Progressed to round 3!!!

Pretty excited to have progressed to the third round of the PR sewing bee!  I am feeling exhausted after the last round so what does this round bring?  A lined jacket in 10 days.... my last lined jacket was a year in the making...  ok, may need to apply myself more this time.  

I have only made 3 lined jackets before (blogged here, here and here),  The two more fitted, tailored jackets I use still and the chanel style jacket I have gifted to a friend it suited better (the style and the colour were never great for me).  So what do I make this time?

I really wanted to make a denim jacket as I love top stitching and I thought it might give it the difficulty/extra factor that a contest entry needs.  However I don't have a big enough piece of denim fabric.  I really need to use what I have as I don't want to rely on the local shops as I only have Spotties and Lincraft.  *sigh*  

Back to the drawing board.  After trawling through burdastyle I have come up with this pattern.  

Burdastyle 11-2012-117

Casual enough to fill a hole in my wardrobe, enough difficulty to give me a good entry and I love the retro trench styling.  Plus I have a piece of wool flannel in the stash and it has been one of those pedestal fabrics that I have not been game to set a project to.  I think it will be perfect for this. 

And in other news I attended the local ASG "sewing Skills" day on Saturday and really enjoyed the presentations.  I may have bought a few things too *cough*

black/cream jersey / liberty to die for / knits for real people plus steam a seam, pincushion for sewing machine needles and foe... plus a bottle of wine as a raffle prize (not pictured... not sure what happened to it?)

Ciao kittens, expect quiet for a while as I am making a lined jacket folks... in 10 days!!! seriously...

McCalls 5931 - a teaser

I have had a few days of sewing this month. One of which was on last Thursday at our local neighbourhood group meeting of the Darling Gowns (part of the Australian Sewing Guild). We have a lovely group of ladies who have only been meeting for a few months, but we have lots of fun when we get together. I have been working on McCall's 5931 described as ' Empire waist peasant tops'.

I made a muslin and found a few issues which I will detail in another post, but this is the top so far - it still needs a zip and to be hemmed...

I am really happy with it so far - I think it looks better in real life, than it looks in this photo so hopefully when it is finished and I do the photo shoot you will think so also. The fabric is an olive crinkle cotton bought from Gorgeous Fabrics. It is just perfect for this pattern. The pattern has been enjoyable to make as it has a lot of interesting construction. I have hand basted heaps but find with all the gathering it helps make it come together successfully with less un-picking.

Once it is completed, if I still love it as much, I am considering making it from a silk I bought while in Melbourne. Is it too distinctive to have another one? The silk is a soft tan/brown with a small scale print in it. It is in the first photo in this post the left-most piece. (I can't re-post the photo as I am not on my own computer at the moment). So what do you think .. is it worth considering making two of these?

Bits and bobs...

I haven't got any sewing done, as life has been very busy, but I will try and catch you up with some of the stuff going on. Of course, even though I am not sewing, I still have managed to increase the meters of fabric in my house. These are my latest buys...


The first two are the most divine, melt-in-your-mouth silks for tops and the third is a raw silk I plan to make into a lovely simple sheath dress. These fabrics were on sale (does that make it better?) and were bought on a day when Caity & I went to meet Lynn down in Brisbane. Lynn showed us this great little shop. Lynn is visiting from the States and this is the second time we have met up. She is a fantastic lady with a passion for sewing (and travelling).

This is Caity, Lynn and I in front of the fabrics.

This is the shop we visited. For those who can make it into Brisbane, you can find this shop upstairs in the Brisbane Arcade, behind the tea house.
All the fabrics are bought from Europe and are used to make the most beautiful couture clothing, including Chanel-style jackets with beautiful trims. You can find the clothes in a boutique on the ground floor. The rest of the fabric is then sold in this store. (Note - Australian Sewing Guild members can now get a discount in the store!) All the fabrics are high quality and range from silks to boucles, wools, etc.

This is the front of the store. I love this old arcade as it has the most beautiful shop fronts (as well as shops - if you are visiting, check out the milliners also located upstairs.)

We had a fabulous day that day but also managed to catch up with Lynn this week at the Stitches & Craft Show in Brisbane on Thursday. We travelled down on a little bus with other local members of the Australian Sewing Guild. So some more shopping and these are some trims I bought for my Chanel jacket (if it ever comes to fruition).

The petersham I actually bought on-line from America but the other trims were from the show. I also bought a piece of chain for the hem. No more excuses to make this jacket except the weather is now so warm I have no interest so I am leaving this for next year when the weather starts to cool. At least I think I have everything I need for it now!

My husband & I also celebrated our 21st Wedding Anniversary. Here we are before attending a local race day last Saturday. We had a great time with some friends I have made through our local gym. The next night we went to Brisbane (again!) and saw Elvis Costello in concert. Had a great week-end all up.

Now a gratuitous photo of Lulubelle, who is starting to take over our household...

Kreativ Blogger

I have received this award from Lisa at The Hem Line and Josie of JosieLoves2Sew. Thanks guys! It is lovely to be part of this on-line sewing/blogging community.

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?

1. I am a through and through Queensland girl having lived in this State all my life. I was born in Mt Isa, a mining town on the way to 'Outback'. I have also lived in Brisbane and now Toowoomba.
   
2. When I was a girl I loved to dance and studied Ballet until I was about 16. I was never very good at it but I loved it.
3. I used to be a really keen gardener before sewing took over my life.
4. I hope to finally get my own sewing studio soon as we have recently had an Architect look at our house with a view to renovation.
   
5. I have been a mystery shopper.
6. I have a Bachelor of Science.
7. I love all things old / vintage - but I hate getting old and am fighting it all the way!
   

Whew! that was hard... now harder still seven blogs out of all the blogs I love to read...

1. Make it Smirk
2. Kbenco 's Projects
3. Sew-4-Fun
4. Keelysews
5. The Last Stitch
6. Encue Creations
7. AllisonC Sewing Gallery

I have had a lovely week-end but no sewing. I attended a Sewing Guild day out at Dalby (about an hour west of here) to do a colour workshop - very interesting day and heaps of laughs... yes, red does make my face red....

...and today we picked up Lulubelle, who has spent most of the day pretending to be an ornament in our bookshelf in the lounge. I hope she settles in soon.

Shop, shop, shopping in Melbourne

Not much more has happened on the Chanel jacket front as last week was busy and this week I am in Melbourne for a short holiday.

Since I was in Melbourne, I decided to check out two city fabric stores -Tessuti's and Cleg's.

This is the fabric I bought at Tessuti's. Not real exciting I suppose in colour, etc but great basics in beautiful quality fabrics. The first is a silk (like a silk Georgette? - lightweight with a crinkle). It is a print and colour I just had to have to make a tunic-style top for this Spring. The next is a beautiful khaki-brown jersey from the remnant bin and then another jersey (a viscose jersey, I think) in a colour called 'aubergine' but like a really dark brown. Destined to be a frock. The last one in 'winter white' is a wool jersey which I haven't been able to obtain locally. I am interested to see how this one goes.

Next to Clegs - silk again! This time a lining and suit-weight silk to make my second Chanel jacket. I was lucky enough that the suiting was on sale (50% off).

Other than fabric shopping, we have been to see the Dali exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and A Day in Pompeii at the Melbourne Museum. Then apart from more shopping we have basically been eating and drinking our way through the restaurants in Lygon St and around town. Great food everywhere!
Tomorrow we pick up a hire car and are heading to have two days in the Dandenongs at a cute cottage b&b.

Other exciting news ... I have become involved in a new neighbourhood group in the Australian Sewing Guild. I attended an Industry Day on Saturday and we will have our first meeting next month. I am looking forward to meeting with a bunch of other sewing-obsessed ladies!

More sewing hopefully next week, when I will be raring to see my machine again!