New Look 6345 - Denim Skirt with a Twist.

Yippee - I finished something for me. And I am very happy with it.

New Look 6345 ( OOP ) is a shaped yoked skirt with  A line mini, straight or flared  gored options.
I sewed the version on the model photo seven years ago and it is still regularly worn to work .
Mum gave me some really lovely embroidered mid weight denim - the pattern  is in teals and bronzes with that special sheen you get with embroidery thread but I am not sure how hardy it is going to be.
There was just under 90cm of fabric but it was 150cm wide which narrowed down my choices of pattern and also with the large repeating embroidered pattern I needed something simple.

Along one long edge of the fabric was a largish area with no embroidery. This was actually an advantage because I was able to cut the yokes out of this avoiding the hassle of pattern matching and making the skirt look a bit RTW . I sewed the straight version and was a bit concerned with no walking flap I might have to do the penguin walk but no you can take normal long strides ( phew ) .

The dreaded back view - I was pleased that I could kind of match up the pattern at the back and one of the sides even with my fabric limitations . I also thought having the flowery things on the sides might avoid some unfortunate flower placement at the front and back. I admit this is something I would not have considered prior to finding so much sewing info on the net but is something I can not unlearn now !

I added an inch in length to the pattern whilst cutting out but after trying on the skirt thought that was not quite long enough so I used for the first time that nifty trick of adding a bias binding to the skirt edge to make the most of my material. I found a scrap of kind of matching cotton to make my own ( I made the bias binding 3cm in width ) and also used this to line the yokes. ( for the record I am 5foot 7 or 170cm )
The flappy things at the yoke are totally useless but I love them .

 My best friend patiently waiting for a play with his  totally disgusting fluffy pillow . I received positive unprompted comments from my family with this make and I also love the fabric and the pattern so this one is a success. 

Shirts for Everyone ( Except Me ) New Look 6647 and Kwik Sew 3422.

My sewing groove is back and  the bad news is that I have been sewing shirts . For everyone except me.
First up  a blouse for  middle DD . I used New Look 6647.
This is a really sweet pattern with a bib inset front - either pintucked or plain with a variety of sleeves. There are waist darts front and back and the blouse flares out at the waist to hips.
My daughter chose the plain bib front and the short sleeves. The sleeves are slightly gathered at the bottom only and finished with a bias band . This makes a lovely sleeve which is not overly pouffy .
We used a soft navy with pink floral charmeuse which she chose out on holidays last year .
This blouse came together really well - it was one of those projects where everything turns out right.
I have made the blouse once before for myself so I knew there were no unexpected surprises . The only changes we made to the pattern were to take the sides in near her bust a few centrimetresI( to make up for a lack of bust darts I suppose ) . I would highly recommend this pattern .

New Look 6647,  floral fabric and lovely vintage mother of pearl buttons . 

,

Yay a modelled shot ! 

Closer picture of the bib front. 

Next up is a shirt for my husband. I have been a good wife and this is now the third shirt I have sewn him in the last couple of years ( as well as one T-shirt this summer ) . It is Kwik Sew 3422 again ( really I can see no need for another shirt pattern for him - shirt patterns for myself is an entirely different matter !)
I used some gray and white cotton shirting from Clear It in Melbourne that I purchased only a couple of months ago. I could not tell the difference between the right and wrong sides ( admittedly my eyes are getting fuzzy but I don`t think there was a difference ) and it felt very smooth  . I only paid $10.50 for the material - a great bargain for such quality. I am going to keep my eyes peeled for more shirting fabrics like this.
This is a great pattern . I love that they have separate collar pieces for the under and top collar pieces. The front button band is simple and just turned under twice . They have the great yoke instructions where the seams are all enclosed . This   is what I appreciate about Kwik Sew Patterns - I hope the new ownership keeps that up . Again I would highly recommend this pattern. I am so proud of this shirt I would have a gender  transplant to wear it !

Well the good news is now I have sewn the Paris Lace, the Tokyo charmeuse and the Melbourne Cotton I can now get on with some serious selfish stashbusting sewing ( SSSS) for me. Cheers Janine.

Spot the camouflaged pocket  .

Dang I am proud of that collar .

Hallelujah ! New Look 6356 Parisian Ombre Lace Top .

Finally ! I finished something .
This `simple ` top only took 6 months - that is three different patterns, four toiles , goodness knows how many trial sleeves and lots ( and lots ) of adjustments to get the final finished product.
I feel almost embarrassed to say all of the above.
The problem ( well two problems) was that the top was for my daughter and we bought the lace in Paris so I have never felt so nervous before in sewing anything - ever .

My daughter is quite petite - the top she wanted me to base this lace on was only size 4 ! None of my patterns get close so I looked at every pattern company and could not find anything suitable. I traced off an old Burda magazine pattern from 2004 and even a Top Kids pattern but for some reason they did not suit .
I settled on New Look 6356- a very basic top pattern  and started the long , seemingly never ending fitting process.
In the end I had to take out several cms from the back, fix a gaping neckline, raise the bust darts several cms and work out how to stop the `sleeves that bind` .
Do you know how hard it is to coordinate getting a teenager to try on toiles with a mother who can be bothered to then analyze the fitting problems ? In the meantime while you are doing this my youngest DD has the affrontery to keep on growing so your toiles are then getting too small .

However in the end I did it. I don`t think this top is perfect but we are both pretty happy ( and relieved ) with it.

Cutting and sewing the  actual lace was easier than I thought after all the toiles.
I sewed the sides and shoulders with french seams  but just sewed the back seam and sleeves the` usual` way.  I pondered how to finish the back/armscye  seams and in the end thought it was just all getting crazy so just overlocked the edges.We had decided to not line the lace because she has a few matching camisoles.
The final act of madness was to make my own bias binding out of some satin charmeuse which I finished both the neckline and sleeve hems with  .

And now guess what. I have to do it all over again for my middle daughter with fabric we bought in Tokyo !
( I know I know - I can`t complain )
Cheers Janine.

Liebster Award !

Thankyou so much Paola for your Liebster Award. I am always seriously surprised when this happens because my blog is so small and haphazard and I seriously do not sew cool or trendy stuff .
So as part of this I answer 5 questions posted by Paola and then 5 random facts.

1. What is your greatest achievement ? Being a mother to three daughters the first question is easy - they are!
2. What motivates you ?  Currently my main motivation is to help my children get through their schooling and hopefully develop into happy and confident adults. We are also trying to live our lives in a way that has the least impact on our current environmental concerns.
3. What is number one on your bucket list ? Hmm to be honest it is just to get through the current year ! I currently have three jobs, my middle daughter is doing her final year of secondary school and my husband intends to run for parliament again !
4.You find $100 on the pavement .What do you spend it on ?  OK assuming that I don`t take it to the police station I think I would take my family out to dinner . Or possibly there might be a cheap one way fare to New Zealand and then because there was no money left I would have to stay there - now that`s an idea . If I took my family to McDonalds for dinner I might be able to do both !
5. Summer or Winter ? Which do you prefer ? That`s another  easy one - Winter ! I am such a downer but to me summer means bush fires, snakes, intolerable hot weather and too many flies . Winter never gets too cold where I live , you can snuggle up in front of the fire and once it snowed where I live and it was such a pretty site -but it only lasted a few hours.

OK 5 Random facts
 1. I am a general practitioner so I can never ever talk about work on my blog. My husband is also a doctor.
Our eldest daughter is now studying medicine at the same university we went to which really makes me proud and weird to think she will be sitting in the same lecture theatres  that we did .
2. I live in a straw bale, rammed earth home - our last house was mudbrick. The house is so well insulated it is like living in the cone of silence - very quiet . We live on 2 acres and currently have 5 sheep, 12 chooks and one dog. This is a down grade from 57 acres, 12 sheep , and a horse( and chooks and dog ). Sadly we sold our horse last year.
3. I have only sewn one item for myself this year ( the T shirt project was completed last year ) but made curtains for my eldest DD and  a T shirt for my husband and  multiple toiles for my youngest DD . I am missing selfish sewing .
4. When we got our dog from the dog shelter I wanted a female dog with short hair. We came home with a male dog with long ( shedding ) hair. He was going to be an outside dog but now spends most of the time on the end of our bed !!
5. We just bought an all electric car which is really cool but we can only use it for local trips ( which is most of our driving anyway ) because it only has a 150km range before the battery runs out.

OK That was more more than 5 random facts but I should add in that I am hopeless at computers and passing on this award is beyond my skills. Also I love all the blogs I read so it is hard to choose .
Again many thanks Paola and I am so sorry it took so long to reply !

Cheers Janine.
PS I have just finished sewing a top for my daughter and I am very excited about this .

My Stash.

What is the saying - If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
My eldest daughter left home last week to start university after a gap year mostly spent overseas - in Japan and Peru.
I am very happy for her - It is a wonderful thing for a parent to see their children mature into adults . My daughter is happy and confident and has a very bright future ahead of her. I could say a lot more about her but she would not like it so I will respect her wishes here.
However it does leave a gap at home and I am missing her .
So I took over the central part of her wardrobe and for the first time ever I have all my fabrics together placed on shelves.

I have sorted my stash according to fabric types . It is far from being a SABLE but with my current snail paced sewing this will keep  me out of trouble for a few years.
On the top shelf  I have a few pieces of flannelette , sweater type knits and garment toiles.
The second shelf has bottom or jacket weight fabrics on the left and various types of knits ( including another sweater knit proving I am not as organised as I think I am ) on the right. In the middle are some polys ( with one rolled up piece of cashmere wool on top !)
The third shelf has various cottons on the left, silks in the middle ( with some Japanese cottons on top ) and again proving my organisational skills are lacking pale fabrics of all sorts on the right .
The second bottom shelf has bags of remnants divided into small pieces and large pieces. There is a plastic tub and another bag of patchwork /crafty type material.
The bottom shelf holds my old sewing machine and over locker and the embroidery attachments for my Pfaff.

The rest of the wardrobe still has some of her clothes and bits and bobs she does not need so I have not been entirely awful in taking over the wardrobe :)

Work and helping my daughter move has taken up more time than I expected. SO far this year I have only sewn two garments ( my T shirt project was actually all completed in 2013). I have also made toile after toile for my youngest daughter to sew up some gorgeous ombre lace bought in Paris last year . I am so nervous to cut into this but we almost have the toile right - I am waiting for her to try on the latest version . I tell you trying to fit her simple top has almost made me want to give up sewing - except then I look at the above photo ! I have also made some home dec projects for my eldest DD and have just started on curtains as well - ugh.  I have four more projects to blog about - I would like this blog to be fairly complete sewing diary for me but I have just spent ages trying to get that above photo upright ! I think I may have learnt how to rotate photos so they stay rotated in blogger - fingers crossed.
Anyway Cheers Janine.

The T-Shirt Project -Part 3 . The Cross Your Heart KnipMode T .

KnipMode Feb 2012 - pattern  27.

This is by far the best of a bad bunch of photos . My photographer charges by the nanosecond so you have to be quick. But it is clear and does show off the style lines of the T shirt ( and my double chin ).
When I set out to replace my sad Tshirts  I wanted to try sew something different to what you can buy and to what I already have (  which are basically large and boxy and shapeless ) .
I also wanted to actually use some of my knipmode magazines rather than just look at them  so I found this pattern in the  February 2012 issue. It was actually a dress (jurk) pattern but certainly different to anything I have and a bit of a challenge as well .
In my stash I have some remainder of a mid blue soft , fine , drapey knit which is what this design needs . Anything too firm or beefy and the pleats and gathered cross over pieces would not work.

 This T shirt was a challenge though . I started this in late November and finished on about the last day of December last year . I procrastinated at different points and went and did some xmas pressie sewing ( aprons ) and then later the easiest thing in the world to sew , new short PJs , for my newly arrived back at home from 9 months OS eldest DD ) . I have previously used google translate with my first Knipmode make but it is sooo slooow and the translations do not always make sense anyway and this  make  seemed to have a lot of instructions. So I just sewed intuitively and it worked out . I have to say Knipmode has very clear fabric  layouts which was incredibly helpful and the patterns are much easier to  trace out than  Burda because they have fewer patterns per sheet and nice thick differently coloured lines  .

 
So I started  by making the pleats along the square neckline which are clearly  marked so you don`t need to read Dutch to work this out. Then I added the square facing as seen as above ( but I later overlocked over the wider horizontal part to even out the facing width. There was a rather um interesting discussion on Stitches and Seams about knit facings and also what stitches to use on knits . I have never used a facing on a knit top before but could not see what the alternative was with this unusual neckline. Anyway this all turned out well.

The next step was to gather the shaped cross over pieces , turn under the wide facings along the long edges ( after overlocking them )and attach them to the sides and armscyes . This was the point that confused me because I actually thought they might attach along the neck line but in the end I worked it out ( and actually got my xmas sewing done - so all`s well that ends well ). After this the sewing was easy. I attached the narrow binding strip to finish off the back neckline , sewed the back and front together , attached the sleeves and then sewed the sleeve and side seams in one go. However the neckline facing kept on flipping out as it is in their job description to do so I tempted fate and stitched them down using a lightning stitch. I used a slight zigzag for the  rest of the seams and overlocked  the edges because I find with time that straight stitches tend to break.

Despite my expression on the photo I am happy with the finished top . What can I say but this top is great for us ladies who get high marks in the bust department ( if you know what I mean ) and the gentle pleats in the front make it quite comfy.  Once I adjust the cross over pieces after putting on the T they generally stay put( they are only attached at the sides , not on the neckline) . They do not feel binding like the photo suggests. The sleeves are firm fitting but not uncomfortable because the knit is soft and stretchy. I did elevate the neckline by an inch but apart from shortening the pattern from a dress to a top I did not alter the pattern.

And thus concludes my T shirt Project for now. Ciao !

The T-Shirt Project - Part 2. The Cross Your Eyes T . New

New Look 6405.

 The second of the Ts as a result of the T Shirt Marathon Project .
New Look 6405 combined with what I call the hypnotist* fabric or the I am going cross eyed fabric.
I have wanted to sew this pattern for a while - obviously quite a  long while because this pattern is 10 years old ( and here I thought I was sewing up a modern pattern and being trendy for a change )
Whatever - I really like the result .

I used some poly knit from the opshop , a scrap of red ribbed knit and to tart it up a bit and use up some of my BABLE ( Button Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy )5 black buttons at the left neckline .
According to other reviews of this T shirt it is very close fitting and short so I went up one size and added 6 cm to the length after comparing the pattern pieces to my other Ts. Thankyou so much to people who do reviews of patterns otherwise I would have ended up with another fail .
I reckon the fit and length are just right . I like the little cap sleeves and high cross over style. It is a very easy project to sew as well.

Verdict- SUCCESS - complete. ( And I will definitely sew this pattern again ) .
(* I have an evil plan to wear this top   frequently thus hypnotizing my family into doing whatever , probably I will only end up tormenting them though. )

The T-Shirt Project - Part One . Burda Feb 2013.

One thing I really do need are T shirts - I have a sparse collection and all have stains or holes except one ( which is only about 15 years old ! )  so the situation was getting a little desperate hence the T shirt project  was born. And since I have fabric and patterns stashed I got the sewing machines buzzing .
I started with a popular pattern from Burda magazine  February 2013 - the gathered raglan sleeve top.
Fact- this is the only pattern I sewed in 2013 from a pattern dated 2013 !
Fact - I only bought one ready to wear top in 2013 - and it was exactly the same pattern as this , in blue !

This is a very easy pattern but I managed to muck it up by sewing the back of the sleeve to the front bodice piece . Simple  enough to unpick though.
I sewed a size 38 but it was too small through the abdomen area. I have sewed just shy of a dozen projects from Burda over the years and size 38 has always served me well so I think this pattern may run small. However it may also have been my fabric choice - a good quality cotton lycra knit but quite hefty so perhaps a lighter weight fabric would have worked better?? It did fit well around the arms and bust though  . I found the neckline gaped a bit even though I shortened the neck band as advised by others who have made this up. Finally I do not think the horizontal stripes are doing me any favours  .I did manage to match the stripes but in the completely opposite way !

Verdict - FAIL- sort of.  (  given to my eldest daughter who likes it , fits her better  and has worn it )

PS - The T-Shirt project also refers to a book called The Rosie Project - highly recommended if you want to read a laugh out loud book to cheer you up - it is also set in Melbourne- a little nostalgic bonus for me .

Simplicity 9915- A Trip Down Memory lane.

Standing in front of our new rammed earth wall in our straw bale/ rammed earth home !

My favourite project of the year has been this little white top.
I was given this white/ off white seersucker . I had 1.5 metres ( 1.6 yards )  but is was only 90 cm ( 35 inches ) wide . I initially wanted to make a top along the lines of Louise Cutting`s Ebb design. In my dreams ! I was really short of fabric . Then I tried Simplicity 5683 because I have made it twice before and it doesn`t take much fabric. Again I was way off the mark. I was getting a bit desperate now because I had also set my heart on using  these 4 vintage buttons which in my mind matched my vintage fabric perfectly  .
So it was quite fitting that I found this vintage pattern which matched my fabric allowance .

 Simplicity 9915 - It is dated 1981 and dusting off my memories this is the third pattern I ever sewed . And it is also the most made pattern I own ( apart from PJs ) . I love this pattern but it has been well and truly over a decade since I visited it. I think I have made it at least 8 times using all views in fabrics from pink butterflies, black and white gingham , coloured dotted swiss cotton , terracotta silk and taupe dots.
Once I made the little bow tie version in fabric that Princess Diana had a shirt from ( hers was black and white and mine was red but it was the exact same pattern ! )

photo courtesy  from Diana`s jewels website  - photo taken in 1983.

This is also my best sewn version of this particular view. According to the pattern description it has a funnel neck line and shoulder tucks and getting those right was tricky- the shoulder tucks are adjacent to the neck line . Apart from that the top is simple . The big difference this time ( apart from 20-30 years literally ! ) was thread tracing the shoulder tuck marks . This then allowed absolute sewing accuracy and everything came together really nicely . Because there has been a fair bit of chocolate , cakes and three children since my teenage years I also  did not add the waist darts ! The top has simple dropped shoulders and has just the right amount of ease.

A close up of the neckline, shoulder tucks  , fantastic textured seersucker and my vintage buttons. 

 This top will go with just about everything and since my favourite handsewn  white tunic has bitten the dust this is a much needed replacement . I have worn it several times already and my friend`s daughter commented that it was just like a burda style pattern she had recently downloaded .
Have a good day , Janine.

Butterick 4299 - More Remnant Stash Busting.

I told you that I really ran with the itty bitty remnant stash busting this year .
With only one ( holey ) windcheater and another ( even holier ) rugby top I really did need ( rather than my usual want ) a new windcheater.
I had a small piece of  french terry type fabric - only 80cm but very wide  - and a smaller  scrap of pale blue fleece fabric . Just enough to eek out my new windcheater. I used some piping type trim to cover the arm seams and make look like a ` design feature ` .

I used Butterick 4299 - a very OOP `Lifestyle Wardrobe ` pattern . As with all raglan sleeved garments this was a very easy sew. However I am not happy with the upper sleeves - they are quite voluminous . I have saved one of my daughter`s discarded raglan sleeved windcheater and one day ( those famous well intentioned words ) I will unpick this and compare the pattern pieces.
This is a very unexciting garment but I sew for  my real life and not my imagined life - so no pretty garden party dresses ( at least for now ) . This top has been worn heaps already.

I did sew some more itty bitty remnant stash busting projects but if you  get my drift I will not be posting photos. However I will say they are more comfortable than RTW and stay up ( a bonus !) . I will also say sewing un-die grun-dies are harder than they look .

This just about covers my remnant sewing for now . Cheers Janine.

Kwik Sew 2694 -Happy Families.

Continuing on from my small remnants stash buster I sewed another Kwik Sew 2694.

I love the grey and black print knit left over from making a totoro hat .What you don`t know what a totoro hat is ? Let me explain . On my eldest DD`s last day of school in 2012 she wanted to dress up as totoro - a Japanese anime comic  character . We needed dark grey fabric and the reverse side of this fabric was the closest we could find in the one and only fabric shop in town ( well I did have some dark grey/silver/ black shot dupioni look silk in my stash but I am not that nice a mother ) . So I only had 50cm of this minus all the hat pieces already cut out - that is not much fabric at all !
Hence Kwik Sew 2694 was about my best option . I combined the print with black bamboo knit ( I love this fabric too! ) remnant from Cleggs famous Boxing Day Remnants Sale . That event is a whole nother story as well - imagine scores of women three deep rumaging through a long table covered in 100s of remnants.  I lived to tell the tale and scored this beautiful knit - it is so soft . Once I pawed this I did not let go !
Truth be told I have probably overdone this pattern. This is now my fourth rendition .

Nuclear Happy Family of Kwik Sew 2694 

This pattern is still available and it is easy and a little more interesting than a plain Tee and it has certainly allowed me to make the most of remnants stash.
Here`s to happy healthy families.
PS I would love to show a photo of totoro daughter but she would probably kill me.

Tee for Two or Three ?

I have been informally sewing along with a group of ` Stashbusters `this year  . Each month was a different theme and February`s was using small pieces of fabric . I embraced this idea and ran with throughout February and then just kept on going .

I started with sewing two T shirts using four pieces of fabric that has been festering in my stash for years .

Using Simplicity 7692 - a very old basic T shirt pattern I slashed, cut and re- taped the pattern to recreate the above tops. 

Top one has an asymmetrical neckline with a matching asymmetrical two pieced front. I used three pieces of material to complete it - a small remnant of maple leaf print poly knit in the colours of navy, black, teal, violet  and  gray and matching teal mesh and navy cotton lycra . There was not much of the maple leaf print left and I absolutely loved it . I was determined to use it but it did take some thought on what to do . This project was certainly stretching my creative side and in the flush of success - yes I can do something a little different ! - I went and melted the top of the front while ironing it -duh . ( Oh well it was just going to be a wear around the house top anyway ) 

 Top two is a shameless knockoff of a vogue pattern released last year I think. Well it is just a variation of a simple T and for $25 plus for a vogue pattern  why not? I used a remnant knit of a blue/black/ gray/ white stripey soft knit  given to me from Mum and the remainder of the navy cotton lycra from Top one. Again there was not much of the stripey knit so some care was required.  I also took more care with the ironing !

This was a fun project. Using an old pattern and remnants ( the exception being the navy cotton lycra ) I had nothing to lose so I just kind of went for it . I ended up with two wearable tops from fabric too small to do anything else with. I would recommend others to have a go at this as well. 

And then as mentioned I kept on going with the remnant stashbusting . I sewed more short PJ bottoms for my middle daughter using material left over from her Kwiksew circle skirt. And then I made another Kwik Sew top from more remnants but that can be another blogpost for another day. 

Happy 80th Birthday Mum! -- New Look 6009 Top.

After doing a suck-up - I mean some sewing for  my MIL I needed to be fair and do the same for  my own Mum. She has just turned 80 years young and still sews most days - most of her own clothes and  patchwork and machine embroidered quilts. She can also do that thing with knitting where she knits really fast without even looking and doesn`t make a mistake - totally jealous and hate that but then again I am not a knitter so there.

Just when I was wondering what am I going to make Mum this year  I found 3.6 metres of Thai hand woven  silk in the op shop for $8.00!  In a background colour of mauvey, browny I don`t know what with blue and brown diamonds it was perfect . Talk about lucky - I just wish I could find that winning tattslotto ticket .

So I nicked - well borrowed - a pattern from my Mum`s stash - which is only fair really since it was for her ( and I promise I gave it back too - except I might nick it again to sew up for me ) -New Look 6009.
It is a simple drop shouldered top . The cute part of this pattern is the keyhole in the front with a loop of fabric above which gathers the  material into a sort of a bow look. The back is done up with one button / loop  .

It is a REALLY easy pattern - with only the front , back and facing pieces and a small rectangle for the loop.
The only tricky bit was because I used fabric with such an obvious pattern it just took a bit of  care to match the diamonds . I found some matching bias binding to finish the facings and a cool vintage button for the back from  my stash ( bummer that I only had one ) .

End result - one happy Mum who loves receiving ( and giving ) home made gifts. ( And the other best bit is that there is heaps of material left over for me .)

As Jen S said in her blog - yesterday was sewing group. One lady was doing a toile for a red lace dress for a wedding, someone else was sewing a self drafted dress , another was completing a chanel style jacket  impeccably  fitted mind you, another perfecting a toile for a shirt which already looked  well  perfect , another was making a lined coat , Jen cut out her houndstooth jacket and what was I sewing - a plastic fold up shopping bag - I am all class I tell you. Our new group is called From Tshirts to Couture - but perhaps it could be changed from plastic bags to couture :)  .

Cheers . Janine.

The Ultimate 61 Year Old Stash Bust.

Hello there . I have been debating do I , do I not ?  Not sewing of course but blogging. Without sewing I would probably be locked or hidden away in a small dark place( Ha Ha this probably describes my sewing room anyway ) . But then I read another blog about blogging for herself  , a kind of sewing diary and I thought exactly so.

I have been informally sewing along with other stash busters and this I believe must be the ultimate in stash busting. This fabric has been in a cupboard for 61 years ! Not mine , I`m not that  old  thanks ! I will make a long story short , my mother -in-law has a friend who apparently has a lot of fabric and was thinking about giving it away . Well in a nutshell she is not quite ready to let go ( yet - I still have hope ) but this led to my MIL telling me about the time she pleaded with her mother to buy her some fabric to sew when she was 17. Her mother did so with the promise she must actually sew it -hmm fast forward 61 years .

After a good and gentle ( and a lot of trepidation ) hand wash the fabric came up pretty well. There was one small stain and a few moth holes but pretty good for being a senior( heck I hope I am that good at 61 myself ) . My MIL wanted a kimono style  robe so I used New Look 6928 - a unisex pattern for sleepwear . I have made the robe once before - size Small and it is huge but very simple to construct  . I had just enough fabric - 3 1/2 metres at 90 cm wide. I managed to avoid the worst patch of moth holes but could not avoid the stain . There wasn`t even enough fabric left to make even one pocket. The fabric was lovely to sew with and ironed beautifully ( it wrinkled beautifully too ) . It was marked in one spot on the selvage  -Anglosheen -British fabrics- and I wish I knew more about it  .

Well my MIL is very pleased and says her mother will be looking down at her from Heaven happy as well. I should have offered to sew this up 20 years ago when I first started going out with her son ( not that I knew about the material until this year )because I think my approval rating has gone up a couple of notches  .

Cheers Janine.

PS I am soooo enjoying The Great British Sewing Bee. I don`t think the smile left my face the whole time watching it.

Knipmode - The $2.50 Op Shop Michael Kors Skirt

Michael Kors would be rolling around in his  NY penthouse suite or Monaco Yacht or where-ever he hangs out to think us sewists could make up one of his skirts for only $2.50 but isn`t that one of the reasons we sew ? 

Sewing this skirt ticks lots of boxes for me .

1.  I finally got to use of of my Knipmode magazines. This skirt pattern comes from the supplement to May 2012 `s edition. The supplement was only for skirt designs. 

2. I used an old stash fabric - this has been maturing for at least 6 years . It is a turquoise light weight linen . It was so easy to sew with and the colour alone made me feel good . And it was only $2.50 .  Luckily I still have a remnant leftover  .

3.I finally got to try out bound buttonholes and mitred hem corners . 

The skirt is unusual but simple in design - It has a slanted side on the left to  which is attached a long rectangle . Then buttons are added to this same side to create the unstructed pleats. 

    

My first bound buttonholes . The buttons are sewn on the inside of the skirt.

Knipmodes are dutch sewing magazines . For any Australian readers who are interested I bought mine from Crafty Mamas and as a bonus there is free postage .  I  started to use google translate but it is quite a slow process. I did a little research to find that like other pattern magazines there are no seam or hem allowances. 

After that I sewed the skirt by instinct because it really is a simple skirt. 

The steps I followed are -

1. stitch darts in the front and back. 

2. sewed up the back skirt pieces . 

3. added the zip. 

4. sewed the front and back skirt pieces together. 

5. sewed the front and back waist facing pieces together ( after interfacing them ) 

5. sewed this to the skirt then trimmed , snipped and understitched  the facing. 

6. added a bias binding trim to the waist facing and handstitched this to the zip area. 

7. measured out my rectangle piece needed and attached this to the skirt front and back. 

8. sewed the hems (  by hand except the mitred corners ) 

8. made bound buttonholes and attached the buttons.

  

Now why was this skirt only $2.50 ? 

Well the fabric was only $2.50 from the opshop and I only used about three quarters of it so say $1.70. 

The buttons were also from the op-shop - $0.50 and finally the zip  came from the op-shop as well  - they were three for one dollar so about $0.30 . ( I did try to buy a zip new but there were no zips that even came close to the colour of my skirt . I walked a few doors down to the oppie  and found a really close match and it was Australian made !) 

Finally channelling my inner Angelina Jolie ( and by inner I  mean really really inner. ) 

Cheers Janine. 

PS Jane I tried to find another photo of this skirt but all I have is  the photo from the magazine. 

Not Backwards about being Forward - Welcome 2013.

I have enjoyed reading everyone`s sewing reflections and their sewing hopes for 2013.
It seems that although we greatly differ in styles and productivity everyone seemed to enjoy their own sewing challenges and grew in the process. I do think the internet contributes to this a lot-we learn and are inspired by others .

New sewing project.

My sewing statistics were less in previous years because my sewing challenge was to slow down, enjoy the process more , do my personal best  and try new techniques . Therefore although I only sewed 13 items for myself in 2012 I am more than happy with this. I  do not need more clothes but I still want to sew.

Overall I sewed  27 items for the year - 14 for others - mostly my daughters but also my husband and mother-in-law. I sewed 11 new patterns a couple of which I then repeated later on. For my family the fabrics were purchased specifically for their projects   but for myself  I used all stash fabric so my stash is just a tad   smaller than last year - not that my sewing room looks any less cluttered  :)  .

My new challenges and techniques I accomplished this year were learning to confidently deal with chiffon ( If only this could extend to dogs and family and significant others !) , using flat fell seaming including on long sleeves, using french seams in armholes  and making changes to patterns to improve them or suit our needs more. I also finally got around to sewing that handbag pattern that had been glaring at me for probably 8 years. I did not blog about a few projects including a secret Xmas shirt for my husband - he initially thought it was a RTW one and  was very touched by his homemade present  ( which warmed the cockles of my heart ).

So now it is a new year and a new sewing challenge  -

yes that is my cutting table .

I have finally cut out my knipmode skirt - I bought three  magazines back in July 2012 and have been looking forward to attempting this pattern which is from the skirt supplement of the May edition . It is a Michael Kors design knockoff and I have taken a picture to show the  unusual shaped pieces. The above picture shows the skirt front at the  top and the skirt back pieces below. There are also the waist facing pieces and a long narrow rectangle ( which I have not cut out yet ) .
This project will be a challenge for me in several ways and so what better way to start a new year .
It will be a totally different fashion style to what I am used to , the magazine is written in dutch ( and now I know where  the term  It is all Double Dutch comes from ) and I am going to try bound buttonholes and possibly mitred corners. There now I have done it - it is written down in black and white and I can not back away. Wish me good luck.

I look forward to continuing to reading everyone`s sewing blogs in 2013 . I also look forward to hopefully a happy, healthy , safe , interesting and varied  year. Cheers Janine.

Kwik Sew 3637 A Circle Skirt and Farewell 2012.

I have managed to complete the final project for 2012 - a  little thrill that I can start 2013 all afresh . My middle daughter did not forget about the promised skirt she requested that I sew her. So ta da - here it is - in all its live modelled glory -yes my daughter agreed to have this photo taken ( after my youngest tricked her and took a photo anyway !)

I used Kwik Sew 3637 , a yoked circle skirt . The fabric is a Japanese cotton lawn from Spotlight - it actually has  a nice hand and is reminiscent of Liberty but without the accompanying $40/metre  price tag. ( I mean it is not as good as Liberty but still a really good substitute ) .Bonus my fabric was on special for only $7.99/metre and there were lots of patterns and colours to choose from   .

The skirt was really simple to sew -it only has two pieces - a yoke- cut out four times  and skirt piece- cut twice .     I did make a couple of  small  changes . I lined the skirt with dark blue cotton voile and surprisingly I found some navy blue ready made piping in my stash which added a nice little touch to the yoke. The only tricky bit of the skirt is the zipper and managing the lining and piping in this area . Also I overlocked the lower edge of the skirt and then made a narrow machine hem .   It does take alot of fabric  - size small uses 2.75 metres  but the resulting  softly cascading folds of fabric look lovely on her .

Well now I am truly ready to start sewing for me again - my pattern is traced  and fabric washed and ironed all ready to go for next year . To everyone have a  Happy New Year . Cheers Janine.

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.

For a few years now my youngest daughter has pointed out to me that her christmas stocking is somewhat smaller than her two older sisters and I have been able to ignore these mutterings. However as she gets older  it also gets harder for me to put this aside and so finally I decided to correct this injustice.
I bought a chrismassy panel from a local patchwork shop and then trawled my stash to complete the sack. I used some cheap and nasty  dark green and white spotty  patchwork fabric that I have had for at least 16 years for the back and some much nicer vintage red and cream gingham cotton  to line it  and I couldn`t believe it but I found that I already owned a suitable christmassy panel ! ( SewYears Resolution - shop my stash before buying anything else )
Then because it is the silly season I went to town decorating it - using all materials from my bits and bobs box - glitter paint, fluffy sparkly pom poms, gold iron-on motifs, `toy` buttons and charms , lone gilt buttons and little bells rescued from the necks of chocolate Easter bunnies.
Now I hope it doesn`t matter that  this is not a stocking and that this is now much larger than my other daugther`s stockings otherwise I will get to practice my diplomacy skills AGAIN .

With the completion of this ( downright quick and easy ) project my Christmas preparations are done. Presents have been bought, cooked ,sewn and wrapped. The Christmas cake has been baked ( and eaten !) , the tree has been decorated and my daughters are cooking the desserts we need to take for the day. Now I get to sit back and relax and hopefully get to read Anna Karenina and watch the Carols by Candlelight.

Hope you and your families  all have a safe and happy and healthy  Christmas.
I also want to thank everyone for their kind words and awards even during the year. It has made blogging even more fun and enjoyable.
Cheers Janine.

Burda 7372 - A Spotty Dotty Circle Dress.

Bonjour!  This is the second of my projects for my middle DD using some cotton voile from Spotlight ( actually quite alot of cotton voile - four metres !) . The dress has quite a slim fitting bodice which merges into a large waist and a  circle skirt  . It is has a small mandarin collar, decorative only pocket flaps, inseam pockets  and bias bound armholes.  I used size 12 which is for a bust of 93 cm and the finished garment is only 97 cm so you can see there is not much ease at that particular point. However the waist is huge and shaping is provided by elastic .

This pattern uses four metres or 4 3/8 yards of fabric because of the skirt portion which is  a gathered  circle skirt . If you sew this, take my advice and cut out the skirt portions first - I didn`t and almost didn`t have enough fabric . In the end my daughter wanted me to shorten the skirt by about 13 cms so I went through all that angst for nothing . The  other changes were that  I cut out two yokes so it could be lined. I realise that my old cotton shirts always fade first at my upper back which led to a  totally useless thought that perhaps that is the purpose of  lined yokes .
Also I eliminated the outer fabric  casing where  elastic joined  to a narrow  fabric tie is threaded . Instead I made a channel in the waist / bodice seam and inserted elastic in there before sewing on the front bands. My daughter didn`t want the fabric ties but instead will wear this with a belt .

 A close up of the bodice, flaps, lined yoke and bias bound  armholes.

So now my daughter can be all swirly and girly in her spotty dotty dress but unfortunately she just won`t do that for this blog !

Now I admit I am excited . You see I have not sewn anything pour moi in two months - I am going through serious selfish  sewing DTs so once I finish up some PJ pants for my eldest DD I will get going with a skirt which is just a little bit different to the usual. My middle DD also wanted me to sew her a skirt but I think I will just keep quiet for now and not remind her about that ;) .

Cheers Janine.

Kwik Sew 3854- Sailor Star Shorts

As I sit here safe and snug in my home I admit it doesn`t feel right to be writing something as trivial as a sewing post so I am sending all my wishes to those who are being affected by Hurricane Sandy that all will be safe but according to the live new reports it is certainly going to be a terrible event.

My middle daughter did not want to buy any new clothes this summer instead she wanted me to sew her a pair of shorts and a dress and I can now tick one off the list.
She wanted a vintage feel to her shorts and something a bit different. After a marathon trip to Spotlight and searching literally every pattern catalogue she chose Kwik Sew 3854  and navy blue twill printed with white stars .

Trying to live by my motto of RRR - Reduce, Recycle and Reuse we went through my stash and she found a remnant of soft cotton - maroon /navy houndstooth and six gold buttons from a previous 90s project ( when gold buttons were all the rage ).
I thought I was so clever to be able to cut out the side and back waist band pieces and pocket pieces as she wanted from the remnant . I thought I had been careful in tracing out all the pattern pieces but  it  seems my skills in counting are as good as my talents in trying to persuade my middle DD to model the shorts. I had not cut out the main pocket piece that is on show and I did not have enough fabric left to cut them. My daughter looked crestfallen and wanted me to start all over again. Luckily I had just enough fabric to cut bias strips to sew along the pocket opening edge  and she was happy with that - phew - I admit I can be a bit lazy in some ways.

The shorts open by the flap in the front unlike your usual pants.

As per usual the Kwik Sew instructions were excellent = clear and concise with good diagrams. They clearly explain about understitching and the correct procedure for trimming seams. The only things I did differently were to sew the side seams last to get in an extra fitting opportunity and finished the waist bands with some satin bias binding. I also managed to sew up the gap at the front flap/ inner pockets more than suggested because my daughter could easily get the shorts on .

Another inner shot .

Overall these are a cute pair of shorts and I would recommend this pattern . Another bonus is they don`t take much fabric at all so they were alot cheaper than buying any RTW pair. At the end of the day my daughter is happy she got the unique pair she wanted. Now hopefully she will like the dress to come.  Stay Safe . Cheers Janine.