It' not been happening for me this week ...

I started the week with a mind full of plans. I traced all the patterns I needed to, I washed and pressed all the fabrics I was going to cut, I even prepared a whole heap of food so I didn't have to worry about cooking.

You may recall a few weeks ago I mentioned a piece of lovely leopard print cotton fabric that I had no idea what to do with. Well, I decided to make BWOF 08-2009-128, the Parisian chic dress. I liked the idea of such a simple, elegant dress in an animal print. I even suggested to Gail that she make the same dress in a gorgeous silk animal print that she'd bought. Short version is this; I did not have enough fabric. No problem, I will drive up to Tweed Heads and buy some more. I moved on to the next garment. I had planned to make Vogue 1020 top as I'd made it loads of times before. I had a yard of lovely purple rayon jersey that I had bought especially for this top (part of a green and purple wardrobe). Short version is this: I cut the fabric out, but when I went to sew it up the front was missing. What I must have done is cut the front and put it aside, then when I went to cut the sleeves I grabbed a piece from the wrong pile and cut a sleeve out of the front instead of the scrap pile. Of course, Gorgeous Fabrics has now sold out of this colour! That's what I get for not paying attention when I cut. The next day when I went to Tweed Heads to buy more leopard print they, too, had run out! They had another version with a slightly more yellow background that I may go back and buy tomorrow.

I spent a day trying to figure out what to do with the leopard print, but I have now put it aside and tried to MOVE ON!!

I made this dress from Vogue 8489. I bought this fabric when I was buying everything red and black for my SWAP. Originally I had planned to make the famous Vogue 8379 wrap dress, but once again I did not have enough fabric. Now, I have never been in love with this dress or the fabric, which is Swirly Girl Jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics. The gold is a bit more in your face than I normally like, but when I started to put this dress together, I decided it was the perfect combination. It's brighter than this picture suggests and the gold catches the light beautifully.


In between cutting out and making this dress, I decided to make a new dog bed. This goes to show how obsessed you get with your sewing. Molly likes this bed, but she sleeps with me at night, so it only gets used when she wants to be alone. It originally had some rubber backed nylon crap, which stretched and tore pretty quickly. Given that the whole thing cost $30 I don't know why I wrestled with this, but the canvas was from stash and I hate to waste things. It took me about 45 mins to rip open the old bit, cut it out and sew but I spent about two hours trying to wrestle this back together. It was made more difficult by the bend in the steel caused by someone who stood on it to try and reach something high. And it wasn't Molly or I.


When I entered SWAP this year I had two wardrobes bubbling away at the back of my mind. One was the red and black I made, the other was a green and purple wardrobe. The diagonally striped rayon jersey to the right of this picture was the beginning. I bought it two years ago and because the pattern is diagonal, it has defeated me. I don't know what to do with it.

I pulled a whole heap of vaguely similar colours from stash. There are still more but I was too lazy to haul all the boxes down. You can see the forsaken purple rayon in the middle of this picture. To the left is some lovely purple slinky that will become a dress in the next day or two. As for the rest, I have no idea. I'm leaving all this on the bed for inspiration.

Today is trench day and as soon as this is posted, I will eat my breakfast and trace my trench pattern, but as this has turned into a ridiculous ramble, that will come later.