Purple Summer Dress

Some things have changed since the last time we spoke.

Firstly I sewed a dress from a pattern. Secondly I actually made a muslin of it before starting. And thirdly I actually sewed something that required a zipper.

These may seem small and insignificant to others who strive to be amazing seamstresses and in the process do not realise how awesome they actually are at their craft that things such as this need not be mentioned. But not here!

So let's start with the details. It's made from a free pattern on Burdastyle and it is all the more awesome because of it. It's the Contour Bust Dress made by member Miasu. I made it with lightweight quilting cotton that I bought on special when Spotlight in Liverpool closed. Score!

I'm so glad I actually made the muslin. It's clearly made for a girl with an average to larger sized bust and, well, let's be honest, that just doesn't doesn't describe what I've got. So I ended up playing around with the pattern pieces to make sure it would fit before cutting it out of the regular fabric. And as you may notice from the above photo the only way I could get it to sit right (after lopping off a bunch of fabric round the neckline) was to put a tiny dart down the middle of the top piece.

So you wanna see some dodgy photos I took of it in my lounge room and bedroom just now?

Really? Ok.

I'm quite stoked with how it turned out in the end. I think if I make it again I'll raise the back a little higher and pull it in a centimetre or two around the bodice but apart from that it's ready to wear.

Clutch at my heart

Look! I made a clutch!

Last night I sat down with a thought in my head. Yes. On occasion this does happen. I wished to take some fabric and shape it into a clutch that had some interesting lines on it.

I drew a bunch of designs and ended up settling on this idea as it seemed easy enough to execute as well as interesting enough to be a clutch I would actually use.

I drew up a pattern and made the shape of the body pretty quickly which gave me time to play around with the top foldover part.

I ended up cutting out a bunch of long triangles and putting some fray stopper down the edges of them and sewing them on in a geometric symmetric pattern on the top. It looks a little bit rough when you look up close but I'm ok with that for a first clutch.

Then I sewed that onto the body and voila! I had me a clutch.

I'm still deciding on a closing mechanism. I might grab a magnetic closure seeing as it doesn't have a zipper and needs to stay together quite well. I also should have thought about this before sewing it all together. No matter. I'll make it work.

p.s. sorry about the dodgy pictures I didn't have a lot of daylight to work with.

Burdastyle Book - You're mine!

It's here! It's mine! It's amazing!

So I shall be sewing a LOT in the coming weeks.

Don't say you haven't been warned!

Sharin' a Coke with my Bro

Yep. This is me sharing a coke with my bro. 

Thanks to the Share a Coke Promotion.

DIY Striped Tee

I wanted to make a casual, loose T-shirt for summer and came up with chopping up a chunky striped knit. You may not be able to tell from the photos but it's actually white and navy stripes. Which is exactly why the telescope necklace has made an appearance again. Getting all sailorish and stuff.

So how did I make it? Look out below!

Back of shirt                                                                                      Front of shirt

I started out by taking some roomy measurements and drawing it out on an almost square piece of tissue paper. This ended up being really helpful, as you'll see later. Then I drew some marks on the paper for where the stripes would change. I cut it up and hey presto I had a pattern!

Piece 1                                         Piece 2                                          Piece 3                                          Altogether now!

Now to lay all the pieces on the fabric properly. Piece 1 went onto the stripes horizontally. Piece 2 went on to the stripes vertically and Piece 3 went on to the stripes diagonally. Then I laid them all out to make sure I'd cut them all right. So far so good.

Now for the sewing. I sewed Piece 2 to Piece 3. Then I sewed Piece 1 to the newly joined Piece 2 & 3.
I chopped off my seam allowance to make it all neat before pinning front and back pieces wrong sides together to sew up the sides.

Now for the neckline. I measured mine out with a french curve and made it extra wide. Then I cut the neckline and sewed up either side of the neckline.

Then I made some bias tape and edged the armholes and neckline. And voila!

See it really is just a fancy square of fabric!

But no-one will ever know if you pull it off your shoulder and totally pose in it like this!

Look what I won!

I entered a competition to win a *bespoke* magazine a little while ago...and won!

It was run by Making Spaces which is an awesome initiative by Pop Up Parramatta. They have lots of cool stuff made by local designers there! Kinda makes me proud to live in the Parramatta Council Area. If you're ever out this way you should check it out!

The magazine itself is choc full of tutorials, interviews and, well, pretty stuff. Check it out!

After poring over the pages I also snuck over to the *bespoke* website to check out what else they're up to. I think I might become a regular!

Just a bit more fuel for my sewing obsession ♥