Peacock Dress

A blog post about this dress is well and truly overdue. If you follow me on instagram or twitter you'll have seen a sneak peek of it on New Years Eve. Yes, you didn't read that wrong, a whopping 50 odd days ago!

You've seen the fabric, it was one of the pieces I bought at Spotlight just after Christmas, and as I knew what I was going to make with it as soon as I saw the fabric, it didn't take me long to cut into it to start making a dress. This dress is essentially an exact replica of one of my favourite summer dresses that I've made, the red vintage simplicity 3965 knockoff (another new-years dress in fact! Made almost much exactly 2 years earlier).

  

I spent a really long time working out the perfect pattern placement for the fabric. The front was tricky, trying to avoid an awkwardly placed flower on the front bodice! The back was easy though, and I'm so happy with it! Thankfully the fabric was fairly see through, so I could place the pattern pieces underneath the fabric and see their placement exactly through. I also marked the seam allowances onto the pattern pieces to help with this.

 

However, a down side of the see-through-ness of the fabric was that the bodice was see through even when I had lined it with some batiste - the seam allowances on the neckline were particularly visible. So I added an additional underlining layer to the bodice to solve this problem (so the bodice has peacock fabric and then two layers of the batiste lining fabric).

 

I've worn the dress around the house a few times, but Saturday was the first chance I had to wear it out and about, when I wore it to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra free concert at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl (if you're in Melbourne you should definitely try to go to one of the concerts; there's still two more this Wednesday and on Saturday evenings). Anyway, while I was at the MSO concert I even got an 'unsolicitation' from the lady sitting next to us.

Community Minded...

Don't you just love the sewing community we have? I know I do! There's so many different ways to get involved and everyone is so kind and encouraging. I thought today, in lieu of an actual garment post as I suck at getting photos, I would talk about some community type things...

First up is Social Sewing! Just a quick reminder that next Saturday, the 23rd of Feb, is our next Social Sewing Day. If you're planning on coming can you please let me know so I have a vague idea of numbers.

A few of us were planning on making it a crinoline sewing day, buying the tulle at GJs and getting started on making our own crinolines with some moral support thrown in. If you'd like to join us with that too then you're more than welcome!

Have you seen that JuliaBobbin is hosting the second round of her "Mad Men Challenge". In case you haven't heard, all you need to do is sew something up that's inspired by Mad Men and send her a photo (or blog link) by the 19th of April. I am so definitely in! Sadly I couldn't join in last year as I was too busy with other things, but this year I'm definitely joining in!!!

Lastly, #sewingdares!! Have you seen #sewingdares around the place? The lovely Gillian started issuing dares to people on twitter, and then on her blog. It's all in good fun, and just aimed to get you to try something just outside your comfort zone. I wanted to join up straight away but needed to be realistic; this was while I was still doing the sew-along, I didn't have time for a dare! However, now the sewalong is over I do! So the other day I asked Gillian for a dare and she came up with a great one:

"Make something to wear under a dress"

So many possibilities!!! I think making the crinoline as part of this dare would be cheating though, as I was already scheduled to have a go at making one at Social Sewing. I've been wanting to try undies for quite a while, so might try that but will need to grab some elastic. Or leggings are a good possibility too... As I said, so many possibilities!!


Also, I have some exciting news; I've (finally) booked my flights to come across to Europe for three weeks in July! I'm really excited! I'm also hoping to meet up with some of you lovely stitchers while I'm there; Who is free on Saturday 3rd of August for a meet-up in London?

Are there any nice community type things that you've seen around or are joining in with? Will you be joining in with the things I've mentioned? And lastly, does anybody know of any good resources for people beginning their sewing adventure?

Social Sewing goes on the Road

Last Saturday we went on an adventure. A group of fearless sewing enthusiasts met up, bright and early on a beautiful sunny day, with the plan of buying lots of fabric! Yes, the Social Sewers went on a little road-trip! 9 fabric stores were visited over 8 hours, and countless metres of fabric were purchased, and even more were stroked, gushed over, and even hugged.

We started the day at GJs, then Rathdowne remnants, then moved onto 5 stores that I'd never been to before; Darn Cheap Fabrics, The Cloth Shop, Cutting Edge Fabric, The Button Shop and Astratex, and finished off at The Fabric Store and Alannah Hill. We then rounded off the day with dinner at Rockwell and Sons. You can get the details of our full itinerary over on the fabulous Kat's blog, who organised the whole day - so massive thank you Kat!

(In this pic is a sneak peek of my new dress! Finished before going to bed the night before! Blog post coming soon...)

I'm not entirely sure how many people we had in total as some people popped in and out throughout the day, but there were many! There was even representation from a whopping four states and territories; Victoria (obvs), ACT, Tasmania and South Australia!!

I'm sure by now you're wondering what I bought, I was very restrained, buying only three pieces of particularly special fabric (having my stash out on display in my room is helping my resolve to sew with it and remember that I already have fabric before buying more!) But here they are:



At the top is some delicious silk/cotton from Darn Cheap Fabrics, it's just so beautiful and drapey, and might possibly become another portrait blouse. On top of the silk/cotton are some blue buttons to finish off my Whole Wheat Cardigan. Then the fabric with the birdcages is another lovely drapey viscose fabric from Astratex that I just could not walk away from (there was hugging of the bolt before purchasing it too). And on the bottom is a lovely wool suiting from The Fabric Store. I was being strong until I saw Kirsty buying this one, and it's so soft, and it was half price, what's a girl to do?!

And while we're on the topic, don't forget that the next Social Sewing is on the 23rd of Feb. We hope to see you there!

Hollyburn Sew-Along - Sew-Along Participant's Skirts

So, today marks the last post in the Hollyburn Sew-Along, where I share the beautiful skirts that the sew-along participants have made. If you haven't finished or even started your Hollyburn skirt yet, don't worry, the posts aren't going anywhere, you can access a list of them all in the sew-along tab along the top of the page on my blog.

But onto the excitement of today, the fabulous skirts created by the sew-along participants! Click on the picture or link below the picture to be taken to their blogs etc.

I really hope I haven't missed anybody out, but if I've somehow managed to miss you, first massive apologies and second PLEASE let me know and I'll update this post to remedy the situation.

[SewSquirrel]

[BusyLizzie]

[JennySews]

[SakePuppets]

[Mindy]

[SqueezeTheUniverse]

[TheaInSewingLand]

[Sharon (for her daughter)]

[CraftAsTherapy]

[SimpleFibreLife]

[Kyri]

[SusieHomemakerMD]

[GigglesInTheSun]

[BimbleAndPimble]

[Gindrella]

[ChrisLucas]

[Petra]

What a lovely collection of Hollyburn skirts! Everyone has done a truly amazing job on their skirts! Thanks for sharing everyone.

Thanks for joining in with my first ever sew-along, I'm very grateful for the incredibly warm welcome it received. If you decide to follow along with the sew-along in the future, I'd love to see your skirts, so shoot me an email or leave a comment on the blog.

Cordova Jacket

Because Sewaholic garments seem to be the theme around these parts at the moment, I thought the next finished item I would show you would be the Cordova jacket I recently finished.

Yeah, yeah, I know that a wool jacket isn't the most obvious of makes considering it's still summer here (37 degrees today! Still 31 degrees at 10pm as I write this). I wasn't originally planning on making this jacket when the pattern was first released, but then I saw Sam's lovely navy version and fell in love. I couldn't stop thinking about making one, thinking that I could wear at work (since my office is freeeeezing!). But I didn't buy the pattern to start with. I stayed strong. I had other things planned, many things, and didn't want to buy the pattern and have it sitting around not being used.

But then one day when I was visiting Sarah I cracked. I mean, there was all those patterns there for her online store, buying just one wouldn't hurt would it? I mean really it was being well behaved, as I could easily have come home with stacks of patterns! And so the Cordova pattern came home with me.

Over my Christmas holiday I made up a muslin. I didn't make too many changes (partly because I was a bit scared of how to replicate anything too complicated in the lining, as the lining pieces are differently shaped to the outer pieces).

• I narrowed the shoulders, by taking fabric off the edges of the armholes, so the sleeve seam hit on the bone at the edge of my shoulder, rather than a fair way out from it.
• I did a sway back adjustment, taking out a wedge in the back at the top of where the peplum hits the sides. 
• I also took a strange wedge shape out of the back over my shoulder blades, with the most being taken out of the princess seams, tapering to nothing at the centre back and armholes. 
• Lastly I shortened the sleeves by about 3cm.

I got the fabric from Rathdowne Fabrics. The outer fabric is a wool suiting (actually I can't remember if it was pure wool or a wool blend) in a slightly mottled grey. I then picked a dusky pink lining fabric, which I LOVE. I think it is just the right amount of contrast without being too over the top for work wear.

Do you want to know my favourite thing about this jacket? I think it's the only hip/high-hip length jacket I own that I don't have to pull awkwardly and tight around my hips to do up! The first time I put it on and did up the zip it just popped into my head that this must be what putting clothes on is supposed to be like!!

The construction was pretty simple. I just followed the instructions for the pattern step by step. There was no fancy tailoring techniques going on here*! I was surprised with how quickly it came together actually. The only change to the construction that I made was to add a grosgrain ribbon hanging hook on the back facing. I just folded under the ends and stitched it by machine at each end of the hook. Then I did some hand tacks to hold the back facing to the seam allowances at the centre back and back princess seams so that the jacket doesn't do funky things if I hang it by said hanging hook.

*Not that I'm against those of you that make amazing tailored garments, I'm just too scared to try them myself quite yet

After wearing it a few times and also looking at these photos I'm a little concerned that the jacket is a little bit big for me. The first time I wore it was with my hollyburn skirt (in some of the pictures above) and I don't think that was necessarily the most flattering outfit; a bit too much volume on my bottom half. I'm much happier with how it looks in the photos with the jeans so will bear that in mind for future outfits. (Not that I wear jeans much these days)

You can see that the back fits pretty well though, no wrinkles at the lower back like I often get.

Unfortunately, the sway back adjustment has made it slightly shorter in the back than the front. I was aware that this would be the case before sewing up the jacket, but trying to work out how to modify the lining pieces to match any changes that would fix that was making my brain hurt, so I decided that I would pick my battles. I don't need to perfect everything the first time round, I can leave some lessons for another project!

So overall, a nice little jacket, and not a massive time or $$ suck, so I'd class that as a win!

What about you, have you considered making a Cordova? Do you hate Air Conditioning as much as I do?

Hollyburn Sew-along - Finished Skirt No. 2 (and Bonus Pendrell)

As promised, today I'm sharing with you the other Hollyburn Skirt that I made as part of the Sew-Along. As it's a plain black skirt, to make this post slightly more interesting, I will also share with you a new Pendrell that I finished the other weekend (Long weekends of sewing rock!). I promise I really do wear my Hollyburn skirts with other tops too!

The Hollyburn skirt is a lovely fabric that I bought from Tessuti. I don't remember what it is, but it's lovely and spongy, and I'd love to go back and buy a whole bolt of it. It was lovely to sew with and even nicer to wear.

The blouse is made from a chiffon that I was gifted along with a heap of other fabric eons ago. I'd put off making a blouse from it for ages because it was quite a large piece so thought it should be a dress instead. But then I decided a blouse I would wear is waay better than it staying a piece of fabric forever, even if there is some waste.

A burn test on a scrap after cutting the fabric suggests that it is silk chiffon (as opposed to poly). How quickly it creases while wearing also supports that conclusion. I have decided that I am definitely not against polyester in certain circumstances, and chiffon is one of them. My first chiffon pendrell is a cheapo poly chiffon and that one hasn't needed ironing since I bought it, this silk one was creased after wearing it for 5 minutes.

Just like the first chiffon pendrell I made, I did view B with just the outer ruffle, which gives a cap-sleeved effect. I also again did french seams throughout, making the inside of the blouse as beautiful as the outside. I really am a massive fan of french seams.

Also, another new thing you can see in my pictures today, my new camera remote. Hopefully it will make taking blog photos on my own a bit easier.

Don't worry if you haven't finished, or even started, your skirts yet. The posts aren't going anywhere, and the list of links to them all will stay on the Sew-Along page, which is linked along the top of my blog below the banner.

 But remember, you need to send me a link or picture of your skirt by the 11th of Feb if you want your skirt included in the round-up post for the Sew-Along participants! I'm looking forward to seeing all your skirts.

Wellington Pattern Pyramid - Winner!

So today's the day to announce the winner of the Wellington Pattern Pyramid Giveaway! As usual, I consulted random.org for assistance with choosing the winner....

Lucky number 12 is... BusyLizzie!! Lizzie look out for my email so I can get your details to send the patterns to :)

What are you all up to this weekend? This is what's on my cutting table today...

Hollyburn Sew-Along - Finished Skirt No.1

As promised, to round off the Hollyburn Sew-Along I need to show you the two skirts that I made. Today I'll show you the pink linen version, which was actually a gift for my mum (hence the extra effort of making the insides look super lovely).

Above is the skirt laid out, which is a really good way to show how flared it is - just imagine it doubled and that's what portion of a circle it is. And below, you can see that it's lined (the fabric wasn't see through or anything so didn't need to be lined, but my mum requested lined, so thats what it has).

And here it is on my mum:

 

Doesn't it look fabulous! I love the print, and the drape of the linen is just beautiful!

Don't worry if you haven't finished, or even started, your skirts yet. The posts aren't going anywhere, and the list of links to them all will stay on the Sew-Along page, which is linked along the top of my blog below the banner.

But remember, you need to send me a link or picture of your skirt by the 11th of Feb if you want your skirt included in the round-up post for the Sew-Along participants! I'm looking forward to seeing all your skirts.