Floating with cocktails and other adventures.

Hi! Long time no see. I'm going backwards here with unblogged items. I'm starting with a pencil case I made for my son at the beginning of the year. Pencil cases are pretty expensive and really *r@p. I used some zips I had in stock (ha ha , I feel like I have "stock") and some great 'fabric' I picked up in Spotlight . It's kind of net over some plastic. It was on sale for $8 per metre and then half price for $4. There was also a hot pink one too, but when I took them to the counter they didn't want to give me the pink one for the half price so I left it because they didn't say before cutting that it wasn't on sale. Anyway, I had to go back later for something I forgot and it was in the remnant bin so in the end I got it for $2.50. I bought it to make some shopping bags .. still unmade min you. Anyway my son really liked the pencil case but after 1 day it had scribble on it and the tab on the zip was missing!?? I'm going to harvest that metal zip when the pencil case dies.

Next up I made some togs. Same fabric as the 2 piece I made for my sister. I could not find my Speedos. I had been down the beach and though they must have dropped out of the car, so I wrote them off. I had to go to aqua so I whipped these up quickly and didn't line them. I used up the last of my rubber elastic and used some other elastic for the legs.

These photos were taken a couple of weeks after making. They are already in the bin. The fabric is really bad quality and it was very old lycra I suspect. It was on sale at Pitt Trading, but I'd expect it to last longer. They stretched out after 2 wears (and that's only 2 hours of pool work) and by 8-10 wears max they were history. It is disappointing as I still spent the same time making them.

See above.. the original colour is on the right. The green faded terribly..... it's such a shame. Which leads me to the next pair of togs and my title... My aqua teacher is a bit of a tyrant (in a fun way) and at times says you can pick your own exercise, which leads me to say "floating with cocktails". Now she says pick your own exercise and looks at me and says "and floating isn't an option!". When I bought the above fabric, I also bought the fabric below.

It is as vibrant as it looks and it's so fun! I LOVE the print and now I can float with cocktails!

I lined these with lining fabric I bought at Pitt Trading and it's quite nice... soft and very comfy. The other fabric... gorgeous but NOT lycra although it was marked as lycra and suitable for swimwear. It's very thin. It's not 4 way stretch but only 2 way and it is NOT lycra. I'm pretty annoyed about that. Unfortunately I made some changes to the pattern like shortening the straps and narrowing the upper bust area by a smidge. These changes along with the lack of stretch, makes me a contortionist getting into and out of them. I'm disappointed. I won't be buying any more fabric from Pitt Trading or lycra online. I have a little left (I only bought 1 metre) so I may make another pair or a rashie. I've got plenty of other lycra in plain colours so I'll make something else but I have so many things to make it's a shame togs have to come to the top again.

I have two dresses I haven't had time to photograph and another 2 dresses I'm half done with. Plus I have a ripstop basic rain jacket I'm cutting out. Anyone got any tips for sewing with ripstop? I'm thinking of getting some seam sealer but not sure what. I'm not making a serious rain jacket but like a spray jacket that's light to keep in the backpack I use when I walk to the ferry to get to work in the morning. Back soon with more dresses and a few photos from the Brisbane Spoolette's High Tea.

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

Search This Blog