Me Made May - week 1

Well, I think I'm off to a good start considering the first week of May was only a few days long and I got in 3 days of Me Mades!  Do you think a week is from Monday to Sunday, or Sunday to Saturday?  I tend to use Monday to Sunday because that is what I have on my planner...

Friday, 2 May

Cardi - Big W
Jeans - Big W
Shoes - I Love Billy
Socks (fluro orange) - Target
Scarf - I don't know
T-Shirt - Me Made - Kimono T-shirt pattern from Maria Denmark

Thanks Hubbster for the photos.

Saturday, 3 May

Cardi - Autograph (I think)

Jeans - Autograph

Sandles - Rubi

Top - Me Made - altered Rachel Comey - V1247

You can kind of see that I have dyed the tips of my hair blue in these photos.

Sunday, 4 May - May the Forth be with You.

I seriously did nothing, so I wore my PJs almost all day.

PJs - my own pattern
Cat - Squish

I wanted to show you my latest DIY hack.  

That there is my camera 'tripod' and 'mount'. 

V8787 - review

V8787

Pattern Description:
Lined dress has fitted bodice variations, midriff, tapered or flared skirt and back zipper. C and E: side front and side back seams, and side pockets. A, B, D and F: semi-fitted skirt and back slit. D, E and F: bias front bodice with fold-back facing.

Pattern Sizing:
6-14, 14-22

I made 5 dresses it total. Most of the dresses I blended between sizes, there was a wide variety in body shapes :)

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes -We choose option C. Sleeveless with a flared skirt.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I'm not sure - I didn't follow them. 

I used bias strips made from the fabric for the neck line. I created a tutorial here on how to do that really neatly.  After the fifth dress I could almost do it blind folded.

I also left the side seams until last so I could make sure the dress fitted before I hemmed.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I really liked this pattern, we didn't go with the sleeves though so I wonder how that would have went.

Fabric Used:
Ponti De Roma from Lincraft - http://www.lincraft.com.au/ponti-de-roma-deep-red

I got it online and it turned out great - although the red runs in the wash.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I didn't use a zipper because of the ponti.

Blending between sizes worked well.

The bust dart fell pretty much perfect every time!

I had a few hunched shoulders so I pinned out the excess fabric. 

For my own dress I did a FBA, so I ended up with a bigger dart and an extra dart on the other side.

Instead of the curved waist band I just cut across the grain - I think I made it 12cm wide. Didn't affect the dress fitting but made it easier for me.

Once I could get the ladies to try on the dress, I drew where I wanted the arm hole edge should go instead of using the pattern's arm hole. Does that even make sense?

 

V8787 - neckline tutorial

Apologies if this tutorial ends up being confusing.  When I first muddled my way through it I confused myself, but by the end of the 5 dresses it was really easy.

Vogue 8787 uses a facing for the neckline, but because I was working with ponti and actually don't like facings, I wanted to use bias strips instead.  So I made up a whole heap of bias strips using the left over fabric.

I sewed the gathering section using the longest stitch (pattern piece 2).
I sewed the back pieces together.
I sewed the shoulder seams together.
I sewed the bias strip around the neckline, sewing good sides facing together.  I sewed the bias strip at least an inch past the matching notch on the gathered front piece (pattern piece 2).

I rolled the bias to the inside, and pressed.  I make sure that I can see the outer fabric when I press. Look at that random piece of thread sticking up there!

I then top stiched.  I started on the shoulder seam of the un-gathered side (pattern piece 2) and sewed all the way around.  You can see on the left hand side of the this photo, that the bias strip hasn't been top stiched, whereas the other pieces have been.

Close up of where I started my top stitch.  Later I will thread a needle with the loose top thread, stab through were I started stitching and tie a knot.

Pinned the gathered side to the other half, matching notches. Lots of pins! Can you see that I folded out the bias strip. This makes matching the edges a little tricky but not hard.

Other side of the pinning.  Here you can really see the bias strip over hanging the seam edge.

Putting this side (the ungathered side) I sew the front pieces together.  I use the stitching that is already there from the bias stitching to guide where I need to sew.  I sewed a little to the left of it. You can see the notch and the extra bias that runs past it. 

Now that the two fronts are together, I flip it right side out and check to see if I have caught the fabric, the gathers and made sure that you can't see the bias stitching.

Give it a nice press.

Now start the top stitching at the point where your previous top stitching ends when it goes under the un-gathered side of the front.  See above photo.

Stop the shoulder seam where your previous top stitching began.

This is what it should look like on the inside after you have top stitched.

I also added elastic to the waist band seam because the skirt was a little heavy in this fabric.

Plans - Xmas holidays edition

This is the official first day of my holidays.

 Work plan:

I went into work though at 10am and worked until 3pm without lunch - just munching on whatever I had. My aim was to get my senior English unit planning done, which I did!!!

This term I'm going to trial a paperless unit, which means everything has to be digital and accessible for my students on their tablets. I'm excited because I've always liked the idea, but because we didn't have student laptop or tablets we had to book into the computer room, blah! So anyway, it's all done - 'handouts', 'worksheets', assessment tasks, lesson plans ready to go.

 I would like to get a head start on the next unit for this group of kids so I won't have to worry about them until half way through the year, but I do have to work on my other classes before that. So anyway, my first week of the holidays will involve me going into work and planning for the rest of my classes.  

House plan:

 Before I head off to work I want to get a bit of house work done.
 - downstairs declutter
 - Christmas decorations
- my office desk
- dining table declutter
- wardrobe sort
- jewellery draws
- pantry sort
- sewing room - OMG what a mess!

 In the afternoons I want to get some cleaning done.
 - washing clothes
- folding clothes
- clean down all doors
- air-cons
- the usual stuff really  

Sewing plan:

 I want nice easy sewing this holidays, mostly.

- Scout woven tee from Grainline
- Suzy pant from Tessuti Fabrics
- Mandy boat tee from Tessuti Fabrics
- Tania culottes from Megan Neilson
- green skirt from my own pattern
- skinny tee from my own pattern
- maybe the Washi dress by Made by Rae

A little time for me

Today is my birthday.

Lucky for me today is a school holiday.

I spent today sewing and watching old movies.

I was going to spend it sewing more red dresses but decided to get some of my wish list sewing done.

Galaxy leggings! I can't wait to wear these bad boys.

Grey batwing top

Navy dot kimono - sadly ended up a tiny bit small.  I have more of this fabric so I'll remake this because it gorg.

This was an ill fitting dress that I bought for the fabric.  

Snipped off the top and made a casing to put elastic through.  Easy.

Creative

This weekend I had a few goals:

- finish my crochet blanket

- trace out patterns and sew muslins for the last two dresses

- do a little tidying up on the other dresses

- do school work. No photos of that.

Look at this thing - I love it so much. 

Now of course I'm cruising to find a new afghan project. I like to keep my hands busy when I watch TV.

Hummingbird peplum top 2 (&3)

I'm not even going to bother showing you my first attempt. The back looked just awful. I took it out two sizes and tried again. Still looks bloody awful. Altered the back heaps more - still a mess.

I'm putting this in the too hard basket.

It's not a shape that's working for me without a lot more alterations. It's not fun making alterations to what should be simple sew.

Aussie Curves - Green

 

After my attempt for the Aussie Curves - Pajamas week, I realised I was in dire need for some new pajamas - actually matching ones.  I also had to get it done before my school camp - which I go on, tomorrow at 5:30 am. I did all the cutting out and actually got the bottoms done last weekend, so I finished off the top today.

 

Easy sewing - I love it.  I made the pajama bottoms based off an old pair that had worn through. The top is my trusty t-shirt patten based off a one I bought from Big W - but I extended the sleeves.

I had bought the fabric years ago.  At the time I couldn't decide whether or not a 'actually' liked it - I mean brown and green? But the hearts! And so nice and comfy. Luckily I did buy a heap of it - just enough to squeeze in pants and long sleeve top anyway.

Ignore all cat hair.

I also managed to sew a kimono sleeved top out as well. This fabric was in a second hand lot that I won off Ebay.  It's a cotton blend so it was easy to sew and doesn't need a lot of ironing.

I was worried that it might look a little like hospital scrubs, but there is a little shaping and darts. It feels nice to wear; I might shorten the sleeves even further.

 

Top: mine

Jeans: Sara 

Boots: I love Billy - dark green!

Necklace: Bubble necklace from eBay.

The original pattern is from Vogue - pattern 1247. I've done some modifications like getting rid of all the gathering - no I don't need any more fabric around my boobs and shoulders, moved the darts, and removed a lot of the fiddly pieces.

One more...

 

• Black t-shirts - my other black t-shirts are becoming mis-shapened
• White t-shirts - because I don't have them - except for the spotted one
• Take in all my jeggings - one more pair to go
• Make a proper black skirt
• Make a polka dotted black skirt
• Make a gallaxy t-shirt and leggings
• Make a few kimono sleeved tops - well one anyway