CHOCOLATE GINGER FINISHED WITH A LATTE

Yes, I was hungry when I wrote this post;)

Firstly, Chocolate Ginger sounds more appetizing than Brown Skirt!
And secondly, Latte is so much more tastier than Light Brown Bias!!

So, here we have my third Colette Ginger Skirt - certainly not my last, but for now it will take a back seat to some other projects.

I just love this skirt with its simple lines, not to mention how easy it was to whip up.


This was a total stash busting project.
I have about a gazillion zippers, so finding one to match was not a hard task.
Plenty of interfacing for the waistband - check!
The fabric was leftover from some trousers I made a few years back.
Oh, and the latte! I finished the hem in this pale brown bias which I hope lasts as long as the skirt - I have no idea how long I've had it (I've been sewing for over 30 years, you know!) and it felt a bit cardboard-y when I was slip stitching it..eek, it may disintegrate on me!



The innards...
The pattern doesn't call for lining, but I do like to line most of my garments though as I feel they hang a lot nicer.


My invisible zipper (which doesn't look so invisible when done up - darn it! - might work on that a bit more).



And the waistband top stitching - I like it when the innards look as nice as the outside!


Off to Busselton and Margaret River for a few days, so enjoy the rest of the week.

SIMPLICITY 3835...again!

Just a quick post to show you the other Simplicity 3835 (Built by Wendy).

This is pretty much the same polyester-y...crepe-y...georgette-y fabric as my previous blouse I made the other day. Also a $3 remnant bought from Potter Textiles.

I love the mix of pretty roses and animal print!

And I'm diggin' the rolled hem on my over locker!

With my nearly finished Ginger #3!
Will show you that tomorrow.

I remembered to photograph the French Seams this time.

Have a great weekend!

ANOTHER GINGER...

Well, I have been sewing a LOT lately, just not for myself!

At the moment, I'm pretty much holding down three jobs....
Some days I have my Secretary's hat on, some days I have my Retail Assistant's hat on and for the rest of the time, I have my Alteration & Mending Seamstress' hat on!

I have started up an Alteration & Mending business (again) and I have been overwhelmed with the jobs coming my way, it has been really good and this time I've been enjoying it, mainly because I have put my prices up to reflect the real time and effort I put into it.

I even had enough work coming my way to justify buying my new friend, Diana.

Anyhoo...since it is school holidays, I've grabbed the opportunity to make myself something.



Another Ginger skirt....made from Panama Suiting from Spotlight and lined with Bemsilk.
I was going to lengthen it this time but totally forgot about it when I cut it out, so I put a false hem on with bias binding to eek out a little length.
I made some self covered buttons and inserted an invisible zip. Nice!




The top is one I've made several times. Simplicity 3835, which appears to be out of production now.
I scored this remnant fabric (polyester crepe or something) for $3 from Potter Textiles
(Sorry Tracy...Impulse visit!)

I tried a couple of techniques on the blouse which I haven't done for a while, French Seams (which I forgot to photograph) and Rolled Hems on my over locker.
Both gave a nice finish.

I bought another remnant while I was at Potter Textiles, so I will probably make another one of these blouses.

Happy Sewing!

MUMMY SON TIME...

Awwww!
My heart just skipped a beat when Tom wanted to sew a stuffed animal toy for part of his school term project.

So he got to and searched the Internet for a pattern that he knew he could cope with (ie: one that Mum wouldn't need to rescue him from;)

Raided my stash for some frog appropriate fabric, buttons and eyeballs.

He cut the pattern out himself and was rather creative in cutting out the fabric too, but luckily the polar fleece was quite forgiving!

I did have to help with the pinning together but I reckon that's ok.

And, he steered the sewing machine really well (with only a little guidance from Mum).

He had more fun stuffing his undies with fibre-fill than the actual toy though!
I won't show you that photo...

Ta Dah!!!

COLETTE GINGER SKIRT

I've been wanting a denim skirt for a while now,
but not one of those that you wear with thongs and a mullet!

I have seen plenty of Colette Ginger Skirts on the 'www' and thought that this pattern would be perfect.

I made View 3 and its a super easy pattern to make up in less than a day!

I decided to line it as the denim appeared to be quite a loose weave and I hate it when your skirt 'seats' in the behind!
Thanks Tracy for the lining - it handles really well.

I have absolutely no idea where the denim came from:/

The 'innards'...

I did a mock flat fell seam in thread that is matchy-matchy with the lining.

The pattern called for an invisible zipper - which I LOVE doing, but chose not to in this case as they don't really work well with denim waistbands.

Love the skirt!

Will definitely be making more and I thoroughly recommend the pattern.

NEW LOOK 6805 and BUTTERICK 6582

My first project for 2012 is a 'mish-mash'.

I love the New Look 6805 pattern and have made this up a few times with View C but wanted a different neckline so chose the View A version.
I also wanted a different skirt so I rummaged through my patterns and found the perfect skirt in Butterick 6582 (View C).

I have plenty of fabric left over so I will certainly make myself a matchy-matchy belt.

I bought this Vintage Style cotton voile from Spotlight a few months ago and here's the result.

I love the fact that the gathering stops at the front princess seam panel so it lies flat across the tummy. I certainly don't need any extra volume in that area after all the Christmas Cheer!

And a gratuitous twirly shot!

And for the neat freaks out there, here are the innards!

I couldn't get a nice green for the lining as they all seemed to darken the bodice too much so I just used cream which worked well.

Check out that fabulous hand sewing:)

I chose to just sew a narrow hem this time as the fabric was quite fine and I thought that hand sewing a blind hem may pull on the fabric too much.

I didn't have to make any alterations to the bodice as I'd made this up (in a different version) before so new it fitted and fitting a gathered skirt isn't exactly rocket science!

Off to do my Colette Ginger skirt now....
See you soon.

Happy, Happy!

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

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

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!

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!

WORK IN PROGRESS...

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

I'll keep you posted...promise!

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?"

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!