Pins and Paper

Sorry >.<

2009-12-15T20:28:00.011+02:00

Sorry I've been gone so long. A week after my last post, I got a job offer from the other side of the country, and so being who I am, I said "oh, okay then", packed my bags, and moved. It's been a pretty crazy time, settling in to a job I've never done before, into a city I had never seen, making new friends and generally watching my life change completely.

But moving on.

Despite a whirlwind of a few months, I've actually been sewing quite a lot. My sister gave me her Singer sewing machine that she'd never even plugged in before, and my mother bought me an overlocker for my birthday.

So without further ado...

The Red Coat
I made this one just before I left. I found a maroon and black wool fabric and decided I wanted a chunky jacket. It turned out quite a bit chunkier than expected, so I haven't actually worn it yet. I honestly have no recollection of what pattern I used. It was either McCalls, Butterick or Vogue. No idea.

The fabric was absolutely horrendous to work with, but it's saving grace was that you can't tell the fabric from the thread, so I could oversew all the seams and you can't see it.

The White Coat

I made both of these coats in one week. I've always wanted a lolita-style jacket (big a-line, tiny waist), but in my sort of style. So after much deliberation, I bought Vogue 8346 and went and picked up a the last 3 metres of my favourite black and white fabric.

It was fairly straight-forward, although oversewing all the seams took some time. The fabric is a fairly stiff upholstery cotton, with a thin batting in the body and a taffeta lining on the inside. It looks much better with a thick black belt.

The Grey Skirt
This one I made once I'd moved. I used McCalls 5631, without any of the embellishments. I had made one out of the black and white fabric above which had been a huge hit, so I tried the magic again. This is one of the easier pleated patterns I've done, and as long as you're patient, it pretty simple. And it's really flattering.

The fabric used is a very wide-weave cotton, with lots of glitter that tends to leave the rest of your washing sparkling faintly.

The Purple Dress
I LOVE 1950's evening dresses, but they're usually out of my budget. So when I was invited to a formal wedding, I took my chance and bought Vogue Vintage 2903. I'm not a big fan of sleeves on evening wear, so I took those out altogether. I made a test run first out of a white cotton, which was a good thing, because it turns out I was a size smaller than I had expected. For this one I used a crushed blue-purple taffeta with embroidery. I added a navy lace trim, because lace trims make everything better. It was one of the most challenging dresses I've made so far. But I've now worn it to 3 weddings, and it's left my dates speechless every time, so I figure I did well.

My Niece's Dress
I'm not broody. At all. In any way. Don't get me wrong, I'm great with kids, I just don't like being around them much. I guess it's something you grow into, although at a quarter of a century, I'm obviously lagging a bit.

Anyway, my sister had a baby girl, and while she's my darling niece, she's very much my darling niece in the next room, or preferably in photos. I know this is an epic failure as her aunty, so I figured I'd do my best to make up for it by spoiling her. So I decided to make her a cute dress that can become a keepsake when she's older.
Ever reliable, McCalls provided me with 5791, and my fabric store provided me with a cream cotton embroidered with blue and chocolate, with a matching cream cotton lining, and a chocolate brown ribbon.

I made the rather stupid mistake of thinking that because it was so small, it would be faster and easier to make. After 2 weeks of working far into the unearthly hours after work each day, I finally finished. I can't wait until she's bigger and her clothes are easier to make. Although I'm dreading The Pink Stage.

My sister adored it, but I haven't seen photos yet. I'll guess I'll have to hold myself down long enough to see her with it on.

Other project that haven't been photographed yet are:
the pattern that I used for the red skirt, but in chocolate brown and with a normal, curved hem
a bright magenta bridesmaid's dress (McCall's 5001) with a halterneck
a chocolate brown pencil skirt

I apologise for the terrible quality of the photos. They are usually taken in a mirror with a cell phone so I can send the pictures to family friends. One day I'll have to remember where I put my real camera...

high-waist skirt

2009-07-16T14:44:00.004+02:00

I was doing my usual internet-window shopping on Monday evening, when I found this gorgeous high-waist skirt at Mary Magdalene, for about 10 times what I could afford (I hate being broke -__-).

I started googling for a pattern for something similar. As luck would have it, I found a free pattern on burdastyle (registeration required) that looked almost the same, and that I could print at home ... sort of. I imported it into photoshop first and tweaked the prints a bit, since it could fit on 9 pages instead of the usual 20.

Luckily my mom had a couple of metres of deep red curtaining fabric lying around unused. So I printed out the pattern and cut out the fabric at a 26.5in waist (67cm).

Tuesday morning I began sewing it all together. Unfortunately, the pattern calls for 1.25cm seams, which is a bit awkward, so I just did all the seams at the usual 1.5cm. Bad idea. I then had to unpick half the seams, and resew them at 1cms, leaving the back seam at 1.5cm for the zip, and the two front side seams 1.5cm for boning. I turned over a 2cm seam at the waist, sewed in about 9cm of boning at the two front sides, put a 25cm zip in the back, and did a 2cm hem. I sewed in four loops on at either side back seam, and then used an old hair ribbon to lace up the back.

I've adjusted the patten since then, slowing the waist angle (it tends to bulge at the top), and rounding the hem. Unforunately, the original pattern has a straight hem, which creates and oddly angular effect when you sew the eight panels together. I haven't tried the new pattern yet, but I'm hoping to do so soon. Just need to find a nice chocolate brown stretch satin first.

The skirt is a lot darker in sunlight, and not quite this shiny. It's quite comfortable on, though it looks much nicer if you wear a wide petticoat underneath.

If you would like my adjusted version of the pattern (set to a 29in - 73cm - waist), please leave a comment with your email address, and I'll send it to you.

2009-07-16T12:51:00.005+02:00

First post! I guess I'm going to have to start by posting some older stuff I did a few years back.

Back in 2007, while I was living in Japan, I went through a stage of being really into paper crafts. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff I did was given away as gifts before I thought to photograph them, but I do have a few pictures.

Jewelry Cabinet
This was a little DIY set that they sold at the local craft store. I made a few different ones as gifts, but this one I kept, and use it to store my earrings.

The drawers come out properly, and I varnished the entire thing with an old bottle of clear nail varnish (go insomnia!). It's survived about four international flights in the bottom of my bag since then.

Origami Dodecahedron
I found an amazing website about mathematical origami (Jim Plank's Origami Page), and decided to give one of the projects a try. I ended up making about six of the things in various sizes, and gave them away as gifts. They were surprisingly popular.

I used basic origami paper from a local craft store. It took me about 90mins to put one together.