Sew Darn Tired

NYE's dress DONE! I started at 3pm after I had to meet my cousin's wife at Spotlight to get back the pattern I had loaned her. By the time we caught up and got the fabric and I came home, had some lunch, I didn't start cutting until 3pm. I made a swayback adjustment (pinched in up about 2cm - very exact - not!) and chose the length I wanted. Got out my oldest scissors and started chopping - then they snapped. I think I bought these for $13 (back when I was making $80 per week!) at Coles. They were not very good but perfect for this. When they broke I got out my "dressmakers scissors" from a scissors pack - again so, so cheap I wouldn't care about blunting them. Sewed it up, couldn't find my steam a seam so had to make a facing out of the plain edge on the selvage. Washed up half way and ta-da! Red sparkly number finished at 4.28pm! It is not so tomato red but a blue based red is probably still big in the shoulders but I cut a 10. The fa...

I don't like Christmas cake or plum pudding or most things with lots of dried fruit mix. So instead of having any of these 'traditional' treats I make German Stollen instead. My former house neighbour is German and many years ago she was making Stollen at Christmas - I tasted it and was sold. I have made it every year since.  Another friend is German and she moved to Australia from New Zealand last October. Last year we doubled the recipe (so made 2 kg flour mix) but this year we tripled it!!  The recipe normally makes two stollen but my half of the mix made 16 small ones. This is about 12cm long by about 6 cm wide. A nice homemade Christmas thought wrapped in cellophane and tied with tinsel. Just realised the photos of the Stollen is on the desktop not the laptop so will give you photos of our Christmas.  We had it at one of my sister's house (I have 4 sisters) and it was decorated with silver and purple. We don't have table decorations or beau...

Before the end of the year I thought I'd better post some things I have made and just never got to photograph. Bear in mind these are probably of the worst photos on the blogoverse but the best I can manage before the end of the year. This is the Simplicity 9083 from 1984. I bought this pattern from a church jumble sale and I didn't make it up before because I thought the straight skirt wouldn't suit me but I LOVE this dress! It looks great on, is so easy to wear and I have had many, many unsolicited compliments! I will adjust the pattern some more and make this again. The fabric was $4 per metre from Spotlight earlier in the year and is very light cotton jersey. The pattern is a size 14 and has only one clever piece cut twice (it is the same cross over on the back)so I need to work out how to adjust the top better yet again. I did finish it in time and wore it to Simple Minds playing at A Day on the Green with Devo, the church and the Models. This is at the end o...

Santa being reminded to buckle up by the Victorian Police. Image from  here. Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you enjoy the break, with family and friends and I wish you all a safe and prosperous 2013.

A while ago I wrote  this post  asking if anyone had used Lekala patterns and what they thought. There were some fantastic patterns there and I'd like to try one in the future. I had a lot of comments (good and bad) but the most interesting were the comments from Natalia. Making a presumption from the comments made,  Natalia works for Lekala and gave some good information and also said she would pass all the comments on to the designers! I think this is fabulous! It shows they are interested in what the sewing public think of their patterns and how they use them and if they have any problems. Based on this alone I will use one of their patterns at some point even though I hate printing and sticking patterns together. It is interesting that the patterns are printed to your measurements and that is the best part - if they work for you.

I have been distracted by Christmas sewing instead of finishing the stripy dress in the last post but more on that later. I have just worked out I can put my SD card straight into my MacBook Pro so lots of photos!! In September school holidays my beautiful boy and I went to Toowoomba just at the end of the Carnival of Flowers. Toowoomba is a two hour drive from Brisbane and it is a lovely city on the top of a mountain. It was just a couple of days but really fun. Alexander's breakfast Alexander eating my breakfast! Some of the beautiful flowers (nice smoker in the background!). Sewing room mess in process of being sorted! (random photo drop!) This is the Motorcycle Museum on the way to Toowoomba. For motorcycle enthusiasts - there are A LOT of fantastic, rare, special and weird bikes here all privately owned!   Now to the dress I started about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Pattern reminder. So I stalled as the fabric is quite thin I decided to buy some S...

I'm finished.... uni that is.. until March next year! Phew what a semester. I also had two court dates in the last 10 days (I'm self litigating a property settlement) so I am exhausted but for now I'm free!! So this is just a tempter as I said as it is nearly midnight and I'm beat. I started a 5km running programmme... this means I do it on my treadmill (I bought a cheap one a few months ago but haven't really used it much). This is from a programme that Fehr Trade mentioned on her blog a few months (weeks??) ago. Anyway I'm not making any claims about wanting to do a marathon next year or anything ('cause I don't want to) I just want to get my fitness from where it is (passable) to much better. I like swimming so I have a pair of training togs (swimmers) ready to be cut out so I can start swimming again soon.  Bought at a Thrift shop for $1 recently But before I can do that I had to make my son a pair of boy leg togs today. It is the big schoo...

To our U.S. friends being battered right now... I hope Sandy is kind and you are all safe. Good luck. Kookaburra (on right) Here, when you hear the kookaburra call you know it's going to rain.

Has anyone used Lekala patterns? There are some seriously great designs there and they are so cheap and they fit to your own size. I mean look at those dresses... I love that one with the folds and that top jacket is just dreamy. The coat at the bottom - just simple clean lines. I'd love to hear if anyone other than Tanit Isis Sews  has made any I'd love to hear how it went. Oh... I have my last lecture and tutorial for this year tomorrow and in two weeks my first (of four) exams... but on the 13 November at 7.30pm I am finished for this year!(But who's counting??)

As the Hunters and Collectors song goes "Do you see what I see???" I saw this ad in Gumtree and immediately emailed the seller... all these patterns for $10 - that wasn't what thrilled me (even though some are nice - but I mean really I don't need to get any more patterns - not that it stopped me buying some the other day..oops!). No, what thrilled me was the Very Easy Vogue pattern in the bottom left corner.... a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress pattern! The anticipation was almost too much - the woman emailed be back... she'd had no response from the Gumtree ad and so she took took them to the salvos!!! Like I said - DAMN!!

  I made a pair of running shorts! Ha that's a joke.. I don't run..YET! I made these about 5 months ago from an old pattern (I can't find it at the moment tho). It's a one piece pattern and I didn't hold much hope for it really but it fits really well. I added about 5cm to the length as the pattern was short (too short for my legs). This was a piece of wicking fabric I bought for a dollar off a remnant table. It was the exact size for these shorts. I used my overlocker and a twin needle for the hems and waist and I used contrasting pink thread.  I also made a little pocket for the front of the waist. This helps me know which is front and back and also, if I ever run outside I can put my key in there. I bought a treadmill recently - just a cheap one from Aldi that was only $300. A (tall)friend suggested making sure it is long enough but I'm pretty short and it 'fits' me well. Now as I can't get out to walk because I can't leave my son ...

  These are some rtw jeans that my son had. The khaki ones fit him like a glove.. the others...look like *rap! The length of that crotch was big enough nearly for me! I find that a lot with pants for boys... anyway we'd had these in the wardrobe, along with two other pairs of pants (pull on ones) with the same problem so i decided I'd tackle them... this is about 2 months ago actually, but just noticed the photos again. So I cut the pants to the same shape as the khaki and voila! Three 'new' pairs of pants and no trip to the shop. Sometimes I just figure, by the time you get into the car, drive 20 mins to the shops, get a park...you get the picture, it's just as easy to adjust (in this case) or make something from scratch yourself! Notice how the foot tips back due to the thickness of the fabric With a small spacer it raises the foot, making it easier to move forward I also thought I'd share a little tip I learned in fashion design college (anothe...

Hmm.. that mirror was embarrassing so it was cleaned as soon as I saw the photos. It wasn't noticeable in real life! Notice it's at about 8 year old boy height! So this is a ruffle skirt I made about 6 weeks ago. I got the fabric at the fabric sale I talk about for $8 per metre. It was the only colour. If you hold the fabric up one way; it was just like normal ruffle fabric... nice straight ruffles going across, but if you turned it the other way,the little catches in the knitting made the ruffles scallop and I thought it looked interesting so cut the skirt this way. The skirt is really comfortable and goes with a black merino wool knit top I bought at the fabric sale last year for $5 and the little cotton/linen jacket in the photos is from this years sale for $10. You can't see it in the photos but it has buttons down the centre back - a cute feature. I cut the skirt in a way that made a little fish tail at the back and you can also wear it to the side an...

I made  half made this jacket about 20 years ago... wow I can't believe it is that long ago but it is! This was my first and only attempt at welt pockets of any kind.... and with at zip!! I impress myself. (maybe only me!)And how is that zip insertion?? Again I impress myself... This was not at a time when I had any guidance, technical assistance (from books or teacher or anything) bar the pattern instructions ...and there was not a thought in my head that I should do practice welts. Never would have occurred to me until I read it in a blog. So obvious when you read it! I know they are not great but I am pleased with them and the zip. This is a Kwik Sew pattern that I still have and will try to finish this jacket in the long summer holidays for my Mum when she walks.  The fabric colour is most like the top photo. It is completely water proof and I got it for less than a song at the fabric sale I go to about once a year.I've got more things I need to co...