keelysews... sometimes

EReader Cover

2012-01-18T22:40:00.000+13:00

Last weekend I got ~~a new toy~~ a new gadget for work - a Sony ereader.

I have to say this is a very ~~cool toy~~ helpful device for work. Unfortunately, for the $229 you pay, you do not get a cover. There is also a stylus included, but no way of attaching it to the device. I umm-ed and aah-ed over the cases available, before deciding that I might be able to do something at home to keep my reader safe in the depths of my handbag.

So, cos I have to have something to blog, I took photos of the way I made my ereader cover.

Step 1: Find an old book that is bigger than your ereader. I started with an old diary I'd found the day before in my decluttering. I have no idea why we had an unused 2004 diary on the bookshelf.

2. Carefully cut out the pages by slicing through the inner cover paper with a craft knife -

3. Lay the book cover on your chosen fabric (or decorative paper) and cut around, leaving enough to fold over. My allowances were 5cm on each side and 2.5cm on top and bottom edges because I was working with a remnant. Make small marks to make it easier to line your cover up on later.

4. Spread glue over the front cover and line up on fabric. Flatten the fabric out carefully - because my fabric was a heavy woven, it didn't need much smoothing.
Then I used a double-sided tape on the spine, rolled the book over to make sure there was enough ease in the fabric, and glued the back cover on the same way as the front.
My cover flattened out well, so I moved onto the inside. Otherwise I would have moved to the weighting down stage until the glue dried on the cover.

5. Glue the overlaps up to the inside (the same way you have to cover all those schoolbooks every year). As you can see, I was still considering leaving the ribbon bookmark as a quirky feature, but I later changed my mind.
I used a bit of fraystop on the corners.

Then I left my cover to flatten overnight under some heavy books. I offer no excuses for the fact that the closest books to hand were mainly chocolate cookbooks. :) These were removed the next morning to let it dry better.

6. Once the cover had dried, I taped the spine for reinforcement. Then I cut a strip of fabric to cover the inside of the spine and glued this strip into place.

7. Before I glued the strip in, I used one of the cut pages and folded up edges until I'd decided on the size to cut the foam for the inside padding.

I cut out 2 pieces of craft foam and a piece of backing cardboard for the inside back cover. My thinking was that the cardboard would provide just a little extra strength to the piece supporting the reader with the elastic.

8. I covered one piece of foam with fabric for the inside front cover

and glued into place inside the front cover

Sorry, in my excitement to finish I forgot to take any photos for the next bit, but it's fairly self-explanatory.

9. I glued the card and foam together and covered it with fabric for the inside back cover block. Then I played around with elastic placement to hold the reader in place. When I was happy with it, I glued the elastic to the back of the 'block'. I added some stitching (yes, Judy, some sewing!!) to stop the reader sliding down too far.
My elastic placement is actually a bit lopsided because I wanted to have some room to one side for the stylus to be held. I stitched the elastic on the side to make it tighter for the stylus.

Then I glued the block into the inside back cover and weighted it down for an hour.

And ta-dah - my ereader cover

Unlike my friend J, who is the Glue Queen, my technique lacked a bit of finesse, but it worked and I saved myself quite a bit of money.

Word of warning though if you decide to try to make one too - let the glue dry on the back block for a day before you try the reader out or the glue pulls up a bit.
You can guess how I found that one out. :)

So, I made something and it even involved a teeny bit of sewing, lol.

Now to get back to those granny squares...

A random thought...

2012-01-08T12:05:00.001+13:00

Wouldn't it be great if Murphy's Law kicked in as soon as you throw out all those clothes that are a bit tight?

My latest crochet project

2012-01-07T11:02:00.002+13:00

I've mentioned that I've rediscovered crochet and it's become my new craft - to be honest it's about the only craft I'm getting time for lately. It can be quite addictive, not to mention it's a heck of a lot easier to pick up a crochet project to take to craft night, than a sewing project.

My latest project is going to take me a while - the 'Granny's colour palette throw'

I was impatient and used Spotlight for my yarn source so any hope of getting 11 shades of any colour went right out the window immediately. So my throw will be more 'vibrant' i.e I went for bright colours cos that's all SL had, and that was enough of a struggle.

There are a lot of squares in this throw - yes they're only 2 round granny squares, but I'm not going to win any awards for speed crochet especially on granny squares which I only just learned to do. So I'm looking at 374 squares total, 248 of which will be black.

So far I have this huge pile of yellow squares -

Also pictured are my first granny square I completed in blue, and the 'daisy' granny square I tried out.
I calculate that if I do 2 squares per day I might have this finished by the middle of winter. That doesn't sound a lot really does it?

Before I found this project to ~~throw more money at~~ brighten my winter, I had been playing around crocheting easy scarves.

A cream angora wool scarf which is lovely and soft.

Plus a much longer variegated scarf from a lovely soft acrylic for my daughter. I have enough yarn left for arm warmers or a beret, or possibly both.

And in the UFO pile is this scarf which has been undone so many times I'm sure I've crocheted at least a metre or so which is no longer there. I like the effect of the yarn/ribbon combo (which looks much prettier in real life), but it's not a nice yarn to crochet. At the moment this has been put to one side to think about whether it wants to behave for me or not.

Right - off to declutter some more!

Decluttering

2012-01-07T00:04:00.000+13:00

Another blogiversary missed. You would think that New Year was easy enough to remember wouldn't you? And it wasn't because I was celebrating all out.
In fact the whole Christmas/New Year period has seemed delightfully quiet. I say delightfully because this past year has simply flashed by with DH working in Christchurch, thesis work ongoing, transporting and ~~wrangling~~ organising kids, my Mother's death and the long, long job of sorting out the estate of a hoarder. Everytime I come home, I want to throw things out of my house, but usually by then I'm too tired.

So, this last week, DH and I have been tackling all the jobs that have been neglected around our house - the weeds have been brought under control, for now, after a mammoth effort involving my sister and her husband as well as us. Why is it that the plants I grow the best are the ones I don't want?

We've been decluttering and reorganising for the last few days. A trailerload has gone to the tip, 2 carloads have gone out to charity stores or friends, and there are 7 large bags of rubbish waiting to go out this week (usually we only put out one) - yeah, our house was that bad! - and we're still going!

I've only gone through a small portion of my fabric and managed to get rid of 3 boxes worth so far. Then there was the liberating feeling of throwing out a load of 'mending' that had been sitting in the pile, some for years. I sat down and fixed the items that were still of use and no job took longer than ten minutes. Obviously the lesson is to stay on top of it all regularly. Hmmm, maybe I should rethink my New Year resolution not to make resolutions.

Long time, no see

2011-10-27T20:33:00.000+13:00

I can't believe it's been 5 months since I last posted!

Well, ok I can because it's been hectic. Warning: Pity party bleat to follow - My Mother fell ill and died in August; the work/study thing has been busy, busy, busy; DH is still commuting to long-distance work which adds stress and makes life lonely at times; and I have 2 teens and a tween who's desperately trying to prove she too can exhibit teen behaviour. Phew!!! My hairdresser is certainly proving her worth keeping the grey at bay. Anyway, pity party over.

Still no coat - which is my fault for not chasing up the proper interfacing for a while. Between Spotlight's lack of stock and the rude lack of service I received at Anne's Fabrics when I asked, it was ages before I got around to getting some. By the time I did SL had it back in stock. Plus I found a totally much more beautiful lining at the same time so obviously I was supposed to ~~be slack~~ take my time. It's all at Judy's house just waiting for me to go visit and have a fitting so Judy knows where to start. But no hurry - it's summer now.

Despite everything else I did get away for a weekend in July for the first time in 18 years with my husband and without children. Yep, no children and no guilt about it either. We went to a beautiful wedding in Hanmer Springs and have decided we really need to go back for a family holiday. The weather was beautiful and the Southern Alps had snow on them so it was all very picturesque.

I actually managed to sit at my "sewing" desk last weekend. I was a bit worried that with all the neglect the machines would have turned feral, but after a dust off (yes, my optimism knows no bounds and I'd left them uncovered so I could sew easily, bwah hahha) they consented to work enough for me to fix a few hems. So not 'real' sewing, but baby steps. After all, I wouldn't want to put my machines into shock by asking them to actually convert flat fabric into something wearable straight away.

Life hasn't been all craft-free however. After the scarf which took 23 years to finish last year, I have taken up crocheting scarfs galore, lol. I even have a beret and arm warmers planned for DD2.

Plus I discovered Pinterest. And StumbleUpon. Need I say more. So enjoyable, but I swear time speeds up the minute I login. I can't possibly spend that much time on the internet....

And cos no blog should be without a picture...

A coat, a coat, some chocolate for a coat...

2011-05-22T17:52:00.006+12:00

(Apologies to Shakespeare)

It's rapidly becoming winterish here and after shivering away with the knowledge that my schedule was not going to be allowing any coat sewing I came up with a brilliant plan - buy the biggest bag of Reese's Pieces I could find and bribe Judy to ~~make it for me~~ help me make it at her place (tho' who are we really trying to kid here - my 'help' will consist of opening packets and nodding wisely as Judy explains techniques).

So, pattern - Vogue 8626 which has a nice pleated back detail, the collared version.

One visit down and there's progress. A muslin has been examined, Judy has approved it and was very tactful about the modifications she will be making to fit my broad back, full bust and the hollow chest that occurs above the ample aforesaid bust. And perhaps stitching the pleats down for the first few inches.

Then came the big decision. Sensible navy cashmere for which I do have a really beautiful satin lining already picked? OR the purple melton I picked up a while ago (yikes - in 2009!) and for which I do have some purple skulls satin set aside for lining, tho I'm still in two minds about that? Judy made the point that purple is cheerful for winter, so I ignored my inner mumsy voice telling me the navy was more practical and purple it will be! Now I've just got to summon the funds to get interfacing and maybe a different lining.

While I was hunting out the various fabrics and patterns to show Judy, I was reacquainted with fabrics which I also have plans for and I was reminded that I'm missing having sewing time. Somehow, my planned month off was filled with marking assignments and running around after kids.
Must. Sew. More.

I got nothin'

2011-03-28T19:53:00.004+13:00

No sewing, no hobbies, nada.

Except for a looming deadline this week,

a growing collection of empty coke bottles,

and one furry helper who seems to feel ignored.

I'll know I've been a bad mom when the the ten year old tries this.

But Friday, Friday.... I'm free for a week!

(anyone else got that irritating song in their head now?)

Christchurch Earthquake

2011-02-23T11:23:00.006+13:00

It feels surreal today to be sitting down to work as normal when the TV is showing such terrible pictures of devastation from Christchurch. I cannot imagine the day my DH is having up there. There will be no 'normal' for some time I'm sure. I admit that, selfishly, I wish he could quit and come back home.

When I felt the quake yesterday I wasn't too worried about DH. Must be over in Fiordland I thought, because our house seems to be sheltered from the northern quakes to an extent. However, the realisation that it was from Christchurch and that we had felt it strongly here underscored how big a quake it was. Luckily I was able to ring DH and get a 30 second call so I knew he was ok. However, the ongoing uncertainty and concern over his safety and well-being is wearing. I can only imagine what it is like for those who have not yet heard from family and friends and are having to face the possibility of bad news. The death toll is inevitably going to rise, and the lives of all those affected have been torn apart.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Christchurch today.

Vintage Sewing Book

2011-01-20T22:50:00.002+13:00

My plans to do a bit of sewing may have fallen by the wayside, but I have been reading about sewing. My mother had a clear-out of her sewing books and I liberated this one:

I can't find any indication of the age apart from the illustrations, which I think indicate 1950's (one google result did suggest 1940). The book is in 3 parts dealing with patternmaking, sewing processes and techniques, and garment making. I've been leafing through this enough to know I want to sit down and read it fully. There seem to be copies available secondhand, but with the power of Google I did find it's also available as an e-book.

Adding to the interest was this pattern tucked inside the cover.

It's a supplement pattern from the May 2, 1962 Australian Women's Weekly magazine. I can usually take or leave vintage patterns, but it's quite interesting to try to imagine the woman who once pulled this pattern out to make. I wonder if she ever did? Or did she decide that adding 1/2 an inch at the side seams was too basic and use her book to draft a better-fitting dress? [ Insert your own flashback dream sequence here ;) ]

Back in the modern world, the decluttering continues slowly. Among the kids dress-up clothes being donated to my niece and nephew, I found the "Winnie the Pooh" outfit (complete with padded tummy) that I made for DS's role in the school musical 6 years ago.

Sigh. How quickly they grow up.

'Handy-womanning' and a cat bed

2011-01-15T12:55:00.000+13:00

My DSis recently gave me a large desk which had been left behind in the house they bought. I love the size - perfect for studying with everything spread out and, if I cleared it off, a good size and height for pattern tracing and cutting.

However, the height was uncomfortable when studying, even with my office chair as high as it could go and my feet dangling in the air. After ending up with sore shoulders after just one evening something had to be done. The desk was flipped over and I realised that at some point somebody had added extra to the base. They'd attached it well too with what seemed the longest screws ever invented which had of course, rusted and stuck themselves in there forever. Annoyingly, my drill couldn't reach because the screws had been sunk so far into the wood. What to do? Fetch the hammer and saw of course. :) I cut my way down to those accursed screws, disposed of the wood and got those screws out. Well apart from the one that refused to budge which I, ahem, snapped off in my frustration.

Once that was done I was left with the need to put a (much lower) trim on the base. So off to Bunnings I went with a diagram and measurements, where a very helpful employee offered advice and suggestions which could all be done easily with a saw and a hammer.

The result is a lower (8.5cm lower) smoother base.
And a perfect height for studying.

As well as wreaking havoc on furniture, I also upset one of our cats by moving the beanbag he liked to sleep on. To make it up to him I made a beanbag cat bed. This was essentially a 'free' project, using all stashed fabrics, zip and beanbag fill. I've made the microfleece cover removable for easy washing. As I'm throwing the scraps, that's another 1.8 metres from stash. :)

Sprite on his new bed:

De-stashing Patterns

2011-01-11T15:57:00.006+13:00

With a move in our future later this year, I have started removing the ~~junk~~ clutter in the house.

Judy kindly volunteered to give me a hand with the patterns, so armed with chocolates, coffee and cola, we sat down Monday night and went though the lot. We ended up culling half of my pattern stash!

299 patterns soon to be gone (minus those Judy removed to her house...)

Leaving me with the majority of my remaining 268 patterns in the drawers (the Jalies are on a shelf with the Ottobres) and another 28 'probables' in the blue box you can see in the bottom corner. At the moment these have just been shoved in the drawers and still need to be organised properly. Maybe some others will join the culled pile when that happens. :)

There are also 2 Hotpatterns (my first) winging their way to me after I was inspired by both Debbie's and Michelle's results.

I still have to go through my mother's even larger stash of patterns. Somehow I ended up with all of them to sort out after I mentioned that old/vintage patterns can be sold. Judy and I had a quick flick through a couple of boxes and spotted about a dozen pre-1970 patterns, but by this stage it was getting on for midnight so have left them for another night (or two).

Another UFO done

2011-01-08T18:34:00.008+13:00

Just for Judy, some 'real' sewing at last. :)

While I was tidying up the chaos of sewing bits and bobs, I came across a UFO. This was supposed to be a dress for DD1 last summer. I winged the pattern back then using the Ottobre 02/2007 tanktop and an existing dress for the skirt measurements. However, when DD1 tried it on, the top part was a bit short (oops) as well as, apparently, too high a neckline. (You may remember that DD1 and I have had that conversation before.) The dress-to-be was therefore put to one side ~~to be forgotten about~~ while I contemplated what to do and whether I could be bothered digging out more of the purple cotton lycra to make another top. I think it's fairly obvious I couldn't.

So yesterday, whilst scratching for inspiration, my eyes lit upon this in the pile and I decided to take another look at it. DD1 announced that she no longer liked the fabric that much, but DD2 did. I used a size P from Jalie 965 to recut the bodice and was able to use the existing neckline (and therefore binding). Unfortunately, I did have to unpick the armhole binding to reuse on the newly shaped armhole openings. From then on, it was just put it all together.

Just perfect if the weather gets back to summer again.

The back of the tank goes lower, but is covered by the waist ties. DD2 likes this so much that I didn't even get a chance to iron it before I took photos. :)

More ch-ch-changes

2011-01-07T20:30:00.004+13:00

For some reason I've had that Bowie song going round in my head lately.

You may have noticed I'm trialling a new look for the blog. What do you think? It might take me a while to get used to it. Still, at least my blog is tidy(ish) even if my house isn't.

Today's weather was not summer-like at all so I actually attempted a bit of sewing accompanied by an episode or two of Mad About You.

It was the perfect program to take my mind off the fact I was unpicking armhole binding. I'm resizing a dress for DD2 after DD1 'went off' the fabric. Fortuitous perhaps because it was a bit short in the bodice length for her anyway. ;) Hopefully that means some more sewing to show soon.

Still here

2011-01-05T21:17:00.001+13:00

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a good Christmas.

Although you'd be forgiven for wondering given the lack of blogging this year, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. 2010 was such a busy year it simply flew past. To top it off, we found out on Christmas Eve that 2011 is bringing big changes for our family, including a shift to another city. DH will be moving early in the year to take up his new job. However, after I found out I'd been given a scholarship by the university we've decided the kids and I will hang out here until the end of the year to clear up school years, the house etc with DH popping home for visits. There's a lot of clearing out to do over the year. It is amazing how much 'stuff' can accumulate when you've lived in one house for 17 years.

I started this week by ~~dumping~~ gifting an enormous pile of craft magazines to my friends at our regular 'girly night' and didn't come home with any. :) At some point I will have to tackle the stash. Gulp. I'll have to try and sew a bit up this year around everything else. Yeah right.

There has been the odd spark of creativity around the place though. First up was a nightie for me from Kwik Sew 2822 which appears to be Out of Print now. It was the first time I'd made this and it worked well.

I also unearthed and finally completed a 23 year old UFO - a crocheted scarf. Noticeably the tensions are a bit different at the ends, but I'm going with the "it's a design feature" line. ;)

Obviously overcome with the euphoria of a rare completed project I proceeded to relieve the Spotlight sale table of more wool/yarn. I now have a new crochet project - surprise, surprise, a scarf for DD2 who chose the wool and had the cheek to ask if it will be done by winter. She neglected to specify which year...

Finally, yesterday I completed my DSis' housewarming/Christmas present (only two weeks late). She requested bright placemats for their dark brown dining table in their new dark and dreary dining room. Knowing DSis I knew these had to be easycare and washable (and not floral or too cutesy or...). My youngest daughter was let loose in Spotlight to choose fabrics and after DSis had given approval, this is what we ended up with:

A longer centrepiece mat to protect surfaces from keys etc being dumped on it, and 2 sets of placemats which are reversible. I used AnneM's review here as a guide. We dropped them off today and DSis seems very happy with them. Of course, I then opened my big mouth and offered to make the scraps into coasters - D'oh!

Today I began attempting to create order from the chaos that has resulted from moving my sewing desk downstairs. I can't find anything! DH tried to tell me it would be a good time to clear out the desk drawers as well, but he is obviously not thinking straight, lol.

The invisible blogger

2010-09-30T16:26:00.007+13:00

Wow, so it's been 5 months since I posted! This is also an indication that it's been 5 months since I did any real sewing, cos hemming trousers and repairs don't count IMO!

Life has pretty much run me over with a steamroller this year. Who'd have thought that a fuller than fulltime post-grad study year, and a family of kids requiring a taxi-driver would be a lot to handle? Well, ok, everyone but me obviously. I seem to have an entirely unfounded sense of optimism of what I can achieve at times. Still, reality always has a way of making itself known. I'm pretty sure I've managed to become acquainted every flu and cold virus circulating this year!

I've discovered this year that stress can make people do funny things - like wearing skirts regularly when they've always been a jeans-type; wearing make-up and even painting my nails!!! Athough that one has a reasonable explanation in that it stops me chewing my nails. Oh, and then there's the crying on my supervisor's shoulder, tho I'm assured that's quite standard.

Sooo, even with my new attempts to regain some balance in my life by attending the fortnightly girly days with friends, I'll hopefully be finished writing by the end of November, which will mean I can start tackling the long list of sewing I've been planning. There may even be a few skirts on there... Tho I think a bit of excavating of the sewing desk may be in order first. :(

And a blurry shot of my new nail colour...

More patterns....

2010-05-26T12:20:00.000+12:00

"Sale" - It has to be one of the most dangerous words in use. Especially when it involves fabric or patterns.

No prizes for guessing where this post is going... :) Yep, I succumbed to the Patternreview 25% off sale. Joining the other patterns unlikely to be sewn in a hurry are 3 Jalies -

and 2 Kwik Sews.

The last one is for DD1 - Yes, I gave in and just bought the darned pattern at her request. I don't have time to fuffle around getting the girl to stand still for pattern adjusting. I don't know about you guys, but personally I'd be pretty polite to the person holding the pins and fitting me...

As for me...

Getting behind on the writing, but not quite at panic stage yet. Which is good, cos panic probably wouldn't be the best cure for the case of writer's block I seem to have.

And I desperately need some tidier clothes (what's new), especially if I'm going to be seen around the department more. Having said that, really the most likely pattern to be sewn will be the Jalie polar fleece socks. They've got to be relatively quick don't you think? I can't remember where I saw it, but 'someone' had used rubber shelf liner as a non-slip sole on slippers and I'm thinking I might add some to these for wearing around the house, especially if it stops me breaking my neck on the wooden stairs.

Sigh, if only I could get away with a wardrobe of tatty clothes, but snazzy fleece socks....

Jalie 965 Tanktop - wadder?

2010-04-21T17:30:00.000+12:00

I sewed something. I actually sewed something!

Yesterday I just couldn't concentrate on work and felt lousy. Rather than just lie on the couch and veg out, I thought I could probably handle tracing out. I briefly contemplated tracing the Ottobre coat, but the thought of all those lines on the paper and big pattern pieces... I couldn't face it. So I dragged out two Jalie patterns because DD1 has been claiming "nothing" to wear.Even though we're going into winter she's wanting camisoles and tanktops. Go figure. (rolling eyes) Then I faced the problem of trying to work out what size to trace, without current measurements and with a ~~fussy~~ teen with definite ideas on what she wants. It was difficult, involved measuring tees she liked and a long conversation with Judy on the phone. Admittedly, the phone call wasn't necessary for the sewing/tracing, but it was good to remind myself what Judy's voice sounds like. :)

Eventually I guessed a size (which luckily was confirmed after school by her measurements) and pulled out a few fabrics that were easy to reach. She vetoed the teeshirt from Jalie 2605 and chose the tanktop/camisole from Jalie 965.

It's a simple top, but I still took longer to make it than I would normally - with the brain operating at half speed, I'm lucky it's even wearable. I think it's a size or two too big, but she wanted a loose fit. I also think it's too long in the upper chest, so maybe a smaller size with an FBA (cos she's a C-cup). Still, it's another 0.80m from the stash. I'd say that next time I'd bind the armholes and neck with a wrap over binding which will narrow the straps, but at the moment I'm refusing to waste any sewing time on DD1 after the argument about how low the neckline could go. Sigh. She grew into women's sizes a few years ago and got used to having necklines lower than I like. While I accept that the straps could go in a fraction and the neckline could go down a smidgeon, there's a limit as to how much underwear I'll let her show! If only I could persuade her to sew for herself instead of complaining because she doesn't have an unlimited clothing budget. :(

2010-04-19T23:13:00.000+12:00

Hi to anyone who's still reading.... yep, I'm still here!

Where does the time go? And with no sewing for me. :( Although I have spent some time at the sewing machine. Wow, those things can really gather dust when you don't use them.

First up, I scared the machines one evening when, in a fit of enthusiasm, I finally pulled the living room curtains down and replaced the rufflette tape. Is that what you call it? You know, the stuff you put the hooks in that stretches all out if the ready-mades have cheap tape on them and then the curtains hang droopily and ugly. Well, my curtains now hang all prettily again, and it has only taken 3 years to get them done.

Then on Sunday my sister turned up with 4 pairs of jeans for me to hem. Sigh. Not exactly inspiring stuff.

And I want to sew! Which is not unexpected when I'm busy, lol. My kids have learnt to procrastinate from a master. My mojo positively ran amok the other day trying to tempt me and I had to walk away. I did however sketch down a few ideas and notes. :)

A friend asked me the other day why I was studying when I do have other things I want to do (like some sewing). It's simple really. I'm really enjoying it. True it's long hours - about 50 hours a week - but I've spent the last two weeks immersed in reading literature on my research topic and I've loved it. I guess that's the joy of finding something you're excited about doing. I'm honest enough to know that, much as I enjoy sewing, most of the time it doesn't give me the same thrill. That's why I'm in awe of those who tackle detailed and complicated projects or teach themselves to draft their own. Let alone those who sew regularly! Plus, lets be honest, my mojo tends to pack a sad if I actually get time to pay attention to it.

So, I guess I'm saying don't expect a lot of sewing from me for a while. I have several big deadlines over the next few weeks. I'm hoping to squeeze in a bit of time to trace the purple Ottobre coat. I guess I really should do a quick and dirty muslin.... And one of my deadlines did get pushed out a week, so maybe I could take another night off...

More Ottobre Tees

2010-03-01T17:35:00.008+13:00

Why is it that the day before uni starts back the mojo also comes back?

Today I was thrown back into the insanity that is full-time study (this time post-grad. Gosh I love saying that. Post-grad, , post-grad, post-grad....) so, of course, Saturday I had a "what am I going to wear" attack, which of course led to emptying out the wardrobe.... That took care of Saturday. Along the way my linen cupboard also got reorganised which had nothing to do with my wardrobe, but did desperately need doing. And I wonder why I have nothing to wear. Sheesh.

Anyway, yesterday I felt I really should do some sewing. I fell back on the trusty Ottobre gathered neck tee (Ottobre 02-2007-04) which seems to be the backbone of my wardrobe. Well, the stuff that gets worn. Because we've had hot weather lately, I made short-sleeved tees, thus guaranteeing the rain and cool temperatures today. Both came from stash and snuck in at being sewn before the fabric reached the 2 year mark.

The first tee I like and it conveniently looks good with my purple Burda cardigan. I'd like to claim that this was all part of some great wardrobe plan, but I can't.

The second tee I'm not so keen on. The fabric is a lot clingier and unless I'm standing up completely straight without breathing, it tends to find a bit of fluffiness to cling to. (Note I'm blaming the fabric, not my lack of will power, Christmas and an addiction to all things chocolate. ;) ) As I'm rather keen on breathing and completely incapable of standing up straight every minute of the day, I'm thinking I now need to sort out a cardigan to wear over the top.

At least they boosted my wardrobe a bit.

There's a song stuck in my head...

2010-03-01T17:14:00.007+13:00

Help! I read one measly reference to Immanuel Kant and now I can't get the Philosopher's Song out of my head. (Warning - some language may offend)

" “Scientists call songs that get stuck in your head “earworms,” after the German Ohrwurm." (The Situationist). Really? They couldn't come up with a better name than that?

On their way

2010-01-31T10:20:00.001+13:00

The order is in and Jalies will be winging their way to me soon I hope. I succumbed to 6 patterns for me and Judy added 2 of her own.

We both ordered the Pleated cardigan

and the stretch jeans.

I added the Stretch Classic trousers,

the Empire Crossover Top,

the Scarf Top

and the Cami/Tank pattern.

Now to just wait for them to arrive.

More patterns I "need"

2010-01-30T12:25:00.001+13:00

Since I saw the new Jalie patterns, I've wanted the Pleated cardigan, as well as others.

Unfortunately, the cost of postage combined with the exchange rate can inflict some serious damage to the wallet. It can also lead to funny looks as you rush out every day when the postie pulls up, but that's probably a whole 'nother story. After all, why would he be at all curious about the contents of large envelopes after a slightly crazed-looking woman rushes out each morning to watch him, then grabs the envelope before he even puts it in the box....? One day I should really open one and show him the Ottobre/patterns just so he knows it's all legit, lol. But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, unfortunately... scary costs etc. That leads us to the 'Fortunately'.

Fortunately, Patternreview is having a 20% off sale for FOPR members until the end of January. I knew there was a reason I renewed (apart from not losing the catalogue of all my patterns. Believe me, after the time it took to enter all of those I'm not letting that go easily!). Tonight DS got back from Australia and he hadn't spent all the money we gave him. Yayyy! Patterns. Cos I really need more, lol hysterically. Knowing this was a possibility, I had, of course, spent much time ~~dithering~~ carefully deciding which patterns I was going to get.

Here's the next unfortunately - DD saw the new Kwik Sews and wants this -

What's a Mum to do when her DD really, really wants a dress and it's going to be quite a few months before it gets to NZ?

Well, fortunately she already owned a similar style RTW dress. So, I hunted out the Ottobre tank #1 from 02/2007. Then measured her existing dress and made up a pattern. I'll find out this weekend how close I've got. In the meantime, that's money that can be spent on another Jalie. }:)

Can you spot what's wrong?

2010-01-24T11:27:00.003+13:00

Recently my DD1 bought Dolly magazine, despite, or perhaps because of, my insistence that it was a total waste of money. (Amusingly, 2 weeks later she agrees, lol.)

As she was leafing through it on the sofa, one page jumped out at me.

The details are hard to see from the scanned image, but apparently the "quirky accessories" now involve pins. Snigger. And you can't see it here, but they didn't even bother putting the pin on the RHS on the back of the fabric. What gets me is that they picked this as the best photo and let it go to print?

Ottobre Twiggy Jeans version 2

2010-01-23T12:41:00.000+13:00

Finally I have stopped procrastinating and finished DD2's red Ottobre jeans. This is another pair using Ottobre 06-2007 #32. (The first pair I blogged about here.) I think I cut these out about 5 or 6 months ago and in the meantime DD has grown. These are a size 140 width lengthened to 146 and DD is now 144cm (she's grown 2.5 cm in the last 5 weeks!). The length is perfect, the width... let's just say thank goodness it's stretch denim. I think I've finished these just in time if I want DD to get any wear out of them. Strangely, this pair gapes at the centre back. This can be easily fixed with a small dart in the waistband (or a belt), but it is not an issue I noticed with the first pair. I'd also forgotten that I meant to skim in the legs below the knee to make them more 'skinnified'.

I used a lightweight stretch denim from Spotlight and topstitched in red. I had huge problems with the topstitching tensions about halfway through the jeans. I changed needles, rethreaded, cleaned and oiled the machine but still had problems with looping and uneven tension. I assume it was the thread as the problems started with the new reel of Molnlycke Goliath thread.

And I had to put a label on the back -

Easily distracted...

2010-01-19T13:54:00.000+13:00

With all the kerfuffle of getting DS off on his ~~holiday~~ cricket trip sorted, I was going to tackle another UFO, specifically red Ottobre jeans for DD2. So I made 2 tote bags naturally. :)

I figured that, for once, I should be nice to DH and clean up after one project before starting another. This meant packing away the half-dozen boxes I'd pulled out in the hunt for white fabric and thus freeing up some space in the rumpus room. As I relocated items, I came across a piece of denim. I don't know why, but this denim just screamed to be a tote bag. A really impractical tote bag, considering the denim is very, very pale, but hey, it's been there so long I can't remember when and why I bought it, or how much it cost. I'm sure in stash rules that makes it free fabric, right?

Lo and behold, there was enough to make 2 bags. No official pattern used - I just used the measurements from an old and decrepit tote bag that has seen many better days.

DD's red jeans-to-be are still sitting all forlornly on the desk waiting their turn. As long as I avoid heading off to play in the stash they should be next. :)

Not-so-great whites and a little red Ottobre top

2010-01-15T09:36:00.017+13:00

The weather has been atrocious this 'summer'. Perfect for sewing. Also perfect for curling up with a good book, watching dvds, or playing video games with the kids (are they still called video games?).

Despite all the other distractions, I have finished a spare pair of cricket trousers for DS. He's off to sunnier and warmer climes in Brisbane for a few weeks for a cricket tournament and needed a second pair. Reluctant to spend much on what is essentially a back-up pair of trousers, I went a-hunting in the stash and came up with 5 metres of white bengaline. I like bengaline to wear normally, but this is white. What on earth was I thinking when I bought it? Oh yeah, I remember - it was $2m on a clearance sale at Spotlight. :)

I haven't sewn trousers for DS in a few years so the next problem was finding a pattern. I settled on Simplicity 5362. By measurements DS just made it into the adult Small, but I've been burned by the Big-4 patterns and their sizing before so I attempted to tissue fit on DS.

There are two things to learn from this experience.
1. Don't try to tissue-fit on DS. Have you ever tried getting a teenage boy to stand still for fittings, let alone trouser fitting? I think I'd have better luck doing fittings on the cats; and

2. Don't attempt to make any pattern changes based on said 'fitting' whilst suffering from a fluey-type bug.

The tissue fitting, if we can even call it that, seemed to indicate that the waistband needed lowering about 4cm. DS also wanted me to change the pockets. Neither of these should have been difficult. I slashed the pattern, changed the pocket and decided to just leave off the waistband and do a fold-over elastic waist. I know you're all out there shaking your heads and saying "But that will take the waist too low...". What can I say? - Flu. :(

It was a moot point anyway because as soon as DS tried on the almost finished product (for all of about 2 seconds) it appeared that the waistband needed to be added. Easy enough to do, but now the pocket openings were going to be too big. It was about this point that I said 'stuff it', added the waistband and sewed the pockets partly closed. I mean, these are just for an extra pair for 2 weeks - they don't need to be perfect (which is good because... lol). Now the brain is functioning again I'm groaning in shame at these, but DS is happy enough. I'm even going to post a photo as a public sevice example of why flu and sewing shouldn't mix. The photo was the one and only shot I was going to get with a reluctant DS and camera batteries that died.

Still, the great white blunders did serve to wake up the mojo. Not enough for it to be jumping up and down, waving fabric and screaming "make this, make this", but more of a lounging against the door frame laconically with a "Yeah, guess that'll do" sort of way. (It occurs to me that my mojo description evokes images of James Dean. Quite what that says about me I'm not sure, lol.)

Anywhoo, I decided to clear the decks and tackle a few of the projects previously cut out and still waiting to get anywhere near the sewing machine. First on the desk was Ottobre top 01-2009-30 for DD2. This was cut out about 8-10 months ago in a size 134 and if I was doing it now I'd have made DD2 a 146, so I wasn't holding my breath that it would fit. Luckily it did. It was a pretty easy top to make, even with the shirring which I'd never tried before. For this shirring I wound the elastic thread onto the bobbin by hand and sewed with a long straight stitch exactly as Ottobre (and MeggieLulu) say to. The first picture shows the back of the shirring with the elastic thread; the second shows the front with the straight stitching.

However, even with stretching the bejeebers out of the fabric as I did the later rows, I did find the top shrinking to the point where DD can get it on and off, but I expect I'll get some mending to do. Next time I do shirring I think I'll try the zigzag over the elastic method.

One other thing I noted was that the instructions for the arm binding/shoulder strap says to "match markings on binding with neckline corners". I went with matching to the top of the neckband, but I think they would have worked better (and required less easing) matched to the bottom of the attached neckband/top of the body piece. Looking at the Ottobre photos the top does seem to sit higher than the one I made. Higher would mean DD could wear this without a top underneath. Neither of the two reviews here and here mentioned this so maybe it's just me and late night sewing.

At least these mean my stash stats are going the right way so far. :)

Happy Blogiversary to Me...

2009-12-31T20:13:00.005+13:00

A New Year means it's my blogiversary. Looking back over the past two years worth of posts shows how life has changed. I've gone from working part-time to studying at university full-time, finally graduated, and my kids have grown so much. Sewing has been put on the backburner more than I'd like as I concentrate on studying. Some days all I want to do is sew, others I'm too tired to do more than look through magazines. Hopefully this year I can squeeze out a bit more sewing time. 'Cos I'm going to be so much more organised this year. Snort, yeah right! :)

A new year also means time for a new stash stats counter. I don't really make New Year's resolutions (well, not ones I keep anyway), but this time I've decided I really must do better on the whole buying vs sewing thing. In the last two years I've added 55.35 metres to my fabric stash. Whoops. Obviously this is proof that I don't actually have to be working in a fabric shop to add fabric. I swear I just drive by and the stuff jumps into my car and follows me home. Honest. No? Funny, DH didn't believe it either.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I own how many?!!

2009-12-29T20:59:00.004+13:00

I've been in a "kinda wanna do some sewing but really can't be bothered" funk for the last couple of days. (Curse those foreign cold/fluey bugs that my brothers bought from overseas.)

Given that the sewing mojo seems only too keen to go on vacation at the most inopportune times, I thought I better engage in something sewing-related to try to keep the mojo interested. So I decided I'd be practical at the same time and organise all the patterns that had been ~~stuffed into any available spot~~ pulled out and stored for future use and actually file them. You know, with the other patterns, not just in the nearest available spot. Having done that, I felt it was only right to get really carried away and enter them into my Patternreview catalogue. Besides, it meant I could stay sitting down and given the case of the dizzies I had at the time, that was probably a good idea.

The catalogue feature on Patternreview is great. Very useful. Admittedly, perhaps more useful if I took a printout with me when I went to Spotlight, but it lets me know I've bought two of the same pattern as soon as I enter my new purchases in. It even gives me a total of the number of patterns in my stash. Much like the actual count of fabric metreage I own, this is a number that should not be displayed anywhere my DH could see. But I'll take a risk (in the knowledge that he rarely reads my blog) and whisper...

536.

Yes, that was (gulp) 536 patterns I own. Not counting the Ottobre, Burda or Topkids magazines, cos how on earth would I count those? There's absolutely no way I'd be adding them in on a count per magazine. Even just taking each magazine as 1 pattern would push the count up drastically.

Would you believe I was relieved at that number?! Cos folks, I honestly thought I owned more than that. Now I'm left wondering if there is a pattern blackhole somewhere in my lounge just waiting to spit out a box of patterns when I'm not looking.

Next sewing project - cricket trousers for my DS - and I even have a pattern I should be able to use... :)

A little bit Grinchy

2009-12-26T21:19:00.000+13:00

Christmas shopping tends to bring out one of two sides to me. Some years, I'm giddy with excitement and relish the hustle and bustle of scores of like-minded shoppers chasing a bargain and that elusive perfect gift. Others, I'm not.

Christmas Eve eve was a "not" sort of day. Having been lulled into a false sense of security by the civilised shopping pace in town only a few days before, I ventured back into town again on the 23rd. Apparently, everybody gets paid on the Weds before Christmas because they were all in town. If I hadn't known Judy was at home, I'd have said the entire local population was there. But I didn't start out in a state of Grinchiness. I swear I was relatively upbeat when the woman in the blue station-wagon stole my parking space. The one I'd been sitting waiting for with the indicators flashing while I held up traffic for several minutes. The perfect spot outside the store I needed to go to. But I let it go. Obviously.

When I got to my second stop, queued, then waited again for the "other salesperson who could help me", only to be told that they couldn't do what I wanted because they'd run out of paper, I politely asked if there was another store that offered the same service and left. I didn't even mutter when I got to the next store and saw the long line. Although I may have sighed heavily.

Meanwhile, the day kept getting hotter and somewhere between the photo kiosk and the supermarket, the Grinch made an appearance. Obviously I wasn't giving this much forethought. Because, how could it be any more perfect for a trip to the central supermarket than with bored, tired and hot children in pre-xmas crowds? First came the muttering at the driver who walked away from their car in the queue to enter the mall carpark. Perhaps I missed the memo, but I'm pretty sure that in front of the carpark entry barrier is not a valid parking space. A trip around the block to the second entrance and it was our turn to experience the true joy of the panicked Christmas shopper frantically filling their trolleys with food. It seems the fact that the supermarket is closed for an entire day (Gasp!) necessitates frantic food-gathering worthy of a Y2K scare. I muttered, I griped and I snarked and I made it out with the essentials we really did need now. Like toothpaste. And chocolate. I think I managed to come out still relatively sane, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Luckily Christmas looked up from there. I finished all the baking and present creating after the shopping, plus we had our annual tour around the city admiring all the Christmas lights, which meant Christmas Eve was a bit more relaxed. All I had to do was handsew my Mum's new oven gloves closed, take her to an appointment and take the kids to the children's Christmas Eve Mass.

Christmas Day, the kids actually slept in and didn't wake us until after 7am. A result of letting them stay up late 2 nights in a row. :) We had a fabulous day with my sister and her husband who seem to be vying for favourite rellie status as they spoilt the kids terribly. Everybody overate as usual which relieved me of the need to make dinner for them. There was just one dampener on the day - we're all missing our family Santa.

RIP Dad.

Thank you

2009-12-26T21:17:00.001+13:00

Thank you all so much for the kind comments. My father was a wonderfully kind and generous man who I'm proud to have called Dad. We all miss him terribly.

Some sewing to show at last!

2009-12-19T14:38:00.008+13:00

Wow. It's been a while since I posted. Christmas is nearly here and life is busy, busy, busy.

I finished the Burda shirt dress finally and it has been worn a lot, so I guess it passed muster. The sleeves are normally folded up when DD wears it. DD also hasn't decided on where she wants the belt loops set, as she has worn the belt at both waist and hip level. They will probably never get done. :)

After the shirtdress was out of the way, I turned my attention to a project for the junior classes at school. In the past, I have made quick calico stockings for the 5 and 6 year olds to decorate and fill as gifts for their parents. Usually I take the easy way out and straight stitch everything and turn through, with absolutely no inside finishing. This time, I decided to overlock/serge the edges instead. All those curves were interesting, to say the least. Thank goodness for Debbie's tip on serging inside corners. After the time put in, 60 stockings didn't seem to make a very impressive pile.

The next project up was a tee-shirt for my DS. The kid is growing like a weed and I think he's just passed his father in height. He passed me ages ago, lol. The way he always seems to sprout up in spring and summer, I wouldn't be surprised to find out he is part plant.

I went for the Kwik Sew 3299 pattern that has positive reviews on Pattern Review. By his measurements, DS should have been an XS which would have required sizing down. However, after comparing 2 tees he already owned, I made a Medium. I know he likes a baggy fit, but I think next time I'll go down a size to Small.

For this trial I used a piece of the fabric I bought off Trademe. It's 100% cotton rugby knit with not a lot of stretch, so it was probably lucky this tee is a loose fit. The lack of recovery meant I unpicked the self-neckband and replaced it with a ribbing band. DS aims to put an iron-on print on the front once he finds "THE" picture he wants. Excuse the fold lines down the center - at least they're proof that for once he'd put his clothes in the drawers folded, lol.

And just because I said "other people's sons put their arms out" ....

Blogging might be a trifle quiet for a while. Or busier, depending on how I cope. We lost my father last Sunday to post-surgery complications. As you can guess, things have been hectic and we're all devastated, especially Mum. There is a lot to sort out which will keep me busy.

Anyway, Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!

Bits and bobs

2009-11-09T10:00:00.000+13:00

Gosh it's hard to pick more blogs for the Kreativ Blogger award. I am so behind on reading bloglines that I really have no idea who has or hasn't got it so far. Sooooo, I'm going to go the wimpy way and say that if you're on the sidebar and you haven't had it, consider yourself nominated. Of course, my blog housekeeping is as up-to-date as my real housekeeping, so there are many of you not on there yet. Sorry.

I had a lovely afternoon meeting up with my friends. They even remembered what I looked like, lol. I must make sure next year to try and set aside a time to meet everyone more often.

To address some comments:

Thanks for the thoughts about my Dad. It's very much appreciated.

Beangirl asked about my degree. Well, I finally have finished my Bachelor of Arts with a major in Education. More the theory and research of education than teaching. I've also added in Sociology and a couple of Politics papers to widen the theoretical base. Next year I'm starting my Post-graduate Diploma in Educational Research which will be followed the year after by a Masters degree. All going well, and my not having descended into a gibbering insane mess, I'm also planning on my PhD. Hence the 5 years my DH has to still put up with. I'm interested in research into social justice issues in education, especially the effects of socio-economic status (which ties into Bourdieu's theories of cultural capital etc.) and/or the role of gender in achievement. And that's way more information than many of you wanted I'm sure. :)

Mary Nanna - Wow it's a small world! My younger siblings went to St Joseph's and Kavanagh. However, we all grew up in Whangarei, I came down for Uni in the mid-80s, met DH and stayed, and the rest of my family followed on down around 1993. I'm guessing you'll have known teachers like Donna Booth, and Ken and Mary Fahey at St Joes?

Judy - Sorry, still gonna read the textbooks but I promise they won't get in the way of 'girly' days. :)

Rhoto - I totally agree that studying is fun. I get worn out at times and sick of it at times too, but it also makes me feel challenged and alive. I'm really looking forward to the next few years - although I guarantee that I'm bound to grumble at times. :)

And in the continuing quest to prove MP3s should come with warning labels after the cellphone and singing incident - yesterday I had music on in the car at traffic lights when a truck pulled up alongside, allowing the driver to see my fabulous drum rendition on the steering wheel. At least we both could laugh.....

And the Award goes to....

2009-11-07T20:36:00.007+13:00

Exams are over! Woohoo! I celebrated with a ~~glass~~, ahem, bottle of wine. Then I hibernated for a few days. At the end of semester we found out my Dad has cancer and between that and exams, I was left feeling decidely unsocialable. With the kids at school, I got to spend a few days lounging around in rumpty jeans and tees and reading totally trashy chick lit. But tomorrow I'm being sociable and heading off to meet up with my friends. I'm worried I may need a name badge to remind them who I am, lol.

Sue at Quilt, Sew, Sew Sue has been kind enough to award me this:

Thanks Sue!

As part of this I need to tell you seven things you may not know about me and then nominate seven other blogs I love to follow. What might you not know about me? (Some of these may not come as a surprise e.g. #4)

1. Well you may have gathered this already, but I have finally finished my BA degree and barring some catastrophe will have it in my hand within the month. :)

2. I dislike ironing. I really dislike ironing. To the point that I have been known to wet clothes and put them back through the dryer so I can pull them out and hang while hot. Consequently there is a large pile of clothes waiting to be rehabilitated into household wardobes. Or put through the dryer. ;)

3. I would prefer to clean the bathroom than iron 'the pile'.

4. I purchase on impulse. That's why I have a stash. A very large stash. Not just fabric but patterns too. Far more than I could ever realistically sew.

5. I have six brothers and 4 sisters. And I'm the oldest.

6. My husband is awesome. He truly is. The last few years I have been studying he has been my lifeline to sanity, whether it's proofreading, listening to my recap of lectures or sneaking me into the Uni staff club for cheap hot chocolates. So far he hasn't run screaming from the idea of my post-graduate studies which could take the next 5 years.

7. I have read all the Twilight series and enjoyed them. I also want to see the movies - yay for daughters which give me an excuse to go.

Now to nominate 7 others. I always hate having to pick just a few of the many, many blogs I follow, but I know how cool it is to receive an award so....

Ummm, Ummmm, I'll come back and add the other three tomorrow. :)

Lost in the books

2009-10-25T14:16:00.004+13:00

Ugh! I am sick of studying. Even studying fuelled by pineapple lumps, jaffas and m&ms. I have definitely decided that dry, dusty, memorize-the-facts politics papers are not for me. BORING!!! It really does spell out how different DH and I are as he did an entire degree in this.

At least this will be out of the way in 48 hours. Then just the exam on Sociological theorists Durkheim, Weber and Marx. Does it sound sad to say I find that more interesting? I'm actually looking forward to revising for that. I know. I've obviously been studying too much and have lost touch with reality, lol. Just to add to the geeky nerdiness look, I'll confess that when I was in the Uni bookstore the other day, I found at least 4 textbooks that I'm keen to read over the holidays. I soooo need to get a life!

Non-stash reduction

2009-10-09T20:35:00.000+13:00

Sewing time has been scarce as the semester winds down with the subsequent increase in assignments due and then exams. However, only three weeks to go. I'm still checking in at Spotlight to see if the melton goes on special, but no luck so far. Wish they'd get a move on because I do like that purple, although I've found it will fray a bit. I might have to think about finishing the edges.

Meanwhile, I've succumbed to the joys of Trademe and bought fabric, plus I've visited Spotlight a few times ... - which I really don't need with the way my stash stats are going for the year! I will have to do some serious sewing in November and December to even this out a bit. Something stash consuming.... like bedsheets. Or a tent. Or a cover for the house. That should use up a bit, lol.

I bought 3 pieces of knit off Trademe as a test to see what the quality and service were like. I'd have to say thumbs up! Reasonable prices, very quick service ( I bought on the Tuesday, paid on the Weds and received the goods on Saturday) and the quality seems nice. Each piece came with a label with composition and care instructions which can be helpful.

Spotlight has contributed a couple of knits for cardigans for me, some nylon lycra for a swimsuit for DD2, a mesh for a top/jacket for me and a checked fabric for a shirtdress also for DD2. Photos will have to wait for another day as the camera batteries are all flat.

I'm looking forward to sewing some of this up. Just got to get two essays out of the way and 2 more exams. Sigh.

Tempted by the Ottobre Coats

2009-09-03T14:00:00.007+12:00

Cold, snowy days remind me that I need a winter coat. Of course it's officially spring, the plum trees are covered in blossom, and we've had a few weeks of lovely warm days to end winter on. But today is cold and raining with hail and snowy stuff at times, and did I mention cold? I know that some of you have colder, like if you live in Alaska (Hi Dawn!), but I'm a wuss and I'd let the warm weather lull me into a summer mentality. So I'm declaring it officially cold here. :)

In the latest Ottobre Woman are a couple of lovely coats.

I love this coat and I think it would be lovely out of the navy wool cashmere I have in the stash. But it would need a "little" bit of fit adjustment which requires time.

In the same issue is this coat, which looks like it would be a quicker sewing project. And the sizing is closer.

I even found melton at Spotlight. And in purple. It's so tempting..... but it's $39.95m and this coat takes around 2.6 metres. Maybe I should sacrifice some of my navy cashmere ( I think I have over 6 metres, possibly 9 or 10m). But the purple just looks so cheerful. I will have to think about it some more.

Technologically challenged

2009-09-03T10:28:00.007+12:00

First up - a big thank you for the kind comments and support after my last post. I guess my 'Mommy' panic gene kicked in big time for a bit. But, once I caught up on some sleep, had another chat with the doctor and been sent a whole lot of stats by a friend who works in oncology, I was much calmer. Now we're just waiting and seeing (and crossing fingers etc).

Today I discovered why some people (namely, me) should not be allowed to own modern technologies like mp3 players.

To understand why, you have to know some background - for instance, that I am tone deaf. Can't sing for peanuts. No really - I'm awful. Just ask my family. If I busked, people would pay me to stop. (In fact when I sing at home, my kids do ask me to stop - once they've stopped laughing). On a funny aside - I was in the school choir for years. How you ask? Well I'm also a dab hand at lip synching. :)

Anyways, I like singing along with songs on the stereo,..... and the radio,........ and my mp3.... (you get a hint of where this is going?)

Now we add in the wildcard. My cellphone, which has it's own resident gremlin. I have a tendency to shove my phone in my jeans pocket. Note, my phone is not a fliptop, so it can be very easy for the gremlin to 'accidentally' call someone (as Judy knows. Goodness knows how many times Judy has been rung by my phone, or how many dollars have been spent for her to listen to me doing my groceries.)

Soooo, today I'm driving home. I've pulled my phone out of my pocket and put it on the seat beside me; I'm listening to my mp3 and belting out a wonderful (well, if you're tone deaf it sounds good) version of Greenday's 'American Idiot'. All is going well.....

......until I stop at a traffic light and look down at my phone.... Oooops! Still if I had to embarrass myself, at least it was my sister on the other end. Although she's threatening to report me for the use of torture, lol.

Apart from humiliating myself, I've finally finished a cardigan. I blatantly copied a cardigan Judy had made for herself. Heck, I even borrowed the pattern from Judy and got her to explain the changes she'd made. Then for some insane reason I made it a size bigger than I normally would through the shoulders. Mehh, but it's wearable and seeing as we seem to have reverted back to winter, it'll get worn. I'm debating a piece of ribbon across the inside back to keep the shoulders from slipping further down.

This is adapted from Burda WOF 7/2007 #128 The Wrap Shirt. You can see Judy's sketch of how she adapted it. Isn't she clever! I love the neckline/collar on this. Lovely and toasty warm for wintery days.

A couple of blurry photos. I'm not sure what is up with the camera but it seems to be having trouble staying focussed. The dirty mirror didn't help either. I've also lightened these up considerably so you have a slight chance at seeing something....

And look - I even mitred the corners!

Well, I'm off to continue my Literature search (Yay for electronic databases!) and torture the cats with my singing.... :)

I need sleep!

2009-08-21T14:29:00.002+12:00

This morning I took DD1 to the Doctors. Nothing too urgent we thought, but the only time we could get into see 'our' doctor. We ticked off the few things that needed checking and then DD thought to mention the 'stiff, lumpy neck'.
Now the Doc is great and very calming, but even though it was preceded by "I don't think we need to do a...", the word 'biopsy' is one word that a mother does not want to hear mentioned in relation to her daughter! Rationally, I know he's not too worried, that we're on a monthly check-up for 6 months and often they go away by themselves.... but in my sleep-deprived irrationality, all I can think is that the possibility is still there that in 6 months if the lump is still there, or if it gets any bigger, there will be a biopsy to check for the big 'C'.

I have been slightly freaked out all day. Luckily I had a paper to write to distract myself, although I'm not going to promote it as my best work.

Tonight I think a glass of wine and some mindless telly whilst cuddling with my kids on the couch might be in order.

Last week...

2009-08-11T23:37:00.002+12:00

Well, okay.... this post has been sitting, all typed up waiting for photos, for 2 weeks now. So, lets just call it 'Last fortnight....' :)

Week 1:
What does 15 minutes at a time get you?

The sleeves got sewn into the check shirtdress. When DD tried it on I found it was a bit tight across the shoulders so I let the back armscye out a smidgeon to provide a bit more ease. It's still sitting on the desk waiting to be finished...

Oops, you can tell this has been sitting 'folded' on my desk for a while. It still needs the hem done, belt loops, belt, and buttonholes. All those buttonholes.

I dug out and hemmed a UFO - Jalie 2682, to wear out to dinner ~~on Thursday~~ a week or so ago. (Sorry, the photo quality is a bit rough. That's what happens when my photo helpers are all tucked up in bed.)

This top was sewn over a year ago and I blogged about it then. When I looked at it I realised that I'd shaped the sides after I'd taken the original photo. It only took me a few minutes to hem this and now I have another top to wear. Tho the static cling factor of this one is irritating, as you can see in the photo. I'm definitely going to make this top again in a better fabric. BTW, a year ago DH said he didn't like the seams in the back. Now he does. Men!

I've also cut out another Ottobre gathered neck tee. This is my favourite pattern for tees and I like having a TNT that I can just pull out to make. I'm hoping to squeeze this in around a couple of big assignments that are due soon.

Week 2:
Hmmm, the assignments are still being worked on - 18 books for one alone! Ah, the joys of understanding social cleavage and electoral behaviour. There has also been a third assignment added with short notice by an ever-so-kind lecturer (sob). Today I read a news article about the link between stress and weight gain.... oh dear. Just what I need - another thing to worry about! ;)

No progress on the shirtdress or the Ottobre tee. Both are still sitting beside my desk.
However, I did borrow a Burda magazine from Judy to make a copy of a cardigan she made as a copy of one another friend bought. In a couple of 15 minute (or slightly more) blocks I managed to get this traced, adjusted and cut out. I started this with no idea of whether this would suit me and DD1 has been kind enough to tell me that it looks like an old ladies cardigan, but I'm ignoring her. Again, this just needs hemming.....It's sitting beside my desk.... (And this, folks, is how you end up with a pile of UFO's.)

So, 15 minute blocks are getting a bit of sewing in. The biggest problem is trying to fit in the 15 minutes. Too often this means I am sewing at 2am. Not the best idea. Also not such a good idea is sewing while cooking dinner. I know this from bitter (well, burnt) experience.

This weeks goals - write an assignment by this Friday, then 2 more by next Thursday. I was going to aim for earlier nights, but I'm thinking that may not happen this week. I'm going to see if I can steal time to hem my cardigan. Maybe if I rope in a child to mind the oven? :)

Prioritising

2009-07-27T21:22:00.010+12:00

As I've alluded to before, I'm studying full-time. On top of family life this means a lot of my time lately seems to be timetabled. Not rigidly hour by hour; more in a structured must-do list type of way. Along the way, as I feel stretched every which way, things get shoved to the bottom of the list. I've realised lately that two of my joys in life (and sanity savers), my special group of friends and sewing, have been getting ignored. Shame on me!

So, having had this insight, what's a girl to do when her husband generously shares his tummy bug and it leaves her unable to focus on academic readings over the weekend? Well, I was selfish enough to keep my bugs to myself, lol, but I did risk a bit of sewing. Rated 'Easy' of course - no point in pushing my luck.

The ~~sacrificial~~ garment in question is a shirtdress for DD1 in checked 'poly rayon stretch suiting' from Spotlight (and which melts impressively to the iron if you let it get too hot....). Both the pattern, Burda 7819 , and fabric were bought on the Friday night while I was killing time waiting for DS's basketball to finish. That's a pretty impressive turnaround time for me. I seriously expected this to just make it's way to the great stash pile (well, cupboard) and be forgotten about. Judging by her reaction, so did DD. Now I've just got to put in the sleeves, add the belt loops and hem the thing. Then the buttonholes. Hmmmm. Have I mentioned before that I managed 8 (yes, eight) years without doing a buttonhole? I'm sooooo looking forward to doing 8 or more. This will get gradually finished in 15 minute blocks.

I also played hooky this afternoon and went to meet my friends for a couple of hours. Fun. :)

Photos soon...

Black and White Hoodies

2009-07-12T20:20:00.004+12:00

Well, my holidays are over and I don't seem to have got any of the sewing done that I'd planned. It seems my mojo packed and went on holiday too. So, in an effort to kickstart a sewing spree, I started to tackle my DD2's woeful lack of clothing.

First up was to use a piece of Mickey Mouse themed sweatshirting I had acquired from my mother. This was apparently purchased in the mid to late 80s, so it was certainly time it was sewn into something useful. Everytime I looked at this fabric all that came to mind was those really baggy 80s jackets. I started with hoodie pattern #36 from Ottobre 04/2007, added extra length to the body and sleeves and used the ungathered pockets, sleeves and hood from #34. I made a size 146 so there is plenty of growing room.

Next up was the 'Emo' sweatshirt as it has been titled in our house. I had a small remnant which was not big enough to allow the hoodie DD2 wanted. A bit of digging in the stash and we came up with some white sweatshirting for the sleeves. I used KS 2893, a tee-shirt pattern, in a size 12. I topstitched in pink embroidery thread but it doesn't show up that well.

A New Look

2009-06-21T00:07:00.004+12:00

You may have noticed changes in the look of my blog over the last couple of days. I decided I was bored with my old blog colour scheme. After spending an evening playing with almost all the Blogger templates, plus having a look online to see what was available, this is what I came up with.

What do you think? Any suggestions? Is the type easy enough to read? While I'm picking brains, any idea on how to change the colour of the little arrow markers that still show in green? :)

TIA for any suggestions!

Snow Day!

2009-06-17T22:26:00.005+12:00

Yesterday we woke to snow to sea level here. As we're fairly close to sea level that meant we actually got some at our house. :) The kids were pretty excited as school was cancelled - which was good because there was no way we could get the car out of the driveway and no buses were running. Instead the kids put the drive slope to good use and had a great time sliding down on old skateboard decks. Then it was down the road for a snowball fight at the park.

This may look like a pathetic amount of snow to some, but for us it's a big deal as normally it's the hill suburbs who have all the fun. Snow this low, that actually settles, only happens maybe once or twice a year at the most.

It snowed on and off for most of the day -

Luckily we didn't have to go anywhere. DH kept in touch with work by phone, not that many others had managed to get in. Fortunately, my exam wasn't until today or I'd have had a problem because the University doesn't cancel exams.

Speaking of which -my last exam was today so I'm free for a few weeks - yippee!

No Sewing, but....

2009-06-07T00:13:00.002+12:00

I have a lovely clean bathroom.

Nothing like exam time to get that house sparkling. :)

Oh, and fabric came home with me from Spotlight. Nothing too amazing - black tricot and a printed satin with skulls on. Both have been bought as linings. Yes, I'm ~~shamelessly copying~~ inspired by Judy's idea. I'm sure she'll forgive me. [Insert big cheesy grin here :) ]

Hopefully there'll be some sewing in the next few weeks.

Oh my! Two months? Really?

2009-05-30T10:39:00.000+12:00

It's been a while since I posted hasn't it?!

I've been busy studying and getting serious sewing withdrawal. Chocolate just isn't cutting it as a substitute, darn it. Shame too, because I ~~have,~~ ahem, had fundraiser chocolate bars sitting on my table, so you'd think I'd have been home and hosed. (as a side note, if you munch away on blue M&M's, be sure to check the mirror before leaving the house.... cyanosis is not a good look at all!)

I've managed to squeeze in dribs and drabs of sewing, but nothing great. I whipped up a 'quick and dirty' tunic for DD2 to her own design. When I say 'quick and dirty', I mean it. Take a remnant of printed satin, fold in half and cut out a neck hole, fold in a small allowance and stitch, sew up side seams to armhole height, finish armhole edges and hem. It looks like a pillowcase with holes cut in it, lol.

Then DD1 was in the school musical and naturally needed a costume. Luckily the only thing we couldn't get out of her wardrobe was a sparkly disco skirt and a bright, short skirt. A quick trip to Spotlight for some sequinned fabric, a dig in the stash for the matching nylon lycra, and a short time later she had an easy, elastic-waisted, reversable skirt. With the short costume change times I made it so that the lycra could be pulled up and flipped out for the non-disco scenes.

I also got started on my 'sweater' remake. I'd started out with a v-neck top, cut it up the centre front and that was as far as I'd got for the last, um.... too many weeks. I've now added bands to the front. I've still got to do the neckline. Then I'm not sure. I'm making it up as I go along. I haven't even decided how I'll fasten it. This is my 'muslin' so to speak. I wonder how it'll turn out. ;)

At the moment I'm contemplating a top I bought:

I bought it specifically for the cardy part and with the idea of cutting out the false shirt front. I mean, how easy is that? All I need is a pair of scissors, 5 minutes, and I'd have a cardy. However, DH likes it as is (tho, he's also terrible at imagining what things could look like). The problem is that I'm just not a frills person and the ruffles on the front irritate me. I keep looking down thinking there's something on my shirt, lol. This would probably be worn over all those Ottobre tops I'm going to be making after exams.... ;)

Chocolate smilies

2009-03-27T20:46:00.006+13:00

It's nice to get rewarded for something you were going to do anyway. :)

Mmmm, chocolate. I resisted the urge to drive around the block and go through the checkpoint again, lol.

The pen I was given for having multiple passengers (my kids, lol), thereby being ecofriendly, was much appreciated too.

2009-03-20T14:18:00.007+13:00

The only sewing that has gone on in my house recently is a baby blanket and mending. Not very exciting I'll admit. (Although the fact I have a new nephew is quite exciting.)

The lack of blogging comes with the usual excuses.... life, university courses, etc etc. You know how it goes. That doesn't mean that sewing is far from my mind. I'm still grabbing quick chances to read blogs, although I may not always comment if I'm pressed for time - sorry.

I'm also working on a personal goal to use sewing as an example in every one of my courses. ;) I've mentioned the online sewing community for my sociology paper and am currently working the act of 'sewing a garment' into the Research methods paper as an example of quantitative research: I hypothesise that this jacket pattern will not fit straight from the envelope, test with a muslin, hypothesis correct, modify hypothesis for new experiment 'I hypothesise that making larger darts will help it fit better', make muslin..... :) I'm still not sure how I'm going to get sewing into Political philosophy/Theories of justice, but I'll do my best.

In the meantime, fabric is still being acquired, ahem. Most recently a few purchases for DD at the Spotlight 20% off sale. Not that I actually needed fabric, but we'll just say I'm helping to keep the economy going. ;)

Here's the purchases for DD2: a poly knit that she wants as a tunic for over leggings; a knit with gathered/ruched flowers; and a knit which both DD1 and DD2 want tops from. I'll have to be creative because there is only 1.4 metres. I'm thinking short sleeve top with black undersleeves perhaps.

Purchases for me: A 'Pucci' knit from Spotlight, I think this is rayon blend; a wool blend, also from Spotlight - on the clearance table marked down to $4.99. This wants to be the Ottobre jacket from 02/2006 when it grows up; and another piece of the clearance Valencia, also from Spotlight. I seem to have bought a lot at Spotlight. :)

The blanket I made uses the last of the bigger pieces of embroidered polar fleece, backed with microfleece. Nice and cosy for the coming winter.

I better sew something soon or my stash stats will be going the wrong way!

OMG!

2009-03-07T14:01:00.004+13:00

What is up with these?!

I came across a post about these on a blog I've just found - Fat Girls Like Nice Clothes Too

How the models walked in these is beyond me. (Video here.) The pink glittery pair about half-way through just look too cloven-hoofed, devil-goat to me!

Given the pain normal style heels give me, I think I'll give these a miss. :)

2009-03-05T18:21:00.003+13:00

It works everytime - as soon as I sew a heap of cold weather clothing (or nightwear) the weather turns hot again. :) Maybe I should hire myself out. I can see a lucrative income from sports teams, parade organisers.... lol.

The magic wardrobe strikes again! And very quickly too. :) I've worn the brown Ottobre cardy 4 times already. For some reason, I feel like I have no other jacket/cardigans to reach for. I will hasten to say, that I didn't walk around half-nekked up till now! Just that I've gone off, got bored with, or plain old worn out most of my other choices. (I really didn't want to spell 'n_ked' correctly! Think of the blog trawlers that could attract!)

On my desk I have a jumper waiting to be refashioned into a cardigan. After seeing some at a market, I felt very inspired. Now I've reached the point where I've overthought it and don't know where to start. Meanwhile other sewing ideas are whirling around in the grey matter, university has started back and my sewing time has decreased dramatically. If I don't want to end up completely under-dressed for the weather and all 'nippy noodly' (from Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging - I can be young and hip. I can. I can!) I'm going to have to turn out something else to wear.

Seeing Spots!

2009-02-28T20:39:00.017+13:00

I don't know how many readers will be familiar with Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby

but you may see the resemblance......

right down to the wrinkles on the sleeve/arm, lol.

Those who are familiar with the show may understand why I'm saying "Blobby, blobby, blobby" in a funny voice lately. :) If you're not familiar with it, you'd just assume I was mad, lol.

I came across this knit fabric in my stash and seeing as it's a soft snuggly knit and it had been a cold week, I combined it with Simplicity 4327 to make a ~~tent~~ nightshirt . I had 6m, bought at $2m in a Spotlight clearance. I'm not sure what I was thinking of when I bought that much of a bright pink spotted knit.

I chose a size by my full-b ust measurement and it ended up a bit big. Sherril has commented that it's not too bad apart from the sleeve length. And big does = comfy, but I'm feeling very much like I could be this guy -

After I'd made my sleepwear, I decided to spread the pink around rather than put it back into the stash. Besides, I'd already put other fabric into the gap it had left.

I continued with the sleepwear theme. DD2 got a pair of PJ pants from Burda 4222 (which is OOP, but seems to be the same as 9747), with a polar fleece top made using Kwik Sew 3017. She was adamant she wanted a polar fleece top for cold nights, but I think it will get more use on wintry 'Pyjama days'. I'll make her a lighter-weight top for in bed.

After that, I still had some fabric left. DD1 thought she'd like some PJs too so I dug out Simplicity 4798 (which is also OOP btw).

I made the trousers/pants first, which left just enough fabric for the body of the top. Imagine my annoyance when I cut out the top front and back, only to find what looked like a dirty oily mark right in the front near the neckline. I washed with stain remover and it now looks like a paler spot. Ah, well. At least the oily mark is gone. I used a white interlock remnant for the sleeves and neckband. It must be a Simplicity thing because the sleeves on this top are really long too. Or maybe we just have short arms.

On the trousers I ended up lowering the waistband by 7cm and it's still not incredibly low.

As I was on a pyjama roll I decided to use a piece of Barbie wincyette/flannelette I'd found while hunting out the white interlock. I figured if I didn't use it for DD2 soon, she'd be too old for it. Again, I used the Burda pj pattern for the pants. This time I used Kwik Sew 2893 and made a raglan sleeve tee from a blue knit remnant and the white used on her sisters top. I also added a piece of the pants fabric as an applique to tie the two together. Tip - for the applique I used a washable glue stick on the back to help keep it straight whilst stitching.

Both girls wore their new pyjamas last night and have pronounced them 'awesome'. For the moment, I am a popular mummy. ;) I'm sure it won't last.

The great thing is that the pyjama sewing spree helped the stash stats quite a bit. :)

A Tale of Two Cardies...

2009-02-22T17:37:00.011+13:00

One wearable, one not.

First up, a big THANK YOU to everyone for their help and suggestions as to how I might save my wadd-ette from full wadder status. I tried most of the tips, from belt (yikes, not a good look) to pinning in waist darts as many suggested. That worked to some degree, but didn't seem to go with the 'style' of the cardigan and also seemed to just cause the front to sit open more. However, I think I have it to wearable status. It might never be a favourite, but it's made it to the wardrobe month-long trial that Belinda/Sew4Fun suggested.

I left the cardy to languish on my desk while I ~~blobbed on the couch~~ relaxed in front of the television until I had a revelation. Dang it - I am a lollipop shape (I'm thinking ChupaChup here, lol). It's my current body shape and, short of liposuction, I can't think of a way to change that overnight. That didn't mean I was going to settle for the octuplet pregnancy look though!

I grabbed the seam-ripper and started frogstitching (why, oh why did I get such a good match for thread?) until the overlocking/serging beat me for the night. Yep, I didn't just baste the cardy together to try it on. Nooooo, I beautifully finished every seam with 4-thread overlocking. Clever, no?

Overnight my subconscious kept working and in the morning I knew where I was going to start. I also knew that if I didn't start right away, it would probably never get done, 'cos that's just me. So, more frogstitching. My seam-ripper and I have become very good friends lately. Once I'd finished deconstructing, it was time to put it back together, but hopefully improved.

I started by digging out the pattern for the plain tee from Ottobre 02-2007 #2. I've done a FBA on this and know it fits so figured it was a good shape to start with. I overlaid the back pattern and used it to mark and trim a more shaped back for the cardigan. I did allow about 5mm on the side seam for a bit more ease as a cardy.

The tee-shirt pattern back on top of the cardigan pattern back, showing the difference in shaping and amount I trimmed -

Next, I did the same for the front, again using the pattern piece from the tee-shirt.

Next was removing some of the gathers, about half the extra fabric allowed for gathers was removed (2.7cm or approximately an inch)

I put all the pieces back together, reattached the satin ribbon binding on the front edges and went to mark button placements. Then I noticed the strange ripple on the front edge... :( A quick check showed one front edge had stretched out between all the unpicking and reattaching. Sigh, you'd have thought I'd notice the ribbon didn't have as much excess length when I was resewing wouldn't you? I can only offer the lateness of the hour as my defence. More frogstitching. Some steam above the fabric encouraged it back to shape and I started again. About now I was wondering whether I really wanted a brown cardy.

But I persevered, right through unpicking a crooked buttonhole (after that I decided the other three weren't that crooked ;) ) and sewing on buttons.

Here's the finished product. For comparison I've put the "before" photo on the left, followed by the "after" photo.

Before ----------/ After----------- / After worn open

Before-an octuplet look --------/ After - down to triplets, lol.

A close-up of the buttons

Like I said, still not perfect. For instance, I can see gathers where I added a ribbon facing to the neckline because I didn't use a bias ribbon (tut tut). I could unpick that and fix it........ Maybe I will if it lasts a month in the wardrobe. :)

Getting close...

2009-02-21T22:50:00.003+13:00

...so very close to wearable. I was even up to pinning to determine button placement. Then I noticed something was awry. Sigh, somewhere between the unpicking, cutting, and resewing, one of the front edges has ended up longer than the other. Well that would explain why the front was rippled. More frogstitching to be done :(

Next post will either see it in the bin, or on me...

Wadder, wad-ette, or wearable?

2009-02-19T21:47:00.004+13:00

The sewing mojo hit yesterday. Not for the jacket that has been sitting cut out and waiting for sewing time since before Christmas. Nor for the trousers that have been waiting just as long. Nope, instead I decided to ~~ruin~~ start on a new piece of fabric. Without a muslin. In my defence, I thought I was safe because I had checked the pattern pieces would physically fit.... pity I didn't pause long enough to do a style check! I had to size the pattern up -hmmm, perhaps the Ottobre people were right to stop at a 46.

So, I present Ottobre 2-2008 #10.

With this view I could almost decide to wear it.... a bit baggy but maybe wearable....

then I saw this view -

I could be pregnant with octuplets in there and no-one could tell! I'd like to hope that, because the fabric is fluid, there is enough movement to show there isn't. I'd really, really like to hope that. And I do like the fabric, a chocolate Ponti knit.

I thought about shaping the side seams more but that isn't going to fix that tent effect from the side.

I've also toyed with unpicking the lower front to remove the gathers and excess fabric in front, but would that work with the style? Out of curiosity I wrapped across to try to simulate this idea -
What do you think? Fixable? Or do I just call this a day and a wadder for the donation bins? Or do I ignore the side view and go for comfort?

Ottobre Woman Sneak Peeks

2009-02-12T20:26:00.004+13:00

There are a few sneak-peek piccies up at The Wooly Thread. I'm liking that grey jacket, as is DD1. The dresses.... well, I'm not really a dress person, but DD likes the beige.

Only 2 weeks to go....

Everything Just Sew

2009-02-12T13:44:00.002+13:00

Another blog to read. :)

My dear friend, Judy, has finally started a blog and about time too!

Fifteen years ago I met Judy at a 'New Mothers group'. I'd just had my son and had sewn the grand total of two garments for him. Imagine my surprise/horror when this other new mum leaned over and asked if I'd sewn the all-in-one DS was wearing. Of course, what went through my head was "OMG! Does it look that bad?!!!"

One thing led to another, we chatted, babies played and I borrowed an awful lot of Burda Baby magazines. In a very short time I'd been encouraged to well and truly dive into a sewing hobby. In fact, it's amazing my DH talks to Judy, lol, because I certainly didn't have any fabric stash before I met her!

Over the years, Judy has patiently weathered many phone calls asking for sewing advice and tips (and many requests for buttonholes and invisible zips). She has been my sewing teacher, mentor and friend.

Welcome to the world of blogging, Judy!

All done

2009-02-02T17:31:00.005+13:00

Phew! I finally finished the mattress covers for my brother's caravan! I have of course procrastinated over these. First I had to get the more urgent projects out of the way and lets face it, when it comes to a 'have-to-do' project, anything is more urgent, lol. Then I had to wait for the continuous length zipper to arrive at Spotlight. (and wait....and wait....). Then, when DB rang to ask if they'd be ready for the weekend, I had to play imaginatively with the zippers that were in store, eventually coming up with an arrangement butting 2 zippers end to end (pullers in the middle) to get the length. Finally, after facing the fact that I needed to get these finished at some point, I readied myself to tackle them.

In reality these were just very large box cushion covers. They shouldn't have been difficult. However, DB and DSisIL had chosen the fabric from hell.

Seriously.

I mean, this fabric has knocked satin from the top of my 'hate-to-sew-with' list. It even put the 'creep' factor when sewing velour to shame. A walking foot might have helped, but I don't have one for my machine. Instead, I had to go for loosening the presser foot pressure by quite a bit. (Much looser and I'd have been darning, lol) To top off the sorry saga, I ran out of upholstery thread but another Dsis came to the rescue by buying some on her way over to visit, which meant I could get the danged things finished tonight and I can deliver them tomorrow morning.

I should acknowledge I learnt several things doing these:

- when it comes to a 'have-to-do' job, it's better to just bite the bullet and get on with it! Whilst trying to summon up the willpower to start these I sewed nothing else. I felt guilty even thinking about other projects. Think of the wardrobe I could have had! (Unless I'd procrastinated on that too, lol.)

- I need kneepads if I'm going to crawl around the floor measuring and cutting out large rectangles. My knees reminded me I was not that young anymore after the couple of hours it took to cut these out. I also need a bigger lounge, or no furniture, if I do this again.

- it is a good idea to open the zipper when you sew the second side of the cover to the boxing strip. Yes, I really did forget this one.

- it is not a good idea to sew large amounts of bulky upholstery fabrics on very hot days!

Unfortunately this fabric doesn't count as from my stash. One of my urgent projects did however.
I had to sew a wrap skirt for DD1 for school last week after the shock of what the uniform supplier wanted to charge for a simple skirt. I took a pattern off the too small version, sized it up, (realised too late that I could have got DBro, the pattern-drafter, to make a pattern for me...) cut and sewed. Luckily I had 1.8m of a perfect navy in the stash bought for this purpose last year. I was working out pockets, pleats etc as I went and I'd change a few things if I was to do it again. Hopefully I won't have to tho, as I took a tip from the suit-hire outlets and sewed the waistband in seperate pieces. If I ever need to let it out, it's a simple sideseam stitchline. :)

Now to find where that mojo is hiding so I can get onto some sewing for me tomorrow.

Day-Trippin'

2009-01-28T21:35:00.003+13:00

We've had a glorious summer here. Yes, I know I'm rubbing it in for those with snow. :)

Of course, sunny, hot days demand a trip to the beach, so last week we packed the kids up and headed south to Curio Bay. This isn't a swimming beach as such, although there's great swimming in the next bay. Instead, this was a leisurely sightseeing trip (in an air-conditioned car! Very nice in the 30+ degree temperatures).

On the way, we stopped at the Tunnel Hill walk - an abandoned railway tunnel, 246m long and pitch black. And we didn't have a torch. The minute we stepped in, all I could think of was the movie, Cloverfield, lol. DH and the kids went all the way through guided by cellphone screen light, while I kept my nephew company in the first half of the tunnel.

Amazing to think the whole thing was dug out and built by hand.

We also stopped at Purakanui Falls. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Very pretty. Except for the toilets. Note to the authorities - calling it a 'Vault' toilet does not disguise the fact that it's a long-drop! Thank goodness for wet-wipes and sanitising handwash!

We timed it well to arrive at Curio Bay about 5pm. As we arrived the yellow-eyed penguins were starting to come in to feed their chicks. They are quite tolerant of humans as long as you are quiet and still, don't get between them and their nests, or within 10m.

Unlike these idiots...
...we stayed the distance and got to see about a dozen penguins. The annoying thing about ~~morons~~ people who won't stay their distance is that it can scare the penguins into returning to sea and abandoning their nest, which means the chicks starve to death.

The other drawcard of Curio Bay is the Fossilised Forest. In the photo above the penguin is on a fossilised tree-stump. The straight lines you can see are fossilised tree trunks. At some time in the past (about 160 million years ago) there was a flood which knocked down the trees and covered the trunks and stumps in silt, preserving and fossilising the remains. The kids were fascinated.

Unfortunately, there weren't any dolphins while we were there although we did catch glimpses of sealions swimming out in the kelp.

We finally started heading homewards with promises of MacDonalds for dinner. Now at one point we were only 37km from Invercargill and in hindsight we should have gone to McD there. But, no, Gore will have McD we thought. Wrongly as it turned out. Nevermind, Balclutha will have one. Wrong again! Luckily, Subways has spread to all small towns so we ended up with a much healthier dinner.

It was a great day out and a wonderful end to the holidays.

(and look, Judy - not a mention of sewing, lol.)

Gosh, thanks...

2009-01-27T00:18:00.006+13:00

Thanks, Sherril for awarding me the Kreativ Blogger Award - although I feel quite fraudulent as I've not been feeling at all creative lately. Sherril inspires me constantly with the wonderful clothes she makes and her impressive ability to manipulate patterns to create 'knock-off' tops which are far better than the RTW originals.

Here are the rules of the award~
1. Copy the award to your site - done
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award -done
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers - ummm....
4. Link to those on your blog
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

I really haven't kept track of who has, or hasn't been nominated already so instead I'd like to point to Carolyn's post. I think she says it so well. I think all bloggers deserve an award for putting the time and effort into sharing their creative endeavours and a part of their lives with us. Through blogs I've learned about people I'd never have a chance of knowing otherwise and I've been inspired in my humble endeavours by others creativity. So, if you read this, I nominate you! If you don't have a blog - why not start one? Go on, it's not hard. :)

Patternreview Quilt Blocks

2009-01-15T19:37:00.005+13:00

I finally got around to making a quilt block for the PR Friendship Quilt. Thank goodness Deepika extended the deadline to the 19th. I'll pop it in the post tomorrow morning but I've no idea how long it will take to wing halfway across the world. It never seems to take too long coming this way.

(As an aside: I am so impressed with Sewingpatterns.com - I ordered on Saturday Jan 3rd NZ time, which was Jan 2nd US time, and received them the following Saturday! Wow! Needless to say I'll be using this service again as the local Spotlight never seems to receive new stock. Not the staff's fault.)

I used Kiwiana fabrics (except for the multicoloured border). The boots in the top block are decorated gumboots which just appealed to me. I'm not even going to bother counting this little bit off stash, lol.
As I suspected, I found this small dabble into the quilting world quite addictive. I'm doing my best to ignore it though - the last thing I need is another stash to house!

Blogiversary, a cushion and Oven Mitts

2009-01-13T20:37:00.013+13:00

Oops, how on earth did I miss my first blogiversary? Ah well, maybe I'll do better on my 100th post - coming in another 9 posts! Guess I'll have to keep on sewing.

Today's sewing was bought to you by the letter 'C' and the letter 'M'.

'C' is for ~~cookie~~ cushion....

Just to maintain DD's giddy euphoria from her curtains, I also made her a cushion. It's pink with horses. Do you see a theme in her room? :)

I made a buttoned envelope-style cushion cover. Everything came from stash, including the buttons. That's another 0.5m for the Stash Contest. :)

..... and 'M' is for mitts. Oven Mitts to be precise.

The old ones were just shudderingly grungy, despite soakings in Napisan, so I felt no guilt in helping the tear get bigger so I could see what was inside. }:-) It turned out to be towelling.

I started out by creating a pattern from the old, grungy mitts.

NB: The measurements do not include seam allowance. I added a 1 cm seam allowance as you may be able to see in the photo.
Cut on the fold, 2 of the mitt pattern from the main fabric. Cut the desired padding, also on the fold.

Cut 2x full-sized pocket piece from the lining. Fold back the extra 2cm extension and cut 2x the pocket piece from the main fabric.

After a bit of testing involving a very hot tray, towelling and the remnants of cotton batting and the piece of thermal batting I had in the stash, I came up with a layer of the thermal batting (note: this is the thermal batting for making cooling lunchboxes etc) sandwiched between layers of cotton batting.

I lined the hand pocket with a checked cotton. I made the top layer of drill 1cm shorter so the lining would show as a band.

I sewed the top edge of lining and pocket, right sides together.Then I flipped the pieces right side out and lined the bottom edges up.

Topstitch the edge of the pocket piece. Place the bottom layer of mitt right-side up. Then the pocket, right-side down.

Continue adding the top of mitt (right-side down), then add the padding layer.

Pin together and sew around edges, leaving a portion along the side unsewn so you can turn it through. Turn through and handsew opening closed.

The final result.

Curtains at last.

2009-01-12T23:08:00.006+13:00

For about 2 1/2 years my DD has been waiting for these to get made. The Stash Contest over at Patternreview gave me the impetus to finally get around to it. That, and the thought that it may not be too long before an 8yo grows out of pink and horses (although the horse-mad 12yo has offered to have them despite the pinkness, so who can tell?) Because these are entered in the contest I've posted a review with some meagre details. I was adding the patterned fabric over partially made thermaldrapes, although it could have been easier to start from scratch, lol. Honestly, I just winged it - after all, they really are just big 'squares'. Despite that, for some reason I managed to keep the elastoplast manufacturers in business as I discovered the point of what felt like every, single pin.

Of course, new curtains meant rearranging the bedroom. I managed to spend 5 hours in DDs room helping her rearrange, sort and declutter. Phew!

It's back, it's back

2009-01-08T22:34:00.004+13:00

I'm kinda embarrassed to admit it but who could have thought that a mere 48 hours without a computer would be so hard?

Luckily it's back and we now have a gruntier machine for the 'net. Of course we also have to get used to all the new bits and the fact that all the buttons etc are in the 'wrong' places, lol. I am a creature of habit I guess.

One of those habits showed up in the stash stats for 2008. Despite my not working at a fabric store all year, I still managed to add 14.85 m to the stash totals. That's despite over 76 metres going out! If I was going to have a New Years resolution, it should be to reduce that stash. :)

On the sewing desk at the moment - curtains for DD's room - but it's just too hot to be handling that much fabric!

Ottobre Hug T-shirt

2009-01-06T17:24:00.001+13:00

I swear that the clocks all speed up at the end of the year!

Towards the end of the year there, I was feeling like my productive streak had worn off and that I hadn't accomplished a lot. The funny thing is that once I started listing it, I realised I have got quite a bit done after all. I think it's the still-very long "to-do" list affecting my perception. There's only one way of fixing that - I'm throwing away the list.... :)

One thing I could cross off the list was the Ottobre Hug Tees (01-2008-12) for my nieces, complete with matching leggings (04-2008-2). I was so glad that Meggie Lulu pointed out there was a tutorial on the Ottobre Yahoo group! With pictures!

I made these following the Ottobre tutorial, although at some point I'd like to try Mermaids method to have only the one layer in the front.

Procrastination does have its advantages as it meant I didn't start DD's version until this year. It can therefore be entered in the Stash Contest on Patternreview. :)

As a memory jog to myself, and in case anyone else finds it remotely useful, I took a couple of pictures of the first binding piece.

For the yellow top I made for my niece, I put the binding on as directed (and as Mermaids shows in the above link). However, the cotton/lycra was thicker than a woven would be and therefore made some of the bound seams a bit bulky. So for the subsequent tees, I first of all trimmed 5mm from the trim-binding width, then sewed the binding and piece 1a (left upper front) right-sides together. Then I laid piece 1b (lower front) over, lining the cut edge up with the stitching, and then sewed within the seam allowance to hold it.

Fold the seam allowances on binding in and fold down over piece 1b (lower front) and topstitch close to edge.

Sew shoulder seams. This gives a back with two fronts attached. Starting at right edge of 1b, sew the neckline binding with the right-side of binding to wrong side of neck edge. Continue up, around back neckline and along piece 1. Fold binding to front, fold in seam allowances and topstitch. The end result is a shape like this - (oops, forgot to take a photo there)

That's probably as clear as mud. :) All that's left after that is to match up side seams, attach sleeves etc. On DD's top I lettuce-edged the sleeve hems because she wanted "fluttery" sleeves. The finished result on DD -

The legging capris she is wearing are Ottobre 04-2008-18, made from a cotton/lycra from Spotlight. Because of fabric constraints I folded out 2.6cm from the bottom leg panel and a further 3 cm from the leg length. I think they've ended up a good length for a cool summer day and I plan on making more.

Tonight we lose the computer for a day or two - gulp! When it comes back, it'll be 'bionic-ed' up (better, stronger, faster.... lol) but how are we going to cope without the computer?!!

Ottobre Twiggy Jeans

2008-12-04T22:07:00.003+13:00

DD2 has been growing like a weed with the result that her wardrobe is getting sparse. Luckily, Judy loaned me her Ottobre 06-2007 magazine so I could try out this pattern (#32).

Where do I start? I looove this pattern for DD. I made these up exactly to the pattern and they fit her really well. I think I could skim in a teensy bit more on the hip and leg for a tighter skinny jean but that is to be expected as DD is size 128 measurements with a size 134 length (I made a 134). I've reviewed this over at Patternreview with a few more details.

I used a stretch denim with a metallic pink 'thread' woven through which gives the glitter. This played havoc with my needle, blunting it badly. The metallic thread was also probably the cause of the topstitching thread problems I had. (The thread kept tangling and splitting in this fabric but is fine in normal denim)

A picture after DD had worn them all day so a bit wrinkled but it shows the waistband height.

The front (oops, somehow I've made DD look short-legged, lol)

And the back, complete with the ribbon tag I sewed into the pocket seam.

The instructions seem quite good. However, I followed Debbie Cook's Zipper method rather than Ottobre's.

I think this is a well-drafted jeans pattern. The style is trendy and just what my DD's want. DD now needs more of these (well, in reality she does, but it's funny hearing her try and justify a want as a need ;) )

Open Letters

2008-12-03T21:33:00.006+13:00

Recently I came across this on another blog that I read occasionally. It comes from McSweeney's Open Letters to People or Entities Who Are Unlikely to Respond.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE TOTALLY IMPRACTICAL SIZE CHART FOR WOMEN'S CLOTHING.

May 26, 2005

Dear Totally Impractical Size Chart for Women's Clothing,

I've been dealing with you for nearly 12 years, since that summer in junior high when I skyrocketed to atmospheric heights, head and shoulders above my classmates, and the clothing in the kids' section of the department store no longer fit my long legs and gangly arms. My mother took me to your side of the store, and, for a moment, I felt mature, womanly, the kind of mystical feminine that one only sees in movies. I was one step closer to being an adult. I was happy. And then I tried on your clothes.

Everything I tried on I had to try on in threes. For years, I've been carting trilogies of skirts and pants into the dressing room, armfuls at a time, because I have no idea what size I wear. I can make an approximation, but that "size" ranges between three of your numbers, depending on the store, because these sizes don't actually mean anything. I'm an 8, but an 8 of what? Inches? Feet? Joules, the numeric value describing the relation between heat and mechanical work that I used in my high-school physics class and then never again? Is that it?

Why can't you just use inches, like the male size chart? Why is that too hard? Do you think women will feel paranoid if we suddenly go from single- to double-digit numbers? We already have to convert in our heads whenever we buy clothes that come from any other country except America.

You have wasted hours of my life, Totally Impractical Size Chart for Women's Clothing. Women spend days each year standing in dressing rooms, one hand on the mirror, the other tugging on a pair of jeans, trying to force them up because, damn it, the label says they're their size. And don't think that women are the only ones hassled. Men spend a good amount of time dealing with your repercussions, too. If we have to buy a pair of pants that are a size larger than what we normally wear, you can bet we're going to go home cranky. When the men watch television with us that evening, we will notice them staring a little too longingly at Courtney Cox or Jessica Alba, and we will pick a fight. "You think she's pretty?" we will say. "Yeah," the men will reply. "Is she prettier than me?" The men will take a split second too long to respond, and we will say "Oh! I see how it is!" When the men finally get the words out, when they finally say, "No, honey. You're pretty, too. And besides, Jessica Alba looks nothing like you," we will interpret that to mean "because you're a fat cow," and then we will cry.

See the pain and suffering you have caused? If only you were a sensible size chart, one using inches, or even centimeters, the world would be a better place. Women wouldn't have to carry pant triplets into the dressing rooms, and couples wouldn't fight over Jessica Alba on television. We could direct our attention to more important things, like world peace. But because of you, we still have war and violence. I hope you're happy.

Claire Suddath

I so get this - which is why I sew.

I also liked The Open Letter to Low-cut Pants. Yup, I've belted up and had baggy butt in the past. :)

Jalie 2805 and Kwik Sew 2894

2008-11-29T22:00:00.008+13:00

DS is off camping next week. Even though this will technically be the first week of summer the weather doesn't always take notice of what it's supposed to be doing. As DS has activities like tramping on Mt Cook and apparently walking up a glacier planned, some thermals are considered a good idea. Lacking a specific thermal underwear pattern, I decided to see what I could make work. These were very quick and rough sewing.

I used Jalie 2805 to recut a puchased (on end-of-season sale) XL polyprop top. Yes, I know the Jalie is a womens t-shirt pattern but DS doesn't (yet). ;)

I took the shaping out of the side seams and cut a size smaller than DS chest measurement. The result is a pretty good fit for a thermal top and the benefit is that DD1 can also wear it if necessary. :) DS asked for the topstitching to be in the fluoro yellow cotton which was still on my machine from DD's smiley face jacket. This was one of the projects that suffered from the twinneedle issues - it doesn't look too bad from the outside, although there are the odd skipped stitches.

For the second top I used Kwik Sew 2894, a boys raglan sleeve top.

I cut a size L (10) for my 15 yo and added about 6cm to the sleeve and 13 cm to the body length. This top is made from a (supposedly) merino knit. Even at a size L(10) this top is loose in the sleeve and body, but DS doesn't want it taken in. I used a remnant strip from the polyprop top for the neck binding and gave up on twinneedling and used a zigzag stitch instead. (The top isn't actually as wonky as DS is wearing it here.)

Sorry the photos aren't great - DS is a very reluctant model.

Judy - Photos of the jeans soon, I promise. They're still in the washing cycle, currently drying.

Egads! I'm sure that's not good for it

2008-11-28T14:20:00.008+13:00

A few weeks ago I was hemming jeans in a hurry (because I needed them in 10 minutes and I'm sooo organised that of course I left myself plenty of time...) Anyway, I broke the needle. This was bad enough (did I mention I was in a hurry?) but then I couldn't find all the needle and the machine wouldn't turn because something was jamming the bobbin casing. I had to rush and spent the entire pantomime ~~a jibbering wreck~~ thinking I'd broken my poor machine. Luckily, a couple of hours away meant I could approach my machine calmly and logically when I got home. I ended up taking out the bobbin casings etc and the bottom cover of my machine to find that a piece of needle had pierced the hoo-dakky-whatsit (I think it's the race?) that holds the bobbin hook in.

In spite of myself, I was impressed, especially after the effort it took to pull that bit of needle out with pliers! Unfortunately I didn't think to take a photo of the needle in there - I was too busy crossing my fingers and hoping I could get it all back together again!
Why do I mention this? So you can understand and ignore the terrible mess my machine made of twin needling my latest projects. :) The timing is definitely out because it has skipped the odd stitch and the twin needling is wayyyy off. I think a service is in order after Christmas, perhaps after the university year starts again.

Moral of the story - don't hem jeans at the last moment!

Coming up - piccies of Ottobre 06-2007-32 Twiggy Jeans
and Jalie 2805 made as a thermal top.

Rip-it, Rip-it

2008-11-24T22:14:00.010+13:00

Today I put in a seemingly perfect zip on DD1's Ottobre hoody. It went in smoothly the first time. All the pockets and seams lined up.

But, just as I was about to start topstitching I noticed one teeny weeny problem....

To quote Homer Simpson -D'OH!!!

After some frog-stitching (rip-it, rip-it) I finally got the zip in, the right way round and finished off DD's jacket at last. She seems happy with it. Here she is with her "modelling" pose (and as you can see, struggling to keep a straight face).

One with the hood -

This is Ottobre 05-2007-19: Hooded Sweat Jacket. The pattern comes in sizes 34-52 and I made DD a 36 from her measurements.
This pattern was well-drafted and went together like a dream, well, except for my mistake (see above). It fits DD beautifully and is the shape and fit that she likes.
The fabric is a genuine 1980s sweatshirt fleece which I got from my Mother's stash. I had a very small piece ( see previous post here) and it required some careful placement to fit the whole garment on. At DDs request I changed the sleeve and hem bands to be cut from ribbing. This was probably a good idea as there is next to no stretch in this fleece.

Next job - some thermal tops for DS who is camping next week.

Oops, sometimes you forget....

2008-11-21T16:28:00.008+13:00

...that there can be regional variations in names. :) I know it took me a few years to get used to trousers being called pants on Patternreview. For me, pants conjures up underwear images, lol.

Kat mentioned a few words that I'd used that are taken for granted here in NZ, although I would think that any Aussies (Australians) probably know too. So for anyone who wondered, here's some explanations-

boardshorts - beach/surf shorts. DD's were very long on her at 3/4 length.

and look what I found while googling - How To Make Board Shorts and Swim Suits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn5-IvOkb8g although the fashion qualities of the demonstrated pair are dubious it's an interesting concept.

gumboots - or Wellies/Wellingtons as they can also be known. The height of fashion to nip off to the shops in, lol. Especially when paired with an old baggy tee and a pair of paint-splattered jeans. ;)

As for clucky needs - that's just those fleeting maternal yearnings for another baby (those feelings that make your husband nervous, lol) that can be satiated by playing with someone else's babies for a while. :)

I'm sure there are other words that can be puzzling at times - for instance I had to look up duck boots. Kinda like what we call snow boots. It's interesting to see the different names people use.

2008-11-14T17:54:00.003+13:00

The sewing hasn't gone as fast as I would have liked the last ~~week~~ fortnight. Where has the time gone? It seemed as fast as I made plans for a day, children or fate stepped in and intervened. However, -

I've managed to catch up with Judy and the twins a few times and spent an entire day playing (and fulfilling any clucky needs, lol) with babies last week. We also managed to squeeze in a 'girly' day, which is good because we were at risk of needing name badges soon! (Ja, we'll have to do a Friday soon! If we wear a red carnation we should recognise each other...)

I spent a morning weedspraying around the property. This included the quick dash (in spraying clothes and gumboots) to the hardware shop a few kilometres down the road for more weedspray. These are the times I'm really glad our community is quite casual. :) This weekend we hope to get them all pulled out. The weeds that is.

I've got my vege garden all dug in and planted. It took me 4 hours and despite sunblock and a hat, I was nicely pink by the end. The potatoes are now sprouting in the dark to plant out, hopefully, next week. I've decided that gardening is another of those hobbies that costs a lot to save money - especially when you're trying to turn solid clay into something useful. (Don't ask what happened to the topsoil in that garden - I'll just say unsupervised builders with diggers, grrr)

I've managed some sewing. On the 'Done' list -
- I've got the leggings for the 2 nieces done and a pair of Ottobre legging capris for DD2. I've still got to make the Ottobre Hug Tees to go with them.
- A Zorro cape for DD1 to wear to a Rodeo dress-up event.
- Two wheaties for DD2 (We had snow! In November!)
- 3 pairs of long boardshorts drastically shortened for DD1 from 3/4 length to above the knee
- 3 pairs of trousers mended
- 1 pair trousers shortened

The house is still a mess though. :)

I'm free, I'm free!

2008-11-01T17:13:00.003+13:00

I am now officially on 'holiday'. :)

It turns out that the birthday party is on Sunday, so today was my day at home, but it's after 5 pm and I haven't sewn yet. Instead I spent an enjoyable afternoon baking with my 8yo. We've made a triple batch of Choc Chip cookies made with M&Ms, a batch of Chewy Fudge Brownie cookies where we used the last of the mint crisp M&M's instead of choc chips (Yummm!) and Beer Bread. Hopefully the cookies will sweeten the 'waste' of beer for my DH, lol.

No photo of the beer bread - it didn't last long enough, lol.

Tonight I aim to add the seam allowances to the patterns I traced last week and hopefully cut something out.

Only a few more days to go

2008-10-27T21:00:00.002+13:00

Less than a week until I can sit at my sewing desk without somebody asking "shouldn't you be studying?". My last exam is Friday morning (woohoo!) and I've already got my Friday afternoon planned - DH is taking me out to lunch then I'm off to visit J and the babies (they're getting so big!) before the school run starts. Friday night is taken up with a school production; Saturday afternoon with a nephew's birthday party, but Sunday I plan on chaining myself to the sewing desk and woe betide anyone who disturbs me! I'm already practicing my "Do not disturb" face, lol.

15 minutes at a time...

2008-10-20T00:04:00.005+13:00

I've managed to fit in some sewing-related activities over the past week around everything else..

I traced, and cut out a hoodie jacket for my DD1 from an original 1980s sweatshirting- white with fluoro yellow smiley faces printed on. It was a squeeze. I started off with less fabric than required for the pattern and then there was a corner cut out as well, but I got it all on in the end. It just requires me to dig out a white zip. Somehow, I don't think I'd have much luck finding a fluoro yellow zip. ;)

Today, I went on a stash dive for specific knits. It was helped by 'the map' of my stash cupboard but it still required moving 14 boxes (possibly, just possibly, I might have a bit too much stash). Naturally, one of the boxes I needed was in the very bottom back corner. Then I traced out Ottobre patterns while the fabric preshrank. I've got tops and leggings to make for 2 nieces and a set for my DD2 for summer. That was as far as I got but at least everything is pulled out, ready to get started.

"New" Machines

2008-10-15T23:04:00.000+13:00

Last week the number of sewing machines in my house doubled.

First up, my parents gave my DD a second-hand machine for her 12th birthday. It's an old one - a Brother 803 (in fact I'm sure it's the same model I had in sewing classes when I was 10) and it doesn't have a manual, but it's simple and easy to work out. DD is very excited to have a machine of her own and has set it up in her bedroom. This did necessitate furniture reallocations and shuffling, but hey, this is encouraging another sewer/sewist and I need help getting that stash down. :)

Then came another second-hand old machine. A Husqvarna 6440 which, according to the original warranty certificate, was bought in 1977. This was on Trade-me and I got it for $26. Apparently the main cam is broken. I've phoned the repair place that looked at the machine for the previous owner (that's the advantage of a small city - there are only a few places to check) and I can expect a bill of about $90 to fix it. Even if I don't get it fixed, it was worth it for the extra stitch cams and the feet and bobbins. And parts for my machine.

My own baby (below) is a Husqvarna 6330. I love my machine - it may be old but it sews like a dream and seems to handle anything ( well ok, buttonholes may not be that great but that's operator error, lol). My mother picked this gem up at an auction for $5 (!!) when my son was born and all it's ever cost me is a couple of cleans and one repair when the thread take-up lever broke. Other than that, a dream. Even if I won the $30million Lotto this weekend I'd still keep this machine - although it would probably be joined by a few more. ;-)

So, add that to my backup Singer that sits packed away waiting for an emergency and we now have 4 sewing machines in the house. And 2 overlockers. When we do finally get a sewing room there's certainly going to be enough to put in it!

On another note, my Ottobres have arrived, woohoo! I have to say I'm impressed by how quickly Ottobre gets the magazines away and how fast they can arrive on the other side of the world. Now lets hope all the world currencies stabilise so I can dream about a few more issues.....

Yes, I'm still alive

2008-10-14T11:59:00.007+13:00

I've been terribly neglectful of my blog. Uni has been keeping me busy, but I've now handed in my (42 page!) research report. I'm slowly recovering from the effects of typing that much (RSI and, ahem, the effects of all the nibbles necessary for such an undertaking) and now I've just got a couple of exams to go this year. Then it's 8 weeks holidays, so I'll be getting some sewing done then. :)

Because I can't wait to do something sewing, I've been busy stimulating the economy.
First up, I decided to get those Ottobre magazines I've been thinking about before the dollar dropped too far. Winging their way to me are:

4/06

1/08

and 4/08

So when they arrive I'll have no excuse not to be inspired.

But it's not just magazines I've been buying. ;) Yesterday, I 'forced' myself to head along to Spotlight's 20% off sale and liberated some fabric. (There goes the stash stats!)

Brigitte brown/stars jersey knit; Sweethearts jersey Blue knit; double-sided Spots and Stripes knit; Tie-dyed viscose/rayon/elastane; white with blue stars cotton unbrushed sweatshirting; Pink fizz knit swirl, viscose/rayon/elastane

One other piece has already been made up into a tee-shirt for my DD2 using Kwik Sew 2503 again. And what a pain it was too! Not the pattern - the pattern is my TNT for my DDs. Nope. The fabric was shoddy to say the least. Once it was prewashed, the fabric reverted to it's natural shape, which involves being printed quite a bit off-grain. It didn't look like this on the bolt so it must have been seriously stretched when rolled. Plus, 0.8m shrunk to 0.7m! Serves me right for not checking the print against the grainline. DD can wear it, but it'll be a very casual/pj top. (Although she likes it... but do I really want this seen in public?)

This is how far off grain the print is - the ruler is 'on grain'. I'm expecting the side seams on this are going to twist.

Tomorrow I really should get to studying.......

A Frustrating Week

2008-09-19T19:21:00.008+12:00

Sometimes life throws you a curveball or two - and if you're my DD, you forget to duck and get hit in the head - again. (Or, you walk into a wall. )

After yet another visit to the ED with DD2 (this time she got an ambulance from school ) I'm threatening to buy her one of these....

or wrap her in a big roll of bubblewrap - it even comes in pink

Somehow we have to stop her "bonking her boko" as my Nanna would say.

Needless to say, no sewing, or schoolwork, has been done. (No housework either, but that I'm less worried about.) The closest I've come to anything sewing related is tracing off a pyjama pant pattern for a teacher at school for costumes. Even then, I'm afraid I did a quick ducking out of sewing the things. I don't feel too guilty about it. After all it's not my child's class and there are other mothers who sew at school, and I've sewn about 80% of the costumes over the last 10 years......... Ah well, at least it'll be easy to avoid the teacher with DD not going to school. :-)

Hug Rugs

2008-09-14T10:57:00.002+12:00

Rhoto and Rachelle have asked what the Hug Rugs I mentioned are.

Basically they're polar fleece blankets (given with love and hugs) which the Young Vinnies (the youth section of The St. Vincent de Paul Society) give to members of the community.
This year was for new mothers, other years have been for the elderly or homeless. Although none of my children are currently in the group, the teacher running it at school was desperate for someone to overlock the edges. Sometimes the kids have also done the overlocking, but they were time-strapped this year so I just took them home. The kids then attach the labels and messages of support and go out to deliver them. It's a really nice way for the kids to give to the community and the recipients always seem to appreciate them.

Does overlocking a triangle count as sewing?

2008-09-13T23:43:00.009+12:00

If so then I get to add making a cheerful, smiley hearts sling for DD to my list. :-)
As it is:
Hug rugs for school done - Check.
Nightie for me - On hold.
Ottobre Jacket - cut out and sitting in the general vicinity of the sewing desk.
I really need this but it's waiting on some spare time (if I can ever remember what that is). I'm making Jacket 17 from Ottobre 02-2006 but I'm using a Ponti Roma knit instead of a woven and I'm not going to line it.

I have a mental image of what I'm aiming for, so we'll have to see if reality matches. ;-)

Meanwhile, any faint hopes I had that a broken arm might slow down my youngest DD have been abandoned. I got a phone call from school last week to say she'd banged her head not just once, but twice, and wasn't feeling too good. Understatement of the year! White as a ghost, nauseaous, dizzy and double vision, on top of the fact that she'd had concussion only ten days before, meant we got to see another 5 hours of life in the Emergency Dept. (And it sure gets embarassing when ED staff remember you, lol.)
Only a few days on and she's already bouncing around again. Sigh. I can feel the grey hairs multiplying.
Thanks Kat, Vicki and Alicia for the thoughts about my DD. I sure hope she remembers the hours I've spent in the ED, then the hours sleep-deprived waking her every two hours because I've told her that when I'm old and break my hip, she's the one who gets first nursing duties, lol.

If you can't sew, buy

2008-08-30T11:16:00.000+12:00

I managed to get to Spotlight this week and picked up a few patterns to add to my (mumble mumble) 500+ stash. Vogues were on sale so I picked up a couple I've had my eye on -

Vogue 1034 Because one day I will make a pair of jeans for myself

Vogue 1036 I like the details on this jacket.

Vogue 2967 I'm not sure about this in a woven but I like the details for a knit top/t-shirt.

Plus I picked up Simplicity 3514 for my two daughters for summer.

I won't get to making any of these for a couple of months. This weekend's plans involve overlocking the edges of a bundle of hug rugs for school, a nightie for me and hopefully I'll get a start on a jacket.

This will all be around looking after my youngest daughter who ended up in the Emergency Dept last night. Friday night is not a time you want to have to go to ED unless you're prepared for a looonng wait. But if you do, a child with blood all over her face who goes really whoozy gets you through faster..... only to be told you have to sit there for 4 hours observation to check for concussion. Let's just say it was a long evening. The result being a diagnosis of mild concussion, broken nose and a minor fracture requiring a cast on her arm. It was a hard lesson to learn that when Mum says you can't rollerblade without helmet, wrist guards and pads, she might know what she's talking about.

The New Ottobre

2008-08-23T10:33:00.003+12:00

The new Ottobre Woman Magazine is up on the website - here. A few designs I like straight off. Although I usually find that I like more when I have the magazine in hand and can pour over it.

Life has been hectic the last month with uni, kids and associated chaos. To top it all off, DD2 was kind enough to give me the flu. She had it and bounced back in 3 days but it's taken me out for a week. Luckily the Olympics has been on because I've spent a lot of time just sitting dozing in front of the tv.

Back to somnolence and the Olympics....

Sitemeter Code Causing Problems

2008-08-02T20:27:00.004+12:00

If you've been getting the "IE cannot open the page. Operation aborted" message while trying to read blogs and some websites then the problem is the sitemeter code.
This is why my blog, among others, has been unaccessible today. Grrr. Once the problem is known it's not hard to fix - just login, go to dashboard and remove the sitemeter code. (I saved mine in a text file in case I want to put it back on later.

Good luck!

Rain, rain, go away...

2008-07-31T22:31:00.006+12:00

It has now been raining for 13 days. Sigh. I'm beginning to feel the need for one of those SAD lamps Chief Celia used in Men in Trees.

I had to cross over the Leith Stream this afternoon.
The normally quiet little stream...
(photo from Wikipedia)

had turned into this...

The first photo has been taken downstream from where I was, but is pretty much how it looks normally from the bridge I was on. The walls are around 4m high so the water had risen a wee bit and somewhere under there is the mid-channel divider.

A few days ago I sadly packed away my sewing machines for a few weeks while I catch up on assignments. :( I can't see myself getting any sewing time until mid-term break at the end of August, so I decided I might as well use my desk upstairs in the warm lounge when I was home alone. I do have to hem some trousers for my BIL next week, but that doesn't count as sewing. I dreamt I was sewing a few nights ago. LOL, if dreams became reality, I'd have a great wardrobe!

Op-shopping, sewing and repairs

2008-07-20T23:00:00.001+12:00

No Not much sewing this week. The pace of life has been hectic with uni started and kids on school hols. Thank goodness they go back tomorrow and we can get back to a normal routine.

Friday, DD1 and I snuck in a girly afternoon with some op-shopping and lunch. It was a nice break and something we don't get to do often enough. However, I think I've created a monster, lol. In one hour (and only one shop), DD1 found 3 tops, 2 jackets and 2 pairs of jeans and is now very keen to go back again. I have to say I'm impressed by how fast an 11 1/2yo can shop those racks and gather a mountain of clothes to try on. ( But, Whew! That's one less child with a clothes crisis)

Thank you to everyone who commented on the twist cardy. It was 4 votes for a higher twist, 3 votes for where it is and 1 for either. This really illustrates how different fabrics behave because I hadn't changed the pattern at all. The fabric just grew in the teal knit. Stabilizing the front edges would have solved this. I'll have to remember not to cut corners next time. (hanging head shamefacedly)
Angie, I posted details on how I did this when I first made it in my Ottobre with a Twist post.

Today I actually got a bit of sewing in. Such an exciting project too. I made a new shower curtain. You're probably wondering why I didn't just buy one. So am I! I used white parka nylon (from Spotlight) and sewed a 'privacy' curtain for the outside of the all glass shower on one side (the side facing the windows). This also has the added advantage of screening the loo in case anyone opens the door when.....well, with 3 kids we really, really need to get a lock on the door, lol. It was an easy task. Just a big rectangle with curtain wire in the top to attach it to two small hooks, and wire in the bottom to act as a weight. The hardest thing was getting the sides straight. (Woohoo, the 2 metres I used tipped my stash stats over to a net loss)

I also got time to fix a RTW t-shirt which was incredibly low-cut. I felt like a 17th century barmaid with everything falling out. :-o I replaced the inadequately teensy inset with a better sized piece, lifting the coverage factor by 6cm! Now, I'll wear it, but goodness knows what the designer was thinking. It explains why there were so many left on the sale rack. :)

Teal Twist Cardigan

2008-07-11T22:44:00.007+12:00

Well, I finished the cardy in time to wear out to dinner. Wonders will never cease, lol. Neither of my friends made any rude comments so I figure it's passed muster ;) (Hi J and M!). I'm quite happy with it and I'm going to leave the twist in after all. I am seeking feedback on the twist - DD1 thinks it should be about 5cm/2 inches higher. What do you think?

To make this, I used the morphed Ottobre Tee pattern I created here but left out the inset. I totally forgot about my thought of binding the edge which would have given a nicer finish. It wouldn't have been possible this time anyway, as there wasn't enough fabric left over for bindings, but I'll make a note on the pattern for next time.

Next up is those trousers.

Where did the time go?

2008-07-10T21:56:00.007+12:00

Wow! Three weeks holiday just flies past! And I'm already most of a week down back at school. Naturally, the mojo decided to rear it's head the weekend before everything started again and demand some fulfilment. It must be something about deadlines and time stress that leads to a need to add more to the to-do lists.

I managed to fit in some cutting out and then even managed to eke out a simple project to take most of a week (I'm following the 'one seam at a time' rule, Sherril - literally!). As a guide to you all - don't sew when you are really tired and trying to rush. I should have known better. Repeat after me - a twist cardigan should have the twist put in before having the shoulder seams sewn. Ahem. ~~Insanity~~ Stubbornness even led me to unpick said shoulder seam before I went to bed. I did, however, have the sense not to put the fabric near the sewing machine again that night. I now only need to hem the cardy but I'm also going to add some clear elastic to pull in the back neck (and hopefully the shoulders) a bit. Last night I was looking at it and thinking of taking out the twist and redoing the front edge as a normal cardy front. Hubby disagrees. He likes the twist. Sheesh! This would be about the only twist he's ever liked. The previous version. So, I will delay the decision by doing the elastic first before I have to decide. ;)

I also have a pair of trousers cut out from Vogue 7608, a Sandra Betzina jeans pattern. I've used a brown bengaline instead of denim, which means I'm either in for a pleasant surprise, or a pair of gardening trousers that won't show the dirt too much. :)

Off to do another seam on the cardy. I might even get it finished to wear out with friends tomorrow. (ROFLOL)

Comments

2008-07-02T11:41:00.003+12:00

Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes. Hugs right back at ya! 40 (gulp!) doesn't feel that bad, except for this vague nagging suspicion that I just don't feel grown-up enough, lol. It did however remind me to book the appointment at the hairdresser to cover up those 'natural highlights' that have become quite numerous.

My DD lives in her new Hello Kitty dressing gown as much as possible. She loves it and like Sherril, I think she'd be heartbroken if it wore out too soon.

Kat - I'll swap you the cold and the ice for a heatwave anytime!

Sherril -I didn't have the Baileys yesterday but I did have to have some chocolate to 'help', lol. This morning I was so nervous but luckily not much ice today, thank goodness!

Sherril and Rhoto - It's very tempting! But I don't know if it would be fair to inflict my pasty, untanned legs on the other patrons at the water park (and I'd have to shave them! There are some advantages to winter, lol). Floating on an inner tube sounds fun on a hot day though. I'll be thinking of that come Saturday as there's more snow forecast this weekend....

Sharon - Patternreview is great, isn't it? The SewingDownUnder thread is a bunch of very chatty Australians and New Zealanders and anyone else who wants to visit. It's located under the Regional Communities section. Or, if you look under the Active topics it's usually in the first page or two. :)

Jalie and Photos

2008-07-02T11:33:00.001+12:00

Last night I was grumbling about net services etc and not being able to post the photo of my Jalie top. Then Hubby made a very good point - why is it I hate having my photo taken because I hate photos of myself, yet I'll happily splash photos of myself over pattern reviews and my blog? Weird, huh? I couldn't come up with a proper answer. The best I could do was that it was perhaps because in those photos the focus will be on the outfit. I hope. :)

Talking of photos... Not the smoothest segue but here it is - Jalie 2682:

Sorry, it is an absolutely awful photo, taken at night. The biggest problem with poly interlock is the static cling factor. Within a few moments this was sticking to me. Wearable perhaps - under a jacket, lol. Oh, and it still needs hemming.

Yesterday I made a quick dress for DD2 to wear for Medieval Feast day at school today. They were told they could just wear their party dresses but my poor deprived child doesn't have one of those that fits either, lol. I used a Topkids magazine pattern (Topkids 45, #9) and widened the sleeves a bit. I managed to squeeze the whole thing out of 2.0m of 112cm wide fabric. To do so I had to take out some of the sleeve flare I'd just put in and slide one of the back skirt pieces a smidgen off grain. That's another piece of fabric out of the stash, yayy!

We also made a Princess cone style hat and hung ribbons off the back. All in all, I felt quite productive getting that done, lol. When she got to school all the little girls were oohing and aaahing and she was beaming from ear to ear, so I think she's happy with it. :)

I hate ice!

2008-07-01T13:00:00.000+12:00

First off - I'm ok.

Let's just say that at 9.30 am the back of my van got ahead of the front of my van for a brief time. :( I don't know who was more scared, me, or the guy on the other side of the road. Luckily he pulled right over as I slid down the hill because I was using the center of the road! I hadn't even touched the brakes. It was simply a huge sheet of black ice which the council hadn't gritted because it was a late freeze (the ice actually got worse when the temp dropped at 9am!). I had to pull over and calm down before I could finish the very slow drive home and it took me about an hour to calm down fully.

Much more of this and I'm coming to visit Sherril for the summer!

Jalie 2682

2008-06-30T23:21:00.002+12:00

On the 'Sewing Down Under' thread on Patternreview we're having an unofficial and fairly casual Jalie sew-along which is a good motivator. I had my new Jalies to tempt me, but I decided to try 2682 first - partly because it's winter here and I thought a bit more coverage might be nice, but also because I've liked the look of this top since I saw it. I love the colour of the top the model is wearing. (Of course, I'd love to look like the model too....)

I did some size blending. I traced CC for the shoulders, and went out to EE for the sides. I've read that Jalies can be close-fitting so wanted room to play with and it's much easier to cut fabric off than try to put fabric in! I also took the bodices and bottom pieces down to the length of the EE as I like my tops longer. To allow for 'the girls' I also added 2 cm to the length of the front bodice.

I've used a cheap poly interlock as a muslin and I think it's wearable. I took in the sides (such a lovely feeling, taking in...) another 1cm, so down to a DD size, which fits with my fullbust measurement. I'm thinking I could possibly go down a size in the shoulders? My upperbust measurement would suggest Z as the size to use (2 sizes smaller). I think next time I'd also raise the back bodice length a wee bit. It seems very low. DH isn't very keen on the piecing on the back and has suggested making it all one piece which I'll consider.

Photos will have to wait until tomorrow as our ISP is "experiencing some connectivity problems with international pages" - which translates as "you'll be lucky to get on the net tonight and forget anything requiring bandwidth!"

The Big 4 - 0

2008-06-30T11:53:00.001+12:00

Another milestone birthday came and went. It was a lovely relaxing weekend. I slept in and got breakfast in bed. The kids got me chocolates. I love my kids. :) Hubby bought me fabric (!) and a gift voucher for more fabric (on his head be it!) and this was after we'd moved my sewing desk to the other side of the lounge and found all the, ahem, Spotlight bags that had 'accidentally' fallen behind my desk. He didn't say a word as we moved it all. My desk is now beside the window so I have a lovely view. Better still, it's out of the traffic path so I'm not getting in the kids way and they don't get in mine when they're running in and out of the lounge. Most amazingly, it was my DH idea - the man who hates moving furniture who suggested it and helped move it all! (I'll be looking for the pod later, lol). We had thought of 'letting' the 2 girls share a room but after much discussion we decided it wasn't worth our sanity, so no ~~sewing room~~ study. Ah well, all too soon they'll be leaving home and I'll have a sewing room and then I'm sure I'll be wishing they were back home.

Decorative "domes"

2008-06-23T09:33:00.006+12:00

Sherril and Paula both asked what I meant decorative domes. Bad choice of words on my part. I should have called them snaps rather than domes. I picked up a set of 2000 of these type of snaps which have the silver ring-

I've seen a few garments in the shops here that have used the snaps as a decorative feature, on necklines, on skirts etc. Some have used them applied individually, some have used the tape version - With 2000 sets, that's 4000 potential decorative bits ;)

Closing Down Sales...

2008-06-22T13:10:00.009+12:00

There's an alarming trend in my stash stats. After that dent from clearing all the baby fabrics to Judy they were quite pleasingly in the negative for the year. Well, we all know how it goes - when you clear a gap, it just begs to be filled again.

My downfall this time was a closing down sale for a local knitwear and clothing company. I have had some beautiful quality fabric from them in the past, so of course I had to check it out (although, showing some restraint I waited a week before I went). Imagine my pleasure when I walked in to see large boxes of knits to sort through and all fabric priced at $15 kg. Yep, by weight. These knits are all excellent quality too. Sigh, heaven is digging through boxes of fabric.

So my stash stats took a major dent. Here's the haul:

The colours are off a bit. From left to right, Top row - There are two different pinks at the top, each one big enough to make my youngest DD a cardy. Middle row - a soft navy lighter knit (this has merino in I think and will be for making thermal tops); A mauve wool acrylic for me; black wool/acrylic; some black ribbings. Bottom row - a deep brown/aubergine knit, it is a lot darker in real life; black wool; black wool/merino. These worked out to about $8 metre. :) I'm sure you can all understand why the stash stats had to be ignored.

I also got some pins....

.... a bunch of zips to add to the drawer of zips I already have, and enough domes to last me a lifetime at $4 for 2000 sets of the small silver ring domes. I foresee decorative domes on everything, lol.

Now to chain down that mojo, cross fingers for a snow day, and hit that sewing machine!

Hello Kitty Dressing Gown

2008-06-22T01:11:00.001+12:00

The last week seems to have gone so fast! Unfortunately the exam adrenaline wore off and I've been in a blah state this week so not a lot of sewing has been accomplished. I think my sewing mojo decided to take a break too. :(
On the other hand I have gone and got firewood from my sister's farm several mornings so something got accomplished.

With the cold weather DD2 had been complaining that her dressing gown was too short. Stash to the rescue! I had a Hello Kitty polar fleece from a year ago aging nicely just waiting for it's opportunity. I used Butterick 4340 which I think is now OOP.

This was an easy pattern although I wasn't impressed at having to slipstitch down the upper collar. Hand sewing on a child's dressing gown!? Helloo! What were they thinking? But I did it, reluctantly. Like I said, the sewing mojo had deserted me and I was resorting to following instruction sheets. (Shaking head)

I made a size 10 for my 7 1/2 year old. She's wearing size 8 normally and I figured a bit of growing room would not go amiss. It's ended up the perfect length in the body and about 4 cm too long in the sleeve which can easily be rolled up.

Apparently, it's lovely and warm. :)

The castle project has finally been delivered to school so no more polystyrene bits everywhere, yay! Better still, the table is getting cleared so I'll have a tracing surface to use for a Jalie pattern. I did trace the dressing gown pattern using my cutting board and sitting on the floor. I soon regretted it though - my back hadn't forgiven me for stacking all the firewood under the terrace and working on the floor was the last straw. Must be old age. ;)

Did you all hear that?

2008-06-14T19:50:00.002+12:00

That WOOHOO!! was the sound of me finishing my last exam and starting 3 weeks holiday. :)
Now the sewing and myriad other things on my list can start.......
But for tonight, all that is in my plans is to put my feet up and relax. I have a glass of wine and a tv remote and a tape of ER, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Dexter... you get the picture. I'm keen to get to tracing off something but wine kinda puts me in a state where I should not be allowed near scissors, fabric or patterns, lol.

Tomorrow is set aside for collecting wood and helping my 7yo with her castle construction. Hubby has ~~built~~ helped her build a wonder with polystyrene and tomorrow we get to paint and decorate. She wants furniture which should be interesting. I better not drink too much wine. :)

UFO's

2008-05-30T23:14:00.004+12:00

I'm heading into exams over the next 2 weeks but afterwards I have 3 weeks off. Yayyy!! My "in the holidays" list has grown to ginormous proportions. Luckily I didn't specify which holidays I was going to do it all in. ;-)

Anywhoo - whilst clearing the decks a bit and putting the covers on my machines, I unearthed the ever growing UFO pile. I figured I could give one last night to tackling a couple. Any excuse to procrastinate a bit more.

First up was the mesh Ottobre Rose top I started a few weeks ago. It was sitting here waiting for the hem to be done. I'm not entirely happy with it and I obviously need some better support with those floobies at the side! The side seam easing from the fba is also off even with taking the side seams in. What the heck - it'll be fine under a jacket. Or, I could just never lift my arms. Of course then I could never do anything. That appeals. See, there's always a silver lining - sewing mistakes mean you can get a housekeeper! LOL, now to just convince hubby... I still want to make a purple top to go underneath this - in my holidays, lol. (Here it's over a teal top which will not be worn with it normally)

The second top I finished was a version of Simplicity 4076. This had been sitting there about 2 years (just checked - only 1 year so that's not so bad is it?) I'd had ideas of making this sleeveless and had it finished except for the hem. What the heck was I thinking?! Well, ok it didn't look too bad, except for the pasty white arms. A black top would solve that. But I'd used clear elastic to stabilise the armholes and they were too tightly fitted. I decided to unpick the elastic and fix that first. By the time that was done (and it was serged on) I was leaning towards sleeves. I hunted out the remnants of the fabric and managed to squeeze out two long sleeves. It's now finished. I'm not sure what's going on with the wrinkles above the bust (you can see them above the camera). I'm wondering if I'd trimmed the armholes 2 years ago? The jury's out on it.

I've been really slack with regard to comments lately, but I just want to say Thank You to everyone who does stop to say Hi. I do appreciate it. :)

Baby Blankets

2008-05-27T00:07:00.002+12:00

Seeing as Judy and the twins caught us all by surprise, I didn't have any baby presents prepared and on hand. Luckily, I had these embroidered polarfleece pieces in the stash along with some velour which will be lovely and soft on little preemie skin. We're going into winter here so I think a nice cotton velour backed by polar fleece should be toastie warm. Hopefully it won't be too long before they get to use them.

And this is why I have a stash!

Congratulations Judy!

2008-05-25T20:54:00.002+12:00

Yesterday my best friend, Judy Williment, had her twins. A bit early at 33 weeks but all are doing well considering. (And yes, that's decaf, lol)

This is Isabella - 2.42kg (5.3lb)

And Nicholas - 1.78kg (3.9lb)

CONGRATULATIONS JUDY !!!

A Very Spotty Top

2008-05-24T22:51:00.009+12:00

Or how to score Mommy points.....

Yesterday I handed in the last assignment of the semester. As I dropped the last week of my life through the slot I felt like celebrating. Naturally there's only one way to do that - I went shopping! No surprises when I say for fabric, lol. I actually went to Spotlight for a specific piece - some parka nylon to make some quick curtains for the bathroom windows. When you combine dark mornings requiring lights on, the screening shrubs having been cut down over summer and neighbours potentially going past whilst people are having showers....... Some curtains are in order!

I was happily minding my own business walking to the corner I needed, when this fabric screamed out "Look at me! I'd be perfect for (DD2's ) disco tonight! Buy me, buy me, buy me...." (Well, you all know how the refrain goes.) I didn't even hum and ha for long. One metre of spotty fabric had to come home with me. It insisted. :-)

There was only one problem. By the time I got home at 10.40am, I had to be at Judy's around 12.30pm. After school was going to be taken up with basketball and followed by a quick trip home to get everyone changed for the school disco before we raced off. Whatever I made was going to have to be quick.
By 10.50am I had dug out the pattern I wanted. By 10.51am I'd found I didn't have the size I needed traced out yet. By 11.10am I'd cut out the pattern and was pinning....... I finished the hem at 12.30pm.

Here's the result -

I used Kwik Sew 2503 (OOP) which is the bigger version of KS2502.

I made a size 8 and lengthened it to the length of a size 14. It's a bit big and is going to fit her for a while longer. I wanted a tunic length and it's not too bad. I also cut the neckband twice as wide as the pattern allowed and overlocked it on rather than binding the neckedge. My original plan was to make a small fabric belt attached at hip length and with a buckle. But I ran out of time and as DD2 wasn't there to find out where her hip length was, and I didn't have a buckle or bead, it was going to be difficult. DD wore this with a pink belt around her hips instead and I also made a quick headband for her to wear as well. In the flashing lights at the disco she looked like a wee moving disco ball, lol. Those spots fluoresce under the lights quite nicely.

Next job - Urgent baby presents for my now not-so-pregnant best friend. :-)

New Jalies!

2008-05-22T17:13:00.004+12:00

The new Jalies are up on Patternreview. And next week some will be winging their way to me! They should arrive around the time my exams finish - great timing. I couldn't blog about this until I broke the news to Judy that Jalie 2787 was also winging it's way over as a present for her. I think she's happy. ;-)

On the way are 2805 - A good basic tee. I can see this getting a lot of use for my 2 DD's.

J 2806 - This one's for me. And maybe DD1.

J 2795- I can just see this on my two DD's . I'm intrigued by the 'Hoddie' title.

and J 2794 - I really liked the top Debbie made so I've decided to give it a go.

And just to make it fun, the stash contest will be running again at Patternreview so I might even get to enter something. :-)

Does anyone else do this? You can't sew, but you keep thinking about sewing so you end up buying fabric and patterns instead. I need to sew something and soon - otherwise I really will be keeping the economy going!

I Want Need A Coat

2008-05-21T00:39:00.000+12:00

It looks like winter has decided to make it's prescence felt with a vengeance this week and while I have a practical, warm coat, I'd like a 'nice' coat. It seems everywhere I go, coats are calling my name. Today I saw a lovely jacket and I was tempted to buy it but, it was a short jacket, not a coat. Then there was that voice saying "I could make that.... it's only a simple jacket.... that denim jacket pattern I've got at home would do....". (At least I don't say it outloud, lol. Well, I don't think I do...) I also saw a really lovely fabric made into a coat shape. I hesitate to call it a coat with it's unhemmed, overlocked edges. Hmmm, it would look good for all of about 5 minutes, then the fraying and pulls would start.

So, I need to think about making a coat. Although thinking about it isn't the problem. Making it however is another story. :) In my stash I have navy cashmere and a satin lining put aside for a longish coat. I don't know if I'm quite brave enough to tackle that (gulp). Perhaps my first coat should be something that isn't going to involve 5 hours of looking at the fabric, scissors in hand, as I try to get up the courage to cut into it. And then, what style should I have?

In my pattern stash I have this - Burda 8268,

Or what about this? Burda 8160 - View D reminds me so much of my dufflecoat I used to have when I was much (much) younger.

And that was just the first two from my PR pattern catalog. This weekend I'll have to force myself to go through my very extensive pattern collection and narrow down some choices. ;-) Then there'll be fabric choices. I may even be forced to buy some. (wicked laughter) Do you think hubby will go for the line about helping the economy by purchasing?