A Little Organising

Magazines can be so troublesome .... they don't stand up well on a bookshelf, become dogeared easily and tend to multiple when left to their own devices.

I've been receiving Australian Stitches since it's first issue (10+ years) and now subscribe to Ottobre Woman so some desperate organising was needed. I needed to come up with a better system of storage than this one below ...


Magazines stacked one on top of the other, just doesn't cut it!!

By luck, on a trip to Costco these folders and inserts were discovered.





The inserts are just perfect for holding the magazines and any traced patterns, and then store nicely in the folder.



Nicely organised, easy to find and all the traced patterns in one place. A simple task completed.


Now, back to some sewing.

More T Variations

Following on from the last post, here's some more variations on a T.




and a couple more...




A first for me ... a wardrobe for the new season, before the season gets underway, WOO!HOO!

Thanks Rhonda for the inspiration.

Pattern Play

Why is it, that the simplest of ideas are overlooked?

Last year I attended a NSW Australian Sewing Guild (ASG) Industry Day. One of the speakers was a very talented (and funny)lady by the name of Rhonda Braybrook - what this lady can't do with fabric and a sewing machine, just can't be done!

The theme of Rhonda's talk and trunk show was to take a basic T-shirt pattern and by using simple patternmaking skills, mix it up to create a host of different outfits. Now, I've known about this "source" of "free" patterns for some time, but haven't really taken advantage ...... until now.

Here's the result of my pattern play ... you may recognize some of the fabric from a post or two back.

Basic long sleeved T - with self fabric neck binding.

Basic short sleeved T - with foldover elastic neck finish

Sleevless top.

V-necked cardigan, matches sleeveless top to equal a twinset.

A draped front cardigan.

Thank Goodness It's Done!

Kwik Sew 3889

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to finishing one project before beginning another. I can stash fabric, hoard patterns (without a second thought of sewing them) and collect any number of notions, but cut a new garment before finishing the current piece of clothing? ... Never!

The jacket has been cut since February. The sewing was pretty easy, given the KS great instructions, even the addition of lining didn't add that much to the sewing time, but I didn't like the fit of the sleeves one little bit. After tacking, unpicking, rearranging, pushing and pulling, it was obvious that with a one piece sleeve what I had was as good as it was going to get.

All the fabric had been used (it was fabric leftover from another project) cutting a 2-piece sleeve was out of the question - truth be told, if I'd gone with a toile to test the pattern, I probably wouldn't have made the jacket. At least it's one piece fabric gone, and it is a cute little jacket with jeans, and I dooo love the back detailing.



Now onto some new sewing, YEAH!!

Food for Thought

In no particular order, I've pulled 5 fabrics to include in my winter 2013 wardrobe. All have been languishing in the stash for a bit - some more than others.

First up is this lovely sweater knit, purchase July 2012 (one of the newer additions). While you probably can't see from the photo, there is a fine gold thread running through the beige knit. The knit itself resembles a lacy hand knit. The plan is to sew a draped front cardigan which will be really useful on those more casual outings, and will complement nicely my grey/black/cream flecked skirt.



Another sweater knit, this time in a cotton blend. The colour in the photo is a little inaccurate, as it is closer to a jade colour than the blue it appears here. A little undecided as to the style as yet, so this will sewn at a later date. The fabric was gifted by a friend last year, when she was cleaning out her sewing fabrics (she no longer sews garments, just quilts).



Hmmm. I bought this fabric (along with a similar piece in black)a few years ago now, thinking it would be great for after five. After making the black, this turquoise/silver shot piece was set aside. I'm thinking some kind of wrap top.



This is a lovely red linen piece. Or pants, with a bit of imagination. I'm hoping there will be enough to make another skirt from the vogue pattern.


This is to be my first piece sewn. Ihave several patterns in mind (a couple of Ottobre and a KS)for this knit, but basically a long sleeved T, in fact, there's probably enough fabric for 2 tops. With all the skirts I've been making, tops are now a bit of a priority.



Anyway, these fabrics are my jump off point.

A Jacket to Start the "Sew Your Own Wardrobe For a Year" Challenge

Today is the start of the Sew Your Own Wardrobe For a Year challenge (Well actually, it started here, Downunder, yesterday!) - Check out the sidebar for the link. So, it's time to get cracking and get that wardrobe underway.



I've started to make this jacket to co-ordinate with the skirts from the previous post, plus a couple of other items already in the wardrobe.

This KS jacket is unlined, however, I'm going to line mine.

I've chosen a cool wool fabric (perfectly suited to our milder winters here in Sydney), lined with some black satin I already had in the stash. I've fused interfacing to the entire jacket to give it extra stability and a bit of body. So far, I've constructed the main jacket and lining and am about to set in the sleeves.



Being narrow in the upper chest, there is still a bit of excess fabric in that area that needs to be removed before the sleeves can be set properly.

I'm really liking the design, especially the panelling detail on the back which extends around to the front.



With autumn well and trully here, the jacket will come in very handy.

Bye for now

Making some progress

Despite the lack of sewing posts, I have been making some progress with my 2013 goals ... I've made several skirts and (wait for it) a dress WOO!HOO! And all from stash too, you gotta love that! The skirt at the top of the photo is a grey wool blend, with a 1cm black dot. This fabric has been in my stash since 1988/89. it was originally purchased to make a double breasted shirt style dress with the massive 80's shoulders (yikes!!). I'm soooo glad I didn't get around to that, and now I have a wonderful new skirt for winter. Next in the photo is a peacock blue thai silk. This was purchsed on a trip to Bangkok in 2010 - a very recent addition to the stash. I've always been reluctant to sew some of my "good stuff" for fear I'd mess up, but took the plunge this time and I'm so glad I did. Too often, I think we sew-ers think our sewing is not up to scratch, when in actual fact we produce items of a much better quality than anything available RTW. The third skirt is a jade green (sorry the colour is not true in the photo, but trust me,it is jade in colour :-) ) crepe. This was a piece leftover from a pant suit I made sometime in the '90's, and was just enough to make this pattern. A free skirt, yippee. Finally, the last skirt (and the one I'm modelling ) was a remnant given me by a friend last year - like I need more fabric!!! But it is a lovely piece of flecked wool blend, and will be quite versatile. All the skirts are made using the same adapted vogue pattern 8672. I originally made the skirt as per the pattern with the high waist, but on me, it looked shocking, so, I reworked the pattern to a skirt that sits on my normal waist. i'm really pleased with this look. All the skirts are lined (also using stash fabrics) I'll show my dress later. Bye