It wasn't a Table Cloth - Truly It Wasn't!

I used the Njada Dress Pattern (free from Burda Style) as my base for these two dresses. Originally I was only going to make the one dress (the Bias & Buttons Dress - inspired by this tutorial for a little girl's dress) but seeing as it took two days to draft and fit the pattern how I wanted it, I figured I may as well make a couple dresses and well there's something about black and yellow that appeals to me at the moment and so the Table-Cloth Dress was born!

I started by modifying the paper pattern.

The blue line is my alteration from the first draft modification after making my first Toile. (Best thing I ever learned to do in sewing, make a Toile!)

Then I marked up further changes to the neck line, wrap line, hem and armscye while the Toile was on the manni.

Once I was happy with all the alterations to the pattern I took the Toile apart, cut along the stitch lines to neaten the edges and marked up the pattern information (darts, grainline, etc.). Ordinarily one would transfer all the information from the Toile to the paper pattern and recreate a new 'precise' pattern, I didn't because the fabric I used for the Toile (some sort of seriously cheap $1.80/mtr poly fabric) was a lot like paper, so I just went with it. It turned out great, even more stable than paper!

And the dresses were born (both have a lining and are finished with bias tape along the edges. I used zips (which I hand picked in) as closures.

I added clear press studs to keep the neckline in place.

Love me some hand picking zips (seriously - I do!)

I am really happy with the finished dresses - I can see them getting a lot of wear, they are really comfortable and should lend themselves to both our warmer and cooler seasons!

I found myself happily humming a particular Dolly Parton song whilst making the dress below - the bias strips are made up lots of left over pieces of fabric from a few different projects over the last few years. I sent an 'in progress'  pic to my friend who said she initially didn't like it but when she looked again she saw the 'stories' in the dress - she recognised many of the fabrics in the dress and and remembered the shared times we had as I was making each of those 'other projects'.

My best 'Posh' pose - haha!

Daisy Dress Reborn

I've been AWOL for quite awhile from my sewing blog - so I am just going to jump right in and share my first project of 2015 - The daisy dress reborn.

I loved this dress when I made (and still do) but since I made it I have lost 25kg (yay me - feel so much better). I really didn't want to give it away, I have given a few of my dress away to good homes since losing weight but there was just something about this dress that said keep me ... and this is why, a simple alteration has turned it into a beautiful skirt (I think)!

I have been wanting to try a couture waistband for a while - for some reason I have never been able to get a waistband to sit just right (could be my scoliosis)? The inspiration came when driving home from over east and reading The Dressmakers Handbook of Couture Techniques by Linda Maynard (great book), I was just flicking through the book and came across the instructions (very similar to Susan Khalje's instructions in Threads Magazine/website) for the couture waistband and the daisy dress came straight to mind. I have been considering the International Federation for Home Economics  2015 message of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle a lot lately in school planning and I thought I really should be carrying it over into my personal life! So I did!

The Daisy Dress

The Daisy Dress Reborn - as a skirt

But Wait there's More - Bodysuits!

Following on from my last post I made some adjustments to the bodysuit pattern I drafted and tested it out once more ... the final verdict, whilst I am happy enough with all three and will wear them, I should have followed my original plan and only added an extra 10 cm (4 inches) to neck band - I decided to add 15 cm (6 inches) which is a little too much - but still wearable!

 Front view

 Back view

Twin needles -make the garment look so professional, don't though?

Front view in black (captioning the obvious - haha)

Back view

Fit shots - sleeve length is much better!

I love anything off the shoulder :)

I could possibly bring the back up a little more?

This black one is going to get worn to death - I can tell!

Snug fit

Low back!

Playing with a 90s Favourite - The Bodysuit

I am currently drafting and experimenting making my own bodysuits and perhaps adding them to my collection of salable items!

I loved wearing bodysuits in  the 90s - no scrunching up of tees around your middle - I never needed any extra width in that department, that's for sure - I also used to have a favourite pair of denim overalls I wore to death with my bodysuits underneath :) ... I wonder if I can find an old photo! 

Enough reminiscing ... here's my first attempt - the light was not so good today for taking photos but I'll put some up anyway.

These are the practice fabrics I will be using - they are Stretch ITY Jersey Knit.

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Sorry about the grainy, low lit pic - you get an idea of the fit anyway, the length is good in the body, too short in the arms and too stretched across neckline.

I over calculated the negative ease in the neck band - it needs about another 10cm in length to reduce stretch and fit the bodice better. You can see the pulling in the front. In the back view pic you can see the band is over stretched in comparison to the bodice. 

Just a bit to much gathering in the front!

See how the neck band is over stretched?

Comfortable length though.

Full front view 

Full back view

Tour My Sewing Space

I just want to apologize up front for the crappy filming and the fact that there has been no editing done to attempt to improve this video - I don't know how ... one day I will actually spend some time teaching myself a little movie making knowledge but not today!

 I just thought I would share how I store stuff in my space as a way of giving back - I spent countless hours scouring the 'net looking at other people's sewing spaces/rooms/studios and was so inspired and gained so many ideas that I have incorporated into my space.  I am very grateful to all the people who shared their wisdom - thank you.

I spent more than 20 years sewing at the kitchen table, stashing supplies in boxes in spares corners of the house and so I feel very lucky (like I've won the lotto) to have a space to call my own.

(Anyone who likes my ironing station idea - its just a piece of marine grade plywood that has been covered with polyester wadding, then cotton batting and then cotton fabric - I love it so much I covered three old 'tall' science desk at work to make new non-breakable ironing tables for students!)

Part One

Part Two

I hope you enjoy and again - sorry about the crappy filmmanship (is that even a word?), its shaky and dodgey but hopefully you'll get something from it!

I Can't Believe I've Been "Off Blog" For So Long!

OMG - Its been like a month and half!!! What tha!!!!

In my defense I have been pretty busy, getting organised at work for someone to take over my role for 7-8 weeks whilst I go have some seriously torturous 'medical' intervention! (The continuing saga of the workplace accident that happened almost two years ago! My boss calls it the gift that keeps on giving, Really??? He can't see the insensitivity in that statement - its not a gift its a nightmare!)

 Anyone want to guess what the intervention was this time??? ...

... if you guess toe nail removal you guessed right! Both feet - two 'big toe' nails removed - yes it was torturous and yes I managed to pull off the immediate infection - yet again - so antibiotics, excessive pain, blah,blah,blah!

So I have been hobbling around for weeks - just starting to walk normally,  hoping to be able to wear some 'broad toe' shoes for at least 6 hours straight by the end of next week so I can go back to work! 

The good news is ... I am now able to 'drive' the sewing machine again, albeit very difficult to stand for any length of time (10-15 mins is about the max) so cutting out patterns, is an exhaustive process (two days to do this one pattern below).

I made the dress below intending to enter it in the Tessuti's Jaywalk competition but I disliked it so much I didn't bother! My friend who is modelling the dress (hence the head editted out) loved the dress - so at least it went to a good home! I have to say I don't like any of the entries in the competition - the fabric feels beautiful but it looks awful when its sewn up - that's my opinion anyway - hmmmm makes wonder if that was the opinion of the Tessuti staff and hence the competition, great way to sell off a lot of fabric that otherwise might not get sold!!!! 

The pattern I used for this dress was Burda Style Funnel Neck Dress - I found the 'off the shoulder' sleeve very uncomfortable and the side cut on the fold didn't hug the body and just looked wrong. I added in an extra dart at the waist on the fold line to create a better fit. I will definitely make this dress again but I will use only the right side (cut the pattern down the middle and then place it on the fold and cut two).


So what do you think yay or nae for the stripes!