Giving and Receiving Handmade Style

As another Christmas Day draws to a close, I'd like to wish you all the very best for this Festive and Holiday season. I was thrilled to receive this Handmade crocheted rug from my lovely sister in law, Kim .... I've often admired hers, the colour combinations are just lovely ... thanks so much Kim!!!

 Over the past 2 weeks, I've made 16 pairs of Boxer shorts and 25 Screen Printed Tote Bags for gifts ....

 Mostly for the blokes .....

 But some for girls ....

 Also made a couple of iPad covers, the first time I've used these great little Twist Locks ....

 I used the Photo Emulsion screens I made at my recent TAFE course for these bags ...

And finally, one of my paintings for mum - she loved it!!!

And after a big big lunch, I now need a little lie down.

Vogue 1220 and our Soiree

Here is Vogue 1220 - A Donna Karan design in Martin & Savage's KUDOS fabric - 55% Linen, 28% Polyester, 15% Viscose and 2 % Spandex. - hope you're impressed with all that accuracy!

I made a straight Size 12. The fabric estimate requires 2.6m of 150cm wide fabric - I only had 2.25metres of 130cm wide fabric - so I squeezed every last drop out of this  - and I had to cut the belt short and put a join in, and I also had to put a join in the placket. I didn't cut the bias strip for the back neckline raw edge - I just used some satin bias binding. I fused interfacing to the hem facings - glad I did - provides far better structure. I raised the placket positioning about 5 cm higher than suggested so that the neckline wasn't too deep. I also interfaced the inside facing to support the buttons, and I think I should have also interfaced the whole front facing section and also slip stitched it in place as I found it popping out every now and again - I can still do that.

Great design, interesting lines and shape - shame my fabric creased so much - but that's linen! or should I say 55% linen!

Here are a few snaps of our Handmade Sewing Studio's End of Year Celebration at Cozzies Cafe Swansea - lovely night - some raffles and tissue pattern flower decorations .... thanks everyone for coming - fantastic company and great food!

Home Sewn Gifts for Baby

 Sally & Smith Puppies - Pattern by Ric Rac as seen previously

 and a great little travel change mat from Nicole Mallalieu ....

 For this one I used thick towelling ...

 And this one, quilted calico ...

Welcome to the world Chloe and Emmerson!!!

Kwik Sew 3854 Shorts View B and Screen Printing

I've blogged about these shorts previously. I've added about 14cm to the length ...... to best suit my needs!!

They have a nice wide waistband piece that fits nicely. Size: Medium.

My dog thinks the remote is a treat.....

Fabric: a brushed drill - purchased locally - cheap enough to try out these shorts  - but the ghosting isn't great!
Great pattern - fabulous instructions - just a couple of suggestions .....when they suggest to understitch the waistband pieces - start and stop 2cm from the ends - so that the corners turn nicely. The pockets are a little shallow - but they are deep enough for my needs (dog treats and remotes).

No, I didn't make my T Shirt - but I did screen print the little design on it. I just finished a 3 week "Screen Printing on T Shirts" course at Newcastle TAFE. It was a great course - 3 hours on Saturday mornings. We started with Paper Cut stencils - I paper cut this little fellow, then we did some photo emulsion designs. We learnt to make our own silk screen frames, and lots of other printing related ideas. So much fun!

The teacher's sample. 2nd colour applied with a transparency stencil.

The "proper" design students will be selling their designs at Newcastle's next Art Bazaar.

My collage for transferring to a photo emulsion screen - my aim was for detail!!!!

My photo emulsion screen.

The exposure machine for photo emulsion screens.

And finally a few pics ...

Me and Mum

A cheeky galah checking out my photo shoot. As I write this blog I've been listening to Dig Internet Radio - such great music - love it!!

Bye!!!

Colette's Peony Dress .... when you're in a hurry

Hindsight .. always a good thing! Well, I should have toiled this one first - live and learn!! It's Christmas Party season so to kick start the season of good will and peace, I made this Colette Peony Dress.

I realise that I don't quite make the Colette demographic, but I am smitten with their designs, and I thought this was a sweet little dress.

Fabric: A stretch cotton sateen from The Remnant Warehouse, Sydney - purchased on the recent PR Weekend. Lovely to work with and lovely to wear!
Size: Well, the photo below shows where my measurements landed on their size chart - very interesting as you'll soon see. So I went for the Size 10.

General Notes:
We're all familiar with Multi Sized Patterns - they have their advantages and disadvantages, but I must say, that it can become mighty difficult to follow your size line at times (amongst a total of 10 sizes!) - this of course is not limited to just Colette Patterns - but probably worth mentioning.

I would also like to see Colette add Metric units to their patterns - their lovely new book has both imperial and metric - so that's great! Sewing instructions were very good, beautiful in fact - great diagrams and everything is clearly described - with lots of links for more information, eg. putting in an invisible zip. I added black satin piping to the neckline and the belt. What's better than pre made bias binding? Well, pre made satin piping!

I used my new Piping Foot to attach the piping - very easy - just position the piping under the groove in the foot and move your needle position - too easy!

So, back to the fit ... yes, I should have made a toile, but when one is in hurry ..... ok, so here I'm at the stage of putting in the zip, up to this point, I had been quickly sizing the finished front bodice on me - looked OK .... on the dummy.... uh oh ..... I had heaps and heaps of fabric on the CB to take in ... of course I should have considered this before the sleeves went in .... but I didn't so I just cut off the excess from the CB seam and inserted the invisible zip. This in turn distorted the boat neckline. So now it doesn't sit very well. The interesting bit is that the front bodice looks a tad small in the following photos ... so if I'd have gone up a size - the back would have been huge. Now, go back to that measurement chart - my bust and waist was smaller than the 10 - very interesting. I'm not sure if I'll make this again - probably not - I mean, it's sweet, but I have other fish to fry if you know what I mean.....

About 8cm had to be trimmed off the CB seam.

Anyway, so here I am at Christmas Party No 1.

I just realised that not only did I not toile this, but I didn't even look up PR for any reviews ..... I love it when I learn things!!  Happy Sunday everyone!