The birthday project

A couple of months ago, I purchased some lovely material on sale at The Fabric Store (and made this top with some of it). In addition to the green-and-white checked fabric, I also got this very lightweight striped cotton.

My intention was to use it for a skirt, but any skirt would need lining (which I've never tackled before). I'd forgotten all about it until today, when a lovely friend gave me some spare tulle she had in her garage. Now, my plan is to make myself a spectacular gathered skirt lined with a tulle underskirt in time for my birthday!

After trawling through my patterns, I've decided that the best design to use would be the tried-and-true gathered skirt that I've made a few times (including for my first ever sewing project).

I don't want the tulle lining to go all the way up to the waistband (because it will be bulky to sew into the band, and probably scratchy to wear), so I'm planning to sew some black cotton lining the same as the main skirt piece, but at half the length. I'll then sew gathered tulle to the bottom of the lining so that it will show around 10 to 15 centimetres below the main skirt.

I'll then tack the top of the cotton lining fabric to the outer skirt piece, gather both layers and sew them into the waistband together. The bottom of the skirt should, when hemmed, look something like this.

The question I now have for others now is: will this work? Or is there a better way I should go about adding a tulle underskirt? Maybe I should use a different skirt pattern altogether! If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment. I'm not planning to sew this skirt in a day like I normally do. I'm going to chip away at it a little bit at a time over the next couple of months in the hope of having a finished piece for my 30th birthday. 

Hurrah!

My latest sewing project...

I'm at home sick today (mostly to rest my back which I put out last week), so I thought I should post a long-overdue update on my sewing activities.

A few weeks ago, Rebecca and I went to a 30 per cent off sale at The Fabric Store. One of the prints I came away with was this pale green check, which I decided to make into a sleeveless top (using the same pattern I've used to make this, this and this).

I had quite a few issues making this top, but they were all entirely my own doing. I made the mistake of thinking I could 'switch off' because I'd worked with the same pattern before, but anyone who sews will know that this is a stupid approach to take. (I also partly blame Michael Tunn for distracting me with his excellent Australia Day online radio playlist.) The first big mistake I made was joining two wrong edges of the back (and not realising until after I'd added a zip). The second mistake (after I'd corrected the first one) was to sew the front to the back so that one side was inside out. Oops. Consequently the project took a lot longer than the 'two hours' mentioned on the packet (as they always do anyhow).

While I don't yet have any photos of me wearing it, here is the finished product. As you can see, I decided to omit the planned button details and instead made a bow out of matching fabric. It also goes nicely with the Snug brooch that Rebecca kindly gave me.

The top is very comfortable worn untucked with jeans, and can be dressed up for a more 'corporate' look with a skirt. Here it is with the black skirt I made last year.

I'm not entirely happy with the fit of the top (it would be ideal if it was a little bit more fitted under the arms), but overall it's not bad. The really great news is that I've just received these three sewing books, which will teach me more about how to adapt patterns to suit me (rather than just making the smallest size and hoping for the best). It will take a bit of practise, but I think it will be worth the time investment.

New sewing project: apple print dress

So rather than addressing the fact that I haven't shown my face around here in quite a while, I'll just get straight into showing you my latest completed sewing project.

A little while ago, my friend Kass (who I've known since I was eight, but not seen since I was twelve) contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in joining her to work on a sewing project. She had an original 1950s dress pattern that she wanted to try out, and I couldn't say no!

We both decided to tackle the view on the left. Kass is also adding the embellishments, but I decided to leave it plain given that I chose a bold fabric. We both made some minor alterations to the bodice, and I also omitted the piped waistband and decided to the bodice directly to the skirt. Here is the bodice in progress.

The bodice was by far the most complicated bit, so I was glad to have that out of the way. However, while the skirt was easy since I've worked with gathers before, it was very time consuming due to the ridiculous volume of fabric. Here is the unfinished dress (no zip or hem) right after I attached the skirt to the bodice.

Finally, once the zip was added and the skirt was hemmed (also very time consuming due to the volume of fabric), it was done! I decided to photograph it with a pop art filter to enhance its brightness.

I've purchased this patent red skinny belt online, as I think it will finish it all off nicely.

This was by far the biggest sewing project I've embarked on, and overall it went very smoothly. It did take me about 12 hours (including cutting the pattern), but I have to say it was well worth it. If I was to make this dress again, I'd definitely remove a lot of the skirt fabric; it's quite heavy (partly due to the canvas-like fabric), so not really suited to Brisbane summer days. That said, I LOVE this dress and will be wearing it every chance I get!

Sunny day dress

Last night, after many months of no sewing (about ten months, actually), I decided to make a dress. I don't know if that means I'm officially 'old'. Ten years ago I would not have predicted that I'd be sewing late on a Saturday night!

I decided to pull out my Sew La Tea Do book and make Pip's fabulous sunny day dress, as I'm sure it will be a good thing to have on hand in summer. I had just enough candy-stripe material in my stash (thanks to my friend Irene), and I decided to use some leftover red fabric for the straps to avoid stripe overload. The pattern was for small to medium, so I sized it down a tad. I probably could have gone a bit smaller, but I guess a dress that's a little too big is better than one that's too small! I also omitted the pockets, simply because it would save time.

Pip also suggested using iron-on hemming, but I decided to sew my hem. This bit took quite a long time, as I had to get rid of a lot of excess fabric. I'm not entirely happy with it, but the dodgy bits are on the inside so I don't really care. I'm going to make a red sash to go with the dress as well. That way I can choose to wear it a little more fitted if I want to. I think the original 'flowing' design will be perfect for our humid Brisbane summer days, and perhaps even for the beach.

Overall, this was a really easy dress to make. The straps take a while to sew, but nothing in the pattern is overly hard to do. Pip's instructions are perfect for beginners. She even tells you when to make a cup of tea!

Origami flowers

After patiently looking for more than a year for something suitable to place inside our Dinosaur Designs vase (gratefully received as a wedding gift), I bought these origami flowers from Hideyo at the Finders Keepers markets over the weekend...

Making sewing plans

Remember my first sewing project of a skirt with Thea and Sami pockets almost a year ago?

Well, for some time I'm been planning to make another one. I figure I should get a much nicer end result now that I've made this pattern a few times! This time, I'm going to have one pocket instead of two, and the pocket fabric will this time be Thea's 'Marguerite' design on black linen (a big thanks to Thea for the lovely sample that was in my ABCD goodie bag!).

For many months now, the pattern pieces have been cut and waiting to be assembled. Alas, when I went to sew them all together (back in March, I think), my machine was not cooperating, so there was nothing to do except buy a new one!

Of course, I've since gotten myself extremely sidetracked, what with a new job and studying and holidaying, so I still haven't made my skirt. Sometime soon, I will get there.

Giveaway: Origami recipe hearts

As you may have seen a little while ago, I recently made some origami recipe hearts for the Brisbane ABCD Meetup. I went along on Friday night and met some super lovely and creative people (not to mention the super lovely and creative items they all made for the goodie bags!).

Would you like an origami recipe heart to appear in your mailbox? If so, please leave a comment and tell me what recipe you would put inside. You have until Wednesday night... good luck!

Origami recipe hearts

I'm excited to be attending the next Brisbane ABCD Meetup at the Powerhouse in a couple of weeks. The gatherings are for all creative types who blog, and as I've never attended one before I thought it might be a nice opportunity to put some faces to names! I've even ordered myself some business cards in anticipation.

The most exciting part of all is that everyone can contribute a crafty treat to goodie bags for everyone to enjoy. Not having my own crafty business, I had to think long and hard about what I might be able to contribute. I eventually came up with the idea for these colourful origami hearts.

Inside each heart is a personal recipe of mine, which can only be read if you're willing to unfold the paper to reveal it.

If you're a crafty blogger in Brisbane and want to know what the recipe is, you'll just have to come along to the meetup! Check out the ABCD Facebook page if you're interested.

Ukiyo-e demonstration and workshop

On the weekend, I attended a ukiyo-e demonstration and workshop with my friend Irene. It was hosted by the Japanese Consulate in Australia, and included a lecture by the Director of the Ukiyo-e Museum, Kunio Sakai. We were also very lucky to witness the skills of one of only thirty ukiyo-e printmakers practising in Japan today, Tatsuya Ito. For a comprehensive account of our afternoon, check out Irene's post here.

After the demonstration, we were privileged enough to use Ito-san's woodblocks and print two colours of a print ourselves.

Thanks Irene for inviting me to come along!

Sew La Tea Do!

Last night we met my sister in the city for dinner (thanks to Irene for the Satay Club recommendation!), and then we stopped off at the book store before heading home. I stumbled across Pip's latest book, Sew La Tea Do, which is lovely! It even has a big fat pocket full of patterns.

Within its pages, I instantly found a treasure trove of goodies I'd like to make. The photographs are amazing, and I even spotted a big fat guinea pig! I would particularly love to make the sunny day and Miss Marlo dresses, as well as the super cute origami wallet.

This morning I had a little bit of time I my hands, so I decided to make some little zipper pouches from some spare fabric. They are a little smaller than Pip's (as I only had 15cm zips), but they are the perfect size for coins. Pretty soon, they'll be in the post to some unsuspecting friends. Hurrah!