The Peter and the Wolf Vests

***Cough cough*** is anyone out there? It has been a long while between blog posts, hasn't it? I just can't seem to keep my blog-jo going.

I've decided to return to blogland with the three Peter and the Wolf Vests I made for Little M, her cousin L and me recently. I saw an awesome faux fur vest in Country Road and wanted one for myself. I decided to investigate faux fur but couldn't find any nice stuff for a while. Recently I changed jobs again and now work up the road from The Fabric Store on Brunswick St. I happened to go there one lunch (well, maybe every lunch break that week) and found some gorgeous faux fur with a chevron print in the pile. I bought 1.2m and made two little girls' vests and one big girl's vest.

Here is mine:

Mine is an adapted version of this Japanese pattern (I can't remember the name of the book it comes from as I have lent the book to Leith. I lengthened the pattern by 20cm, curved the bottom edge a little more and didn't add seam allowances. I traced the size large - I would possibly go a bit smaller next time.

Here is M's (L's is the same but with different lining):

To make M's and L's, I used Figgy's Lux Vest. I followed Lara's suggestion to print out two of the pattern and join at the CB so you didn't need to cut the fur on the fold. I did this with mine too at the side seams.

Both patterns come together beautifully. A few tips I would definitely recommend when sewing with faux fur are (thanks to Anna for sharing some of these with me!):

• Have your dust buster and vacuum cleaner at the ready. I vacuumed six times over the course of making these.
• Push the fur away from the seam (so into the garment) when sewing. Then pick out the caught strands with your fingers or a pin. 
• Try and cut the underside of the fabric, rather than the fur itself. This keeps the pile intact more and also creates less mess. I wasn't that good at this.
• Don't wear black to sew with a light coloured fur. Let's just say my fave work out pants are still a bit furry. 
• Go slow. My machine handled this fine, but I went pretty slow. 
• Shake the garment out vigorously once you're finished. Watch the excess fur fly!!

I had so much fun making these. My sister has ordered one too - soon I'll have a little furry posse! M is very pleased with hers - asked me to wear mine when she was wearing hers the other day. I obliged, of course. She's too cute for me to get all weird about matching!

P.S. We saw an orchestral performance of Peter and the Wolf recently and wore our vests. Hence the name!

I'm Back! In Black and White!

Hello! It is has been soooo long since I've posted a project! I have been doing a little sewing - not a lot though, because Michael was away in Chicago for 2.5 weeks, then we went to Cairns for a week. So not a lot of free time for me!

I finished this blouse some time ago. It is Pattern 'C' from 'Casual Sweet Clothes' - the Japanese pattern book I sewed my other shirt from. The fabric is 100% medium weight cotton from Tessuti Fabrics.

These pictures were taken ages ago - I've since cut my hair and lost another 5 kilos, so I'll have to take some more up-to-date pictures of me in another completed project very soon!

This shirt came together very easily. It is essentially a simple princess-seamed blouse, with the sleeves sandwiched between the seams. You finish the neck edge and arm-hole edges with self-made bias binding. The pattern calls for the stripes to all be going horizontally, but I like the way the CF and CB panels are vertical. Plus I would have had to do way too much stripe matching if I'd made them all horizontal!!

The only complaint I really have about the shirt is that it is too large, especially now that I have lost more weight. I can't seem to get my head around the sizing in the Japanese pattern books. I guess I'll have to do muslins in future projects from these books. But muslins take time! And time I do not have.

Little M is verrrry active these days. She sleeps through the night (started to at about 2 months), and will nap after every feed, but only for a short while - 30 mins to a rare 1 hour. So I am on my toes the whole day! She's so lovely - her personality is really coming through, and my goodness she is cheeky! I love her so much and love being a mum. It has taken me a while to find my feet with motherhood, but I found that Michael being away really helped me, and I got my groove.

Sorry I haven't been commenting on the wonderful projects I've seen around the traps - I've been reading and admiring and filing things away for inspiration. There are so many beautiful projects out there!