No sewing - celebrating Spring!

We have been enjoying the Spring weather and participating in our town's Carnival of Flowers.

The Food, Wine and Flowers tent...

 With wandering entertainment...

 Beautiful gardens...

and textiles on show - this from the Toowoomba Quilters Quilt show, but I also enjoyed the Spinners and Weavers display...

Some answers to questions ...

I have had some questions lately in my Comments and have been very lax in answering them - I hope you still want to know! :)

 

From my post on Boxer for the boys

 

Kelley said...

They look great, Sue, very professional. My DH has been after me for years to make some for him, but I think I must be channeling my inner Selfish Seamstress. LOL. In the event that I finally do cave, where did you find the boxer elastic? It looks like that is the way to go.

August 28, 2011 4:09 PM

katherine h said...

These look good. where did you get the boxer elastic? I just bought pants using that elastic and it is very comfortable.

The boxer elastic came from Lincraft - but don't look for any in the Toowoomba store - I bought the last of the roll!   I think I may have seen some online at Crafty Mamas.  I have bought magazines from there but not elastic, so far the service has been excellent.    

From the post about 05-2011-107 gym top   

katherine h said...

I cut my shirts with extra width at the underarms on the back only, grading back to a size or 2 smaller at the waist. This seems to accommodate those lat muscles. You will need to add the same amount to sleeves, if your top has them. Looks good. I'm sure you;ll make plenty more of these. What is the composition of your technical fabrics?      

This fabric is a poly/nylon - it will be interesting to see how it wears in high Summer - it is still coping ok in the cooler weather.   

Summer Flies said... Your last two tops look great .. both colours look great on you. Where do you get that vilene tape from - around here?

I got the vilene tape at Lincraft again (it is amazing what you can find in there).  However I remember it was very expensive.  I have found it on-line here and have been planning to buy some but haven't as yet and have not used this on-line shop so cannot comment on them.  

So this post does not have any pictures, I have snapped a picture of my WIP - my second Simplicity 2599 top in a luscious silk... ruffles to be added....

Another one of the top 10 made.. Simplicity 2599

I was so excited to finish this top, I have done the thing I don't normally do - the mirror self-portrait!

This is Simplicity 2599.  This top is also another one of the top 10 patterns of 2010.  If you read my blog, you may know that I have set the challenge to make all top 10 outfits (a follower I am!)

 

This version is my trial version made in a polyester chiffon (yoru?) which cost all of $5 m and seemed perfect for this top.  It is Version B with cap sleeves and vertical ruffles.

I was concerned when I first tried it on after inserting sleeves that it would be too tight across the shoulders.  I need to get a photo of the back and try wearing it for a day to see how it goes on that score.

  As you can see, it fits Diana very well across the back, but my shoulders are a little broader.

 

This is a great little top.  It has different cup sizes and I am the b-cup as my high bust is very similar to my full bust (that's those pecs I have worked on so hard ;) )

Even with the cup sizes I found I had to go down a few sizes as the ease is massive in this top.  I am a 34" bust which corresponds to a size 12 but it had something like 5 1/2" ease across the bust - too much for me.  I went down to the size 8, which has 3" ease.  

The other things I did were to leave off the button closure at the back as it slipped on very easily without this, so even though I think it looks cute, I know I will never undo the button.

I also left off the facing and used rayon seam binding to finish the neck edge.  I did as others have done with this too and used a roll-edge hem to finish the ruffle edge. 

The only tip (which I hope will work through the wash!) is that the ruffles are attached with two rows of stitching 3mm apart and the edge is raw.  As this fabric ravels terribly, I made the second row of stitching a narrow zigzag and then trimmed close to the stitching.  I am hoping that it will keep it tidy as well as hold it through washing.  I used my duck-bill scissors to trim the excess fabric.  I love these scissors - you don't want to be cutting a hole in your top at this stage!

Lulu was my sewing helper today and as you can see gave my top the seal of approval...

 

I am now washing my very expensive piece of silk to make another version of this cute top... Ciao!

Butterick 5566 - denim skirt.

I am trying to begin some sewing for the change of seasons.  We are officially in Spring now and the days are slowly warming up.  I am so over my winter outfit which always included pants, that I had to sew for my first piece, a new skirt.  I made Butterick 5566.

I made View E as a few other sewing bloggers have done in a denim.  This denim was bought at the Fabric Collection at Sumner Park.

My most favorite part of this skirt is the facing (only a sewist would say that!).  I used a scrap of Japanese quilting cotton.  I did not have a large piece of denim and thought it would be too thick anyway, so used this quilting fabric which I fused with a lightweight interfacing.  I finished the edge of the yoke with rayon binding tape and added my tab on the inside at the zipper to avoid using a hook and eye at the top of the zip.

From the back...

These photos are taken at the end of the work day, but I think the skirt stood up pretty well.  It wasn't the warmest day that day so I paired it with my Burdastyle Turtleneck top in black bamboo (so soft and comfy!) and my Phoebe Jane vest.  

Full disclosure here in the interests of Self-Stitched September.  I am not an official participant but I do enjoy seeing what others are wearing and I do try  and wear something I have made myself, most days.  This day I got the full deck of cards! :)