Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

I have been sewing, but nothing exciting. I made this top from Kwik Sew 3338 with my usual Stitches magazine cowl collar added to it. This is the same beautifuly rayon as the darker brown I made earlier in the week. I bought these two fabrics to use as layering garments. They look better together in real life than on Vera. Next up I made these pants from BWOF 10-2007-115 - the same as the charcoal ones I made a week or two ago. Sorry about the photo on the bed. I need to find a better way to photograph pants. I bought this fabric last winter and never got around to sewing it up. It's a heathered brown RPL from Gorgeous Fabrics and if you want a lightweight pant or skirt fabric with lovely drape, then I highly recommend this one. It is still available and I think I have to get some more. I have a dress in mind. I had enough left to make this skirt from Vogue 8604. It's way, way longer than I usually wear but I decided to give a longer skirt a try for winter. I...

Just a quick update to show you this. It's BWOF 10-2007-115. The photo doesn't do the colour or the fabric justice. It's a rayon lycra jersey that I bought at Fabric Fantazia in Tweed Heads when I took my machine in the other day. I only bought a metre of this colour and another straw colour, but I think I will go and buy some more. It's the most luscious slippery velvet soft jersey I've ever seen and I can't wait to wear it. I like this top, although I did find myself thinking of Cidell's BWTF while I was reading the instructions. I'm off to make the other one now.

And perhaps shouldn't have been. It's Vogue 842 6 and I've made this several times now, but this one took me three days. The fit is perfect and I love the skirt, but I was an idiot and made a bad fabric choice. On top of that I cocked the zipper up three times and had to take it out three times (I put it in the wrong place), then I sewed the wrong bits together at the back. Then I totally messed up the waist bands and had to redo them. And I used faux suede. Not just any faux suede, a microfibre sofa covering faux suede. The fact that it will never crease on your sofa means that it is impossible to press the seams flat. The flash reflecting off the fabric makes this look worse than it really is. It is wearable and the colour is a lovely browny grey that looks nicer in real life and goes with so many things. Here's the back. Will that pleat ever flatten out?? I went on to make this top. It's the BWOF 05-2009-103 and I've made it as a dress twice befo...

But I came out with this. It all started yesterday when my machine started not wanting to sew. She's needed a service for a while and I did promise her that if she made could wait until I finished SWAP, I'd treat her to whatever she wanted at the day spa. She held up her end of the bargain, I did not. I have continued sewing for weeks and yesterday she said no more. Here is the skirt we wer working on. I got half way round the hem, as you can see by the pins. This is BWOF 06-2009-124. Although the pattern called for taffeta I think, I used doubleknit as I was after a comfort skirt. One of those things you can drag out and wear with no fuss. Not sure if I got it, but I will this will get worn. It's a little big, so I may take off the waistband and take it in a little. Anyway, whilst I was on my way to the repair man in Tweed Heads, I began to talk myself into buying another machine. Yesterday I started up the Husqvarna I bought a while ago and started a top. It s...

This is Vogue 8161 and I'm not sure about it. The boucle is loose, so I decided to interface the whole jacket so maybe I stretched it out of shape or maybe I've just bulked up too much in the shoulders. Either way, it's tight. It will be OK to wear over a sleeveless dress, but if I wore it over a top it would be a little uncomfortable to wear all day. Having said that, though, I am rather pleased with my bagged lining. I will finish it. It just needs buttons and a good press. Maybe if it goes in the magic wardrobe for a while, it will be OK when I go to wear it. These are some trench patterns I'm considering. I think this last one might be it as I like the collar. I have a few more selected, I just need to read through the patterns and see what I find. Tomorrow I'm back to sewing knits as my jacket sewing today has not filled me with joy.

I'm working on all sorts of things at the moment, but I found myself wandering around the house rendered totally incapable of doing anything because of indecision. I showed some fabrics in my last post that I am keen to sew but didn't know what to make. As well as those there are a whole lot of others that I can't bring myself to put away for later yet I can't seem to cut them. So I opened a bottle of champagne on Saturday night and started cutting things out. Most of the fabrics I was so stressed about cutting into were $1.95 a yard from a Fabric.com sale, so there was no need for stress. Here are the first couple. This is BWOF 09-2007-101 tie neck top. I thought this might be a ringer for the Jalie pattern, bu it's nothing like it. It's loose and is described as an overblouse, which is perfect for this knit as it's quite sheer. I will wear a cami under it for now and a long sleeve t shirt under it when it gets colder. I made no attempt to match pa...

The 8 O Clock Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

My SWAP pictures are finally done and sent away and I can think about other things. It was a trial getting my pictures as my photographer was less than willing and complained the whole time. Funny how it was different when I wanted to take his pictures! This weekend I sewed some of the things I cut out two weeks ago. First up is this skirt. It's Vogue 8604 size 12 straight from the pack. I probably could have gotten away with a 10, but I thought I'd be better off with a 12 for winter. It's the same fabric as the pants I made a couple of weeks ago and fills in a big gap in my wardrobe. I have enough left for a vest and maybe even a jacket. Next up is Vogue 2091 , a DKNY pattern I bought at the op shop for 20c. I thought it was OOP but you can still buy it from the website. I made View C (the one on the left) but without the bottom band as I thought it might be too long for me. There are three very different dresses so this is good value. It has a strange diamond...

In an unseasonal downpour I find myself flooded in. You would think I would be sewing but, no, I'm not. I spent several hours watching episodes of Jeeves and Wooster on DVD before finally coercing Grant into taking his SWAP pictures, which will be seen in the fullness of time. I did, however, sew last weekend although only one garment as we had a family lunch on Sunday that took over my day. To wear to that lunch I made this dress. It's my TNT sheath based on Vogue 8146. I squeezed this out of a generous yard and as you can see from the picture, there was very little fabric left. I have many things cut out and I will be doing some more sewing later in the week but today I don't have the focus for it. On Sunday after the family lunch I stopped into Fantazia Fabricland in Tweed Heads and made some random purchases that have made me wonder what was going on in my head at the time. I purchased a crimson burnout fabric that I have no idea what to do with, a leopard print that ...