Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy, Happy!

Just popping in to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Lots of sewing planned for 'Twenty Twelve'.
Promise!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS



I whipped up some Christmas Bunting this week,
something that I've wanted to make for a long time...

Made with some fat 1/4 packs from Spotlight.

I also made this fabric gift pouch with the left-overs with thanks to this tutorial

I reckon I'll be making lots of these little gems!



It reminds me of a big, fat, juicy strawberry!

Hope your Christmas preparations are going as planned!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

GRADUATION TEDDY BEARS

Remember these?

They have morphed into 'Graduation Teddy Bears'.



First, their hats were decorated with the school logo...



Then their ties were made...




Their collars were next...



Ta-dah!
Aren't they cute???



All 66 of them!!!



It has been a school tradition to send off the current Year 6's with their own 'Graduation Teddy Bear'.

I took over the role of decorating the bears a few years ago when Bec graduated Year 6 in 2008.

Tom will graduate next year, so I may have to pass the baton on once he's into middle school.

I love doing these and it's not a hard job, just lots of fiddling around and waiting for glue to dry before the next phase is started.

And I'm sure these little suckers all have a personality of their own! There was one teddy that looked rather smug, and another I nick-named Dopey!


Anyway, they're done for another year and all packed up ready to head to school.


All the best to all those parents sending their babies off to middle school next year!!!

Have a great week!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

WORK IN PROGRESS...


This is what I'm working on at the moment.

I'll keep you posted...promise!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL...

We were invited to a (story book themed) 21st Birthday not so long ago.
Do you realise how hard it was for the four of us to agree on a theme? We had plenty of warning but we all couldn't agree on what storybook characters to go as until about 10 days before the party!!

With work commitments and a JRock Eisteddfod to help organise, it didn't leave me with a lot of time, so I took a few shortcuts.



It actually wasn't worth making Bec's Snow White costume - I picked it up for around $20 from ebay. I just added a red ribbon sash around the waist to give it more shape, a pair of long white socks and a wig and hers was complete.

Tom wanted to go as Dopey and the kids and I thought Glen would make a perfect Grumpy because, well, just because;)
Both the dwarf tops and hats were made of polar fleece. I used McCall's 2895 for the tunic-style pattern and made some huge yellow felt buttons for the front. Thick wide elastic was used for the belt and I just added a large belt buckle. As time was running out, I just bought some cheap tracksuit pants and dyed them and they wore ugg boots.
I didn't have a pattern for Grumpy's beard so I just whipped one up and stuffed it a little with wadding and added some elastics at the end to hook around his ears.
No pattern for the hats either so I just made them up as I went along and embroidered them with their names (Darn it, I didn't have my own embroidery machine then!).

I was the old woman (kinda hoping that was obvious though...)
I used McCall's 2853 with panne velvet and tied black rope around my waist. I bought a cheap wicker basket and cane and added some apples. I do regret using black nail polish though, it took ages to get off and stained my nails considerably.
My rather yellow teeth and nose were a great addition - except that they kept on falling off into my apple basket all night, but that may have been due to too much champagne!!
Mwahahaha!



"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?"




Saturday, October 1, 2011

MISSING IN ACTION...

Life around here the last few months has been pretty craayzee, to say the least!

Apart from my secretarial job which I absolutely adore (I get to frock up a couple of times a week), I got another part-time job which has left me very tired and with little time to do the one thing I really enjoy....sew!

I won't mention where my second job is as I really don't think I'll be there for much longer for it has been rather disappointing so far, and I guess I'm just used to being around for the kids during school holidays.

So please bear with my lack of posting for a while longer until I pluck up the courage to resign;/

But alas! I have a new toy!

I've been pretty much embroidering everything that's not tied down but Bec has done the first piece that is actually 'Show and Tell' worthy!!

Bec had a birthday party to go to last night and wanted to make her friend a makeup purse.
She did a smashing job I thought (but I might have to hide my new toy!)



And a sneaky peaky inside...



OK, yes, that is lime green nail polish you see in there, along with flouro pink and flouro purple!
I've been told she'll grow out of that...one day...

Have a great week and I'll keep you posted on the job front.

Monday, April 25, 2011

ANZACS FOR ANZAC DAY


Today is Anzac Day

Bec and I made Anzac biscuits.

In rememberance of all those fallen soldiers,

Lest We Forget.


Edit: Oops! Forgot to link to the recipe we used.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

VOGUE 8184

Ahhh Vogue 8184...How I love Thee!
(Especially because I cheated and didn't put any boning in!)

This is the fabric I bought a little while ago from the Potter Textiles Outlet in Leederville.

It's 100% cotton with a nice slub in it, I was a little disappointed in the way the fabric faded and softened considerably when I pre-washed it, but it's still OK and I'm willing to forgive seems I got it at such a nice price.

I was going to make up a nifty vintage suit with it but as it ended up quite soft, I opted to belt out another sundress before the cold weather hit.

As I mentioned before, I decided not to bone the bodice and it still fits nicely so may do the next couple of dozen of these without the boning (Ha! I think Tracy and I are having a secret race to see who can make the most.......she's winning!!!)



A view of the inside bodice. As the fabric felt quite soft, I decide to line the skirt section.
I'm quite chuffed how the end of the zipper and lining sit really well, I usually muck that bit up!
The lining is a bit wrinkly because I wore it out to lunch before photographing it.

It was a 'hand hemming the darn thing as I have hair dye on and only an hour before I have to be at lunch across the other side of the river!' kind of job, but I work well under pressure!



And just to prove I'm still hand hemming:)


Hmmmmmm, what to sew next?


Enjoy your Easter!


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

NEW LOOK 6805

I wasn't going to make another New Look 6805 this time, but I couldn't help myself!
(When on a good thing, you know???)

Anyway, I finished this dress about two weeks ago but only finished the belt the other night. I plan on wearing this to a wedding on Saturday so I didn't want to wear it until its debut there!

I was going to make this fabric up in the Crepe design from Colette Patterns, but the fabric had more stretch than I originally thought and it still remained a little stiff after washing, so I went to 'Plan B'.



No inside shots this time......because I'm lazy!!

And yes, the hem is hand stitched:)


And thought I'd make a little fabric flower brooch to pop onto my bag for the night.

Made according to this tutorial here.....



And a close-up of my belt!



Have a great week!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

FABRIC THERAPY...

Tracy so kindly shared her latest fabric shop secret with me and took me to a wonderful fabric shop on Monday.
Potter Textiles Outlet in West Leederville would have to be the 'find' of the year!

Not a huge shop, but certainly has quite a range of discounted fashion fabrics and the staff are so lovely and helpful!

This was my first snatch and grab!
I saw it in the 'bargain bin' and grabbed it straight away. At only $3.00 (yes, $3.00) per metre and 150cm wide, how could I resist??

It's a cotton/spandex woven fabric with such a nice feel to it.
I'm considering making up the Crepe Dress from the Colette Pattern Range but I've only just ordered the pattern so this will have to wait until the Postie comes.



My second purchase was this 100% cotton at $9.95 per metre (150cm wide again). They had a couple of colourways in this design but I liked this the best....it's an almost black fabric with a lighter grey slub through it.

I'm thinking of making the purple outfit up with it. I'll line the dress and jacket and might make the jacket sleeves more of a bracelet length instead, seems now it is officially Autumn.


Tracy has posted some photos of the shop here, she took some photos on her discovery visit a few weeks back.

They apparently change over the fabrics about every three weeks, so I'll have to pop that into my diary for my next trip!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

VOGUE 8184

I made another one of the Vogue 8184 this week but with the View B skirt and View F bodice.
Made from 100% cotton from Spotlight from their craft/quilting range.
I do really like the fit of this dress but I think I'll move on.


The rear view...


Some very neat inside bits!
I'm not really a hot pink kind of girl but thought it might be fun to pop some colour inside.


And a slip-stitched hem...



Hmmm. I think I need a new fabric cutting board, mine kinda fell apart today!

I'm off to do some coffee and fabric shopping tomorrow...I'm giddy with excitement!

Have a great week!

Friday, February 18, 2011

VOGUE 8184

This Vogue 8184 just be another 'go to' pattern!

My sewing pal, Tracy, introduced this little gem a while ago but I've only just made it up. It's actually the same fabric type as my previous dress.

I decided to use poplin for the bodice lining as this dress has boning in it so I wanted something with a little more firmness than the typical lining.

I must admit though, when I found out it had boning, I thought "pfth! No need for boning!" but I eat my words......there probably isn't any real need for boning, but it does give the bodice a really nice, firm fit.



Here's the back view...



Once again, I decided on an invisible zipper and lengthened the skirt about 5cm.

And for all those 'neat freaks'...here's a couple of inside snap-shots!



The boning is quite easy to put in. I couldn't find the right width covered boning at the time, so I just bought some sew-in boning and made the channels out of some bias binding which worked a treat!

Lower edge of bodice was painstakingly hand-sewn (for a nicer finish!)



And my hand-sewn hem (Thanks Tracy for the motivation to hand sew all my hems from hereon in!)

Enjoy your week!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

1965(ish) Shift Dress

I finished this dress last week but just haven't worn it until today.

The fabric is a little 'louder' than the clothes I normally wear so about half way through making it, I was still undecided as to whether I would like the finished product.



It was quite a hot day today and I felt really 'summery' wearing it and received some lovely compliments, so I guess I'll give it the 'thumbs up' then.


The pattern is Butterick 4127 and I think it's circa 1965.
I made View B but without the back neck ties because I decided to make a tie belt to bring it in at the waste for more shape (kinda defeats the purpose of a shift dress, hey!).
I didn't want dangly bits on the front and the back:)

The only adjustment I made was to put in an invisible zipper instead of a lapped version.

And eek! The fabric is so totally polyester! I don't know what I was thinking at the time but the fabric design just grabbed me when I saw it.....Thank goodness for air-conditioning!

I will probably make this again, but have a few other things I want to make first.

Have a great week!