My New Sewing Room & Mothers Day.

After almost 2 years of sewing in my lounge room next to the heater with the TV playing back-to-back episodes of Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives in the background; graduating from the dining table to a sewing Horn; I have finally moved my sewing machine into my spare room! I finally have a sewing room!

It's much colder sewing in the spare room now that it's freezing in Melbourne, but I'm more motivated to start projects because I know I can leave my shit every where.. because it's my sewing room! When I was sewing in the living area, I had to tidy up after every session and sometimes I just cbf'd so I'd skip sewing altogether. Or I'd start a project late at night, nod off then have visitors the next day getting stabbed by pins in the carpet. Zz. 

Another huge plus is the light-coloured table I now use for cutting - it's awesome! I can easily see the pattern when I'm tracing.

I'm currently working on the Butterick 6582. My favorite versions are by Dapper Duds (love, love, LOVE the fabric and the alteration to the back) and Laika Doll (pink elephants, nuff said!).

The fabric is cotton sateen from Darn Cheap. I'll of course be making the full skirt version. I was very close to making the wiggle skirt, but I am still not confident with alterations around my hip/bum area.

Last week I made a toile/muslin to check the fit because the finished bust measurement was 91cm (size 6) and I'm 80cm. Muslin fit perfect though. To help gauge the fit, I basted a zipper on to the bodice and zipped myself up. Great solution when you live alone. 

The dress has facings but I'm going to fully line the bodice cos I find lining a dress easier than facing facings. Hehe. I'll see if I still feel that way after marking and sewing another six darts. Damn.

To be continued.... 

Mothers Day! I didn't get up to much with mum (compared to last year), this year I just took mum out for dinner at Simon's Peiking Duck Restaurant (thank you Pork Chops Nest for the recommendation!) and made her a card. I love Hallmark's personalised cards! Get on it.

Mum loves Asian cuisine (don't we all!) and I've never had peking duck (only roast duck, which up until last year I thought was peking duck) so I was really excited to try it. Mum loved it! We were hoping the owner Simon would come and throw pancakes at us but sadly he was busy with the larger tables. We did get to chat to him at the end of the night though, and got a photo too! 

Mum, Simon (owner), little sis, me.

Look at mum all rugged up!! It's seriously cold in Melbourne right now!!! My sister and I were freezing our asses off! I would share delicious food pics from the night on here... but they're on my Instagram... and this is a sewing blog so I'll try and stay on topic hehe.

I hope all you mums got spoiled on the weekend, breakfast in bed and the works :D

And to my own mummy - HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, LOVE YOU LOTS!

Away from Sewing: Surprise gift from I-Heart-Fabric, Kettlebells, Me-Made-Saturday, New Cotton Sateen.

Me-Made-Saturday, Megan Nielsen, #FMSphotoaday, Kettlebells.

It's Saturday night and I am buggered!!!

I really wanted to start on a muslin for the Butterick 6582 but the hot water bottle and bed is so much more inviting. In my defense I've had a busy week... so busy that a package arrived on the 26th April and I wasn't able to collect it until today!! Nine days later!

The package was from sweet Erin of I-Heart-Fabric. This girl is a sewing machine! Pun intended??

I met Erin in February when she came to Melbourne to see Swedish House Mafia concert. We really hit it off and keep in touch regularly via text, Twitter and Instagram.

Erin has sent me a Megan Nielsen dress pattern!!

I love it baby, thank you!!! I will step out of my comfort zone and finally make something with sleeves, just for you. Keep an eye out in the post this week for a little something-something to show my appreciation ;) Hint: We will soon be dress twins!

Me-Made-Saturday: M5850, cotton sateen version blogged here. Worn for the first time today.
Floral linen blend version blogged here.

Time got away from me and I wasn't able to officially pledge to take part in MMMay13 however I've decided to sporadically take part and pledge to wear at least one me-made garment on the weekend. Weak, I know, considering I wore 16 outfits last year however I simply do not have any me-mades to wear during the week at work :(

Along with the #MMMAy13 challenge, I'm also doing the #FMSphotoaday challenge for the first time on Instagram. Really enjoying it so far. Tomorrow's prompt is 'paper'... I predict I'll be snapping a pic of some pattern tissue paper!

Fitness time! I've started kettlebell classes on Saturday mornings, it's a great work out, I should be able to get into those Burda pants in no time, haha. I was highly amused last Sunday when I woke up and could not move a muscle in my body. I literally rolled out of bed. On to the floor.

After today's kettlebell class, I rushed home to get ready for a BBQ at SixInchHeel's for bub D's 4th birthday. Her two boys are super adorable and so well behaved.

Hrm, how is it that two girls that have 1000s of pics of dumprings and coffee on their iphones have never taken of photo together... SixInch, we're doing a selfie together next time!

Lamb rubbed w/ afgan spice, Aunty Neeno hanging with D,
L & D pointing at Spiderman birthday cake, NOM #lunch.

After the birthday, SixInchHeel and I headed out to Darn Cheap. Seriously, this woman is like my muse. Every time I see her, I have the urge to go buy fabric and go home and sew. Today I bought 5 meters of cotton sateen. Florals, of course!

The top floral I bought so I can be fabric twins with Erin, see her dress here. The other floral below, is same print as this (I bought few weeks ago after lunch with SixInchHeel), but in brown.

Can't wait to cut you all up!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. I'm looking forward to the Julia Bobbin Mad Men Challenge reveal tomorrow! Can't wait to see all the dresses.

RSS? Feedly, Flipboard, Newsify & Pocket (formerly known as Read It Later)... help.

Who's overwhelmed and freaking out about Google Reader shutting down?

I wasn't. Not really, cos I never used Google Reader before! 

I "follow" blogs on Google or Blogger (wevs it's called) so I can be Google friends with my fellow bloggers but I stream all my blogs into Bloglovin' and read them there. 

I admit I got a little concerned because I've recently started trying to figure out using Flipboard on my iPhone. I use sooo much social media that it's exhausting.

Every day I have to catch up on tweets from two profiles, Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare, Kik, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, Bloglovin'... my goodness. 

Figured it would be easy to have at least one Twitter account, Facebook, Instagram, news and blogs feed into one app so I don't develop severe RSI on my thumb. This is how I discovered how important "Google Reader" was to me. I found that I couldn't add single blogs/URLs but had to use my Google Reader.

What a headache. I have so many blogs on my Google Reader that I don't actually read anymore and I certainly didn't want that clogging up my feed, getting in the way of finished projects and pattern reviews and MMMay!

Up until today, I didn't even know what RSS is... still don't actually.
Here's what I think I know about the apps... feel free to comment and educate me. I beg you too.

FEEDLY:
Uses Google Reader to feed in content, can use on desktop, yay can read blogs at work. 
Not sure what is going to happen when Google Reader is phased out... 
I'm re-adding all my blogs by going to each one and clicking on RSS option.
I've installed Feedly for Google Chrome which has been working well at home and work, syncs with the iPhone app. Finding that it's feeding same content into Newsify.
This is my pick at the moment simply because I can easily use it on the desktop, same way I use Bloglovin' and the iPhone app is not too bad.

FLIPBOARD: 
Feeds Google Reader content and every other social media site you can think of! 
Again, not sure what happens when Google Reader is gone... not actively using Flipboard for blogs right now, just for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Would be great if it could feed multiple Twitter accounts into it.

NEWSIFY: 
Syncs your Google Reader (Google Reader transition info), RSS feeds from news sites and blogs with RSS option... 
Finding that it's feeding same content from Feedly. Not sure how they are linked. Prob through Google. So confused.

POCKET formerly Read It Later: 
This is the only app I am 100% confident about. 
You link it with your Twitter and RSS/Feeder apps and articles/posts/links that you want to "read later" you save into this app. Genius. Why did I never use this before?! 

RSS: 
I think my RSS thing has been broken for the last two years? 
Not sure if anyone has been able to subscribe to my RSS feed for posts and comments or able to "+" my blog to the apps above, but it's now fixed.

To fix this, I had to go into my blogger -> settings -> other -> add my "Post Feed Redirect URL" which I got from Feedburner.

Subscribe by email was working fine though.

Found out my RSS thingo was broken when I was trying to "+" my own blog to Feedly, and it kept saying my URL didn't exist. Fixed now, go on, click on "RSS Feed" on the side and let me know if it works, LOL.

I'm testing out all 3 of those apps, logging into them using a different Google account, and refollowing all my blogs.

Mammoth task... so far I've only added about 10 blogs that I read frequently and know URLs off the top of my head. Basically I'm going to manually sort through my Google Reader and Bloglovin' account to find the blogs I want (still read) and build from the ground up again, what a ball breaker!

And if all I'm doing when I "+" these URLs to Feedly and Newsify is adding them to my Google Reader (which is getting phased out) I AM GOING TO CRY.

This post was not intended to be useful... more of a cry for help I think. I don't even know if I have made sense :/

What do I do? What are you guys doing?

Finished Project: A self-drafted asymmetrical collar.

Pattern Review: V8511 (bodice only)

Size: 6 bust, 8 waist

Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Darn Cheap), 0.7m bemsilk lining (Spotlight)

Notions: Dress zipper 22", Gutermann thread, 0.8m grosgrain ribbon, 1 bikini hook

Time: 10-12 hours, over 4 days.

Cost: Fabric $20, Lining $7, Zipper $2, Grosgrain Ribbon $2, Bikini Hook 0.50c

Pattern Modification/Adjustments:

• Added self-drafted asymmetrical collars
• Replaced tulip skirt with full gathered skirt

Techniques Used:

• French seams (skirt side seams)
• Princess seam
• Lined bodice (bagging tutorial here)
• Gathering
• Handpicked zip
• Blind catch stitch on the hem
• Waist stay (tutorial here)

WIP

I am head-over-heels for this fabric! 

Sometimes all you need to get you out of a sewing rut is some oh-hot-damn floral cotton sateen.

This is my jam. Definitely.

I found this baby last Saturday. After having lunch with @SixInchHeel and fam bam I decided to do a drive around town looking for fabric. Ended up taking these four home.

I was in love with the it because it reminded me of the forest, foliage, butterflies? When I got home I washed and ironed and got to work cutting out the V8511.

Favourite part of sewing process - stepping back and admiring the perfectly cut pieces.

Like my 'corsage floral dress' I didn't cut the bodice on the centre fold. I wanted the perfect butterfly to adorn the centre of my princess seamed bodice. 

Same deal with the collars, I wanted a nice big flower so this meant that the collars used up a chunk of fabric I reserved for my skirt so the skirt ended up not as full.

The skirt length was 19" (SA and 3cm hem included).
The finished skirt hem measurement was 62".

Stay stitched around neckline and arm hole curves.

I re-used the collar pattern I drafted when I made the red V8511 work dress. 

By midnight Saturday I finished the shell and collars. Rewarded myself with back-to-back episodes of Californication and some wine :D

Hard at WIP on a Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon, I cut out the lining, bagged the bodice, understitched and prepped the skirt pieces (side seams frenched, three rows of gathering stitches).

Bodice lined with cream bemsilk.

Side seams matching perfectly.

Parfait!

Monday night I attached the skirt to the bodice. My unpicker was my BFF that night cos fabric kept getting caught, zz. 

Green grosgrain ribbon waist stay went on, and final fitting. Hurrah it fit. 

I took a couple of days break to focus on work and gym (went twice this week, yay... dined out 7 times, lol) and Wednesday I handpicked the zipper and handsewed the hem.

I love handpicking - more control and it's therapeutic.

Love those pricks!

I finished the dress in time to wear to my friends 30th birthday dinner last night at Rosetta.
All the bread, pasta, potato, pannacotta and wine I consumed was nicely hidden under the full skirt. DRESSES FTW.

#OOTN
ASOS Linen blazer, ASOS glitter skinny belt, ALL THAT JAZZ handmade vintage look clutch.

Waist stay!

#selfie :P

I love the V8511 bodice. I've perfected the fit and have used it to make many dresses. This is almost overtaking the McCalls 5845 as my favourite because it has no darts (I don't like marking darts!!)

Collars - Slit & Cummerbund - Scooped Back & Full Circle Skirt 1 & 2 - Gathered Skirt - Full Gathered Skirt & Collars.

Once I find a pattern that works, I tend to get obsessed and addicted to hacking it... nothing wrong with that hey, and I'm not the only one, my interstate blogger mate Erin of I-Heart-Fabric is currently in love with beautiful BurdaStyle 120 and has made soooo many versions of the same pattern. 

I didn't even realise they were all the same pattern cos the fabrics make each dress look completely different. Go check out Erin's dresses, they are to die for <3

I hope you all had a fun weekend. I definitely did. I ate way to much good food (blogged here), caught up with a few of my friends and to top it off the Melbourne weather was marvelous :) 

I have a long weekend next week so I'm planning to make another dress... don't be surprised if it's another V8511 with self-drafted collars and a full skirt.

If it ain't broke....!!

#MMMay13 & a preview of my asymmetrical collared dress.

It's that time again... the time I contemplate whether I should participate in MMM'13!

Me-Made-May is on again... read more about it on Zoe's blog.

Last year I took part, and I personally believe I smashed the challenge :P (blogged here) but this year I'm not sure if I have enough outfits to go around :/

The challenge was a lot of fun, it encouraged me to accessorize and also helped me identify gaps in my wardrobe. That "gap", sad to say, is still there. Oops.

I'm sure since May 2012 I have sewed heaps but it's all a blur!! One think I know for sure is, the majority of my me-mades are floral dresses. I did make pants, but they are also floral. Oh, and don't fit, hahaha.

I'll have to take a peek at my me-made wardrobe this weekend.

Who's taking up the challenge this year? And how many outfits are you pledging to wear?

I'll leave you with a preview of my next blog post... collars yay.

Finished Project & Pattern Review: Burda 7371 Pants.

My blogging and sewing efforts have been totally pathetic this year, I apologise!!

These pants were finished a while back but a few 'issues' have stopped me from blogging about them:

• no camera (iphone mirror selfies, facepalm)
• pants don't fit any more!!

Note to self - don't bother making pants because your weight fluctuates constantly and your problem areas grow a crazy two inches on your fat days!

Grr. 

How annoying!! The muslin fit fine. Who knows what happened with this one. They fit, but I'm afraid to wear them out in public for fear of my ass seams splitting or dying from severe camel toe.

It's a shame because the print and texture of the fabric is heavenly!

I don't wear pants at all so if these pants had fit, I would have had trouble styling them.

Pattern Review: Burda 7371 Pants

Size: 10 with adjustments, naturally

Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Darn Cheap)

Notions: Invisible zipper 8", Gutermann thread, whisperweft interfacing

Time: Not long at all, maybe 8 hours? I took my sweet time with these
Cost: Fabric $20; Zipper $2; Interacing: stash

Pattern Modification/Adjustments: See this post :)

Not much to say bout these pants except that I'm glad I made something other than a dress for once.

I think dresses are my calling though. I've decided to stay home tonight, get on the red wine, pump up some music and get into some serious cutting and bodice bagging.

Went shopping today and bought some cotton sateen and notions.

I'm going to make a dress for work using the 'top right' fabric, something with collars and a full skirt to accommodate my forever fluctuating waist.

I am taking a break from my weekly dressmaking class this term. I've been struggling to get myself to class and now that daylight savings has ended and winter is coming, I know my motivation to leave the house will be zero. Also, I am going to shift some of my focus back to fitness (gym was what I used to do with my spare time before sewing) so I have and find a balance for the two.

Gym is not a hobby at all, I enjoy running as it clears my head, but it's no where near as fun as whipping up a dress however I need to look after my health, and maybe after a few months I'll be able to fit into these Burda pants :P

My blog will probably be very quiet compared to last year, but I will endeavour to blog at least every fortnight. 

I'll work on my New Look 6570 coat next term.

In the meantime, keep in touch via my Instagram.

'A return to normalcy' - a new sewing project New Look 6570

I'm hoping this is the start of a return to normalcy for me. 

I've been going through a weird patch and haven't been blogging or sewing much. I was working on pants but haven't actually finished hemming yet... there was a WIP pic on my Instagram, they look really good!! 

Family, work, & personal relationship issues have been getting to me, if you follow my personal Twitter account you would have seen my emo tweets... but I'm over it now and slowly returning to last year's routine which will hopefully mean that I will blog more often and actually finish projects! 

Anyway, here is my latest project at my weekly sewing class, View C coat (the one on the model), New Look 6570.

I decided on this pattern last minute, it was in my sewing bag, borrowed from a classmate.

The coat is just gorgeous. I was intimidated at first thinking there would be a lot of pieces but it's got about the same number of pieces as a dress.

I haven't decided on a fabric yet, was thinking a linen blend? Not really leaning towards the winter fabrics yet since Melbourne weather is still warm and I prefer wearing lighter clothing and layering. 

I traced and cut out the 'jacket front' 'jacket back' and 'side panel' of the jacket in the smallest size - a 10, which has a finished bust measurement of 94cm (37") ... um, I'm a 78cm (30") bust! 

Butttttt, it actually seems to fit??? 

Yes, still haven't got my camera back from dad!!

I don't understand, the finished measurement is 94cm however it's sitting at centre front and back properly and it fits! 

Thoughts?

Next week, I'll be tracing out the 'front facing' 'jacket back' and 'sleeve'. Hopefully I'll have some fabric too :)

My First Melbourne Social Sewing.

Ciao!

Hope your weekends are all going well!

Yesterday I attended my first Melbourne Social Sewing meet-up hosted by Rachel of My Messings.

It was a very productive day and it was wonderful to finally meet some of the sewing ladies of the Melbourne Sewing/Blogging scene. Also meet some new faces, which was lovely cos I love meeting new people.

Unfortunately I am very bad with names so I do not remember everyone's names :( Oanh is putting together a contact list, so that will be helpful.

I do remember 'Poppy Kettle', 'Sew Squirrel', 'Belle Belle'... and 'Jorth' who dropped in with her gorgeous daughter to say hello (Jorth was the first Melbourne sewing blog I found. I was/am obsessed with her V8511 dresses! I felt like a rock star had walked into the room when she arrived!).

Yes, I am still referring to the ladies by their blog names/Twitter handles I apologise... it was only my first meet, I get better with time :)

I was amazed at what everyone was working on and can't wait to see them finished and blogged. Definitely will try to make the next one.

Most of my time spent at Social Sewing, I worked on tracing and cutting out the pattern for Simplicity 2392 and Simplicity 2264. The URL is correct - I am working on babies patterns! My aunty Tia is about to have her second baby, a girl, and it's inspired me to work on some cute outfit for baby girls.
Something different, however I think I have under estimated how hard it would be! Buttons, rick-rack, embroidery, oh my! On the plus side, there were no darts on the patterns, woot.

Can't wait to show my mum these baby outfits once they're finished - when she encouraged me to take up sewing two years ago, her reason was "Learn to sew, so when you have a family you can make clothes for your kids" LOL.

Overwhelmed. Collars, Yokes, Bibs, Straps, Leg Elastic Guides, Embroidery Guides... OMG.

Simplicity 2264 - View C in cotton.

I made good use of the large tables and natural light and managed to trace cut and out both patterns as well as cut out fabric for the skirt (front and back), bib and straps for Simplicity 2264. Still need to buy white cotton for the bodice (front and back) and elastic and buttons! I'm telling you these baby outfits are more detailed than mine!!

I have all day Sunday free so if I have the energy I will work on my floral pants. Really keen to have them finished so I can wear them next weekend.

A girl can dream.

Burda Pants! Muslin finally finished.

Hi all!

Sorry I have been absent from my blog. I've been away for a few reasons:

1) No finished projects to share - sadly have not had the time or inspiration to work on any projects at home. I'm over making dresses and need a challenge... thinking a jacket or swimwear next.
2) No significant progress at class (till tonight that is!!) - just been making adjustments to my muslin, nothing photo worthy, and the olive fabric is so hideous, looks shocking on camera.
3) No camera - gave dad the camera over Christmas and haven't grabbed it back so you'll have to put up with my dodgy selfies taken on my iPhone 5.

I can't remember when I started these pants, it must have been November 2012? I missed two sewing classes so these pants that usually take 4 hours to whip up (so I hear) have taken me waaaay longer.

Last week I finally got somewhere with this baby! Somehow over the holiday period I lost 3cm off my hips. Wow, I been exercising for years and never lost any centimeters! We took the pants in the at hips and thighs, down to the knee and the pants stayed up! Woot!!

First pair of pants.
Burda 7371.
Muslin V1.0

Adjustment to the hips and upper outside leg.

When I was at home, I tried them on again. The fit on the bum was pretty good... I think!

But I noticed that my pants bunched at the front, worst when I had my legs together. 

I don't wear pants (except tight jeans) so have no idea how pants are meant to sit on your body. 

I spent the next 24 hours checking out strangers' crotches and consulting Twitter.

Got told by SixInchHeel they looked like MC Hammer pants. She was joking. I hope :/

Fit great at the hips and bum.
Standing with my legs apart cos there was bunching at the front when I close my legs, lol.
So much bunching I didn't even want to look down, or take a pic for the internet!

Tonight at class, I tried the pants on again. Everyone agreed there was looseness in the crotch area. Hrms. Anyways, unpicked the crotch and took the inside leg seams in. 

Adjustments to the inside leg.

Cut off the excess fabric from my muslin and transferred adjustment to my pattern.

I think they look much better. Look! Legs together! The photos and olive colour don't do the pants any justice, I'm really happy with how my muslin turned out.

Muslin V1.1
Legs closed! Looks much better!

Up close.
Quite wrinkly, I have no love for this olive pair.

Once I transferred the adjustments to my pattern, I abandoned my muslin (crotch still needs to be stitched, hemmed, facing hand stitched down) and started cutting into my gorgeous, gorgeous floral cotton sateen that I bought from Darn Cheap on Australia Day when I was hanging out with Ling.

What I'm making this weekend! The real deal.
Floral cotton sateen pants!

During tonight's class, I made adjustments to the muslin, cut into my floral cotton sateen, and interfaced the facings. Very productive evening :)

I might join the ladies at Sewing Social this Saturday! Who's coming?