Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

I've had a fairly productive weekend, sewing wise. First up is another shirt for Grant's SWAP. It's a long sleeved, collared versiono of his TNT BWOF shirt. There are no buttons as yet as my stash yielded nothing that worked with the style or colour. It will be the first time in a long while that I've actually had to buy buttons. The second picture is a closeup of the cuff placket with a little machine embroidery detail. Once the buttonholes are done there will be more embroidery on the front button placket. I made myself a skirt from this Style pattern I bought at the op shop for 20c. It's dated 1991 but to my mind is pretty timeless. The jacket has no shoulder pads and is quite fitted. The highwaisted skirt style is very similar to another Vogue pattern I bought last year. I've never used Style before and I know nothing about them, but this pattern fits like a glove straight from the pack. My photography is a little crappy so you can't see the ...

I went downstairs to my sewing room to press my black skirt. I couldn't find my pressing cloth in its usual place, so I started opening all the drawers in my sewing desk to see if I had inadvertently put it away. This is the drawer that holds shoulder pads and large chunky zips, so I don't open it very often. This is a brown tree snake, commonly known as a night tiger. They won't kill you, but their venom packs a punch, so children, the elderly or people with weak hearts will get pretty sick. The picture doesn't do him justice as they are the most lovely shimmery bronze with a salmon coloured, very glossy belly. Whilst I have no fear of snakes and will happily pick them up and move them, finding this one in my sewing desk made me jump. I have loads of these all over the house, but I have never found one in a cupboard before. As I haven't opened this drawer for ages, I don't know if he is a new resident or if he comes here often. I shut the drawer and left...

I fixed the neckline on my Enid Gilchrist dress. Although it still stands away from the dress form, on me it sits flat. I've but a button on the back and pressed it since I took these pictures and all in all I'm pretty happy with it. I don't LOVE the dress the same was as I love the fabric, but it fits and is a nice addition to my summer wardrobe. I'm going to wear it to work today. Next up I got to work in the black skirt that is so desperately needed in my wardrobe. It's Vogue 8426 View C. I've made View A before but I decided to make the long version with the kick pleats because I like the look of longer skirts with boots in winter. This is a serious step outside my comfort zone. I have never in 47 years worn skirts longer than my knees and although I can still wear short skirts, something has clicked over in my brain and made me realise how close 50 is. It's time to start covering up. This hasn't been pressed or hemmed yet as I left it t...

I had a frustrating weekend of sewing compounded by the fact that it was so hot I couldn't think. My house is normally very cool in summer, but this weekend was hotter than normal. My sewing room is under the house so it's the coolest place to be. Kbenco has a similarly styled Queenslander to mine. These houses are raised so that the cool breezes flow under and keep the temperature down, but when it gets this hot nothing helps. Last night I finished work at 8pm and it was 33 degrees celsius by the thermometer in my car. But onto the sewing. I worked on another Enid Gilchrist dress. I drafted this pattern up a while ago and checked it against my TNT sheath but did not bother to make a muslin. I'm familiar enough with EG sizing to know what fits. The body of the dress fitted reasonably well, pretty much as I'd expected given these vintage patterns. I just needed to tweak it to fit my shape and it was fine. The one thing I didn't check was the shoulders. Dresses of th...

I got moving with some SWAP sewing this weekend. First up was my sheath dress. This is a quick and easy sew for me. It's rayon boucle from Gorgeous Fabrics and is fully lined with a black poly/silk lining that I have a whole roll of so I use a lot. I'm actually wearing this today and I think I should have stabilised the neck a little, but I'll see how it wears. The fabric is so nice on the body. There's a jacket and skirt to come from the same fabric, but it's not part of my SWAP so they can wait till winter. Then I made this black linen blouse. I think the pattern is KS3668. I've made this a few times now. The great thing about this top is that the fabric cost me 50c at the op shop, the binding cost 20c and the buttons were in my stash and probably originally came from the op shop too. Even the thread was stash. I had a 1000m reel of black that I bought years ago. Apart from my time, this top has cost less than $1. But I still hate linen. Then I started on some...

Whilst I haven't actually gotten around to sewing anything in 2010, I have been working. I spent the best part of two days cutting out fabrics, linings and interfacings. These boxes contain the remaining nine garments from Grant's SWAP and the first three of my SWAP, as well as two ring in garments which I managed to squeeze out and I thought I might as well cut whilst the fabric was on the table. I must have bought the magic 3 yards of black and white tweed from Gorgeous Fabrics because I managed to get a sheath dress, a jacket and a pencil skirt from this one length and I actually have enough left to make a handbag. I purchased all of the thread and notions yesterday. As my overlocker is currently threaded in black, I will start with the sheath dress. I've been reading everybody's 2009 wrap ups with great interest and I've found it rather inspiring. I wasn't going to do it, but I did. Here is my break down. What I'd like to know is why I never ...