Sew, I've Been Thinking ...

This is more for my benefit than anyone else. This is what I have sewn so far and I wanted to look at them all on one page to see how they looked. I am rather pleased with this little collection so far. I have pants cut and ready to sew next then I think I will add a plain white blouse with long sleeves because that is one giant gap in my wardrobe.

This is Go Patterns 4001 dress that was very popular several years ago. When I first got this pattern I made three versions in various fabrics, including one for the very first SWAP I ever entered. I liked the dress, but thought I needed to lengthen the bodice by a couple of centimetres. I avoided doing it because it meant lengthing six different pieces and I was too lazy and it's sat, untouched for years. With the theme of this SWAP being all about getting good basic patterns that fit, I decided to tackle this little task once and for all. As it turned out, I needn't have bothered. Long story short, I changed back to the original pattern and made this dress. You can't see it with this busy fabric, but the pocket detail is lovely. There is a lovely dart in the pocket piece that matches up with the seam of the pocket so you never see it. For me and my shape, this is the perfect sheath dress. I like the waist definition and I like the way the princess seam curves dow...

I hadn't planned to make this skirt in this fabric but it just happened that way. The fabric is a wool/poly blend I bought at Lincraft in Brisbane some years ago on a closing down sale. It must have been cheap because I bought a lot of it. I've already made Grant two pairs of pants from this fabric and I still have enough left to make the dress I originally planned. You probably can't tell, but the pinstripe is lavender and matches the skirt and jacket I made last week. This is BWOF 02-11-103 and the magic is in the back view. I like the darts and the godet. I really love this skirt, but only time will tell if it's a practical work skirt or if I end up walking like Mortisha Addams. I tried it with the broderie anglaise blouse I made recently that I wasn't sure if I should include in my SWAP. I quite like the girliness of the blouse with the pinstripes. As much as I'd like to get started on the dress, I really need to do some housework. There must be...

I was worried about the lavender skirt and jacket looking too 'Mother of the Bride' when I'd really been aiming at 'Jackie Kennedy'. This fabric is one of the four pieces I bought at Spotlight when I only wanted a zipper. Sadly, it doesn't photograph too well. It's a poly satin and the colours are way more vibrant than this picture shows. I think this lifts the outfit. I made it into this top from V1127 . I've made the skirt before, but it was a wadder. The pattern runs very large, as all the reviews will tell you. The skirt didn't work for me because it sits very low on the hips and I have a definite waist. I haven't made the jacket, but there are plenty of reviews out there that tell of the fitting issues. I normally wear a size 10 in Vogue patterns, but knowing the size issue with this pattern, I cut a 6 for the top. In addition, I halved the height of the collar and halved the length and width of the ties. I really didn't wa...

I wanted a slightly high waisted skirt and I like the look of a skirt shaped by panels rather than darts. This is Vogue 8672 View A. I've made View C before and I may well make View E for SWAP as well. This may become my favourite pencil skirt pattern. Here it is with the jacket from yesterday, although it looks a little 'mother of the bride' in this shot. The blouse I plan to make tomorrow should fix that. Don't you love having time at home to sew? I made the skirt this morning and then took Molly for a walk, We went to see this. Funny, I never had any interest in the Sydney to Hobart before. Even Molly wanted to have a look.

I don't know why I started with this garment, but I'm really pleased with the results. It's M5244 that I bought about three or four years ago and never got around to making. The pattern has a separate piece for the undercollar, which makes it sit perfectly. The fabric is Midweight Cotton Twill from Gorgeous Fabrics and there is still some left. It sews beautifully and is a little spongy with a perfect hand for a jacket. I have enough left for a short skirt. This shot shows the assymetric collar and the button placement. The lining was a whim. I went to Spotlight yesterday to buy thread - that's all, really. I ended up with this poly satin (and three other fabrics). This picture doesn't show it very well, but the lavender spots match the fabric exactly. As well as this lining, I purchased another satin and a charmeuse that go with this fabric and I may well make one of them into a blouse for my SWAP. You can see my label in this shot. I still get a k...

I've been invited to a christmas lunch tomorrow. The price of admission is a Hawaiian shirt. I had this fabric in my stash although I have absolutely no idea where it came from. It's been there so long that it's faded in lines where it was folded, but I expect that liberal application of champagne will prevent anyone from noticing. I made this from BWOF 01-08 whatever it was I made in broderie anglaise last week - the pattern was on the table so I used it. I used the square stand from the long sleeve version and left off the collar completely. I eyeballed where to trim the long sleeve to make it short sleeve, but I made them a little too long. Once again, the champagne will take care of that. This is what Molly will be wearing and I'm ashamed to say it's RTW. Wishing you all a safe and happy christmas. SWAP sewing will commence in earnest on Monday.