Archive for May 2011
May 29, 2011 | 
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Yesterday we spent a good half of the day 300m above Melbourne City, my son had a choice of what he wanted to do on his 10th birthday and he chose Eureka Skydeck. Woohoo! we were all in love with the view of our lovely city. I was impressed with the rooftop gardens, wow!!! it’s really another world up there. We went out onto the Sky Deck which protrudes from the building so when you look down you seriously go weak at the knees.
After we arrived home I got stuck straight into working on my embellished piece for Sew Weekly of which I was featured in their newsletter; he he… chuffed. I was thinking of doing machine embroidery but knew it would take too much time setting up, then applique crossed my mind, in the end it all came down to good time management. I work a full time job and have two kiddies and an awesome supportive husband and without him I wouldn’t be able to do any of this so thank you babe and a huge congrats to you on your golf win…pennants next weekend!!! GO YOU!!!! Happy days in our household. *wandering off topic*
In the end I decided to play around with the different decorative stitching my Janome had on offer and just went with that. I used Style pattern #3970, straight from 1973 baby. I cranked up the volume on this EMA album which is pretty rad and got to sewing. I don’t really have to do anything major with this pattern just cut and sew, it fits me perfectly, I added a bib front to show off my embellishing, the straps cross over at the back. I used a lovely shantung suiting in denim at $9.95 per metre I absolutely loved sewing with it, best of all the fabric doesn’t crease, I was really chuffed with the outcome. If I was to do this again I’d maybe make it just a tad bigger especially across my belly but the fit is okay for a first go I think, besides if I stop eating stuff like these pictured below they may just fit perfectly.
Va-room va-room, playing around with the stitching.
I made my top but not from a pattern, I dissected a store bought top and made this one which I think goes quite lovely with my pants, what do you think? So all up I’m sure I’ve spent a good five to six hours sewing this weekend, this makes me happy happy happy!! Cleaning up?? not so.
new top…yay gotta love that!
I’m anticipating next week will be a ‘no-go’ —sewing wise, as I have a very special visitor popping in from Sydney to talk about her new business venture, ya see she is a very talented Herbalist amongst other things and she is opening her very own clinic in a couple of weeks and I’m just dead proud of her so we will be talking logo’s, headers, business cards and websites, another passion of mine. Till then…
Happy sewing.
This week there was a UK Sew Weekly meet up /swap meet so the theme is Rule Britannia, red white & blue, all of the crafty ladies dressed in their handmade creations and I assumed they talked about rolled hems, vintage patterns, and certain fabrics, I would of been in my element as long as there was good coffee.
Frantically sifting through my fabric stash throwing piles of fabric over my shoulders to find what I needed I decided to just hop in the car and go to Spotlight and drift around until something caught my eye. I’m not liking that I’m time poor lately it’s forcing me to just whip quick things up where as for this challenge I would of loved to of made a cape coat and a 70′s flare pant but time prevails.
For this dress— although winter is just around the corner this dress is really a summer frock but that’s okay I can throw on a pair of tights and a coat and all will be fine and dandy. I didn’t use a pattern for this dress as it’s basically two pieces of fabric sewn up the sides with some straps to hold her up. I grabbed my fabric marker and marked 2cm increments down the fabric for me to follow stretching the millenery elastic as I went, this process became sooooo tedious I cracked open a bottle of red turned up Dinosaur Jnr to eleven and proceeded along in my own merry way, half baked I finished the dress, fell into bed and woke up with a cracking headache but was very pleased with the out come. Rule, Britannia!!
That felt pom pom thingy I made from Mena’s tutorial over at Grosgrain’s Free Pattern Month. You should check it out it’s freeeeeee!!!
I really have no idea why these pictures are all leaning to the right…hiccup! I probably thought the camera was sitting straight. Just lean with me.
I think I can get away with wearing this through winter. Yay!!
Did you see my post on dissecting a very expensive top and me giving you the pattern to try yourself?
Happy Sewing!!
I very much love Complex Geometries I think they are clothing architects, the way they draft their patterns is just pure genius. I have a couple of their pieces and admittedly sometimes find it confusing on where my head and arms should go but once I’ve worked it out the clothes drape in a way that is just perfect.
This is the Choke dress which I spied on Ebay for quarter of the price!! yay me. Looking at how this sits looks rather tricky right?? and a little baffling on how you would even attempt to make one yourself. I have dissected this pattern and have managed to make myself one in white saving myself some money for new shoes.
First off you’ll need music, Sebadoh re-released Bakesale with heaps of extra’s and it’s just the bee’s knees and suits my 90′s grunge flashback just fine. Secondly grab yourself a couple of metres of cotton jersey the thicker the better the thin cheap stuff will stretch out of shape and look blah! You’ll need ribbing, half a metre will suffice.
This is basically the pattern, if you draw this up to scale sew the ribbing in around the head hole on the front and around the arm holes on the back you’re in business join the front to the back, hem and waalaah you’re done. Things I would consider next time —depending on your fabrics stretch, would be the size of the head hole and arm holes I have made mine a tad too large hence my make-shift boob tube thingy underneath so measure before you cut. These measurements above are from my bought top and the jersey I chose has a little more stretch than Complex Geometries.
A view from the back so you get the idea. As you can see the arm holes are a tad too big but still okay to wear I think.
Grab the ties and cross them over your chest and tie around your neck, hence the word ‘choke’.
I think it turned out pretty well.
Satchel from Only Midge shoes Jeffrey Campbell.
Happy sewing.
xx
