Togs and a struggle (Noelle bralette)

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 same green. This allowed me to make the tie adjustable as I can't get my sister to try them on and she is taller and more broad than me.

Of course I have tried them on. They look great. The back fits so nicely. It's such a great pattern and so very quick. I didn't use the instructions as it's pretty easy. I cut lining too, just the same as the pattern, this is also from Pitt Trading and it's nice quality. Over all this was such a quick sew.. well till the last 30 cm.

I was attaching the step to the top and then the finishing fold over of the last side .. this is 3 layers of elastic, and 8 of lycra. My thread would not stop nesting underneath. I spent more time trying to do this last 30 cm than I did making the whole set. I looked online... rethread - tick, new needle - tick, larger needle - tick, different thread and woolly thread - tick, tick, I even got out my old computer Janome (such a nice machine.. just purrs along), but still it would not sew without nesting. It was going through those layers like butter, I hand cranked it, nope still nesting... I made contact with the Brisbane Spoolette's on the FB page (the only thing I use FB for) and got some great tips, but mostly I'd tried it. I gave it a rest for a couple of hours, mostly to stop me from giving up sewing for ever.. but I would not be beaten. I talked to my machine, and told it clearly that I would win so it should give up this power play but it still wouldn't work. I had to go out and when I got home, I rethreaded it again, changed another needle to a jersey needle (I used microtex needles before - 2 different sizes and stretch needles - 2 different sizes also) and the only other thing I did was just adjust the stitch length and width a smidge.. like a hairs breath... and it worked. Finally. It took about 5 minutes and it was finished. I was so pleased but just so tired. I think I spent hours doing this today. Thanks Spoolette's for the tips and the will to go on. Arrggh.

I have some other sewing I want to do for Christmas. I bought a beautiful hide of leather to make some zip purses and hopefully I'll be able to show you those next. I haven't made any zip purses/pouches before but I've made a wedding dress, how hard could a zip purse be? Will I even get them done in time? Are you making things for Christmas gifts?

Paris, river cruise 2022 - photo bomb!

(this post has been in my drafts since July 2022 due to life circumstances. I'm just going to write just a little and then just show some photos) My friend worked on a Superyacht for many years and through this connection was offered a friends and family deal on a river cruise in Europe. It was a deal too good to miss even though it wouldn't have been a first choice for me for a holiday. She had done this trip before but during the winter taking in the Christmas markets. We were going in June 2022. We decided to have 5 nights in Paris (where I'd been 5 times before) and 2 nights in Amsterdam where my friend lived for 2 years in her youth. We flew into Frankfurt... not because we wanted to but because these were the only flights we could get but we worked with it. Remember great deal! So ok, a short (5hr), fast ride on the ICE/TGV trains got us to Paris eventually (one was late which missed the connection to the earlier TGV but there was one a bit after). We knew that w

YFASMA - Fabric shopping in Athens

I promised this post in March! Fabrics from Euro1 per metre! I didn't buy anything in this shop but there was some lovely fabrics. I did buy the green and pink one above on the right. A satin finish rayon. It is lovely. There was a lot of lovely fabrics in this shop. It wasn't cheap Euro 8 p.m. but I didn't have a lot of room in my bag and I wanted something I would really love. I also didn't buy anything in Paris this time. I did buy the fabric for a table cloth just across the way from this shop. I also bought some orange/white weave linen fabric for Euro 4 p.m. at another shop, which I think I'll make some summer trousers with. As I was going to the airport, I saw this dress on the platform and I really liked it. Very easy to do too, I went to the Benaki Museum while in Athens. There is actually 2 locations. In this one I saw lots of Greek and Cypriot cultural crafts. This was a bridal bed in Crete. There was lots of clothing, embroidery and gold jewellery.

The saddest dress, then a few more.

Well hello. It's been a while. It was 8 months from the last post to the previous one to that and it's a bit longer this time. The last day I wrote was 10 Jul 2021. On 12 July my son and I were finally seeing Tim Minchin after booking it before we went to Europe at the end of 2019. It was going to be April 2020, but changed a few times and although it was a school night (year 12 for Alex) we went for dinner and sat in the show. My Mum had gone to hospital that morning and my sister was still at the hospital with her. Just after interval I got a message on my phone, "get to the hospital now". So we raced out and to the hospital where. although it was a lockdown and no visitors allowed, all 10 of us were allowed to see Mum as she was end of life. I won't go into the whole thing but Mum didn't die that night, but because of lockdown, we were not allowed to go and see her until a week and a half later when we were allowed just to discuss palliative care. By the n

Sew Darn Tired

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