Sewing quandries..

I have been working a lot lately but I did manage to have Thursday off to attend a sewing workshop with Felicity of For Frock's Sake. We learnt all about making collars & collar stands, plackets, cuffs, etc for shirts. Felicity is a wealth of knowledge and gives lots of tips on how these are done in industry ie. with no hand sewing. I feel so excited that now I just want to sew.

I am halfway through Burda skirt 01-2009-112 and used the opportunity the class gave me to pick Felicity's brains as I am lining the skirt and didn't know how to handle the zip area. Now I have a much better idea (plus Felicity let me take a sample home) but I have stalled as I ordered a invisible zip foot for my machine and I have decided I would wait for it to arrive to try it instead of using the generic one I have previously used.

So what to do this week-end? ... quick, simple project... Burda 8291. Photos...

and review here.

Well this was so quick and simple that I finished it and was looking for more, so I decided I would start making a shirt to use the new skills I had learned in class. The plan was to make Hot Patterns Fit to be Tied shirt. I know the instructions aren't great in these patterns so now I know how to do the collar and plackets, etc, I thought I could now tackle this pattern.

I was feeling too lazy to trace it, so hubby copied it onto some old A0 plan paper at work (recycled - it has plans on the back...lol). This paper is too stiff to use for tissue fitting but I planned to make one first out of a cheaper fabric to see how it went before I cut into my pretty satin. However, when I went to lay it out I found I did not have enough fabric... There is not enough of the pretty satin to make it from that fabric either... Oh no! I will need to go fabric shopping to make this top (what a shame!).

So for the rest of the day I have been researching another pattern for my pretty satin. I have settled on Burda wof 09-2008-115. I have loved this pattern since I saw it and it has been reviewed twice on Pattern Review and looks really good in both. Also the people who reviewed it are a similar'ish size/shape to me so I am sold on it. Now I just need another week-end to start on it....