Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

Wardrobe in a Week is done! Here is the Enid Gilchrist dress, front and back. I'll blog more about this pattern tomorrow. Next up is the Ruby shorts with the top and overblouse. I've forgotten the numbers and I'm too lazy to look them up, but they are in last weeks post. Both tops are BWOF. This one is shorts and top alone. You may be able to see the chocolate brown topstitching on the top. I've used the same buttons on the shorts and the blouse. This is an extra I sneaked in. It's BWOF 06-2007-120.

This weekend has been spent sewing my Wardrobe in a Week. I started with these shorts, which are Burdastyle Ruby, downloaded free from their website. I've made them several times before, so these are pretty much TNT. I haven't sewn the buttons on yet, the hand sewing will all happen tonight watching TV. I have two whole series of Soap (is anyone old enought to remember that?) on DVD that I am working my way through. Here's a detail shot showing the inside pocket in orange. The waistband facing and the button flap facings are all orange. I'll see if I can get a better shot of the buttons, because they are way nicer than they appear in this shot. Next up is this top which is BWOF 06-2007-105 I think. At the last minute I decided to top stitch in chocolate brown to help tie these together. I'm not sure how well it shows up in this picture. Here's a shot of the shorts and top together. I made some bias binding from leftovers of the 70's print fabric and have use...

And all I've done is baste the pleats in place! It's Vogue 8593 made from the most luscious double knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. As soon as I unpacked I loved it and I have plenty left for other things. In the meantime, here is my preparation for the August Wardrobe in a Week. I'm all ready to start sewing as soon as the day rolls round. I hope we have no visitors who want to sleep in the spare bed this week!

Remember this fabric? I was going to make it into a top. It became this dress. BWOF 05-2009-103B Which, of course, meant I was forced to buy these shoes. Which is an extravagance, really, when I already have these boots. Oh and as much as it doesn't look like it in these photos, the purple in the dress is the same purple as the suede shoes which is the same purple as the patent leather boots. And the dress looks better on a human than it does on Vera.

I've spent the day doing boring things like replacing zippers and fixing hems. I did a rather fabulous fix on DH's wetsuit so he could have an early surf and not come home blue. I've talked him in to buying a custom made wetsuit next winter, so my poor domestic machine isn't laboured with these minor repairs. Instead of sewing I've been trying to finalise my selections for the August Wardrobe in a Week at Stitchers Guild. These are the fabrics I've chosen. I'm making a 4 piece mini wardrobe for a short trip to Thailand in October. The brown is leftover from a pair of jeans I made earlier in the year and will become a pair of Burdastyle Ruby shorts. The orange will become an blouse that can double as a jacket using BWOF 05-2008-105 The crazy orange 70's explosion will become a dress (the blouse can be worn over it as a jacket) in perhaps one of these two vintage patterns. The halter on the left is a wrap dress and is dated 1974. The pattern on the rig...

My brown jacket seems to be taking an age. This weekend I managed to finish the bound buttonholes and this evening I part-way wrestled the lining in. I'm going to walk away from this for a few days because it is causing me no end of grief. You can't really tell from this shot, but the sleeves are not sitting as I would like them to. The sateen was very difficult to ease, even after a heavy steam over the end of the pressing ham. On top of that, it creases every time I look at it, so the action of putting in the button holes has made it looked like it's been screwed up on the floor for a week. I haven't put the shoulder pads in yet because I'm not happy with the ones I have and I need to find some better ones. I love this lining, it's a poly satin with a black, white and brown geometric print and I have enough left for a top. I've only part stitched it in, because I am tired, it was fraying and a pot of osso bucco was calling from the kitchen. I still h...