MUST SEW #9...CHERRY RED

Just a quick post to show another of the New Look 6594 in a cherry red corduroy.

I thought I'd make a nice bright colour just so these stormy days we've been having lately don't seem so glum. Wore it this morning out to coffee with a friend and I felt really girly in it.

I can just about make this skirt with my eyes shut now! Once again I didn't have to make any alterations, instead of a lapped zipper, I put in an invisible zipper (I'm getting quite good at doing these now!) I've now made 3 of these, time to move on.

And Susan... NO BOOTS!

MUST SEW #1

Remember my first disastrous attempt at the Butterick 4699 (mid 1960's) for my Must Sew #1? I wasn't going to let this pattern get the better of me!


This is my second attempt....






I kind of butchered the pattern a little. Although I made the original dress according to my measurements, it was too big and sack like. So I took it in about 2cm in all off the width, lowered the neckline a little (about 1.5cm), so it didn't feel like it was choking me so much, and shortened the dress by 8cm (I felt the length was a little dowdy).

I thought when deciding what fabric to use, I could go for a cross between a coat and a dress. So I chose a pinwhale cord in black and faced hems and sleeves etc. with bias binding. Because it was cord, I had to make a side seam so that I could cut the pattern with the nap, instead of on the crosswise fold.

I have to say that this isn't my fondest adventure with vintage patterns. I will wear it though, and am on the lookout for a hot pink skivvy and matching tights to brighten up the black!

GUITAR CASE NAME TAG

I love listening to Bec play the guitar. She's pretty darn good for a 12 year old! In fact, the other week her teacher phoned me and said that at her level, we should seriously think about getting her a better guitar. So we did! If it makes her enjoy playing the guitar even more....I'm all for it.

I had some guitar fabric in my stash, so this afternoon I made her a name tag for her guitar case.

My inspiration came from Lisa from A Spoonful of Sugar with her crafty tutorial in the Jan/Feb issue of Silver Magazine, although I used a slightly different method.

I used some iron-on vinyl that I bought at Spotlight (this is a bargain on ebay as I paid around $30 for my roll!) You just iron the vinyl onto the right side of your fabric and it coats it and makes it water proof...and pretty and shiny! I used my trusty old tag templates that I've had about a million years.

*Just iron the vinyl onto the right side of fabric and cut out 2 tags (front and back) mine were about 12cm by 6cm.

*Iron on some stiff interfacing to the wrong sides of both tags.

*Cut some clear vinyl (non iron on) to make a pocket for the name tag to slip into. Bind the top edge for neatness if you wish.

*Place this clear vinyl on top of one of the tags and baste really close to the edge.

*On the other tag, sew on a D ring using some tape or ribbon. Then attach a split ring.

*Place both tags wrong sides together and sew around all edges (about 5mm in from raw edge). Then unpick the basting from when you sewed the clear vinyl pocket on, and sew another row of stitching around all edges.

*Trim and neaten edges (they may slip a bit because you can't pin as it makes holes in the vinyl.....that's the downside).

*Place name and address details on co-ordinating cardboard and insert into pocket.

TA-DAAAAA!

MUST SEW #9.....again

Here is another skirt I made from New Look 6594. I was going to make this up in a corduroy, but I couldn't find a nice chocolate colour, and I wanted another skirt in a hurry, so instead I bought this fabric from Textile Traders . It has a teeny bit of stretch to it (I don't think it matters in this skirt that the fabric is stretch as it's not a firm fit anyway). No alterations again, which is way cool!

Oh, and I had to buy some chocolate coloured boots to match......just don't tell my husband (shhhhhhh)

I can see myself making a whole pile of these skirts. They are so easy to make and comfortable to wear.

I do think I'm starting to have a bit of a boot fetish though......

ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD

Well, today I received my very first award...."One Lovely Blog Award".

Thank you so much to Susan from Stitch Scrap Sew and DJStoreRoom for nominating me for this award.

Apparently I have to nominate 5 Blogs.....I nominate the following because I love to read these lovely Blogs on a daily basis - I find them inspiring and interesting, I may not always comment, but I do enjoy a daily dose.

1. Texmorg

2. Stop Staring and Start Sewing

3. A Spoonful of Sugar

4. The New Vintage Wardrobe

5. Norma Tika Designs

I'm currently making another skirt (I'd have it finished by now if I stopped snooping around Blogland!) I'll post pictures soon.

Have a great week!