Some Blog Awards...

Excitingly I've been nominated for two blog awards in the last couple of weeks - how lucky am I?!

First up, SewBusyLizzy nominated me for The Lovely Blogger Award - Thank You Lizzy!

The rules for the One Lovely Blog Award are as follows:

• Thank the person who nominated you and link back to him/her in your post.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Nominate 15 bloggers you admire.
• Leave a comment on each of these blogs letting them know they’ve been nominated.

Ok... my 7 things...

1. I'm a really slow reader. I even once went to a speed reading class, but that didn't help. (The techniques they showed us were a bit BS if you ask me)
2. When I first moved to Melbourne I used to go rock climbing at least twice a week. I really want to start going again (but I've become quite lazy and tend to get hibernatory over winter)
3. I cannot do chin ups. Despite spending quite a long time trying to train to do one, I've never been able to do even one chin up.
4. I can play the cello and piano. I wish I still played them but I don't currently have a piano and I don't enjoy playing the cello on my own.
5. I am incredibly clumsy. I'm constantly covered in bruises and rarely know how I got them all.
6. I'm left handed! All the cool kids are I recon ;)
7. I'm so much more a fruit person than a vege one. I LOVE summer fruits, and miss the quality of the raspberries/peaches etc that I used to get in the UK compared to here. I love the cherries at Christmas and strawberries almost all year round here in Oz though!

And now the bloggers I'd like to nominate (in no particular order):

1. http://houseofpinheiro.blogspot.com.au/
2. http://su-sews-so-so.blogspot.com.au/
3. http://greenthumbsanddirtynails.blogspot.com.au/
4. http://sewsquirrel.wordpress.com/
5. http://handmaderetro.blogspot.com.au/
6. http://sewingwithpatience.blogspot.com.au/
7. http://www.bellacollectanea.com/
8. http://poppykettle.blogspot.com.au/
9. http://asewingodyssey.blogspot.com.au/
10. http://laurainatangle.blogspot.com.au/
11. http://sewingthroughthemotions.blogspot.com.au/
12. http://scaredstitchless.blogspot.com.au/
13. http://mybeaubaby.blogspot.com.au
14. http://savorystitches.blogspot.com.au/
15. http://handmadebycarolyn.blogspot.com.au/

(mostly dressmaking links, I'm definitely on a dressmaking bender these days and less in love with quilting at the moment)

Secondly, TheCuriousKiwi nominated me for a Thank You Award - Thank you Mel!

This award stipulates that you should thank and link to the last nine bloggers to comment on your blog... (some duplicates with the above list I'm afraid):

1. Carolyn
2. Gail
3. Neeno
4. Rachel
5. Melanie
6. Helen
7. Danika
8. Bella
9. Kat

A massive thank you to the above bloggers and everybody else that takes the time to comment on my blog - I really do appreciate every single comment, even if I don't reply to them all. They really encourage me, and all the help and suggestions you provide are so valuable!

Whole Wheat - Gauge Swatch

After finishing my Miette Cardigan I was so happy with it that I've decided to move onto another cardigan project. So, one day after work I took another trip to Morris & Sons and exchanged the two leftover balls of yarn from my Miette and bought some lovely merinogold yarn in pale blue, to make a Whole Wheat cardigan.

When I got home I bought the pattern online, and over the weekend started knitting a gauge swatch...



This gauge swatch really highlighted the difference before and after blocking. Above is before, below is after...



I'm happy with the gauge, and even happier with the texture of the pattern!



This cardigan uses very different techniques to the Miette that I've never tried before. It's knit as flat pieces that are seamed together at the end. The pattern is also written very differently - much less 'spelled out' than the Miette. Wish me luck with working out how to do it all!

My Month in Instagram...

I love Rachel's Instagram wrap-up posts so thought I'd do one of my own to share what I've snapped. I don't have enough pics to post every week, but here is my last month on Instagram...

              

If you want to add me, my username over there is maiestia.

Do you have instagram? If so, what's your username? I'd love some new people to follow...

Guest Post at SewSquirrel

Guess what! Today I have my first ever guest post over at SewSquirrel!!

You should hop on over and take a peek at what I had to say. And while you're there you should check out Sarah's other posts, as she's one super talented lady, and super lovely too, I feel very lucky to not only get to read her blog but to spend time sewing with her in real life (gasp!) too. Oh, and did I mention that she sells independent patterns? And she ships free within Australia too!

What're you waiting for, head on over!

Miette - Finished!!

Guess what I finished last weekend?? Yup, that's right, my Miette!! And since Claire and Mindy were kind enough to assist me as photographers I have some pics to share too.

The knitting portion had been finished for a bit over a week, and the cardigan was just waiting on buttons. I bought some buttons that blend in with the yarn, and also added some ribbon to the back of the buttonband that has the buttons on it.

Hopefully the ribbon will stabilise the front of the cardigan. I wasn't sure about adding it to the button band with the buttonholes, so have left it off for now and will see how it goes.

Overall I'm really happy with the cardigan. I love how simple it is, but also really like the lace detail that stops it from being boring. The fit is pretty good. It probably could have done with being a smidge bigger (there's a fair bit of negative ease!). The shoulders look a bit lumpy in these pics, but that's not the cardigan it's because of the sleeves on the dress I'm wearing under it.

If I were to knit up this pattern again I think the only thing I'd change is to start the bust decreases about an inch lower than they are on the pattern - they start a bit too high on me I think. I'd also possibly consider adding one more repeat of the lace to add a couple more inches in length, but i'd have to decide on that after seeing how wearable this one is at this length.

In case you're wondering if I went back and fixed the sleeve lengths - I did! Below is a pic of the very scary process of cutting off the cuff (easier as I'd already weaved in the ends), ravelling back and picking up the stitches again. I cut the shorter sleeve and re-knitted it to match the length of the longer one.

And just to finish this post, I wanted to share a couple more of the pics taken during this photoshoot. Encouraged by my friends behind the camera to try some silly poses, I channeled my inner Amanda as best I could...

  

Nowhere near as crazy as some of her photos but a galant first effort I think.

(apologies if this has appeared in your feed again, and for the lost comments, I accidentally deleted the post)

Prints Framed and Hung

Do you remember the Cate Parr watercolour prints I was trying to choose back in June? Well I finally made a decision and bought the prints in September. I have since gotten them framed and onto the wall...

Yes, I went with option 2 in the end. But there was MUCH deliberation. They're now on the wall above my desk in my room, the little corner that makes my little sewing area. I love how they look on the wall, it was exactly what I was after.

I wanted to take a moment to share the amazing place that I ended up getting the frames from. The shop is called "Frames Readymade" and is 352 Lygon Street, Brunswick East. They're only open Thurs-Sat 10-14, but it turns out that's because they make the frames on site. They have a great range of frames, and the staff are super helpful.

I got some standard size frames, but I had to get one mat custom cut (for the bargainous price of $8!) for the print of the hands/dandelions as it's a bit taller than the other two. My boyfriend also got some frames there, including one that was custom sized that ended up costing half the price of the other quote we got, and the service was infinitely better.

If you're in Melbourne and are in the market for any frames I highly recommend trying out Frames Readymade. Overall I'm a very happy camper, both with my superb art and the frames that the prints are contained in!

DUDQS3 - Quilt Recieved!

I shared with you the quilt I made for the DUDQS3 last week, but today I am very excited to share the quilt that I received.

My quilt was made by the very talented Kelli. Just look at that quilting! Isn't it stunning!! I absolutely love it!

Kelli has left the coloured squares un-quilted and they really pop.

It's going to look beautiful on my wall!!

Thank you so much Kelli, I really do love it!


PS: Are you planning on coming along to the Social Sewing this Saturday (the 27th October)? If so, please let me know!

Great Stuff... #4

I spent quite a few hours this morning catching up on my blog reading (over 300 posts, phew!) so thought it was time to put together another 'great stuff' post...

[source - Poppykettle]

• I love this floral dress that Melanie has made. It's beautiful and looks so wearable! (pictured above)
• And isn't this Twilight Sparkle Costume that Suzanne has made for her daughter absolutely amazing!!!
• Kristy has put together some great information about  how she english paper pieces (EPP)
• Florence has some really interesting and informative thoughts on quilting by hand
• Aren't these bat blocks great, can you spot the one with a face? So cute!
• Melanie has posted this ingenous tip for marking hems
• Sarah alerted me of this amazingly beautiful sewing machine design
• I love this Leather bow necklace tutorial by Jodie
• Mika has made this beautiful teal dress
• And another lovely teal dress from the talented Karen
• I love the phrase fake-torial almost as much as I love the top it's a tutorial for.
• And in the same theme, I love this striped top that Jodie has made!
• It's just stripes I love really, particularly the interesting way that Amy has laid them out on this dress.
• How stunning does the black on this collar look? Good news - Gertie has posted a tutorial of how she did it!
• I love this mini quilt pattern
• There is a great tutorial on basic hand stitches on the Coletterie.
• I really wish I had the time to participate in the Sureau dress sew along

Enjoy!

Patternmaking Classes - 1&2

I've recently started some patternmaking classes on Monday evenings. They're run at The Dancing Queen in Fitzroy. I've started off with the 6 week "Patternmaking 1" course, which covers the basics of pattern making and we practice the basic principles by making some basic 'unfitted' blocks.

Weeks 1 and 2 have been about drafting a basic "easy fit" skirt block. After spending the beginning of the first session learning about taking accurate measurements, and then taking our measurements in pairs, we set to drafting a very basic straight skirt with an elastic waistband. In the second session we made up toile's of our skirts, and if applicable made alterations.

I was still a little cautious of the course at the beginning as there was quite a lot of discussion of standard sizing, and when we took our measurements we were then asked to pick our closest standard size and make note of our variations from it.

While I'm not interested in making things to standard sizing, but want to make it to my personal sizing, it was an interesting exercise to see how my sizes measure up in relation to the "Australian Standard". Overall I'd probably be a 12, with my bust falling into a size 12, however my hips are a size 16, but my shoulders and arms are off the bottom of the scale (which goes down to a 6) - pear shaped much?!

Thankfully the relevance of the class picked up once we started drafting, as the skirt pattern didn't give any mention to standard sizes' but was purely based off our measurements - our waist, hip and 'waist to hip' measurements to be precise.

After drafting the block we traced it off, added seam allowances and checked the accuracy of our drafting by walking the seam lines - mine was bang on! Hooray! Then it was onto making the toile.

As I would have predicted based on my experiences hemming skirts, my skirt was slightly shorter at the back than it was at the front. While in the past I have just hemmed it so that it sits at an equal height from the floor when wearing it, this isn't really the 'proper' way to do it - especially if you want to use a border print for example. Our teacher Maida told me how to alter the pattern properly - and it's to add extra to the skirt near the bum, rather than at the bottom. You can see my alteration here, my skirt was 1.5cm shorter at the back, so that's how far I spread the pattern, after drawing a diagonal line from the very top of the side seam (as to not interfere with the side seam curve):

You can see my second toile after making the alteration here (sadly I don't have a before pic for comparison):

You'll have to believe me, that now the skirt sits level with the floor at the front and the back.

It's encouraged (but not part of the actual course) to now use our block to make a garment with the pattern to test out our drafting skills properly, but I'm completely at a loss of how to modify this pattern into a design that would be comfortable and flattering and to my style... I'm not usually an elasticated waistband kind of girl!! Any ideas?

Social Sewing - October - Are you in?

The next date we've organised for some Social Sewing is less than 2 weeks away, so I thought I'd post up a quick reminder about it.

Here are the details:

• Date: Saturday 27th October
• Location: GJs Discount Fabrics, in Brunswick- they have a big workroom with big tables and lots of floor space, power points and light. You would need to bring your own machine. 
• Time: 9-4 (their opening hours, but you can come for as much or as little of that as you like) 
• Cost: $10 per person (paid to GJs when you arrive) 

If you could please let me know if you're planning on coming by comment or email so I can keep GJs in the loop as to a vague idea of how many of us to expect.

Please feel free to pass on the information to other Melbourne sewists who might be interested in coming along.

I look forward to seeing you there!

(If you can't make it to this one, there is another one scheduled for the 17th of November as well)