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!

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!

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!

SEWING AGAIN....

Well, it has been a while. A LONG while doing a whole lot of no sewing!
But that's OK, I think I needed a long hiatus to make me realise how much I missed creating.

Now I've got the 'bug' again, I'm hoping to sew up a storm in 2011!

Christmas brought me some inspiration for a new dress; although I bought the fabric and binding way back in September on a fabric shopping afternoon at Materialise with my sewing buddy, Tracy, it wasn't until just before Christmas I felt the desire to frock up in something new.

Sew, without further ado, here is my Christmas dress...

I really love this pattern and it just may be my 'go-to' dress pattern as I don't have to make any adjustments to it. I did actually lengthen it by 5cm as I do like a longer skirt. Made from 100% cotton and with a lined bodice, it was very easy to sew.

Here's a bit of hemline loveliness...



I found this bias binding in the shop when I was there and thought it co-ordinated with the fabric perfectly. I'm going to make a self covered belt with the bias as an accent but I do need to go purchase some more as I didn't have quite enough at the time.

Here's a sneak peak of my next 'work-in-progress'.




With Rebecca's birthday tomorrow and off to Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi the next day, it just may have to sit, unfinished, on my sewing table for just a little while longer!


Finally, hoping that 2011 brings you lots of fun, laughter and creating!!

1976 JUMPSUIT

I was recently invited to a 40th birthday party with a 70's theme.

I was very excited about this...

champagne cocktails, chocolate fondue, nibblies of the era, platforms, jucke box, flares, blue eyeshadow!

I typically left it for the last minute to start making an outfit, and so rummaged through my stash of patterns to see if I had something reeking of the 70's that I could whip up and found this little treasure!

It's from 1976 and I knew it was to be the moment I saw it. I first had a vision of light blue satin with some white ABBA boots, but after some serious re-thinking, decided to do a denim number with tan boots

(I had to buy some new boots anyway... muahahahah, no, really, I did need some)

I may actually wear the denim again and thought I'd only wear it in satin the once.

I gathered some groovy jewellery together and tried, oh so tried, to do the Farah Fawcett Flicks and gave up after about 30 minutes of trying to burn my scalp with the curling wand and popped a headscarf on instead!

I practised my disco dancing all week so that I could get my groove thing happening on the night.

My kids just don't get that!

Anyhoo, here's the finished product. It was really easy and didn't have to make any alterations at all, which was just as well as I finished it the afternoon of the party!

And a little top stitching never goes astray!

And here was my favourite sound track of the night, which just happened to be released the same year as my jumpsuit pattern.

Enjoy!

1957 meets 1970 meets Multicultural Day!

So my children's school hosted their annual Multicultural Day on Friday and I put my hand up as a parent helper....again!

Although I've helped out most years, it's always been last minute and I've never bothered to do the costume thing myself - usually because I'm too busy costuming the kids!

Alas, this year, Tom just wanted to go as an English Soccer player (how lame I thought, but seized the opportunity to deck myself out instead).

So last week, I was in Textile Traders with my Mum and spotted this glorious craft fabric and knew immediately that I had to make a Novelty Dress with it.

The bodice is from Vogue 9071 (circa 1957) View A and the skirt is from Simplicity 9065 (circa 1970) the longer view skirt. I didn't want the full skirted version of the Vogue - just a 'no frills' skirt with minimal fabric requirements.

I eliminated all unnecessary seams (centre front and back) so that the print wouldn't be compromised and I also needed a very plain design so that it wouldn't take the eyes away from the fabric print also. I inserted an invisible side zipper so I could eliminate the centre back seam.

A very easy dress to make, I lined the skirt as it was a wee bit see through.

The dress and I had a wonderful time on Multicultural Day, and caused quite a few compliments... and laughs...and prods!

"Oh, Mrs P, I'm dressed up like that person there, and my friend is this one!"

I'm thinking now that I'd like to make up the Vogue dress again with the full skirt for work, maybe in a plaid?

A BELT AND MUST SEW #6

I have been so very uninspired to do some sewing lately, but I got a bit of a prod from someone the other day......which made me get off my bot-bot and finish a long awaited project - actually two projects!

I made this self covered belt to go with my Easter Dress that I sewed over a month ago (I know, I know, way too long between drinks!)

I hadn't made a belt like this before but am now thinking I'd like a few more - they really finish an outfit off nicely. I probably could have put in a couple more eyelets, but I thought 'Hey, I'll quit while I'm ahead before I muck it up!'

Rather pleased with myself!!

Then there's the matching jacket. I think it took me so long to finish because half way through it I wasn't sure that I actually liked the darn thing and it just sat there staring at me from my sewing table for about 4 weeks, but having finished it and worn it to work,

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!

And don't you just adore the nifty back view of the collar?

I was a bit puzzled how to put it all together at first, but it kinda fell together quite nicely in the end.

And it won't be so long for the next post.....promise!!!!