Too hot to sew....

(Sofie and her friend Grace)

Yes, I am still here but not sewing...far too hot for that. I can't even get inspired by making a sun dress! January is not a busy sewing time for me as the girls are home on summer holidays. In fact today Sofie and I are hitting the shops to get some airconditioned comfort. Ellen is off on a summer film course.

But I have been exercising and of course keeping up with what every one else is doing!

(Sofie and Ellen)

A day in the city.

Today the girls and I went into the city for the day. It was a beautiful day today and we wandered the smaller lanes, arcades and small designer shops.


In the afternoon we saw Atonement. I have to give this 11 out of 10. The costumes were fabulous and the whole feel of the movie was emotive and I cried....a lot....


And of course a day in the city means I have to drop into Cleggs! Cleggs is a fabric shop that I would visit almost everyday in my lunch break when I worked in the city. About 22 years back! . The actual shop has moved from its old Little Collins Street address to bigger premises in Elizabeth street but the main sales assistant is still there though he is very grey now.


And what did I buy? Well the remnant sale table got me first.



From left, coral silk chiffon, poly mesh (only 20cm so I will piece it), olive green viscose (for lining), poly rayon green/gold, and a couple of ribbons. I also got a large piece of brown knit that I will use for lining which is not in the photo.


From the bolt for $5 a metre I purchased the following two - a poly lycra knit and a poly mesh.


And the great thing with Cleggs is that you get all the details of the fabric on your receipt, including the composition, washing instructions and even the country of origin! All up it cost $30 exactly.


Hey, lucky I did not add "not buy more fabric" to my new year resolutions?

Happy New Year!

Please forgive me for this lack of depth post, but I am dying here! We are in the midst of a heat wave and we don't have air con. In fact it is too hot to go swimming!! My brain is fuzzled. And my tummy is complaining of too much drinkies.

To bring in the new year we spent the day at Chadstone (shopping centre and theatre complex) to get some cool air. We saw The Darjeeling Limited - quite enjoyable. And then went out for dinner (again air con. lol) and home to have a midnight swim.

2007 in review

2007 has been an eventful year and when I started the year with the hope to have adventures I should have been a bit clearer and specified FUN adventures! Dad passed away and mum is still under care. DH also lost a brother. Ellen and Sofie both had teenager issues with friends and school.

On the positive side there were two new great grandchildren for mum, Ellen had success at school and with her film and I have started this blog and met so many wonderful sewing friends over the Internet.

Sewing wise I had a very productive year. I have set up an album over on Flickr that has a photo of each garment made during the year here. 23 garments does not sound that much compared to Shannon and Carolyn, but not bad for me considering the year. I'm happy.

2008

I am not much of a resolution person. I am happy to go where life takes me. But having said that I would like to:

January:

1. Increase my exercise program to lose the body fat accumulated from my 2007 emotional eating.


2. Finish up my summer sewing - maybe a couple of dresses, and some tops to match other bottoms in the wardrobe.


3. Clean out and organise my jewellery collection. I spent last week cleaning out and sorting my wardrobe but have yet to hit the shelf with the costume jewellery.


4. Make at least one new item for each of the four new pairs of shoes purchased at the boxing day sales. (oops, well I love shoes, what can I say).

February:

1. Start on some serious jacket making! I have had this as a "goal" for many years now. I have bought the books, made a couple of jackets but haven't really progressed from there. My hope is to make one tailored jacket a month. Of course I will then need a skirt or two to match.....and a top.....maybe shoes????


2. Make some pants. You may have noticed in my 2007 album that I made 11 skirts last year but no pants. I think 2008 can also be the year of the pants. I am more of a skirt girl but a few pairs of pants won't go astray. I have always avoided them as I know there will be a lot of fitting and of course I need to lose a kilo or two first (sound familiar?). Well to be realistic I do want to lose last years weight gain first, so depending on how well I go with the January goal, this one may move to March - we'll see.

March to December:

1. Continue with my jacket making.


2. Sew what ever I am inspired to! And boy there is a lot of inspiration there with you all!


3. Use my favourite fabrics first!

That's it for now! I think I will go for a swim..........

Merry Christmas

This will be my last post before Christmas, so I want to wish you a very merry Christmas, with lots of love, fun, and family togetherness!!!


I have one more post to make about Christmas pressies. This one I made for Sofie to hold the make up brushes she had hinted at for a Christmas present.


I have to thank Summerset for her wonderful instructions on how to put this together. I can highly recommend making these - so easy (easier than aprons lol).




I used denim (so omitted the interfacing), cotton and ribbon. All from the stash. The funny thing is that the cotton print was a remnant I bought with the intention of making an apron. (Can't get away from those aprons.....). And because the project uses so little fabric I still CAN make the apron!


Merry Christmas!!!!

PJ's for Ellen

Today Sofie and I made some PJ's for Ellen. It has taken us a year! We purchased the fabric from Spotlight last Christmas.



We used McCall's 2606 - an old pattern that has straight leg tie waisted pants. I hadn't used it before but it is perfect for PJ's. We used elastic and ribbon for the waist (which we lowered by about 9cms). We also added ribbon and bows to the bottom of the legs.



I purchased a cheap top to use as the PJ top. We unpicked the label and added our own out of the PJ fabric and embroidered Ellen's name on it. We also added a bow.



Here is Sofie modeling. They should be a little bit looser and shorter on Ellen. Hope she likes them! PJ bottoms are so quick to make on an overlocker and you can do such fun things with ribbons and the like. A fun project.

One for us!

When making the apron gifts I accidentally cut the width of one piece of fabric too narrow, so I could not use it to make ruffles, so I thought why not make a Chrissy apron for us?

This was a combined effort apron. Sofie sewed, I ironed, pinned and made the bias tape and Ellen helped with the design.

Originally Sofie and I had made the apron with the main fabric and used remnants to make the binding and pockets. Here is a picture of the first draft...

I felt that there was something missing and that the pockets (yes they are on an angle) looked like they did not belong. I said that maybe we need the pocket fabric somewhere else on the apron. And that is where Ellen came in - she suggested the second ruffle to bring more fabric in.


And then just to finish off we put some bows and buttons on the pockets!

Now to some sewing that is NOT aprons......

Male apron

This is Adam's apron. A very quick project after 6 frilly aprons!


I used 3 Christmas themed cottons from Lincraft - the main one for the body, a second one for the binding and a third one for the top of the pocket and the ties.

I traced the basic shape of the apron from on old bought one floating around the house. I added a pocket by cutting a large triangle, binding the top and then stitching it onto the front of the apron. It was also stitched down the middle to form 2 sections.


I made bias tape to edge the sides and bound the top. I made ties and used a D ring set for the neck.



More photos, including showing more of the binding and the rings can be seen here.

Thank goodness the work gifts are done in plenty of time for our Christmas lunch on Friday!