Back on the internet!

I'm back! My week of no internet was thankfully not too painful (well, just a little). The great news is that by Friday I'd raised $1000 for Plan Australia's Pakistan flood appeal, which is amazing. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed - the fundraising page will stay up for as long as people still wish to donate.

Some more good news is that I was quite productive on my week away from cyberspace. To distract myself on election weekend, I decided to try my hand at making another skirt. I used the made pattern using a navy fabric with white spots, but omitted the pockets and added a nice big button for interest. It's zip isn't perfect and neither is the waistband on the inside, but no-one can see the inside, right?!

This weekend I went to Lincraft with the intention of buying this New Look pattern for a two-hour easy top, and I planned to make the purple design in a textured black fabric with the addition of a cluster of lime green buttons near the neckline. 

They didn't have that pattern, or my back-up option, so I chose another less-appealing one. Unfortunately, after the fabric had been cut I realised that the pattern was for knit fabrics only, so I had to make something else instead. Something like... another skirt! I'd been wanting the make the skirt pattern one size larger to see the difference - the other ones have fitted fine, but they are a little snug after a large meal! 

I decided to use some of the vintage fabric I got as part of my BrisStyle raffle prize. The fabric is extremely thin, so I really struggled to get the waistband on without it bunching up (even with the interfacing). After several attempts and many hours of unpicking, I finally got it done (again, it's imperfect on the inside). The really great news with this one is that I was unsatisfied with the zip, so painstakingly unpicked to try and get it right - and now, but my standards, the zip looks PERFECT! So, as frustrating as my sewing journey is at times, I am making progress.

I have some nice grey fabric to tackle next - maybe a simple dress if I can get hold of the pattern!

I didn't get a chance to start working on my sewing table during the week, as I had lots of study to catch up on. But hopefully I'll move on to that soon!