Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

I had two glasses of wine last night and that's it! I stupidly didn't take any photos, but I ended up wearing Dress Plan C which was one I made last year and have never worn. I've forgotten the pattern number and I'm too lazy to look it up. Dress Plan A.  I originally wanted to make V1151 but couldn't find ponte in a colour I liked.  There was boring black, washed out burgundy, dirty grey or cream.  I really wanted purple or orange or something bright, but here in fabric starved Tasmania I was fooling myself.  I moved to Dress Plan B. Prior to christmas I had traced BWOF 09-11-104 but never got around to making it, so I decided to give it a go.  I had 3m of poly chiffon that I bought at Spotlight last year for $3 a metre that was perfect.   It's a fairly simple pattern to make, but the double layer of chiffon with pleating and gathering makes it a little time consuming.  I changed the pattern contruction slightly.  For some reas...

I've managed all three of these in one garment. I had this scant 1 metre of cotton check fabric that's been in my stash for about 15 years.  I bought it for $3 at a sale of remnants and bolt ends from a clothing store in Mullumbimby called Mokea.  I've pulled it out many times, but there just wasn't enough to make any of the things I had envisioned, so it always ended up neatly folded and back in the cupboard. Somewhere in the middle of the night on Friday I remembered that I owe my friend, Bruce, a birthday gift from December and as he is a smaller guy, I thought I migh just be able to squeeze it out of this fabric.  I've only sewn for Bruce once before (a terry towelling bathrobe that didn't need fitting) and as he is about 2000km away I couldn't measure him, so I guessed.  I used KS3422 a pattern I've sewn for another similarly sized friend so I hope it comes close.  I know Bruce will wear it regardless, because he loves all things hand mad...

So far today I have squeezed a long sleeve t-shirt and three pairs of undies out of scraps.  The tshirt is my TNT KS3338 and the knickers are from the a free tanga panties pattern I downloaded from Burdastyle about a year ago.      If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you will recognise these remnants.  The black and white animal print was leftover from a recent wrap top, the red and white stripe remnant was leftover from 2m of really good quality knit that yielded an oversized top I made in 2010 and in 2012 another long sleeve t shirt and the brown spot was leftover from a BWOF gathered tshirt that is a little too big but is still in my cupboard.  Once again, that was 2m of knit that has yielded two tops and a pair of knickers.  As you can see I only have black or cream knicker elastic in my stash.        This panties pattern is designed for for stretch lace but I decided to try it with the knit ...

You can see by the button to the right that I have decided to join the Stashbusting Sewalong.  This fits with what I've been doing for a while, although with no real plan.  This sewalong has a theme each month and January is all about using up all of those smaller pieces.  This top came from one of them. While rummaging around in my sewing room tonight, I came across a remnant that was leftover from a film I worked on many years ago.  I inherited a large tea chest of assorted drills, cheesecloth, batiks and a few sari remnants.  Over the years I've used much of it for muslins or work clothes, but the sari remnants have been harder to work into my wardrobe.  I also came across a copy of the Sorbetto pattern that I downloaded a while ago and it seemed like  a match made in heaven.  I made this top tonight whilst watching a Queen documentary on the ABC.  The thread and bias binding were from stash, too, so this is a free top. I have a top ...

You may recall I chose Vogue 2269 from 1989 as one of my SWAP patterns.  I knew by experience of fitting my longish torso and because this is an 80's pattern that I would need to lengthen the pattern.  I've made halters before and they've been a little troublesome and this one lived up to my expectations. Short version is this: I completely reshaped the front darts to allow this to fit snugly in the bust and waist and then flare out over my pear shaped hips.  In the back I widened the dart at the top as I seem to have a narrow upper back.  It was still too big, so I sewed some wide elastic onto the facing.  This not only helps the back fit more snugly but fixes a small gape at the arm hole.  If I make it again I will need to fold out a wedge at the arm hole area. I've made a wearable muslin that I like.  It's cute and I will wear it a lot, but I don't love this pattern enough to mess around with it to get a perfect fit.  I may use the...

I've finally sorted out this silly photo thing thanks to Anna , Faye and Maria who gave me all the answers I needed.  In downloading the Picasa software, though, I was a little alarmed to learn it has a facial recognition element that captured shots of people in photos on my computer and offered to automatically group new shots of the same people together!!!!  I intend to investigate this a little more. Happy New Year to you all, a little belated I know.  I've been away for a few weeks and before that I was very busy so I have a lot of catching up to do.   I'll start by showing the last garment I made in 2012.  These skinny jeans were inspired by Carolyn who wrote a post a while back about red jeans being fashionable.  The very day I read this post I had rediscovered a length of crimson sateen in my stash that I bought a couple of years ago and forgotten all about.  The colour may not show very well but it is a slightly pinky red that I am f...

What is going on with this blog thing??  I've been trying to upload for days.  Anyone else having problems?