Another piece in the chain - New Look 6150 View D top

I have made View A of New Look 6150 twice now as I love how it emulates a RTW top I used to own (first version blogged here and second one here.)  However when I was going to put the pattern away I had another look at all the versions and noted that version D is a boat neck and this is a style I love.  

I have made a few boat neck tees from Burdastyle 02-2009-108, but if I were to make it again I would probably have to trace a size up as those tops were made back in 2012/2013 and now I need at least one size larger.  I figured as I love the fit of New Look 6150 I really should give view D a try.  

I ordered fabric from Knitwit.  It is a viscose spandex blend from Italy called Ravenna.  I must say I am super impressed with this fabric.  A beefier viscose than I have used lately with great recovery and presses well.  Does not seem to crush either.  *Fabric love*

So with no alterations to the pattern, I made view D and once again I am very impressed with the fit.   

The only changes I made to it were the order of construction.  I sewed the shoulder seams first (with a strip of fusible interfacing on the back shoulder seams for stability), then finished the neckline, then sewed the sleeves in flat and then side/sleeve seams and hemmed.  This is a simple enough tee that this order made the most sense to me. 

Excuse the wrinkles - it does fit well, but I was a bit rushed to get the pic.

I think this pattern is going to replace my Burdastyle as my go-to boat neck tee.

I wore it to the office the other day which is where I got the photos but also took some photos of how I wore it out in the cold.  It is shown here with my Mabel skirt, Vogue jacket and crocheted cowl.  Don't you love when all your me-mades come together. 

And for a bit of fun last week-end my hubby and I competed in an in-house pairs competition at our local Crossfit box.  We were supposed to dress alike.  So we went as hippies which allowed me to have some fun revisiting my tie dye skills from the 70's!

My head band is also me-made - sweatband made from supplex.

We did not win any prizes for costume or for placing in the comp, but were super stoked that two old hippies managed to finish 3 WODs (workouts) at a reasonable pace.

Ciao kittens - one burdastyle top and stylearc skirt to be blogged soon....

2015.. the good and the bad

2015 has been a pretty good year all up.  I started the year participating in the Wardrobe contest on Pattern Review, but didn't keep the momentum up so didn't complete it.  

After that, a real highlight of the year was attending a PRDU get together in Tamworth. I enjoyed that week-end very much and caught up with on-line friends again and met some others for the first time.

What I have sewed has varied greatly and the posts that seemed to generate the most interest highlighted that.  The highest hits were for my ball gown and for a Jalie top made as gym wear.  From one extreme to the other.

I think this might have been the year of the pant as I made a pile of casual pants and a lot of them were for another major highlight of the year - our road trip/ camping / kayaking holiday in North Queensland.

I felt refreshed from the holiday and it fired me up to join the Pattern Review Great Sewing Bee.  I was chuffed to make it through 3 of the 4 rounds.  I really enjoyed this challenge.  It made me do more research and planning than I have for ages.  I also made some items at a higher difficulty rating than I usually would.  

The blouse has been worn quite a few times, but not the dress (need an occasion) or the jacket (need the cold weather), but I am happy that the pieces I produced will get some use.

Nothing bad happened this year but something sad.  My little dog unexpectedly had to be put down at the end of October.  It was a complete surprise as even though he was 15 years old his health had been really good to that point.  However he passed peacefully and had his family all around him.

Cosmo the wonder dog

Now to 2016.  I have my first make under my belt (finished today) and plan to join in the active wear contest on Pattern Review which starts in a few weeks.  I plan to make some more bags this year (got the bug!) and hope to keep the momentum going from the PR Sewing Bee to keep improving my fitting skills and pushing myself to try new techniques.  I do plan a denim jacket and will see what else hits the radar.

Happy new year kittens, Ciao for now.

Holiday snaps .... Jalie 2682 again

I have recently returned from a holiday where we traveled up to North Queensland and camped and kayaked and ate and ... you get the picture. :)

To this end I made a few pieces to take with me (as you do!)  I needed a rashie to wear while kayaking to stop my fair skin from turning bright red and painful and it is also useful as it keeps the salt water splash off your skin.  

I made a rashie for my DH a while back using a fehrtrade pattern (blogged here) and it is a good pattern but being a tightwad thrifty I thought I should use a pattern I already own.  Plus we don't really need to look like Bill and Ben in matching rashies don't you think?

I used Jalie 2682 a very versatile pattern which I last used to make a warm top for the gym. 

Cape Hillsborough near Mackay

This time I made it to my true size.  I made it exactly to the pattern.  I would normally shorten the sleeve length a little but left them as they were so I could get more protection.  It worked beautifully.

Cape Hillsborough  - Wedge Island.  You can walk to this spot at low tide.

The zipper is great as I can zip it right up to my neck for more sun protection.  

We saw a pod of dolphins that day - very exciting!

I made the main body of the top a dark brown and used a brown/red print for the lining pieces of the top bodice and collar.  I love that effect!

I also made a zipper pull in the patterned fabric.  I had a few questions about how I made it last time so tried to take some pictures this time to explain my process.

One more pic with the kayak... this time Cape Tribulation.

Cape Tribulation - above the Daintree ... don't kayak in the estuaries here! (crocodiles)

...and one of the reasons we visited Cape Hillsborough is that it is one of the few places you will see kangaroos and wallabies on the beach. 

Pretty Face Wallaby at sunrise - Cape Hillsborough

Ciao kittens... more holiday snaps soon...

Wardrobe Contest 2015 - piece 4 ... almost

I apologise for the break in transmission, I seemed to have dropped out of the blogosphere once again... anyway a very quick catch-up post.

I was on a roll with my wardrobe contest entry and my fourth piece was another Burdastyle blouse 06/2013-119  However I decided to play with this one.  I added some pin-tucking to the front and that took a little playing with the fabric.  I also choose to use more feet in my collection and made flat-fell seams.  This also added time to the make.  Anyway this is as far as I got before stalling.

As you can see no buttons or buttonholes.  Also the sleeves have been basted in but I am not happy with them so will be re-doing them.

So why the wardrobe contest entry fail?  Well I had sewing that became a bit more important.  I am going to a ball this week-end and needed a new frock.  So I have been making muslins madly and after quite a few changes I was able to cut my fabric... gulp!

The dress has progressed since cutting stage and is almost finished.  I did get way-laid by having a sewing week-end in Tamworth with some of the girls from Pattern Review.  We had a great week-end and did get help to pin my hem (Thanks Sharon!) 

So that is where I am currently up to - hand stitching - hemming and stitching on the decorative bow at the shoulder.  I hope to blog more about my sewing week-end but will leave you with a picture of a sign outside a lovely little cafe in Geln Innes where we stopped for lunch on the drive down to Tamworth.

Ciao kittens... pretty gown pics soon...

January Frock - Ottobre 2/2013 Fancy Flowers Dress

One of my goals for the year is a frock a month and so far I have one out of one as I present to you my January Frock.  It is from Ottobre 2/2013 pattern no. 7 Fancy flowers.  

They recommend lightweight viscose but I used a silk crepe de chine called New Orleans I had bought from Tessuti Fabrics a while back.  I had planned to make pants but since starting on this quest for a frock a month, this fabric started suggesting cool summer dress more and more.

I made my size according to bust size and the only alterations I made was to lengthen it by about 1cm  and trim a little excess fabric from the front of the armhole.

I was very happy with my front placket.  I had tried to place the pattern on the fabric so light colours were at the top and dark toward the bottom, but the placement of the pattern around the placket was pure serendipity.  It looks a bit like lace around the placket, don't you think?

This pattern has nice pattern details apart from the front placket.  A yoke, gathering falling from the yoke, shaped hemline, collar with stand and elastic gathering at the back waistband. 

Back view

I made the inner yoke piece from some white cotton-silk I had bought from The Fabric Collection a while back.  (A good thing to have in the stash.)  I did that so there would be no shadow of the print showing through the fabric.

I did the same for the armhole binding.

The trial wearing of the dress went well. 

A road trip to Brisbane with a sewing pal to see Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion at GOMA.   It coped beautifully with a warm Brisbane day and I really enjoyed the day out...

and the shopping on the way home...

Floral cotton for a blouse / stretch cotton for a shift dress / Rayon jersey for a wrap dress.

Ciao  kittens...

Crafty shopping... live, laugh, love

To take a break from clothes sewing exploits, I will show you the results of a lovely Sunday out.   Saturday was miserable... wet, windy cold so on Sunday when the sun came out we went for a drive out to Highfields (just outside of Toowoomba) to a little precinct called the Village Green.. 

First I shopped at the Quilters Angel and then we sat in the sunshine and had lunch at the Chocolate Cottage.  At the Quilters Angel I knew I would find what I need to make some gifts and I also picked up a magazine.

After lunch we strolled some of the other shops and I bought a few pieces to decorate my sewing studio.  Theses are the pieces hanging on the wall.

And to give you perspective on how it looks from the doorway of my sewing studio.

Ciao kittens - some Sewing Workshop tops and (obviously) some crafty goodness soon...

Brisbane bloggers meet-up

I am going to go to the sewing bloggers meet-up in Brisbane even though I am not a Brisbane blogger :)   

Love to hear if anyone else is going.  Here are the details for anyone who wants to know more about it.

Kingfisher Bay Resort... piccies

Photos of my mini-vacation (including some of the resort wear collection)...

Big bad banksia man...

Blue linen shirt over togs...

Crocodile Sung choi bao 

Pandanus roots

Dinner outfit (note shortened top...)

Rain on the way...

Sytelearc top back (to be reviewed)

Style arc top front (to be reviewed)

Sunset on the beach...

I wasn't by myself... :)

Another sunset shot...

the pool...

A review of the stylearc top to follow... Ciao kittens!

Odds & sods... including more on pattern Pyramid

I have not done much in my sewing studio lately but have sewn two more little Nicole Mallaileu zippered purses.  The patterns are now available as downloads and I would recommend them as they give great detail on the sewing of these purses.

I have threaded a ribbon onto the zip pull of one and I like that idea as it makes it easier to find the zip pull.  One of these is going to be a gift and I think I will keep one for myself as they are very useful little bags.  All the fabric has come from stash and the zips have been purchased at op shops or the bargain bin at a local fabric store... so not much cost involved.

In my last post about the pattern pyramid I said I would add a pattern to the parcel and this is the pattern I have chosen as I have two of them and it is multi-sized so great for anyone who would like to use it. 

So if you would like to be part of the pattern pyramid fun you have until the end of the 30th November to leave a comment on this post.   I am happy to send this to anywhere so don't be shy!

Back soon (hopefully) with my Big 0 Birthday dress.... Ciao! 

Pattern Pyramid Giveaway!

I have been lucky enough to be part of the Pattern Pyramid that is going around sewing blogland.  I won my parcel from Funnygrrl at Falling Through Your Clothes.  The parcel finally turned up - it must have been on the really slow boat, but it is finally here, so now I can host my own giveaway!

This is the parcel that turned up, including a beautiful card from Funnygrrl.

And these are the individual patterns in the parcel...

A Simplicity jumper or top - cute 1970's styling that still does have the embroidery transfer in the pattern.

Very Easy Vogue - I think a '90's pattern (could be wrong) - cute tucks at the sleeve heads.

Vogue doll pattern, which looks like it contains some cut out pieces in skin-tone fabric - ready to go...

and finally Sew News top - set of dolman sleeved blouses.

The rules of the giveaway are:

Anyone, anywhere can enter by leaving a comment on this post by the end of November 30th but you must have an active blog.

I will randomly select one winner, and post them the collection of patterns along with hand woven labels  to be sewn into anything made from one of these patterns (these didn't arrive with the parcel so won't be part of this giveaway).The winner will then pick one pattern to keep for themselves, then host their own giveaway. They will randomly select a winner, post the remaining patterns to Person A.Person A will pick a pattern for themselves, host their own giveaway and post the remaining patterns to the winner, Person B. Person B will do the same and so on until there is a last pattern winner.For more information, including details of the charity supported by the very generous donor of the patterns, please see Karen’s post and the code for the Pattern Pyramid button.

I am not letting on at this stage as to which pattern I will keep.  Do you know me well enough to hazard a guess in your comment? Plus I am thinking I may add one extra pattern (yet to be chosen).

OK - best of luck everyone, I hope we can keep the fun moving around the sewing world!