays (which seem like a million years ago *sigh*) I managed to squeeze in a little sewing for my sister Sarah, who unfortunately lives very, very, very, very far away in Toronto, Canada.

This is a guest post by her.

“The best thing about having a sister who sews is having lovely handmade clothes to wear and adorable kid clothes that are the envy of the park. Whether custom made or something that didn’t quite work for her, chic one-of-a-kind items are the best. It’s especially fun to build outfits around them.

For this top, a swingy cotton tank in cobalt and white bird print with some hit of bright pink (I LOVE the neon pink button detail on the pocket) I decided to match it with other brights. Here, in the part of Canada where I live, we’re enjoying the last of the warm sunny days of Summer. This was the perfect outfit for my casual work day and playing with my toddler.

Stretch green skinnies from Urban Outfitters
Yellow tank from unknown
Silver flats from Seychelles Footware (from a few years ago)
Necklace from tiny pretty on Etsy
Nailpolish is Cover Me In Petals in Sephora by OPI. (Don't you love all these details??)"

Thanks Sis for filling the gap while I'm busy working on crappy homework.

For the sewers, the Tiny Pocket Tank is by grainline (I've made it before and I'll make it again!) and the fabric is a lovely Japanese cotton (now sold out) by Sevenberry from Tessuti.

In other news, I've finally managed to find some time tonight to sew and have a dress that has been awaiting a zipper for over 4 weeks, but now I can't find the bloody zipper! I've been searching for over an hour and now have given up. I think it may have been a casualty of a recent clean out, along with one of my university transcripts that I now need. Damn spring cleaning!

Black pegged pants Burda 6/2010

2011-09-10T12:28:00.002+10:00

While procrastinating over my uni work, I have managed to keep myself out of trouble sitting in front of the sewing machine. These pants are an experiment of sorts. I wasn't sure if pegged pants would be for me.

I'm still not sure if they are. I've never been one to wear cropped trousers, so they do feel funny to wear.

The pattern is #105 from Burda 6/2010. A few Aussie bloggers have made them including Jorth, Nikki and Katherine. I made mine with some poly blend gabardine purchased from Spotlight during their 50% off fabric sale.

Like Jorth and Nikki, I straightened the hem and lengthened the pants. I also modified the front pockets so that they didn't sit out so far. I just didn't think I'd actually wear them like that. I cut a size 36, but ended up taking them in over an inch on the sides. I also modified the waistband, but possibly too much as it is a little snug. Hopefully it will stretch.

I like the front and back fit, but the side view looks a little funny to me. I think I prefer trousers to be more fitted.

Cheeky monkeys stealing camera shots

Anywho, twas fun and they certainly are wearable.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Super Shorts

2011-09-08T20:16:00.000+10:00

I often take my kids fabric shopping with me. They rarely show any interest in anything in fabric shops. Recently though, they spied some fancy fabric at My Hung. At $21 per meter, it was more expensive than I'd normally pay for cotton fabric for kids, but it was super hero fabric and they LOVE super heros right now. Well actually they are obsessed with superheros. Really, really obsessed.

They now both have 'super' shorts, featuring cool Marvel comic, Superman fabric. They are both very happy, even though only one kiddo would allow me to take his photo today. Although, the only good photo which is above, was taken while I was holding his ankle to keep him still. The rest are ~~bad~~ action shots.

I possibly need a new camera.

The shorts are based on the Oliver & S sandbox pants pattern, but I cut front pockets rather than the patch pockets and omitted some of the fiddly detail like the back pocket button and front tie.

As the fabric was so exey, I only purchased a 70cm cut to make a pair of shorts for both boys. With the contrast band and pockets made from fabric from the stash and sewing scant hem, this amount of fabric worked well and only cost $13.30 after a small discount. I guess they are still cheaper than store bought shorts.

I think you buy similar fabric from fabric.com for less than $8 per yard, but your kids have to be willing to wait for it to arrive. My American followers probably don't realise how good they've got it with the super cheap fabric they can buy.

Finallly sewing.... Simplicity 2180

2011-09-06T15:26:00.000+10:00

When I first spied Simplicity 2180 I knew I would make it. I've been in love with the lovely tea dresses from SoHo Mode on Etsy for some time, but my non-existent clothing budget does not accommodate purchases of this value.

This is my alternative and I love it more than the ones I've been lusting over.

The fabric is lovely Liberty and I ADORE it! The designer is Anne Tyrrell and I bought it from Shaukat. I can't seem to find the exact colourway that I purchased on Shaukat, but that link is to a similar fabric.

The pattern came together easily enough, but adding the piping did add an extra challenge. I took my time adding the piping to make sure I was able to produce a well finished, professional looking dress. I'm super pleased with the piping and I love that it means that I don't have to wear a belt with this dress.

I made the fuller skirt option from the pattern, but it isn't very full, which I'm happy about. I really love this fabric and really wanted to make an everyday dress with it, not something which is only worn on special occasions. I also didn't make the back tie option in the pattern. I think this plain 'v' back is easier to wear and I also have a little permanent ink on my back courtesy of some interesting decisions in my teens (I know I'm not the only one to have done this and think maybe it wasn't so clever afterwards...)

It feels so good to be back sewing again, even if it will be short lived. I've ignored my university assignments today to sew this, but tomorrow it's back on again. I've now finished just over 25% of my prac teaching time (not that I'm counting), hopefully the rest of of it will fly!

Happy sewing!

They keep asking...

2011-09-03T21:53:00.000+10:00

"When are you going to blog again??"

Soon... I think.

This is a sewing blog, not a whinging blog and there's not much sewing happening round here.

Hopefully soon... *fingers crossed*

Pinning.

2011-08-26T13:46:00.000+10:00

So I've jumped on the bandwagon and started pinning on Pinterest.

It's fun, it's easy, it's addictive and I fear it may be another Internet time waster!

I certainly don't have the prettiest collection of images, but it is a great tool to collect sewing inspiration ideas.

Some of the collections on Pinterest are just stunning.

I'd love to follow more people so let me know if you're pinning and I'll follow you.

A life note: I had my first day of prac teaching on Monday and all went well. My class is lovely and so is my teacher. I am teaching all next week so probably won't be blogging as much as usual. I also finished my assignment this week and don't another major one due for a few weeks, so I can breathe again. I will finish this degree. The countdown is on - 10 weeks to go!

Happy weekend all!

Not sewing, shopping.

2011-08-21T13:05:00.000+10:00

This weekend my husband has been away snow boarding, so I've been a single mum to three kids under 4 and I'm tired!

There hasn't been much sewing to show of late. I have three wadders that have appeared in my sewing room, a half finished, not-so-great dress and a pair of pants cut and waiting for attention.

While I haven't been sewing, there has been a lot of dreaming about sewing and a little online shopping. This past week I may have pre-ordered a book that I'm quite excited about, The Colette Sewing Handbook.

It should arrive towards the end of the university semester, which is when I'll probably have time to use it.

With prac teaching starting tomorrow and a number of assignments to attend to, this blog may be a little neglected for a few weeks. I have a few half finished posts in my drafts, but am struggling to find the time to take the photos. Sometimes I do feel pressure to keep my output high because of my blog and with so much on my plate for the next little while, I really need to prioritize my time.

I'll be back from time to time, hopefully to show some successful projects, but just not every day.

Happy Sunday!

Local craft

2011-08-19T13:38:00.000+10:00

Over the weekend I stopped by at one of our local craft fairs, just to kill a little time with the kids. We are lucky enough that our little suburban area hosts two craft fairs per month, just one suburb apart from each other.

While most of the offerings at these fairs are a little daggy, well, really daggy (think crochet tea towels and polar fleece dog coats), every now and then you find a gem.

This little cardigan was purchased for $8, from a stand where every hand knitted item was under $10. While some items were quite ugly, others were super sweet and retro.

It would take me months to knit this for Adele and I don't even think I'd be capable of knitting those cables down the cardigan. Even though is just acrylic, I still can't believe it was only $8! I'll be back next winter to stock up her wardrobe in cute cosy knits.

Now back to my last post. I just wanted to thank you to everyone for the supportive comments (Amber, Lara, Jen, Karen, Sonja, Cat, Sophie, Trihn, my sis, everyone!) about my current predicament. I am feeling a little better about my choices and after talking to anyone within range over the past days about where I'm at, I realise there are many others like me, both at uni and not, who doubt some of their big choices.

I begin prac teaching on Monday and I am looking forward to it. I think I will be OK and I will finish my degree.

To you Bernice: I am becoming a primary school teacher and certainly will get in touch if I need any help. Thanks so much for the offer!

Hope you all have a great weekend. It's cold and miserable here, but the 'glass is half full' again!

Doubt

2011-08-17T11:36:00.000+10:00

I'm having a bit of a down day today and don't have many people to talk to, so I'm going to *talk* to you.

I'm in my final semester of teaching and am seriously doubting this whole career change, but as I'm almost finished my Masters, I really can't quit.

I used to work in marketing and was quite successful. I had a good managerial job in an industry that most cool cats would want to work in. During the GFC and while on maternity leave, I was retrenched (yes it can happen, yes it was legal), as I had negotiated my role down to three days and they wanted me back five days and some.

The funny thing was, I was only planning on returning to work after the birth of James to save up enough money to quit and start my teaching degree, so this whole redundancy thing was just the kick I needed to get that happening.

So now, three years later and almost at the end of the teaching degree, I'm really worried about my career change decision. I'm really good at marketing and know that I could get a part time job that I'd enjoy.

Teaching though, is new and I know the first few years will be tough. I don't know if I'm ready for the change and I'm not sure I want to do it. It also doesn't help that my recent discussions with those who are teachers haven't been positive. Most don't like their job, the paperwork, the discipline, the work, the bureaucracy, etc. No wonder I'm stressed!

I have my first day of prac teaching next Monday and just hoping that I get a nice, supportive, positive teacher. I'm desperate to re-invigorate my interest in becoming a teacher. I'm desperate to be reassured that I haven't wasted this past two and a bit years back at university.

Now because every post needs a photo, here's one that makes me happy. This is from our recent holiday to Port Douglas. This is what eating out with three kids looks like.

Pencils, books and beverages are a must while you wait for food.

Now I really must get back to this horrible assignment that I need to finish. I'm really not in the zone for writing it though, so it's taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

Sewing Jeans. Take 2

2011-08-15T08:04:00.000+10:00

After making three fitting toiles for my first pair of jeans, I really felt like I needed to utilize that work once more to get better value from my time.

While I've had some trouble finding nice denim recently, a trip to My Hung in Hurstville resulted in this lovely blue denim finding its way home with me. Unlike the stretch stuff I used last time, this is 100% cotton and I'd say a mid-weight denim. It feels like it has a bit of give, but definitely no stretch.

These jeans are nicer than my first pair. The waistband is lovely and the fit is also quite good. I thought because I was using non-stretch denim that I'd have to add to the hip and waist of the jeans to make them fit, but ended up removing all that I added during construction.

I based these jean on Burda pattern 127 from 8/2009. I modified the leg, the rise and the pockets, which is why I originally needed three toiles.

Like my last pair these are supposed to be more trouser jeans with a bit of a 70's vibe, than jeans jeans. I am totally inspired by jeans like this, this and this. In particular, the pockets from these jeans have inspired my own.

After wearing these last night, I realised that I may have hemmed them slightly too short, but I did take a deeper hem just in case. I might wash and dry them a few times before I fix the hem.

The good thing about these jeans is the total cost:
1.5 meters of denim - $12 less 10% discount
Jeans zipper - 20c from the Op Shop
Button - from stash
Black top stitching thread - left over from first jeans
Pattern - free from the library
Total cost: $16.40 - Yeah!

I'm really struggling to take photos at the moment. I feel like I've lost all my inside locations and shooting outside isn't working for me and the dog kept knocking my camera over and I'm worried about what the neighbours will think if they see me. Out of 12 self timed photos only two are in focus.

And I don't know what happened to this one.

The good thing is my photography is so appalling that hopefully it can only get better. Maybe I'll just blame the camera.

The calm before the storm

2011-08-13T07:59:00.000+10:00

Many of you know that I am a student and with my university semester fast approaching full swing, I can't help but feel like this is the calm before the storm. There has been a ridiculous amount of sewing going on lately, but with my first assignment is due in just over a week and my prac teaching starting next Monday, I fear this enjoyable creative patch is due to end.

On top of that, there's been an extreme amount of anxiety and stress this past week during the lead up to selecting a school for my prac teaching block. I think anyone who came within a few meters of me this past week has heard me stress over this, because unlike during my undergrad (in the olden days to the younger students in my course), when selecting tutorials or other classes was done in person or via preferences, everything these days is online and the competition is fierce. When the clock ticks over and registration for anything opens in my course, everything fills up within seconds. That's hundreds and hundreds of positions that get snapped up within the first 60 seconds. There is no special consideration to those with family or work commitments, it's just first in first served, which means mega STRESS!

Thankfully after a stressful week, I was online just as school selection opened and managed to score my first choice, one of only two positions, for a little local school just a couple of minutes away from home - yay!

Back to the sewing. At the moment, my sewing space is in a state. It isn't pretty! I've half finished a skirt, but am so unhappy with the waistband that I think I may start again. I've been working on a master waistband for myself which is time consuming. I find most waistbands are too shaped for my 'up and down' frame and whenever I try to modify them they end up curving in funny ways. I'm no expert pattern drafter, so this has been a long process of trial and error. I'm also over half way through my second pair of jeans because after making three toiles for the first pair, I felt I needed to get more value out of that work and you can never have enough jeans! Then I have about four patterns traced waiting for attention on top of an ever growing 'to sew' list that needs some serious organisation.

I hope you all have a happy Saturday. I'm not work tonight, so you'll be able to find me at the machine.

Seriously Selfish!

2011-08-10T09:42:00.000+10:00

Did you know that four other people live in my house? Because judging from the output from my sewing room you wouldn't. It's been a long time since anything for the kids, or the husband for that matter, emerged from my sewing room. Seriously, if the Selfish Seamstress were still blogging, she'd be throwing virtual 'high fives' to me for my selfish sewing efforts of late.
The remedy - make the kids super toys.

I picked up these Ooshka faces from Lisa at Sew It Together. Her little label, The Red Thread, has some super cute, quick sew products.

We have a massive super hero obsession in this house at the moment, so I knew the kids would love them.

They came together quickly, though I did piece the body with the segments in the wrong order, which is why they look a little malformed, but the kids don't read my blog or read at all in fact, so they'll never know.

Next up, sewing for husband. One pair of work pants have a massive hole in the butt thanks to some shufflling around in a roof cavity recently. I'd love to patch them with some bright pink floral fabric to match his work shirt, but he's already and specifically requested no pink repairs.

New Look 6968 - a winner!

2011-08-09T11:43:00.001+10:00

After reading Kristy's glowing review of New Look 6968, how could I not move it straight to the top of the sewing list. So with stretch sateen from Spotlight in hand (hooray for their recent 40% off fabric sale!), I set about making this super easy shift. In just a few hours all tracing, cutting and almost all sewing was complete. I love a quick project every now and then.

I still need to add the buttons to the welt pockets.

The sizing was almost spot on. I cut an 8 on top, 12 waist and 10 skirt, but did end up taking in the skirt quite a bit. I really should have cut an 8, 10, 8, but it's still completely wearable and comfortable and I think this sizing was my poor judgement.

As this is a stretch sateen, I didn't want to lose the stretch in the bodice by lining it, nor double up the fabric as it is thick enough, so I used a facing for the neck and bound the arm holes. I think this is a neat and easy was to finish this dress without adding any bulk.

Overall, I'm super happy with this frock. It will be an easy to wear work dress for my upcoming teaching block and very easy to match with coloured accessories and cardigans in my wardrobe. I'm thinking yellow belt, red shoes and purple cardigan for a bit of fun.

Happy Sewing!

This little corner of my house...

2011-08-08T15:11:00.000+10:00

I know most of you are here for the sewing, but I blog for other reasons too. I feel like my house is in disarray since we played musical rooms. While the house is generally clean, it is currently untidy and things are not in the best place.

I adore seeing beautiful rooms on blogs. I love those styled rooms with cool furniture, artwork and storage, but I think having three little kids is no always conducive to having those cool spaces.

I feel completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that needs to be done around here and that's not just the stuff that the husband needs to do, building and fixing stuff, but the smaller things that will hopefully make this house a little prettier. So, to get it done I'm going to document it here. Each week I'll finish one little corner of my house, cleaning, organising, prettying and generally making this a nicer place to be.

First up, the wall behind the dining area.

BTW - photography has never been my strong point and that isn't likely to change :)

This functional corner now boasts a clean blind and window (such a pain to clean!), the picture wire (from Ikea if you want to know) no longer holds Easter and Christmas pictures and is a little cuter thanks to some new novelty pegs from Typo shop (I love this shop!).

My children are now talking about the new letters above the window, but I am still to see any improvement in their eating at meal times. Does anyone else have any better suggestions for getting kids to eat?

I've finally hung this cute little picture that I picked up from Scarlett Beautiful on Etsy . It's been in a frame for a year and has only now been hung - yikes!

So there's one little corner of my house. More will follow, probably each Monday, and little by little, this house will *hopefully* become a little nicer.

I wonder how many of you are still reading?

On the sticks...

2011-08-07T09:16:00.000+10:00

The 'knitting sticks' that is. I've cast on a Tea Leaves cardigan for myself. The yoke is almost finished and it's looking good. The only hiccup so far was dropping my knitting to attending to a yelling child and dropping two stitches which unravelled two rows! I almost cried. My husband sympathised (yeah). I've picked them up, but they still look a little dodgy. Hopefully it won't be noticeable when finished.

Now as I'm not the worlds fastest knitter and it takes up to three months to make a kiddy sized item, I'm giving myself a target of next Autumn to get this baby finished and I think that time frame is definitely workable.

I'm also making progress on my Short and Sweet crochet cardigan. I'm up to the sleeves, which require a bit of counting, but once they are done I'll be pretty much finished.

Then there's my Flowers in the Snow blanket. I haven't spent too much time on this recently and only have this pile of half finished medallions to show any progress. This is a slow burn project though and I do have another 2 years to wrap it up.

I do get a little anxious with three projects going at once, but this allows me to pick a project that I feel like each time I get a moment.

When I used to read books, other than kids picture books or text books, I always kept three on the go at once. One non-fiction, one 'easy to read' fiction and one more challenging fiction. With three books to choose from, I could always pick the type of reading that I felt like - never the challenging or non-fiction at night, and always a 'thinking book' when on the train travelling to work, you know, something to make me look smarter :). I guess my yarn crafting follows this same principal. My knitting projects are mostly no brainers, with whole rows following the same stitch to allow maximum 'zoning out' or meditating. This current crochet project requires a little counting, which I'm not so great at after work at night.

Do you get what I mean?? Are you the same, with a number of project on the go at once? What are you hooking or knitting at the moment?

New Look 6898 - Awesome!

2011-08-04T15:52:00.000+10:00

Now, I should start by saying that this skirt is awesome, but I'm not to sure how much can be attributed to the pattern. In theory New Look 6898 (now OOP) should be awesome, it's just a simple straight skirt with slash pockets and a few pleats in the front. I think the design is really flattering, but the pattern itself runs really BIG, so you need to be prepared to work on it to get it to fit.

I cut a size 10 and still took it in by a couple of inches along the sides and waistband. This is the second time I've made this pattern, this is the first, and found similar problems last time. I had lost the front waist band pattern piece, but simply substituted for a different front waistband in my pattern stash.

The fabric is stretch sateen that I picked up from Spotlight last week for 40% off. I love this fabric! I think that it alone is why I love this skirt so much.

I could have done a better job with the zipper, but it will do. I find lapped zippers so difficult to sew neatly. I think I must be sewing them the wrong way and probably need to brush up on my skills a little. I'm such a fan of invisible zippers, but currently have none in my stash for unplanned projects such as this. I even had to put down a second skirt last night as the very short, metal vintage zipper that I did have was looking too shabby to finish with. I'm all out of kid free time this week and don't know if I can bring myself to taking the kids with me to buy zippers.

Hope you are enjoying a beautiful day like we are in Sydney today. Who'd have thought you could have a sunny, 26 degree day in winter??

Vogue 8469 - Not my style

2011-08-03T09:57:00.000+10:00

A little while ago I committed to making 5 dresses in 5 weeks and this is my final installment. I finished this last week, but thought blogging about the crap in my sewing room was more interesting than this frock.

So, lets talk about Vogue 8469. I'm really not sold on this design. It's boring and dowdy and the sleeves aren't my style. I don't remember why I wanted to make it. It is well made and well fitted though. I think it looks OK on, and will make a comfortable teaching dress, but, well, blah!

The fabric is from Tessuti and it is nice and possibly saves the dress from the scrap pile. The pattern came together well and was super easy to make. I cut a number of sizes, 8 on top, 12 waist and a 10 skirt. I shortened the skirt to reduce the dowdyness and also omitted the sash as I didn't think it would work on me. I did have plans to contrast the sash and waistband in solid black, but couldn't find a solid black fabric in the right colour to go with the main fabric.

This dress will do, but it isn't awesome.

I'm back at university today. Hopefully the semester will fly by!

Downsizing and a good husband

2011-08-01T08:08:00.000+10:00

How much sewing stuff do you own? Think about all the fabric, haberdashery supplies, machines, thread, books, patterns, gadgets, everything. I didn't think I owned a lot, until I had to move it.

Not all the stuff...

Thankfully, and very much surprisingly, my husband didn't comment once on the quantity of stuff.

New Look 6025 - a very generous fit

2011-07-31T21:49:00.000+10:00

I'm pretty happy to report that I've already cut into my Spotlight fabric. I purchased this rayon, which I'm still undecided if I like, to make another Pendrell blouse and the lovely sales person decided to throw in the end of the roll for me. So for the cost of an 80cm cut, I received a little over 2 meters - score!

New Look 6025 is a simple top pattern with different sleeve variations, which is far more generously sized than I thought it would be. Looking at the envelop image though, I should have realised it was big. I cut a size 8, the smallest in the envelop, and I think it would be hard to wear without an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. It is very , very low cut and the sleeves are huge.

Massively gaping sleeves!

I certainly don't think this quick sew was a waste of time though. After finishing the top I realised that simply modifying the shoulder seams, sewing them a little more generously than you are supposed to, would raise the neckline and solve the gaping sleeve issue.

This is the same top with the shoulder seams pinned an extra inch and a half. Perfect! Now the next time I make this I'll just need to trim 1.5 inches from the front and back shoulder, and modify the neck binding to fit. Easy peasy!

It's a disease

2011-07-30T20:35:00.000+10:00

Rachel always says that sewing, and it's 'spendy' cousin, stashing, is like a disease. Even though I don't need anything, I still found myself at Spotlight today, with three kids in tow, to take advantage of their 40% off fabric sale. I walked away with a healthy pile of fabric to add to my ever-growing stash. It's so hard to fight it!

In addition to two stretch sateens that I've been eyeing off for a while (second and third bottom), I also now have two knits to experiment with (top two), some rayon that I may have already been playing with (third from top) and some black twill and gaberdine for various pants and skirts that I've been toying with making.

I really must get to the machine. I'm still waiting for the husband to move it and the rest of my sewing supplies into my new space after all the room shuffling that's been happening around here.

Have you been tempted by the Spotlight or Lincraft sales recently?? Please tell me it's not just me!

Fast Sewing: Vogue 1236 in Liberty

2011-07-27T21:30:00.000+10:00

I needed to knock that 'poor me' post off the top of this blog as quickly as possible, so chose Vogue 1236 to sew, as it really is a 'no brainer' pattern. There's nothing particularly exciting about this pattern. It's a simple sack dress with a pleated neckline, but in my experience you rely on these dresses most as they are so easy to wear anywhere.

Clearly, this dress is not very winter appropriate, but it was quite warm in Sydney today, about 19 degrees, so I wore it with tights and a cardi and survived comfortably.

The dress came together very quickly. The pleats are nice and no closures means an easy sew. The dress is surprisingly tulip shape, with a much wider middle than top or bottom, but it works.

I really love this Liberty fabric too and this un-fussy dress design suits it. I fully lined this dress in batiste by extended the facings, but probably didn't need to. The lining does add a little extra bulk to the waist area when you wear a belt, but I kinda like that it appears that I have a waist.

All in all, this was a good, quick, pick-me-up sew, which is just what I needed.