A Joint Effort

Inspired by the recent sewing efforts of Colette's daughters, I decided to get my daughter into a little project .... it ended up a joint effort - we made a sweet little drawstring dress to wear over swimmers up to the beach .... I drafted the pattern - front and back the same - and just traced a similar style dress she already had .....
I really like this Bernina clear foot - #34 - it's great for beginners to see exactly where they are sewing and they can use the middle red line to line up where to stitch - in this case I wanted her to sew along the top part of the overlocking ...
I attached some Satin Bias Binding around the armhole edges ....
We used some Cotton Herringbone Ribbon / Tape to thread through the casing at the top which then becomes the ties at the shoulders.
Fabric from the stash - Spotlight I think. Cool and happy - she was really impressed with how quickly this came together - about an hour all up - yes, a joint effort! Thanks Colette for the inspiration!
Now, recently my own motivation was definitely waning. I don't know why .... I'm on holidays .... nowhere to be .... nothing awaiting a deadline .... all the time in the world and a thousand projects just waiting to get off the ground. Yet I slumped into a pathetic and miserable nothingness - I was even watching Dr Phil and Judge Judy ...... eek!

Anyway, hopefully I've turned the corner and having done some sewing with Sweet Pea, I whipped up a little dress for moi! Firstly, as I was using a knit fabric, I wound some woolly nylon onto my bobbin. I learnt about this doing a workshop with Pam Kerr as part of the Australian Sewing Guild - are you a member? It's really worth looking into - the Guild is a treasure trove of knowledge and skills .... Anyway, the woolly nylon needs a little help to ensure that you don't wind it too tightly - you simply hold it in between the tension guides - you just manually adjust the tension - not really loose just not super tight ....
This is woolly nylon ....
Another thing I recently learnt about at the Palmer Pletsch Workshop I did was an overlocking thread by Mettler called Metrolene - it's super fine - just lovely - not bulky - you can hardly see it on your seam edges - but is still easy enough to thread and handle.

So, back to the dress. I made up another BWOF 04/08 116 Dress - this time I decreased the length of the front V neckline, as shown below - the red asterisk is where the new point is for end of the CF gathering, you can see the old asterisk in pencil. I also took out a small dart since I was gathering up a much larger piece.
I used this lovely fabric from Marting & Savage 94% Poly 6% Spandex.
And here it is, pictured at Bondi Beach (well, at the front car park). We went to Sydney to see Circus Oz - it was excellent - highly recommend it! As well, did you know CityRail has a Sunday special for families? Each member can travel all day for $2.50 each - bus, train and ferry - I think the area allowed is from Wollongong to the Hunter Valley - bargain!

I'm happy with the neckline alteration - this is a great dress. The last time I made this dress I forgot about the armhole binding piece and simply attached the sleeve and then did the underarm seam and side seam as one ... this time I made a point of putting in the sleeve as instructed - but no way! The sleeve was too large - a mystery to me - so I did the same as before and it's fine.
Psst .... have you entered my giveaway? Entries close this SUNDAY 24th January.

Catching Up

Happy New Year! I'm back and my computer is fresh and clean .... now to catch up on happenings here .... firstly I'm in love with my new dress... it's Burda World of Fashion 4/08 Dress 116, I've made one for myself and one (shorter and sleeveless) for my little sweet pea (age twelve) ...
Both of these fabrics came from my sewing week at Martin and Savage - they are 94% Polyester and 6% Spandex, and while I normally favour natural fibres, this fabric is something else ... just lovely to wear ....
The sleeves are a bit tight as I failed to read the instructions properly - I was meant to put an armhole facing and just insert a sort of 3/4 sleeve - but anyway, it still works ....

The centre front has a cute little drapey piece that tucks into bottom of the V - which I had to adjust to show less cleavage. This one's a winner - I love it!
Next up, we've had some birthdays here and I made some cushions for a nephew and neice ... they are 70cm square, and I used images manipulated by Big Huge Labs and then printed them onto fabric with my inkjet printer ....



I borrowed a Janome Embroidery Machine from school to practise using it .... my sweet pea has taken a shine to it and she's been creating lots of cool stuff .... of course eventually we'll have to make something with all this - but WOW - it has certainly captured her attention and sewing motivation ......

Here is a dress I made from prepared Shirred Fabric - this is so easy and lovely to wear - fabric is called READY TO WEAR from Martin and Savage
I rolled hem the top edge and the hems and the strips for the straps ...

This is the whole piece with two panels on it - here is where I cut it ...
Christmas is hydrangea time ....
And Baguette time ..... featuring some Kaffe Fassett .....

Very cute bag!
Now, some pics from my students .... here is Paul wearing PJs hemmed by Annalise - great work!
He looks pretty happy with them!
And here is Nicole's lovely beach bag and hat ...... the colours and fabrics of these two look fab!
She's on board her lovely boat on beautiful Lake MacQuarie (I assume?) .....

Note the contrasting under brim side - perfect!

And thats AHOY from me! If you live in the Newcastle / Central Coast area and would like to come along to learn hat / bag making I have classes coming up on Saturdays - 30th Jan, 6th Feb and 13th Feb - contact me for more info.