Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

I don't have any pictures of my dress or current sewing to show today. Two close deaths this past week have rendered me incapable of much at all. My mother passed away just before Christmas and my oldest and dearest friend, who was closer than any family member, died this past Monday. I do have pictures of the finished dress and the therapeutic sewing I've been doing, but right now I can't be arsed plugging the camera in and uploading. It's hot and humid and I'm too weary, so you'll have to wait until next year. Happy New Year to anyone who might read this. I look forward to a bright and happy 2009 and wish you all the same.

The progress on Vera's Vogue dress has been slow this week. I've changed my mind about several things many times, but now have a simple result that I'm happy with. Special thanks to Carolyn , whose suggestion of using organza ribbon under the diamantes helped me figure out what to do with the straps. In the end I made self fabric binding and handstitched the stones to it. It doesn't photograph well, but here it is. It fits me better than it fits Vera. To go with the dress, I've almost finished a bag. I used the teardrop kit from Nicole Mallieu . I've made one of her bags before and will make them again because they are cute, easy to make and I get a real kick out it. This one is made from the same fabric as the dress and is finished with clear glass beads, which also don't photgraph well. I haven't decided what to make the strap out of yet, but I think I'll keep it simple, either self fabric or black cord. I might make a cape/shrug sort of thing to...

With a 50th birthday party looming and a dress not even cut out, I've put the SWAP on hold for the weekend to start on this ... It's Vogue 7365. This is the shell so far, no pressing, no seam finishing, no lining and no straps. I've been investigating diamantes on a string for the straps and now I've got the dress this far, I'll take it with me to the store and see what I think. I particularly like the back view of this dress. Here's a shot of the ass ruching. That 40kg I damn near broke my back squatting has all been worth it now I've tried this on. It will have a vintage marquisite leaf clipped onto the back. I'm making a matching bag, which I'll show in my next post but right now my mind is fixed on finding the right shoes. I happen to have a blingy pair that I love to death. Jock, what do you think???? They're not too much, are they??? I have about six other options (in black) in my wardrobe, but I like the silver and if these don't work...

I've had a fairly productive weekend, sewing wise. I've traced off a load of patterns, I've cut out several garments, I've muslined a special event dress, I've made the shell of a jacket and I've finished a blouse. The blouse is BWOF 1-2008-108 and is the second top from my SWAP. I've made this before in short and long sleeved versions and its safe to say this is probably now my TNT blouse pattern. It comes together fairly quickly and it fits me straight, if you don't count the extra centimetre I added in to the bicep band. I eased up on the weight I was lifting with my biceps so I didn't get too big, but my trainer tells me it's not my biceps getting bigger, it's my triceps! At least they won't be waving in the breeze! I've been inspired by Cidell's wonderful tuxedo front blouse. She mentioned that she found it hard to do an all white blouse. Although my blouse is cream (yes, I know you can't tell from my crappy photo), like...

I've completed my first garment for my SWAP. It's orange. It's Kwik Sew 3497 . I like it but don't love it. I'm not sure I'd make the mock wrap front again. Quite frankly, that much fabric over my stomach in this climate is way too hot. I'll make the plain front though. I'll also use clear elastic on the armholes as well as the neck. It gapes a little. It fits me better than Vera, but it still gapes. Cidell and I had a discussion this week about making separates that languish in the closet because we have nothing to pair with it. For this reason alone, I have undertaken the SWAP and as Cidell said, we will have a workable wardrobe if it kills us. This top sat on my coffee table still pinned to the pattern for a week. I have never left a garment pinned to a pattern before and I don't want to make a habit of it. Part of the reason for that was that I'm not terribly confident with knits. I can do loads of things that others find difficult, but knits...

I've finished another frock for Vera, once again made with Vogue 9668. I think this is View C. The fabric does not show up as warmly as it is in real life. I've had a bit of a fascination with orange for a while now and it has sneaked into my wardrobe in many ways. This morning I was looking at my favourite blogs and noticed that Erica has posted a lovely photo from her sewing room showing all the luscious autumn colours that I never get to see here in the subtropics. I am very envious of the view from her sewing room. When I was photographing Vera in her new dress I tried to capture a little of the background I see every day. Not much orange there. I also took a picture of the back so you could see how badly I mismatched the pattern. I noticed when I was uploading, that you can see the back of Grant's crappy old orange kombi in the background as well as Molly the orange dog. Oh and the tree hanging over Vera's head is an African tulip tree which I just realised has o...

Foolishly or not, I've decided to have a go at a real life, full on SWAP. That means I need to make eleven garments between now and April 30 next year. As I didn't realise this was happening until last Friday, my plans are only half baked, but here they are any way. I need to make the following; 1 jacket or coat 4 bottoms 6 tops They all must suit a week in my real life. Here's what I propose; 1 jacket made from a lovely spring tweed purchased from Fashionista Fabrics. I have a few ideas for this one, but will probably go for Kwik Sew 3334. I'll make a skirt in the same tweed from an old Vogue Claude Montana pattern I found at the op shop for 20c. It has a nicely tapered skirt, rather than straight, which seems a little more flattering. I may also make an a line or box pleat skirt from a very old New Look pattern that I have made to death. Depends on what fabric I find - I'm thinking orange. I'll definitely make a denim skirt from BWOF 1-2008-109. I'll defi...

I've just completed another dress for Vera from the fantastic Go Patterns 4001 dress. This is the second time I've made it. Last time was in orange and gold poly satin This time I've made it in a day fabric, in fact a piece of grey and black striped cotton blend loosely woven something or other that I picked up at an op shop for $4 (and I still have plenty to make a blouse). I had a recycled invisible zip in my stash and the white poly lining I used came from a 10metre length I bought a few weeks ago for about $2 a metre. The grey thread I had in my stash (that is a perfect match) came from a plastic bag of about six half used reels of mixed colours that I bought at an op shop for 50c. All in all, the dress cost me around $5. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out and was pleasantly surprised to see that the stripes matched up and I didn't even try! Here's a picture of me wearing it with a pair of favourite black slingbacks and a little cropped cardigan...

Vera has a lovely new dress. It's made from Vogue 9668 . I've mixed two views, using the top from B and the skirt from C. I originally wanted to do B, the halter style with the fuller skirt, but the fabric has a strong border and it couldn't be cut diagonally without looking silly. Then I tried to do a gathered dirndl skirt but it just looked silly. So I did the straight skirt. It looks a little like an apron in this picture as Vera is not the same shape as me. I have bigger hips and my boob area seems to be shaped differently. On me it actually looks a little 50's bombshell as it is rather ... fitted. It's completely lined and I used a method for the skirt that means there is no hem - I guess it's a bagged lining for a dress. First time I've done it and it seems to work very well. I am planning a little bolero/jacket thing to wear as halterneck dresses are great outdoors, but a little cool in airconditioning. I have made other things recently, but they...

This pile of stuff on the chair is bits and pieces of six shirt muslins and a pattern that has been chopped and restuck so many times there is more tape than paper. This is part of an outfit I am making for the too muscular man in my life. When I say too muscular, I don't really mean that he's TOO muscly, it's just that he's too well built for a regular shirt pattern. His chest and shoulders are about six sizes bigger than his waist, so to get a pattern to fit his chest, the waist goes around him three times. So I've chopped and redrawn, done a sloping shoulder adjustment - years of weight lifting have created a big wedge of muscle near his neck that has become the biggest fitting problem I've ever encountered - and now I think I have a reasonable fit. I was a little suprised to find that there is a complete dearth of sewing patterns for men. I can find voluminous business shirts and basic pants, but what about funky, modern wear for modern men who don...

My July sewing is progressing nicely. Here's what I've achieved so far. This is the Vogue 8409 dress nearly completed, save for the hem which will be sewn tonight whilst watching television. It's been a really easy pattern to construct, even with the addition of a self drafted lining. I put in a regular zipper, but then took it out and put in an invsible one. Much better that way. I only lined the front of the bodice and the skirt, not the back of the bodice. I'm not sure why I decided to do that, but it works fine. Depending on what I make it out of next time, I may do the same again or I may line it. The cuffs need extra handstitching. This has been the only time I found myself frustrated by the microfibre. Otherwise, it's been a dream. Here is the other thing I've worked on this weekend. The chenille knit long cardigan dress thing. It looks like a sack on Vera, but it actually looks quite nice on with a wide crocodile belt and my brown and caramel FMHFM boots...

Thanks to Margaret left a comment on my blog, I now know there is a July sewalong. Here's my official notification of what I intend to sew; The Vogue dress shown in my previous post A gold knit/chenille long cardigan/dress thing from a 70's vintage pattern. I aim to wear it over the dress or it can stand alone as a dress (I think - it may be frumpy - we will see) A pair of pants of perhaps winter shorts - think hotpants and boots with the long 70's cardigan The BWOF wrap top from the JCC that I rather foolishly decided not to make at the time I will post some sort of story board tomorrow.

The June Capsule Contest is over and judging has commenced. The standard of work is spectacular and in a way I'm not sorry to have pulled out, even though my garments were techinically complete in the time frame. My work is simply not up to the standard of the others. There has been talk of continuing the sewing spree into July, but I don't know if it's official or not. So I'm challenging myself to my own July Capsule Contest. My aim is to complete a further four garments this month, to complement the previous garments and extend the wardrobe in another direction. Stitches Magazine does this regularly, each issue adding 4 - 6 garments so that by the end of the wardrobe (which may have spanned a whole year) the garments may not match the garments from the beginning, but form part of an extensive wardrobe that spans seasons. To this end I am starting with a dress. It's Vogue 8409. I'm making the version in green using a lovely brown paisley microfibre I purchased ...

In my haste to complete the June Capsule Contest, I neglected to check whether or not my garments would actually look any good together. They don't. This is my skirt. It looks pretty crappy hanging on a hanger against my crappy curtains (which only go up in winter). It's Vogue 8426, which Karen made so much better than I did. It fits really nicely on me, not so on Vera. She's not made for wearing skirts, hence the picture on a hanger. I'll never sew this skirt in corduroy again, however. I think I'll try denim like Karen's. Now, whilst my skirt goes really well with the jacket shown here in all it's completed glory, except for the thread trimming that happened after the pic and it goes spectacularly well with the Go Patterns dress (which I love to pieces), it does not go with the Plan C blouse from last post. In fact, it looks really bad. It makes me look fat, old and frumpy. I'm not showing those pictures. The Plan C Blouse looks great with a slim fitt...

Here's my Plan C Blouse. It's BWOF 1/2008 style 107. I made this in the first week of June before I started the rest of the capsule, with the intention that I could wear it to work with the skirt and jacket. It looks pretty crappy on Vera, but it sits really nicely on me and is the most unbelievably soft and fine cotton. In hindsight, I should have used a slightly stiffer interfacing as the neck drops a little. I've also made version 108 from this same issue, which is the same blouse with short puffy sleeves and a cute round collar. It's a great style and the design detail on the front makes for a close and flattering fit. Here's my accessory. It's made from a kit I purchased from http://www.nicolemdesign.com.au/ and was incredibly easy to make. The picture on the right shows how it matches the walls in my living room. I highly recommend this bag to anyone. I've never made anything like it before and I would say it took me around three ho...

I'm pleased to say that I've finished the orange satin Go Patterns 4001 dress. This pattern went together like a dream. I made the size 10, which fits without alteration from the original pattern. I did shorten it considerably because I prefer to wear my dresses mid thigh. This is still a little longer than I usually wear, but the style of the dress needs a little length. The picture is not great as it was hard to photograph satin and not have it reflect. When the whole wardrobe is complete, I'll get someone to take pictures of me wearing it, so hopefully you will be able to see more. I love this dress! I love this pattern! I already have fabric standing by to make another. It is such a versatile pattern. In a satin like this it makes a great dinner dress, but in a cotton it will make a fantastic summer work dress. I'm going to try it with a few belts and a ribbon as the pattern suggests. I've also tried it on with the still unfinished swing jacket from last...

Here's my dummy, Vera, modelling what will be her new jacket when it finally gets finished. So far, the shell is constructed and the lining sewn in. Neither the sleeves or bottom have been hemmed and the shoulder pads aren't sewin in yet because I want to try another pair and see if they are a better shape. These pictures show Vera's jacket with no buttons, two large buttons and four smaller buttons. I'm still deciding on which and how many. The big and small buttons are the same, even though they look like different colours. They are vintage and unused, from a great op shop score some years ago. I think I'm leaning to the four smaller ones. I've lined the jacket with orangey gold satin and I used the same fabric for the pocket bag to reduce the bulk, but also because I like seeing the satin peek out from the pocket to help break up the solidness of the jacket a little. I've still got a long way to go on this capsule, but I don't feel too bad because ...

I've started this blog to try and keep myself on track with the June Capsule Contest I have entered. The goal is to make a four piece wardrobe and one accessory and they all have to match! So far, my sewing has always been very random and not at all thought out. I see a pattern I like and I buy it, with no thought as to fabric choice. I see a piece of fabric I like and I buy it, with no thought as to what I will actually make out of it. As a result, I have boxes and boxes of fabric and patterns that I've collected over the years and never used because they don't go with anything. In entering the June Capsule Contest, I am determined to make use of some of my rather large fabric stash at the same time as getting into the habit of making garments that actually match other things. I've tried to plan for full SWAPs but they are beyond me at the moment, so I am getting in training with a smaller wardrobe. If this works for me, I will just keep adding as I go. The June Capsul...