Shir Madness!

I finally did it!

I've had shirring elastic for ages, but never had the guts to try it. I think I figured my machine would eat the elastic and explode.

But this morning I decided it was time, so I could use it in a shirt I want to make for myself, and for a baby dress for a friend.

And it didn't explode! It just ruffled up nicely.

Seriously, if you're like me, just try it! I think I just opened up a whole world of new sewing options!

Citizenship!

The Stash is now organised!

Now I'm sewing more, or at least have plans to, I went to the half price sale at the local fabric shop. Awesome huh! But that meant that I needed to sort through everything I had to make sure I knew what I had and could get inspired!

Its in the built in wardrobe of my sewing room/study. Going back to uni means I'm going to have to keep it more under wraps too, so I can concentrate on work and not pleasure!

The box at the bottom has upholstery fabric and a bag of scraps. 

The upholstry fabric is destined to be some cushions for the garden seating. I've had it for a year though, and haven't quite got around to it yet!

The we have a stash of meshes and netting. I love the blue one- its all glittery!

Knits! The one with the dots is going to end up as a wrap top, and the stripes will be tshirts.

Cottons and poplins. These are mainly for muslins and linings.

Assorted others.

The dots are velour- its going to become the perfect PJs. Perfect for me, maybe not perfect in sewing skill!

The charcoal colour is synthetic moleskin. The plan is to work it into a formal-ish little black dress for work.

Pretty cotton and chiffon. 

The small flowers will be a blouse.

The large flowers will be a bag,

The rest I have no idea!

And having saved the best for last- the working stash.

These are the fabrics that I have plans to make pretty things from in the short term.

The yellow and blue polkadot is my currently a work in progress. It was cheap and on sale, but it feels lovely, wears well and has a gorgeous sheen, so I'm glad there is more left.

Mr Purple and Blue is going to become a dress. And maybe also a skirt.

The rest will become tops for work, like this and this.

My First (Autumn) Spring Top

So here in Perth, its Autumn. Still warm in the day, but crisp first thing in the morning. 

I L.O.V.E Autumn!

But in the blogosphere, its Spring Top time!

I've watched the last few years of spring top month from afar, without the skills to really contemplate joining in. But This year I'm up for the challenge.I also have a lot of time on my hands, due to whats hopefully a minor blip in a long road.So I've hit the stash that was meant to become spring tops back in the spring!

My first entry is this blue and yellow sleeveless number. The top half is lined, as the fabric is thin *and* has holes in it! Its loosely based on cap sleeve bodice on burda, mostly to be sure it fitted across the bust. I squared up the neckline, added the cut out at the back, and the patch/placket thing at the front. This was my first time attempting bias tape, so its not perfect, but passable.

See the issue? But you've got to learn somehow :D

One of my aims for this round of sewing is to try and make everything look good on the inside as well as the outside, so no raw edges!

This one is has french seams and lined openings.

Its bright and cheerful and I love it.

It took me about 4 hours from sitting down to cut to sewing on the last button.

And here it is in the Sewalong Pool

See my other entries for Raes Spring Top Sewalong.

70s Shift

I saw this material and loved it. I’ve wanted to make a shift dress for a while, as all my other projects have been waisted. The pattern is based on 60s-dress-by-alexandra on Burda.

 I like the back neck line. Next time I’ll probably make it more prominent, as it is in the pattern. I made it about 1 size larger, and moved the darts down to fit better. I left the sleeves off. 

I made a boo-boo doing the cutting, as I couldn't simply cut on the fold as I don’t have quite enough fabric for the placement I wanted on the front, so ended up cutting two left hand backs. Ooops! I didn’t have much material to work with, but instead cut off the top with the armholes, and added a pannel that had the flowers running horizontally. I think it worked OK! 

I think its a bit short :) and I might change the buttons. But I think its a good base to start from!

PS: Best zipper I ever put in too!

I'm thinking I might use the pattern inclusing the sleeves for a spring top entry...

Re-doing the garden

So, we've lived here nearly a year now, and the back garden is still just brick and mulch. And a tree that we can't decide if we like, and keep threatening to cut down if we could be bothered.

This is what it looked like when we moved in:

Those are rosemary bushes. 

Neither of us particularly likes rosemary.

And the tree was WILD.

And this is what it looks like now:

Yes, we used these 11 months well! 

The rosemary is gone, and the tree had a couple of hair cuts.

And this is what its going to look like. 

A couple of grevilleas, lots of kangaroo paws, some grasses, some low growing natives, a couple of funky Acacia Limelights that I saw ages ago and fell in love with, and a little pond. 

Maybe even a fish!

All native, hopefully bird/insect/frog attracting and waterwise.

See the results!