Perth BSC

Yesterday I joined the ladies at the Perth BSC for an incredibly enjoyable afternoon.

(A picture of Perth, not of the BSC, taken by me in 2006)

I contacted Melissa back when I booked my flights saying that I was coming over and that I'd love to come along and meet them if they had a meet while I was there. She emailed back saying she was sorry but they meet on the second weekend of the month, which I was sadly not here for... however I received another email from her a month or so later saying that they'd decided to hold the May meet a week early so that I could go along!

The ladies at Perth BSC are lucky enough to have it hosted by Sandra in her wonderful little studio. As terrible as I am with names, I can remember hardly anyone's name, but everyone was really friendly and made me feel at home as soon as I arrived. There was stitching, showing and much much telling. Vintage patterns, thrift store finds, both inspiring and hilarious magazines and much much more.

My New Bodice Block

Even more amazing, Sandra was kind enough to show me how to construct my own bodice block. Made to measure, a toile sewn up and final alterations made, I now have a custom fit bodice block to use to make new patterns and check the fit of existing ones. She even showed me instructions for altering patterns to accommodate my substantial derrière.

I certainly hope to pop in again next time I'm in Perth.

Silky Purchase...

Last weekend I spent some time with my sewing machine and made up a muslin of my Sencha blouse and it turned out really well. It was useful in two ways; obviously finding out the fit, but also learning how the blouse goes together so I'm less likely to have any hiccups with construction when I'm working on the real thing. I don't have any photos of it yet , but I will get some. Due to this success I have taken the plunge and bought fabric.

At sewing club this evening I spent quite a while laying the pattern pieces on the fabric to work out exactly how much I needed. I ended up buying 1.3m, which was quite a bit less than the 1 7/8yd the fabric says to buy, which my bank balance is very grateful for! I bought the "Crepe De Chine Silk" I mentioned before (pictured and linked above), and also bought matching silk thread, some lightweight interfacing, the correct type of needles and some silk hand-wash solution. When I got home I hand-washed it and it's now drying so it's ready whenever I am.

I'm still planning on a "practice run" first with some royal blue fabric from my stash so I can get the hang of sewing with slippery fabric on something that I won't be devastated about if I ruin it. We did the burn test on it and concluded that it's definitely something artificial, probably acrylic or polyester. Either way the fabric has a similar drape to the silk so will be a very good practice run.

My goal for the weekend: To make at least the blue blouse

Wardrobe Project

As I mentioned, as part of my Sewing club I have joined the BurdaStyle Wardrobe Project. I took a printout of my wardrobe plan along to the last meet of sewing club but am yet to share it with you on here.

As I mentioned in my "Looking Ahead to 2010" post, this year I wanted to sew with more of a plan and expand my winter wardrobe - so this fits into that perfectly.

Without further ado, here's my current plan (although it is subject to change):

Winter 2010 Wardrobe Plan

Esprit Dress - I started this a while back and have completed a muslin, made the necessary alterations and even have bought some lovely black fabric from Tessuti, I just need to get started on it and it hopefully won't be too complicated (fingers crossed!)

Sencha Blouse - As I mentioned, I now have this pattern in my grubby little hands, and plan/hope to buy this fabric to make it with. I'll need to read up about working with slippery material before I make it though, as that's something I've never done before.

Emily Shirt - I made a muslin for this last year in some black poplin and have some gorgeous white on white stripe Italian shirting I got on sale at Clegs ready and waiting to be cut into. (I'll be making the version with the normal sleeves)
Vogue Trousers - I've had this pattern for a while (ever since I saw EmilyKate's gorgeous pair from this pattern and I bought it at the $5 sale at Clegs). I'm not sure what fabric/colour I'll be making these in yet but I think I'll make view A. I plan to make a muslin before buying fabric.

Jenny Skirt - I'm not completely decided on this one, I know I want a Skirt but I'm not entirely convinced this skirt will be all that flattering on me... so I may substitute this for a different pattern.

Hikaru Jacket - I hope to make the Hikaru jacket as a middle weight jacket, which I desperately need for this Winter - I have a few warm coats and some thin jackets but nothing at that mid-warmth level that's vital for Melbourne winter. I don't have any fabric in mind for it yet, I don't really want to make it black but other than that I'm not sure.

So there you have it, my plan. I'm not totally sure that they all fit together perfectly, but I'm sure it'll be fine, especially when i take into account the clothes I already have and can mix with these items. As I make items I'll make sure they fit in with the other ones and make any choices/changes accordingly.

Wicked Week

I haven't done much sewing this week as my mum visited for a couple of days. Yesterday was great fun, we went to the Ian potter gallery, and for lunch in fed square. Then in the evening we went to see "Wicked"; we managed to get some FANTASTIC tickets just by going to the box office during the day. Our seats were in the 9th row from the front, smack bang in the middle.

The show was amazing, the story fantastic, and the costumes stunning! While the costumes for the main characters were amazing (and can be easily googled), I found the costumes for the chorus characters much better. Particularly the students at 'Shiz University'. They had uniforms, but each of them was slightly different, with all sorts of fantastic diagonal lines and non-symmetrical parts. I can't find any example picture online, so if anyone knows of any pictures of the non-main characters, please tell me!

Anyway, when out in the city with my mum yesterday we solved the quilt backing problem (woohoo!). My parents had kindly looked in the spotlight near them (in Perth) and found the navy I'd used before, but sadly there wasn't enough left. However my mum came up with the great suggestion that I could buy a flannelette sheet set and use the flat sheet as the quilt back, and then I'd have a matching fitted sheet and pillowcases and it wouldn't be too expensive.

So, off we trooped to Target and were pleased to discover that flannelette sheet sets were 30% off! After looking at them all for a while and ruling most of them out I finally settled on a set, picture below. It also matches one of my current sets of bed sheets really well (in colour and the leafy theme) which is fortunate. I washed them yesterday, ready for me to speed through with the sewing and hopefully get it finished very soon!


Lastly, this evening was the second burdastyle sewing club, kindly hosted by Tessuti! It was much like the last one where we spent most of the time going round the circle showing what we'd made, and asking opinions and questions and troubleshooting current and future projects. Lots of fun! The things people have been making are all so stunning! So inspiring and envy inducing!

Before I left I had the chance to buy some buttons for my pyjamas I have in the works, some thread clippers, and some white fabric with black stripes (in the bargainous $10 corner!) to make the emily blouse.