Sew Darn Tired

Merry Christmas readers! I hope the day was full of fun, family, friends and peace. This was my most organised and relaxed Christmas ever. (if we ignore the trouble with the machine for the togs - see last post). I had all the house cleaning, food prep done, gifts made, gifts wrapped and even finished a gift on Christmas morning waiting for my son to come home from his Dad's where he spends Christmas Eve and morning. This is from a dinner I had with an aqua aerobics friend. She was skipping her husband's work Christmas party which is in the heavy machinery industry so she thought a girly catch up was fitting instead.  I wore my Simplicity off shoulder dress in Southbank with the lovely lights and fantastic weather. I've since washed this dress and it's shortened up a bit (natural fibres usually shrink up not across - of the the not so many things I remember from fabric studies in the '90's). I knew this so didn't make it any shorter. I'm hoping the...

These are togs I've made for my sister for Christmas. This is the McCall's 7417 pants. I cut the panels not to match on purpose so that you can see the panelling. I like it. I wish I had some green or black lycra to make some 'piping' so the panels were more pronounced but I'm not too worried. I made the front and the back and then cut the lining pieces off the made up front and back and fully lined them. Isn't the lycra pretty. It's from Pitt Trading and it was only $5 per metre. It feels pretty old but it still is fine and I couldn't resist it. It's slightly goldish and I really like it.  I've got more and another nice black one that for a bit of a laugh... show you that when I get time to make it. This is the top and it's the Noelle bra pattern from Madalynne . It's FREE too. I cut a large and made the band half the width and put some elastic in as well.  Note the green hardware... harvested from an old pair of togs in the...

I don't often get obsessed by clothes but I saw this skirt  and I really love the simplicity. Then I remembered some purple gingham I bought at the op shop a few years ago. It's a beautiful polished cotton with such a nice hand and drape almost like a rayon. I have cut view D which is on the bias and have cut long (will be pieced together) ties. I was playing pattern tetras with this because the fabric was a 1.5 mt square but the pattern suggests 2.1 metres so I have cut the front overlay and the back piece whole, and the under wrap part will be pieced. The other problem with this fabric was it was stretched on one side... so I lay it flat on the floor for a week and kept pulling and stretching it back. I wasn't perfect but not as bad as it was. Did you notice how much for that simple skirt... US$301 and sold out! I'll need a top and I have a cut of beautiful cream crepe (remnant from the designer fabric sale $1) that I will make something up - not sure what tho...

So I've made another Simplicity 8296 but in a dress. I made view E sleeves with length of B probably but I just used the length of 2 remnants from Spotlight.  I think this is the first time in simply eons that I have made something in the current fashion, in current fashion fabric! Here's the back... bad iPhone photo. I made a size 10 at the shoulders and armholes and then graded it out to the 18 at the hips. I could probably go to the 12 or 14 really... it's a bit swishy. I could also use a sway back adjustment too. Bit of a daggy length though. I may take it up a smidge. I also like that this pattern has a bust dart but I make it a little shorter. I have the McCall's that's pretty much the same but no bust dart and no flat panel on the front. Plus it's a much narrower fit so this one is better for my shape. I probably wouldn't have bought this fabric if I'd seen it on a roll for $16 per metre, but as a cheap remnant I'm happier to tes...