Friday 25 May 2012

Every last scrap - BWOF 7/2007 105b

So after I finished this top on Mother's Day there were still some reasonable sized scraps of the wool left over.  They sat on my cutting table for days - too big to throw away but too small to make anything out of.  Then I remembered some black and white striped ponte knit from an unblogged project last year and I had a lightbulb moment.  The lighting in today's photos is terrible - it's dark, dreary and pouring with rain - I will attempt to find a better background and lighting next time.

Camera doesn't like the stripes but you get the idea.

If you have a copy of this old Burda World of Fashion (BWOF) from 2007 you'll know that it's not an exact copy of the pattern - it actually has a cut out at the back with a sweet little tie.  I'm really not that sweet so I just went with the standard back.  My Mum hates tops that are decorated on the front and completely plain on the back so Mum, this one's for you.  


Looking at the photo I think I could add a bit more room down the centre back, but it doesn't feel too tight.  This is actually the third time I've used this pattern (you can see my other two version here on day 1 and here on day 11 and 14).  This time I cut a size 44 up top, as previously I'd found it very tight in the arm and shoulder area, and graded down to a 42 at the waist.  I just eyeballed the placement of the striped section.  The downside of using scraps is the difficulty with pattern placement and dealing with any faults in the fabric.  I found an 8cm section that hadn't knitted together (after I'd cut out the lower back) thankfully I was able to stitch it back together and then I added some fusible stretch interfacing for extra stability.  I also had to cut the sleeves on the cross grain to get the pattern pieces to fit - not a big deal as this fabric had pretty even two way stretch.

Before I fixed it.

This has been a nice little addition to my wardrobe - very simple but I love it.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Me Made May Week 2

Yep - I'm still behind schedule, but I will catch up.  Here's a quick round up of week 2 for those of you who don't check the Flickr group.

Day 8
I had to do a big presentation to senior management today so I wore Butterick 5627, I love this dress and always feel good in it.

Day 9
Wearing my Simplicity 2443 jacket and Simplicity 3686 pants to celebrate a promotion.

Day 10
Running late today so grabbed whatever I could find, BWOF button down skirt and Simplicity 3538 gold linen jacket.

Day 11
I celebrated my birthday in another BWOF top and a self drafted wool cardi - had big plans to check out the offerings at Tessuti but ended up staying home with a sick child.

Day 12
Forgot to take a photo today so I borrowed an old one - I wore Vogue 8771 and some me made undies under my jeans.

Day 13
Mother's Day and I managed to find a bit of time to make myself the short sleeve version of Butterick 5247 worn over the top of my other BWOF top.

Day 14
Had a daytime date with hubby today - coffee, shopping, lunch and a movie - and wore my striped BWOF t-shirt and my gold Simplicity 3538 jacket.  These two items are probably get the most ware of everything in my wardrobe because they're so easy to mix and match.


Sunday 13 May 2012

Mother's Day Makes

Happy Mother's Day to all you mums out there and extra special wishes to my Mum!

I found some wool knit scraps when I was transferring my fabric into my new cupboards and really didn't want to put it away, never to be seen again.  I knew I wanted a loose t-shirt style top - something I could pull on to give me some extra warmth but could also be worn on its own.  So I used the same pattern that I used last time I used this fabric - Butterick 5247.  Because I only had scraps I had to cut the back and collar in two pieces and significantly reduce the length (I cut five inches off view A).  This top turned out exactly the way I wanted.


And since it felt like ages since I'd done any fun cooking (as opposed to the required breakfast, lunch and dinner) I decided to make these raspberry scrolls today too.  



This was one of my first pins on Pinterest and I'm so glad I found it.  These are fantastic, definitely worth the time it takes to make them.  My picture isn't as pretty but boy were they good.


A great day to celebrate being the mum of my best three creations.

Thursday 10 May 2012

MMM - Week 1 Round Up

OK I'm a little bit slow to get this done, but better late than never right?

I always have way too many plans for Me Made challenges but this one got off to a really slow start.  I have been able to stick to my pledged two items a day or a dress (even if one day I had to count my undies), but they've been a little less than inspiring.  Let's pretend I'm building up to a big finale.  

Day 1

I was home from work sick on day one so I've gone for comfort - yoga pants and t-shirt both from old copies of BWOF.

Day 2

Back to work and I'm still on a comfort kick in my  Ottobre leggings (2/2008 #16) and thick wool jersey dress (Butterick 5247).                            

Day 3

Feeling more alive in Simplicity 3686 pants and striped Kwik Sew 3740 top.

Day 4


An all Me Made outfit today - my pants are another version of Simplicity 3686, my top is a self drafted t-shirt and my jacket is Simplicity 2443.                       

Day 5

Another Kwik Sew 3740 - this time in a merino jersey and some me-made undies (I won't be modelling those online!)

Day 6

Wearing my latest creation McCall's 5630 shirt and my Kwik Sew 3740 striped top again.

Day 7



A miserable day so I pulled out a couple of old favourites, my dress is Vogue 8685 and my jacket is Simplicity 3631.

Week 1 is done and dusted and I've even managed to squeeze in a little bit of sewing so I should be able to debut a new outfit soon.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Horsing around

Winter has well and truly reached Melbourne and Paige was in desperate need of some new pyjama pants.

I had to use this picture of Paige jumping off her bed - it cracks me up!

A quick rummage through the stash and I found a couple of pieces of knit fabric and a new t-shirt that I bought a couple of years ago.  I used Butterick 5853 (so old it's not even listed on the website) for the pants - just one pattern piece so they were super quick.  The t-shirt was a little bit short in the sleeves so I added some contrasting cuffs and to give my horse loving girl a bit of a thrill I added an appliqued bright pink horse too.


Then in a recent trip to the fabric shop I picked up some horse print flannelette - I couldn't use my one piece pattern as the narrow width and directional print made it impossible to fit so I pulled out Simplicity 3577.


Paige sat and watched me hem the pants so that she could put them on straight away!  I love sewing pj pants - they're pretty much instant gratification and you know they're going to get plenty of wear.  AND that's one more thing crossed off my list.



Sunday 6 May 2012

McCall's 5630 - Chambray shirt

I've been seeing chambray shirts all over Pinterest and blog land for quite a while and I wanted to get in on the action.  I searched for fabric that matched the version in my mind for quite a while and then last week I found exactly what I wanted in Spotlight (of all places).  I didn't want to buy any more materials to make this shirt so I used McCall's 5630 from my pattern stash and I'm pretty happy with the results. 


You don't see many shirts on my blog because easing in sleeves is my kryptonite.  It's something I've always struggled with and has caused more than a few problems, but it was time for me to get over it, and I really need some new shirts.

Now the fit on my finished shirt isn't amazing - but it's better than anything I've been able to buy in RTW and over time I plan on improving it.  The pattern, however, is great.  Lots of tips and advice and adjustment lines.  Pretty much every review of this pattern mentioned the excessive ease in the sleeves but I was determined to beat my demons.  I read a few tutorials on removing sleeve cap ease but in the end I kind of fudged it and it work pretty well.  I simply cut down the middle and overlapped the pattern pieces by about a 1/4 inch.


Other than that I added 1-1/4 inches to the waist length and added 2 inches to the hem and that was it.  The instructions were great, the sleeve length was spot on and the shoulder seam sits where I like it too.  There does seem to be a fair bit of excess fabric in the back (maybe a sway back adjustment?) and as a cut a straight 14 a little extra ease at the waist and hips wouldn't go astray - but it's not too bad.




Sorry again for the crappy photos - we've had rain all week and the only person willing to take my photo is my eight year old and she's not very good at holding the camera still.  Might be time to investigate a remote.

This is my day six outfit for Me Made May and I'm really enjoying the challenge.  My two items a day pledge (with the exception of dresses) is pushing me, but in a good way.  I'll post a weekly round up on Tuesday.