Sew Darn Tired

Before I get to the Mandy Boat tee, this is how much thread was left when I finished my Burda top hemming with the twin needle (which I just realised I haven't photographed... tomorrow). I put all my used thread spools in this little basket and it builds up very quickly surprisingly. I have another one with spools that have maybe 30 - 60 cm each which I keep for any hand sewing I might do - you know buttons etc.  I decided to make the Mandy Boat tee from Tessuti. I must be the last person on the sewing planet to make this. It is also my first PDF pattern... not my first download as I have downloaded many free patterns but never felt the need to actually make one till now. Laziness is the main factor but now that I have done it I think, if there aren't too many tiles it is now an option for me. This is a remnant from the designer fabric sale last year. When I was sewing the neckline with the twin needle and I was too lazy  too lazy to use the steam a seam so I p...

Last weekend we went to the  Medieval Festival at The Abbey on the Bribie Island Road  just 40 minutes out of Brisbane. This is the first year I have had my son on the weekend that it was on so we went on the Saturday. (it is on for two days for the public). It is such a great day/weekend. There are set ups from different eras by devotees - I think these devotees stay a few days or a week there and set up a living arrangement like it would be in their particular era. There are living quarters, cooking quarters for the re-enactment people and display tents for the public - this is for selling items and also for highlighting their skills and artefacts. A few things I really, really appreciated was that this was a very inclusive festival. When my son was young I took him to the many mini train displays, and like many youngsters he wanted to touch and play with them. Now I know there is a lot of time and cost involved with these displays, and it is mostly older men who put t...

No I haven't made jeans yet but am planning some. I have some new CK ones I bought at the second hand shop and they are a pretty good fit, and perfect fit for the budget which was $10! They are the only 'nice' pair that I have i.e. decent to wear out so I need more pants/jeans for sure. I know that many people mix patterns and put the curved waistbands from other patterns to straight waistband pants patterns. My question is, do you do anything else to the pants to make the curved waistband fit the straight edge pants? I hope to make Simplicity 1918. It has a curved waistband but I was thinking if I made some jeans (I have a Vogue jeans pattern I want to use) but I'm not sure if it has a curved or straight waistband, so I'd like to use this one as it was a good fit. I'm planning to use some red cotton drill fabric I got from the designer fabric sale about 20 years ago. It is lovely and soft, no stretch and was $4 for the piece.  Below is the curved wais...

Get yourself a cup of tea, this is a long post. Lots of stuff to show and talk about. Firstly, here's a picture of my shower cap... my niece's flew to Toyko this morning (well in her bag anyway). Mine has been tested and it works a treat... it could go a bit larger as I have what's commonly known as a pin head so it probably won't be big enough for anyone else. Rosi  mentioned the proliferation of selfless sewing here and I'm going to show you some more. This tunic below I started for my Mum about 18 months ago and for some reason the overlocker wanted to eat the very light and slippery fabric in the first 5 cm so I got the *$&% and put it away. Then worked out (eventually) it was the needles that needed replacing and did that but never finished the top as it had scared me. This was a remnant from Spotlight and I bought it for Mum as I don't wear animal or browns. I made the small from memory and I tried it on and it looks nice on. It will be nice w...

My niece is back from travelling in the U.S. She's still working for Empire (show my niece stage manages - go to the end of the post for the video)  and their show finished in Melbourne in May and starts in Tokyo in a few days. She had time for a long trip through the U.S. and so she did. She had to come back to get her Japanese visa so I had the offer of her bringing me sewing stuff (as baggage allowance is 2 x 32kg - ex travel agent knowledge) and she wasn't going to fill it. I looked for some polartec and bra making stuff (should have got that but delayed too long) and then just decided it wasn't worth it as I don't have room and don't desperately need anything. Anyway, she asked me to make her a yoga mat carry bag and she popped round today. With stash fabric I whipped up a yoga bag just measuring the length and circumference of the rolled up mat. I put elastic on the top as I find drawstrings annoying and it wasn't going to fall out. She was very specif...

I made a quick project on Saturday night for my visiting friend's daughter. She is three but VERY tall (nearly as tall as her 61/2 year old brother). She's a beautiful girl in nature and appearance. I had bought this remnant piece from Spotlight a few weeks ago thinking it would come in handy. It was also conveniently on the floor as per the last post (I was trying to see how I could incorporate it into my fleece as a pocket or feature but rightly decided it would be too twee so didn't). I didn't have enough width for  a real fleece shape so went with this bolero jacket on this thrift shop score. I lengthened the front and back pieces by about 3 cm (all that I could with the width) and made the size 8 - remember I said she was tall.. I wasn't kidding. I lengthened the sleeves straight down following the lines from the sleeve seams but I should have widened them a little - they are a bit snug at the ends and a little long but with a smidge extra width and lengt...

It is school holidays here till the end of this week. Last week on Wednesday, my son woke up and asked me to make a very specific piece.  Son - "Mum, can you make me a cape. no not a cape, a cloak? Today?"   Me - "Of course. Like with a  hood?" Son - "Yes, it needs a hood, but no buttons or things to close it in the front - just whole. Oh, it needs to be red and it needs to have a lot of drape." What???? Drape? Did I hear my son correctly? Now, I just want to point out, my son is like any other boy/man when it comes to fabric and fabric shops - boring, do I have to go etc, etc, etc. I have never said drape to my son.. maybe he heard me but I don't get to talk sewing in front of him very often but I was very pleased and impressed that he knew what he wanted and how he wanted it to behave. Off to Trad's to pick up some cheap fabric hopefully in his vision colour! Yay for Trad's perfect fabric at $4.95 per metre - we took 3. (w...