Help ...

The other day I was reading a post on Faye's blog and lo and behold, see a picture of the perfect blouse to go with a number of things in my wardrobe. I was thrilled. I was even more thrilled to read the comment by Trena suggesting a pattern from BWOF 02-2008 that was similar. This was great news, indeed! I headed down to my sewing room to pull the magazine from its file, but was alarmed to find that it was not there. Not only was it not there, but a visit to the Burda website to look at the cover made me realise that I have never even seem this magazine before! With a knot growing in my belly, I searched through the pictures on the website and realised I wanted to make almost everything in that wretched magazine. How I missed this edition is a mystery, although I suspect it had something to do with the fact that I was in Malaysia when it was released here in Australia and even though I had asked the newsagent to hold them for me, they somehow missed this one, too.

My question is this: does anyone know how to get hold of old BWOF issues?

Another productive weekend ...

This shapeless sack is on its way to becoming BWOF 05-2007-115 (I think). It's a military style dress with one of those funny flappy things on one shoulder, epaulettes and nice little tabs to hold a belt. Well, it would if I hadn't run out of thread. This is as far as I got. I'm hoping that by the time I've added the epaulettes and belt loops and sewn on the military style metal buttons I have, that I will have grown to love this dress.

So I moved on to this dress. It's BWOF 08-2008-118 made from a polyester jersey from Fashionista Fabrics that I've had in my stash for a long time now.

In the magazine this tunic was worn with tights, belt and a vest. I will probably wear it similarly, with a long sleeve top underneath in winter. It doesn't look much on Vera, but I really like it, which is odd because I was ambivalent about the style when I first cut it out. You can't really see the style because the print is busy, but here is a close up of the pleats on the front.

I think this is cute and I look forward to the weather cooling enough for me to wear it. I forgot to take pictures of the hems, but my twin needling is perfect with no lumpy channel at all!

The other thing I completed this weekend was the photographs for my SWAP. I spent about two hours ironing everything and putting together outfits and snapping pictures (with the self timer), which will appear on the Stitchers Guild Flickr page in the fullness of time. I'm very happy with the end result. I'm off to cut out another dress.

Because it was there ...

I was tidying up and packing away leftover bits of fabric the other day and I realised I had enough of this spot fabric from the Vogue 9668 dress I made in November to make yet another McCalls 5661 top. It seemed sensible to me to sew this instead of packing the fabric away. As the buttons and thread all came from my stash, I consider this to be a free top! Looks like I've got another TNT pattern now. I didn't even open the envelope to look at the instructions.

This afternoon I started on a BWOF dress. I think it's 05-2007-117 but I can't remember for sure. You'll see it in a few days.

Thanks to everyone for the comments on my jacket and dress. I really love the dress and hope that the weather clears up soon so I can wear it. In the meantime, the rain keeps coming ...

Easter Sewing ...

My SWAP is officially complete now that I have finished this Kwik Sew 3334 jacket.

It was the first item started and was the last one finished, ironically. The pattern is unlined, so I drafted my own lining pattern. I used a satin that is way stiffer than I expected, which turns out to be a good thing, given that this spring tweed is very limp and gets moreso after wearing for a while. I've worn the skirt twice and already it looks saggy. Here are a couple of shots of the inside of the jacket.
The lining looks a little screwy in this shot, but it is flat in real life. I've also added a little white on white embroidery at the top of the pleat that you can't really see in this picture. If you can see it, you will notice that I sewed it crooked! This next shot is for Faye and shows how badly I inserted the pink satin piping between the facing and the lining.

In addition to finishing the jacket, I hemmed the jeans for my SWAP and made DH a pair of camouflage pants from his TNT pants pattern. I forgot to photograph them, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Today I made this dress for myself. It's the first item from my Vanilla Choc Orange autum into winter wardrobe. It's BWOF 09-2007-117. It's a stretch voile and I lined it with cotton poplin for body as it was a little flimsy on its own.

It's kind of cute on and I have a pair of dark brown pumps that match it perfectly. I've also tried it with a tan peep-toe pair and my favourite orange shoes. Soon as I figure out the self timer I'll show these garments on me instead of Vera. Here's a close up of the front neckline.

I made a hat ...

It's Vogue 8440 and I made it with leftover spring tweed ... because I could. I've never made a hat before. I bought this pattern last year for the June Capsule Contest and never used it. It keeps resurfacing as I shuffle things around my sewing room and Saturday evening I was staring at the pile of leftover fabric and decided it would be a good thing to add to my SWAP.

In the interest of not wasting anything, I lined it with leftover pink fabric from my McCalls top. It's also the first time I've used a self covered button. I'd bought a pack years ago and never used it, so I gave it a whirl and I quite like the results. I'll definitely use them again.

Because I couldn't get a decent shot of the hat on my head, here it is on Molly.

I was prepared to hate these pants ...

These are Butterick 5250. I've never worn wide leg pants before and I'm still not sure about these pants, but I don't HATE them like I was so sure I would. They look shapeless on a hanger, but they are suprisingly flattering.

The picture isn't great, with the flash on the mirror and, as always, I got too excited about finishing a garment to actually bother to press them properly. I feel they make me look fat, but that could also be because I am not used to wearing light colours on my bottom half.

The more I sew Big 4 patterns, the more I realise how irrelevant their size charts are. According to my measurements I should make a size 14. According to the finished widths, I should make a 10. Which is what I did. I took it in by miles and probably could have cut the size 8 with no problems. I should have used a heavier fabric. This is a polycotton drill, but it has a sheen to it so I don't know if you'd still call it drill. It came from my stash; a whole roll that I acquired from the last film I worked on.

These pants are my last SWAP garment. Now all I have to do is put the lining in the jacket and sew on the buttons and I'm done. Next weekend I'll do all the pressing and styling and if I can get DH's attention, I'll get some photos.

Next up I have a small wardrobe planned that I was originally calling Chocolate Orange, but I've decided to add a little vanilla into it as well, so I guess it's Vanilla Chocolate Orange now. I might even add a little Caramel ...

I'm flooded in ...

So I sewed this ... It's BWOF 6-2007-120 and is the last top for my SWAP. I don't know what the fabric is, but I know it is not contaminated by natural fibres! It's more olive green than it appears in this picture, has a lovely weight and a very nice drape to it. It barely creases, seems to press well and no doubt will wash and dry perfectly. It has an almost crepe like quality in the weave. I've never sewn with anything like this before and it wasn't too slippery to sew. In fact, I am rather pleased with it. The best thing about this is that the fabric was an offcut I bought at the op shop for the princely sum of 50c!

As the rains don't show much sign of leaving, I may well be flooded in tomorrow as well. These are the joys of living on rural acreage in the subtropics! I am the second last property at the end of the valley. I have five creek crossings between me and the other end. Last night when I came home I could not get in, so I stopped at my friend Hunter's house in the village end of the valley and drank some nice Shiraz. The gauge showed the creek was over the causeway by 700mm. Way too much for my Subaru. I waited until low tide at 8.30pm and it had dropped to 400mm, which I know from experience I can cross. If I can get across the first crossing, the rest will be lower so by the time I get to the fifth crossing, near my property, the water usually isn't over the road at all. Hunter was chivalrous and told me he didn't want me to cross in my car in the dark, so he brought me home in his much larger and heavier Land Rover.

I thought I'd go down and get my car this morning and all would be well. No such luck. The crossing nearest my house was a raging torrent and was almost a metre underwater. I was going nowhere! It's been up and down all day, but not enough for me to cross. And the rains keep coming. I may well get my SWAP finishied this weekend ...

SWAP in action ...

I apologise for the poor mirror photograph, but I got a little excited as this is the first time I've worn two of my SWAP items together! I've worn a few tops with other bottoms from my wardrobe and the denim skirt I've worn with almost everything else in my wardrobe, but I've never put two things together before. I absolutely love the skirt and I'm pleased I ditched the A line and swapped it for this one. The fabric is gorgeous to wear, particularly as I lined it with cotton batiste, instead of bemsilk or something like that. The only thing is that this ''spring tweed" may be suitable for spring in some parts of the world, but for autumn in the subtropics, it's way too hot! On top of that, the top is linen and I won't be making anything in linen for warm weather wear ever again! It's beautiful fabric, but I've had sweat running down my back all day. And that's in a fully air-conditioned building. Nonetheless, I still love this outfit.