Archive for November 2012
November 25, 2012 | 
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I lost my Sewjo after sewing up Vogue 1234 and last weeks shirt she just disappeared! which is a first for me for the year which really— in hindsight isn’t that bad I’ve managed to sewn a garment a week for the entire year not to mention the ones that don’t relate to Sew Weekly. You see Friday nights are my sewing nights and do you think I could get motivated or even settle on an idea? by Saturday afternoon I started to panic, I took to Pinning stuff for inspiration, flicking through magazines, books and patterns and then my fabric stash. I really didn’t think I was going to make it, perhaps I ended up over thinking things, yep that’s me a total over thinker. I pulled out the chiffon that I had wrapped around myself for the Polka-dot challenge and the left over leather and settled on the Anouk by Victory Patterns.
The last time I made this was for the Vegas challenge, I Googled the Anouk and there I was sitting among the images, I felt that the images by themselves were a tad gimmicky for those that didn’t click through and read the post, this certainly doesn’t help the potential of this magic little dress pattern or Victory Patterns so I chose to remake it for this challenge so I could kinda redeem myself.
…and so you can say that my Sewjo returned with great vengeance, phew!! I doubled over the chiffon and cut twice for the front and back because the fabric is so sheer. I was going to flip one of the pieces so the stripes looked crisscrossed but it looked too busy, I like it like this it kinda gives off that misaligned/offset effect often found in screen printing when the crop marks are out.
The leather made the construction really easy as you can imagine, no facings. I should of cut a size smaller because of the seam allowance, this is okay though. I did have some trouble with the leather gripping to the machine which forced these tiny stitches I’m hoping they don’t perforate, I was wondering if I had mixed up my machine needles thinking this was a leather needle *shrugs* A teflon coated machine foot may of helped too.I used the rotary tool to cut these pieces and asked hubby to place the snaps in. The hems are rolled on the serger.
I played around with the centre bodice piece and changed it up a little, it almost looks like a breast plate, I love it! The back is the same as the pattern I just added a small leather loop that sits centre back between the leather and chiffon, why? no reason just because 
I’ll call this one Bamboo Banga from MIA’s album Kala she’s perhaps the most fiercely political performer active today. Yep! Oh and here’s my Week In Pictures.
I have to introduce you to this little piece of amaze, this is Gingerlee’s Syrian French toast with honey yoghurt labna, orange blossom syrup and pistachio kernels, sandwiched between crusty and buttery French bread. It is the most amazing breakfast, lunch, dinner. Period.
Over the weekend I stopped into Tessuti Fabrics snapping a picture of that iconic sign before making my way upstairs.
and there they were the dreamy wall of black and white fabrics that I so desperately wanted to buy, I wanted them all, perfect for this weeks Sew Weekly- Black & White challenge, I slowly ran my hand over them whispering ‘come home with me‘… I nestled my cheek up against that one there ^ just to the left of the bottom centre roll the zig zaggy one; together we danced happily around the store twisting, turning, swaying we were one, we both knew our love affair wouldn’t last I eventually returned the bolt left the store and never looked back. Unfortunately I can’t stop thinking about it. *sigh*
Last week I got to see Swedish hardcore punk band Refused their 1998 album Shape of Punk to Come is up there high on my list of all time favourites; I feel privileged to of seen them play the show sold out in 4minutes and boy they did not disappoint.
Dennis was in fine form, killer dance moves and he works that microphone like a first place Yoyo champion. I spent the remainder of my working week listening to Refused and International Noise Conspiracy. So, so good.
Whoops!! you know when you’re doing Ebay christmas shopping and you accidentally get sidetracked? Well these are the result of that. These are Swedish brand Minimarket Ikat Wedges (sold-out) they retail for $395 I paid $40. I liked that I got sidetracked and I especially liked that no one else was bidding. I’m back on track now thank you and my new shoes and I are doing great.
I’m dreaming up outfits to sew around them, they’re shit hot and fit like a dream.
K i l l e r W e d g e s A t A K i l l e r P r i c e.
S T O K E D.
Have a fabulous weekend readers.
OoOoOh I love-making shirts and I like to challenge myself when doing so. I picked up this fun, bright and happy cotton fabric on sale, gave her a wash and got to starting on my idea which was inspired by this Pin on my Pinterest board ‘Sewing Inspiration’.
Now here’s the boring part for you readers the construction-I started with my generic shirt pattern cutting out as per normal sewing in the darts and making a placket that would be attached later. I then took a measurement and trimmed off the tops. I made a series of strips cut on the grain and used the loop turner to bring them right way through and top stitched down either side.
Using the dressmakers dummy I pinned the shirt down and started to criss cross the sewn strips in a fashion that I was happy with placing a pin in the centre to stabilise. I made two interfaced epaulettes? these are to support the sewn strips and bias-cut armscyes. I used so. many. pins. It was a little nightmarish to look at. The first thing I did was to quickly sew a couple of stitches into the centre of each criss cross design to keep it from moving about. I then attached the placket to the shirt, once I hit the top each sewn strip was stitched inside the placket which was then top stitched down.
The back was done in a similar fashion, I placed each sewn strip inside the collar facing, epaulettes and bias cut armscyes. All top stitched down, I like the top stitching. Once everything was stable I released the stitches from the criss crosses. Boring to read I know anyway in conclusion I love the shirt she turned out great, the perfect addition to my summer wardrobe. A funky pair of shorts may need to be made to finish things off, not in this fabric though too matchy, matchy like wearing denim on denim; perhaps a plain colour with accents?
Now to take the shirt out to the park to see how she holds up. Not bad here! She seems to blend in rather lovely with the blues, reds and greens of the kiddies jungle gym.
…and not too bad here either, as you can see I’m rather pleased with this one I think it’s unique and can imagine this in different colours to suit my many fashion sewing moods. Black would go down a treat too..
Lets name this one Park Life -Blur.
Did you see my dress I posted yesterday? Great fabric for that particular pattern I think.
Thanks for looking.
Happy Days.
