Vogue 8815 in New Zealand!

Greetings from Wellington, New Zealand! I am over here on a work junket, attending a conference for a week. It has been very hard to be away from my little girl.

But it has given me a chance to debut my new ponti peplum blouse, V8815 made in this gorgeous spotty ponti from Tessuti (sorry about the hotel room iPhone pics). I wore it to the welcome drinks do on monday night.

This blouse has been reviewed extensively around the traps. I made a size 10, grading out to a 12 at the shoulders only. I extended the back darts by 2.5cms and lined the bodice. I also used the sleeves from the Gabby dress as I wasn't sold on the Vogue sleeves.

The blouse is straightforward to sew - it is easy to adapt to knits and I think it looks cute. You do have to wear it with something snug on the bottom though- some skinny jeans or tapered pants or a pencil skirt.

I think I'll make another - possibly out of linem - what do you think?

It's a Labour of Love: The Saga of the Silk Dress

Readers, how do you pre-wash your fabric? I usually wash mine in the machine and then hang it outside to dry. I've learnt that this has actually been a mistake.

You see, a while ago I bought some lovely navy silk with silvery-ivory polka dots. It was on sale for $14/m from The Fabric Store during one of their 50% off sales. I saw it and immediately saw myself in a Gabby dress, swanning around in the summer with cute sandals. 

I pre-washed my fabric, cut the pattern out and then sewed the entire dress, including lining the entire thing. While I was cutting out, I noticed a white-ish line going across the silk but thought it was just a bit of dust from the clothesline. 

Readers, it was a line sun-bleached into my fabric from being hung outside. I now hang all my fabric inside. 

I was more than mildly devastated as I had grown quite attached to this frock, so I unpicked the entire dress and sewed it back together with the marked side on the inside. Did I mention I did french seams on every seam? 

Anyway, I now have a lovely unmarked silk frock for spring and summer:

These pictures were taken outside our new house. The previous owner was an elderly woman and the gardens are just beautiful. Lovely backdrops for photographing my sewing projects! Plus Little M loves going around picking little bouquets which we put in vases, jam jars and jugs .... whatever is around!

Lily Linen Dress & Another Sewists' Meet-up?

So, I'm sorry to say TJ, but here is another sack-like, figure-hiding frock from me :-).

I really am a fan of such frocks as the Tessuti Lily Linen Dress as you can generally run around in them, eat as much as you like and not worry about my mummy-tummy hanging out when I'm running around after my small one.

So here is my Lily Linen Dress!

I decided to make it sleeveless as I was unsure how the 3/4 length sleeves would suit me on this loose style. I think I prefer this dress being sleeveless as it will be wonderfully cool in summer. It also means I can either layer underneath or wear a cardi over the top.

I made it in Tessuti's Como Black Out Linen which I love so much I've bought enough to make part of a colour-block dress from it and a pair of pants.

Another great thing about this dress is the extremely functional pockets. The little twist feature at the top of the pockets did give me pause while stitching them... but once I had figured it out I couldn't believe it had taken me that long to 'get it'. Derrrrrr.

The other supremely awesome thing about this dress is the twirl factor. I mean look at that beautiful wide hem spinning out. I love it. I wore it yesterday and would catch myself just standing there swaying from side-to-side to feel the swish factor.

In other news, I would like to propose another meet-up. I know Rachel has been the kind organiser of some social sewing meet-ups, but I've been unable to attend them so am pining for some sewing chat. I'm also pretty keen to kinda replicate the last meet-up, so was thinking:

1.30pm, Saturday 17 November
The Fabric Store, Brunswick St followed by the Alannah Hill Fabric Clearance outlet (I think it is pretty much next door to The Fabric Store).
After a spot of fabric shopping, drinks and food (if you're hungry) at the Little Creatures Alehouse (fantastic cider BTW). 

Please let me know Saturday 3 November if you can make it so I can book a table at Little Creatures. Hope to see you soon!!!

I'm Back! With a Liberty Fabric Gabby Dress

Hello everyone. It has been a while, hasn't it? So much has happened in the last two months (!). We have painted the inside of our house, ripped up carpet, polished floorboards, moved out of the old house and into the new one. During that time we went to New Zealand for a wedding and got snowed in on the day we were due to leave. Then on the morning of our replacement flight home both Michael and Little M got gastro. And the flight wasn't direct. It has been nuts around here.

We moved in here about 1.5 weeks ago and it has been a whirlwind of unpacking, doing various handyman chores and settling in. It might sound like I haven't done any sewing, but in fact I have done a lot. I've made a party dress for the NZ wedding, Little M's party dress, another dress for Little M, a skirt, a Lily Linen dress and I've fixed a silk Gabby dress that I used the marked side of the fabric mistakenly with. I also attended a Freddie vest class.

Perhaps most significantly, I sewed an entire garment made of Liberty of London fabric for the first time:

I bought this off Shaukat, the UK website that sells Liberty fabric for around AU$20. I absolutely fell in love with the print - and the colours are amazing. And go perfectly with my new Saltwater Sandals. I love this one - it is sooooo nice to wear.

I didn't want to mess with the print too much so I decided to make another Gabby dress. Yes, I am now stepping away from the pattern. I am spreading my wings.

I don't have much to say about the pattern given I've made it 3 times before (the silk version still needs to be photographed). I made a size small with no alterations bar lengthening it by 5cm.

I'm hoping to get some photos soon of one of my other projects. I do go to NZ for work in just over a week though so lets how things go!

And I really want to meet up again - how is everyone positioned for the second week in November?